Here are a couple of hands I lost recently. I am not that happy with either, but in “tough” games, sometimes things are pretty unclear.

I hold Qs 10s in the small blind. Al fold tot he button, who limps. Weird, but there it is. Does he have A-A? I doubt it. I think he (a regular) is stuck, knows I often 3-bet (I would have here) and is just trying to see a flop.

I would often raise in the SB to kill the BB when I have a hand as good as Q-10 suited, but the big blind will never fold anything and I will be out of position against two, so I call.

Flop is Q-6-5. A decide to check and check-raise the auto-bet from the button (players who limp preflop in my game pretty much ALWAYS bet the flop if only the blinds are in and both blinds check. They are correct to do so.

OK, check-check-autobet-raise-fold. Now a reraise. What is this? A-A? A good queen? A draw like 8-7? I am pretty sure my queen is still good ad I fur bet. He calls. The pot is big, but I do not like his call.

The turn is a king,. I am not crazy about that either, so check. He bets. I call. He comments, “No raise this time?” This comment almost certainly means I am now losing, if I was ever ahead, I should check-fold the river, which is a 2 but I check call. He has K-9. He tells me he figured I figured he had nothing for his bet on the flop, so he reraised to show he did even though he didn’t. Then he caught his out. Fun, huh?

Similar hand. SB, and me in BB with 6-7. I take the free play. Flop is K-K -7. Two spades, I have none. SB checks, I bet as I do not want anyone play on. I do not even want to try to pick up the autobet.

Limper raises. What can this be? Does he have a king? Can’t be. First, he is likely to have open raised. Second, with a king he is highly likely to wait to punish me on the turn, No, this is just a nonsense raise. Maybe a flush draw.

Perhaps I should 3-bet here, but I call (SB folded) and see if the turn is a spade. Bang! Spade four. I check. Wait. He is checking his hole cards. Now he bets. Does he have a flush and knows to me a false tell. I doubt that. I think he has nothing and is afraid the check and show it. Should I raise? Probably I should as I am pretty sure my read is accurate, but at the table I did not. I called. River Q. I was hooping for no queen, no jack )quack) I check-call. He has Q-10 off with no spade and takes the pot.

These are not bad beat stories. And I could have played each one differently. Probably even better (though I could have played worse too and folded the best hand) . Just another day in the life. But I thought they were interesting examples of how the $30-$60 is playing these days. Much money to be made, but you have to work for it.

OK, maybe Thought of the “Week” is becoming a misnomer. I apologize for the lack of frequency. I do enjoy writing these, but I have had some other things on my mind. I still keep up with the forum, answer posts as I can.

I have been playing more in the past week, which is a good sign on several fronts. One thing I have noticed in the past few days is several instances of totally wild play. You just do not see that many $30-$60 maniacs in the course of year, and this past week there have been four different players assuming the maniac role. By this I mean raising with far to many hands, sometimes all of them, going too far after the flop, and, naturally, laying a series of beats on the other players.

Maintaining your equanimity under those circumstances is critical, and for many, quite difficult. When I started playing, it was impossible. Every time I lost a pot I “deserved,” it tied may innards up in knots. A guy would hit is kicker, make runner-runner miracle, flop trips with his 3-2 when I had kings, and find other creative ways to drive me nuts. I tried to remain stoic looking as I played through the psychological pain, but it was tough. Often, I tilted (some), and tried to give them a dose of their own medicine. Usually, I just gave someone else a dose of my chips.

One day, still several years ago, I took a terrible beat. To my surprise, nothing happened. I was looking for that familiar intestinal-clenching, blood-rushing sensation, but nothing was there. I sat there in amazement and tried to decide what happened. I still have no idea. Maybe I had passed the statute of limitations on beats. Maybe I had been playing enough years successfully that somehow inwardly I realized that either these were a part of the game I had better get used to, or my results over the years were good enough that I knew I was winning player in spite of these (actually because of these, but I did not understand that for a while).

Since then, the evil sensation has not returned. I still suffer flashes of annoyance when someone shows me two rags that beat my lovely premium holding in an unlikely scenario for a huge pot, but I no longer get upset. I do find myself playing too loosely with these characters at time, as did last night, and had to rein myself in. I set a goal of folding hands for 45 minutes to get better control, and came close, playing only one hand (and losing that one after putting in multiple bets on the flop with a large advantage).

Overall, I am glad I spent so much time in low limit games, learning, among other things, how to play with wild players, how to take the ridicule they heap on you when they are winning, and how to control myself when “unfair” things are happening. While it was surprising to see that many “any two cards” guys and “I raise two-thirds of the pots” guys in a short period of time in middle limits, it helps to have lived through the range of experiences and wild swings before.

Writing this pre-Super Bowl, but that is not the topic today. First, some quick book news. My book, Advanced Limit Hold’em Strategy, is now available on PokerStars for Frequent Player Points. For those of you who play on Stars as I do (no compensation, I just play there), getting books with FPPs is a great deal.

Yesterday, Betty the beautiful and talented wife and I attended the induction ceremony for the First Annual Women in Poker Hall of Fame at Binion’s. Of course, Binion’s is the site of the original Poker Hall of Fame, and this will stand with it. The purpose is to recognize the achievements of Women as players, contributors and role models, and the honorees were all part of poker for a lot of years. All were pioneers playing, dealing, administering, writing and winning poker when, in many places, women were not allowed to deal or play.

Congratulations to the four ladies: Barbara Enright, Susie Isaacs, Linda Johnson, and Marsha Waggoner. I am not going to review their bios here, but all have made considerable contributions to the poker world. It was a very moving ceremony hosted by Mike Sexton as, after a presentation of the history of women in poker, each of the inductees was introduced and said a few words. Jan Fisher did a terrific keynote talk as well, and hopefully, she will be a Hall of Famer herself in a short time (she already is in my opinion).

The event sponsored a charity: Breast Cancer Angels. There are a lot of Breast Cancer charities (too many compared to other forms of cancer that are more prevalent and also need money desperately), but Breast Cancer Angels appeals to me. They take 100% of the money they get, and give it to people who are fighting breast cancer and need the money for rent, food, clothing, and emotional support for them and their kids. Their overhead is paid for by corporate contributions, and all of the staff are volunteers. The organization was started in 2000. You can find more information here.

On a personal note, by a somewhat amazing coincidence, I have played heads-up with three of these women (though I am fudging one). Partially this is a function of being a night person, and having played for a long time, but I have not had that many heads-up games in my life (in live poker rooms) over the years.

I met Marsha Waggoner on my first Card Player Cruise (to Alaska), but of course I had never seen or heard of her. She just seemed like a nice lady. One night, when the 20-40 game broke, she asked me if I wanted to play heads up. I was surprised, and actually asked her if really wanted to play me (I suspect I overemphasized m the “me”). She did, and we played for a while. I cannot remember who won (really) which probably means she did, but we both recall the event clearly.

Several years ago, the Casino Europa in Costa Rica hosted amazing poker tournaments. They comped airfare, hotel and meals, so I went. On this trip, to get your airfare reimbursed, you had to play 50 hours during the week. So I was playing a short-handed limit hold’em game at 2 AM or so when I spied Barbara Enright and her life partner Max Shapiro, playing heads-up Omaha hi-lo to burn off some hours. I had never met either of these famous people, but I did recognize them, so I walked over to meet them. They were receptive to me joining their game, and I did. It was just like walking into a Max Shapiro Card Player column, with Max whining he wanted to go to bed and Barbara tongue-lashing him to play (in her wonderful way, of course). I settled the thing by offering to play Barbara heads-up so Max could retire. She agreed, and we discussed what to play. Barbara suggested seven card stud (politely suggesting her best game). I agreed, and we played heads up seven stud for a couple of hours. This is an interesting game, as Barbara is ruthlessly aggressive, and with only two players, there are no dead cards to take into account. One of the things that saved me I suspect is that not one dealer in Costa Rice had ever dealt a board game, so every 20 minutes we had to train another dealer, which slowed the game down. I did eke out a victory that night, but a tiny one. I did have a blast. I suspect Barbara does not remember it or me.

My fudge is that I have played heads-up with Linda Johnson, but only Chinese Poker, only for a few deals and only for $5 a point (which is all I will ever play her for in that game, she is way better than I am at it).

Anyway, congratulations to the new Women in Poker Hall of Fame, and to the first inductees.

I was born in New York City and lived there for 21 years. Then I moved to Boston and vicinity for another 20. So this Super Bowl features the first team I followed, and the second. Congratulations to the Giants and Patriots for making it to the finals. I will be rooting for the Patriots, as I have for many years, during most of which the “Patsies” could not even make the agate type on the West Coast.

When In Boston, I did get to some Pats games (tickets were nowhere near as scarce as the Giants tickets were when I lived in Brooklyn), and even drove to training camp once. In New York, I did get to go to some New York Titans games. This was the AFL precursor to the Jets. These tickets were great because there were never any fans there, and you could effectively sit on the line of scrimmage. If a team gained ten yards, you could walk ten yards and sit down again That was fun.

I was going to add some poker, but I have not and it has been a week. (My column took a while). So I will post this pre-Super Bowl.