Do not take counsel of your fears

George Patton used to say that but I believe it first came from another great general, Stonewall Jackson. Wish I had listened to that a couple of more times last night. Of course, a couple of other times it might have gotten me into significant trouble. But I digress.

Played the 8pm tourney last night with my wife. Nice structure with a 10,000 chip starting stack and 25 minute blinds. You can get a lot of play in that. Unfortunately, too often I didn't have much to play. I remembered to keep patient and avoided splashing chips in when I didn't have to, especially early. There were a few players early who couldn't wait to bust it seemed but the Poker Gods kept rewarding them for poor play. I just folded my hand for most of the first 2 orbits then finally pick up QQ in middle position. Lady under the gun raises to 325. She has been playing a pile of unadulterated horse crap and had been in a lot of hands. Her crap kept winning though. Calling a raise with 74 off and hitting two pair, 86 off turning a straight (against my TPTK), 92 suited making a flush against some guy's KK. That kind of crap. So I'm putting her on a decent hand but nothing all that great and not AA or KK. Lady next to her calls. She has been all over the place so far, up and down, and playing like a maniac. She called down some guy with middle pair who raised big and took a hit when he flipped over aces. But she still has over 6K at this point. Comes to me and I reraise to 1350. I want to isolate against the first raiser take a big chunk out of her. I don't want to take QQ against 2 people.

Everyone folds back to the UTG lady. She takes a second and then pushes all in. Now she has me covered but not by much and I'm thinking I'm going to call here. I have the feeling she is pushing big with a hand from a decent Ace down to J10. I am sure she doesn't have AA or KK so I know at worst I'm a slight favorite. Then fate intervenes. The lady next to her who I am certain will fold doesn't waste anytime in pushing all in as well. Now this is for her tournament life, we are still in the first blind level and even though she is down to 6K, she has over 100 big blinds left. So there is no need for her to bet it all on anything less than a monster at this point. Especially with my reraise behind her after I have played a grand total of 1 hand. Of course she would have to be aware of someone else to know I had only played one hand at this point and that is a lot to ask of some people, but still she has to have some awareness doesn't she? Anyway now it comes back to me and I have to think. I feel good about the first raiser but I just can't see the second player pushing in like that with worse than KK now. Why would you? So I think for a little while and then toss QQ in the muck.

And get to see both of them roll over AK suited. WHAT?????? You're gonna push all in with that over a reraise by a guy who has played one hand? And then you're gonna call all in for your entire tourney with that?? Are you kidding me? I was unhappy at that point let me tell you. Of course a king hits the flop and I would have been eliminated so I was able to avoid that. Taking counsel of my fears probably saved my ass. And thinking these people were better players than they actually were also helped.

We play 4 blind levels and my stack fluctuates between 7500 and 9000 the whole time. I can't buy a good hand after that QQ while I'm watching these other yahoos get AA, KK etc. I pick up AK one time, raise it up and watch as 4 people call. Flop is 8 high, big blind bets and I toss those cookies. I played AK 4 times that day and never hit an ace or king once. I do get back up over 9k when called from the button with 89 off. Flop is 10-7-7 with 2 spades. Big blind bets, lady to my right (caller of the all in) calls and I reraise my straight draw. Call and call. Next card is a 3 of clubs. Checked to me and I take it down with an almost pot sized raise. That was about all that happened good for me in the first 2 hours. When we go on break I'm sitting with 7800 in chips.

The wife comes by, she is in about the same boat as me as she hasn't gotten much to work with. She took down one decent pot but then lost one when she flopped a pair of aces and ran it into a guys flopped set. After the break I know I need to get to work big time as I have less than 20 big blinds to start out. Not long after that, I pick up AK of clubs UTG. I raise to 4X the big blind, short stack to my left pushes in for about 900 more. Everyone folds around to the big blind who calls. He had made some hands to build his stack right before the break. Prior to that he was in a lot of hands with draws that hadn't panned out and like me, had not seen great cards. But then he pulls AA and gets a guy to push all in after a queen high flop with AQ. Then he wins another nice pot with J10 when he flops JJ10 and another guy bets hard into him with A10. So he is nice shape now. I ask the dealer if I can reraise but she says I can't because the all in was less than another raise would have to be so I just call. I want to reraise this hand and get in heads up with this guy. Anyway the flop comes low but with 2 clubs, I push and get the other guy out and never improve from there but the all in had AQ and didn't connect either so I take it down. I'm finally over my starting stack then.

A little later on I get 99 in the big blind. Now I hate playing mid pairs most times but have been reading Hoyazo's blog and how he likes to play them. And he make sense. 3 people call the big blind and when it gets to me I push out a healthy reraise. Everyone folds except the small blind. Now I know since he didn't raise he probably has a suited connector type of hand as he likes to play them and he likes to speculate. He might have a weak ace as well but I figure he will put me on a strong ace if one hits. Of course the flop is QA3. He checks and I bet out. He thinks for a while and cuts out chips like he is going to call. Then says "I'm just kidding" and mucks. I laugh and tell him when he did that I figured he made a set of 3s cuz I had top two pair. Lying in poker isn't really lying is it?

Just before the next break I get AK again 2 to the left of the big blind. I just call because I can see how my day is going with AK hands and I had done a bit of raising already. I figured this would be a good time to sneak into the hand and try to actually flop something when no one expects it, all the while figuring I might run into someone who flops two pair on an A62 flop. One thing I do keep in mind when I don't raise good hands is that I am giving someone the opportunity to out flop me so I'm not going broke on that hand unless I hit really strong as well and just get unlucky. Well that point is moot as the short stack to my left pushes all in for about 5800 (blinds are 400-800 with 100 ante) and everyone folds to the big blind who starts to think about her choices. This is the same woman who pushed over the top of me with AK when I had QQ. She really thinks for a while and I'm putting her on a hand like a small pocket pair 66 or below or a semi big ace like AJ or A10 down to maybe KQ. And I'm thinking she is going to call here but this bet is about a third of her stack. I'm hoping she will call because I can't wait to go all in over the top of her and take her out or make her fold. Either will be fine because I am pretty certain I am ahead and if she has a small pair I think she will fold as now I have her outchipped. She surprised (and disappointed) me when she finally folded and I called. Small stack turned over QJ and neither of us improved - I wasn't surprised when I didn't - and I took him out. Lady tossed A10 so it was too bad she didn't call as well.

We got to the second break and I have a slightly above average stack of 27,000 and I'm pleased with my play. Even though I still haven't gotten much in the way of hands, I've played aggressively and been pretty much on point with my plays. Then when we got back from break I took counsel of my fears. Damn me. First off I was under the gun with 99 after not having a hand for a while. Threw away an assortment of 93s and J4s and stole a couple of blinds with crap like 74. Made one hand when I turned a flush with 65 suited and picked up some chips but the blinds and antes are starting to get serious. Not that I'm in trouble yet but you start to get antsy when you keep putting in chips but not get any in return. And I know this so I'm not gonna go wild if I get something decent like A10. Well I get 99 two off the big blind. UTG player min raises and I'm faced with either putting in a big reraise or calling as I'm not tossing this. Like an idiot I just call. 3 others call, flop is king high and someone bets out. I'm pretty sure a big reraise preflop takes that one down as the original raiser didn't contest the hand. She had played fairly well and I was afraid she might be sitting on a big pocket pair and hoping someone would reraise her preflop. But still at that time I needed to be more aggressive damn it. That cost me some. Next orbit I'm in the big blind with 44. It gets folded around to my nemesis on the button who raises to 3x the big blind. Small blind called her so I had to put her on something. I thought about tossing my hand but figured it was worth seeing something so I call. Not sure if a reraise there was a smart idea but I definitely should have pushed after the 885 flop. Small blind checks and I was torn about betting or not. But I took counsel of my fears again and made the wrong play and checked. Button checks. Turn is a queen, this time I do bet and the button calls and when I don't improve on the river I lose to QJ which I wouldn't have had to lose to if I bet the flop. I felt so stupid.

And the poker gods went on to punish me something fierce. I saw the worst crap hands imaginable and anything I had playable was raised up preflop and usually reraised. it was amazing. I would be in early position with crap and fold and a bunch of folds would happen. I would be in early position and raise and get 5 callers. I would be in the blinds or on the button with a decent hand and see a raise and a reraise. We get down to about 18 players (6 get paid) and I'm getting short. Not desperate but it's push time. I'm in the big blind with 77. Ok, now we can play. Tight guy across the table from me pushes all in for about my stack size. Lady to my right pushes over the top. Well I can see where this is headed. I think about it when the betting gets to me and I toss my hand. Guy shows AQ suited. Lady shows QQ. They flop the final queen and he's out. I was glad I didn't call as I was right to think I was behind but damn, why are these hands appearing when I finally catch something.

Later on I am the shorty with about 8 big blinds. I push in early position with 77. It gets folded to the big stack on the button and he calls with A10. He flops a ten and it's good night Irene. I go out in 14th.

I was fairly satisfied with my play, made some good laydowns, made some good and timely bets, and really I did pretty well considering I didn't get my share of good hands. I saw AK 4 times and never got anything with them but still managed to win some nice hands, saw AQ once, AJ once QQ once and JJ once. Never had AA or KK and I played for 5 hours plus. Never made a set the few times I did have a pocket pair and made only one draw. But damn those 2 misplayed hands really hurt. A bigger stack allows me to play more aggressively later on and I never could get more than a little above average the whole time. Misplaying and losing those 2 hands, even though they weren't really big pots, really cost me because I wouldn't have been in such dire straits later on. But otherwise it was a learning experience and I am still trying out some things so I will chalk it up to experience.

When I got knocked out the wife texted me to come play 1-1 no limit with her as she had a fun table and was doing ok. But I just wanted a drink and to forget about poker for a bit so I sat at the bar with a beer and worked on a couple of sudokus I brought with me. I could just see her table from where I was. So as I'm drinking and thinking I hear an announcement that table 6-1 seat 1 just won $300 for hitting a queen high straight flush. I looked up and thought, hey isn't my wife in seat 1 on 6-1. Yup she sure was. She flopped an open ended straight flush with Q10 of diamonds and turned the big banana when the 8 of diamonds hit the turn. Guy had bet into her on the flop and on the turn he made 2 pair and put her all in. OOPs , that didn't go so well for her. So my wife took $40 and turned it into $400 and we went home happy.

By the way the online Omaha tourney didn't end well either. I went out 15th. I pushed all in over the top of a guy who min raised when I had AJJ10 with the J10 suited. Not the greatest hand but not a bad one either. Unfortunately the guy had AQ23 and flopped a queen while I got no help. I thought I made the right play as I was getting short and the blinds had gotten pretty big then. Again I was pretty satisfied with my play and though I didn't score big, 24 bucks on a 3 buck entry isn't complete crap either. Well that's all from sunny and 55 Florida today. I hope everyone is staying warm and those damned Steelers better win today. Not only do I hate the Jets and Rex Ryan pretty heartily, I took a flyer on Pittsburgh at the beginning of the season. I got 7-1 on them winning the AFC and 15 -1 to win the Super Bowl. I am no Steeler fan and in fact they are one of my least favorite teams (behind Baltimore and the 2 NY teams) but there's money on the line today. So I will wave a yellow stained dish towel and cheer them on. Cuz if I see any more of Rex Ryan this year I may end up going postal. And my weekend profitability depends on a team I don't like beating a team I truly hate. Good times indeed. I'm doomed. Stay lucky you nuts.