Playing Again

This week I was able to play bar poker a few times. It was fun once again. That's a start I guess. Tuesday I got to my first table to see 5 women players out of 9 of us. I was thinking "welcome back Dave" LOL! I played a tight aggressive style and managed to slowly accumulate chips. By the time blinds got bigger I was then able to increase my aggressiveness to take down many pots. My cards for the night were less then stellar but I was able to manage a final table and 5th place finish. Last night I went to McCann's for their game and remembered why I had gotten burnt out on bar poker. So much bad poker all on the same table. An early hand I had 2-4 off suit and a very weak player that only raises with small suited cards made a big raise. I called knowing that I could outplay him. Everyone else folded. Flop gave me a pair of twos. He bets I call. Turn gave me a gut shot with the pair. He bets again and I quickly call. I am thinking he may have a small pair bigger then mine. I decide to make a big bet on the river to get him off his pair. River is a blank. He checks and I decide he will call if I bet so I check and say I got a pair of twos and he mucks his cards. I turn over my 2-4 off and pull in the pot. I very tight playing women says how can you call a raise with 2-4 and I remind her that poker is not about the cards and I was just playing the player and was correct on my judgement. Then things turned for the worst. They was a newer player that I had never played with before and he was playing very tight. A good player raises to 3 times the big blind. I call with pocket 6's. New player reraises. Good player moves all in. I fold and other player calls off all his chips and turns over QQ. Good player has AA. Flop is A-10-3. Turn is a king and of course river is a jack for runner runner straight and a huge pot for the new player. He then all of the sudden gets very aggressive and starts raising almost every pot. A little later I am on button and he is under the gun. Blinds are 200-400. He doubles the blind to 800. There are 4 callers when it gets to me. I have 2-4 off and cam tell that at least the big blind is going to call and probably the small. It is going to be a big pot, so I decide to call and hope for miracle flop. Flop is 2-4-6. Bingo! Guy makes a big bet. Everyone folds to me and I push all in for a lot over to get heads up. Then BB pushes all in too. That can't be good. Raiser call and turns over QQ. Other guy has 3-5 with a flush draw. Turn gives him a straight flush and I am drawing dead and out. Now you could say that I made a bad play with 2-4 off but in that position I would play it the same every time. I did have a few chips left and later moved all in preflop with 7-8 hearts with lots of players in and turned a straight only to have the same guy catch a full house on the river when board pairs. What should I expect from a bar poker game. All the guy has to do is raise 3-4 times the big blind from under the gun with his queens and big blind and I would have folded our junk hands. People just don't get it. Big hands can't be played too slow because they don't always win and the more players in the hand the more likelihood of your big hand not holding up. It's all about odds. Even though you may win a huge pot by slow playing it's not worth the risk! I may need another break again.