Poker Wannabe: 7/5/2005 - More Holiday Madness

I swear, I think I could make a decent annual wage if I only played on Holiday weekends. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Memorial day and now the 4th of July have all been bery, bery good to me. Throw in Labor day and perhaps Halloween and I could probably live off of those seven weekends alone (albeit not exactly like a rock star).

So yes, like a loser I sat in front of my computer playing poker rather than actually doing anything for the 4th. I swung by a BBQ briefly, but I didn't really know anyone and I didn't feel like sitting out in Austin's 100-degree heat to watch fireworks, especially with a whole bunch of people I didn't know. So back I came for poker.

At first the tables seemed fairly tight, but then around 9-9:30pm they opened up. Perhaps not coincidentally, that's when a lot of East Coasters would be returning from fireworks and looking for something to do. Whatever happened, the games noticeably improved at that time, and for the rest of the evening I had a nice run.

Ok, "nice run" is an understatement. Here's a fun hand I played from the CO:

Party Poker 20/40 Hold'em (9 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is CO with 2s, 2d.
5 folds, Hero raises, Button calls, SB calls, 1 fold.

Flop: (7 SB) 2h, Th, Ad (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, Button raises, SB calls, Hero 3-bets, Button calls, SB calls.

Turn: (8 BB) 9s (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, Button calls, SB calls.

River: (11 BB) 8c (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, Button calls, SB folds.

Final Pot: 13 BB

Results:
Hero has 2s 2d (three of a kind, twos).
Button has Qc Ah (one pair, aces).
Outcome: Hero wins 13 BB.

There's nothing like raising with a small pair and hitting your set. They never see it coming.

Here's another:

Party Poker 20/40 Hold'em (9 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is CO with 3h, 3d.
5 folds, Hero raises, 2 folds, BB calls.

Flop: (4.50 SB) 2c, As, 3c (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, BB calls.

Turn: (3.25 BB) 2d (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, BB calls.

River: (5.25 BB) Qh (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, BB calls.

Final Pot: 7.25 BB

Results:
BB has Qs 5c (two pair, queens and twos).
Hero has 3h 3d (full house, threes full of twos).
Outcome: Hero wins 7.25 BB.

(yes, that's a 20/40 player playing Q5o for a raise and calling to the river unimproved).

And finally:

Party Poker 15/30 Hold'em (10 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is BB with 6h, 6d.
UTG calls, 8 folds, Hero checks.

Flop: (2.66 SB) 6c, Js, 9d (2 players)
Hero bets, UTG calls.

Turn: (2.33 BB) 4c (2 players)
Hero bets, UTG calls.

River: (4.33 BB) 9s (2 players)
Hero bets, UTG raises, Hero 3-bets, UTG calls.

Final Pot: 10.33 BB

Results:
Hero has 6h 6d (full house, sixes full of nines).
UTG has 9h Th (three of a kind, nines).
Outcome: Hero wins 10.33 BB.

Notice a trend? The 4th of July was the day of sets for me. I think I hit more sets than I did all of June. Almost every pocket pair it seemed was a set for me. I had a few other sets of deuces (including another where I had raised preflop), a few of kings, a few others. It was ridiculous.

And what was more ridiculous was that Sunday night was an even better night for me. All told, this past Thur-Mon work week of mine goes down as, by far, my biggest week ever, surpassing every single monthly total prior to April (including all months of 2004). And the kicker is that I've only played about 15 hours of poker for the week. I hate to sound like I'm bragging or anything, but that's just how things have been going--ridiculously well.

I just passed 20,000 hands and my winrate at the Party 15/30 is sick beyond belief. The 20/40 has been very good as well, in about 6000 hands. As a poker player, I know all this success simply means that I'm going to have some pretty rough times ahead. It all evens out in the end. But I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

Moving

The day of reckoning is almost upon me. Yes, on Wednesday, July 6, I fly out to Vegas where I will spend one night in a hotel room before moving into my new place on Thursday. I'll be out there to enjoy the spectacle that is the WSOP main event (although I won't be playing in it) and to hopefully enjoy the side games.

I'll then briefly return to Austin later in the month to pick up the last of my things, including my car, and then drive back to Vegas for good.

I have to say, I'm going to miss Austin. It's a fun town, and I've made some good friends (those rare times I've been able to pull myself away from my computer).

It all doesn't even seem real to me yet. I mean I understand that I'm moving, but I'm not sure it's really going to sink in until my first night out there, alone, not knowing anybody, in a town that I've only ever really been to two different places (the airport and the strip). Although I've only been here three years, Austin's pretty much become my home and so I imagine being out there in Vegas those first few nights (or weeks) I'll feel quite a bit of homesickness.

1 day.