Monday $300 +30

After the horrible play that I performed this past Saturday (and no, I am not talking about the musical version of Tuesday's With Morrie at community theater), I was hoping to re-focus and play solid poker at the clubs' Monday $300+30. Not sure if it is the summer or just because of a recent police visit, but there were only 17 players in tonight's game. It started out well.

It was 25-50 I was on the button with Qh7h and called the bet (started with 6k in chips). SB calls and BB makes it 225 to go. One of the regulars had whispered to me earlier that this guy was loose and not very good so I call. SB folds. Flop comes out Qd+10h+4h. BB throws out 400 chips. I take a minute, see top pair with the flush draw and throw out 1200. Loose guy throws out 3000 on what I think is a bluff and I go all-in. He calls for the last of his chips and shows A-10 offsuit. So he has a pair of 10s. He does not improve and I double up. With only 17 in, doubling up early is a good place to be.

I am chip leader at this point and end up donking off about 3k or my chips on some aggressive play and some big re-raises against me. A little while later, another good hand comes to me. A good player to my right (and on the button) raises to 500 (blinds 50-100), I look down and see A-A. I call. Flop comes 2-5-6 rainbow. I check, for some reason he goes all in. I figure if he had a strong hand, he would draw me in. I think he put me on A-K or A-Q. I call and he shows pocket 7s. He does not improve and now I have about 20k in chips. The two tables combine and we are down to final table. I am in the lead, with 1 or 2 players close to me and a bunch of short stacks. After awhile and not much action we are down to 5. Top 4 get paid. 2 players say they don't want to deal, i figure I can sit back and only play strong hands and wait until the bubble gets broken. It takes awhile, but steve, a solid player gets beaten on 2 bad hands and finally is knocked out when his pocket 8s get beaten by A-J when a J comes on the flop. There are now 4 of us, all in the money, and we briefly talk a deal, but the short stack does not want to deal. Soon after I raise to 3k (blinds 500-1000) with K-Joff and am raised to 6k by the button. I call and watch as the perfect flop comes out 9-10-Q rainbow. I check, button throws in 3k, next card 7 and I throw in 5k. Hoping that he thinks I am trying to steal. He calls. River comes a 3 so I have the nuts as there is no flush draw out. I follow up with 10k and he mucks. A few other strong hands later and a bluff or 2 and I have close to 40k in chips. The other three players all have around 22-28k. We decide to talk and we end up chopping with me winning in 1st and getting $1500 and they all splitting 2nd for $1200. Yes, I could have waited and played it out (first place was $2500) but figured at this point I am guaranteed second and one bad hand and I am short stack. So it was good to take it down and I felt good about my play. All for about 2.5 hours work.

Also, unlike the last few times I have cashed, I did not go right back to a 1-2 table and lose a few hundred. I collected my winnings, tipped the dealers and left.