The Blog O' Incoherence

One of those bad beat stories....

J-speed $5.50 tourney. Six are left. Blinds 200/400, antes 25. I'm fourth, with about 4600 in chips, and I pick up kings. The person in front of me is loose, raising with any two.

And they do on this hand, and I go all-in.

They call with A2c.

I flopped a set.

They turned a flush.

I rivered...nothing.

That was a $65 hand; I'd have won that much had I won the tournament. I felt as though I would have there, hand I won that hand. But, maybe the worst hand to call me won.

I'm just displeased. But, such is life, I suppose.

So today, I played in three tournaments:

One freeroll: Finished about 40th.
One $11 buy-in: Finished 20th, just out of the money.

I was cursing my luck, but I decided to play one $1 tourney, at 2pm.

I didn't have much luck, and was pretty short-stacked the entire time. But somehow, I found myself in the top 15 with 18 left. And then I was the short-stack with 15 left. But I kept going.

And I found some hands, including a BIG hand with AK vs A6 that propelled me to fourth heading into the final table.

I then didn't get myself into trouble...did get myself into 2nd at one point with four left. I was in third when the fourth-place guy got knocked out, and I crippled the second-stack on a major suckout with A2 vs AJ, where I rivered a straight.

And so, we went heads up. I was up against RiverRodney, an extremely aggressive player. I decided my strategy would be that when I wanted to steal, I'd re-raise all-in...otherwise, I'd just wait for a hand that I could push back with.

At first, it looked like that strategy was going to pay off, and we traded the chip lead back and forth. But then, I went card dead. Absolutely dead. I wasn't getting hands I could push around with...and he wasn't going to let me play a pot unless I was prepared to play all-in. It was a very, very dangerous strategy for him...but it worked. I was able to push him off one or two hands...but eventually, he was a 3-to-1 chip leader on me, and I decided to find any A or K and push. And so I did, with K5.

And he called, with K7.

I was *pissed*...it just seemed like I was destined to win it, the way the tournament went. And I finished second, winning $14.25. Rod won $23.75.

So, since Saturday, I have a third, first and second in buy-in tournies. I'll take that.

-John

After hundreds of tournaments, and 31 final tables, it finally happened.





I took one home. $1 buy-in, pot-limit hold'em. 157 started, and I was the short-stack with 11 left. But I slowplayed aces, got myself up to fourth at the final table, and then played strong. I knocked out the fourth and third-place guys to get up huge going heads up. I don't remember what chased the fourth-place finisher, but I do remember flopping broadway to knock out two pair on the third-place guy.

Heads up, I just pushed the other guy around. He played well, but he never really had a chance. The final hand, I had A3 vs A2, and I hit a flush.

I won $40 for my efforts. Another sidenote...I was the 2nd stack, and the chip leader, for a short time...and I was trying to steal pots from the small stacks. You know, tournament poker. And a couple of people really took exception to it. I don't know what they expect, but I'm going to do it again, if I ever end up at their table.


Gah. Right after I posted, I picked up 10-10...20th out of 25, it's an easy push.

I ran into QQ. Didn't improve, and I'm out in 25th.

I finished 12th out of 375 in a tournament last night, after my third-place finish in the ATW.

Now, I'm 18th with 28 left in a satellite to get back to the ATW for next week. Top nine get seats, so I'm hoping I can pull it off.