Better Lucky Than Good, I Guess

I've been playing tournaments exclusively for a few weeks.  This is due to a variety of factors, notably a lack of good limit games in Cleveland and my recent tournament game has been decent.  I played the $60 bounty at Adam's house.  I was swingy all game, up and down and back up.  I made the final table and the final 6 before I shipped it preflop with KKxx and ran into Linda's AAxx.  It's always bad to ship and have Linda snap call before you even get your stack out.  Oh well.  In the cash game I was running awesome.  Some of Adam's friends were there and they all wanted to play PLO.  I was up around $100 (in a .50/.50 game) before Adam himself sat in.  Within three hands I was felted.  The guy simply could not miss.  First I turned a full house and ran into his bigger full house.  Then a few hands later it was set over set.  Finally he crippled me when we both flopped trip 9's and he had me on kicker.  Luckily I had purchased a horse in the tournament and actually ended up breaking even for the day.  Beats losing, I guess.

I also played Linda's triple pot limit tournament last weekend.  I never really got any traction going there.  I was up a little, lost it back on a monstrous combo draw, won some back on a few hands, then ran into Patty and got stacked.  Malcolm raised preflop with AA46.  I called with KK46 and Patty called with KKT9.  Flop was J-5-7 two diamonds.  Patty bet out, Malcolm called off his stack for less, and I called.  Turn was an 8.  I open/shipped with my straight and she snap called with her better straight and stacked us both.  Whoops.  Afterwards I managed to nurse a $50 stack in 3 and 4 handed PLO (.50/.50) until about 2AM when I flopped trip 6's with an A and ran into Data's rolled up boat. 

I was a little stung from the night before but I decided to go to TK's poker tournament after the golf outing.  I figured the golfers would all be tired from being out in the 100º heat all day and they'd all be piss drunk so I'd have an advantage.  The game that followed was an absolute ZOO. 

I got seated with one of Hiphop's friends who was completely hammered.  He wasn't even sure what game he was playing.  On hand #2 I get QQ.  Cheryl raises, guy re-raises, I flat.  She flats.  Flop comes all unders.  He leads out for the pot, I call, Cheryl folds.  Turn another under, he bets again and I call.  River same deal and I am plus 5k when he shows KJ for nothing.  He doubled through another player and a few hands later I got AQd.  Malcolm raises, I call, guy re-pops it again.  Malcolm calls, I call.  Flop three unders and two diamonds.  We check to him, he bets, Malcolm folds and I call.  Turn a brick that pairs the board.  Check-call.  River same thing, I check and he bets.  I make hero call with A high and he shows 6 high and ships me another 5k.  I piddled around for a while before getting dealt AA on the button.  Brad raises from middle position and I three bet him.  He calls.  Flop comes A-K-2 two hearts.  He checks, I lead for about 3/4 the pot.  He snap shoves all in and I call before he can finish his sentence.  He shows A8 of hearts and I fade the flush and bust him. 

After the break I hit a stride and take a bunch of pots.  They move some seats around and we end up with Meat at our table.  I get into a monstrous four way all-in pot.  Chasity raises to around 4k (about half her stack).  Malcolm shoves in for 10k.  I look around and see that Pete is ready to put his last 4k in and Chas will likely call.  I decide to gamble 1/3 of my stack and potentially bust three people with my T8s.  I call, Pete shoves for less and Chas calls.  Chas has QQ, Malcolm AQs, Pete 98h.  The board runs out and Chas wins the main pot, Pete is busted, and Malcolm takes the side pot.  After that hand I start playing a little fast.  I'm a little steamed from that pot plus I am getting impatient.  Meats raises from mid position and I call from the BB with T9c.  Flop comes T-7-2 one club.  I check, Meat bets, and I shove on him.  He snap calls and rolls over KK.  Whoops.  Turn Ac.  River Qc and my flush busts him.  After jubilant celebration I turn my attention back to the game and start running over the table.

I got into another multi-way clusterfuck when I got dealt K2s in the BB.  Cheryl limps in, someone in the middle limps, Krazy Mike raises to 3k.  I call, Cheryl calls, mid calls.  Flop 2-2-6.  Mike open/shoves his stack in.  I call.  Everyone else abandons ship.  Mike tables 10-10 and bricks twice, then gets up and has to go outside to blow off steam.  I don't like Mike's shove here, he's only going to get called by a hand that has him destroyed.  I think a half pot bet would've been better, I would've flatted and when the board paired 6's on the turn he could've gotten away from his hand.  Last hand before the break I doubled up Linda.  She shoves her last 6k with AQ and I call with QJ.  Then, first hand after break I get AA on the button.  She limps, I raise, she shoves and I snap call.  After Linda busts we get to the final table.  I snapped off Randy when he shoved with KQ and I called with AQ. 

The final table played impossibly slow.  Grayday was hammered and taking forever to make any decisions.  TK also was inexplicably slow, causing me to get impatient again as we weren't getting nearly as many HPH as we should've been even with Mike dealing for us.  Grayday is also getting distracted by the cash players taunting him.  I get up and walk away a couple of times trying to get myself focused.  Finally Grayday shoves his stack in and I decide to make a bad call with J8h.  He shows 88.  J on the flop and he's gone.  After he left it was the bubble which went on for a very long time.  Finally Mike's friend Luke busted and we were all in the money.  TK busted next in a hand that I couldn't understand.  He raises preflop and Hacker calls.  Flop comes J-9-9 two spades.  Hacker bets into him.  He raises.  Hacker three bets.  TK shoves and Hacker snap calls and rolls over 69c for trips.  TK shows 77 and busts out.  Three handed was over quick.  I got AJ on the button and shoved my last 11 blinds in.  Hacker snap calls and rolls over AK and I get third.

I played this tournament very poorly, and I know it.  Despite cashing I should've been out a whole lot sooner.  Several times I found myself getting impatient and I made some poor decisions because of it.  I was getting good cards and hitting a lot, and I let my hand selection slide because of it.  I made a lot of marginal calls in spots where I know I shouldn't have.  I need to work on this.

I'm planning on hitting Rivers this weekend and crushing the $4/8 game.  Report will follow.