One Hand at Harrah's New Orleans

Mrs. lightning and I recently returned from a short trip we took to New Orleans between Christmas and New Year's Eve. I was able to get in several sessions of $1/3 NL at Harrah's New Orleans in between general walking around, eating and drinking -- which, of course, is tourist life in the French Quarter.

The scene: I was felted in my first session when I took on the table aggro-donk. I came over the top on him with my top pair, top kicker. He called with a draw and hit it. In my second session, I got back some of what I lost previously. It was my third session. I was in seat #10 with about $700 in front of me. I was now in the black on the trip. I had been playing tight-aggressive. Seat #1 appeared to be a little older than me. He was playing about 75% of the hands and had lucksacked his way to a big stack. He then lost most of it and had about $500 in front. Seat #5 had won some big hands with good cards and had also bluffed his way to a few pots -- bluffs that he happily showed. He had about $1,000 in chips.

I was satisfied with my session win and was getting ready to cash out and head back to my hotel. I decided to play one more orbit. I had only two hands left before my big blind, which I didn't plan on playing. And of course, what happened? I was put to the test. I was dealt A-K sooted and raised to $16 or $18. Seat #1, as expected, called. Seat #5 raised to $70. He knew I had been playing tight and he knew that Seat #1 was calling just about everything. I was guessing that with A-K sooted I was in the lead, but both these guys had been hitting cards like crazy. I thought that calling would be weak. I needed to fold or raise. I also knew that with both players and the way they played previous hands that we would soon be playing  for stacks. I went in the tank and eventually folded. Among other things, I just didn't feel luck that day. As expected, Seat #1 called. As I began racking up my chips, the flop came: 10-A-10. Dang! I was pissed at myself for being a wuss. Surely any chips I had left, if any, would have gone in after the flop. How did the hand play out? The conclusion to the hand will be posted after pictures.

I didn't see the turn as I was racking up my chips. Seat #5 raised and Seat #1 pushed all in. Seat #5 called. I also missed the river. Seat #5 turned over his cards: Q-10 sooted! As I suspected, his initial raise was bullshit, but dang - he murdered the flop and would have taken all my chips. But ... as you might have guessed, the bigger lucksack in Seat #1 caught a straight and doubled up from Seat #5, who was extremely unhappy to have lost half his stack after flopping trips.

I picked up my racks and headed to the cashier cage. 

Thanks for reading!