Poker and craps

First and foremost I can't say how happy I am that there was so much participation in the Hooker Posts.  It was pretty damned cool to see a multitude of bloggers take up the cause and churn one out.
Also, thanks to hookers my blog had the most hits it had ever gotten in one day cycle!

Last night I decided to go play a quick session of poker and I ended up at Bally's.  It was a profitable session but it could have been a lot more had luck not prevailed for a couple of guys.

Early in my session I entered a pot in late position with 85 of diamonds and was pretty happy to see a 58T flop.  One person bet out $10 and a few of us came along.  The turn gave a very ugly Q which let J9 get there. 1st player checked and then the 2nd guy bet out $15.  Knowing that I had a few outs and could possibly still be ahead I decided to call the $15.  1st player folded.
River was a beautiful 5 but also put a flush on the board.  Guy bet $25 into me and I raised enough to put him all in (he was a shortie) and he called flipping over his turned straight.  He was not happy to see my rivered boat and he took off as I racked his chips up.
At this point I'm up about $75 or so.

A little bit later I look down and see the RobVegas hand of KK, I'm sitting in the big blind.
There is a raise to $10 and 2 callers back to me.  The raiser and 1st caller both have approx $75 in their stack to start the hand and the 3rd participant had a full stack of somewhere between $200-$300.
$30 in the pot already and I'm perfectly happy to just take it down now I bet $75 (enough to put the 1st two all in if they want to play).  1st guy folds but the 1st caller puts all his money in the middle and the last guy folds.
I quickly flip up my Kings and the guys sighs like "how on earth did you have a bigger pair there instead of AK" and then flips his Tens over a bit dejected.
However, a Ten on the flop sends him into a fist pump and now all the sudden he's happy and talkative again like he played the hand well as he raked in my beautiful chips.

A bit later I got to limp in late position with A5 diamonds and flopped the nut flush on a 67T board.
On the flop a guy bet $10 I called along with 2 others.  The turn was a 9 (non diamond) and the guy bet $10 again and I raised $35 on top of that which he called and everyone else went away.
The river was an ugly 9 and he checked to me and the paired board saw me play like a wimp and check behind.  He flipped up A8 for the turned straight and I missed a value bet on the river, ugh - was not happy about that hand.

Nearing the end of my session I called some small raises with some small pairs and whiffed entirely.
I got QQ all in vs JJ pre (against same guy who got in with my my KK vs TT) and they held up this time.
I got KTs all in vs his buddy for $30 bucks and lost to two pair vs his 64 offsuit.

All in all it was a fun night where I only felt that I made a few minor mistakes and I walked away up for the evening.

Tonight there is a strong possibility that I'll be going out again to play with Lucki duck somewhere and I am looking forward to that.

Today was the 1st day of my Craps classes.
I got to practice cutting my stacks for what felt like an eternity.  My left hand is behind the curve and needs practice so I will be doing that at the poker table tonight.
After 3 years of chip cutting myself and another new guy were lead to a table with a craps layout so that one of us could place bets and the other could make the payments.  We did that for the rest of the class before heading home.
Because we were both a bit familiar with Craps the teacher started putting some more advanced bets on the table for us and started varying the amounts so that we would have to think about our payouts.
Mostly all of this was done so that we could get the order in which everything is done.
Take the losers, pay the winners, move the others.  Take-Pay-Move.
Over and over and Over and over again.  She said she had us doing stuff today that she usually doesn't do until the 2nd week, so that's a boost to the ego.  I felt like I had a good grasp on everything thrown at me today but of course there is room for improvement.
Practice makes perfect and perfection is unattainable.
On my way out she mentioned that she had some good contacts in some big rooms so that after going through the course, when I am ready, I should have a really good shot at a position.  However, she also mentioned that most casino's want people to be able to deal at least two games and I should strongly consider taking up Blackjack as well.

Onward children.  Food, caffeine, Poker.  That is my agenda for the evening.