Hit the local live game again tonight. Was card dead for most of the tournament. I think I saw one showdown (when I went all-in short-stacked), and maybe won 1 or 2 hands before that. The end to that came when my AKd ran into AJo... I knew I was dead. A on the flop, J on the turn... K nowhere to be found. Just the way my luck's been running in these things. At least it wasn't Guin who knocked me out. He went out before I did, and we never got a chance to play eachother.

He did, however, give me his seat in the cash game when he took off early. Put my $200 in, and played for the next 4 hours (about 2 1/2 hours longer than I'd planned.. whoops). Never saw $200 again, and ended up going home empty-handed when this happened:

I get dealt snowmen in LP, raise to $15 (1/2 NL, unraised pot, loose-aggressive table). Two callers. Flop comes 656 rainbow, right of me bets $10, I call, so does the 3rd guy. Turn comes 5, putting two pair on the board, and a couple possible boats. I know nobody has 'em because despite the LAGiness of the table, a $15 pre-flop is enough to scare off the crap. I bet $20... fold... and the question "How much you have there?" I get put all-in, and I call.

He flips over AKo. Someone calls the suckout (note: calls it, doesn't call FOR it), and the K hits on the river, sending me home far past my bedtime. FYI:

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=1910661
pokenum -h 8s 8d - ah kc -- 6h 5d 6c 5h
Holdem Hi: 44 enumerated boards containing 6c 5d 6h 5h
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
8s 8d 38 86.36 6 13.64 0 0.00 0.864
Kc Ah 6 13.64 38 86.36 0 0.00 0.136

It's all decision-based, right? Screw the results if you make the right decision. Still is teh sux.

Even though I lost, I left confident. Tired, but confident. This is a generally loose-aggressive group, with a range of abilities, too much money, and over-confidence. The two table captains weren't nearly as solid as they pretended to be, and nobody was able to get a read on me all night. I'd have pockets, they'd think I was drawing or coming in with A-high. I stayed quiet and in the corner, and nobody had any clue what I'd been playing, even though I'd fold limps to raises, and only saw a river if I had a hand. I think the ONE time I went to the river with a pair of 3's, and my esteemed opponent turned over a turned J, labelled me as weak-passive. No need anybody needed to know that 3 had a suited A behind it with 2 suited cards on the board. All-in-all, I'll cash big eventually, I just need some time to finish reading everyone... and some cards.

I SHOULD have left at by midnight, if not earlier... and the poker gods were letting me know by a variety of means:

(a) Not giving me any cards
(b) The odd occasion I got cards, missing the flop entirely
(c) Winning only a couple times, to bring me CLOSE, but not to my starting stack... just a test to see if I would leave with a not terrible loss.
(d) Sitting Mr. B.O. on my left around 11:30. Yah, it's summer.. but is it so hard to apply a little deodorant before coming out?
(e) Sitting the drunk & stoned guy who had no clue what was going on on my right not too long after. Almost every hand "$2 to call? Somebody raised? No? What's the blinds? I'm going all-in..." with an eventual fold. Or folding pre-flop, and then showing his Ace to the table so we'd be impressed he folded A-junk with a family pot, and THEN arguing with the dealer that it wasn't bad etiquette, because he's read books on etiquette. Or my favourite, with two big raises pre-flop, and much deliberation on his part, and the second raiser TELLING him he has Queens, calling... followed by a flop with a Q, and then eventually going all-in with QTo. Kudos to the dealers for not throttling the guy even though he'd forget to tip, would put his beer on the felt, and held up the game. I can take LAGs, I can take assholes who are full of themselves and their mad poker skillz, but I have a hard time with people who take forever on EVERY. SINGLE. HAND. Especially when they're in no state to be playing.

Anyway, had fun, made the right decisions most of the time, but rarely with the right results. I'll be back.