Well, we went to our regular Thursday cash game last night. Not a horrible night for me, but it took a while to find myself with anything I'd consider playable hands. The first hour and a half were very slow going for me. Eventually, I picked up a lousy Q2 in the big blind. I was down to around $120 or so and checked my option. I happened to flop 2 pair, made a $10 bet and was eventually able to get the rest in on the river and doubled up. The guys who play there all thought it was hilarious that I won with such an awful hand. (I'd say I'm one of the tighter players.) Ah... breathing room.

Quite a while later, I picked up 88. It was limped around to me, and I followed suit calling the $3. I try to mix up my play, but usually end up limping or calling a raise pre-flop with small or middle pairs. I got lucky this time, flopping a set. It seemed like nearly everyone was in the hand still. It was checked around to me and I bet out $15. Picked up a couple callers. There was a flush draw out there, but the turn was a blank. I bet out again, I think it was $50 and picked up 1 caller. The river was also a blank and it was checked around to me again. Once again (like last week's blunders) I bet – too much – $100. The guy hadn't made his flush, I suppose, and he thought about it for a minute and folded. Of course I realized right away that I had bet him out of the pot. My husband reminded me that I should bet for callers there, when I'm pretty sure I have the hand. (I wish I could remember that when it's going on.)

Throughout the rest of the night, I was still struggling with decent starting hands. Occasionally, I'd pick up a big pocket pair and only manage to win the blinds. One hand I had pocket jacks and raised to $20 picking up 3 callers. The flop was a little raggedy straight draw. It was checked to me and I bet $40, which, afterwards, I thought was a small bet for that pot. I picked up 1 caller. This guy is an aggressive any-two-cards-guy. On the turn, which paired the board, he bet out $80. After the quick call on the flop and knowing the way this guy plays, I thought about it for a minute and layed down my jacks. Looking back, I really don't think he had any part of that board. There, I think I should have raised to really find out where I was in the hand.

The next big hand I was in was when I looked down at AA on the button. There were at least 3 limpers in the pot already. It came around to me and I raised to $20. I got 3 callers. The flop is 5-A-5. Hallelujiah! It was checked around to me and I meekly checked as well. I was thinking that I could make a lot of money in this hand. The turn is a 10. First 2 guys check. Any-two-cards-guy bets out $80. Now, here is the part where I should have smooth called his bet. He was bluffing (and even if he wasn't, I had the nuts!). But, I let my eagerness get the better of me. I raised him the rest of my stack which was around $95 or so. Nearly a min-raise, still... big mistake. Everyone folds immediately. I realize what I've done. Once again, I'm learning a bunch as I play. Now I have to concentrate on applying it correctly. I'm not sure he would have bet again on the river or not, had I just smooth-called his turn bet. He knows I'm a fairly tight player, so he may have checked it to me and who knows, I may have been able to squeeze a little bit more out of him, but I kinda doubt it. Next time I'll be sure to try.

We started playing around 8 pm and ended up leaving around 1:30 am. It was a strange night at the game. Over the course of the evening, 4 different people turned over quads to win their hands. It was insane. I've never seen anything like it. Last week it was the night of $1,000+ pots (none of which involved me and my short stack, unofortunately), this week was crazy card night. But, after all of my ups and downs last night, I ended up $105 ahead. I can't help thinking of what might have happened if I had just smooth-called that turn bet...

I guess I've been playing no limit hold em for a little over 2 years now. (This is my first blog entry ever, so forgive me if I ramble.) For the last several months I've been working to improve my betting skills. I really feel like that area of my game has significantly improved recently, although, I'll be the first to admit I was really bad at betting for at least the first year or so that I played. After lots of coaching from my husband and a couple other good players at our regular game, and reading various poker magazines and books, I thought I was getting it. Well, this weekend, I seemed to have lost my mind. I regressed for some reason.

The first poorly played hand for me was at Argosy's $1/3 NL game on Saturday night. I bought in for $200 and won a couple smaller pots early on in the session, lost a few bets here and there. I wasn't too bad off, really. I looked down at QQ, raised to $15, picked up 2 callers. The flop was completely ragged, no real draws or over-cards. It was checked to me, so I bet out $25. 2 callers. The turn card could have made a bad straight for someone and for some reason, I checked. I immediately regretted my decision. The next guy checks, the guy after him bets out $75. It was my turn to act and I sat there for a minute and mucked my hand. If I were to have called that bet, it would have left me with around $35. The kid after me also folded. As soon as I folded I knew I had that guy beaten. I don't know why I folded. I should have pushed. The guy with what I presume was ace-high would have had to call and barring an ace showing up on the river, I'm pretty sure I would have taken that pot down.

I played for a couple more hours and my stack was up and down. I got back to even at one point, but wasn't finished playing then. Fairly late in the session I picked up 7-8. At this point, I was right around $110. There were no raises and I limped in for $3. The flop was 7-8-x, giving me 2 pairs. First to act bets out $15. I think there were 2 callers between him and me. I thought about it for a minute and suspected the bettor may be on a straight draw. Since there was no raise pre-flop, it was entirely likely that he was playing something like 5-6 or 9-10. So, like an idiot, I smooth called. Yeah, great move. But it gets better. The turn is a 9. First to act bets $75, gets a caller before me and then, being the brillian player I was being that night, I push the rest of my stack in with 2 pair up agains what I know now is a made straight. Of course they both call the additional $15 or $20 and away goes my stack for the evening. I was disgusted with myself. Any other night, I would have rebought, but in light of my donk-tastic moves, I decided that I should probably just call it a night. I got up and went over to my husband's table and let him know I was ready to go when he was. Thankfully, he was having a good night and he more than made up for my $200 loss.

Sunday we went to our regular cash home game. There always seems to be lots of money flying around there and it's a fun game with mostly good players and a couple any-two-cards people mixed in for good measure. I was down just a little bit when I picked up QQ in the small blind. I raised to $15 and got 4 callers. The flop was 2-3-9 with two s. My husband, at the opposite end of the table, bets $25. I'm not sure what he has, but I call along with a couple others. The turn card was a blank and it was checked to me where I bet $50. I got one caller, who I suspected was probably on a flush draw. The river, also a blank. I bet $100. He folded fairly quickly. I was happy enough to take down a pretty good sized pot there, but everyone was teasing me about my big bet on the river and they said that if I was worried about the flush, I should have raised the $25 bet on the flop. I decided they were probably right and moved on.

Another hand I had 8-9 o/s and limped in with $3 and there were at least 4 other limpers. The flop was Q-J-10, giving me the straigt. My husband bet out $15. The guy after him called, and I called. I can't remember if there were people after me who called, but I realized what a huge mistake I had made after the ace showed up on the turn. Oye! He bets out $40, next to act folds. I thought about it and ended up laying it down. I was sure he had a king and I turned over my lower-end straight and mucked my cards. One guy told me it was a good lay down, then my husband told me I should have raised him on the flop when I had the made hand. I agreed. I don't think I'll make that mistake again anytime soon.

Case in point: I limp in with K-J o/s, with a bunch of other limpers. The flop is x-A-Q. No one bets. I'm thinking, "cool, all I need is a 10 on the turn!" Low and behold, it shows up. I bet out $10 into a pot of about 18 white chips. Next to act min-raises to $20, husband calls. It's folded around to me and I grabbed a stack of reds and raised it to $120. Fold. Fold. They were dying laughing at the table. Actually I was too. What a move to raise everyone out of the pot with the nut straight. Once again, there was a flush draw on the board, but, still they thought my bet was too big. And it was, I'm sure of it.

Well I think that about covers my weird hands for this weekend. I ended up cashing out $451 last night, which put me up $51 for the weekend. Not my best showing by far, but at least I made up for the night before plus a tiny bit of profit. I guess I need to get a little deeper in the bet-size chapter of Sklansky's "No Limit Hold 'em Theory and Practice". Okay, I need to re-read it.