Back on Track, But at what Price?

Longtime readers are probably perplexed at my plan of playing everyday at the Riverside, and Hold'em, at that. Maybe you are all waiting for the other foot to drop. You aren't alone.

I kind of figured that if I got back into HE, and played like mad, everyday, around such scum that frequents the RS, I would finally get so burnt out on HE that I would quit altogether. Maybe it would drive me to online play. Maybe I would quit poker entirely. Maybe I would refuse to play HE again in my lifetime. Maybe I would get better at tourneys and go that route. In other words, I needed direction.

I still haven't gotten to that point. But you aren't alone in your thoughts that I am doing something I've never done before, and driving myself to the point of a total break. I will someday soon run full speed off of that cliff, and we will all find out where that road will take me.

As far as my horrible run, it finally seems to have stopped. But I paid a dear price for winning yesterday.

I woke up several times during the early morning hours to a blinding headache. It had been raining off and on, so I knew my allergies were going nuts. My head was pounding along with my pulse, simply throbbing. It got slightly better after coffee and allergy pills. It went up and down all day, but never left me. I figured it might be better in Laughlin due to their super low elevation and heat. It only got worse.

The massage girls stopped coming to the poker room due to lack of tipping. Figures. I tried everything. I tried two shots of espresso, which helped more than anything else. I tried gin. I tried listening to music.

Although the espresso seemed to help the most, my head was still pounding and I eventually gave up and called the spa. Oddly enough, on a Friday night they could take me at 5:30pm.

I don't remember if I was up or down at the 2-6 kill HE game, but when Glenn cashed me out of the newly started 4/8 kill game at a little after 5pm, I was up $122 ($322 in front of me).

The masseuse was a woman who wanted to play live HE, but had only seen it on TV and played via some free program on her cellphone. We talked about poker during the entire massage. She was extremely aware, and said right after touching my back with her hands one time, "Whoaaaaa, have I got my work cut out for me!" Blinding headaches seem to leave my back rigid as a board. She also remarked, "You drink a TON of water, don't you?" So she was on the up and up, not just some mindless, brainless masseuse.

The massage was good, and I wondered why I hadn't been getting more of them. My headache was gone, and although it returned here and there during the rest of the night, it was at perhaps only 10% of it's former strength.

When I got back to the poker room, the 4/8 was gone, due to the tourney starting at 6:30. I hopped into the 2-6 kill again only to quickly lose about $60. When the NLHE game was announced, I could see we were going to lose our softest spots, so I took my bills and diminished stack and moved along with the fishies.

I was able to limp into a couple of pots, but never knew when they were going to be raised and reraised crazily. Sometimes I was raised out with low pocket pairs or a decent ace, other times I got to see a flop. I didn't catch a thing for about an hour.

Gary, the crazy car dealership owner who drops about 5k per night when this game is going, was in his usual form. But this time he was challenged by the many other nutty Californians who invented this type of style and can buy and sell him any time they want. He quickly went through about 2k (within the first five hands, lol).

Another SoCallie bought in for about $500, cashed out an hour later with over 3k, almost all of it Gary's money. Besides Gary, the money was very shallow, so I put my name on the newly starting 4/8 list again, and waited for the blind to get to me.

Before my blind I was lucky to get three hands almost in a row. First I had queens. I raised to $30. Gary was in the big blind and had yet to go to the cashier for more thousands so was down to his last $60. He reraised me for that amount and turned over aces. What the heck? Maniacs get aces, too? ;)

A couple of hands later I had AJo. I limped. The flop came 9TJ with two diamonds. My ace was a diamond. I led out the pot, which was about $30. I got two callers. The turn was a total rag, so I bet $100. Folded to me.

The very next hand was my UTG. I had tens. I raised to $30. I got re-raised by an EP, timid player to $100. I smooth called, knowing I might have to lay it down to a big bet on the flop with overcards. I looked at my opponent, not the flop, and checked. He checked behind looking nervous/disappointed/deflated. I looked at the flop of all rags. The turn was another rag and I pushed in. He folded. I made about $120 at the NLHE table.

About that time, as I sat down in the new 4/8, my head started pounding a little bit again. Surely nothing like before, but it was still so early, and I didn't want to leave a good game. So I had heard they served Port up at the fancy foo-foo steak house. They had a bar, and I went up to get some. It was excellent.

I didn't score big in the 4/8, but hovered around even for an hour. On one hand, a player in the blind misplayed aces so horribly that I cannot even think of a time that I have seen them played worse than that. There were a couple of limpers, including me in LP with QTo. The flop was KQx and checked all around. The turn gave me a gutshot but killed my runner flush draw. Passed to me, I bet. She called. We both checked the river brick and she turned over aces (???). Can we all say MISPLAYED ON EVERY STREET??? She won about $36 on that hand, $12 of which was hers!!! Horrible! People will do anything and everything to get that $50 for cracked aces. Ugh!

So Glenn started yawning and hadn't slept well the night before. He asked if I wanted to go home early. Although my headache was much better with the Port, I agreed, since my game wasn't that good anyway.

I scored, I feel better, but at what cost? $90 massage (with tip), two shots of 20 year old Port ($16 with tip)...hmmm!

Felicia :)
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Last night:

-$60 (2-6 HE Kill)
+$120 (4/8 HE Kill)
+$120 (2/5 NLHE)
=180 Net winnings for Friday, September 1, 2006

(Total saved for new car pre-August 15 $2500. Current total $1620 [-50 Wednesday loss])