Poker Hell

Thursday night I flirted with purgatory. Friday night was a tiny slice of heaven, even if I lost and didn't catch many cards worth playing and had to lay down a set of 10s on a A,J,10 board when two players moved all in on it.


Saturday at the Luxor? Well, the first hour started pretty well at $1-2 NL. I scooped a pretty big pot by raising with A-K and getting an K on the flop and calling off a guy's stack. I got a full house with J-10. Then I overplayed a pair of 10s against an extremely aggressive players' Q-Q and lost a big pot.
The Gods saw my arrogance and decided to punish me.
J-3. Q-3. K-3. A-2. 8-3. 7-4. The crap started to come in bunches, sometimes for two or three orbits. And the table started to fill with donkeys. There was the muscled guy with a huge, hair-blown haircut who yelled at the cocktail waitress to bring him sour drinks and re-raised all in three times with A,10, winning twice. There was the guy who pushed many times with third pair. There was a youngish guy with a scruffy beard who enjoyed betting $2 into a $50 pot but would also raise with trash and blew through at least $400 after saying he needed cab fare to head to the airport. There was the guy two spots to my left who put $200 into the pot with Q-8 on a Q-high pot and his wife, who didn't even know her options after the flop came down. There was the Asian Q-8 played against, who called all that money he put in with 9-9 and got a 9 on the river and later re-raised all-in with A-Q.
And I continued to remain ice cold. J-8. Q-5. K-2. Every time I got a playable hand, like, you know, Q-10 sooted, a guy would raise and re-raise, so I'd have to trash it. So the old man who raised all in with A-4 on an A-high flop would remain unchallenged by me. So would all the others. They would continue to get drunker. I would watch with drool down the corner of my chin as they moved all in with Q-J. Meanwhile, I got 10,9 three hands in a row. I played them all three times. They didn't even hit a draw. When I got it a few times later, UTG, I pitched it, and the flop came 6-8-7, and yet another donkey pushed in $200 with...6-4.
Sigh.
You can't call in position and hope to take the pot away. Not with these calling stations. In my mind, you just have to wait for a hand. If you disagree, or know how to beat a table like this without cards, please comment and let me know because I'm stumped. I played a lot of trash in the hopes of catching something on the flop. I never did.
I've never had a more frustrating session in my life. Definitely not live, anyway.
It tells me I can beat the game. It also tells me I may have a few limitations. Whatever I did, Poker Gods, I'm sorry, because I don't want to remain in Poker Hell.