Play badly, make the final table

On Tuesday, I had PCS Director John talk me in to playing in a $5 tourney on UB with Pistol Pete and 650 other poker players I didn't know. We had a running IM chat about how each of us were doing.

The tourney started slowly for me. I won one big hand and folded a lot. I had an average-sized stack. Yawn.

The first two notable hands were of the suckout variety. I got caught bluffing with a lowly pair of fives and an openended straight draw, but I hit my straight on the river to double up.

Next up, I limped in with pocket sevens in middle position, the button limped, and the big blind raised. The flop was Q, 8, 2 with two clubs. The big-stacked big blind, who had us both covered easily, pushed all-in. I stubbornly thought my sevens were best, and committed the rest of my chips. Surprisingly, the button did the same. Big Stack had AQo (oops!), and the button had A2-diamonds. (what?) The turn was a seven, just about tripling me up. Score one for dumb luck.

At this point, I knew I was playing like a moron. But I was a moron who was still playing, and my chipstack was well above average. I hoped that my stupidity would recede like the tide.

I won another medium-sized pot off of the same Big Stack with pocket jacks. I resolved to play smart and tight, as I noticed that just about every hand was raised preflop, but callers were always ready to see the flop.

My resolve was short-lived. I have an unnatural attraction to T9-suited and JT-suited. I have no clue why. When I found T9-diamonds under the gun, I limped in, thinking that I had a tight table image and people might wonder if I had aces or kings. No raiser this time, and four of us saw the flop. J, 7, 2-rainbow. The blinds checked, and I bet out with my gutshot draw, hoping to steal it. No good, as the player behind me called. The turn was a queen, and now I'm openended. Once again, I bet out, about 2/3 of the pot. And I get called. Hmm..time to put the brakes on. Until that king showed up on the river. I bet half the pot and got called by J9, who apparently put me on a middle pocket pair like eights.

I am so awful at this game, and I have so many chips. This is just wrong. We went to break, and I noticed that I was in 6th overall, with the tourney's chip leader and #3 at my table. It was a high risk/reward position, with all the chips in play at my table, and two guys who could bust me at any time.

The chip leader was on my immediate left, and we soon had a battle of the blinds. I limped in, he min-raised, and I stubbornly called with 97 offsuit. The flop was K88 with two spades. I checkraised his small flop bet, and he called. The turn was a spade, the river was a blank, and we checked it down. My 9-high lost to his ATo. No spades for either of us. I have no idea how he can call my checkraise with no spades, and I should've thrown another bet at him on the turn or river. This time my dumb/aggressive play cost me a chunk of change and almost put me on tilt.

My cards and play perked up right after. I got a preflop caller when I was dealt KK and won that hand. I was dealt pocket rockets under the gun and made a min-raise to no callers. At that point in the tourney, stacks were short enough that min-raises generally meant business.

I scared myself trying to steal from middle position with Presto! pocket fives. There were two callers, one in late position and the big blind. The flop wasn't too scary: T, 8, 4-rainbow, but I had two opponents that needed to fold pronto. I bet out and they went away, with the BB showing KJ-suited on his way to the muck.

I pushed all-in with pocket kings, going over the top of a bigger stack's min-raise preflop. I didn't want to get cute, or see an ace on the flop. No flop was seen. Score.

I went on a nice rush of good hands and wins: JJ under the gun, AQ offsuit in my big blind, and pocket eights in my small blind. We had been in the money for a while now, and I found myself sitting at 6th with less than 30 remaining. John was still in the hunt too, with a chip stack bordering on short.

With two tables left, I found myself seated at the table with John, surrounded by supportive railbird encouragement from thebabykicker and the PCS's Eddie and Seth. During John's big blind, I was in the cutoff. In our IM conversation, I told John that I was going to treat him like any other player at the table. No collusion, no information, no chip-dumping, but no mercy either. I thought I'd be nice and not steal his blinds with total trash, but I didn't tell him that.

I was wearing a big grin when I busted John out in 13th place. I raised in middle position with pocket tens, and John moved all-in from his small blind with pocket fives. My hand held up, and he was bounced. He was short-stacked, but not horribly so. I thought he might have picked a better spot to make his stand. But really, I have no room to be critical after all of my misplays in the tournament.

I hit the final table still third in chips, with the bigger stacks on my immediate left and right. My play was patient and smart. I stole some blinds where I could, until the same moderately stacked maniac smacked me on the nose twice in succession with reraises.

And then it happened. I made my huge mistake that cost me a shot at the $900+ first prize. And Lady Luck wasn't waiting around with the safety net like she was early in the tournament.

With seven players remaining, the blinds were at 6K/12K with 1200 antes. #2 in chips min-raised under the gun, and I thought I should defend my big blind with 87-diamonds. The pot was 62K, and the flop was 9c, 6s, 4d.

I hesitated slightly. I'm openended, and the flop is all babies. I've got 106K left. Should I bet out?

I checked, and the opponent bet the pot. Perhaps I had been hoping for a min-bet. I'm dumb. I knew my hand wasn't best, but I pushed all-in anyway. My opponent had only 44K more to call, and did, showing AJo. At that very instant, I knew I had made a horrible mistake. Semi-bluffs are still bluffs. In order for this play to work, I needed to push all-in on the flop instead of checking it to him. I would've been very difficult call for him to call 106K with just AJ-high and no draw.

The turn and river didn't help me, and I was bounced out in 7th and paid $61. 6th and 5th were knocked out in the next six hands, so I cost myself at least the $80+ difference between 7th and 5th place money. I was really upset at myself for my final table blunder.

After I calmed down (the next day) and analyzed my play, I realized I had no business seeing the third hour of that tournament. I made mistake after mistake (with some decent play sprinkled liberally in between) and still made the final table.

Thebabykicker had watched all the carnage, and offered some encouraging words after the dust settled. He reminded me that my recent results have been good, and I should soldier on. It was exactly what I needed to hear.

I'm going to stick with the $5-guaranteed-money tournaments, just to see how fluky this tournament was. Can I make another final table while not playing like a total fool?

And heck, it's a lot of fun to play late into a tourney with a large stack of chips. Poker kicks ass sometimes.