Mid-week update

Tonight was one of those nights that make me want to walk away from poker and never look back. The idiots were out in force, making mistake after mistake and having the card gods sweep down to save them.

It started out okay. In an early hand I had AKs in the SB. Four limpers ahead (this is 6-max) so I make it 6BB to go. Three calls. One was okay, one was very questionable, one folded afterwards so I don't know.

This kind of thing was rampant tonight. A couple limpers, a large raise, and then everyone calls. It was like everyone really wanted to play craps. It didn't matter how big the raise was, at least half the table called.

The flop comes Q-high. Check, all-in for 2/3 the pot, and a call from the button. I wasn't getting quite the odds I needed to make the call, but it was close. I called. The checker folded. Three to the turn.

The turn paired the board but didn't help me. I check. Here's where I think the button made a mistake. He was betting into a dry side pot, but he's either very strong and trying to suck more money out of me or he's trying to force me out. He bets $0.10 with $3.82 in the main pot. What is that? If I just called a $0.80 all-in bet on the previous card, it would seem likely I'd call a bet considerably larger than that, so it doesn't seem like a bet for value and with the pot laying me 39-to-1 the only way I'm not calling is if I know to a certainty that I'm drawing dead. No way I'm folding.

The river brought my king. I was concerned one of the other two may have lucked into trips when the board paired so I just checked. The button again puts in a $0.10 bet. I just don't get this. Of course, I call. The button turns over AQ. Pretty strong, but considering I was the one raising pre-flop he should have been more aggressive to see where he stood. If he'd have bet $1 on the turn I'd have folded. He probably figured me for an overpair, but then why bet at all? Take the free card and be happy. The original all-in had pocket 6's so I was up $3 on my second hand at the table.

From there it pretty much went downhill. Three-outer at the river. Two-outer at the river. And another of the "I'll call any pre-flop raise with total crap and then luck out" hands. All of them from the same player. Very discouraging.

I also ran into several rather frustrating calling stations. This used to come up all the time in limit, but I've not seen it much in NL, even in the cheap seats. The player has a decent, strong hand, but refuses to bet it and refuses to fold no matter how much you bet.

I've had sessions that were much worse financially, but for some reason tonight was especially frustrating. Other than the one hand mentioned above, it seemed like nothing went right and lots went wrong.