Laaadies

Starting hand distribution is weird, right?  You know, if you play an infinite number of hands of hold'em (which by now, it seems like I have), you should end up being dealt the proper distribution of starting hands.  I mean, you'll be dealt pocket Aces just as often as pocket deuces, and you'll get Ace-King off just as often as you'll get 7-deuce off.  But in the short run, it seems like you are seeing the same bad hands over and over and hardly ever get to see the same good hands.  You have sessions where it seems like there must be extra 8's and 4's in the deck because you see 8-4 over and over again.  Every now and then you run well, and get to see some premium starting hands more often than you should.  Very rare, but it happens.

Saturday I was dealt exactly five pocket pairs, but I got two of the pocket pairs twice each, and in order.

It was 2/3 in Ventura, and I bought in for the $300 max.  I was still waiting for my first hand to play when I looked down at King-Queen off in the big blind, by far the best hand I'd seen this day.  There was a raise to $16 and a call.  I decided to call as well, because, well, position.  The flop was King-Jack-X, and when it checked to me, I bet $25 and took it down.  This was quite a victory.  The previous week, I was so card dead (didn't both writing a post about the session) that I won only one pot—a big blind hand where no one raised, no one bet until I bet a back door straight I completed on the river and didn't get a call.  It was a $6 pot.

I got my first pocket pair of the day, 7's.  I called a reasonable raise, it was multi-way, and the flop came King-Queen-Jack.  Not exactly a great flop for my 7's.  I folded as fast as it was legal to do so.

My next pocket pair—also my next playable hand—was Jacks. I believe I called a raise over a straddle, and pretty much was done when the flop came Ace-King-x. There were four players in the hand, and there was already a bet and a call when it came to me.

It was a long time before getting another hand to play.  Finally, I got two Jacks again.  Sweet.  I mean how many times do we finish a session complaining about not getting dealt pocket Jacks enough?  I opened to $15 and only had one caller.  The flop was Ace-Queen-x, two diamonds.  I did not have the Jack of diamonds.  Nevertheless, I decided to take a shot with a c-bet.  I put out $20 and after a long tank, my opponent folded. 

Another long spell of getting nothing.  Then I finally not another pocket pair, this time one better than Jacks—Queens.  There were a couple of limpers and from the cut-off I made it $18.  I got three callers.  The flop was Jack-high, two diamonds.  I didn't have the Queen of diamonds.  I bet $50 and after a couple of quick folds, the last player tanked for a long time.  But he too folded.

Then after a bit, those ladies returned to me.  I was under-the-gun and made it $15.  Two players called, than a short stack shoved his last $55.  I strongly considered raising to get it down to heads up and get any weak Aces to fold.  I suppose that was the right play.  But I decided to just call.  One of the two remaining players also called. The flop was Jack-5-5.  I liked that flop and bet $100.  The other guy folded.  Too bad.  The turn was a Queen.  The river was a brick.  The all-in guy said, "I have a Jack," and showed Jack-10.  I said, "I have a boat," and took in a decent pot.

No more pairs, no more playable hands came my way.  I left booking a $105 win.  It was just weird that the pairs included Jacks twice and Queens twice, and all the pairs came to me in rank order when you think of it.

For once, the ladies were good to me.