Just When You Think Things Won't Get Worse (or, Why I Should Just Quit).

It's been a while since my last post so bear with me as it's going to be a bit longer. Go ahead, grab a snack. I'll wait.

OK?

So, I played the April 9th at Dave's. It was pretty uneventful for me, I was up a little in the beginning and gave some back. I ended up losing my first buy-in to Data (yet again). I raised preflop with AK with the Kh. He called with KQ (no heart). Flop comes Q-8-6 all hearts. He checks and I shove, he tanks for a while and then finally calls (about 2/3 of his stack). Of course I brick the over and flush draw twice and I rebuy. Lately he's been owning me, I guess it's variance paying me back for all the times I stacked him with something stupid.

After the rebuy I call a small raise with 46s on the button and the flop comes K-4-4. I get it all in against KQ and double up. I hit my stride, doubling up again when my 99 survives against AK. I took a few smaller pots here and there and then snapped it off in Danny. He open/shoves with A9, I look down at AQ and can't call fast enough. Flop comes A-Q-x and I am up to 18k. I run it up to 21k after the break and then get involved in a weird hand. I get dealt KK on the button. I have Pyxis to my left in the SB and she is displaying her tell that she has a good hand. Meats raises from mid position and I decide to whopperjaw the pot, making it look like a steal. I slam it all in and Pyxis tanks. Finally she surrenders and it's the Meat Show. He basically says he has QQ and I want desperately for him to call. He finally decides he can't risk his stack and folds. Pyxis had JJ. I show the KK and decide I played it wrong. If I flat call Meat, Pyxis shoves and Meat will be nearly pot committed by calling her, so I could wedge them both in and triple up. I didn't expect her to fold JJ so I assumed when I slammed it she would shove in and he'd make the obligatory "I guess I gotta call". Oh well.

After that hand I finally do double up Pyxis with A6s. She was way short and shoved, it was only 6k to call so I did and she had AK. I hover around 18k until I get into a retarded hand with Data. Data open/shoves 15k from middle position (blinds 800/1600 I think). I have been picking up a read on him and am convinced he's shoving light to steal. Folds to me with A8c. I decide to call (stupid) and he rolls over J-10s. He is 99.99999999999992% to win preflop. Sure enough, I flop an A but two spades, and turn is the Ks no waiting. Crippled, I put it in with QJ a few hands later and A2 snaps me. My feeling on the all-in was that (a) I was sure I had the best hand preflop, and (b) if I win I'm all but guaranteed a final table seat. Run better, I guess.

I played Linda's triple pot limit game on the 15th, I folded for the first round and a half (not playing a single non-blind hand) The first hand I played I had Q-J-9-x in PLO and flopped the nut straight (J-10-8 on flop two spades). I slow played against Jeff R. because of the flush draw. On the turn was the 2d. He bet out, I raised him, he potted all in and I called. He has the same straight along with a 9 high spade draw. River? Bink. Crippled, I lose the last 3k flopping a pair of Q's against Linda's pocket kings. I am granted an emergency rebuy and commence losing chips again. It got to be comical - had AQ flopped broadway in PLH Linda rivers full house with her KJ. Flop trip Q's in PLO lose on kicker (My K loses to AQ). Flop nut low with A3 in PLO8 counterfeited by two out A on river to lose both halves. After the break I hit a rush, build my stack from 10K back up to 28K before I have my 2nd blowup. In PLO8 raise preflop get one caller, flop nut low draw and have a pair, other guys leads out with a value but and I shove. He tanks forever and calls with a dry pair of aces and I hit two bricks. I didn't do very well at cash either, dropping $50 in PLO8 when I raised preflop with AQ35 (AQd). Flop J-4-2 two diamonds. Catch two bricks and give up.

Played Dave's 4-16 tournament. I was feeling good when I arrived but that quickly dissipated. Early on a guy at the end of the table played a hand where he three bet preflop and ended up rolling over AA. A round later, I get QQ on the button. He raises to $150, I make it $500. He four bets me to $1000. I roll over QQ face up and he proudly shows Q8s. I put him on being a pretty weak player, so I guess I misread him. I should've just shoved since I had a rebuy but I wimped out. I blinded down to 3600 before taking the rebuy. I piddled around before making the worst fold of the night. Preflop I have 56 off in the BB. Mid position makes a raise to 1000. Cutoff (who is pretty bad) flat calls. I have 7k and decide to call. Flop comes Q-5-9. Initial raiser open shoves. Cutoff tanks and finally calls for less. I think for a while - I know I have initial raiser beat. I say out loud "He has AK (pointing to initial raiser) and he has some shitty Q like Q8 (pointing to cutoff)." I decide a 3k sidepot isn't worth it and fold. First guy turns up AK and cutoff turns over Q7. Turn 8 river 7 I would've made a straight and tripled up. After that I blind down to 4800 before open shoving with 98h on a steal. Of course TK wakes up with KK in the SB and calls, and I am out.

I played the cash game once a $.50/.50 HA game started. It was fairly uneventful. I ran my $100 up to around $180 and managed to lose it all in the worst live PLO beat I have ever taken. I have KQ83 in the SB. Malcolm raises preflop to $2. Danny calls, I call, and Meat calls. Flop comes Q-K-3 with two clubs (I have the Kc but no flush draw). I decide to test the water and bet out $8. Meat folds, Malcolm calls, Danny calls. Turn is a K giving me the abominable nuts (K's full). I check for deception but no one bets. River is the Ah. Danny leads into me for $17. I am putting him on J-10-x-x and figure he made Broadway. He by his own admission isn't that good at Omaha and was calling with straight and flush draws on paired boards all night. I pot him $66 on top. He tanks for a long time before finally repotting me all in. I snap and roll over KQ for my boat and he rolls over AAxx for the win. I was over 95% to win on the turn and got stacked. I couldn't put him on AK since he hadn't bet the turn (and I doubt he'd have checked trip K's, he was playing his made hands very aggressive). It crossed my mind for a half second that he might have had AK and I almost flat called the $17 but I decided it was very unlikely he would check trip K's so I dismissed it.

That hand took the wind out of my poker sails. It literally murdered my desire to play poker. It's been beat after beat after beat (with a few poor decisions tossed in to spice it up) since last July. I have decided to take the summer off from poker. I may play the infrequent tournament here or there but I am done with cash for now. My kids are moving to Maine with their mom in July and it's best I spend my extra time with them anyway. That last PLO hand was the nudge I needed to take some time off and get my shit together.

My blog posts will probably be more infrequent until I actually decide to play on a regular basis again.

More Tournament Failure

I haven't been playing much poker lately, the bankroll well ran dry after I had to pillage it to pay bills, and there's not much work going on so I am keeping to a few low buy-in tournaments and the very occasional cash buy-in. I'm in poker limbo - I have the desire to play but not the means at the moment. It's gotten bad enough that I've had to cancel my plans for Reno and Vegas in June. I try to go every year but work is fucked and I simply cannot manage it. I am trying to reschedule for November but it may be next year before I head out west again. It's frustrating because I had wanted to move to Nevada by now and things keep getting in the way.

Anyway, played Dave's $40 bounty on March 26th. It was a huge tournament, 48 buyins if I recall correctly. I had to come late since I was on call for work and didn't want to risk driving all the way out only to have to turn around and come back. I got seated at a new table and set to work losing my chips. I made an ill-timed bluff on Chaz that got picked off, and chopped a pot with Doc when we both played our QQ like pussies. There weren't a lot of hands of note, I did a lot of folding and blinding off. Our table broke and I got stuck in Action City. There wasn't any small ball or limping, it was huge raises and stacking off. I finally got down to around 10 BB and tried to make a move with 58 suited from the BB. Lot of limpers, Danny in the SB shoves with only 5BB, I reshove to protect, cutoff was slow playing AJc and picked us both off. Cash game was a loss too, got stacked by Jack T-way on a two out miracle turn for him in the Omaha round. I left pretty frustrated.

Last weekend I decided I had too much money and went to play the $30 at Dave's. I took Special K with me (she hasn't played much with the CPMG lately, she prefers to take weekenders at Rivers). I'm not sure what happened but she was out in the first round. She ended up watching a movie on her iPod until cash opened up (which was surprisingly fast). I ran like Hiphop for the first few rounds, flopping sets and taking pots. Early on I doubled up off of Mick (I think his name is Mick). He limped UTG with Q8 off, I limped with K9 suited, flop comes Q-J-10. I made a pot sized bet and got two calls, turn was an 8. I shove, Randy folds and Mick calls with his two pair. My straight holds and it's off and running. I felt good and felt like I should cash. I was up and down a little after that, but I noticed my big pocket pairs were not holding. I had JJ cracked three times, QQ once and KK once. I peaked at 21k (off a 5k starting stack) when I flopped a set of sixes and dodged TK's straight flush draw to stack him. At the break I took the add-on and had 22k left.

After the break the wheels came off. QQ got mushed by Host Dave's 9 high flush, turned trip 10's and lost to three out gutter ball, JJ runs into quad 4's (lucky for me he was so excited at the second four on the board that I knew I was fucked and didn't double him up). My table started getting really aggressive and Randy started flopping sets or better every hand. I began bleeding chips and couldn't get it turned around. I snugged it up and stopped coming into pots but I was blinded down pretty bad. I worked myself back up to 18k when I took a shot at busting Big Keith. He's such a rock that it's nearly impossible to get chips out of him. He usually just blinds away to nothing and forces himself to shove light. He shoved on me with about 7k and I called with 10-9 suited. His AJ held despite me flopping a 10. I did pick off a stellar bluff he tried to lay on me a few hands later. If you play with him for more than 10 minutes you know how he bets - or rather, he doesn't bet. He just waits for the nuts and hammers the pot. We got into a hand where it folded to him in the SB and he just limps. I check from the BB with 3-8 off. Flop comes Q-10-4. He checks, I check. Turn is the 3h, putting two hearts on the board. He bets the minimum. This is a very odd thing for him to do, he never min bets. I suspected a draw and called. River is a brick and he bets two BB at me. I know he missed whatever he was on, so I call and table my three which was good. Let this be a lesson to all - mix your game up more or end up being picked off by idiots like me.

We also had our annual CPMG Clusterfuck before the second break. Sometime around 10 minutes to go we got down to 20 players (and would normally pause the game and break tables) but the TD didn't notice. Around 6:30 someone busted from the first table leaving the tables 7-6-6. Colin announced man down to Meats and was told we had to wait until break to split tables. This was (in everyone's opinion) too long to wait short handed with the blinds so high. Colin told the table he was refusing to pay another BB and would stall. He also encouraged the rest of them to stall and they then had a misdeal (which I was told later really was accidental). I called the floor over and demanded the entire table be penalized for colluding to stall their game. He refused and put a clock on Colin. Much arguing and posturing ensued until it was finally break and tables broke down.

After the melee ended we restarted. I was solo BB at my table and told everyone I wanted a walk. I look down at AA and am praying to someone to steal but instead they all folded. A few hands later I get JJ, Data open-shoves with Q-10 and I call. I am 99.999999999% to lose preflop and sure as shit the flop is Q-10-x. Turn was a 9 to give me false hope, river was the insult 10. I didn't play any cash, K and I left and we called it a night.

I am going to be short rolled for most of the summer as it looks, I have some bills to take care of still and I need to get myself a decent car. I'm planning on playing this Saturday night, will update the blog a bit sooner if I get time.