I played about 7 hours of $2/$4 Hold'em at Foxwoods on Saturday. The whole day was really a test of patience. I swear it took about an hour for me to get a hand worth playing. The day didn't get much better, although I was really proud of my restraint and discipline because it could've been a lot worse.

I bought in with $100, and at one point I was down to about $30 before crawling my way back to $130 or so. I ended the session down at $65. I was about 2 or 3 big pots from coming out a winner.

There was one old guy who was with us the whole time. He was basically a calling station, but would bet or raise when he had a decent hand. At one point, I put him on kings-up while I had aces. When two Queens fell on the turn and river I thought I had him beat, but alas it was trip-Kings v. aces up. Oh well. I lost a bit of money on that one. Most players there were pretty much calling stations. They would stay in with outrageous draws. Winning Low Limit Hold'em was a great book for poker like this. Many of the situations it describes happened quite a bit.

I had a few great hands throughout the day. I got AA once, and flopped a full house (ATT). I wasn't too afraid of quads, and so took the guy sitting next to me for about a $60 pot. Overall most people were pretty respectful when I entered a pot, although not enough to bail out if I started raising. Maybe next time I'll concentrate more on changing gears as the day goes on.

I can't wait for the next session. Hopefully next time Laura will be able to come, and next time I'll make sure to take many more breaks. Sitting at a poker table for 7 hours is a lot harder than it sounds.