Finally; a Reversal of Fortune.

Well, after a long NL drought I finally got loose at Harrah’s to the tune of $1,500. I played some very good $2-5 NL poker for about 15 hours waiting for my Christmas morning flight to the Ps house and am only upset about two plays that I made. I flopped three sets and got paid on all three.

Here’s the hand of the night. I’m dealt KK in early position with about $600 in chips ($2-5 NL). I make it $25 to go. I get a raise to $50 from Debbie on the button. This is both good and bad. She is extremely solid and reads people very, very well. In fact, I’m positive she’s gotten the best of me over the past year. The more I think about it, the more I think she's at the top of my list of folks to avoid going heads-up against. Unless I’ve got Kings :)

The nice part about her re-raise is I now know she has a pocket pair, 10s or higher, or AK. I’d bet my stack on it. I’m a huge favorite against a random mix of those hands and I know she’ll lay it down to a big re-raise if she’s beat, so I just call. If I do anything else she puts me on a hand immediately and the party’s over.

Flop: K82. Now that’s just not fair.

I check to her (she’s behind me). I think I can get another $75 out of her, but am not hoping for much more. I think she bet $60. I figure she’s still too smart to call a raise with anything but AK or AA, and since if she had AK, the flopped King would have been of the case variety, so I again pass on the raise.

Turn (K82): 8. Sheesh. Now I’m virtually unbeatable and am very willing to take my chances against AA. I check, she checks. I rule out AA as a possibility. Now I’ve got the nuts (I know, 88, blah, blah) and my perfect river card becomes 10, J, or Q.

River (K828): J. Sweet Maria. I think for a while and come out with $45. My thinking is that she’s not calling a big bet if she’s way behind, but if she has JJ, an 8, or is slow-playing AA, this gives her plenty of room to come over the top of me. She makes it $250 and the star-bangled banner begins playing in my head.

I’ve got $400 left and she’s got enough to call every bit of it. I’m still concerned she will lay her hand down so I take a minute and without any of the BS that guys try like “well I guess I have to go all-in” I silently move all my chips in the middle. She calls and says “I’ve gotta call, do you have KK?”

Jesus woman; are you staring directly into my soul?? She turns over JJ and I turn over KK and she looks mildly disappointed but not all that surprised.

All I can really say is getting all her chips was a dear diary moment for yours truly but it took some pretty ridiculous cards.