Dealt pocket Aces 4 times.

I have had a good week. Things are slowly starting to pick up for me which is quite relieving because I feel like I have been in a stalemate for the last 6 months.

I had the second round of interviews at the California Pizza Kitchen and I would say that it went quite well. Unfortunately, it turns out there are 4 rounds of interviews and I have to see if I get called tomorrow to go in for another round. I really do not know what to think at this point. I am not sure of how much clout my friend has in getting me this job. I am sure that he is doing everything in his power to get me in the door of this place.

I got to Commerce pretty close to the same time that I got there yesterday and was in dire need of a win. I really was not concerned with doing the whole 200-400-600 thing. I just wanted to make a couple hundred bucks and have a little more breathing room.

This whole variance thing is truly amazing. I went about 2500 hands or so without seeing pocket Aces once and I have since been dealt Aces 4 times in the last 300 hands or so. Luckily I have won the last 4 times and have not flopped a set with them so I can smell a really big pot in the future.

My session started the way they always do. Completely card-dead. The same completely unplayable hands over and over again. The few semi-playable hands I was dealt and some that never even made it to the flop never hit. I had a very tight image which I don't generally care for because it is hard to get action when you have a tight image but I guess it is better then getting called down to the river every time I am involved in a hand.

My first decent hand I managed to find was pocket Aces. It was about an hour into the session and I had not raised a single pot to this point which is really bad. I know the chances of me getting any action are pretty slim. I raised to $25 and got called by two really loose players. The flop came out K Q x which is about the last flop I wanted to see. I bet about $70 which was pretty close to the rest of my stack. I really didn't care. The way things have gone I really don't care if someone goes all in because I am going to call off my last $50. Luckily one guy said he had 10's and they both mucked. That put me back to even.

My next big hand came about 45 minutes later. I was dealt pocket Aces again. I was literally shitting all over myself. I could not believe my good fortune. I raised to $25 and got several callers. The board was all rags and I bet out $100 because I didn't want anybody to have a cheap draw to the flush that was on board. The very next player to act put it all in for about $180 and I obviously called. He showed down 10's and I held up for a change. I was sitting on about $420 and felt really good about how things were going at this point.

THE VERY NEXT HAND. Has anyone noticed a trend here how the very next hand something always goes down? I pick up 4 4 in early position and limp. The pot goes unraised and the flop comes down as such.

J 5 4. w/2 spades

BOOM! I hit my set. It feels good to go on a nice little heater.

The first player to act leads out for $25.

I make it $75 and he is the only caller.

Turn K spades. Standard.

He immediately announces all-in and has $700 behind which obviously has me covered. I had to do a double take because I was quite surprised that he went all-in especially for that much. I spend a good couple minutes thinking about it and here is the logic that I came up with.

He obviously doesn't have a big flush. If he did, he would let me hang myself.

K J is a huge possibility and one of the hands that I am leaning toward.

set of 5's. Maybe, but I highly doubt it.

Small flush and wants to protect his hand from a 4th spade peeling off. I put this up there with K J.

I start talking to him and asking him all kinds of questions. Looking back, I now realize that he wanted me to fold which makes a small flush or K J all the more likely. He kept telling me that I was dead and that I had no chance. He then calls out my hand and tells me to muck it. Calling out my hand was enough for me and I mucked it and he flipped over K J. I'm really curious what happens if I call there. Do I lose another all-in where I'm a 90% favorite or do I actually double up to $850?
I will never know and I am not really too upset about the hand because I feel that I learned a lot from that hand. If I am ever in such a situation again I will have a much easier time calling. I also forgot to mention that the guy was running hot and hitting everything and had hit several flushes so it was a lot easier to give him credit for a big hand. Plus, I am the king at not hitting the river so if I was behind I didn't think I was going to hit my re-draw.

A few hands later I got sucked out on when I hit second pair on the flop and took it all the way to the river. I was right that I was ahead but of course the turn and river had to come club club putting 4 clubs out there and my opponents weaker kicker was a club of course. I was now down to $250 and was pretty pissed off.

About 10 minutes later, I played another big hand. I limped A K UTG and a new player made it $25 to go. The same guy who had just sucked out on me also calls.

I re-raised to $100 figuring that both players would just fold. The initial raiser folds and our fish goes all-in. Can you smell BS? The all in was another $120 or so to call and of course I call. I hit the K on river and I scooped. I have no idea what he had since he mucked but he bitched about his luck. Whatever, I had that one coming to me. It turns out that the top pair on the flop was a J and the initial raiser folded J J.

I hit one last little heater of a hand but of course it had to come against a guy who only had a $100 behind. It was a massive cooler, one that I haven't given to anybody in a really long time.

I limped the button with 10 7 and the flop came down

7 7 6 w/ 2 hearts.

Some idiot bet out $5 and I raised to $15 and this other guy called.

The river was my gin card. The 10 of hearts.

We ended up all-in and my opponent didn't hit his one outer for the straight flush.

I ended up leaving about an hour later with a stack of $513 which was a come up of $313.

I left Commerce really excited and looking forward to my next session.

I went home, took care of a few things and took a jog around the neighborhood. During my run, I decided to go back even though it was midnight and see if I could pull off a hit and run.

I sat down in my game at 12:30 and was amped to play.

The players on my table were horrible and I was expecting a good come-up.

Within an hour I was down to $100 and hadn't won more a pot worth $12.

There was this idiot who was playing every hand and running hot and ended up leaving with a big stack. I took his seat and the seat change was absolutely clutch.

About 10 minutes into the seat change I picked up pocket Aces again and got all-in pre-flop against QQ and actually held up again. My stack was up to $220. That guy got up and left and a new player came to the table. He sat next to his friend who was also at my table and he was talking about how he had just dropped $6000 playing $10/$20 and was on tilt. Hit tilt came to my advantage. He and I played against each other one time and I called his $20 raise with A Q.

The flop came down A A 6 and he bet out $35. I called.

The turn was an 8 and he bet out $50. I called.

The river was a 7 and he went all in for about $120 and I obviously called and he says "you win."

That was nice.

I left 20 minutes later with a stack of $405 which was a come up of $205.

I am now up $519 for the month which is a big deal because for the last month or so I have not had more then $10 in cash on me and have been living off my credit card. I have been putting off a lot of things because I haven't had the money and today was a really good day. I spent the whole day running errands and it felt good to get all kinds of things done with my free money. I went grocery shopping. I went to the DMV, I went to City Hall to get my parking permit for the year and I filled up my car with gas.

It's not looking like I am going to make it out tonight because I have some friends who want to go out and get shit-faced so I will be joining them. I may play afterward but I am not counting on it.