Riding The Poker Rollercoaster

I have had a very up and down week in poker, and now I'm back stuck in the mostly down part. I couldn't play last Friday due to "family commitments" (no day care at Gemini), so I decided to hit Dave's Saturday for the Chili cookoff and semi-deepstack tournament. I also entered the chili cookoff as a goof. I had talked to several people about entering a canned chili to see if the "judges" could tell it from all the others. They couldn't. My 9 cans of Chunky Roadhouse chili finished in second place and only lost to El_Diabl0's chili by 7 points (which is nothing, really). After they announced the winners I let everyone know what they'd be eating. I found out later that Mark had entered a large can of chili dog topping he put peppers in. The idea wasn't mine, Steve Graham wanted to do it years ago but never followed through.

The tournament was really large - 56 buy ins I believe. I got lucky early on. This new kid raised, and when he did he was shaking bad. I knew he had a huge hand. I called his raise with J9c. Flop came 10-3-2 with one club. He continuation bet, and I called hoping to either turn a draw or bet him off on the turn. The turn was the Qc, giving me a straight and flush draw. I open-shoved on him and he tanked for a minute before calling and turning over KK. River? 8. Ship it! After that, I got into a sick hand with Karl. He raised preflop, and I called with J9 again. Caveman folded, and when he did he accidentally showed me the Ace of spades. Flop came A-9-2. Karl leads out, and I think about this...only one over on the flop, and I know an Ace is dead. I decide Karl missed and I shove on him. He snap calls and rolls over A-10. River J pumps me up to 30k and I cruise to the final table. I finished 4th after I raised with K-10 4 handed, flopped a K and got it all in against Caveman, and lost to his runner runner 2 pair. Had I won that pot I would've had over half the chips in play and would've squashed that final table. As it was, I cashed $380 and only had time for a few rounds of 8 game where I dropped $50.

Sunday I decided to hit Gemini again and play some $1/2. I took a few horrendous beatings (including a hand where I flopped a set of 9's and lost to runner runner heart flush). I dropped my tournament earnings back there and decided to call it a night. Monday night I went back for a few hours of $1/2 and took yet another squashing. I should've got up after the first beating, but I stuck it out. I got AA on the button and mid position made it $10. I raise to $30. BB (who just rebought $100) shoves his $100 in. Mid folds and I snap call and show my AA. He rolls over AKh and I am fucked. Flop? KKQ. So, I rebuy $100 and play a bit more. At one point I triple up with QJ after flopping top two and consider leaving but am too stupid to do so. I then proceed to lose $250 in two hands after paying off two rolled up sets. I finally go broke when I flop and open ended straight flush draw, get called all-in by a $2/5 guy with KJ high, and go brick brick to lose. Discouraged, I decided not to buy in again and just leave. Today I went back with another $300 and had a go at it. I barely made it an hour. Hand #4 I raise with QJc. Flop K-3-4 two clubs. I bet and get called. Turn 10c. The other player shoves in and I snap call. River a blank and he rolls over K7c. FUUUUUUUUUUUCK! I rebuy $100 and lose half when I turn K's and Q's and the other guy rivers a 6 high heart flush. On my last hand I get AKc. I raise to $10 and get a few callers. Flop 3-4-5 with 2 clubs. I check, guy in the middle bets $25, I push in $100 more and he snap calls and rolls over 6-5h. Turn 6 river 5 and he fills up. I decide to leave, down $300 again. So far, I have only profited in my first trip there and have proceeded to get pounded in my last four trips. I apparantly need to take a break from there for a little bit. I hope Dave's Saturday will be a good rebuilding game.