With nine players left in a small tournament I was in the small blind when the button made an open raise. It was a little bit bigger than I would expect from a strong hand, so when I looked down at AThh I made a three-bet. The action went back to the initial raiser. He did not have a lot of chips left, but he still could fold and have a chance at making something happen. We were still a few players away from the money so this hand was not going to make my tournament or his tournament. It did, however, have the potential to break one of us. He picked up his chips and set them down, continually counting exactly how much he had and how much he would have left if he called my raise and missed the flop. This poker room always is fun and often loud with playful banter between the players. I could tell that moment and that hand was more serious. Little did I know the drama was just beginning. It had nothing to do with poker.


As I waited for the player to make his decision I noticed the dealer, who was sitting to my immediate right, started telling people to chill out and be quiet. I was caught off guard because nobody was doing anything they do not normally do. I looked at him and saw him looking to the front of the room where the cage is.

By the time I figured out what was going on I heard the biggest yell of my life.

"FREEZE! PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR FACE!"

Before I followed the order I looked to the two entrances and saw people dressed in black and pointing guns as they stormed into the room.

When you play in underground poker rooms where there is a lot of money you know about the dark side. You always are at risk of foul play from outsiders. At this particular room I've never felt like that because the security is so good. Still, it would be silly to always let down your guard.

So in that moment when I saw the men in black pointing guns I feared the worst. As I covered my face I peaked between my fingers and saw the lettering on the uniforms. 'POLICE'

Thank god. I've never been in trouble with the law, but I imagine it's awful to be in that spot. But in that moment I knew enough that I should be relieved that it was the cops.

I could not believe how many were there. They just kept pouring into the room. I tried to count at one point but got up to 15 and had to stop because they were wandering all over the place. I later found out there were 38.

Thirty eight!


Once the cops had stabilized the scene the lead cop told all of them to pull up their masks. I'm still not sure why because the more I have discussed this with people since then the general idea is that there was no undercover operation. Anyway, many of the cops eventually pulled their masks down.

While our hands still were on our faces the cops came around to each person and emptied our pockets. They put all of it on the table in front of us. Once that part was done we were told to put our hands on the table in front of us. At that point they took our IDs and ran them through the system. One by one we were asked to hold up a dry erase board that had our name and birth date on it. Our picture was taken holding that board.

After that we collected our belongings and signed a gambling citation. The police said we were getting a Class C misdemeanor. In Texas it is punishable by fine only. There is no jail time. We have a court date later in the month. Hopefully I will be able to pay the fine before that and move on with my life.

Not everybody got off that easy.


Four people immediately were put in handcuffs and ordered to sit at another table. They were two dealers, one security guy and the guy running the game. My table was the first one to be processed so I did not see what happened to them later, and I don't know how long they had to stay. I do know that they were taken to jail overnight and released on bond the following morning.

As I mentioned before, we do not think this was a big undercover sting. There were several people there who did not get put in handcuffs who I thought would be. If there was an undercover cop building a case against this poker room he or she would have pointed out those people, and they also would have been handcuffed.

I hope that means the people who were handcuffed will not be in a mountain of trouble.


What would you expect to happen in the aftermath of something like this? It's true that the two owners had opened two poker rooms prior to this one but had to relocate because of the pressure of something like this police raid. You'd think there would be some time to cool off, right? I mean, there were more than 30 players there so word is going to get out.

So what happened? They were open for business as usual the next day. The game was not as strong as it usually is, but there were people there playing cards. It's safe to say it's going to be busy as usual after a few days, especially since the players themselves did not get much punishment.

I stopped by to view the scene the next day. The owners were there figuring out a plan of action moving forward. The owners were not there the night before so there were questions being asked of the players and stories being told.


One funny story I have saved for this blog goes like this...

I was one of the last two players at my table to be processed. As the cops cleaned up the chips and cards on my table I asked one of them to show me the two cards sitting in front of my opponent. The cop showed me KQ and asked, "Were you going to win?"

I said: "It's hard to say. You never know what's going to happen."

very well written, nice read

I am a 30-something guy living somewhere between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. I work freelance in a creative line of work.

Sometimes there are specific events I need to attend, but mostly the schedule allows me to do work whenever I can by certain deadlines. That means I often make my own schedule, and I always make time to play poker.

I play mostly 1-2/1-3 NL with occasional shots at 2-5/5-5 NL. Since I started keeping track of every session beginning in 2013 I am a winning player. I don't win millions, but I make enough to complement my regular work income.

Sometimes I entertain the idea of playing poker for a living, but three things stop me.

1) I do not have enough money to back me up if I lose.
2) I love what I do for a living and struggle to imagine my life without it.
3) Frankly, I'm probably not good enough.

I have been to the WSOP each of the last two summers and failed miserably. Hopefully this year is different.

I have a blog on a different Web site dedicated to poker, but I update it intermittently. When I saw this forum I liked the idea that I could increase my readership. So I'll put some of my regular blog entries here as well as the regular site.

Thank you for reading.

Thank you. I appreciate the feedback.

If you ask a poker player how things have been going on the felt and he or she says, "I haven't really been playing much." it typically means they have been losing. When I say it today I mean it.

I played as much as normally would during January and February, but took a step back in March. I played poker four days between Feb. 22 and March 19. Several factors led to that.

1) I was watching my money in anticipation of paying all of my 2014 taxes at once.

2) I had a bad kidney stone situation that made me feel like I'd give up poker forever if I could also give up kidney stones forever.

3) Work is as busy as ever in the early part of March.

I have good news. I'm back this week, and things are going well. I have profited enough so far this month to erase my losses from February and some of January. Here are some highlights from each of the four sessions.

MONDAY ($5-$5 NL)

I had never been to this game but was told by a reliable source it is a good spot to win a bunch of money. There is a large Asian contingent so the gamble factor is high. It's a great situation if you can get your hands to hold up. Luckily, mine did. There are two major hands worth mentioning. I actually wonder if I could have gotten more money out of either one.

In the first hand, I was in the small blind. The button had a Mississippi straddle to $10 and I looked at 4c-4h. There was a good chance the pot would get raised preflop, but I'm not risking much by putting $5 more in there in case it does not get raised. Five people call the $10 and then the hi-jack player raises to $60. One person calls before it gets back to me, and I decided I wasn't going to play super tight all night. I don't know if this was the best spot to set mine, but with all the money on the table I wanted to take a shot.

Four people saw the flop (~$270): AsQs4d

Someone has to have an ace, right? I hate check-raising, and check-calling would be the worst ever, so I led out for $100 hoping to get raised. Unfortunately I only got one caller. He had $275 behind after the call. The turn was the 3d, and having him covered, I moved all in. He called quickly and said he had a flush draw and a straight draw. We all know how I feel about insurance so I politely asked the dealer to deal one river card.

As he put it down I saw it was a spade and frowned. The other guy got excited and tabled 75ss. Then it hit me. It was the FOUR of spades. I had quads! I quietly turned my cards face up and scooped the pot.

In the second hand I picked up AA UTG+1 and raised to $40. Three people called, and a guy who had played fairly solid raised to $250. When it got back to me I looked across the table at his chips and he volunteered that he had $400 left. I wanted to get sneaky and just flat his three-bet but ultimately decided to go with the standard play of five-bet shoving

He immediately said, "If it was anyone else I would snap call." I guess I had a tight image! He never showed, but after suggesting I might have AK he folded. I think he had QQ. Maybe I could have played it sneakier, but I'm leaning toward simply giving him credit for being a pretty good player capable of making a big fold.

I left with a $1,000 profit in about 3 1/2 hours. Definitely going back there.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON ($1-$3 NL)

I ventured back to the place I used to play most often - the one that got raided by the cops. It has been super slow over there, and I don't think I'll go back at night. The afternoon game is where I made most of my money anyway so I gave it another shot. Luckily the game wasn't too bad and it was relatively full most of the afternoon.

I won two pots against the same older guy who has trouble folding when he was what he perceives to be a strong hand. I chased a small flush draw on the first hand and he stacked off to me when it got there on the turn. On the second hand I had KK versus his QJ. The flop came QJT and I called his bet. The turn was a K and I called his bet again. He bet again on the river and I called.

The hand I am most happy with went like this:

I raised preflop with KQ and got two callers. The flop came KT6dd. I bet and got called by one player, who loves to chase anything and everything. The turn was an 8d, but I didn't want to check because then I wouldn't get enough information. So I bet again, and he called pretty quick. My read on him is if he had a made flush he would have raised me. The river was a low black card and I decided to give him a chance to bluff. I checked, and he thought for a moment. When he paused I knew I had him beat. He eventually bet $125. I was pretty sure I was calling but decided to give him another moment or two to totally give away his hand.

When he leaned back in his chair I knew I had him and I called. He tabled AdQh for busted flush and straight draws.

I won $460 there and took off for another game.

TUESDAY NIGHT ($1-$2 NL)

This is the friendliest game I go to, but this night was special. A player who doesn't normally play sat down with $200. He was already drunk. In fact, I think he's drunk a lot. But he's lovable and hilarious. This night the deck was hitting him in the face. It was a joy to watch when it wasn't a pot you were involved in.

He Mississippi straddled $25 on the button and picked up KK. He flopped sets several times and got paid off. He correctly called a huge river bet with second pair after asking, "What's the river?" one full minute after the river card had been dealt and another full minute after the guy had made the bet.

But my favorite was this when he was heads up in a pot where the board read K77K7. He was first to act and the checked. The other guy went all-in and the drunk guy snap-called. The opponent turned over 44 and the drunk guy tabled A7 for quads. So this wasn't the type of drunk where he was making a bunch of mistakes. He was actually making sound decisions.

One decision that was not so sound actually bit me in the butt. We were playing one hand of PLO per round. He raised preflop and c-bet the flop of AQ5. The c-bet was pretty small so I decided to hit a gutshot wheel draw. I hit it when the turn came a 2 and he bet small again. I bet the pot, which was $195 on top of his $15. He had $40 invested and had to call nearly $200 more. He did it and the river came another 2. He went all-in and I had a bad feeling. He had not been bluffing, but he has bluffed on other nights in similar situations. I was already in for $240 and decided to call off my last $165 because the odds were so good with somebody else being all in on the turn. Much to my dismay he tabled AAK5 and scooped the pot.

I sat out a few hands and thought about whether I wanted to rebuy. If I left right then and there I would profit about $160 for the long day. If I bought in again I risked losing overall for the day. But except for calling off that last $165 I felt like I was making good decisions.

I worked my second $300 buy-in up to $725 and booked my second win for the day. I won two big hands to get unstuck. I doubled up with AA vs AJ on an A94 flop and then got the drunk guy when I rivered a straight.

Profit for this session was $125.

WEDNESDAY ($2-$5 NL)

There are so many poker games in this town that it's impossible to get to all of them, but the one I went to Wednesday is one I wish I could get to more often. The people are nice, and the action is pretty good. The rake is more reasonable than most mid-stakes game around here.

I hovered around even most of the day and then got stuck a little bit when I called two bets and did not improve my flopped pair+flush draw. I added on a little bit and eventually was in the game for $600. I doubled up and got back to even on a pretty lucky hand.

I raised preflop with 88 and got two callers. The flop was 983r and I checked behind them. The turn was a J and one player bet. I raised him, and he went all-in. I did not like it, but I was committed by that point, especially because my hand was under-repped. He had T7 for the straight. he ripped the river, and it came another 9 to give me the full house.

I won $200, which is pretty good for being stuck.

I'm headed to another game tonight. I might lose, but it sure feels nice to be back in the swing of things.

It has been a while since I chronicled an entire night of poker, so let's get back to it. I am at a familiar home game with lots of fun people. We're playing $1-$2 NL hold 'em. Their skill level and win rates are all over the place so hopefully there are some interesting hands to discuss.

I have known for a long time that poker is all about the long run so it's not the end of the world if I lose. Still, it's always nice to get off to a good start now that it's a new year. Let's see if I can make that happen.

6:55 pm (start hand with $300): Holy ****! Double up on my first hand of the night! We start 7-handed and I open to $12 with ATcc. The only caller is a tight older guy in the SB. I know him well.

Flop is AT4ss. He leads for $10. He likes to do this when he's fishing for information or chasing a draw. I raise to $35 and he calls. The turn is a red deuce and he leads for $20. I want to keep him in. So I make a value raise to $95. He calls pretty quick.

River is a red 4 and he checks. I jam my last $155 and he calls then shows AK.

Literally the best start possible. Let's go!

7:05 pm ($600):Button raises to $10. I pick up AA in the small blind and 3-bet to $35. He calls. Flop AJ3cc. I lead for $45 and he snap folds.

I finally miss a flop on the next hand when I call a small raise from the button with 97hh and the flop comes all spades. Guess this game is not so easy after all.

7:15 pm ($630): Let's test the table early. Someone else does a Mississippi straddle to $6 on the button. Three limper's to me and I look at QJdd. I raise to $30 and they all fold.

7:35 pm ($570): I call a small raise with 76 and see a three-way flop of AA6. The SB, who long ago earned Villain No. 1 status in my poker journey, says before the flop, "If I hit I'm betting." They both check and I bet. The SB immediately raises. I said jokingly "Hey you said you were going to bet if you hit something." Then I folded.
Then he said, "Yes but earlier you said you did not want to be check-raised today."

He got me good there!

8:10 pm ($535): Game is pretty slow. I'm missing more flops than I'm hitting. Not really in the mood to go crazy with nothing so I'm playing tighter for now. That, of course, is always capable of changing.

8:20 pm ($675): Well, well, well. Another good hand for me. A somewhat tight player opened preflop to $10. Two callers before me in the SB. I had 99. Normally I might three-bet, but the raiser probably had a big hand.

I got lucky when the flop came 985ss. I led for $25 and the raiser called me. Turn was an 8 and river a 7. He called $40 on the turn and $60 on the river. I almost bet more on the river but he only had about 125 left. I didn't want to scare him off. He's the type who would think, "If I call and lose I'll still have 65 left."

He called $60 pretty quick and showed down KK.

9:00 pm ($620): One of the guys practices a good principle of rarely limping in when he is first into a pot preflop. From time to time I'll three-bet him light if I have position.

He opened to $10 and I three-bet to $35 with 65ss. I got two callers, including the initial raiser. The flop came Q63, and I didn't feel like getting check-raised again by Villain No. 1 so I checked behind. The turn was an ace and they both checked again.

This time I fired $60 to represent the big card. It worked and they both folded.

9:25 pm ($645): We are having a fun argument. I always have maintained that the nuts is the best possible hand regardless of the hole cards. Nobody ever agrees with me.

If the board reads AAKT7 then I contend that the nuts is quad aces. Everybody else says that if you have AK then THAT is the nuts because your hand is not beatable. Of course it is not beatable, but that doesn't mean it is the nuts.

What do you say?

10:00 pm ($335): Definitely not going well now. Lost two hands in a row after making a good call on the river to get back above $600. In the first losing hand Villain No. 1 called a preflop three-bet with T5cc against my AJcc. Board ran out 6536Q. He called my flop bet and then we checked it down.

Next losing hand I raised preflop with AJhh and got four callers. Flop came K72hh. I C-bet and got called once. Turn came a low diamond and he jammed $130. Thinking my ace would be good also I called to gamble a bit. Another diamond came on the river and he showed K6dd to win.

I'll never get mad at a player for playing suspect hands. It's their money. But when they hit the flop and refuse to fold then there is nothing a player like me can do. Yes, I know I could have folded on the turn, but sometimes you feel like gambling. I'd have the same feeling about those situations if I had not bricked the river. Oh well. Hopefully I start hitting some hands.

10:20 pm ($630): Just when I started to get bummed out I made a couple hands and got back in the black. There was a raise to $7 and four callers before me on the button. I picked up AhKc and 3-bet to $40. The BB went all in for $60 and Villain No. 1 called the $60. I did not have an option to 5-bet so I had to call. The flop came Q-high all spades and I fired $115. The isolation play worked. Villain No. 1 folded and I hit an ace on the turn to beat the all-in player's KJ.

On the next hand I limped for a $6 straddle with 55. The straddler (Villain No. 1) on the button made it 30 more. Three of us saw the flop. It came 656 and we checked to the button. He bet 105 and I raised to 225, leaving myself 200 behind. He folded. I bet if I had more behind he would have called or raised. But he knew I was committed. I could have flatted but I thought that would be sneakier. By check-raising it might look like I was trying to get him back from earlier.

Anyway...Villain No. 1 is one of the biggest wildcards in my poker life. It's almost impossible to put him on a hand. Sometimes, though, he gets a bit loose. He's getting into that mode now so perhaps the game is about to open up. Earlier tonight he referenced the last time we played and that we didn't get involved much. He vowed to change that tonight.

11:20 pm ($605): I think I played this hand too strong, but it also my have been a spot where I wasn't getting much more anyway. I opened preflop with J9 and got two callers. A long time winning player capable of anything led into me for $25 when the flop came J94.

I could flat him but then the money is probably never getting all in. And if I raise him I give him a chance to come back over the top. After all, it's tough for him to put me on more than one pair and he knows it's tough for me to put in too much with only one pair.

I raised to $65 and he called. The turn came a Q...not really a good card for me, but it's going to be tough for me to get away from my hand. He thought for a bit and then checked. There was about $180 in the pot and I bet $155 hoping to make it look like I was trying to buy it. He folded unfortunately. After the hand he said he could have picked up a flush draw and then he would have gone with it. Oh well. I'll get him next time.

11:50 pm ($580): This hand did not involve me but it may be a sign of things to come. Villain No. 1 had a $6 Mississippi straddle on the button and there are two limper's before me. I picked up KQ and raised to $35. Villain No. 1 called and one of the limper's (guy from my previous hand) jammed for $215. Villain No. 1 eventually called and won the pot with his 43 against AQ after flopping a pair of threes.

When Villain No. 1 is in this mode the chips are going in the middle almost no matter what he has. You just have to hope your hand holds up.

12:10 am ($325): Knocked down again, yet again by Villain No. 1. I raised preflop to 25 with AT. Three callers. Flop 653 and all checked. Turn a 5 and all checked again. River was an ace and they checked to me. I bet $40 and Villain No. 1 check-raised me to $80. I called and he showed A6.

Like I said before, if they keep calling with these hands I crush and hit three-outers on me I cannot win.

I'm getting tired, both sleepy and of this opponent running good. He's one of my favorite people in the world, but sometimes it is frustrating to play against him. All you can do is limit mistakes and hope for the best.

If I get back in the black by at least $100 I think I'm gonna head home.

12:30 am ($0): *sigh* He finally finished me. This game is so heartbreaking sometimes.

I opened preflop for $20 with AK and got three callers, including Villain No. 1. (Come to think of it...has he folded to me all night?) The flop came 885 and I bet $45 after two checks. The button player called and then Villain No. 1 winced. Probably because he had his heart set on nobody getting in the way of him check-raising me again. But of course that didn't stop him. (After all, the button player would have raised if he had something he REALLY liked. The dude is an open book.)

Anyway, Villain No. 1 raised to $170. I thought for a moment and went with my gut that he had air.

So I went all in for $105 on top of his raise. The button player folded and the board ran out 8856J.

Villain No. 1 tables J4hh. There was only one heart on the flop. My read was good. He had air. But alas, all you can do is get the money in with the best hand. After that it's up to the poker gods.

One of my favorite parts about how my poker game has evolved is the way people view me. I don't know what the percentages would be, but if I took a poll of people who thought I had it most of the time versus the amount of times I do not "have it" I'd get plenty of responses for both.

It is true, I raise a lot preflop with a wide range. I do that because it keeps people guessing. Did I hit top pair on the AJ5 flop or do I still have nothing with my suited 98? Did I flop a set on the 953 board or do I still have ace-high?

It's a puzzle that many opponents get wrong.

While my continuation bet percentage is not 100 percent because people L-O-V-E to check-raise me I do it often enough to keep people guessing. For that reason I feel like most people think I'm usually full of crap.

Some may view me as a loose aggressive player, but what they probably do not realize is I have the discipline to slow down if I recognize a losing situation. Sure, I lose some big pots when I'm not sure the opponent missed and go for the double or triple barrel bluff, but for the most part I save lots of money where most players would be unable to stop their silly attempt to win with air.

The reason why my strategy mostly works - especially in the long run - is because I always bet my big hands. If I raise with A3ss and the flop comes T64sss I'm betting. If the flop comes J44 with me holding JJ, I'm betting. Sure, the opponents may have missed and will fold, but against opponents I know are capable of floating or playing back at me with nothing I make big bucks by betting my big hands.

Here are some recent hands where my image paid off in winning big pots.

Hand #1
I limp for $2 with 66 after a few other limpers. There is a raise to $15 from the player on my immediate left. Everyone folds to me. He's relatively tight but not so much that you have to put him on AA and KK.

Flop comes J64. I check and he bets $30. I break out the tank check-raise. It makes him think that I think he has nothing. I bump it to $100 and he insta-ships it for $325 total. I call and he tables TT.

Hand #2
I raise to $20 (was a $6 straddle by another player) and got one caller. I had position with my Q8cc. Flop came 886ss. He checked and called my $25 bet. Turn came a 9. He checked and called my $55 bet. River was another 6. He jammed for $75 and I called. He tabled 44.

*Sad Trombone*

Hand #3 (Tournament)
A player in middle position tried to raise the 400 BB but only put out 600 so it stayed a call. I picked up AA in the SB and raised to 1,300. He was the only caller.

Flop came 986hh. I bet 1600 and he called. Turn came a 5 and I bet 2700. He called. River came a T. No flush got there. I bet 3800 and he called with AK. Then he said, "I didn't think you had anything on the board."

It boggles my mind how many people lose chips using that excuse.

The first time I stepped out of a friend's basement poker game I was nervous. We did not really take it seriously and were just playing for dimes and quarters anyway. I was comfortable.

Then I found out about a charity poker room in a neighboring state. I went there for one of its $60 tournaments and was floored by how different it felt.

Here were a bunch of people I did not know. Except for playing in the basement with friends I had seen poker on TV. Surely anyone else I would meet was a lot more advanced than me, right?

So the first time I played in one of those tournaments I played scared. I raised bigger than normal. I did not want to get called, even with aces. I have kings and an ace comes on the flop? I'd better check it down. He has to have me beat, right?

Oh how times have changed.

After playing in that room for a bit I got more comfortable. These days it's impossible for me to sit in a 1-2/1-3 NL game and not feel like I can win.

But what about bigger games? A few days ago I took a step forward in that regard, too.

In a recent blog I discussed a 5-5 NL game where I won four figures in my first try. I did not play a lot of hands that night, but in my return the other night I played a lot more. And I won a lot more than the first time.

Before I got to my seat I looked at the action and saw $500 in green chips in front of one player and $1,500 in front of his opponent. There were no community cards yet. I looked at my buy-in of $500 still in my rack and thought, "What am I getting myself into?"

My buy-in was dwarfed by every other stack. I knew there would not be as much room to play in the early going. Unfortunately, that buy-in lasted only about 20 minutes. I lost it all when my QQ got beat by 99 on a J95 flop.

I had brought $280 more with the intent of reloading if I lost a little bit. I didn't think I had much of a chance with only $300 in my stack, but I decided to give it a shot anyway.

I picked up a few hands against a loose-aggressive player and built up my stack. Pretty soon I had enough to play again.

That's when things really took off.

When I'm sitting in a 1-3 game I have no trouble triple-barreling a hand if I think my opponent is weak. But how would I respond when the bet on the turn had to be over $200 instead of $50 or $60.

I was happy to realize that the stakes did not affect me. There was really only one hand in which I slowed down on the turn and river, but it turns out my read was good and he was going to call the whole way.

Two examples:

I had AA and raised to $35 preflop and got three callers. The flop came J88cc and I fired $85. One tight player called. The turn was a red 6 and I fired $205. He called pretty quick. I just did not think he had an 8. He's tight enough that he would have raised the turn. I only had $350 left so that would have been the spot to do it. The river came a red 5 and I moved in. He folded pretty quickly, bemoaning the fact his straight flush draw bricked twice.

I raised to $40 with AJss and got two callers. The flop came Q86ss and I bet $95. Both players called. The turn was the Kc and I fired $260. The first player thought for a bit and folded. The second player folded quickly. I was not just blindly betting, either. Perhaps they did not believe I had the queen. But when I bet again on the king they must believe I have something on that board. And calling $260 with a draw and one card to go does not sound good. I thought I had some good things going for me in addition to the fact I had an overcard, a straight draw and the nut flush draw.

Now for the big hand:

The loose-aggressive player from above had been opening for $60 or $70, which was way more than the normal raise without a straddle. One time I saw him show down K5dd. I took advantage of that a few times when I picked up premium hands in late position. He folded most of the time.

Anyway, that's the guy I'm up against in the big hand.

I pick up two red sevens and limp in after four other limpers. Seven people see the flop A75cc. The villain leads for 30 and one guy calls. I'm on the button and raise to $110. Both players call.

The turn is a red 8 and they both check. I bet $175 and the villain is the only caller. The river is another 8 so the board reads A7588.

He immediately declares all-in. He had me covered, and I had $710 behind. I couldn't believe it. He had not done that at all during the session. I knew he could have anything. A8? 87? 85? I also had to include 8x in his range, especially 86. I don't think I can ever fold there, but I did take about 30 seconds to think.

I called and he said, "I have an 8." I waited for him to turn over both cards and he showed 84. He had been chasing a gut shot.

When I finally cashed out for the evening I turned that second $280 buy-in into about $2,500.

The money is awesome, but the biggest deal is I did not feel intimidated in a bigger game. I am not ready to play in those big games all the time, but I'm definitely going to go back soon. Hopefully I can get even more comfortable there and start making lots of cash.

I have encountered all kinds of chatter at the poker table. People try to talk trash to get you on tilt, or they tell jokes or they tell bad beat stories. We've all heard it all and probably done all of it ourselves.

The other night, however, I got annoyed for the first time.

I was playing in a 5-5 NL game with lots of action. As with any poker game, some players were tighter than others. It did not slow down the game at all. It was great anyway.

A seat opened up to my right and a player I have seen around town a few times sat down. I had played with him three weeks ago somewhere else and he asked about that game. We made small talk and everything was fine.

I opened a pot preflop and out of nowhere this kid said, "Alert!"

After the hand I said with a smile, "That was because I'm a tight player, right?" He smiled and confirmed my suspicion. No big deal to me. It does not take a genius or even a thinking player to figure out at that table I was one of the tighter players.

(As an aside: I play significantly looser than he thinks, but it's fine with me that he thinks the way he does because it allows me to three-bet him with J5cc like I did a few minutes after he said something the first time.)

Anyway, as the night went on he kept saying, "Alert, Alert!" every other time I entered a pot. That is not an exaggeration.

I ignored it every time and actually took advantage of his image of me a couple of times.

After losing a big hand I decided I needed to leave. It just wasn't going to be my night. So instead of losing everything I left with about half a buy-in, losing 1 1/2 buy-ins total.

I stood up. The dealer asked if I was leaving. I said yes. Then this kid looks at me and says, "The game just got better."

I did not flip out or anything close, but I finally had had enough. I looked at him and said, "What's your problem?"

He was stunned and then said, "I was just joking around. I'm sorry. I didn't know you were going to get offended."

But he wasn't serious. He was laughing with another guy.

It was the kind of thing you would say to a good friend with whom you have played a lot. You know how some people can say something to you and get away with it? As in, they know you a certain way? Well, this kid and I do not know each other like that.

I'm not going to hold a grudge or anything, but it sure is going to feel good the next time I bluff him out of a big pot and show him 8-high on the river.