Decided at the last minute to get off my behind and go play tonite. And for the first time in awhile, I had a decent session. But it was not easy, and I had to really test my patience.
I ended up playing for about 3 1/2 hours, but I won something like 3 or 4 pots total over that time period. That I had a net profit really shows, I think, what I spent most of my time doing: folding.
The night began with the person om my immediate right to where I first sat down going on an amazing run in my first 1o minutes. He got pocket queens twice (they held up once), pocket kings once (they held up), and he hit runner-runner baby flushes twice. Yes,it was the kind of game where pretty much everyone (except me, of course) played any two suited cards for any number of preflop bets.
I actually had pocket aces twice, and won with both of them. One was just a small pot with only one other person in, and of course I flopped top set and didn’t get a lot out of it. The last one I got 6 callers, 5 of whom called down to the river on a jack-high dry rainbow board. I finally checked in the cutoff on the river because I figured that the only people who woudl likely call would be someone who flopped, turned, or rivered an odd two pair or who managed to hit a set; everyone folded to the buttons sudden interest in betting out, and when I called his all-in, he showed jack-to and I took down a nice pot there.
But really, I was able to “play” poker only once. I did try a couple of late-position steals when I was in late position, it was folded to me, and I had a couple of high suited cards (a rare occurrence, as preflop folds were rarer than honest Republicans), but whiffed the couple of times I tried it, and of course my preflop raise caused no preflop folds between me and the blinds, so I was forced to bow out.
But one hand was different. It was folded to the cutoff, someone who had been fairly loose and aggressive, and I’d seen him almost automatically raise if he was in late position and was the first in or had just one caller. This hand everyone folded to him. He grabbed 3 chips as if to call, then, as if he realized he was the first to act, grabbed 3 more and raised.
Me, next, on the button, I found Qs-Js. I realized this was a great pickoff hand for the situation and I smooth called. The two blinds called as well, not at all unexpected. The flop came 10s and two small diamonds. I pretty much missed, with little more than backdoor straight and flush draws and two overcards, but it was the opportunity I was looking for. The blinds both checked, and the raiser bet out. I raised and the two blinds folded. The better just called.
The turn was a blank. He checked, and I checked behind. My goal was less to take down the pot than to get two chances at free cards. And I got what I wanted on the river: a jack. And, like I expected, he bet out, with what turned out to be air, and I dragged a nice little pot.
I suppose the question would be, if I had missed the river, would I have called–or even raised. I doubt it. This is, after all, a low-limit limit game. I have saved countless chips over the years by declining to be table captain. I have to have a pretty good read to call down a heads-up bet with nothing but ait myself, although to be fair, I’ve dragged a few pots by correctly reading a bluff with as little as bottom pair.
BUt what this night really did, this night where I spent a lot of time just folding, folding, folding, was get me a bit back on track. I’d been getting hammered by bad beats in recent sessions, and so was taking little mini-breaks. The mind-clearing effect seems to have worked; I was making some good reads, and so I hope I’m ready to play some solid poker in the coming weeks and months.