A fine line between bravery and stupidity

Bubble time. The milieu where the money is lost. Where the disappointment is the sharpest.

I love it. Today. Ask me tomorrow, and I might mutter imprecations about your sister. But for today...

With five players remaining in a $10 SnG, I was feeling ill (and not like the Beastie Boys). I had just had the majority of my stack appropriated when the big blind defended with AT offsuit and hit an ace on the flop. I found myself in the T100 big blind with the chip leader in the small blind. He called, and I rapped the virtual felt holding 63 of diamonds.

Ace, queen, three. Check, check. Ten.

The big stack min-bet at me, 100. I thought that either he was throwing a bluff at me with a scary board, or I just let him catch up and fly past me and my lowly threes. With 1100 in front of me, I raised to 300, looking for an answer to the question "Do I have the best hand?" I was cringing as I hit the "bet" button - I didn't expect to like my answer.

And he called. Huh? It's 800 more to put me all-in, with nary a dent in the bigstack. What gives?

The river was a two. Check, check. Small blind shows K4, for king-high. Wow. I needed those chips. He's crafty.

We lost player #5, and once again I'm the shorty, with the bubble looming. Time to fight for your right.

The hand of the day was pocket eights. Always in my big blind.

First time, it was folded to Mister King High, who min raised me from his small blind. Eights are good here four-handed, right? Right? I pray, and I push. King High folds.

Next big blind, Stack #3 pot-raises. Pocket eights again. Certainly I'm tempting fate here.... all-in. Number 3 folds, showing ace-ten offsuit. Cuz I'll be rockin' this party eight days a week.

Two big blinds later, Stack #3 pot-raises. Pocket eights for me. Fool me twice, shame on... ah, screw it, all-in. And Number 3, who had slipped to the table's shortstack, made his stand with pocket fives. No good, Number 3, you're out. Mike D. grabbed the money - M.C.A. snatched the gold / I grabbed two girlies and a beer that's cold.

I don't recall how it got down to heads-up, but I was at a 2/1 disadvantage with Captain Tenacious Defense, so named because he was two slots on my left and hated to fold until he had seen at least the flop. I overbet the pot on a position-bluff to a board of 762 with two clubs. He called my overbet with T9, no clubs. That we checked it down after that and my queen-high held up was rather satisfying.

Since the time I read the Heads Up Doctrine at Ship It Poker, I've encountered Tight Passive (Esther), Tight Aggressive (Butch), and now Loose Aggressive in Captain Tenacious D.

He raised every time he had the button. Every. Single. Time. Pot-sized, too. None of that weakass min-raise crap.

I called with pocket 3's. Bet 2/3 the pot at him on the flop, and he folded.

I called with red 2's. The flop was all clubs. I folded.

I folded T8 offsuit preflop.

I called with KJ offsuit, and committed all my chips when the flop looked rather benign. He called my overbet with 7-high and a flush draw. He hit the flush on the turn. Time to get ill.

I have to admit, his style was the most disconcerting of the three. The fact he had the chip lead the whole time added to the pressure.

UB Update: $582.98 real, $260.04 bonus, 3727.75 points.