Light at The End of The Tunnel?

This week has been a mixed one for me. Other than Tuesday's 2/20 debacle, it has been a fairly break even week. Last night I won $35 in a really good 2/20 game, then played in the omaha tournament, getting my money back for 4th place. I have played in two morning Moose tournaments, and haven't done so well in either. I do feel that I am playing fairly well, but made a couple of major goofs this morning. I raised under the gun with pocket 6's, and an extremely loose, very lucky big stack called, then called another 600 from a short stack all-in with pocket 4's over my call. We were on the bubble for the final table, so instead of checking down to get him out, he bet when hit his straight. My best play would have been to reraise the all-in as an isolation, as it would not have cost me any more...but I would have been out had the loose big stack called.

It Continues

I have played in at least 8 tournaments today and the best I have done is 11th place in a 100 person omaha tournament. My stay at the American Legion tonight was about 45 minutes. I won one hand with a semi bluff, small pot. I then lost half my chips with A/10 to a flush chaser with 2nd pair (king} (I turned the ace), and he rivered the flush. My last hand? Pocket 9's in the big blind calling a preflop raise with one other caller. Flop came ragged jack high with two spades and I pushed my last 1000 chips. A very poor player called my all in, so I immediately put her on AJ or KJ. When the original raiser came over the top I put him on queens, kings, or aces. The other caller put all of her chips in. When we turned over our cards I saw the AJ as suspected, and pocket kings, with the king of spades. Another spade on the turn left me drawing to one out which did not come.

In rethinking the hand, my initial thought was that the original raiser probably had a range that could have included any pair (cutoff position) or two face cards, king queen or bigger. The odds are better that it was AK or AQ, and with "only" 5 pairs ahead of my hand, I leaned to two big cards. With the other limp/caller in the mix I probably should have check/folded, but really thought my hand was too strong to play it that way. If I had reraised the original raiser, we probably would have ended all-in heads up which would have had the same ending, but saved the other player some chips. The pot size was about my whole stack, so I was probably stuck in any case. I guess that I was just destined to go out on that hand as I would have check/raised any continuation bet unless the AJ got real aggressive and the raiser went all-in behind them.

On an earlier hand, the dealer in the game got very lucky with AQ vs. 77 on a Q7X flop. They ended up all in after the flop, then an ace came on the turn, and of course the river brought another ace. Double ouch!! I really do not like that dealer as I have seen him sneaking a peek at players' mucked hands as he gathers them to shuffle. I mentioned it to another player and he verified that he had seen him do it as well. I was prepared to call him on it tonight, but didn't see him do it.

I keep thinking that I am either playing very poorly or just running unlucky or a combination of the two. I have to rethink my tournament strategies as whatever it is, it is just not working for me.

Bad Beat Magnet

O.K., this is starting to sound like whining, but here goes again. I am playing in a daily cash tournament on spadeclub. With 600 or so original players, we are down to 60, with 18 places paid. I have under average chip stack with 400/800 blinds and an ante, i look down at pocket 10's, with one limper, the play is routine, I shove. The limper who has me covered, but is not super stacked, calls me with....Q10 suited. I am happy to see his 3 outer, specially when no straight draws flop, and no flush draw. The river of course brings the queen.

Another online tournament, another loss...this time AK suited, with a small raise early in the tournament. The big blind gets frisky and goes over the top all-in with pocket 4's. Great flop 10/j/j with one of my suit, giving me....are you counting kids?....10 outs plus backdoor flush possibilities. Airball!!!

Big freeroll on Ultimate Bet....one limper, I have pocket jacks. I raise pot, short stack calls, small blind raises, big blind reraises, limper calls, I reraise all in, everyone goes all in. With 5 all in it is necessary to get super lucky...not my forte. The hands are: small blind, A/8, big blind (also most chips) A/A, limper, 9/10, and short stack K/J. With a flop of two kings, the short stack gets new life and the other two players are knocked out, along with me, by the aces. Dumb all in by me, but I was trying to isolate and work on the side pot. A worse call was the A/8 as he had second most chips at the table and what the heck was 9/10 thinking?

Last tale of woe (hopefully) (today), I am in a 45 person SNG and we are down to 10 players. I have fallen below average chip stack and have played super tight the entire game, folding blinds almost every hand. I pick up K/9 offsuit on the button and decide to raise. The big blind, who has me covered x2, reraises enough to put me all in, or at least pot committed if I call. One thing that does not work for me is playing final tables short stacked, so I decide to call, hoping for two live cards and no big pairs. He has AK, and I am out on the final table bubble. Not a bad beat, but a bad timing story.

My tournament play has been good enough to get me deep into tournaments, but I find myself either taking bad beats or just going card dead.

Just How Unlucky Can I Get?

You know, bad beat stories are a dime a dozen. Yet tonight in a pot limit omaha hi/lo game I got a very bad one. I was playing some low cards with a pair, 2/4/J/J and the following flopped, 2/2/4 with two hearts. Someone else bet, I bet the pot, and got two callers. The turn was a 3, and the river was a 3 of hearts. I was all-in, and lost to the A5 of hearts for the straight flush wheel!!!

Card Dead in Vegas

First of all a hi to Christina, dealer at Green Valley Ranch Casino. Good luck on your writing. On a business trip to Vegas and the first day always sets the tone for me. Playing in a small $40 buy-in tournament with one table and what turned out to be about 7 alternates within an hour of arriving at the hotel. I was running pretty good and made the final 4, 2nd in chips. Due to so few players the payout was bad, only $450 total paying top two (if all players had shown up by starting time, there was a 1000 guarantee). I looked down at AJ suited under the gun, and raised to 3000 (blinds 500/1000). The big stack folded, the short stack called with all but three thousand chips, so she was extremely pot committed. She was an older player who had played very tight and only called or raised with big hands. The big blind was a little harder to read as he had called some big raises then later folded, and had also shown down some monsters and had played them well. He reraised me 6,000 all-in. I went into the tank for a moment or two, calculated the pot (13500, with the lady's 3000 sure to go in for a total of 16,500). My call, if I made it, was not too bad odds, and I would still have viable chip count (around 4500) if I lost. If the short stack got knocked out I could probably bargain for at least my buy-in back, and if I won then I would likely offer a chop for a $200 win. If the bigger stack lost the side pot to me I would then be almost equal in chips to hers and be in better position. So, with that in mind I sort of reluctantly made the call, fully expecting to see at least one bigger hand, and at least one pair. I was pleasantly surprised to see her QJ offsuit, giving her only one live card against me. His A/10 offsuit was an even nicer surprise giving me two hands that I had dominated.

The flop of course included both an ace and a 10 which not only increased her outs, but also put me in 2nd place looking for my 2 outer. The turn crushed me, with another 10 falling, leaving both of us drawing dead. She was eliminated in 4th place, we struck a deal for $50 to third, and I went out next hand to Mr. A/10 when he caught a queen on my all-in A8 suited vs. his KQ offsuit. Just some bad luck, but thinking about the action would probably play it the same way again, so it was the right thing to do.

In other action at the casino, the next day I played for 4 1/2 hours (including the tournament) and won only 3 pots, losing about $300 total. The $1/$2 no limit was bad for me, kept getting pushed off hands when I missed the flop after my raise, or failing to connect on some draws. Big regret hand was playing a suited 8/9 of hearts, the flop was 7/7/10 with 2 clubs. Pocket aces made it 20, which I called, then 4/6 clubs re-raised all-in for all my chips (aces with big stack) called before my action. I mucked my straight draw figuring I was looking at both a flush draw or trip 7's, or even a flopped full house. The flush draw missed, but he went runners for a baby straight. Missed opportunity but think it was a good fold none the less. In the tournament I won one hand, going all-in with 10's and getting a call from the eventual #2 winner with his pocket 5's. Moving on to the 4/8 limit game, won only 2 hands...pretty much with some lucky weak cards. A special promotion paid $7,777 if you flopped quad 7's. I had pocket 7's twice, but no luck with them. That would have been an excellent end of the story if I had hit them.

Final Table Angst

Life is tough for online players today. With the UIGEA in effect it is getting more and more difficult to transfer money into poker accounts. I was notified this week that my small independent bank will no longer take debit transfers beginning in December. Because of that, I have to begin playing tighter, and in lower limit games as I may not be able to replace any money that I lose. Well, anyway, on to my final table story.

I was playing in a 45 person SNG and had gotten lucky early to move into 1st place. I was no lower than 3rd place at any time, and by the final table was solidly in 2nd with around 10,000 in chips with the chip leader at 22,000. The next biggest stack was around 7,000. The tournament paid 5 places, so I was pretty locked in to cash at this point. I picked up AK offsuit in middle position with one limper before me. Blinds were 200/400 with a 25 ante, so I made it 2200. The giant stack was on the button and he reraised enough to put me all in!!! I thought for a moment and made the call. My reasoning was this: There was 3500 in the pot before his raise, and with his money 10,000 plus 3500 made it a 13,500 pot which I could call for 7500 giving me 2/1 on my money. I did not think that I was probably any worse that a coin flip against his range (any pair, plus AK, AQ). Guess that I should have just gone with the philosophy of "live to fight another day" as I still would have been in very good shape by folding. (cardinal rule: the two big stacks should not fight each other). His hand? Pocket aces. 9th place finish.

As we speak, I am in another online tournament and have just busted out. Small raise in late position, I call with 6/5 suited. We take the flop 3 handed and it is 789 with two clubs (I have diamonds). Check, bet big, I reraise all-in, both players call. One player has a 10 for the open ender, the other pocket jacks for the overpair plus gutshot. They are playing for a combined 9 outs ( 4-6's, 3-10's, and 2-jacks). The three outer 10 falls on the river giving the jacks the win. Sick!

Getting Unlucky Against One Guy

Have you ever noticed how you can run a table but just be owned by one player? In the Tuesday Moose tournament that happened to me. With only 11 players, I had about 1/3 of the chips with 5 players remaining. The short stack was all-in with 1,000 at 500/1000 blind level and I picked up A/J two under the gun. I raised all-in to isolate him and he turned over....A/3. Naturally, a 3-outer 3 came on the flop and he now had 2500. The very next hand, under the gun, I have pocket Jacks. I raise all-in and the same player (with only 500 invested), calls with...8/9 offsuit! The flop has a 7, the turn a 6, and the river.....you guessed it a 10 for the runner-runner straight. This player managed to donk off "my" 5000 chips on the next hand to another player with his flush draw!!!! P.S. Got knocked out in 4th place.

Terrible Cards-Fair Results

One of my mantras in poker has become "focus on making good decisions not on good outcomes". Last Friday my patience was tested on this as I went an entire tournament with not even one pocket pair!! I focused on playing my position and my stack rather than the cards and found myself the short stack on the final table (45 players). I was forced to go all-in and behind a couple of times and got lucky, then I just focused on letting other players knock themselves out so I could advance in the money. The tournament paid 6 places and when we got down to 7, I was rooting for the shortest stack to lose. Amazingly, they just kept surviving (one example A9 vs A8 short stack who caught an 8). When a very good player got a bad beat and went on tilt (she still had enough to watch me get knocked out in blinds) she donked off her chips and went out on the bubble! One more player got unlucky before my blinds got me for 5th place and a $90 win. I consider it one of my more intelligent games cause I never gave up and just played the hand dealt me as well as possible.

Back in the tri-cities for a few days....Sunday evening very good to me on the $2-20 spread game. $220 in winnings for about 2 hours of play. The game does tighten my sphincter somewhat cause you can really lose a lot on one bad hand. I got very lucky with a QJ suited vs AA when the jack flopped with two diamonds. The ace jammed it and the queen came on the turn with another jack on the river. Unfortunately the aces ran out of money early or it would have been a huge win. But, that is a good example of me overplaying top pair, and aces overplaying a single pair. Someone pointed out that my top pair with flush draw was probably ahead of the aces on the flop. Last night I was watching high stakes poker and almost an identical situation happened with Barry Greenstein holding aces and Tom Dwan holding king queen suited on a queen high flop with two spades. Dwan ended up winning a pot of almost a million when they went all-in and he caught another queen on the turn. It was the largest single pot ever on the show.