A2o is a monster!

Been real busy at work this week. New guy in charge is “renewing focus” with consultants, “mentoring”, etc blah blah blah. Really cutting into my posting and reading time so this will probably be brief (I got interrupted by said, new guy, to discuss my future for about an hour here, but anyway).

Played in live games three times since last Friday. Friday night, I have 8 guys over my house for a few games. I ended up winning one of the games and finishing high, but not in the money (1st and 2nd cash) on the other 3. There were 3 guys playing that didn’t really know what they were doing and it really affected the games. A good example was when I have KQ suited and flopped top pair. I bet out a pot size bet in late position and one of the guys called me. The turn was a blank so I put out a half pot bet and he called me. The river was an ace. I checked and he bet a small enough amount that I had to call but knew he had the ace. He had A4 offsuit. Had absolutely nothing until the river. That lost me a pretty good amount of chips.

In the game that I did win, I ended up with suited big slick and raised by 5BB. The same guy pushed on me. He had been really playing crazy all night so I couldn’t really put him on a great hand, but I had him covered so I called. I think it ended up being about an additional 5BBs. He of course flipped over bullets. I ended up rivering the flush on him and didn’t hear the end of it for the rest of the night.

Also in that game, one of the good players in the group flopped 2 pair when I flopped a set. He was short stacked so he pushed and I put him out with my set of rockets vs his aces over 4s.

On Saturday night I went up to my college roommates house to play. There were 10 people all together and mostly everyone knew what they were doing. Again, I ended up winning one and bubbling out on the other 2 that I played in.

In the one that I won, there was one crazy hand that I pulled out to put me on top and help me to the win. In this game, we started with 500 in chips and we were at about 20/40 blinds. I think I was down to about 400, mostly because of blinds. I had K2h at the cut off. There were 2 limpers so I called the 40. The button called and then the BB min raised. Everyone called so I called and the button called. That put 330 in the pot.

The flop came Ah, 10h, 5d. The first to act BB then pushed his last 320 into the pot. That was exactly what I had left so I was mulling my decision while the next original caller thought also. After a long stall, he also called, which put him also all in. I had them on top pair and/or straight draw, so with the odds the way they were, especially with the button still to act, I called it with my nut flush draw. Surprisingly, the button also called, as he had everyone covered.

Everyone flipped their cards and everyone had the following. BB had J8h, caller had A5o, and the button had A10o. I caught the 7h on the turn, with a blank on the river to pull down the monster pot. Hey, sometimes you need some luck right? Good play or bad play people? Let me know.

The third live game I played was on Monday night at the bar. This the free Amateur Poker League game that I do each week. I hadn’t been in the last 2 weeks because of my Disney trip, then my B-day so I was pretty pumped to go. There were 56 people and I ended up in 15th. I was doing pretty well then went card dead for a while. With only T3000 left and the blinds at T1000/T2000, I had to make a move. The blinds were only 3 spots away and I had A2o. Remember those hold cards. They played a big role in the next 3 hands.

I pushed my last T3000 in and had another guy go over the top with T9000. The blinds folded and the guy who had called in front of my folded also. There was T11000 in chips and he had K7d. I took the pot when I spiked a deuce and was in good shape.

I felt good but new at these blinds, it could be just a hand anyway, so in order to win this thing, I had to keep being aggressive.

The next hand, I look down at AKd, and being the first into the pot, I pushed it all in. The girl across from me, thought for a while, then called her last T9000 while everyone else folded. She turned over her cards, which were A2o, and I had her dominated…Until the flop. 2, 2, 3 rainbow. Ouch. I even caught the K on the turn but no good.

I was down to T2000 and looked down at cowboys. I am now UTG and push it in, figuring I should be able to pull it out, with some luck. I get 2 callers, one of which is also all in now. We flip the cards and they have A2o (notice a theme here?) and A7o respectively. The flop comes 10, 3, 4. Not a great flop, but pretty good for me. The turn is a 7. Care to guess what the river was? Yeah, as the dude says, “give me a 5”, the poker gods give him his 3 outer and I am gone. A2o, the monster hand.