Textbook example of pot-odds. 9-10 handed hold'em at Dominik's place in Irvine last night. Was first out in the first game, won the second. Tallying $53 net winning for the night (lost $10 for the 1st, won $70 for the second, minus the $10 buy-in and the $3 won from the interim side game).

There were 4 hands I remembered clearly. 1 was a mistake of unawareness, 1 somewhat negative luck of the draw, 1 extremely positive luck of the draw, 1 excellent play.

Holding 89 suited. Flopped 85? rainbow. I bet, called by the guy with the tilted Dodger's hat. Turned 9, making me 2-pair, bet big, called. No flush possibility but completely unaware of the possible straight. It turned out he made his straight on the turn and was baiting on me. Bet big on river, double-raised, called, lost.

With the shortest of short stacks and holding A7 suited, only an orbit from the above-mentioned hand. All-in, called by Roberto with ATo. 10 came on the turn. First out.

Second game. Holding KT suited, flopped K. Bet, called. Turned 9 of clubs, giving me a flush draw on the river with top pair and mediocre kicker. Bet, raised all-in by Roberto. At this point I was the big stack of the table, was winning and bluffing consistently, had the entire table's attention and I called without really even thinking. He turned over his K9, and I really had no idea that he had two-pairs until I rivered a T, beating his two-pair. Almost felt like apologizing. But I didn't.

The turning point of the second game. I was second in chips behind Dominik, which had slightly more than double my chips. Darrin the skinny guy and the Dodger hat on my right and left respectively. Dealt AA in big blind. Dodger hat folds, Dominik calls, Darrin calls, I raised doubling the blind. Domink calls, Darrin folds.

Flopped two spades and something else, all below T. Bet 10 (blind was 3-6 I think), Dominik raised 30. There were about 80 in the pot, and I had slightly less than double that. Dominik throughout the night had gotten on many people's nerves by calling all-in's with nothing more than flush and OE straight draws. They all could've been smart plays depending on the size of the pot and his stack, I don't know. Can't really put a good read on Dominik's game. He seemed pretty weak, checking and limping in a lot, but somehow won both of the previous games. Is he putting a play on me? I re-raised all in, putting the pot-odds at about 1.5:1 for him to call his flush draw. Dominik thought about it, and "What the hell," called and lost, making me the chip leader. Turning point of the night.

Once I've got the chip lead I was able to lean on everybody. Stealing blinds from all positions, it was beautiful. Won that game without much effort.