Brutha's Report

Standard cast of clowns for the Brother's game. For the night things were moving along very badly for me. It didn't take me long to get stuck $100. I was miserable - having hands cracked and then playing weak hands to try and get back in it. Not a good strategy.

"If i don't play a weak ace then who will?" -
Hrbek

Hrbek didn't say that. But i'm sure he's thought it several times. I kid.

As the night progressed I found myself down $160 and to make things even worse - Wild Bill was calling it a night. So the game went from 8 players to 4. Myelf and both brothers and one kid who isn't very good. The kid was pretty nervous about playing short handed. He had a sizeable stack and was scared of losing it. He has never been a profitable player and the thought of playing against stronger players was weighing on him. First hand of the short handed session I flopped a straight against the kid and took a good chunk of chips from him. He counted down and cashed out right then. Too bad for me.

Since I was still down around $120 I wanted to keep playing but I could tell both brothers weren't exactly too keen on the idea. They were up a little and didn't like short handed play but I goaded them into playing. They would soon regret it.

There were really 3 huge hands of note.

First Hand

I was dealt 99 on the button. I raise to $4 and Little brother folds. Now Brian (big brother) reraises me to $8 and I think long and hard on this and decide to just call. I actually had no clue what he had. I was thinking a big Ace or some pocket pair. The flop came A72. He checks to me and now i'm wondering why he did that. I decided to check my hand. The turn was a 8. Again he checks to me and now I'm thinking he doesn't have an ace. I put him on a pocket pair but I was wondering if my 9s were good. I bet $6 and he raises me $20 straight. I had $38 left and now I'm in a pickle. I start replaying the hand over and over - all the while watching Brian. I started to pick up that he was worried about this bet and that he was bluffing. I finally decided that my 9s were good and pushed all in. When he didn't immediately call I knew I had him. He looks at me and reluctantly makes the call and shows 55 and I double up. He was actually a little miffed that I would push like this. He thought my play was lucky but the storyline just wasn't adding up and I decided to trust my reads. I really feel I'm getting better at reading people and this made me feel great and I could feel the momentum shifting in my favor. I now had $120 and was only down $40 on the night. Brian had around $80 left and John had around $100.

2nd Hand.

In the SB I was dealt my first and only pair of AA for the night. Brian was on the button and folded so I decided to just slow play the AA and just call the BB. John decides to raise me to $3. I look at him and reraise to $13. He immediately pushes all in and I call quickly. He shows JJ and I knock him out. He was pissed. I'm the luckiest bastid according to these guys. He even questioned why I would only call from the SB with AA. He told me it was a dumb move. Perhaps he's right.

I admit that I got lucky on this hand but most of the time I put myself in position to allow luck to favor me. I now have $220 and I have my first profit of the day.

3rd and Final Hand.

Brian and I go heads up for nearly 1 hr and a few times I get him severely short stacked but I couldn't finish him off. I had around $180 chips and he had $120 when this final hand came up.

I was dealt AT spades and raised the hand to $4. Brian reraises me to $8. I call. The flop comes down QT3 with one spade. Brian bets $7 and I call with middle pair. The turn brings a blank but another spade. Now I have a spade draw and and 2nd pair. Brian bets $10 to me and I figure it was possible I was playing against AA, KK, AQ or KQ and maybe even JJ. I didn't think he had a set of Qs since he bet the flop. He typically plays his sets slowly. So now I have to think about this call. The pot is laying around $40 so I'm getting 4:1 on my call and with as many as 14 outs it was a very close decision. (14 outs = 9 spades, 3 aces, 2 Tens). I decided to call. The river card came the 4 of spades and I ran out the flush. Brian, oblivious to the flush, bets $15 and I reraise all in and he calls immediately. He shows KK and I take every chip left at the table. He was incensed. Not at my play but at the way his luck was running. I'm sure he was a little peeved at my call on the turn too. Oh well.

He doesn't have all the money to pay me and has to go write a check. He comes back to tell me that this game my be over. His wife was pretty upset and she doesn't like him losing this much every week. Funny thing... both brother's won tons last week in my abscence and yet neither attribute it to me being gone. Tools.

For the night I ended up +125. I feel really good about this.

SIDE NOTE:

Tonight is the first Saturday Night Farmer's Tourney. They decided to have a $200 buyin, No rebuy tourney. Blinds are still the same - 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, 200/400, 500/1000 etc... but now we start with 5000 in chips. I was thinking about possibly not playing, but last night Wild Bill asked if he could pay my buyin and split the winnings. I said yes of course. This is the first time I've ever been staked at a tourney and makes me feel like I'm a seasoned pro. I hope to post the results tomorrow.