Waiting For Aces

When I first started this blog, I almost gave it that title. Just Another Donkey seemed more appropriate.

I went back to my semi-regular home game for the first time in a while last night, and finally took the whole thing down. $10 buyin with rebuys through 1st 4 levels (30 mins each). And for the first time as well, I didn't have to rebuy, thanks to a fortuitous Q on the river with AQ vs AK (as well as big stack deciding to fold JT only to see a JJ6 flop). From there it was all about getting AA; 3 times within less than an hour, and getting action each time on them. That, combined with much less bluffing & a more tight-aggressive approach netted me $100, which I used to take the lady out to dinner tonight.

Of course, AA doesn't always mean victory, as these two hands (which happened within minutes of writing this post) will illustrate:

AA #1

Full Tilt Poker Game #7776344681: $24 + $2 Sit & Go (59137436), Table 4 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:17:21 ET - 2008/08/24
Seat 1: Little Alaskan (1,485), is sitting out
Seat 2: razz12345 (1,470)
Seat 3: Porn Star 77 (1,500)
Seat 4: binhan111 (1,545)
Seat 5: Pawkit Jaes (1,500)
Seat 6: Seeing Blind (1,500)
Seat 7: JTMYERS (1,500)
Seat 8: NOVAcane81 (1,500)
Seat 9: mclarich (1,500)
razz12345 posts the small blind of 15
Porn Star 77 posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [Ad As]
binhan111 calls 30
Pawkit Jaes folds
Seeing Blind folds
JTMYERS calls 30
NOVAcane81 folds
mclarich raises to 150
Little Alaskan folds
razz12345 has 15 seconds left to act
razz12345 folds
Porn Star 77 folds
binhan111 folds
JTMYERS calls 120

As you may have noticed by the starting stacks, this is the 2nd hand in

*** FLOP *** [4h Kc 9d]
JTMYERS bets 275
mclarich calls 275

If he hit top pair, I don't want to reraise since his pot bet looks like he'll keep betting into me. I'll wait to get him committed before I repop.

*** TURN *** [4h Kc 9d] [Kh]
JTMYERS bets 925
binhan111 has been disconnected
binhan111 has reconnected
mclarich has 15 seconds left to act

Another pot bet? Now, a K isn't starting to make sense. 99 is definitely a possibility, especially if he puts me on AK preflop. But the whole puzzle doesn't piece together: if I don't have AK, then his flop bet scares me away when he may extract more with a CR or seeing the turn. I really think I'm ahead here.

mclarich raises to 1,075, and is all in
JTMYERS has 15 seconds left to act
JTMYERS calls 150, and is all in
mclarich shows [Ad As]
JTMYERS shows [9c Ac] (lols)
*** RIVER *** [4h Kc 9d Kh] [9s] (motherfucker!)
mclarich shows two pair, Aces and Kings
JTMYERS shows a full house, Nines full of Kings
JTMYERS wins the pot (3,075) with a full house, Nines full of Kings
mclarich stands up


AA #2

Full Tilt Poker Game #7776376520: Table Birdwood - $0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:20:58 ET - 2008/08/24
Seat 1: Big Orange 1 ($52.85)
Seat 2: poopsex420 ($47)
Seat 3: Chesst ($14.60)
Seat 4: ted22ny ($18.60)
Seat 5: bewizz ($86.20)
Seat 6: justimblake ($10)
Seat 7: Dremaway ($64)
Seat 8: nalpniak ($10)
Seat 9: mclarich ($49.25)
Chesst posts the small blind of $0.25
ted22ny posts the big blind of $0.50
5 seconds left to act
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [Ah Ad]
bewizz has 15 seconds left to act
bewizz raises to $3.50
Dremaway raises to $10
nalpniak folds
mclarich calls $10

I smooth-call here for two reasons: One, I've played against Dremaway before, stacking him twice; once when he overplayed AK, again when he bluffed with a gutshot when I held trips. We also split a pot when he called with bottom pair & a gutshot despite my heavy action preflop (the gutshot hit for both of us). Two, I don't want to announce my hand just yet.

Big Orange 1 folds
poopsex420 folds
Chesst folds
ted22ny has 15 seconds left to act
ted22ny folds
bewizz has 15 seconds left to act
bewizz folds
*** FLOP *** [2c Jh 8s]
Dremaway has 15 seconds left to act
Dremaway bets $6
mclarich raises to $12 (same pattern I've done before: he can't resist coming over the top of a minraise)
Dremaway calls $6 (showing some restraint this time(
*** TURN *** [2c Jh 8s] [Th]
Dremaway checks
mclarich bets $27.25, and is all in
Dremaway calls $27.25
mclarich shows [Ah Ad]
Dremaway shows [Jd Jc] (doh, I got played)
*** RIVER *** [2c Jh 8s Th] [8h]
mclarich shows two pair, Aces and Eights
Dremaway shows a full house, Jacks full of Eights
Dremaway wins the pot ($99.75) with a full house, Jacks full of Eights
mclarich is sitting out

Hope your AA's are treating you better than they've been treating me lately.