Earlier this week, I played for two nights at Artichoke Joe’s in San Bruno, California. A decent, but a little run down, card room in northern California. The only table open when I got there the first night was a 1-2-2 No Limit Hold ‘em. I had been on a plane all day, so I only wanted to play for a couple hours.

I bought in for $200 and took the #7 seat at the full table. The table was fairly aggressive, but I was able to catch a few decent hands and rake in about $75 over a few pots. About an hour in, I looked down at the hole cards and saw the delight of aces. (I will tell you that my first impression for aces is to play them aggressively, but I hoped to use the aggression of the table against itself so I smooth called $5 with 6 players left.) The flop came, rainbow and all low. I was second to act so I bet $15 on a pot of about $30. Everyone folded except a guy that bet $100. I looked at him and read a small pocket pair trying to steal the pot. He had about $100 left in his stack, so I pushed all in, and he called. He turned over pocket 5’s and groaned when I rolled over aces. He was a big dog at this point and had little chance of winning (about 15%). Well, low and behold, he caught the miracle 5 on the river, and I was tapped out by a miracle. Being fairly exhausted, I decided that it was time to pack up for the evening and write the evening off as a loss.

On the second night, I grabbed another seat at a 1-2-2 No Limit table. I bought in $300 tonight and fell right into my saga. My second hand, I looked down and found American Airlines. I was in the small blind, so after all of the action there were 5 people left in the hand when it came back around to me. I decided to try and make a big splash, so I went the slow play route and just smooth called the $5 minimum bet. The flop offered a pair of nines and a 5 of hearts. I bet $40, and everyone folded except the button who came over the top with a bet of $100. I decided to make the big splash, so I went all in and in two seconds he called. I knew I was screwed as soon as he called and flipped over his deuce-nine. I missed on the turn and river and $300 disappeared in two hands.

Not deterred, I bought in another $200 and had some luck, winning $3,000 throughout the evening. But my saga with pocket rockets was not over. The very last hand I was going to play, I looked down and found my friends in the hole again. I was first to act so I decided no slow playing. I raised to $25. Everyone folded in turn, and I wound up taking down the blinds of $5 total!

For those keeping score, I had pocket rockets three times in about four hours of playing: 2 huge losses (one an ugly bad beat, one stupid playing by me), and I won a whopping $5 on the third!