Big Day at Illinois Charitable Games

Having nothing planned for the daytime on Saturday, I decided to take the 45-minute ride north and play some cash games at Illinois Charitable Games. The cash games there are winnable, but I have been card dead there the past few trips. It was time for my luck to change.

Anthough good cards were eluding me most of the afternoon, I got involved in two huge hands. In the first, I was in the big blind and was dealt 10-8 os. Someone raised up to $7 and several people called, so I thought I might as well -- just one of those poker felings when you feel a big one coming. The flop: 6-7-9! There were two spades on the board, so I knew this might be a big hand. I bet and waited to see what would follow. Another guy in the hand re-raised, and I started licking my chops. And then ... another guy says "I'm all in." It came to me, and I said "I'm all in." It came around to the re-raiser, and he went all in. The first guy to go all in actually had the worst hand, nothing more than top pair with a gutshot. The other guy, however, had a baby straight (8-5 sooted) and a flush draw. The turn came, and a 9 hit, giving the weak hand a set. I was prepared to get screwed on the river, but a lovely blank hit, and I tripled up.

I didn't see many more good hands (my A-Ksooted with a raise was re-raised by one guy, then another went all in -- yes, the others had A-A and K-K!) and was only about four hands away from leaving in order to get home in time to be picked up by another couple for an Italian dinner party. I got Q-5 spades in position, and called a small raise. The flop: three spades, including the ace, so I had the second nut flush. To my surprise, the first bettor went all in. The second bettor, who had a shorter stack, went all in. I was wondering if someone had the nut flush or was drawing to it, but I was guessing that I was ahead, so I called. The first guy to go all in had a baby flush (baaaad bet), but the second guy had pocket rockets (baaaad bet by letting everyone see the flop cheaply) -- a set with two cards to come. The poker gods were with me, however, and he didn't pair the board, and I scooped another huge pot. I stayed in for a few more hands, then cashed out in order to get home in time. Yep -- it was a nice afternoon!

Blogger Big Game Tonight

The blogger Big Game starts in 1 1/2 hours. Since I seem to have been on a roll, I was ready to boldly predict that I will take it down. However, the cards, who is at your starting table, and so many other factors add into the equation, I will just predict that I will play a solid game and see where I end up.

Update: 18th out of 62. Pretty funny, really, seeing as how I got NOTHING in cards tonight. Amazing how you can play 2 1/2 hours and not get one pair above 4-4! I did get A-K two times, A-Q and A-J a couple, and I did catch a lucky flop or two ... but I was shooting blanks almost the entire night. I basically folded my way through this tournament, which was really boring.

Now, the more I think about it, I must have gotten at least one pair above 4-4, right? I swear that I can't remember any and I was going to check the hand history, but I have a big day at work tomorrow.

Next up: Monday at the Hoy.