Big Fold. Good Win. New Orleans is on the Horizon.

Well another night at the Shack. I played the donkament. Bluffed my way to even until blinds got high and I pushed with JJ and was up against AA. Oh well. Went to the cash game with a good attitude. I was very ready and willing to lose my $200 buyin playing good poker. Actually I dont know if I was going to play good poker but I was going to play aggressive and try to open my game up a bit in the right spots. I raised the very first hand with A2 up to $8 and flopped an ace. I cbet and got check/called by a solid passive player in the small blind. Basically an old Belle of Baton Rouge style rock who likes to protect his good hands, call his medium hands and call his draws. Well at least thats how I read him. Who knows really. I bet the turn again to see if he was flushing. He wasnt. He obviously had a better Ace. Well the board paired on the river and any Ace worse than AK was gonna split. He checked to me and I bet. He made a crying call and we chopped. From that point on he called me wild man which was fine with me. I think it paid off later but it coulda really reversed itself when I had to consider that he might make a move with less than I would usually give him credit for. A few hands later I called a raise from the button with A6 suited. I missed the flop but floated the pretty weak cbet into me to see if he would check fold the turn. He checked but didnt fold to my turn bet. He checked the river and I was pretty sure he had 2nd pair or a very bad kicker so I bet a nice size on the river and he mucked after some torturous consideration. When I get to the Big Blind I have KQ. A couple people limp and the button raises but its a guy who loves to raise the button to limpers (which is very +EV and correct btw). The SB calls so I make a big raise. It folds around to the SB who calls. Huh? ok. The flop is J high and he checks. I make a big bet because Im representing a big pair. He folds AK. I would see this guy later triple up after playing KK pretty bad and being behind two allins until the river hit his 2 outter. At this point I make a lame joke to the massage girl about how much $4 would get me and she takes the time to explain it to me so I feel like now I gotta get a massage so she doesnt think Im clowning her. I get a 10 minute massage and wow it was worth the $15 I gave her. I felt very relaxed and since I wasnt picking up any hand I could really just enjoy it. I felt super relaxed for like an hour after that. A while later I get KK in late position. UTG raises to $10 and the next guy calls him. I fold to me and I make it $35 to go. The wild maniac degenerate behind me calls having nothing in the pot and the original raiser calls. Well the original smooth caller makes it $100 more. He is the older dude who likes to protect his hand. Aces right? Im like 90% he has AA and 10% AK but definitely not QQ, JJ, or 10s. He would have repopped the first time for sure. He isnt gonna slow play any of those hands. He coulda tried to play AK cheap and then since he was calling me wild man decided I was being wild again and decided to run with AK. I thought that was a long shot really with two people smooth calling 3 bets behind me though. It had to be AA. I took forever to fold until the dealer asked me to please act. I fold and so does everyone else. He shows AA. I fell smart and like a pussy all at once. Well now I feel like Im free rolling. I eventually go broke in a hand where I flop a flush draw and open end straight draw against the maniac. I check raised all in on the flop and he called. He didnt wanna run it twice. He had raised with 87 and flopped two pair. They turned into a boat for him. That would be about the last time he felt good for the next 7 hours. I rebuy. Im not so excited about losing this next $200 so I switch to value bet mode. I did have one hand where I raised preflop with 10,9 spades and got a few callers. I flopped open ended and bet it and got called by the guy I folded KK to. The straight hits the turn but it makes a flush. He checks and I check. He checks a blank river and he is so sure Im going to check that he also flips his cards. I quickly grab some chips and throw them out. I think he thinks I saw him wanting to check/check so maybe I was trying a last ditch effort to buy it. I really was gonna bet it the same way but wanted to get it out before he did something dumb. He called the $60. I dropped back to $200 ($400 in the game) when I smooth called the flop and turn out of position with top pair and got rivered by the bluffing buddy with A6 who checked behind. Later I got AK and raised and got a call from a very tricky player. The flop is AK3 and I bet after he checks. He calls. I bet the run and he calls. I move in on the river for a little more than pot and he calls. he has AQ. Double up and almost even. I would basically stay right there for a couple hours. I went card dead and there was a drunk friend of mine raising everything behind me so I probably lost $50 bucks limping or calling small raises and folding to his raise. Eventually I moved to the open spot that opened up behind him. Cha ching. My luck changed and I was in a good spot to use it. I called a raise with 42 suited and flopped the flush. I checked, the orig raiser bets and drunk friend reraises to like $40. I make $150. Orig folds and drunk friend goes all in. Now Im really very worried that Im crushed and dead. But I only have like $150 more. Call and ask him if he has the diamonds and he nods yes. Im starting to get that sinking why do I play this shit feeling when he then says "if a diamond comes". By the time I can get the real deal out of him the pot is over and he doesnt improve. I was still was on edge until he actually mucked. Sweet. Now Im up a buyin and a half for the game. I would then start hitting a bunch of straights and sets and two pairs and they were holding up. One hand I had QJ and flopped a gut shot in a limp pot. The flop bet was $6 so called with 2 overs and a gutter against 2 players. The turn gives me the nuts. The very aggressive guy who bet the $6 bets out $10 and I just call to the small stack behind me who goes all in for $55. The original guy calls but isnt happy. I move him in for another $120ish since there a flush draw that he could have. He woulda called the flush draw but he folded whatever he had. I beat the short stacks two pair. I wanted to leave since I had work in a few hours but I woulda felt bad runnin with the money. Not that I was gonna risk too much anyway though. My drunk friend left and the action slowed down. He had actually started playing very much more passive by the end of the night anyway. The maniac was still there but he was playing half buyins. There were actually 3 big stacks and like 3 short stacks and maybe an average stack who did really wanna get to involved. The other big stack woulda put his money in play but he was a tricky good player so I wasnt seeing an opportunity there. The other one was just protecting his win. We just played small ball for a couple hours at the end and then I left. I left in time to go get 1.5 hours of sleep for work and up 3 buyins. The next day was pure hell but I'd say I would do it all again. Looking forward to New Orleans this weekend. Probably play the Saturday night and hopefully the Sunday 6 handed depending on how the cash game runs. I really wanna play the Tuesday Head Up tournament but I will have to do really well this weekend to justify taking work time off and getting my sons to stay somewhere else for that night. Last New Orleans event I played 3 nightly's and cashed in all three but not in the top 10 ever. I wanna pop a top 5 in there this time.