February is Really Over

I bust out of the Monte Carlo Freeroll when I run my beautiful KQ of diamonds into two black Aces. Re-bet is through to Day 2 and I have a third of his action. The Gambling Duke plays his Day 1 tomorrow and I have a third of his action as well. Team Holdem: "You can't stop us, you can only hope to contain us."

Planet Hollywood. I forget to bring my bankroll, wtf. New rolling chairs for the poker room and I lounge in one until Todd rolls in and spots me two bills. I quickly build up to a $300 stack when the following hand comes down.

A reasonable-looking but very aggressive preflop player makes it $12 and I call with 4-5 of hearts on the button. The big blind says, "I raise with my Charlie Murphy chip," and throws in a call. He only means to call, but the dealer, Mike Manchester, holds him to his verbal commitment to raise. So the three of us put in another $12 each.

Flop comes KJ3 with two hearts. BB checks. Preflop raiser leads for $20. It's a weak bet and I think there's a good chance of catching him on pure air, plus I have a draw with position, so I raise to $60. BB cold-calls the $60 and then the preflop raiser calls, too. I don't like my hand. The cold-call set off alarm bells, and with the overcall I'm not 100% my draw will be good if I hit. I have a draw of questionable value along with position and a camouflaged hand.

Turn is an offsuit 6, giving me an OESD to go along with my 5-high flush draw. It's checked to me. Do you guys push here? There's $240 in the pot. If you push AI there's a good chance you get a better draw to fold, and usually only a good made hand will call, against which you have many outs. The thing is, I really feel like I'm going to get called. I take the free card.

The river is an offsuit 7 and I am in shock because I have the Royal Brass Brazilians. All I am thinking is how February must really be over because this kind of thing never happened last month. BB leads out for $50. Preflop raiser mucks. I shove it all in for $140 on top and he calls with K3 for a flopped two pair. The preflop raiser says he had A8 of hearts for the nut flush draw.

Wow, I got really lucky. If I'd pushed the turn I'd have been in terrible shape but I might have stacked them both, because the BB was going to call with his two pair, and with all the money in the pot the nut flush draw might make the overcall.

For the coup de grace, I win a free commemorative Aladdin coffee mug for filling out a questionnaire describing my reaction to the new leather-bound slot machines (not a fan).