Now I have him right where I want him...

10 handed 1-2 NL. 175 behind him, 3rd UTG, Hero has opened for 10 the last 2 hands in a row and softened up the table with a few tripe showdowns. Looking down seeing to see J9s, a hand rife with possibilities if ever there were one, Hero opens again for 10 and is called by Caller 4th UTG. Action folds around to Rock in the cutoff, who with 170 behind him upsets his streak of not playing a hand in almost two orbits by upping the bet to 50 straight. Hero, sensing the opportunity to make a move, calls. Caller, perhaps sensing the menace of Hero's smooth call, folds. Flop comes AQQ rainbow. Hero pauses and checks, further drawing Rock in. Rock, timid as ever, also checks. Turn comes a blank. Hero, still waiting to pounce on his unwitting prey, checks again. Rock, after a pause to readjust his panties, also checks again. River comes a blank. Hero, setting up the last steps of his diabolical plan, checks again. Rock, predictable as ever, finally bets 50. Hero, sensing that Rock with only 160 in the pot and a stack of 70 left behind him is ready to be plucked like a ripe fruit from a tight weak tree, pushes, all the while smiling to himself with the knowledge that Rock will never call off his whole stack all in.

Is this what the world really looks like to idiots like Hero? I'm not complaining, but sometimes I just don't get it. Rock, a/k/a your ever-humble narrator, held AQ (soooted!) and somehow managed to avoid being pushed off his hand. It ain't no fun when the rabbit got the gun. You might have thought that this stuff tapers off with 200 buy-ins, but apparently not on Pacific. It really is worth fighting through their awful software.