Life Without Poker

This summer has been a poker bust.  First a long trip to Phoenix with only one tournament at the very end.  Then a couple of weeks in Seattle (yes, I do know that there are cardrooms and casinos all over the place) with busy family schedules.  My last two tournaments at the Legion were pretty bad, finishing in 12th or 13th place each time, busted by lucky lucky players (my 10/10 vs J/10 the first one, followed by my A4 two pair busted by runner runner flush one pair of 3's hand).  I am trying to expand my interests this summer by doing some fishing, working on daughter's new/old house, gardening some, and just generally doing other stuff.  With my mom's sudden health deterioration it hammers home the point that life is pretty short.  That said, we do need to follow our muse where it leads us.  If poker is indeed my focus, then play I must.

Upcoming in late September is more travel, this time to Dallas for a visit with my brother and his family, then on to St. Louis to see Lincoln, my oldest friend plus wife's family.  She is heading off to see her other sister in New York, so during her absence may have to slip over to Tri-Cities to see friends and of course play tons of poker. 

Tournament Game Face

Decided that the missing element from my game is a good "game face".  Practicing this one.

Running Not So Good

Sometimes, let's face it, we are just not running good.  It is a combination of things usually.  Like, too tired to play well, not focused, card dead, bad match ups, lousy flops, opponents red hot, etc.  I was running soooo good before my Phoenix trip thus the letdown has been brutal.  Last Friday night was an example of bad match ups.  Running very good pre-break, had doubled up to around 4200 in chips, just where I like to be.  I was out 4 hands after the break.  This is how it went down.  Playing a 9/10 on the button, the flop came down A/7/8.  Pretty good flop, so when a loose aggressive player bet 400, I was happy to call.  The turn paired the ace, and after my check he bet around 800.  Too much for a straight draw, so I folded.  He showed A/7 for the full house.  Now down to 3500 in the big blind, the dealer raises to 600.  Another loose aggressive player (is it just me, or are there lots of these guys?), re-raises to 1200.  I look at my cards and hallelujah, pocket kings!!!!  So naturally, given the action and my chip count, I re-raise, intending to go all-in (but neglecting 3 100 chips on top of my cards), trying to isolate.  She folds and he snap calls, turning over A/A.  I turn my kings over and the dealer runs the board, failing to find either a queen or a king on the 9/10/J board.  I am out, but wait, what about the other 300 chips?  Oh, he just said call, and I just shoved, not stating I was all-in.  No argument about me keeping the chips, so I post 100 in the small blind, am dealt 3/3 and after calling the flop, shove $100, hoping no-one caught anything.  I am called by two players, it is checked to the river and the guy with A/A knocks me out with 7/10 having caught a 10 on the flop (I told you he was loose).

With low expectations, I dealt table 3 at Wheeler.  Also running good early, had doubled up when we broke my table after the 1st break.  After running and playing good, went totally card dead.  There was no hand I was dealt that would have won any pot.  Also, the cards were lousy and it was mostly fold, fold and fold.  One opportunity was against a short stack who was playing squeaky tight on my table who shoved about 1/2 my stack.  I had 6/6, and with loose aggressive players behind me, figured a coin toss at best, so folded.  The big blind (LAG!!!) called with Q/8 off suit, knocking his AK out when she hit an 8 on the river. I hate this game!!!!

My last hand was from the small blind, blinds at 200/400, with only 1350 chips.  Only one limper (Mr. LAG) who turns out was playing 4/7 suited, I shoved.  The big blind, a newbie girl, just called, pricing LAG in.  She had A/J also.  So the board ran out with a 7 on the flop and I was eliminated in 10th place, she was short stacked for the final table.  If she had re-raised all-in, I believe Mr. LAG would have folded, but maybe not.  In any case that in my opinion would have been the correct play, and we would have chopped the pot and lived to fight another day. 

The New Normal

The past 3 or 4 weeks have been pretty crazy for me.  Spending 17 days at my mom's retirement home and caring for her were draining, so when my friend Don suggested the $200 buy in Talking Stick Saturday tournament I was "all in" for it.  We registered early and were seated at adjoining tables.  There were approximately 175 players, so first prize was substantial.  We both got off to good starts, Don winning around 6000 on his first hand, me about $1000.  Turns out we would both need those chips.  I lost about half my chips to the same player when I rivered a straight to his full house on a board of A3A52, my 4/5 losing to his A/2.  Over half my smaller remaining stack went to an 8/7 suited who raised under the gun, flopping 2 pair to my open ender with the 9/10.  Could not hit the straight draw.  I recovered those chips with a big blind shove holding AA vs. small blind's 9/10.  We were both very short, but he had me covered.  Last hand was my AK vs. KQ on a queen high flop.  It was against a very loose aggressive player so I flat called his preflop raise, then shoved after his continuation bet.  A 10 on the turn doubled my outs for the jack giving me a straight, or an ace topping his pair, but could not find them.  Don got very short, went on a run, and nearly made the money finishing around 28th.  In the meantime I found the 4/8 omaha high/low game (with 1/2 kill), and managed to drop $140 before leaving.  I realized afterward that really not on my game due to the stress of the past weeks but despite that needed this session to blow off stress.