Project Manhattan Session #14 - Screw You Guys, I'm Going Home

Last Friday my older son had a baseball game that ended around 7:30 so instead of rolling in to the Oaks right after work as per usual, I got there around 8:00 planning to burn the midnight oil.

I slapped five C-notes on the table and took my first hand in the big blind. 4 people called $5 and I looked down at JJ. With what was almost certainly the best hand I made it $30 to go and got 2 callers - both of whom were not players I knew. The flop came down 6 6 7 with two hearts. One of my callers was in the small blind and he checked. I bet out $65 into the $100 pot and the lady across the table called. Then the small blind cut out $210 and pushed it into the pot!

This was a tricky situation. Did this guy have a 6? If so I was totally cooked. And what about the lady? What did I think she was calling with? Could she have a 6? Was she calling with a 7 or a draw or a hand like 88 or bare overs? Luckily she was obviously pissed about the raise and I figured she was done with the hand.

That just left the raiser. Was he the kind of player who would call $30 preflop with A6 or 56 or 67 out of position in the small blind - something probably only a losing player would do. If so I should fold. Or was he the kind of player that would check raise a draw - something probably only a strong player would do. If so I should move all in. I'd literally only played half a hand with this guy and I had to sort this out. But luckily, the way that physically he cut out $210 was indicative of a strong player and also the fact that it was $210 and not $200 (better players are more precise with their bets, weak player bet in round numbers) was a huge indicator.

It might sound like I was fairly sure here that he was a good player and that meant he could not have a 6 and was very likely to push a draw, but it's one thing to think this though and another to put $500 out there and potentially lose $500 on the first hand! Luckily I was right. I moved all in and they both quickly folded with the small blind saying he'd folded a draw.

For the next hour I dribbled away much of my profit from that hand and found myself feeling tired in a shitty game. I decided to bail.

I won $110 over 1 hour and that means I'm $1720 to the good after 56.5 hours of play.