Oh no, I suck again!!!

Hello all, welcome back to my blog. In my last post I said I would post my results from this past Friday at Kurt's. Well here it is... 0. Yep, that's right, a big fat bagel. It sucked because I thought I was playing well. It was almost surreal. I had chips one minute and the next, I was broke. Both times I had the better hand preflop and things just didn't go my way. In the first game I was up and down for the most part, but I wasn't desperate. I will say I was on an extremely tough table. My table was loaded with talent at the beginning. I had Bill, Ryan, Jack, Jim, and Mark at my table to start with. The first 3 are the top 3 in points this year. The hand I went out on in the first game was crazy. I had just called an all in the previous hand with a decent but still marginal hand. Needless to say, after that call I was considerably short stacked. I had about $520 and I was up for the big blind the next hand. I look at my hand and what do I find but pocket queens. I was thrilled to say the least, plus I had position on the rest of the table. Jim was first to act and folded. Bill was next and he was in the pot with me on the previous hand and was short stacked as well. He had a little over $1000 and he went all in. Then the rest of the table folded until it got to Mark, who was the small blind. He was short stacked too and he went all in for about $800. Then it was up to me, and I'm thinking to myself no matter if someone has aces, I have to play these. I went all in for $520 total and I was praying that no one had aces or kings or big slick. We turned our cards over and Bill had A - 4 offsuit and Mark had pocket Jacks. I was happy to see the only made hand was Jacks although the ace high scared me a little. At that point I'm a 3 to 2 favorite over ace high and 4 to 1 favorite over the Jacks. The flop was all low cards and no staright or flush cards, so I had improved against the ace high and was dominating the jacks. The turn came up an ace, and there went my queens down the tubes. I went from being a favorite to being a 4 to 1 dog, drawing to one other queen in the deck because Jim had mucked a queen. The river came up another ace, giving Bill a set and destroying my queens. Needless to say I wasn't happy about it and I didn't take the beat to well. I wasn't angry at Bill for making the move he did, I was pissed because I got sucked out on. But hey, that's poker. I apologized to Bill for my reaction a little later, but at the time I wasn't in the mood for talking and I was on steam for a while.

That brings me to the start of second game. I started out well, picking up good cards and making good moves to grab an early chip lead. That was until I had pocket tens against Jack. I had raised three and a half times the big blind trying to force out weaker and drawing hands and I only got one call, Jack. The flop came up 9s - 9c- 7d. I thought I was still good, figuring all of the nine - rags were out of the pot, so I value bet half the pot and Jack came over the top for another $300. I thought for a minute and called. I don't know why I called, because I had put Jack on a set of nines, or at the very least a pair of sevens with an ace. The turn came up 8h, and I checked it to Jack who promptly went all in. While the 8 gave me more outs, I pretty much knew I was beaten and threw my hand away. I shot myself in the foot, costing myself $300 more after I knew i was beat. A couple of hands later I get Qd - 9d in early position and I just limped in. The flop came up 9s - 8d - 5s. There were four of us in the pot and I had flopped top pair with a decent kicker and it was checked to me so I led out an bet a decent bet. I don't remember how much exactly, but it was close to half the pot. I got one call and two folds. The turn came up 9c, giving me a set. I led out again and this time bet more than half the pot, I think it was $600, and the other guy called. The river came up Js, I bet $400 and the guy raised me all in. At this point I was wondering if he had the other nine and I was going to get out kicked. I wasn't really worried about a flush or a straight because I thought I had knocked out all the draws with my bets on the flop and turn. I really thought I was up against another set or a pocket pair, so I called. The guy turned up the nut flush of spades. I just stared at the board for a second and let it sink in. I was shocked he had called me on the turn after not improving his hand. And just like that I was out of the second game.

After the second game, I was at the cash table for a while, doing ok and just treading water. When the second game finished, Greg asked if we wanted to play another tournament. $20 buy in, $1000 in chips to start. I was in for sure as I wanted to get the bad taste out of my mouth from the previous games. 11 people started the game and most if not all were solid players. I won a big pot early in the game and was a decent stack throughout. I didn't play all that many hands, as my cards really sucked for most of the game. I tried to steal the blinds whenever I could. We got down to five players and I really wanted to finish well, if not win. I got dealt As - 8s and played a huge pot mainly on a flush draw. The draw never materialized and I was left with $300. What happened next not only shocked me, It'll probably never happen to me again. I was the big blind the next hand and was all in blind. It came down to just the blinds, Jack and myself. He called, and we flipped, I hadn't even looked at my hole cards. Jack turned over Jc - 6h, and I turned over Ac - 4d. My ace high held up and I doubled up. The next hand I got Ad - Kd. I went all in again and again I doubled up. Now I was at $1500. The next hand I got Ac - 10c, I called the big blind, and both Jim Sr. and Jack were all in for a little more than $600, so I called. I ended up flopping the nut flush and taking them both out. Now I was at $4800, not bad for being all in blind for $300, huh? It gets better. The next hand I get dealt pocket Jacks. John went all in and I called him. He had Qd - Jh. Nothing popped and I knocked him out in third place. Now Jim and I were heads up and I had a massive chip lead. I folded the first hand only to get dealt Ac - Kd the next hand in the big blind. Jim went all in with Ks - 5h. Nothing hit for him and I ended up winning it all. That just capped one of the most amazing comebacks I've ever been a part of. That made my night a little more palletable. I'm done, I'll post later this week on my plans for poker this Friday. Later!

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