This must be a good sign, right?

So I've come up with a few ideas that should improve this thing. First, I'm going to try to split out the hard core poker speak in order to minimize confusion and vocabularial (new word) difficulties among my non-poker related friends. Second, I've decided that for future reference, all names will be changed/not-used to protect the innocent (which in many cases will be me, for berating someone for doing something really stupid). So here goes.

Work

Today was my last day at Oracle. To be honest I haven't really had anything useful to do for a couple of weeks now, and accordingly I left right after lunch at about 12:30 pm. It was a little scary, walking away from a place that I'd spent more time than, for example, MIT's actual campus (I did the math and don't think it's close), but just a little. A DHL envelope was sitting on my door mat, which upon inspection graciously produced my last paycheck (for one day's pay and 96 hours of accrued vacation). I just handed my badge to the security guy in the 300 building and said "it's my last day" and walked away. Kind of anti-climactic....

Prelude

After some discussions with Joe about possible dinner/celebratory plans, I decided I was going to go play at Bay 101. I called to put my name on the list, but was told I was "about 20th or so". I quickly called Garden City, was told "we have two games and open seats" and thus banged a right out of my apartment to head to 280 south. Good call.

Poker Time

I arrived at Garden City just after 2pm and instantly got a seat. To make a long story very, very short, I was up 500, then stuck 400, then eventually booked my largest win ever, just over 2000 dollars. Just smitten with myself, I decided to leave after 6 hours (around 8pm) to go to a friendly small buy in home game (that plays exclusively No Limit and is about half Omaha). In the home game I managed to lose 20 dollars (100 big blinds) because I don't seem to understand that the second nut flush is not a very good hand in Omaha (this happened twice). The set over set confrontation did not help (I'll let you guess which set I had), but the kicker was the following hand.

I am in late position with pocket aces. I of course raise preflop and as per usual get like 3 callers. The flop is K78 with two spades, and roughly speaking a guy goes all in. I call, and he turns over A6, both spades, for a nut flush draw. The turn is a 9, the river a Ten (no spades though), and the host declares (before I even realize what happened) "Straight wins". My opponent says, and I shit you not, "Who made a straight?".

Poker Details

I had just change tables for the second time, and then the seat to my left opened up. I decided not to take it, then changed my mind after the floor man put chips down in it. I slid over and put the rack of chips to my right. A nice Asian woman I've played with before sat down, and I proceeded to decimate her. In 2+ hours she raised preflop exactly 3 times, including her very first hand in which she posted (where I had basically stolen her cards). In 2+ hours I 3-bet preflop exactly 3 times, including her very first hand in which she posted (where I had basically stolen her cards). The hands where:

I hold KK and flop a set. She calls down with I think QQ (but does not show)

I hold AK and flop an Ace. She has QQ again.

I hold QQ and she holds AK. My hand wins unimproved.

Many, many bets went in on many many streets in each of these hands. Then the ultimate lol moment happened....I was eating my hamburger during this hand and only saw the river action, but here she sits.

Bad passive guy has been betting and bets the river. Asian Lady calls. Bad passive guy looks upset. The board is:

A26-3-6

His hand is A2. The astute reader will note that he has the ever-illusive "3 pair", which seldom is good for much of anything in Texas Hold 'Em (I've heard in Omaha it's a passable alternative to bottom set, but what do I know). Asian Lady folds her hand. And specifically, I mean she tosses her hand forward, face down, about 8 inches. The dealer grabs the A2, as she's supposed do, flips it over, and puts it on top of the Asian Lady's hand. Suddenly Asian Lady realizes something and says, in her broken English "Wait!" For some unknown reason the dealer just sits there, frozen (the hands are dead, a winner has been declared. the ship has sailed, the votes are all in, yada, yada) and allows Asian Lady to extract her cards from the 4 under the dealer's left hand. She produces the mighty A8, which the astute reader will note defeats A2 on the aforementioned board (She has Aces and Sixes with an Eight kicker. Her opponent has Aces and Sixes with a 3 kicker). The floor man is summoned, much ruckus ensues, and he rules correctly; Asian Lady mucked her hand, then the dealer killed it, and she can't win the pot. About 300 dollars out there, and I feel pretty bad for her at the moment, but somehow less bad about taking all her chips in the previous three hands (because I, correctly, reason that if she's that un-observant she's going to give her chips to someone. It might as well be me).

To wrap up, I proceed to flop like 15 sets in a row and eventually waddle to the cage with 6 racks of chips. While I 'only' profited 2009 dollars on the session, I actually feel like a full million bucks. Sometimes it's an EZ game. Hand posts on 2p2 will follow tomorrow, but for now I must retire.