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Sunday was a big day. John had been eliminated in one of the final levels last night, so he wanted to play some cash games. I told him that I would meet up with him at the Commerce Casino. I decided on a 5/10 NL game with a $400 buy-in. The table was VERY soft. It was passive - which is a dream come true when you get higher limits. There were three hands that were noteworthy. The first one was:

Game: 5/10 NL

Buy-in: $400 (no more, no less)

My Stack: About $600

Position: UTG + 1

I peek at my hole cards and see:

I make it $60 to go. I get 4 callers. Yikes. This is not my idea of fun.

Pot: $300

The flops comes:

The good news is that I flopped a set. The bad news is that there is a flush draw out there. Since I am first to act, I formulate my plan quickly. There is a hyper-aggressive person to my left. If I make a weak bet, there is a great chance that he will raise. My plan is to lead out with a small bet and rerasise all-in if there is any raise. I lead out for a very weak $75. Just as I suspected, the guy to my left picks up on the weak bet and raises to $300. My plan is working. I expect everybody to fold to me. To my surprise, player #3 goes all-in. Player #4 then goes all-in. Player #5 to my immediate right ponders for a second and then goes all in.

I have to ask myself, “WTF?”

I flopped the second best hand. I cannot put anybody on pocket aces at this point - there would have been a raise or reraise preflop. I MUST have the best hand - I push all-in as well. The original raiser calls and we draw a huge crowd of gawkers. I am thinking there is another set, a big ace, and a flush draw.

The turn is:

My heart skips a beat when the cruel poker gods deliver the river:

Is this how I am going to get my set of kings cracked? Somebody taking the pot with Ace-Ten?

I let out a sign of relief as everybody folds. Two people had flush draws, one had an Ace, and the fourth person did not divulge what he held. I rake in a $2012 pot - the largest that I have ever won in my life - for now.

Awhile later, I find myself in a hand tangling with another big-stack.

My Stack: $1700

Enemy’s Stack: $2600

Position: Mid

I peer at my hole cards and see:

I limp with several people limp and the flop comes:

Nice flop, but dangerous. It is checked to me, so I lead out for $60. Everybody folds except the big blind, who calls.

The turn comes:

Making the board even more dangerous. The big blind checks. I feel compelled to bet again, so I push out $100. The big blind immediately raises to $500. I really do not want to lay this hand down. I think for awhile and put him on something like pocket 77 or perhaps 87s. I am having a hard time laying down this hand, even though it should be easy. Finally, I ask the dealer to call the floor over. The floor comes over and I call the clock on myself. People at the table thought this was the funniest thing that ever happened. Finally, I fold my set face-up. The guy was nice enough to show 97 - for the absolute nuts (at that point).

A few hours later, I find myself tangled in this hand:

Stack: $1650

Position: UTG

Hole Cards:

This is not a hand that I make a habit of playing under the gun. It is way too weak to play out of position. However, the table had been playing pretty passive, so I decided to try to sneak in cheap. I limp in for $10 and there were 6 people seeing the flop. I got my wish - a cheap flop.

Pot: $60

Flop:

I have flopped the nuts, but there is a flush draw. I want to feel everybody out, so I lead out for $40. Everybody folds to the guy on the button who says, “I am going to raise to let you know what you should do.”

Now, don’t take that the wrong way. Everybody at the table was being pretty nice. He had good intentions - he raised and verbally told me that I should fold. Everybody had been doing this all afternoon. People were being cool and taking small wins on the flop. I thought for a second. I did not want to sucker him in - he was cool (yes, I know- I am breaking the cardinal rule), so I decided to tell him that HE should fold. My plan was to push all-in and then say, “I am going all in to let YOU know what YOU should do.” I went all-in for another $1600 into the $240 pot. I didn’t even get the word “in” out of my mouth, and he insta-calls.

Confused, I said, “We MUST be chopping this pot.”

Imagine my surprise when he turned over AJ for two pair!! The turn was a T and the river was a 7, and the straight holds up for a $3565 pot! Wowie! Now this one is the largest pot that I have won to date. I think I like The Commerce Casino now. The Bike has some competition as my favorite card room.