February 14 - Valentines Day - "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City, Aint No Love in the Heart of Town"
On the way to the poker table, I saw a guy with his chick going to Wolfgang Puck who was definitely NOT getting any tonight. How do I know a guy dropping coin on a fancy dinner on Valentine's Day who's already with a girl is not getting laid? Easy. She was wearing a dress. He was wearing a Derrick Brooks Pro Bowl jersey. On V-Day, that's not the Tampa 2, it's the prevent defense. I bet that s*** will come back to bite him in the ass on Steak and BJ Day, too. It's going to be Chick Flick and PB&J Day for him.
Anyway, I got one of the best 1/2 NL tables I've seen in a while, but I couldn't do a damn thing with it. In the beginning, I was in the 7 seat and the 9 seat was a really cute girl who is a dealer at another casino in AC. She was GREAT for the game. Really LAGGY, but also friendly, talkative and keeping all of the guys entertained. She knew how to play, but was too loose and the more she drank the more that was emphasized - but she seemed to just be having fun.
The best way to describe her was pretty, not in a girl next door sense, but in a cool chick sense. Not glamorous, but a girl that you could tell would be cool to hang out with and still had the looks. Normally that'd be a type I'd be interested in, but I make it a point not to try to pick up girls at the poker table. I'd give you some speech about focusing on the grind, etc, but in reality it's because I'm a pussy. That, and if you get shot down in general, you walk away... At a poker table, especially a good game, you're going to wallow in the awkwardness for a while if you try and fail.
Anyway, the table conditions were almost perfect. When other people are talkative, I'm really good at cracking some jokes, playing off of them and getting other people in on the fun mood. I'm not as good at being the one to start all that, which I'd like to improve.
Regardless of the conditions, I'm basically just bleeding money at this table. I kept picking up KJ+ in LP or AJ+ in MP/EP, raising, getting called in 3-6 spots and whiffing. Or I'd 3B AK, get cold called and whiff a JT9ss flop and get donked into. This was a table you were going to have to make hands at to win pots.
Then I pick up KhJs in the CO with 3 limpers and raise to $12. The button calls and two other players call.
Flop ($46): KJ8 rainbow
It checks to me and I bet $25. I'd normally bet 30-35 here, but it's a rainbow and there aren't a ton of draws - really just QT and T9. The BTN folds, one of the limpers calls.
Turn ($96): Q, putting out two spades
The other guy bets like $70ish and has about $90 behind. I'm like, WTF, because it seems like that card hit him, why else would he rando-donk the turn? But he could very well have any two pair that hit the Q, flopped two pair afraid of the 3 straight trying to charge draws, as well as T9, or even QT still. If I give him KQ, K8, J8, QJ, Q8, QT, T9, 88, I'm pretty much not going to fold so I just jam it in. He snap calls, T9 is good, sir.
I already told you about the hand I folded KK on and the AK vs AA. There were a couple others where I flopped decent and had to fold to aggression from the wrong player. Lots more raising good cards, whiffing like 5 ways and shutting down.
Eventually the girl left, and this guy at the other end of the table went on like super monkey tilt and starting spewing and antagonizing people and being an enormous dick. There was one hand he raised, and I was one of five callers in the SB with 88.
Flop ($55): TTT
I check, intending to raise, and the BB fires $65. It folds back to me and I'm still kind of shocked. What a weird overbet. Obviously he doesn't have the T, but he's not making that type of bet with like Ax. I basically figured him for like 55-QQ. I beat 3, chop with the other 8s, lose to 99-QQ. If we widen the range, I think he's more likely to have KK or AA than 33 or 44. In addition, if I call/raise, he's probably going to shut down with the weaker hands and fire away with the higher end of his range and I'm out of position. Sick spot, and I just folded.
There was also a spot where I flatted AKo on the button with two calls in front for $7. Basically just mixing it up, and was sick of 3betting and whiffing. Should've 3bet it, though. Then one of the blinds made it $67 and got two calls. We were like $300 deep and he had been talking about never 3 betting JJ or worse earlier, and I believed him. I tanked and folded - he ended up having KdQd. The way the board ran out, I would have lost anyway, unless I jammed and he called. Obviously I should have shoved, given his holding. So I was a little off all day, at least in terms of laying down some good hands or being in weird spots.
Anyway, back to that angry/spewy guy... He got two outed on the river, and was throwing chips and cards and whining to the dealer. He rebought up to $300 but they were almost out of reds so he had to take a bunch of whites. That angered him even more. Very next hand...
He raises to $11 up front, one call. I call with Ac5c, basically deciding that he's going to fire three streets and probably end up all-in with any two cards. I have approximately $200, he covers.
Flop ($30): Qs8x5x
He bets $21. Other guy folds. I call and basically decide the plan here is call him down unless it gets really, really ugly.
Turn ($70): 9s
He bets $43. I call.
River ($156): 4s
He moves all-in. I tank a bit and call. He has Ks3s. Nice hand, sir. I firmly believe he was three barreling and all the money was going in no matter what with any two, because he had done that before after losing hands. He called down w/ A3 high in one spot when the other guy clearly had at least trips. I feel like basically raising on the flop or turn does not have fold equity against anything I beat or anything drawing remotely live and costs me some small amount of equity because it might knock him off some bluffs. I'm sure people here will disagree, but I still feel pretty good about the way I played it.
The walk back to my room SUCKED. Walking past all the drunk hot girls on a normal weekend is bad enough when you're doing the solitary grinder thing and single, but walking past all the girls dressed to the nines with their boyfriends on Valentines Day felt like the nut low. Although, the dudes waiting in line with their girls to eat at Metropolitan of all places were really paying the relationship rake. Yikes.
Of course, there's the other perspective... To quote the interlude of a Drake song... "Makin it to the top, all the way to the top. You need to go for the money, and not the honey, you know what I'm sayin? ... Wise words from a decent man / back when I was tryin'a put a ring on Alicia's hand."
I should probably be more focused on making money at the tables, advancing my career, making those tough life choices, padding my life roll, moving out, improving my social life in general, and THEN going after the woman.
I also crushed a bag of M&Ms, which I guess could be construed as losing my no fast food goal, but technically it's not fast food, despite being complete crap to eat, so I'm going to ignore it.
End result: -$750 in 6 hrs, 14 minutes. Back at it tomorrow. The plan is to wake up early, watch Team USA beat Russia and then grind for 25-30 hours and check back in on Sunday and crash. Then I have to be up REALLY early and go work on Monday. Then I'll crash for a couple hours and grind late into the night... Then, because of some issues coordinating a meeting at work that was supposed to happen last week, I have to go back in on Tuesday. I'll probably either play online or at Delaware Park after that...
So my goal is to get 45ish hours in over the course of the trip now.