I almost can’t believe the Saturday night I had playing poker. Lucrative doesn’t begin to describe it.
The night actually began on Friday night, when I was invited to a concert in Berkeley. I’d never heard of the band, and in all honesty, I doubt that I’ll be running out to buy any albums, but I went more for the company than the entertainment anyway, and he said it is one of his favorite bands.
And so it was an enjoyable, memorable night.
Saturday dawned gorgeous. I slept in a bit, and then my fall softball league had me playing at 12:30. It was a beautiful day for a game. I did OK, went 1 for 2 at the plate (including a shot to very deep center field), and we ended up tied. I headed home, and once I got cleaned up, I decided that I felt like getting out a bit more instead of staying home and doing chores, so I headed for Artichoke Joe’s.
I got there just after 4 and got a seat right away, seat 5 right across from the dealer. I hadn’t even had time to check out the tables that were running to see what game might be best, but I was a bit dismayed to see a player 2 seats to my left post a straddle bet shortly after I sat down.
But I decided to withhold a too-quick judgement and see how the table was turning. And as it turned out, is was overall a pretty passive table, my bread and butter. Pre-flop raises were rare, and even post-flop aggression didn’t happen too often. But it was also one of those tables where pre-flop raises got no one out of a hand.
After a few hours, I was up a nice tidy $250. I thought I’d have a good session, so I called the guy who had invited me to the concert to see if he was free for dinner or a movie, but he was out with other friends and on the way to dinner.
So I sat back down and kept playing, musing for a bit whether I should just take my profit and go home or keep on going.
Now this comes on the heels of a brutal August and early September, where I was playing quite a bit and trying to get more aggressive (and trying still to be selective with increased aggression), but it wasn’t working, and my bankroll had taking a nasty hit. The previous session I’d played, I pulled back on the aggression, playing more tightly, and played a session where I almost broke even. I was working this same strategy here.
In fact, I rarely even played speculative hands. And I was just killing. Naturally, I had some luck as well; I got drawn out on only once or twice, like once when I limped in late position with pocket 3s, after several callers, the flop came A-2-4 rainbow and I called a single bet with several callers, and when a 5 came on the turn, I thought I was good, but another player 2 seats to my right had stayed with 6-3 offsuit to take down the pot with the higher straight.
But that was the very player, playing just about every had, from whom I had already won some other pots, so the beat didn?t really affect me. And he wasn’t anywhere nearly enough of a skilled or aggressive player to re-raise with the nuts, so I actually lost less than I could have.
I ended up staying until midnight, about an 8-hour session, and I actually won about 25 pots, higher than my 2/hour rate that is usually profitable, but several of those pots were quite large (for a $6/$12 game), in the $150-200 range.
I recall a couple of those. In one, I had AK of spades and raised pre-flop after several limpers. The flop came all low spades, and when everyone checked to me, I bet out. I still got several callers. I bet on the turn and on the river and got callers for each. If I remember correctly, I think another spade came on the turn, and one player had stayed in with a single 5 of spades.
In another hand, I decided to call with J-10 offsuit in late position with several limpers. The flop came jack high rainbow. Everyone checked to me, I bet out and got several callers. The turn came a blank, it was checked to me, I bet out and got two callers. The river came out a Q, but it was checked to me and I bet out and got called by both, who turned over J-2 and J-4.
Interestingly, these types of players, who just called off their chips, did notice that I was betting and showing down strong hands, and in a couple of situations, I was able to bluff when I was down to one opponent on moderately scary boards and take down decent pots.
But the upshot of the night was the net profit after about 8 hours of play: nearly $1300. That’s around 13 big bets an hour, simply a sick win rate.
I’m not complaining, of course, and know it’s also unlikely that I can duplicate that, but I do know that I’ll remember a couple of the players (one in particular), and when I go back again, if any of them are playing, I’ll likely as not want to be sitting at their table again.