The Weekend

The weekend is a bit of a blur in my mind, which is to say there was little of special note that occurred. Friday I went to dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant. We got there in time for "happy hour", which included two-for-one tap beers. Four Peronis and a Sambuca later, I was very much in the mood for the Friday Donkament.

I don't remember too much of the donkament. I recall more people showed up than the week before, I again didn't have to rebuy (other than the initial top-up and the add-on), and I didn't repeat my win from the previous week. And I fell asleep almost as soon as I busted out. Yeah, I'm a real lightweight when it comes to alcohol these days.

Saturday I played a HORSE tournament at Stars. My recollection is of being mostly card dead and never getting anything going. I finished well out of the money.

My successes this weekend were at the cash tables. I played a bit of 6-max NL and did pretty well. There was one guy at my first table who was raising almost every hand. He was clearly pushing the table around and I immediately started looking for a hand I could use to play sheriff. I found it in A9s. I limped, expecting him to raise, and he didn't disappoint. The flop came 8 high with two of my suit. I checked, he bet, I check-raised, he re-raised me all-in. I hate calling all-ins with just a draw, but I figured I had at least 12 outs, possibly 15. That priced me in. Turn was an ace and the river brought a 9. I doubled up and Mr. Raise Every Hand started playing a bit tighter after he bought in again.

My other really big hand was surrounded by odd circumstances. The guy sitting to my right had been playing ultra-tight for a long time. I had almost 100 hands on him and he was about 18% VP$IP at 6-max. I mostly stayed out of his way. Then, all of a sudden, he starts making pot-sized raises almost every hand. It was like he'd been on autopilot, folding to any action, and then switched over to maniac mode. The table had been playing very tight for a while so it's possible he was just trying to take advantage of that.

I finally get a decent hand, AQ. He makes his pot-sized raise from UTG. AQ not exactly being a monster, I decide to just call and see what the flop brings. No help. He puts in a small bet. I've got nothing, but given the number of times he'd been raising lately, I figured I might actually be ahead. I call. The turn brings an ace. I end up all-in and he calls. Turns out he's got KK. Maybe the guy was still playing just as tight and happened upon a great run of cards. I almost felt sorry for him as I was stacking his chips.

It's probably just a short run of decent luck, but 6-max NL in the shallow end of the pool is looking like fairly easy pickings. Play pots cheap when you can. Mostly wait for good cards. Take a stab at orphaned pots, especially when you can do it cheap. Then just sit back and watch as your opponents make mistakes.

For those who haven't already heard, Neteller is finally releasing money to US players. Get it while you can.