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On the spur of the moment, I decided to hit my local club last night. I checked out the website and was surprised to discover there were still a few seats available for the tournament.

The tournament started well, with me doubling my stack over a few hands thanks to an abundance of flopped sets and being aggressive enough to scare out the threats. An overcard on a board was good enough for me to push out 99 with my set of 3's before her 9 hit the river (3rd player all-in). 99 had recently been unable or unwilling to let go of aces after being 3-bet HU on the flop by a guy holding TP2K - about 5 minutes in. He was steamed for the rest of the night... hanging around, not playing the cash game, and finally unloading his tale of woe onto a friend during the first break. I stifled a laugh as he tried to defend his play as a cagey bluff. "How could she think I have anything less than 2 pair there? Can't fucking let go of aces." It was pretty obvious to me that he though his Q with a K kicker was gold.

Unfortunately, I lost my dealer who was rich with sets as our table broke. The game didnt' go so well from there. Severe card death met me in the face of aggression and the horrible structure these things get after the first hour. KK held up against a J8 bluff that flopped a straight draw, but then I had to toss ATo when two all-ins came after me - KK and QQ. If I'd called, I would have lost half my stack to the shortie who turned a set of Q's, and won it back from KK when the A rivered. Instead, I had an unfortunately-sized stack left over. AKs did me in when I pushed my miniscule chips into 55 and AT - with the AT rivering a J-high straight to beat us both. At least I picked up a bounty.

So I hit the cash game, because I need more work there than anything else. Not unusually, the table was limp-heavy, and at my club, if you limp, you're in for just about any reasonable raise. Then this hand happened:

9 limpers. I have 6c7c on the button
Flop comes 5s8cAc
SB bets $15 into a pot of $18
BB raises to $30
fold
fold
all-in for $50
fold
raise to $120
fold

I ponder. The whole table is wondering what the hell is going on and a crowd is starting to gather with $233 in the pot on a strange flop at a $1/2 table. I figure there's at least one better flush draw out there, maybe two pair or a set, and a strong ace. I figure I'm only worried about the bigger flush draw, and figure it to either be the all-in for $50, or one of the early raisers. The $120 raise smells like a made hand trying to push out the draws and isolate.

I announce all-in, push forward about $240 chips, and the table erupts. "What the fuck is going on??" "What a pot!"

SB grumbles, debates, and mucks.
BB agonizes, implies that he has the nut flush draw under his breath, and finally mucks.
$120 calls without much thought, I get about $20-$30 back.

Nobody flips over their cards. One of the regulars/staff/fish who was long out of the hand says "someone's got the 67c, someone has a set, and someone's got AK or some crap."

The turn is a brick.
The river is a glorious 4s, giving me the stone cold nuts.

I flip over my 67 and the other two muck with resignation. I couldn't be much happier with the $430 or thereabouts that comes my way. $15 to the dealer (same guy who'd been dealing me sets in the tournament) and I'm the big stack.

Which I then managed to bleed away over the next 2 1/2 hours until I was below my starting stack. I got no strong starting cards, and caught absolutely nothing with what I did play. I couldn't bluff without being called multi-ways, and if I did catch something remotely playable, I'd win small pots. So I upped the aggression on my final orbit. This coincided nicely with some cards.

AKs with a 2-spade all-low otherwise uncoordinated flop, HU. 2/3 pot bet, and I call. Brick turn, pot bet, and I call. Flushed on the river, check, and I OBFV and get the fold.

A few hands later, I see 57s and limp. Then I see pot odds as a raise to my left gets called all around. Flop comes 4s6sKx. Same guy as the AK bets and I call. Turn is a 5, he bets, I call. River 5 for trips. He bets big, and I call, not realizing how little he has left behind. Trips are good.

For that last hand, bear in mind the club has a running jackpot. A straight flush last night was worth around $200, but it has to reach a showdown. There was no way I was getting away from that hand or betting it aggressively in that case, as the jackpot would more than double the pot.

That last orbit brought me to $115 up in the cash game. Take out the tournament buy-in, add the bounty, and I was up $80 on the night. Not a great hourly rate, but after pissing away the chips I had won earlier, I was happy to be up at all, and left verifying what I'd been feeling for the past couple weeks - I'm not sick of poker, I'm just tired with it online.