Back in the saddle

I've been miserable at the tables lately - every session for, for the last 3 (excluding last night), I've experienced an awful suckout, culminating in a bottom set vs. top two situation at the 2/5 tables for a full buy in.  Naturally, the limp pot / smooth caller responds to the check raise on the draw-heavy 2 spade 2 straight board by shoving all in for a full buy in with his top two.  I sat and thought for a few seconds, disbelieving that he could limp the button pre with 8's or Jacks, but so be it; my set of 3's from the BB are likely good here.  Low & behold, they're good until the river Jack sets him up for the win.

Nobody wants to hear about bad beats and bad runs - I certainly don't, but it's all I can think about going into last night.  AA overpairs all in on the flop vs. QQ overpairs (turn queen, natch), backdoor flushes getting there, etc. and I've experienced losing in all manners of new ways.  It sucks.  Last night was different, though.  I ran really well, my hands held up, and I was sitting at a table with an Austrian woman who was learning how to play.  She was simply running over the table with her rivered two pairs or trips, continually either smashing the flop or getting there before the river.  Moreover, she'd almost always invariably get value when she was ahead. Now I'm not saying that she was a good player - in fact, she's anything but that.  She was a megafish.  However, that very megafish was sitting on EASILY $1k in chips at 1/2 and raising / calling / playing seemingly randomly - but almost always getting there.

Not one to shy away from a goldmine (not to mention that she had totally tilted a heavy-set reg Asian lady), I realized upon sitting that I was at an AWESOME table, and simply needed cards.  The formula for last night was simple: get cards, get paid.  Unfortunately, I can't report that I had a bankroll-breakout session, but I did have a very nice session.  I rarely ever got into a big pot with the Austrian, but definitely doubled through more than once off of the tilted Asian lady, which felt EXCELLENT.  I love when people experience karma, but have no idea how or why.  This lady was 100% trash - dressed very nicely, but the the outward appearance thin veneer could not hide the fact that this lady had zero clue about societal norms and behaviors.  She would casually slow roll when the mood struck her, taking her time to stare at the board and then back at her cards before flipping over the winner.  She was constantly snorting snot with her nose, lest she use a tissue like a normal human.  She would continually pick her teeth - that horrible act she would at least perform with her other hand covering her mouth so that we were protected from seeing that cavern of despair.  She was a downright noxious human being.  It was unbelievable to me that a reg could act in such an abhorrent manner - she was also downright rude to players, particularly the newbie Austrian fish.  I got all in with her twice - both with the best of it (KK vs. JJ - shoved into me), and AA vs. 99 (not quite all in, but we're $500+ deep and she's committed $350+ to the pot folding a $150 turn raise / shove by me.  I'm pretty certain that she purposely miscounted the first all in for $237, giving me only $227 while counting in front of the dealer.  The dealer, BTW, did not re-count her stacks as he should have.  It was up to me to realize her "error" and call her on it.  I did not tip the dealer for that hand.

The Austrian was a piece of work herself.  I was mentally counting her chips in my head, but could not seem to get ahold of them.  The table, and especially the Asian lady described above, could not figure out that she could not fold pairs.  I saw them frequently try to bluff her off of her middle pairs only to find out the obvious: she doesn't fold.  It was astounding that they could not figure out something as simple as this.  To my pleasure, the fat Asian lady lost all of her $~900 to the Austrian.  More than twice, she would walk off, steaming from the "move" that she had just made.  To top things off, the Austrian was a heavy drinker - could hold her liquor - but still drinking heavily at a game where you've never played before is of questionable judgement.  More than once, I caught the Austrian cheering when she dragged a nice sized pot.

Anyway, big post and rambling with not much more to say other than I had a nice session and my hands held up for the first time in a month.  I figure that from an EV perspective, I'm looking at a $1500 difference.  Last night was hopefully the start of my way  back to earning back that equity.  Only another $1300 in EV to go....  :-)