Be careful what you wish for.............

you might get it. Or as Spock said, "You may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."

I got done with the WBCOOP qualifier about 7pm, the Derby Lane tourney started at 8 so we hustled down there to sign up and play. After the disappointing cards I got to look at for 4 hours I was hoping the next 4 hours would bring me better cards. I was right.

Early in the first orbit I fold 4-3 in late position to a small raise but the guy to my left calls as do a couple of others. The flop is 7-5-3, all spades. A guy in middle position bets and the guy to my left calls him. The turn is another 3 and the guy in middle position bets again. Again the guy next to me calls. I'm figuring the middle position for an overpair and the guy next to me for either a flush or flush draw. I'm wondering if I folded in error since I now had trips with a straight draw. The river is a 6 completing my straight. Now I'm really wondering. Middle position makes a pot sized bet and gets raised by the guy next to me. Now keep in mind we started with 10K in chips and the blinds are 25 and 50. One doesn't expect this big a pot in the early going. I am really surprised then when the middle position goes all in and is called by the guy next to me. The middle position showed 3-5 for the full house, the guy next to me flips over 4-6 of spades for the flopped straight flush. Man did he play that cool. A big double up to start for my neighbor and the other guy maybe shouldn't have wished so hard for that full house.

A little later on I get QQ in middle position. Make a standard 4x raise and get called by the big blind. Flop is Q42. I bet out half the pot and he calls again. I see a lovely 4 on the turn. I check and then call the BB bet. River is a low diamond putting a diamond flush on the board. I bet a third of the pot but he folds. I was really hoping he was on the flush draw but was denied there. Still a good pot early on and a nice hand rewarded. A bit later on I call a raised pot in late position with 76 of clubs. Not my normal play but I was feeling lucky and wanted to push a little 5 people see the flop putting almost 2K in the pot. The flop is perfect, 458 with one club. It gets checked to the guy 2 spots to my right who makes a big pot sized bet. I was a bit surprised by that but decided to not waste time with a possibly vulnerable straight and raised all in. I had him covered I was sure but if I ended up losing I would be in serious trouble. Of course I knew at worst I was tied for the best hand at this point. I half expected him to fold at this point but he pushed in. I flipped over the 76 and he had 45 for bottom 2 pair. He did not improve and I knocked out my first player of the game and made a big double up.

And that is how it went for me at that table. I was getting some cards even AA once which someone thought he could beat. He called my standard raise and when the flop was all low, he bet hoping I had a big ace. Of course he was right, but I had a second big ace with it and it cost him more chips to find that out the hard way. Weird things kept happening and I kept on winning hands. I bullied and stole a bit but was smart enough to avoid getting out of hand and convincing people it would be wise to call me. I remembered what I read from Hoyazo's blog about playing mid pairs and I went to town. I pushed every time I got a pocket pair and no one wanted to tangle with the big stack till I pulled pocket 9s on the button. Made my usual raise and got called by the big blind. Flop was 8-6-6. I felt pretty safe with that one. Big blind bet out 3K leaving him about 8K behind. I didn't even think and raised him all in. He thought and folded JJ face up. I figured what the hell and flipped over my 9s. He was not happy as he put me on KK or AA. Big stack poker rocks. I wouldn't say I have a lot of practice at playing that way, I'm very good playing the small stack but when I get a lot of chips early I tend to either piss them away or become too cautious. Not this time.

The wife comes up to me and she is pisssssssed. She was out early, couldn't make anything happen and got knocked out by this woman who knocked me out a few weeks ago. Wife had her but she rivered a straight to knock her out. She took me out on two hands the time before. Both times she called with crap hands and the board hit her in the face. Such is life but it sucks. I gave the wife 60 bucks and she went to play 1-1 no limit holdem. 15 minutes later she has KK, gets raised all in preflop by a guy with AQ, flops a K, rivers the quads, and wins high hand for the half hour and $500. She was definitely happy then. Two weeks in a row for her to hit a monster hand for big bucks.

At my table people were just looking for ways to screw up. Guy to my left made a set on the same card I made my flush. He pushed in and it was buh bye. A gal who replaced him made the mistake of not raising her pocket rockets from the big blind. I called from the small blind with 6-2 of clubs. Flop is all clubs and I felt very vulnerable with my flush so I bet immediately. She pushed all in over the top and it was buh bye to her as well. I've played in a number of knockout tourneys and knocked out no one or one person max. Last night I was Mike fricken Tyson. Good night people. I had to have knocked out 5 people from that table alone. I get moved to a new table eventually when we got down to 2 tables - we started with 60 players - and now I'm not Mr Monster Stack anymore. There's 2 guys with about as many chips as me there. One two places to my left and one two to my right. But not for long.

My run of good cards comes to a complete stop for a while. I just fold along for a while, made a couple of steals, and maintained my stack. Then I get AK on the button. The guy to my right raises to 10K and I think for a second then figure, time to play big stack again. He's been playing a lot of hands with so-so holdings and pushing some of the smaller stacks around. So I push all in. He hems and haws and thinks for a bit then asks me if I'll show. I figure if it gets him out of the hand, fine by me. I would rather not play hands with AK if I can avoid it, it loses too many times to shit hands like J10. He dumps it and I pick up a quick 10 thousand and flip over the AK.

The big stack to my left on the other hand is a calling station. He plays a number of hands and his stack varies big. He lost a chunk to big stack on my right then gets most of it back from him later when the idiot to my right tries to bluff him. Hello McFly, anyone out there. Still he found a nice time to donate his entire stack to me a little later. I'm sitting with Q2 of clubs in the big blind. 3 people call and I check my blind. Flop is Q42 rainbow. I bet 8K cuz I wanna take it down here and now. Calling station raises to 25K. Now that makes me think. I figure he either has a set of 4s or a decent Q like KQ or QJ. I couldn't put him on AQ, QQ or something like that cuz he didn't raise so I figured if he has 44 in his hand I got 2 outs or I am a sudden small stack. But I just don't see it. So I push all in over the top and he calls. He shocks me and flips over AA. No improvement for him and I am a monster stack over 120K .

****** Time out here. I'm no great shakes as a player but I did learn one thing. TJ Cloutier said and I believe it, if you're not gonna raise Aces, don't go broke with Aces. In other words, if you get aces and slow play them preflop, you gotta be prepared to dump them to a big raise because you gave anyone who wanted to the opportunity to hit their hand. I can see the value in sometimes slow playing aces, especially in a pot where no one has called the big blind and you're late in the hand. You hate to get a great hand and end up with blinds and antes only. But it beats the hell out of losing your entire stack with them, doesn't it? Two people could have raised preflop and pushed my crap hands out but didn't and gave up their entire stacks. One should have easily made it to the final table. End of Time Out **********

I don't do too much more but let some of the other stacks cannibalize each other we get down to 11 between the 2 tables and I pick up my buddy Big Slick again. Ace of spades and K of hearts. I raise and the guy next to me pushes all in. He's got a fair sized stack, about 26K so I have to give him some credit for a hand. Blinds aren't crushingly high for him yet at 600 -1200. Everyone folds back to me and I think for a moment and then call. He also flips over AK, his all diamonds. Looks like a split pot unless diamonds flop. Unfortunately for him, the flop is all hearts and the turn is another heart giving me the flush with my King. And final table here I come with about 140K making me the top stack.

Final table was frustrating. Everything good that happened for me before stopped happening for me there. Cards were bad, hands went bad, I was second a number of times. I didn't play badly I don't think but lost a chunk to this woman to my left, the one who knocked out my wife. I got antsy and pushed a 34 off suit and she calls of course. Flop is all low with 3 spades. I bet and she calls again. All I have is an inside straight draw and a low flush draw. Gotta figure she has me beat. Turn is a queen of clubs, river is a low spade and I lose to her pocket tens as she has the spade 10. Cost me some chips. A couple of people get knocked out and we're down to 8 then 7. Top 6 get paid, 6th is $236, first is $1625. We agree to pitch in $20 each for the bubble boy and I'm just taking it carefully as my stack starts to dwindle down to around 100K. I'm about 3rd in chips but still a big stack. But I can't get anything going and most of the times I'm in position to steal, someone has already raised preflop. Finally we get number 7 out as he runs JJ into AA and we're all in the money. We play for awhile. I take a stab at a pot with 10-3 off when a J-10-6 flops but get called by a guy with half my stack. Turn puts a 3rd spade on the board and he pushes all in. I'm already figuring him a spade flush, a big jack or most likely a made straight and I fold. Most of the table was disappointed by that. Stacks keep going back and forth for awhile and we start to talk about a 6 way chop. No one is super short and no one is super large. We total it up and everyone gets $780 which is slightly better than 3rd place money. We keep playing while we talk about it and I get AQ on the button. I make a good raise and get called by 2 guys much to my dismay. Before they called we all finally agreed to the 6 way chop. So why call?? But they did. So we have to play it out. Flop is AJ7. I bet a goodly amount and they both fold. And we split it up. Since I won that last hand I am now the chip leader again and am declared winner though we all get the same amount. $780 sounds good to me. Daddy's bringing home some cash and Momma is too. It was a happy ride home at 2:30 am let me tell you.