Life and Times of a Poker Addict

I've been staring at a blank screen for like ten minutes trying to decide how exactly I was going to encapsulate this evening's poker experience.

Tuesday night at the Warehouse with six/seven of us playing.

I buy in for $60, get silly and play a hand blind and end up taking it down. Up to $110.

Get J10 and lose it all after a ten high flop and Uncle Rob, who is clearly on tilt after I extracted his money on my blind hand, had pocket Jacks when I thought he was on a diamond draw.

Rebuy for $60 more.

Proceed to get J10 five of the next seven hands. Lose my final $45 when the flop comes Jack high and I push. Run into Don's (tourney winner from last night) AJ which he had limp-called my raise with.

J10 six times in eight hands. I had J5 on one of the other hands. The only time I didn't have J10 in that series, the flop comes J10x.

Sit and do nothing but watch for about the next forty five minutes. Two people cash out at midnight and leave the table four handed. I watch that for another twenty minutes or so, before I pull out $20 when the big blind comes my direction. That's it. $20 is all I'm reaching for for the duration of the night.

We agree to a PLO/PLH rotation. I drop a couple bucks on preflop action before we get to the PLO series.

I have J10 (hmmm) 47 with the 10 4 being diamonds. Flop comes AKQ. Two checks, I bet $3 into a $6 pot and both call. Turn is the Ace of diamonds, putting two diamonds on the board. Both guys bet out $5 and I call. River is a diamond. They both bet $15, I put in my remaining ten and my diamonds hold up to two sets of Aces. Whoa.

Tripled up to $48.

Next hand I get 99QJ. Flop comes 559 with two diamonds. We check the flop around and the turn is a brick. Uncle Rob leads out with a pot bet of $12, Eric calls and I call. River is a ten of diamonds. Uncle Rob pots for $36, Eric pots back and get his last $45 in the pot, I call with my last $34. Uncle Rob made the Ace high flush, Eric filled up fives full of tens and I take down the main pot with my flopped nuts.

Tripled up to $144.

I turned $20 into $144 in eight minutes and I'm now up four bucks for the night. Utterly ridiculous.

I take down another decent pot in the next PLO series and I'm sitting at around $170. It's about 1:22 am and I announce that I am done at 1:30 am.

At 1:27 am I get dealt 8456, all red cards. Flop comes 8c9c4s. The pot was at $6 and Uncle Rob bets $3, Don calls and I call. Turn is an Ace of hearts. Rob checks, Don checks, I check. River is the 4 of clubs. Rob bets the pot of $15, Don pots for $60, I pot all-in for $161.75. Rob folds and Don takes about three minutes before he finally calls.

I ask him if he has clubs and he says no. He shows me fours full of nines.

1:33am: I'm stuck $140 on the night.

And my heart rate never changed a beat during or after that last hand. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?