The Truth and the Mookie

Sometimes playing a solid games works and other times it doesn't. Last night was one of those nights when my game was working well.

I started off with a very solid table in the Mookie and stayed uninvolved early like I normally do. I like the idea of showing tightness against players that I know pay attention. Anyway, The first hand I played was 55 from early position. I raised to 90 and got two callers and saw a flop of 732 with two diamonds. I think this is a fine flop for me figuring that anyone who called would do so with high cards. I bet 210 into the pot and the next player raised it to 750. The other player folded the action to me. Now this send out some warning signs but it could easily be someone testing my continuation bet with AK or a flush draw. I take my time and re-raise it to 1410. This gives me the option to fold without killing me but also shows that I'm not messing around. My opponent use must of his time bank before calling. Now I'm thinking I may be in trouble...but wouldn't he push if he thought he was ahead...I did have half of my stack in the middle. He is on the flush draw is my guess. So the turn comes with a 7 and I tank a bit as first to act. I have about 1500 left with the board showing a pair of 7s and a 2. I had put him on a flush draw and his actions to this point indicate that I am ahead. I don't want to see the river but how do I bet him off the hand? I make a bet off 777 into the 3K plus pot and he lays it down after much deliberation. Now at 4.5K I didn't play another hand for 30 minutes.

I won a few small pots with raises but lost a bit when I lost QJ vs KJ. The flop was JAA and it checked around. On the turn I slow called a bet with intentions of check raising on the river and it set up as planned. My opponent made a min-raise and I re-raised 4x his bet to look like I wanted a call. I think it would be hard make this call with anything but an ace but he did and I'm at 4K. I then hit back to back hands vs. the same play a bit later when I raised his limp, causing him to fold followed by getting TT and raising his BB. He pushed and I had solid odds to call getting better than 3-1 and he flips over K9. My hand holds up and I'm at 6.1K.

My stack fluctuated a bit for a while but I maintain it with a few steals when I get dealt 88 in middle position. I raise it to 1600 and my opponent pushes. I know this player, as we all do, and I know he could do this with a number of different cards. If I call and lose I am down to 200. I look at the situation and realize we are getting deep and that both of us need some chips. He has made plays like this in the past and realize that with his range of hands I have to call. I figured him for a low pair and hoped it was lower than mine. He could have a bigger pair but it costs me 3200 to win 7100 or about 2.2-1. I only need to win 29% of the time to be a winning hand over the long haul so I call. He has 55 and I am happy. What more could I ask for? I made a read and was right and have my opponent on the ropes. A 5 flops and I'm crippled.

It was a tough call for me and I got penalized for making the right decision but I'm fine with that. It would have been nice to be sitting with around an 11K chip stack but that is life. 2 hands later with a short stack I get quads.

That's 2 Mookies in a row that I was on my game and got nothing for it. I made my own mistakes last week but it sucks when I make the right call and get treated like waffles for it.

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The truth shall set you free. Speedy now realizes this as I broke her stubborn spirit with her confession last night. Final punishment was delivered in segments that were related to her mistakes.

No T.V. for a week for using my phone without permission. This was not that big an issue but she has to know that she has to ask first.

For calling her boy friend while being grounded from the phone she got phone privileges taken away until Christmas. We would let her have 5-1- minutes once a day during the last phone grounding but this is none at all.

For lying we took away the computer until Christmas. This will be hard for her but she will get use to it. She will be able to use it for school if she ha to use it.

We also took away playing outside in the snow until this weekend. This really isn't much of a punishment because it covers only a couple of days but it is something she likes to do and I'm still upset over everything.

She can earn the right to go to Chicago on Saturday if she behaves. Yes dad can still be forgiving. Stay tuned for the next episode of "Almost Certain Death"