Hella Hold'em

Something happened to me for the first time tonight. I'm playing on the $25NL tables of Fish Tilt errr I mean Full Fish errrrrr... Full Tilt, and I've got ATc on the button. UTG raises it 3x the big blind to 75 cents, and it folds around to me. I'll bite. I call. Small and big blinds fold. Flop comes Q-T-x. UTG checks. I checked, and then had this thought like being smacked upside the head. "He's weak...!" Turn came a Jack, and he checked again. "But all I have is third pair!" my too-cautious mind screams. But I could not ignore that gut feeling. I put my opponent on an underpair. I bet out the pot. He immediately folded!! I wish I had a camera for the look on my face. I was completely bewildered.

Poker gut scares me.

But it won me that pot. Sure, I might have won it anyway if we checked down to the river, but if he'd have bet into me, my third pair was being shoved to the muck quicker than you can say "Shelly is the biggest wuss on the planet!"

Ya know, I always read and hear about "sensing weakness if your opponent," but I don't think I've ever ACTUALLY sensed it before tonight. I mean, there are times when, based on betting patterns and the flop texture and previous hands, I will muster a guess that my opponent's hand is weak, but it has always been a process of deductive reasoning and not really a "sense" of any kind.

I had a sense!!! Wheeeee!

I love this shit. Poker rules.

Anyway, ended the night up double my buy-in. Also placed 3rd in one $20 SnG, and bubbled out in fourth on another. $60-ish profit for the day. Got to play for a bit with Armando and Kathie (you two should write a blog!)

There's an itch in the air for live poker... my brother Eric was asking me this past weekend when we're playing next, and Armando and I spoke of the possibility of a live game soon. Then, my mom asked me today if we're playing soon. My mom! I thought my attraction to poker came from my dad's blood, as he used to play poker late into the night with my brother's friends for cigarettes instead of cash, but I think it's more from my mom. She's a shark, that woman.

But I've been studying... look out, Ma!!

Ahh well, time for bed. Nite all!