Boo Fuckin Hoo

The poker gods reminded me tonight that I don't want sympathy at the poker table, and I shouldn't spend too much effort giving sympathy. Bad beats are various in form. And not worth dwelling on for more that 30 seconds.

(Yes, bad beat story ahead, among other things.)

EVERYONE showed up tonight. Ok, a bit of hyperbole, but we did have 16 players. My apartment is not that big. The big table seats 10, and the kitchen table seats 7. Neither comfortably. And all those people in a semi-small space, even with all the windows open... sorta warm.

The new Georgia guys showed. Kid Coworker (Mike V) didn't show, but three of his buddies did. Tim and Greg, oldschool PCS'ers, attended. Miggy brought three of his friends, asking me at the last minute. The more, the merrier, right?

16 buy-ins, 15 rebuys, and 13 add-ons. $300 prize pool, top 4 paid. And it's a lot of work for the Tournament Director, trying to play and keep things running smoothly.

The rebuy phase didn't have much action, early.. at my table. The kitchen table, however, had some serious asswhipping going on. Nobody had much more than the starting stack ($2.5K), except for Ronald, who had $20K. Apparently, he was playing lots of hands, never raising, and catching cards like a champ. His big coup was when he and Tim flopped a flush in an unraised pot, Ron holding AK and Tim sitting on Q9.

I was the last caller, out of my big blind, with A3-clubs. Four people saw the A-9-3 flop. Two spades out there. I thought I was trapping Albert, who bet out, but my checkraise was met by his stronger two pair. Just for good measure, Albert hit his full house on the river with another 9. Rebuy!

Forty Ounce Dave was the first to bust out at my table. He was crestfallen about his aces getting cracked in a three-way all-in during the last hand of the rebuy phase. Shawn's AQ was junk, but Albert's pocket jacks struck gold on the river for a set.

I'm in the $100 big blind looking at aces, wishing for action when Glen bumps it to $500. Sweet! On the button, Shawn pushes all-in for $2.5K. I've got $5K in front of me. Even though this hand is playing itself, I feel a little nervous as I push all-in. Do I want Glen calling me?

Glen thinks, shows to somebody who implies that he has to call, and he finally calls. Glen shows QQ, Shawn shows AQ offsuit. A river ten would've saved Shawn's skin, but a brick knocked him out and made me pretty comfy.

I moved myself to the kitchen table to balance the tables when Finess (yes, that's his name) busted out. I have a nice stack, but nothing compared to the $30K sitting in front of Ron. And I've got no idea what to expect from his play. Wouldn't take long to find out...

A7 offsuit in my $400 big blind. Flop was nice enough, 7-5-2, two diamonds. I had the ace of diamonds. I bet the flop, checked the black ten on the turn, and bet the river, which was a black eight. Ron's with me all the way, and showed... A8, no diamonds. I bet the river thinking he would be calling with any flopped pair. Oops. Tim and Greg just nodded sagely and muttered, "Welcome to the table. We've been getting beat like that all night."

Before we broke for the final table, Ron showed some chinks in the armor, doubling up Tim and then Greg within minutes of each other.

The final table:

Seat 1: Tim - PCS regular, all-around good guy and good player. He's got a money finish at a $300 Commerce tourney under his belt.

Seat 2: Miggy - on a rush recently. Still a loose bluffer, but his mistakes are fewer and farther in between now.

Seat 3: Adam - Georgia guy, new addition to the group. He's always at the other table, it seems, so I don't have much of a read on him.

Seat 4: Greg - oldschool PCS'er who hasn't been around in recent seasons. Plays $3/$6 at Commerce on a regular basis.

Seat 5: Skipper - the know-it-all of the Kid Coworker group. It's very easy to not respect his preflop raises.

Seat 6: Mike - People at my game occasionally take notice when I call a preflop raise. They are too kind.. I make plenty of mistakes.

Seat 7: Judo - the tight, solid, quiet guy of the Kid Coworker group. I've been impressed with many of his decisions.

Seat 8: Ronald - still on a big stack, still limping in.

Seat 9: Glen - the animated risk-taker of the Kid Coworker group. Tends to raise/reraise preflop with less than great cards.

Seat 10: Albert - went from solid preflop & weak/tight post-flop about two months ago to more daring and aggressive at all times.

The final table started off with Finess offering Ronald 3rd place money, $54, if Finess could buy his chips off of him and play in his place. Ronald declined. I think Tim silently raised an eyebrow.

Adam busted his shortstack out 10th, before the inevitable happened. Ron stopped catching cards, but he didn't start folding. He doubled up Miggy while chasing a gutshot to Broadway before he busted out in 9th. It took several hands, but the fall from penthouse to outhouse was swift and severe.

Skipper reraised Miggy preflop, all-in, and Miggy couldn't fold his suited Big Slick. Skipper's J9 offsuit looked feeble, and missed the board, sending him to the rail in 8th.

I checked to see a free flop out of my $800 big blind with a black 75 offsuit. 8-6-4, two clubs. Booyaa!! Tempted to bet into the field, I decided to check when I noticed Albert looking ready to bet. Sure enough, he fired $3K at the $2.8K pot, and I pushed on him. He called reluctantly, and showed pocket tens, with the ten of clubs. I tossed my cards into the middle of the table with a flourish and an "I flopped it." explanation.

So he needed runner-runner something to beat my straight. The turn was a small club.

Perhaps I angered the Poker Gods with my borderline cocky, self-satisfied "I flopped it." comment. Regardless, the river club doubled Albert up, knocked me back to $8K or so, and sent Tim on a ramble about how that was one of the roughest beats he'd seen a while.

It was odd. It was like he wouldn't let it go. I wanted him to drop it, and told him as much, nicely couched in polite tones. I figured I had to stay away from tilt because 10 BB's can leave in a hurry if you're not careful. Not busting Albert and vaulting towards the chiplead stung, though.

Bad beats happen. Get over it. Move on, you're still in the tournament.

Less than a full orbit later, I found AQ offsuit in early position. I bumped it to $2K, only to be reraised by Glen to $5K. He made his reraise quickly and confidently, so I folded. After Tim asked me if I was on a steal, I admitted what I had mucked, so Glen showed his pocket aces. Good fold, but I'm down to $6K. Perhaps a tilted player would've pushed right there, hoping for a race. Go me.

Two hands later, the blinds are up to $500/$1K with $100 ante, and my big blind is raised while I'm holding indefensible trash. Next hand, it's folded around to my small blind, where I'm looking at a black 43 offsuit. I limp in, and Judo checks.

Flop is T-6-5, two clubs. I bet $1.5K into Judo, who pushes. Aw crap. I'm going out of this tourney like a bitch - I've just priced myself into a call. Sure enough, he had flopped two pair with his Woolworth's, and my OESD missed on the turn and river. I'm out in 7th.

Hindsight says this hand was a fold-or-push preflop, and Judo's not the type to gamble with T5 offsuit even if he thinks I'm bluffing.

Tim busted out in 6th, running his AJ-suited into Glen's pocket queens.

Greg said sayonara in 5th, bubbling out when he ran his AQ-offsuit into Miggy's pocket kings. Greg played pretty darn well for never accumulating many chips. His shortstack play was admirable, keeping out of danger while picking up enough chips to stick around.

Albert finished in 4th when Big Slick lost a race to Glen's pocket queens.

Then, more fun... I was wandering the apartment, picking up when there was a discussion at the table. Apparently Miggy was all-in, over the top of Glen, who had to decide to call or not. Skipper saw Glen's cards and reminded him that their buddy would do it. Glen called, showed 65-clubs and rivered a 6 to bust Miguel's AT-hearts.

And then Miggy came to me for sympathy. Sorry pal, all sold out.

I tried to drop some knowledge that Glen was doing Miggy a favor by calling with an obvious underdog of a hand, attempting to double him up, but I don't think I was clear. I definitely wasn't enthusiastic. Taking care of my apartment, the tournament, the money, and actually playing took a bit outta me.

Glen and Judo finished 1-2, making a deal... a lopsided one. Glen had 89% of the chips in play, so they each took 2nd place money and Judo got 11% of the rest.

I need a nap.

I hope next week is nicer to me.

In for $20, out for $0.

~~

I have resolved to worry less and write more. I figure this blog isn't going to get any better if I never write. With that in mind, I welcome any comments/emails from folks who have advice about my writing. Or my poker.

Thank you.