$1500 No Limit Hold'em -- early day 2

Excited to be in the money, with an appropriately modest celebration out of the way, I catch 4 hours of intermittent sleep before Day 2 starts. Where does the time go? I barely have a chance to swim a few laps in the pool and grab breakfast before we are off and to the races at 2:00 pm.



I'm at a pretty tough table, feeling a little shaky. The first hand, playing 800-1600 blinds with 100 antes, a player moves all-in in middle position for $21,000. The dealer calls all-in for roughly the same amount. The big blind is a friend of mine from Santa Cruz, and she agonizes for a few minutes before calling all-in for $18,000. The first player has KK, the second player has QQ, and my friend shows JJ. The dealer comments (totally inappropriately) "I don't see how the Jacks can possibly lose this hand." The flop is three low cards, the turn is an irrelevant Ace, and the river is.......a Jack! Just like that my friend has tripled up.



I am not happy with the way I play the first two hours. The few times I try to steal people re-raise me, and when I have a hand they all fold. Frankly, I am happy to still be alive with $30,000 in chips (out of a starting stack of $45,000) when we get a welcome break.



The next two hours I get such a rush of cards no finesse is needed. I get J J twice and K K three times and they all hold up. I zoom up to $150,000. The last hand before the break the button raises and I have K Q of hearts in the big blind. I could re-reaise here but I just call. The flop is 7 5 5. I check and the button bets 11,000. I make a big bluff and re-raise to 30,000. He calls (ugh!). The turn is a 2 and I check and fold as we head to the break. I am momentarily sick about my bluff attempt but during the break I decide I like--no, love--the way I played it and I feel better.