L.A. Bloggers

It was really good to meet some other poker bloggers at the Commerce in L.A. over the weekend. They were all really cool.

First I met glyphic as he was playing in the $20/$40 limit game. Then I walked over and found metsfan in an $200 buy-in no limit game. I sat in another $200 NL game, and absinthe came over and introduced himself. A few minutes later, we met up with change100 and got some dinner at the sports bar in the casino.

It was nothing eventful, but I really liked everyone. I recommend all of their blogs, which have been added to my blogroll already.

Getting to know them a little bit really made me want to go to a blogger event sometime. It sounds like fun.

After dinner, Daniel, glyphic and I sat in a $9/$18 limit game at a table where the jackpot had been hit just a little less than an hour before. Absinthe sat down a little later. It was a pretty typical, loose-passive game.

There was one guy on serious tilt who I won a hand from with King high after he check-raised me on the turn. That was fun.

I only got into a couple of memorable hands with absinthe (again, congrats on winning the tourney). In one big pot, it was 12 bets on the turn, so I figured I had odds to call and see if I could catch my gutshot. What the hell. I had A2, and I think it was a 5 that fell on the river to give me my wheel. I bet it out, middle position players called, and absinthe called. He turned over a turned Jack high flush. I was drawing dead on the turn. Woops.

A little bit later, absinthe limped from early. I looked down at A7o from the cutoff and raised. It was a loose play, but I figured the time was right. I don't know; I should have just folded. One of the blinds called, and absinthe called. An Ace fell on the flop, I bet, absinthe check-raised and the blind folded. I called him to the river.

"I think you've got a better kicker," he said.

"I doubt it," I said.

We both flipped over A7 and split the pot. I'll take that split pot instead of losing any day.

I played all night and couldn't quite get back up to even. It was a great game though, featuring your usual characters at the table. A crazy Mexican woman who Indian gifted a beer, a guy who limped most of the time and talked about our communal gambling problem, a dude who was obvious with his stupid bluffs, a woman who stuffed her face for about an hour while at the table. Good times.

I like games like that because it really is correct to play suited connectors from most positions, as well as small pocket pairs and suited Aces. So you get a lot of action and get a lot of action if you ever hit. That's the trick though. You have to hit every once in a while.