Day 2: +$54.75 (+55 BB at $.50/1)

Overall: $90.05 in 248 table minutes

I'm amazed. I'm a bit lucky, I guess. Either that, or these games are much much much softer than I realized. In about 4 table hours, I've almost reached the first checkpoint. Simply amazing.

Anyway, back to logging interesting hands:

Hand 1: This hand was made more interesting strictly because of the short stack. I have AKs in the cutoff and raised a single limper. Both blinds called, and it's 4 to the flop for two bets each. The flop is 552 and SB bets all-in for $.45. It gets called around to me. At this point, I might actually have a value raise, but I decided to just call to see what the turn would be and what the turn action would be. The turn is an offsuit 7, and now the action is checked to me. At this point, it should be pretty clear that everyone is on two unpaired cards with an outside chance of a small pocket pair (33/44). So I bet my hand expecting to pick up the pot right there. It worked. SB turns over A3o for the flopped gutshot and I take down the pot. In retrospect, I think a flop raise would be a good value raise against this flop and this field.

Hand 2: I have AQs and raised the UTG poster. BB and the poster call. The flop was Q72. BB checked and the poster bet. I raised, knocking out the BB, but poster 3-bets. I hesitate for a moment, deciding between capping now or calling and raising the turn. With the brand new player, I'd rather cap the flop and see his response on the turn. I'll save the call and raise the turn for a player who I know is capable of overplaying a hand. For all I know, he has 72o and flopped two pair. So I capped him. The turn was a 2 and he bets again. At this point, I figured him for a 2, Q7, 77, or a funky AA/KK and go into calldown mode. The river was an inconsequential 6 and I called his bet. He turned over 73o for flopped second pair with no kicker. Hands like this one are making me fly through this level.

Hand 3: There is a limper and the button raised. With KTs, I'm not sure what I want to do here. Since players have been consistently too passive at this level with their preflop raises, I chose to just call instead of 3-betting. The presence of the limper also helps me make this call so that I'm getting good multiway action from players who call too much. I thought about folding, but figuring that I can play well enough postflop, I decided to go ahead and take my chances. BB folded and the limper called, giving us a 3-handed flop. The flop came K57. The action was checked to the raiser and he auto-bet (the timing looked like an auto-bet). I thought about raising, but just called. I was in semi-WA/WB mode at this point, mostly because of how quickly villain seemed to bet his hand. Plus, I somewhat expect the other player to be padding the pot when he calls. The turn is another 5 and I checked. But now the limper wakes up and bets. After a moment, the button called the bet. I had to think about this play for a while. The limper's bet into two players didn't feel much like a bluff, but it could have been. Button's call told me that probably had a pair, which often means he also has a king, which often means I'm outkicked. Putting the two probabilities together, I don't think I'm ahead often enough to warrant calling down. So I mucked. My assessment was right in that the limper held a 5. I was surprised to see that the button called with 99. It was a good reminder to me that players at this level are really very loose and that I need to expand my hand ranges a little bit more to encompass their plays.

Hand 4: I might get a little heat from playing this hand so passively on the river, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. I had 75o in the BB, and there was a limper and SB in the pot. The flop was 955. I bet after SB checked and the limper called. The turn was a 9, and I bet again, getting called again. At this point, I'm not sure what is up. Maybe the limper has an ace. Or he has a 5 or a 9 or a pocket pair of some sort. Anyway, after running through a quick list in my head, I figure that the best play for the river is just to check-call. If he has an ace, I'm not sure if he's really calling (this could be another example of me giving too much credit). If he had a 9, surely I'm getting raised. If he had a 5, it's a chop and a bet (probably) feeds the rake. So I check-called. I was in trouble on the flop as he held K5. I think this hand would have been more interesting if the 9 had not fallen.

Hand 5: This hand goes into the annals of the strangest plays I've pulled. I've got 53o in the big blind. The button limped and SB folded, giving me a heads up flop. The flop came AK5. Normally, I would be betting this. In fact, I'd be betting a whole bunch of things. But I knew that villain was an aggressive player. I checked, figuring him to bet it with any two cards. He bet, and I called. I thought about check-raising, but I don't like that line unless I feel like I can really fold to more action. The turn was a J, and I check-raised him. This was an absurd thing to do. Even though I really felt like he was on a nothing hand, I was beating literally nothing. And when he called, I figured I was in trouble and was prepared to check fold. The river 8 changed nothing and I checked. To my relief, he checked behind. And I won the hand! He has 32o for the flopped gutshot. I played it badly. But I got away with it. Poker is fun.