Monday, March 19, 2007

When in doubt, hit a two outer...

Yeah, something or other was mentioned in my last post about retiring from poker. HA!, why does anyone even attempt to quit this game? It's too much of a damn challenge to walk away from. So, when in doubt, just go play in your local fish tournament.

I started off the weekend by playing the tournament at Jaycees on Friday, first place is a nice shiny stack of 10,000.00. Ok, so its not exactly shiny, but it might as well be.

Anyways, I walk in with the explicit thought of playing extremely well, not being cute, picking very, very few spots to bluff if need be, and overall just trying to get my money in with the best hand. And it almost worked too.

I was seated at table one, seat 5, which essentially meant I was in that seat for the long haul if it all worked out, and that I wouldnt have to get adjusted to a new table, just new people when they came down my way.

I played quite well, sometime after the third round, I was table captain, and I did well to hold onto that distinction, even though I had two girls at my table who were harbingers of death for all the idiot men who played into their hands. One girl had recently came to my table, and I quickly found out that we went to school together, couldnt tell you her name, but she remember mine, and that was nice. The other girl had started the table with me, and she was well working on her 10th beer by the time the second girl showed up. Needless to say, drunk girl was playing quite alot of hands, and really showing alot of signs of where she was in the hand by the way she played. I was so looking forward to getting her, but only managed to push her off a pot when I raised pre-flop with A/9o. She called, and we both see a flop of J/5/2. I do my little continuation bet, she just calls. Turn brings another 5, I check, she bets 800 into a 1500 dollar pot, and I come over the top of her for 2200 more. She asks me if I can beat a pair of Jacks, while im sitting there, trying to be stone cold as possible. She folds, and I tell her good fold, I think she really believed it was, but I wasnt going to show any bluffs that night. I showed every winning hand I was in. And it worked...... until the new guys came to the table.

We were down to 17 players on our side of the room. The way the Jaycees tournament works is like this. They have 220 players, but you cut that in half, and one side plays on the tables to the right, and the other half plays on the tables to the left. So, your only technically playing the 110 that are on your side of the room, and they dont mix the tables from each side together, they only trickle down the tables as people fall out on that particular side. So, your really only trying to beat 110 people, to get to the final table, and play a 10 handed final table, with all the people in the money at that point. First place being 10k. Its an easy tournament, if you can keep people from drawing out on you. The blinds are horrible, but if you play tight, catch a few good hands, and get payed off 4 or 5 times, then you have a good chance of making the money. Atleast, I thouth I did.

Lets get back to those new guys.

Its in level 5, and the blinds are already at 2000/4000. So, for alot of us, its all in time pretty much anytime we get involved in a hand. Im sitting on somewhere around 36k in chips, and Ive lost my table captain status to two of the new stacks that have come to the tables, from initial count, both were somewhere around 60k, if not more. Were down to 17 players, so if I can hang on, and beat out 12 more, im in the money.

One guy that came to the table was considerably short stacked, he had somewhere around 8k when he sat down, he got tripled up at one point, but he was still in the all-in on any good looking hand mindset. I didnt have a problem with that until this hand.

New guy in seat 10, now had 18k in front of him, decides to move all-in when it gets to him. Another new guy in seat 1, who has about 60k in chips decides to call this other new guys all in after some thought. It gets around to me, and I wake up to A/K of clubs. I think for a second, and decide to move all in for my entire stack of 36k exactly, with some slight motivation from my Father who keeps knuckling me in my back because he wants me to mush it. But, before I can even count out my chips, the guy in seat one already has his call for my all-in floating into the pot. I just think..."wow, im beat".

The dealer tells us all to hold on, let him count out the chips to see where everyone is at as far as side pots go. I ask the seat one guy if he has A/K beat, and he says no. Now im like "huh, you were way too god damned eager to call", and I say that to him, his reply was a little too simple for me. He said there was way too much money in the pot to fold. Now, if he did fold, he still has well around 20k to play with, so I didnt completely understand it, but he was getting 3-1 on his money, somehow I dont think that factored into his motivation to call, all he saw was money he threw away calling with a shit hand.

After the dust from all these all-ins settles. We all flip our cards. Seat 10 guy flips over Q/Jo, seat 10 guy flips over K/Qo, lovely. I flip over my A/K, and my Dad goes into cheering behind me, we are sooooo dominant here.

Seat 10 guy calls for a Jack, and we all see a flop of J/J/3. Isnt that wonderful? Fine, I can still get my money back, and I will be right back at square one, which is something I can live with.

Turn brings a 5, and the wonderful river brings a nice, sweet, bitter ass for me, two outer Q. And im done for the night. Sickening. I cant even believe my luck, and just walk out of the place, screaming at my Dad that the call was complete fucking bullshit.

Well, hopefully thats the last time I tell that bad beat, and I can leave it at that. Moral of the story is, avoid the fish, and the two outs they salivate to hit.

Look for my roller coaster ride at Merks game in my next post.