Tough Time Winning

My online poker is just getting to be a joke. After cashing in 14 straight tournaments I can't even finish in the top 20! I am getting snapped right and left with people who I assume watch me fold 20 straight hands, then when I raise pot size, they call me with absolute garbage, and somehow manage to connect solidly. Case in point...raised in late position with AQ, called by Q/4 offsuit????? Flop has a 4 in it....I lose! This is not an isolated incident. It seems that a number of players sort of live off calling biggish raises with ATC (any two cards). This is especially true with the big stacks. I just don't understand their willingness to probably take the worst of it for even 10% of their chips. Fold, let the guy pick up the blinds and move on!!

Lucky Electrical Storm

Sometimes just plain old dumb luck trumps any possible skills. Such was my situation on a 45 person SNG tournament. I had done alright, getting to the final table, but was desperately shortstacked. Then the dumb luck starting happening with big stacks colliding, then multiple players going all in with the biggest stack winning and knocking them out. It finally got down to 4 of us and miraculously with me having about 1 1/2 blinds, a three way all-in with the big stack winning. I was heads up with about 2,000 in chips vs. over 50000 and virtually no chance. Then the real luck happened. I called a big blind and he folded. Hmmm. Then an autofold when he posted his small blind. Hmmmm. Looks like someone is offline or sitting out. I then proceeded to play as fast as possible, collecting blinds and antes for several minutes. Finally he reappears and comments that they were having an electrical storm and he had lost power. I was then back in the game with over 20,000 in chips!!! After a few back and forth wins I flopped a monster and put him on the shorts stack. One hand later he overplayed top pair and was gone. Winner, winner chicken dinner! With the win my online bankroll is now the largest it has ever been. I am starting to play higher buyin tourneys and doing pretty well in them. I cashed in a "Sniper" tournament with about 500 players, collecting a lot of bounties along the way. Cash games are a little drag on my bankroll with the Omaha the worst. Today I had a huge stack in a pot limit game and got all-in three way with my pocket aces, only to get cracked by 9/10 offsuit when he rivered trips. Ouchy!!! If he had not been a shorter stack, I would have been "felted", but he had less than the other player who I beat with his K/10 offsuit. It is unbelievable the trash hands people are willing to put all their chips in pre-flop.

Losing Coin Flips

Friday night at the American Legion I drew a very tough table. There was one totally clueless old guy, three calling stations, a great internet player, 2 more tough internet players, a perennial luckbox, and one rock plus me. I was totally, completely card dead, with only one small pair which failed to connect. Mostly what was dealt was cards like 8/2 offsuit. Everyone at the table took turns winning giant pots (the first pot was sort of an indication of what was coming, with an internet guy limping in under the gun with 2/3 suited and making a straight on the turn). Finally I pick up pocket 9's in late position, raise to $300 (I think the blinds were 40/80), and immediately have the big blind...the very good internet player....come over the top of me all in for about 700 more. He had doubled up once, then lost it all back to a full house over his nut flush. I called to see the classic race AQ vs. my underpair. The flop...sick...K, J, 10...I am drawing almost dead. The river even brought a 9, but his flopped straight held. I am now the short stack at the table, and after seeing two hands in a row that I would have won but folded my garbage, I go all-in with QJ. With two players (both blinds) checking down and a jack on the river thought I was good to go another hand or two, but no, the slowrolling flush wins. I have just been super unlucky with my coin flips lately, going out 4th in a 45 person SNG after losing 3 in a row. Hopefully my luck will change soon.

The Big Tournament

Sunday finals day and my practice games online were miserable. Tried playing in the cash game for a while and lost a bunch (over $200). This was not looking good, but am always hopeful. The seat draw was o.k. with all the small stacks and only one giant stack (Max). Overall, a decent table. My game went uneventfully, with my chip stack increasing slightly with pretty mediocre cards. I ran into two problem hands, one with my AJ in the cutoff. I raised 3 times the big blind to 12,000, and the small blind (Max) reraised me to 36,000 which was about all of my chips. I quickly folded and he showed pocket aces. Disaster avoided. The next problem hand came when I raised in early position to 17,500 with my pocket 8's (I think the blinds were 2/4000). I was called from the button and when the flop came A/K/J, I checked and folded to the all-in bet. With a couple of pushes with small pairs as we got down to about 12 players total, I took advantage of everyone tightening up. Once I pushed with 3's, and Alex, a very good player (not big wild Alex), told me that he had folded 4's. I pushed once more with 2's, and Alex said he folded pocket 3's!!!! It shows that the aggressor has a really big advantage, as you can push with small pairs, but you just can't call, as you are either in a coin flip or dominated by a bigger pair.

Something very upsetting happened when we got down to 10 players. Only 9 would get paid, with 9th getting $500, so someone on the other table suggested that we pay the bubble boy his $120 entry back. Everyone quickly agreed except for easily the worst player in the tournament, Paul. He had been a totally oblivious luckbox and was the 2nd shortest stack, so it made no sense for him to vetoe the idea, particularly since the money would come out of 1st and 2nd places!! There were a few pointed comments to him from some people you wouldn't expect to say anything, and shortly afterwards Grady got knocked out and we went to the final table. My draw was bad, seat 4 with the other short stacks, Paul at 2, and Bob P. at 3. We all made one run around the table and Bob was forced all in and got knocked out. Paul went next, and I noticed that I could not get through the blinds (now 10/20,000), so I picked my spot and went all-in with K/10 two under the gun. Everyone folded to the big blind who only had to call 8,000 more with A/9. His ace held and I was out in 7th place for an $800 win. In retrospect, I could not have done much better, though I may have by waiting until my big blind as Sheila was fairly short stacked and she is also very conservative...so she might have folded her small blind to me if she was not raised.....Oh, well. Sometimes you just have to jump. Overall I felt good about my tournament, and with a few better cards and a couple of breaks I could have gone deeper, but it is always good to cash.

Getting to The Finals

I have been really pretty sick this week. I have a bad cough and just feeling run down. Finally went to the doctor's on Wednesday and got some antibiotics and cough medicine. I am feeling about 90% today, which is a big improvement. I played a couple of times this week, but my heart just wasn't in the game...lost a little won a little, broke even. I have been very hot online, cashing in 14 of the last 20 tournaments I have played. Saturday was my flight for the big $10000 added tournament and I felt o.k., not great, just o.k. I warmed up with three sitngo's, winning one, and cashing in another. My flight was not a particularly tough one, but all of them are challenging in one way or another. I got some very good hands (pocket kings 5 times, and pocket aces once), but other than one big pot won mostly blinds with them. You know how sometimes one player just owns you? Bonnie was my personal nemesis. If I raised, she called. If I limped, she was in the pot, and always seemed to outdo my cards. I probably lost over 15,000 in chips to her over the course of the tournament. I did mention that I had pocket kings 5 times, my big hand with her was my big big blind vs. her small blind on the final table. She limped in, I raised all-in and she called me with A/10 offsuit. I really feared the worse with my past luck against her, and kings being ace magnets and all, but they held up and I knocked her out. There were two other memorable hands, I had about 30,000 in chips, looking to coast to final 5 with 6 players left. Kevin escaped an all-in as short stack, then that honor went to Nam. He pushed with KJ and I quickly called with AQ. The flop no help, same with turn, then a jack on the river doubled him up. I became the short stack and went all-in twice with no callers, picking up the 9000 in blinds and got back in the game. Kevin finally pushed with pocket 2's, and I again called with AQ. Flop kk7, turn 4, river 7, two pair with an Ace kicker! Our flight was over and I was chip leader with 50,000 to carry over to the finals today!!! Because I wanted to go to Portland on Sunday to help my daughter with "Pugcrawl" sales of her t-shirts (see them online @ http://www.saybone.com/), if I had made the finals with insignificant chips I was planning to forfeit...so good and bad.....

Getting Bored With Poker

Poker is getting to be boring to me. I have seen the futility of the cash game at the Moose with the loose callers and the online games are not financially meaningful to me. Every time I get my online bankroll up I buy into a bigger buyin tournament and get spanked. Last night I played in a "Sniper" tournament which paid a bounty for knocking players out. I got one, but ran into pocket aces and a flopped set with my two pair K/10. I am beginning to hate that particular hand. It is just about useless except for straights, and even then does not always make the "nut" straight.

Anyway, I am burned out on the Moose and pretty burned out online too. Tonight is t.v. night for me.

Friday Night at the Legion

Card dead. Would only have won with one hand if I had played every hand to the river. I considered shoving with 7x big blind with 8/9 offsuit. I know it sounds very bad, but I have great luck with it. I folded and flop had 2 8's and another on the river for quads. I would have tripled up as two got into it with a weak ace and AK. I shoved with A7 spades (lots of spades had been flopping) 2 under the gun. AJ called and nobody paired anything and I was out. I played until very late online in a 45 person SNG and won it (cracked aces the very last hand with a flush).