APL return

I played my first APL game in ages last night. One of my friends has just got back from overseas and a few other people have been asking me to come along so I ended up going to Broadway last night. It was good to catch up with a few friends that I haven't seen for a few weeks. It was good to play live poker for the first time in a while and actually touch the cards and the chips.

I picked Ellen up on the way and we got to the game just as it was starting. It was a full house so instead of setting up another table, we ended up being reserves number 7 and 8. This would cause much joy later for players that got knocked out early and had to wait an hour or more to get back in the game.

I got in during the 2nd blinds and shortly after I sat down got pocket queens in the small blind. One of the looser players who was short-stacked raised the blinds in early position and was quickly called by someone else and then me. The flop came out 6, 7, 7 with 2 clubs and the original raiser put in the rest of his stack (just another 300 or so) and was again called by the other player. I decided to push all-in over the top of the caller and hope the initial raiser had ace king or a lower pocket pair. The caller thought I had pocket 9's and decided to fold and the initial raiser turned over kings. He could've played the hand exactly the same way with a lot less. I thought afterwards, I probably should've played my queens a little slower post-flop to get some more in the sidepot as insurance in case the initial raiser was actually strong.

I didn't see many cards after that until after the break. I limped in with ace queen from eary position, someone raised with 9's in middle position, got a few callers and won the hand on a low river and flop. Shortly after another loose/aggressive player (yes, there are plenty of them in APL) raised in early position, I didn't have much more left so I pushed in over the top with pocket kings. I knew I was ahead, knew he couldn't fold, so just had to hope they would hold up. The big blind ummed ahhed and eventually also called. Turns out she had 9, 10 suited, initial raiser had queens, my kings hold up and I get the main pot while the queens take the subsequent sidepot. Nice triple up for me and I'm right back in the game.

For much of the next 30 mins or so our table plays short-handed as the turbo-table gets drawn and we're down to the final few tables. Blinds rising quickly and 5 handed I stupidly don't shove with ace 8 under the gun and a tight big blind player. Later, I'm in the small blind with king jack suited and everyone else is folded, the big blind has a large stack so whether I shove or not he will call with any two cards. We joke about this on the table so I just call and he puts me all-in anyway. I of course call and he turns over ace 6 off and I flop a full-house, I double up but still not that far in front of the blinds.

Next orbit, I'm in the small blind and push all-in with ace 9 off for an extra 4000 and a new big blind who is also chipped up umm's and ahh's for a minute or two and then calls with 7, 8 off. Low board, he turns the straight and I'm out in 12th spot, which isn't too bad considering there would've been 50+ players. Other than the king jack suited full-house flop, not much luck and not many cards.