staying healthy

"He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything."
-Arabian proverb

Over the past week, I have spent the majority of my time recovering from one sickness or another. Starting about wednesday of last week, I caught a cold that was a lot worse than normal. I'm pretty sure that at one point or another I had a fever, but I truthfully didn't have time to be sick. Wednesday night was poker night as usual and going in I believed I was close to turning things around. I decided to play in the tournament and basically just coasted till about the fifth level where the only notable hand of the night came up. I had Ad 10d, raised 3x BB preflop and got one caller. Flop came Ah 9d 5d. It was a beauty because I had top pair, nut flush draw. I bet out 1/3 of pot and was called. The turn was a 3h, and I decided to get tricky and check it. The other kid bet out, and I moved allin. He thought about it forever and called with Kd Jd, meaning that he was drawing dead because he had the second nut flush draw. Both Nick and I made the final table and when we were down to 7, we were 7th and 6th in chips and only 5 places paid. Nick busted in sixth, but I doubled up with AK against Q9 to put me back in the running. We took a break with three left and I was chip leader, even though blinds were huge. I ended up busting in 3rd when I moved in with A2 and was called by A8, and I failed to improve. I sat down at 1/2 and nothing really happened until I had AA UTG and raised to 12. I got 5 callers which is about 2 too many for aces. Flop was Q 10 2 rainbow. I bet out 30 and get one caller. Turn is a jack, and I'm thinking, fuck, one of the worst cards in the deck to come. I check, and the other guy moves allin. We have about the same stack and I call. He shows Q 10, which means I have 11 outs(24% to win). I whiff and lose a buyin at 1/2 like that. I took creighton home after that and came back to play 2.50/5. That's when the game really started to heat up. I was up about 150 when this hand came up. I have 7c 9c and it is raised to 20 preflop. There are 3 callers in front of me so I decide to call. Flop is 8c 4h 2d. Checked around to the original raiser who bets 30. Folded to me, and I decide to call(either going to make a play on it on the turn if I improve at all or give it up if I whiff). Turn is the second best card to come, the Jc. Now I have 13 outs to hit it on the river. I check, and he bets 55. I raise to 155 and he calls after some hesitation. River is a Ac and I move allin and he calls immediately. I show the winner and he was completely stunned. He said something like "That flop really helped your hand huh?" Not to be speculative, but I'm guessing he had queens, kings, or AK, all of which he could have got away from either when I raised on the turn or bet allin on the river. The next hand I will remember for a long, long time. I have 88 and raise to 20 and get one caller. Flop is Q 10 2 with two spades. I bet and he calls. Turn is a 10, I bet 55 and he raised to 110. I call thinking I have the best hand. River comes a rainbow 3. I check and he makes a huge bet. After some deliberation, I call and he says "Nice call" and shows J9. Ship it! I also made another nice call against that guy with the king high flush and one against john when I had a weak full house. All in all, the night turned out well.

Friday night Nick and I decided to go out to oakridge to play. To sum it up, I played in a 1/2 and dumped a buyin trying to make a play at the pot. In 2/4, I was up about a buyin when I moved allin with AK on a A 8 5 3 board. I was called by KK and the river came the case K to bury me. That was a toughie for sure. I was thinking of playing some more, but I was really not feeling well that night. Saturday I bowled and then went to laser tag later with a few people. Sunday, I was beginning to recover from the cold so I did accounting and calculus homework in the morning and watched the two games at night. The first game was really shocking to be truthful. I thought that once NO made it 16-14 that they were going to come back and win. Chicago's safety was the thing that turned everything around and sent them to Miami. The AFC game was the best game of the year(far and away) and it was really weird to see someone as surehanded as the Patriots blow an 18 point lead and for Brady not to lead another game winning drive when he needed one. At the end of the game, my stomach started to feel a little queasy, but I needed to run to nick's and then skyview to pick something up. When I got there, I decided to play even though I wasn't feeling well at all. At first, it was affecting my decision making. I semi-bluffed off my first buyin at 1/2 with an ace high flush draw. Tom called with a lower flush and I whiffed on the river. From there on, I began to recover as I cracked phil's aces with my kings(flop was KQQ ) and somehow he mucked after I check-raised allin. I had him on aces and was hoping I was making a play at the pot with AK. Good fold there by phil. I ended up getting all of phil's chips anyway when I held 58 and the flop was 3 4 6. This is a great flop for me becuase I make a straight with a 2 or 7 and make the nut straight with the 7. Well, some people are blessed and the 7 came on the turn. Phil bet into me and I moved allin. He quickly called and showed 45. No 8 on the river and I won the pot. When the night was over, I ended up about even and feeling a little better.

Yesterday, I slept till about 1:30 trying to sleep off my sickness. I ate very little all day and went to accounting class from 3-530. Accounting doesn't even feel like a class because it is so enjoyable to me. When I first signed up for it, I thought it was going to be a boring waste of time, but it is actually really relevant to what I want to do. I would say that Calculus is my next favorite class with statistics being last. It's not so much that I don't like statistics but I think it's pretty boring most of the time. Oh well, I'll survive the class for sure.

Right now, I feel at about 90%, probably a positive result of going to bed early last night and this being almost the one week mark for my sickness. But this is going to be the end of the post because I'm tired(up since 730) and I want to play a little online poker before I have class in 20 minutes.

Until next time,

mh