Friday 7/20:

Did my usual Friday thing, leaving work around 3ish (I'm a model employee) to go to the Bike. First, I get to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic for 20 miles or so, which is always fun. I get to the Bike and go to an open seat in the 5/10 NL game.

A quick word about this game. It's $500 min buyin and no max buyin. It's the only uncapped game at the Bike, and is typically the biggest game they spread. Until very recently I made my home in the game that's one step down, the 5/5 $300-500 game. I'm done with that shit. I made the decision some time ago that once my bankroll hit $40k I'd make the 5/10 my regular game, and it's there so I'm there.

We're playing shorthanded at the must-move table, typically about 5 or 6 of us in and out of the game. Super Mario is here, and only one other player I know by name (whose name, I believe, is George). There's a big donkey to my right, the kind of guy that games are often built around. I buy in for $2000 and have everyone covered.

For some reason the donkey has decided to stop being a donkey, at least for the day. He even acknowledges as much. The others aren't really into the game since it's short and just the holding table anyway. Not much happens, until this hand comes along.

I'm on the button with QQ. A couple of people limp and I make it $60 to go. I get two callers, George in the SB and one other person. Flop is fairly good for my hand- . It checks to me and I bet out half the pot, $100. I know that George is the untrusting type and will likely view my bet as weak (which is exactly why I picked that amount for my continuation bet). He flat calls. Turn is the , and naturally I'm hoping he just hit his flush. He checks, I bet $200 this time, and he checkraises me to $500 (with another $600 or so behind). I put on my frustrated face while deciding whether to flat call or just push right there. I decide that pushing might get a fold while calling might make him think I have nothing more than an overpair with the . That's the story I want to sell, so I call. Turn is what I consider to be an action-killing 4th club, and he checks. I make the only move I can and push, and he calls with what at first looks like 55. I'm blind though so it's actually 66 and I take his stack.

The game broke, started back up short again, and I made a couple of bad calls against aggressive players. I was happy to be moved to the main game, but not much was happening for me there. Eventually a guy they call Corporation Mike comes over from the must-move, and I'm fortunate enough to be sitting directly to his left. He's an action player and quite good at it when he wants to be. I'm not an action player at a table like this and after watching him take a large stack of another guy and build his up to around $8k, I wasn't really feeling it anymore. I called the girl to see if she was home from work yet, and we went to dinner instead. Sometimes its better to just bow out gracefully. Net for the 3 hour or so session +$550.

Saturday 7/21:

I've fallen in love with the 5/10 NL game at Commerce. It's the most retarded game you've ever seen; $400 min/max buyin with 5/10 blinds. The people in it, those that aren't 25, wearing Prada sunglasses and pounding Red Bulls, tend to be sitting in puddles of their own drool.

Commerce is the Party Poker of B&M's. It's huge, unsightly, uncomfortable, service is bad, and you just can't tear yourself away from the place because the action is so good. However, players I know from the Bike have said that if Commerce would just change the buyins on the 5/10 game to something reasonable, they'd never leave. I feel the same way.

The key to playing the 5/10 game with the $400 max buyin is to be ready to donk off at least one stack. After that, you better be winning. It's a game that can go really good or really bad, there's not much in between. It's common to see stacks of $3k-$4k here, since the action players will sit there all day picking off the smaller stacks.

So I head there Saturday night and settle in. I buy in for the $400 and keep another $1000 in white chips in my pocket, for ease of reloading. I'm only down about $150 or so before the cards start coming my way. My first double up involved me with KQ flopping top pair and outrunning a straight draw. Yep, that's how you double up in this game. After that the deck really started smacking me in the face. Consider:

1. KK in EP, I raise and get eleventy billion callers. Flop is K85. I bet and get called once. Flush shows up on the turn. I bet and get called, and am now officially worried. Turn is a brick, I have no choice but to push, and get called by the 55. Set over set can be so fun.

2. A fun one. T9s in the BB, donk open minraises on the button. I call and see a Q74 rainbow flop. I check, he bets $15. He so clearly has nothing. I call, deciding I'll make a play at it eventually. Turn is another queen, which is a perfect card for me. It goes check/check. I bet out $50 on the river deuce, hoping to represent a failed turn checkraise. He calls, and I proudly table my hand without saying anything. The smartass next to me, however, says "straight!" Button mucks his hand without showing. He then realizes his error but saves his animosity for the smartass and for himself. I try to give him back his last bet but he refuses to take it. That's how you win at showdown with ten-high.

3. I get AA and flop another set. Small pot.

4. Here's the big one. on the button. Donkey min raises UTG blind since they don't allow live straddling in this game, so he decides to do the one thing dumber than straddling. Two callers between us and I make it $100 to go. It gets called by the SB, the donkey, and one limper. Just what I wanted, a $450 pot with AQ soooted.

Before the flop is dealt the donkey asks for "all diamonds." Yes, that would be nice. Flop comes down . I'm hoping for it to check to me so I can take one off for free, since the CRAI is inevitable if I bet. No such luck, the limper pushes for $550 ahead of me. The SB has about $600 and the donkey $150 (because that's how much donkeys typically have). I decide that the donkey doesn't actually have diamonds and that I have 12 outs against the limper, who I know has a hand but does have a wide range. 12 is the compromise number I sell myself. I call, and then the SB goes all in, which does nothing more than add value to my draw. Donkey folds. In addition to needing a diamond I'm dodging a pairing of the board in any way since limper has J8 and SB has 44. I did not have 12 outs after all. But all of that is moot since the dealer peels off a diamond on the turn and it holds up. TY.

5. Another beauty. UTG, I limp and call a small raise. There's $200 in the pot for a flop of . These are the flops you get when God loves you. I check and the preflop raiser makes it $100. He gets called by the COLOSSAL donkey next to him, who I can tell is drawing. It's back to me and I make it $200. I only make min raises in special circumstances, but this was one of them. I wanted to trap the raiser between me and the donk, since I know the donk ain't going anywhere and will likely push his $500 or so in the middle. Preflop raiser thinks and thinks but he's smart enough to see what's going on, and folds. Donk does what he does, shoving all in. I, uh, call. He has . Club shows up on the turn. . As I said, God loves me.

I hung around a little while longer with my massive stack of chips but the game was slowing down and I was getting hungry for fourth meal so headed out around midnight. I drive back home and get in the massive late-night Jack in the Box drivethru clusterfuck, and text my buddy who's still in the game. He tells me the table's turned into Thunderdome. Half of me turns the car around to go back, but the half of me that's hungry and tired is actually driving the car. 7 hours, +$2700.

Nice journal mate, like to hear about live hand stories, keep em coming.