The 'ol 83o

Poker this weekend has gone pretty well. The games seem to have improved, and for a few hours both yesterday and today were legitimately good. Fingers crossed. There are a couple notable HHs below.

First, a funny hand from Friday where villain tries really hard to represent AK with the old 83o for 130bbs+. Even if he has AK I'm happily freerolling, but I was quite shocked when I saw his holding.

PokerStars Zoom No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed)
Button ($54.80)
SB ($138.35)
BB ($47.71)
UTG ($100.46)
UTG+1 ($203.43)
MP1 ($124.26)
MP2 ($101.50)
MP3 ($110.49)
Hero (CO) ($232.46)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A♥, K♣
5 folds, Hero bets $3, 1 fold, SB raises to $9, 1 fold, Hero calls $6

Flop: ($19) J♥, Q♥, 4♥ (2 players)
SB bets $10, Hero calls $10

Turn: ($39) 10♠ (2 players)
SB bets $20, Hero raises to $55, SB raises to $119.35 (All-In), Hero calls $64.35

River: ($277.70) A♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $277.70 | Rake: $2.80

Results:
SB had 8♠, 3♣ (high card, Ace).
Hero had A♥, K♣ (straight, Ace high).
Outcome: Hero won $274.90


A less fun hand from Friday which ended up being the difference between a good session and a great session. Regfish picks probably the worst hand possible to try to gin flop vs myself and the overcalling whale, and is rewarded.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (9 handed)
UTG ($584.89)
UTG+1 ($1604.17)
MP1 ($396)
MP2 ($450.38)
Hero (MP3) ($575.36)
CO ($400)
Button ($239.36)
SB ($195.10)
BB ($252.20)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with A♥, A♣
2 folds, MP1 bets $10, 1 fold, Hero raises to $40, 1 fold, Button calls $40, 2 folds, MP1 calls $30

Flop: ($126) J♣, 10♥, A♦ (3 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets $84, Button raises to $199.36 (All-In), MP1 raises to $356 (All-In), Hero calls $272

Turn: ($1037.36) 9♣ (3 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($1037.36) 2♣ (3 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $1037.36 | Rake: $2.80

Results:
Button had 9♦, A♠ (two pair, Aces and nines).
MP1 had K♣, Q♦ (straight, Ace high).
Hero had A♥, A♣ (three of a kind, Aces).
Outcome: MP1 won $1034.56


I've put twenty hours or so into Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time for the PSP, a remake of an old game which never saw the light of day outside of Japan. It has been quite enjoyable thus far, though in some ways it really isn't a very good game. Let me elaborate: the visuals are completely meh outside of the character portraits, the soundtrack is utterly unispired, and the combat system is clunky and has severe problems with movement, which leads to extreme spikes in difficulty. All that stuff aside, the story is great and has a ton of branches in the plot depending on the choices one makes - including ~40 or so different endings, and it turns out that is pretty much all the game needs to be enjoyable, and in the end it is fun that matters and I'm having fun.