TYVM Google Maps! >=(

So I had intended to report on a new player's club in nearby Dayton, Oh called the GoodFellows Club. I was intrigued to see if it was anything like the club in Rounders. However that plan was foiled, spoiled and ruined by Google Maps' inability to direct me. I had a GPS but it broke, so I write down directions on pieces of paper before i go somewhere and if I get lost I buy a map of the area. Seeing how I don't travel all that often anymore, and when I do it's to places I'm familiar with, I've never seen the need to replace my GPS. I fear I might have to now. Google Maps gave me directions to the club but omitted a very key step that sent me 2 or 3 miles in the wrong direction. Apparently the U-Turn still escapes the computer's grasp.

I will simply delay that report for another time.

I will instead tell you about my birthday which was just last Sunday on the 6th. I am now 24 and exponentially smarter than I was last year. Or so I hope. I have a whole year to prove myself wrong on that. I wish to give thanks to my friends who hosted a little get together with beer, liquor and "stuff" as well as to my roommate and good friend Jim who took me to Benihana. I had a great time at both and I hope someday I can return such kindness.

What made my birthday even better was the fact that I got to play poker with some of my local poker buddies. A friendly $1/$1 game was arranged and I was invited, and I very gladly accepted. When I showed up the game was a little short with only six people but I sat down anyway with my usual buy-in of $40. I was not expecting what happened next. I sat down at around 8:30pm and we ended the game around 12:30am. When we finished I had $354 in front of me. I busted four people from the game and though a few came back for more, I was on the best heater of my life.

Only downside was a hand where I held Q-K offsuit in the small blind. My friend Jim (not my roommate) limped from Under the Gun and I raised it to $6 when it go to me. We were short handed and I believed that if I was called and I hit the right flop I could take it down either there or on the turn. Jim called me and we went heads up to the flop which was 8-A-Q rainbow. I checked my middle pair and Jim bet $12. I should note that Jim, while a very tight-aggressive tournament player, is a really loose and aggressive bluffer in cash games. It was with this in mind that I called, preparing to take it down on the turn with a big bet if I thought he was bluffing. Amazingly, the turn was a King, giving me two pairs. I checked again, letting Jim make the action. He obliged by betting $12 again. Jim has never slow-played a big pair in his life, and he puts a lot of value into big aces (royal and broadway draws), preferring to open-raise with those hands under the gun, so I put him on at least a medium Ace. Remembering the old adage "Give an idiot enough rope and he'll hang himself." I flat called and took it to river. unfortunately a 10 came off on the river and I was now worried. Jim's range of hands in this spot has alot of Jacks in it. I make an idiot move of checking, hoping he will check behind with his medium Ace but instead he goes all-in for $64, which at this point was nearly half my stack. I talked it out, trying to elicit a response but Jim is a homicide detective and knows how to withold information. Finally I let it go, knowing that I couldn't call for that much with just two pair on that type of board. I know in my heart that I made a very bad laydown, but I more than made up for it later.