Seattle Visit

Just returned from a short visit to my Seattle family.  It was great to see Eva, Meg and Vinay and hang out downtown.  Every time I go the traffic and busyness of the big city both frustrate and amaze me.  Guess I have been living in a small town too long.

Now, to the topic of poker.  I am very discouraged right now.  I have been consistently losing despite (in my humble opinion) playing pretty well.  The cards have just been running seriously against me.  My last outing in Wheeler was very frustrating and soured me on poker for now.  I was dealing table 1 (did not want to deal at all, but cannot refuse my friend Mike's request) and dealt myself pocket 6's.  As frequent readers may recall, they have been unlucky for me...bouncing me out of a Seattle tournament hitting sets twice).  It may have something to do with 666 and a message God or the devil is sending me.  Anyway, I limped in with them (see "set mining"), and was really happy to flop 2/6/K.  The aggressive player to my right bet $150 into the approximately 200 pot, and with players behind, I flat called hoping for a raise.  One caller and the rest folded.  The turn brought a Q, so when the initial player checked, I bet $150 into the $650 pot.  It looked like kind of a weak stab, and again hoping for the raise so I could get all my chips in.  No such luck as only one caller, the original bettor folding.  The turn brought a 10, and I again bet $150 as a value bet, figuring I might get a crying call.  Instead I get a raise to $450.  What?  Putting the player on two pair, I call.  He has AJ for the rivered backdoor straight.  WTF????

Now short stacked I shove with 9/9 and pick up blinds and one limper.  Still short, I deal myself Q/Q, and with some limpers I bet $350 (About 1/2 my stack).  One caller.  The flop is ace high, and when checked to me I shove.  He calls, showing......ready for it......AJ.  Done in by the same medium strength hand.  I am now super on tilt (and out of the game) and it is only 7:20, the game starting at 7:00.  I am faced with dealing the rest of the night, until probably 10:30 or 11:00.  We are combining tables so I ask Mike if he will deal for me.  I am done.  He agrees and I drive home.

The next day I see the guy who got most of my chips with his backdoor draw and we discuss the hand in detail.  He says that if I had bet bigger on the turn he would have folded.  O.K.  Except with the dry flop I really did not want him to fold.  He said, "I put you on either a king or a medium pair".  O.K.  I pointed out how wrong he was.  I then, using my pocket odds poker calculator, showed him how he was getting incorrect to make any call as he was not getting good odds, even if I had something like K/3 or a medium pair.  His odds were horrible and he caught his 3 outer.  An ace on the river would have netted me all of his chips I believe.

Thinking back on my play of the hand, I really cannot fault myself.  Yes, I probably should have bet more on the turn, something like 1/2 the pot size, but again who can see a dry flop go runners here?  When you have the near nuts it is important to maximize your yield as most players are drawing dead or nearly dead.  I believe that it is a huge mistake to push people off their hands with oversize bets.  My friend?  He ended up chopping 1st and 2nd.  You're welcome.