I played poker with Anthony and Aaron and eventually Daylan on Fiday night. There was a big party at the same time, and I promised myself that if I lost fifty dollars before eleven I would head that way. I didn't lose; I kept winning. After we decided that progressive five card stud was just too tame, someone suggested Omaha progressive, for 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. Aaron remarked that we had turned another corner as far as betting structure goes, but privately I thought, "If I wasn't a hundred up right now, I would steer clear of this." Thirty dollars to see a hand to completion at a minimum, and river raises were frequent. It was high pressure play, but we kept it up for two or three hours. Omaha is my favorite game. I love it when we have enough to play Omaha 8, but I love it high only, as well, and I was getting definite starters almost every deal, high pairs, and two-suited more often than not. I won some more, and Anthony lost a fortune at it. I'm not too sure how Aaron did with it overall. There were some pretty big swings. Playing for that kind of money, there was a tendency to rat-hole while up, so Anthony suggested and we all agreed that it was fine to remove money from the table (remember we play table stakes) as long as we left ourselves at least fifty dollars in play, so when I got up to 220, which was 170 up, I stuck a Ben Franklin back in my wallet. A few poor choices later I was playing with about eighty dollars. Daylan arrived about that time, so we figured on scaling back the structure a bit anyway. I was actually counting on his arrival to help lock me in to a certain range of winnings by his refusal to play for very much. Anthony, who was considerably down to myself and Aaron at this point, realized he'd been completely screwed by the predicted structure change. He was going to be locked into a large loss. Sure enough, Daylan bought in for thirty dollars. Aaron and Anthony pulled no punches (I didn't catch anything worth playing for a while) and he was soon out of those funds. He bought back in for fifty, however, and with a few good hands soon had enough that we were able to find a medium structure he could live with and that kept us interested in the game. Without realizing it though, I had gotten off my game. The structure change, and then the partial change back, coupled with the taking of a hundred dollars out of play so I could guarantee myself a win, and Aaron making a cryptic remark about a certain tell I had, crippled me. I started playing as if I was short-stacked, and it was a super-agressive style of play. By 1:30 or so I was out of chips. I'd lost 120 dollars in less than two hours. I got up to leave, secure that at least I'd won fifty dollars, but I announced as I got up, "I've never felt so bad about winning fifty dollars in a night of poker." I went to the bathroom, and as I was standing there, my mistakes gradually became evident to me. I realized that I'd been playing all wrong, virtually from the moment Daylan had arrived. I thought to myself, "I can go home now, unsatisfied, up fifty dollars, or I can put that fifty dollars on the line, without thought of protecting it, but instead thinking only of making it grow, and I think I'll have the best of this game." I walked back in, establised the game was going to last a while longer, and bought back in. Ten hands later and I was all-in with fifteen dollars or so against two callers, but had the best hand and tripled back up. From there on, it all seemed a lot easier. I didn't play perfect, since it was getting pretty late, but I did better than hold my own. Around four o'clock, I found myself holding sixty-six dollars. Anthony had made an amazing comeback and was even up some, whereas Aaron was down some. He had fify-five dollars on the table, but had re-acquired some of the cash he'd come in with and put it back in his pocket. We were playing five card stud progressive, same as before when I beat him with the miracle king, only this time we were rolling our own all the way through. I was dealt ace-king, and since I was getting a bit short-stacked again, I was glad to see it. I turned the king. At this point Anthony and Daylan were also in the hand, but I don't know what they had, and they folded before the end. Aaron turned a queen. The next card, Aaron turned an ace. I felt terrible. I figured the only thing Aaron could have in his hand that would make him turn that ace, since he obviously was already showing some strength with his queen, was another ace in the hole, or perhaps a queen. I convinced myself he was holding an ace, but one way or the other, I figured my ace-king was now way behind. The fourth card I catch another ace. Barring some bad luck, it virtually locked the hand up for me, no matter what Aaron was holding, but I figure he's holding aces and will pay me off, so I try to downplay the fact that I am turning the ace over. I make like I'm only doing it because he did it, to show for some reason that he hasn't intimidated me, or as if to say, "You can't bluff me by turning that ace over, I have ace-king, and I think it's better" even though I was sure it wasn't. The river came and went, and at this point I think Anthony was still in the hand and folded on the river, because I ended up acting first. I made the five dollar must bet, waiting to see what Aaron would do, and if I was right about the two aces. He raised five, so I immediately moved all-in. At this point, he KNEW I had two aces, for many reasons. For one thing, I will not usually bluff a very made hand, and he knew that I knew from the fact he raised the minimum that he had to have my show cards beaten. He told me after the fact that he didn;t actually catch the second ace until the river, but he also told me that I committed the tell, after I went all-in. I realized what it was then. It was gloating. I knew that I had him beaten, obviously AAK is better than AAQ, but I knew that with AAQ he would almost have to call, even though he KNEW he was beaten. As long as there was a chance I was bluffing he was going to call me out, because his pride would hurt too much if I was bluffing and he didn't catch me. He said it was the worst call he had ever made. Maybe it was a pretty poor call, but I think I just backed him into a corner he couldn't get out of.

I hada bad run and actually got down below even for the year, but then made a rally and got a little up. The following story was the last hand that I played on the night I got back up.

Everyone but Anthony, Aaron, and myself had already gone home, most of them with empty pockets. We didn't want to quit playing early, and after all, it was nostalgic for the three of us to sit around the table playing poker. I was getting a little bored,so I proposed a progressive game to ramp up theaction just a little. Five card stud, with a progressive bet or fold, going from the dollar ante to five dollars on the end, and of course, after the minimum it was still no-limit. Anthony's been dumping cash to Aaron and myself, and Aaron's been rat-holing some of it away. He's left himself without about twenty-five dollars in chips on the table, and he announces while he's dealing that he's looking for a hand to go all-in. We're playing roll your own show card, and I'm dealt king-queen, left of the deal. I roll the king, representing either an amazingly strong hand, or avoiding going first. It's a deceptive game. Anthony comes out small and immediately folds, and then Aaron announces that he thinks this might be the hand to go all-in on. He looks at his cards, nonchalantly says, "Nope," and rolls over another king, throwing in the two dollar must bet as he was left of the low hand, which was folded. I thought about it, and decided that with my queen in the hole I was a favorite to win over whatever Aaron had in the hole. I told him, "Well, I'll go ahead and put you all-in." I figure him to fold and let me have the antes and his two dollars, but he immediately calls, and he rolls over another king from the hole. I'm thunderstruck. It was the best play that I had ever seen from Aaron. He practically sent me a written invitation to put him all in and I fell for it. He was jubilant, and I can't say as I blame him. There was quite a delay in which I was taking a ribbing from both Aaron and Anthony, so I started rolling over the cards to see how they played out. After all, I still had some outs, though some pretty thin ones. My fourth card was the fourth and final king. My miracle card. Aaron lost all his chips on his best play anyone could remember.