Patience Prevails

I am finally better. I would say I am between 90-95%. The only problem I still have is that I have a recurring cough which is quite annoying. The doctor told me that I would have a cough for a week after I got better so hopefully thats as long as it lasts. Although I have been extremely tempted, I have been able to lay off the smoke and I am very proud of that. I don't plan on smoking again until I am sure that I am completely healthy.

I have since put in 4 sessions at Commerce over the last 4 days. My sessions have gone as follows: +$287, +$117, -$200, and +$335.

I really don't remember much about the first session but I remember one of my last hands, I came up $100 when I was dealt A A and got all-in with a short stack who had A J. I held up and left not long after.

The next 3 sessions have been incredibly interesting. For one, I have given bad beats in each of the last 3 sessions. I know. Unbelievable. Right?

In the session where I came up $117, I was dealt no cards the entire session and I was down to my last $110 or so. I was playing on one of those crazy gambler tables where almost every hand is an all-in. For some reason I always lose when I play on these tables when in reality these should be my most profitable tables. Like most of the times I get seated at one of these tables I could not find a playable hand.

I found A K and pushed all-in for $110. I got called by two players who were playing crazy the entire time. The flop came Q high and on the river I hit my Ace. One of the players showed K Q and the other showed 8 7. Even though I got sucked out on the flop I finally hit the standard 3 outer on the river and I tripled up. In the next 15 minutes after that hand, all of the wild loose players got up from the table and since the action was dead I decided to leave with a very small win.

The next session which was my only loss of the 4 was similar to the last one. I was dealt no cards and got all-in once again with an A K with a stack of $80. I hit an A on the river and I cracked pocket kings. Another 3 outer. Unbelievable. The last hand of the session I tried sucking out on the worst player on the table but as usual I can't hit a flush to save my life. The worst player on the table raised to $20 and I along with several others called with an A 8 of diamonds. I flopped the nut flush draw and got all-in with the suckers pocket 10's. I couldn't suck out in the $400 and I took a loss.

Today's session was like the others. I got no cards. Unlike the other 3, I stuck it out for 4.5 hours which is the longest session I have had for the entire month of March. I kept my discipline up and waited for my spots. I finally won a good hand when my pocket kings held up against some random hand and I was up to $400. I finally started getting cards but every time I would raise pre-flop I would get the worst flop possible and would face resistance. Within an hour I was already back down to my original $200 starting stack. My second big hand of the session came when UTG raised to $20. I was pretty sure he was really strong but everyone else called and I had K Q of diamonds which looked like pocket aces considering all the crap I've been getting for the whole week. The board came 8 high and I flopped a flush draw and UTG went all-in for $129. I put the rest of my stack in for about $150 and the biggest stack also called my all-in. There was one more player to act and he mucked two diamonds face up. Great.

On the turn I hit my queen and that was all I needed and I scooped the $500+ pot. UTG showed J J and was complaining about how terrible my call was. He can say whatever he wants but I am a 54% favorite on that flop. I attribute my most recent win to my patience. It was unbelievably hard to sit for 4.5 hours and fold almost every hand. I have been picking my spots very well lately and have been doing a very good job of avoiding marginal situations. If I can actually start hitting some straights and flushes I will be in much better shape.

As of right now, I am up $1207 in 25 hours of play. That adds up to $48.22 per hour which is by far my best hourly rate since November. Hopefully things continue this way.