Saturday Session at Harrah's Joliet

My wife had plans to get lunch with my daughter and see a movie afterward, making yesterday an excellent day for a poker road trip. I left in the late morning and got to Harrah's Joliet in the early afternoon. I had called in and was first on a list that stretched to about 13 names. After waiting only a few minutes,  a new table was opened, and it was away we go!

The action at my first table was okay. I lost a few hands early on when one guy flopped a straight on an Ace high board when I had A-Q and when my A-K didn't improve on the flop or turn.A few more hands like small pocket pairs that didn't connect with the flop, and quickly I was down about $100. Pretty quickly, because Harrah's has must-move tables, I was moved to one of the "main" games. I reloaded with another hundred.

I was up $250 at one point, but hit an "unfortunate" streak and ended up down $100. Included in the unfortunate streak:

* Called a $10 raise in middle/late position with A-5spades. There were more calls, and we went five to the flop. The flop: 5-5-8 with two diamonds! The original raiser raised $25 and I, guarding against the flush draw and hoping he had a 5, bumped it up to $75. Much to my surprise, he pushed all in for $185! The turn and river were bricks and I expected to scoop a nice pot. Unfortunately, he had the one hand that I was fearing: 8-8.

* I was dealt pocket Queens in late position. I raised to $8 to try to get at least one caller. The short-stacked big blind called. The flop was Q-rag-rag with two diamonds. The big blind checked, and I made a pot-sized raise. He called. the turn was a diamond and he pushed all in. I called. No help for me on the river as he turned the second nut straight.

* Woman who was fairly new to the table, short stacked and very aggressive, raised in early position to $12. I looked down to see the dreaded pocket Kings. I bumped it up to $30 and she, as expected, shoved all in. I called. The flop, turn and river were all low cards and I expected to win the pot. A yell went up as people saw that she had pushed with pocket 3's and binked a third 3 on the river.

I guess this Saturday session was an example of the frustration of $1/2 NL poker. Granted, over the course of the day I certainly did not play close to perfect poker as I am a recreational player who gets to play once a week at most, but I did play pretty well -- certainly well enough to have made a profit that session. Bah!

After getting a late dinner of comped fish tacos, I decided to end the night playing a few slots. I played my favorite game at Harrahs Joliet, Alfred Hitchcock Theater, and won. I lost a little at Tarzan and a Buffalo machine, and decided to burn the last few bucks I had allocated to one of the machines the has leprechauns and pots o' gold -- Wild Leprechauns. On the first spin I played, I hit four pots o' gold, awarding me the bonus in the picture of this post: 50 free spins! Unfortunately, the bonus was not quite what I hoped it would be -- only about $58, but still not bad on a 40 or 60 cent bet!

Side note: My eye surgery was now nine days ago. Most of the swelling has gone down and reddish/purple skin is now a mostly faded yellow. I might have an allergy to the ointment I am using, which has caused some unusual lines under my eyes, but otherwise, things look pretty good. It will still take some time to see how effective the surgery was for both eyes, but right now things are looking pretty good. Yes!

Thanks for reading!