I wasn't planning on playing any poker on Saturday but I didn't have much to do so I went ahead and signed up for Justin's game.  .25/.50 $50 max.

It was a fairly new group of people.  4 I've played with before, 5 I haven't.  I started off decent, picking my spots and slowly accumulating chips.  Then his hand:  Behind 1 limper, I raise in middle position with KK to $3.50.  The bb calls and does the limper.  Flop K 8 4 rainbow.  A very beautiful for me.  BB leads out for $5, limper folds, and I smoothcall.  Turn 6 and bb leads out for $10.  My thinking at this point is how can I get him to put all his money in the pot?  I had him on something along the lines of KQ, KJ, K10, etc.  I didn't think he would lead into me again with an 8 but my opponent is very capable.  I thought even 2 pair was possible.  I felt my opponent was fairly strong so I went ahead and raised to $25 which my opponent immediately went all in.  Of course I instacall and my opponent turned over AA!  Boy was I lucky to flop the king.  The way he played it there would be no way for me to put him on AA.  I had him drawing to 2 outs to the river which bricked out and I'm well over $100 right from the start.

I wasn't able to do much after that hand.  I kept on missing my draws, playing stupid, etc and my stack declined.  Heres an interesting hand that I played during the decline.  I played a multiway pot with K2s out of the BB.  Flop came something along the lines of K 9 5 rainbow.  I check, mp bets $3, folded to me and I call.  Turn K.  I check, mp bets $3, I raise to $13 and he immediately RR to $26.  My opponent was an older gentleman who I had never played with before.  I couldn't see him reraising me in this spot without a K.  I didn't take him as the kind of opponent that would make a play at me.  With no previous history, I began talking to him to see if I couldn't get any information.  I asked, "I guess you really have a King right"  He didn't respond at first but then shrugged his shoulders.  The longer I took, the more comfortable he seemed.  He said "ask my friend over there, I bluff a lot".  Through the conversation, I concluded I was beat.  I never got confirmation if I was right, but I laid it down faceup.  But all that means is I'll get you back.

After such a hot start, I was declining, especially after laying down the previous hand.  I got it all in on the turn on a J 5 5 2 board with KJ and my opponent had AA.  I almost got him to lay his hand down too on the turn since I pushed pretty hard.  But he didn't and it was time to rebuy. 

The 2nd buy in went a little better.  I was up/down back and forth and then this hand came up.  I raise to $4.50 in LP behind some limpers with KK.  The older gentleman from the trip kings hand calls as does 1 other.  Flop J 9 8 two hearts.  Not the most favorable flop for KK.  He bets $10 and its folded to me.  I only have about $40 behind so I can't really just call or even just raise a small amount because any raise would pot commit me.  I felt my opponent only had 1 pair or maybe a naked 10.  If I think I'm winning with that board, my only option is to push, which I did.  I was instcalled, which is never a good sign.  However, my opponent only turned over 10 6.  Lucky for me, the turn and river bricked out and I take down a good sized pot. 

Another hand:  I called a button raise to $3.50 with 63s out of the sb and its heads up to the flop.  Flop 2 3 8.  I check and my opponent bets $6.00, a standard continuation bet.  More times than not, I check raise in this spot if I think I'm good but chose to just call.  Turn 4.  A pretty card for me if I think I'm ahead.  I check and my opponent bets $12.  Again, more times that not, I am raising here if I think I'm good because I don't want to give my opponent a free card.  However I smoothcall for a few reasons.  One, I keep the pot kinda small in case of the overpair and proceed with caution.  Second, if my opponent has nothing, he could just check on the river and I win the pot anyway.  He could have an ace in which a 5 would make his straight and it would be hard for him to put me on a 6.  (These are the type of scenarios that I don't recommend beginners get involved in because it involves a lot of thought processes, knowing your opponents, stack sizes, etc, and you have to do a lot of calculations in your head in a short amount of time.  Once you get a little more comfortable with your game, I actually would ENCOURAGE you to get involved in these situations in lower stakes games for those reasons.)  Anyhow, river fell 5.  I check and my opponent bet $15.  At this point, I feel my read was pretty accurate in every street.  He had nothing until now.  I didn't think there was anyway for him to put me on a 6.  I raised to $45 and he called showing AK and I take down a big pot. 

I was able to make a few timely bluffs against Andrew that I was pretty proud of.  One, I thought he was going to call me down for sure because I only had K high but he wind up laying it down.  We didn't get involved in too many battles but I can tell he's starting to play me cautiously.  He admit in a few spots that he has to anticipate what I am going to do before he makes his move. 

At the end of the session, I cashed out $189 for a decent profit after getting felted with the first buy in.  Hopefully I can keep this up because I can definitely use the money!

See you at the felt!

TK