Quite a good day.

Started off a little slow as the driver of the group slept in, so instead of leaving at 9:00am as a group we didn't get onto the 400 until 11:00am. After driving through a wicked rainstorm, we get to Rama around 12:30pm. As we walk in, we notice there's more than a dozen names on the list for 1-2 NL. Turns out, by the time we get added on, there's 20. Worked out really well though, as we hit a quick bathroom break and two new tables were opened.

Upon sitting down, I could tell it was going to be a good day for poker, not so much as getting reads off of everyone but that all the players were smiling, friendly and chatting. Plus, as I got to pick my seat, I get the button to start. A few hands in and the table as a whole becomes somewhat clear: passive. A lot of limping, a lot of check calling. Alright, I'll be the aggressor, works for me.

Mid position, get my first "playable" hand, 33. One player limped in, guy to my right makes it $8, I call and so do three others. Flop comes :2s :5d :8s Original raiser puts $20 in, which seemed like a continuation bet (AJ+) and I call, the rest fold. Flush hit on the turn :10s and he checks. I check behind figuring if another spade doesn't hit, he'll bet out and I can raise to represent hitting the flush on the turn. River :qc and he bets out $15. I pop it to $40 and he mucks before I even finish the raise. Yay me, good read.

Two hands later, I get the hell situation: JJ UTG. I feel like I'm about to go to prison and no one brought any lube, so I limp in. 7 players see the flop, including my buddy Clement (same guy from the last trip). Flop comes :jc :5h :6h Woo hoo!... fuck, flush draws. SB checks, BB checks, I bet $16. Three folds and Clement quickly puts it to $40. Everyone else folds. I know he has one of two hands (because I know Clement): 66 or 78h. I quickly put him in, hoping he'll get the damned hint that I have him fucked. No such luck and he snap calls. 66. No quads and I bust him and go up $200 in the first lap around the table. Clement (somewhat jokingly) calls me a prick for not raising preflop so he can fold his hand and then goes to the cage to reload.

BB is useless, but AQo in the SB is a decent find. Mid position makes it $7, 5 callers, including myself and a guy that limped in UTG+2. Flop come :3h :2h :ah. I have the Qh. I check, UTG+2 bets $10, 2 folds, myself and 2 others call. Turn :jc. I check again, as does everyone. Weird... something feels really wrong here... River :ts I check again because something feels really really wrong. UTG+2 bets $40, one guy folds, one guy reluctantly calls. I can't see me beating anything. Either one of them flopped that flush with something weird or one had AJ or A10 and caught to beat me. I toss it. UTG+2 flips over :jh :4h caller pissily mucks his hand, which accidentally flips over showing :ac :10h Yay me, another good read (although really, a lot of people would have realized they were smoked at that point... right?) Should I have been more aggressive there, even though I was oop?

Anyhow, no worries, only dropped a little shy of $20 there. Next lap goes fairly quiet aside from me making a raise with suited connectors and the four limpers and blinds run for the hills. Get to the button, yay me KK. Guy in mid position makes it $15, I flat call. Somehow 6 of us see the flop, which comes :kc :js :9d Whoo hoo... fucking straight possibilities, goddamnit. Orginal raiser bets out $20, I make it $55, everyone folds, he calls. In my head I think "Wow, I sure could use a J right now" Turn :jc Boy, I sure could use an orgy with Eliza Dushku and Trish Stratus... damnit, that shoulda worked! OR bets out $45. I make it $100 total... and he slowly folds. Mistake on my part betting out? I put him on the J, as he'd bet out twice before with 2nd pair, caught on the turn or river and made similar bets. Misread on my part and he gets away. I should have just called. My thing was (probably overthought this one), if I just flat call there, I believe he puts me on KK or some other boat (KJ, 99). Too tricky for my own good there?

I end up flopping three more sets in the next lap, make another $150 roughly off of those. At this point (pretty sure I've missed a couple of pots) I'm up to +$550 in profit for the day. And then the deck goes ice cold. 26, 39, 72, 72, 72, 92. A lot of those. Good for me, I don't get silly. I play my blinds, play position, try to see a flop when it's 5+ limpers and only keep in when I hit 2 pair +. I spend two hours hitting absolutely nothing else but I don't get impatient.

I've got $715 total in front of me and I'm three hands away from being the BB. I decide to see the next three flops no matter the cards (unless it's a big raise or reraise) and then book it. First hand, :9c :3c Not exactly what I was hoping for, but I'll see what happens. I limp, 5 others limp, including the table calling station. Board comes :kd :jh :9s I'm first to act and I check, hoping for a free card to hit my trips or two pair. Calling Station bets $10 and as I'm starting to think of calling him, another guy pops to $40 and I run for the hills. Good thing. Turns out that was the case 9 as CS had 99 and doubled through the other guy who had sweet fuck all but the exact same read on CS as me.

Next hand, :2d :10d Well, they're suited. I make it $10, two guys reraise all in and I toss it. AA vs Ac9c. No suckout and the CS pisses away his double up to the short stack.

Final hand I get :kc :8c I limp, CS calls, Rob (the other member of our poker addicts trio) makes it $12. 4 callers by the time it gets to me, I call the extra $10 and, of course, CS calls too. Flop comes :6d :7d :9d Ok, fuck this, I'm done. I check, CS bets $12, Rob calls, BTN shoves for $59 total, CS calls and Rob goes over the top for an extra $50. CS quickly calls. Rob show :ah :ad , BTN doesn't show but (as he's to my right and holding his cards vertically) I see he has :jd :js and CS has yet to show his cards. Turn :6s river :2c and BTN mucks his hand. CS says "I've got the straight" and promptly flips over :7s :8d I casually point out "Umm, dude, that's not a straight" and the entire table bursts into laughter. CS leaves and doesn't return, while Rob takes in a nice pot.

I get up and grab trays for my stack. Everyone at the table gets this hound dog look as I take my profit and run. I go to the cage with $707 in front of me, tip the lady in the cage the $7 and go to the buffet to celebrate (NOTE: the ice cream machine there is awesome! even if it isn't really ice cream...) Rob joins me about 20 minutes later, leaving the table up $110. We chat about the day and Clement has yet to join us. We go to the poker room to check on him and, right as we do, he's all in against two opponents, his QQ holding up and he's up to $13 over even. At this point, we all book it to the parking lot, everyone up for the day.

When we get into the car, I slide Clement $100. Now, I know, friends at the poker table don't exist and yaddy yadda yadda. However, fair is fair. He slid me $100 last time we went after his KQ sucked out to bust my AK. While this wasn't a suckout, it was dirty and I was more than happy to repay the favour.

All in all, awesome day.

Oh, one thing I noticed: there's a sign at the poker room that says, as of Nov 1st, the max rake is going from $5 to $6. Same deal as before, where $2 goes into the rake when the flop is seen, an extra $1 every $10 in the pot from $30 up until it his $60. Not sure if anyone else had seen this or knew about it but it wasn't there two weeks ago when we went. Also not sure if this is all casinos or just Rama.

Anyhow, uber long post but any advice/razzing is always welcome :)