The Bat Cave

Sorry about the extended break. That wasn’t my plan, but I didn’t get a chance to post a wrap up of the first week of September before I left for Lincoln City and then I decided I was just going to post a whole trip report when I got back instead of doing live updates and now it’s September 17th and I haven’t made a poker post for this month yet.

I got off to a bad start in September by posting my only losing cash game session of my L.A. trip when I went -$848 in that 40/80 Mix session with James Woods.

My first day back in Lakewood, I won $124 in about 40 minutes of 8/16 before playing an absurdly boring PLO session that saw the return of Lee Markholt to the game. I really enjoy his company, but his presence certainly doesn’t increase the quality of that game. I was insanely card dead and only played a few pots of note.

On the first one, I was in a raised multi-way pot with QJJ9 and got it all in on KJ7 vs Mr. Freeze’s KKxx and lost over $500.

Then Sandman made a rare guest appearance and bought in for $200 and got all of it in against my AAJ9 with AAT3 and got the T8346 runout for a quick double.

My only notable winning pot I made it $20 with AAKQ single suited after one limper, bet $15 on KK4 with two of my suit, and then my opponent led out for $75 when the 8 of spades brought the flush in. Against this player type, I probably should make a small raise, because he’s super loose and a bit wacky, but in the moment I decided to just flat. The river brought a 9 and he fired $200 and I stuck with my conservative line with a call and he showed a nine high flush and I won the hand. He has a pretty easy fold to a turn raise, so I think I might like my line, but this is also the kind of player that might actually call down, so I don’t know.

That hand somewhat salvaged my night and I finished -$261 in PLO.

On Thursday, I went and saw It: Chapter Two (2019) with my buddy and he likes to play poker at smaller stakes, so we headed to Fortune after the movie and I lost $141 playing 4/8 until 2:30 in the morning and woke up the next day after noon wondering what I’m doing with my life. I text my friend and told him we can’t do that anymore. I can’t justify sleeping in and feeling unproductive because I was up super late playing 4/8. That’s just dumb. I don’t mind playing lower stakes poker with him, but we need to find a more reasonable time of day for it.

On Friday, I was in the 15/30 game at Palace with a lineup that featured Taz, Ducky, Flea, Huey, Mr. Freeze, Splinter, and a couple others. I tried to coast by defending with 97o against Ducky’s under the gun raise and called down on a 9886x runout, but he had AA and he was coasting instead. That early cushion was enough to keep Ducky above the breakeven line for the entire session and he joined the The Coast Club for the second time with a Silver Level entry and the smallest win (+$379) anyone has ever coasted to. Good job, lil buddy, and you’re welcome.

I’ve been struggling in the 15/30 game for a while now, with two big losses (-$1350+) and only two small wins (less than +$300) over my last six sessions, so I was feeling kind of on edge during the early parts of this session. It didn’t help when I 3-bet Mr. Freeze with AJ and inexplicably folded when he check-raised me on KK2 and bet again when the 2 paired on the turn only for him to show me QJ high. Obviously, it’s pricey to make two $50 calls (Overs are 25/50) and be wrong, but if I’m not folding on the flop, I definitely shouldn’t be folding on the turn, plus I know he’s plenty capable of doing shit like this. Then I was in a 4-bet pot with 77 on 962s8s. I had the betting lead on the flop but decided to check the turn because Master Splinter had raised under the gun and I know he can be tricky. I called a bet on the 9s river and I was pretty happy to be able to show this hand down for one big bet, but he ended up showing me AQ of spades for a rivered flush.

So there I was, stuck a rack super early in another 15/30 session and I was honestly thinking about quitting and I really had to center myself with some breathing and mindfulness to try and remind myself that I actually love what I do, I’m lucky to do it, and sometimes I go on bad stretches, but I always come out of them.

And I made a comeback. I got Master Splinter back in a 3-bet pot with aces when he donk-called the flop and then called down on 83273 and then I defended 55 after Taz raised from the small blind with a limper already in. The flop was 653 with two spades and I got two bets in 3-ways. The turn was an ace and Taz donked that card and I got two bets in 3-ways again. Very nice. The river paired the board with a spade and they both paid me off, with the limper showing 87 of spades, a monster draw that got there with the wrong card.

Master Splinter opened from the button and I defend in the big blind with T7 of clubs. The flop was 853 with two diamonds and one club. This is not the kind of board I want to be folding on, but I don’t have a ton of immediate equity either, so I decide to check-raise and take the lead, knowing he has a wide range and will be folding a good amount of it before showdown. There are lots of good turn cards for me and the 9 of clubs is one of the best ones, so I continue my story and he punishes me with a raise. I say to Ducky, “he’s not going to like this one” and make the call. The river is a ten and I check-call saying, “that’s not the one, but it’s a payoff card,” and that river is good enough versus Master Splinter’s A8 of clubs. Yikes. Yep, he’s not going to like that one.

Then I have JJ in a capped 4-way pot and check back the K64 flop because Huey was the other preflop aggressor and he’s in early position with a strong range. The turn pairs the king and Huey leads out and gets called. I don’t love this spot, but I also don’t have enough information to fold, so I make the call also and whaddya know, the river is a jack. Huey leads again, the other player folds, I raise and Huey tanks for a while and eventually folds QQ face up.

Bang bang. Suddenly, I’m up $1100 and we are only 90 minutes into the session. Ah, I remember this feeling!

But… it wasn’t meant to be. I lost a series of dumb ones before I stopped taking notes altogether.

I opened on the button with T9 of clubs and Huey defended in the big blind. He donked the T43ssc flop and called my raise. He donked again on the 8 of spades turn and I called. The river was the 2 of diamonds and I paid his river bet off only for him to show me A5 of diamonds for a rivered straight. I actually like his bluff on the turn, especially considering how much of a nit I think he typically is, and if he had checked the turn, I assume he would have folded to a bet, so taking this line allowed him to realize his equity and, uh, that’s pretty annoying.

I had the AQ of spades on a AT9 two spade flop, but the board ran out J7 and I lost the pot to Master Splinter because he randomly decided to limp in from early position with J9 offsuit.

Then I had 88 vs J9 on K65K9 and no clue how my opponent reached showdown with it.

As I mentioned, I stopped keeping notes because I was beyond frustrated. It looked like I might finally have a nice session, but I lost it all back and when I called it a night, I was -$265 after 10+ hours. Ugh. The streak continues.

Saturday, we did a home game with a 15/30 Mix and I posted another small loss of -$148 in 9.5 hours.

Not a good first week of the month. I lost every session I played and I was headed to the Fall Coast Classic at Chinook Winds with a $1500 deficit – the 8th month in a row I’ve gotten off to a rough start.

Chinook Winds series results in the next post.