Flipping out

Saturday night the PQ and I decided to hit Derby Lane for the 8pm tourney again.  As good as the PQ has been playing, she was itching for another crack at this tourney.  For me, I was hoping for some redemption after the way I went out last time.  One of us did pretty well.

The tourney started much better for me card wise than last week.  Early on I picked up AJ, AQ, AJ and AK.  But the table I was at did not lend much to my chances.  With the AJ and AQ hands there were raises and reraises before the betting even got to me.  Both times I was in the small blind.  I let the AJ go after a raise and reraise and called with the AQ but dumped after completely whiffing the flop (and watching my opponents both bet the flop).  Not an auspicious beginning.  I get AK in late position and raise with one caller.  The flop is another complete miss and when my C bet got reraised I let that one go as well.  He might not have hit anything either but that early in the tourney,  it made no sense to me to be risking big chunks of my stack on an unpaired AK.

After that the cards dried up a bit and I got to watch my seatmates play.  A lot of gamble in those boys.  Even early in the tourney these guys are raising and reraising with A10, AJ, A6, just about any ace is enough for most of them.  I'm sitting in the 4 seat so I can see the whole table pretty well.  The guy sitting just to my left in seat 5 was the worst, over betting the pot by putting in 3K when the pot has 600 with JJ.  Reraising all in with AJ.  I was just waiting for a chance to trap him and take a chunk out of him but the cards refused to cooperate.  Not too much later he got moved to another table and I lost my chance for now. 

My stack was down to a bit over 7K from the 10K start when I picked up JJ in late position.  Guy in the 1 seat who had been playing fairly aggressively raised it to 550 (blinds 75/150).  I popped him to 1800.  Everyone else folded and the flop was a 532 with 2 hearts.  I'm not gonna fool around too much in this situation, especially since my opponent might be in with A6 or a suited A of hearts.  If he has A4 well them's the breaks I suppose.  He checks and I decide to shove there as I don't have enough chips to put in a 2/3 pot bet and then be able to push him off a draw on the turn I fear.  With 4K in the pot and only a little over 5K left in my hand I didn't see any other way to go.  Luckily or maybe unluckily as I might have been able to double up, he dumped his cards and I get a bit healthier.  The next hand I get AQ and pick up some blinds and antes with a preflop raise.  The table had settled a little from it's rather wild beginning and I wasn't playing many hands so I did get some respect for raises there.  I managed to get AA in early position but unfortunately no one wanted to gamble with me and I just didn't want to try slow playing AA under the gun and out of position.  Still I managed to chip up with a couple of steals later to get back over 10K by the time the table broke. 

I got seated at a new table and lo and behold, to my left is the loosest aggressive player in the tourney and just left of him is my old seatmate, Mr Overbet.  He's still up to his old tricks but as play goes on my hands just go dry and with these 2 on my left, I can't afford to be throwing chips in the pot at will.  I do get a double up when I spike an Ace on the turn when I raised an A7 in late position.  At that point I am having to push any ace as the blinds and antes are getting high.  I now have some chips but still can't afford to wait around.  I'm in the small blind when I look down at AK off.  Ok, that can play.  Guy in the cutoff puts in a raise to 2200 on blinds of 400/800.  I'm sitting on about 14K now which doesn't give me much wiggle room.  I'm debating raising to 5K leaving me 9 behind but Mr Overbet is still in as he called under the gun.  If he calls and I expect he will, there will be at least 16K in the pot and I will only have 9K left.  Then again I get a chance to see the flop and get away if it's too ugly but at this point, I feel I need to gamble.  If I can take it down here, I get about 4K more in chips and if I double or triple up, even better.  I'm pretty sure I'm ahead of the original raiser and I have no read on Mr Overbet but don't put him on a really big hand.  So I push all in.  I want to see 5 cards here and being out of position, I don't want to be trying to play the hand out of position and not knowing where I stand by just calling. 

Mr Overbet goes in the think tank and I feel pretty good about that.  I figure he instacalls a big pair or AK so I'm hopeful he is AQ or AJ.  Finally he calls.  The original raiser thinks a bit but mucks and I'm heads up.  He flips over QQ to my AK and it's a race.  Not a good race for me since I'm up against a made hand.  I don't feel good.  And I'm right as the board goes out all low.  I do get a straight draw by the turn but no 4 A or K on the river and it's goodbye.  I wasn't thrilled but thought I had played it ok there.  Just a tourney that didn't work out too well.  Contrary to my post title, I wished everyone good luck and went to get a beer.  The PQ on the other hand is making some things happen.  She's gotten AA four times and has built a stack over 50K.  She got hurt early when her 2 pair ran into a straight in the hands of the table gadfly.  Lady calls down with near anything but this time she had the nuts.  The wife makes it back though pushing AA in against a guy who really liked his AK and busting him. 

A little later I go to play some 1-1 NL holdem.  The first table is pretty loose with a lot of raising.  I lost some chips when I raised JJ and got 4 callers and a flop with and A and a K.  When the bets started flying, I started folding.  I watched for a while and got a read on some of the guys there while I waited for something worth playing.  Finally I'm in the small blind with AQ offsuit.  Short stack in early position raises to $5.  He's been pretty loose but in his position I figured him for 2 face cards or a mid pair.  The button who hasn't met a hand he doesn't like but has a good sized stack calls his raise.  I am debating reraising but AQ I have learned from painful experience is not the hand you want to put a pile of chips in preflop against 2 loose aggressive types.  So I called to see the flop and decide from there.  Flop is A of diamonds with a 7-8 of spades.  The shorty pushes in for his last 9.  The guy to my right sighs then calls the bet.  I liking my position and if this guy wants to see the flop and turn, he's gonna pay for the privilege.  So I raise to $26.  Guy to my right really didn't like that but called.  I put him on either a straight or flush draw there.  If the flush hits on the turn I do have the A of spades for a redraw too.  The other guy I put on an A but not a great one, I think I'm ahead unless he is on A7 or A8 but with the guy on my right, I can afford to lose to the shorty and take a pile from him.

Turn is a red jack.  I'm sure that didn't help the guy to my right.  He checks and I push in for $33.  He really sighs heavy then but he calls.  I'm liking my chances now.  River is a pretty red 2.  The shorty showed KQ of spades for a busted flush and the guy to my right had a 67 for a missed open ended straight.  I more than double up even after the rake so I'm happy.  The other 2 not so much as both were gone after that hand.  The table broke and I end up at another table.  The PQ comes up to me right after I'm seated.  She is at the final table again and sitting pretty good at 65K as the average stack is only a little over 40K. 

I'm up and down at this table.  I get some good cards but some really loose players and bad flops.  I lost with AK and 99 when neither hand flopped well (AQJ on the 99 hand, yuck).  The room is running a promotion and anyone making 4 of a kind or better wins a jackpot that starts at $50 and increases by 50 for each time someone hits until it hits $500 then they start over again.  We're sitting at $250 and I'd love to finally hit a monster hand.  I get QQ in mid position and raise to $6.  I get 4 callers which I don't care for but if I'm gonna win on this hand, I have to improve probably especially if an ace hits.  Of course an ace hits.  But the flop is AQ5 which is a great flop for me so far.  It's checked to me and I put $10 in the pot with 2 callers.  Ok.  Turn is not so good as a jack hits the board.  I hope no one is sitting on K10 but I hope someone has AJ or even QJ though it kills my chances of quads if they do.  I bid $14 on the turn and am shocked when everyone folds.  No chance of quads for me.  Maybe I should check that turn but I can just see a K or 10 hitting and losing my set to some clown with K5 suited or something.  But I made profit at least. 

And then a little later I give it back.  I call a small raise with A10 off suit.  Flop is nice with A 10 4 but 2 hearts.  I put out a pot sized bet and get 2 callers.  Turn is a 3 of hearts.  Ouch.  Gal in the first seat puts out nearly a pot sized bet and the lady next to me calls.  I'm outta there.  The first lady takes it down with a flush.  I hated losing that pot but some people will chase flushes with anything.  I got some back with the world famous grump a little later.  I called an early raise to 5 from the small blind with a 42 off and 3 of us see a flop of 356 rainbow.  Can you say Bingo?  I make a smallish bet and the original raiser calls while the other guy folds.  Turn is a king.  Please have AK buddy.  I bet half the pot and he thinks then calls again.  River is a jack.  I was hoping the king had hit him and he was willing to think I was bluffing at the pot so I put in a bet of about a quarter of the pot.  He sits and thinks and starts counting chips.  Please push in buddy I'm thinking but eventually he just calls me.  I turn over the 24 to his K6 (rasing a K6 in early position???) for 2 pair.  A decent pot but if I could have convinced him to push in, it would have gone much better.  Maybe I should push harder on the river.  I got the grump 2 more times not long after but neither time did it pay off though I almost pulled a second straight the last time.  Still it cost me some cash instead. 

The last hand I played I got KK in the small blind.  This time I'm willing to see the flop and try to make quads for cash especially when 6 people call so I just check.  Then the big blind decides to raise the pot to $5 and 4 people call.  Ok, now there's $30 in the pot and it's worth my while.  I'm not tossing in another $4 with 5 people to beat.  So I'm raising here.  I was about to raise to $30 when I realized I'm giving these guys a bet of $25 into a $60 pot and if the original raiser calls, at least a couple of others will call and I'll be costing myself a pile of cash when an ace hits and some guy with A rag beats me.  With about $85 left, any raise bigger will both commit me and maybe not give me enough to push someone with a draw out post flop.  So I pushed all in.   The original raiser was not too happy with me.  He starts yakking how I could have gotten a lot more out of him by not pushing so hard.  He's probably right but if I don't push hard I'm apt to lose to someone else instead.  I'll take that small victory over a big loss all day.  I gave back a few chips playing A rag suited when my flush draw didn't pay off but the PQ walks up shortly afterward after getting knocked out of the tourney and she's tired so it's time to go.

The PQ didn't have as good luck as last time.  She was the bubble girl.  She got back her buy in but nothing more and was disappointed.  She put in an untimely bluff and it cost her dearly.  Still she has final tabled this tourney 3 times in a row and had one really nice score last week.  She likes the tourney and she's in a zone playing it so good for her.  There is something to be said for having a comfort level in a tourney helping you play better.  I don't know myself but I can't argue the results.  And I made back half my buy in on the cash tables so it wasn't a horrible night.  I guess it's time to wrap this up.  Happy MLK day everyone.  Stay lucky you nuts, just a little luckier than the PQ was.