Someone asked me the other day, "why are you so calm?" I wish I had an easy answer for that, but it did allow me to focus in on one of the few things which gets my adrenaline pumping, gets me focused and excited, occasionally scared, and that's at the poker table.

I've been feeling very confident in my game lately, and that feeling only escalated this afternoon when I proudly walked away from Casino Niagara with my buddy James up about $150 mostly through the 1-2 No Limit table. I only won a few major hands, but made some excellent plays and one hell of an amazing call.

I was sitting with Q-J suited (diamonds, baby) and raised it about 10 bucks before the flop. I had a few callers, making for a nice pot. The flop came down 10-K-Q, and I was left with nothing except an open ended straight draw in addition to my pair of Queens. Everyone checked after the flop, and the turn produced a rag, which led to a weak bet from Mr. Sunglasses, and folds around the table. I wasn't ready to give up this pot to a $5 bet, and stayed in.

The river came out with an Ace, giving me the ace-high straight. Unfortunatley, this also allowed there to be 3 Spades on the table, leaving the opening for a flush draw.

I didn't think he had the flush, so I opened up with a $25 bet, only to be raised all-in from Mr. Sunglasses.

I sat for about 2 minutes pondering the situation, finally deciding he didn't have the only hand that could possibly beat me (the flush) and called. He said "I have the straight," making me think it was gonna be a split pot.

But alas, his straight was simply 9 to K. He held the 9 and another card which gave him the straight, and didn't even realize the possibility for a higher straight. I took another $80 of his, making that pot the highlight of my stay at the card table.

I also had a pounding headache the entire afternoon, which didn't help matters. James unfortunatley did not do as well as I did, but he didn't seem too bothered, still being up in money from last week.

I'll have a semi-major test in another week in a (hopefully) 8-person $40 game I'm playing with some friends and acquaintences. Anything less than a win will certainly be dissapointing, but I think I can pull it off.


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Off topic from my card games, I have 40 or so hours of volunteer work to do this semester, and I think I'm going to look into the Transitional Services Inc of Buffalo which helps with mentally handicapped individuals make the transition from a group home type of setting to independent living. It's a field of Social Work I wouldn't mind looking into for a career, so I think this would be a good choice for some experience in the field. ¶ 12:09 AM |