1 girl, 2 bust-outs

Played poker at Doc's again last night and busted out two players who were almost full of their buy-in close to midnight.

First bust, I found pocket rockets and let Joaq lead the bidding after the flop which showed something like Q-Jo-x. He went all-in with about $17 or so would have busted me out (I think because at that point, I was too tired to see exactly how much I had left). I was close to the point at which I almost wanted to go home anyway because I wasn't feeling as well about my play as I did last week because I was already out one buy-in and had re-bought for $25. I had him on two pair, but again, since I was tired and had rockets, I called.

I even asked around and was gratified when Vin said he'd walk me to the subway if I busted out, so at least I knew I would be okay getting home. We reveal all the cards, and nothing pairs on the board, so I'm feeling a little better but am now thinking he's got the pairs of the third card on the flop which I can't recall. When he reveals his A(?)-Q, almost everyone at the table thinks we heard him say "Top pair" and I swear, I had to look twice to see that he wasn't holding Q-J. I flip over my rockets, and it turns out that after shipping me his chips, he is near-felted, so he donated the rest of his chips to the pot and left.

We dissected that hand and the play for quite some time afterward because I really felt sick about it since I know he's been running not so well for a while at the tables. One thing that Doc said was that I have to learn to be okay with handing out bad beats to friends if I'm going to keep playing with them.

A little later, I find pocket 6s and since I have the cash to play, I figure that I'll join the pot to see the flop. Flop comes out 6-6-x and I am over the freaking moon. Flopping quad sixes! I have not had a hand like that... well almost ever. Jersey leads the aggressive betting as the turn and river come and I follow his lead, letting him think he's beating me up. However, again, my brain is so fuzzy that I can't remember if a full house beats quads and I'm nervous going in. At the river, Jersey goes all-in and I insta-call. I think at this point, Doc pauses play for a bit because he can tell that things are going to go sour, but Jersey's already standing up, ready to rake. Scott shows his cards (which I can't recall at all but do give him a full house) and then when asked, I turn over my cards, saying that I have a pair of sixes.

That busts him out, and he leaves quickly as well, and we dissect that hand and that play afterward for a while, too. The rest of the game really does go by in a blur except for the very last hand where we all limp in, check to the river, and the board beats all of us for a 4-way split pot. That was our signal that it was time to get the hell out of there and once again, the game broke after 12 hours at 6 am.

Even though I'm tired, my back hurts a little, and I am about to start working on a project for my boss that has to get done before tomorrow morning (which I would have gone to the office to do had Joaq cracked my aces), I can't help but love the fact that I am getting better at playing poker (came home with $30 over my buy-ins, but I need to work on not overplaying my bluffs) and that I might even be ready for a small run at a 2/4 Limit table in Vegas in a few weeks.

Now all I have to do is actually find the time in the schedule to play...