Races, small pairs, curse continues

This is starting to look familiar.  I walk into the American Legion last night, fairly early, though there are no parking spots remaining.  Mary asks me if I would like to deal table 2.  I cannot turn down her request as there are few players willing to deal and they do so much more to run the tournament.  I admire their consistency, just being there from start to finish every week.

The players straggle in and we finally begin with 28 warm bodies.  I kind of like my table as there are few calling stations, but also there are 3 of my Nemesis's sitting around me.  I get injured early with a raise from my 8/8 and a call by A/9 (one of the above named).  The flop is 9 high, and I just cannot make myself drop it to relatively small bets.  If I was not dealing I think it would have been easier for me to fold.

I have said many times that you must win races to win tournaments.  I was eliminated with my shoved 9/9.  Blinds were 200/400 with one limper and my stack was 2500.  I was called by the limper, who also was the big stack at the table.  He had QJ suited and spiked a jack in the door.  Really bad luck as a little later I pushed pots to 3 all in's who had 6/6 vs. over-cards, and the small pairs held up every time.  I even managed to find a two outer for a shoved 8/8 vs. A/A.  In general, pre-flop shoves are fairly easy to read.  The person usually does not want a call, which translates to a pair, but not AA, KK, or QQ.  If you call with broadway cards, you should always realize that you are racing.  Therefore, I usually will not call with a medium or really big stack as I do not want to double someone up or cripple myself.  A small stack call is o.k. as you really do need to gamble it up at that point.  That said, QJ is really a bad call as some players will also shove with AK or AQ, which is bad news for that hand.

Races are inevitable in poker.  At some point you will have to participate in one, and you must win them if you are vulnerable.  My personal philosophy will continue to be happy to get my chips in with the pair vs. overcards as you have a "made" hand vs. a draw.  It absolutely did not upset me to be eliminated this way, but as I watched several small pairs win could not help but curse my continued lack of luck.

The players were very generous in their tipping, particularly the guy who cracked the aces.  I ended up with $30 in tips so my evening only cost me $10.