Score!

Just got back from a 11+ hour session at Tulalip. I was playing fairly loose and very aggressive, which I know helped me win some big pots but also helped me lose more than I might have if I had played a bit more snug. My stack was bouncing from a low of $30 (I reloaded here) to $150 back to $75 to $250... it was a roller coaster, but I was playing poker, I wasn't just waiting for cards. Higher variance with this style (short-term), but in this game it really is the optimal way to play: it's so passive! Of course, I wouldn't have gotten the action I did had I played snugger. But I digress....

Last hand of the session, we're 7-handed, I'm in the small blind. One fold, limpers all the way to the button who raises to $12. I look down and find Jd9d. I love these types of hands, but I loathe playing them out of position. Still, 2 other limpers and me are fairly deep ($200-$300+), so I decide to call the raise and hope the rest of the limpers also call. This is the type of hand where if I miss I don't get fancy, I check-fold. And, as expected, all 6 limpers call (one limper is actually all-in with his last $12). Pot: $72.

FLOP: Jc 4c 9s

Awesome, top 2; don't like the flush draw, but that will only get there 35% of the time. I bet $50. UTG goes all-in for less. One fold, MP min-raises to $100. Folds to me.

Top 2 on a flushing board. Thing is, the guy who raised has been very quiet - hasn't played a hand in a while, and I typically see him raising with decent hands. I ask how much he's got left: $140. While I'm affraid of a set, he'd have raised pre with JJ or 99; 44 is the only hand in his range that I think is beating me. He's looking me dead in the face. He feels very strong about his hand, I can tell.

I say I need a minute. "Tell you what," he says, "you take a minute and I'm going to put these on" (referring to his sunglasses). Something doesn't seem right, I dunno. I remember back through the night; I remember him saying that QJ and AJ are two of his favorite hands. Something just... I dunno, I watched him flop 2 sets today, and -- he's just acting different than he did then. I can't pinpoint at all what's "different," but it just is.

He's actually at this point got his back turned to the table. It's almost a Phil Laak-Unibomber move. I take another second, and then remember that I'm at $1/$2 NL, and that push-monkeys will get married to TPTK.

I then say a silent prayer that he doesn't have a set, and then announce all-in. He whips off his sunglasses, stares at me, looks at his cards and thinks. With no insta-call, I know he doesn't have a set, and he either has AcKc with the flush draw, or AJ. After about 20 seconds he says, "I can't lay this down, I call."

"Top two," I say. He says "Holy s*#t, I'm way behind," and flips over the JackAce. The other two players - one had A4o, the other had J8o. Only 2 aces left that I have to dodge.

Top two hold up. I rake in a $400+ pot. This is the biggest pot I've ever won. I simultaneously bust 3 players, and the game breaks. It was 8am; I'd been playing since 8:30pm, with every intention of leaving around 1 or 2am. The game was so damn good, though, that I couldn't leave - I just couldn't!

Yea, it's an easy game when the deck smacks you upside the head - AND your opponents are willing to go broke with one pair!.