Casino Niagara, then some online poker...

Been a while since I did one of these, and I got some requests so since I played alot of poker yesterday, I figured I'd write one up.

One of my best friends came back from Calgary for the week as a vacation to visit family, so we decided to make a casino trip down to the old Casino Niagara, along with another close friend of ours. We got there and saw one of the weirdest sights I've seen in that casino, 3 tables open. Now admittedly it's been a long time since I've been there, but I remember their card room being full pretty much any time I ever went there when I used to frequent it.

So eventually I get onto a 1/2 NL table and buyin for 100(Niagara caps their 1/2 games at 100 max buyin which I despise), and pretty much everyone at the table knows everyone, it's rather obvious most of them basically live at the casino. So when I sit down I take the usual approach of taking a rotation off to get a feel for the table, once I feel good about my general idea of the table's play style, I bring it in for a small raise to 7 UTG with 4/4. Now, typically I hate raising in early position with a low pair like that, but I had 2 reasons for it. 1, the table's play was rather weak and tight so I didn't figure a re-raise would be coming without a really premium hand. 2, it builds a pot on the off chance I spike a 4. I pick up 3 callers and we see a flop, Q/9/4 rainbow. I check, and the next player bets 20 bucks. That gets called, and then called again, so being already kinda short, and there being a straight draw out there, I raise it up to 50 straight. There are 2 folds, and then the last caller calls again. The turn is a blank, a 3, and he checks to me. Since I already have 168 in the pot and only hold 45 behind, I just shove that in, and he goes into the tank before folding. After that one of the players asks to buy a reveal from me for a dollar. I haggle him up to 5, knowing full well it's giving him no information since I'd never play 4/4 UTG like that, so eventually I show it after he pays me 5 bucks to see.

Time passes and I pick up alot of dead money and build a healthy stack well over 220, before the next really big hand comes up.

There's a raise to 7 preflop, and about 4 callers, I call behind with Kh/Jh, and we all see a flop of J/9/8 rainbow. There's a 15 dollar bet, and everyone calls to me, so I call as well. The turn is where I know we're getting ready to play a big pot not, 10 of hearts, putting the heart flush draw out there. The initial better fires 30 now, and then there's a quick re-raise all in to 85 and it folds to me. There's 247 in the pot, and I have to call 85 into it, with the opportunity of another 55 coming in behind me if the initial better calls this. I study the initial better and decide he is calling, so I call. He then prompty folds, which makes this a real borderline call. The player turns over KQ for the stone cold nuts, now a Q doesn't even win it just chops for me, all I have is hearts. No heart on the river and I'm back down to 45 dollars or so.

A few hands later I'm in the BB, it folds around to the button who raises to 12, SB folds and I look at AK and shove in the 52 in my posession. He goes into the tank, joking with friends and shows me A/10 and goes, "I'm gonna call you, I think you have mid-pair". I smile and respond with a simple, "Thanks", and roll over the AK, which prompts the 3 players sitting beside him to all announce they folded 10's, meaning he's drawing stone dead to a 4 flush since he's offsuit. My hand obviously holds and I'm back where I started.

The next big pot I could have played, but wound up out of, was kind of dirty. UTG+1 raises to 15, I call with 99, then a late position player(actually my friend from Calgary), shoves in for 37. The SB re-shoves to 150(or somewhere in that range), and the UTG+1 player calls. I laugh and fold the 99 face up. The flop naturally comes Q/9/4, and my 9's would have cracked the AA, AK, AQ for near a 500 dollar pot. Oh well. I was still right, I knew SB had aces and he did.

A short time later I stack off, when I lose a bunch of small pots and find myself down to 40 bucks, and then lose the last of my money when I shove on a flush draw and get called by top pair which holds.

Oh well, we go to a video roulette table and I make the money back, cashing out for 120, so no loss.

I get home and feel like I wanna play some more poker, so I buy in to a 2/4 NL table for 300 on pokerstars, and just grind it for about 30 minutes before I experience a nice card rush.

First hand is AK, I raise, get 2 callers, flop comes A high I bet and everyone folds.

Next hand is AQ, I raise, get 3 callers, flop comes Q high, I bet and everyone folds.

Next hand is QQ, I raise, get 3 callers, flop comes 9 high, I bet and everyone folds.

That's consecutively, so I'm fairly certain that people are going to be tired of that and be looking to fight back if I enter this pot, so with my stack at 370 I could not have been happier to see the hand that they were going to fight back against.

AA.

So, UTG limps, and I raise it up UTG+1, unfortunately, everyone folds, except UTG who still comes along for the ride. I'm praying he's looking to take a stand on this flop.

Flop is 7/7/8.

He checks, and I fire 20 bucks, he raises to 52 dollars, and I call, figuring he might have an 8, or another overpair like 99 or 10/10.

Turn is sickness, an 8.

He fires 58 dollars. Now I go into the tank for a minute because the double paired board is scary. But, in my mind I figured if you thought I was playing agressively or like a maniac, if you spiked a 7 would you raise me on the flop? It'd make more sense to call and check the turn to me, at least in my eyes. As for an 8...why lead now when you have the nuts and again, I am, in their opinion, a maniac whose raising and betting every flop. So, I call.

The river is a 6, kind of a blank although there's a real, real outside chance he has 6/6 or 9/10 and now has me.

He fires 108 dollars at the pot now. I go into the tank for a long time, and finally say in the chat, "I only beat a bluff, but I can't help but think that's what this is", and I call off. He shows Qd/10d for bupkis, and I scoop the 450 dollar pot.

I eventually cash out from that table with 670 dollars, a profit of 370. Not too shabby.