An Experience at the Tournament of Champions

I've been thinking about a hand that was played at May's TOC at the Cable Bridge between myself and another woman. We had just started the tournament, so the blinds were still 25-50. I had J-7 suited in spades on the button and no one raised, so I just called. The small blind called and the big blind (the only other woman in the hand) checked. The flop was 4-6-10 with 2 spades. Small blind checked, big blind bet 100, 2 players folded and I called with 4 spades and one over-card.

The turn was a blank, I think it was a deuce, but don't remember. Small blind checked again and big blind bet 200. I called again. The river was the jack of diamonds, so I made top pair. She bet 300 this time. I felt very comfortable calling with top pair. Small blind folded. She turns over the 8-5 of spades and says, "I missed everything." I turned over my cards and took the pot. Almost immediately, she started getting nasty.

First, she says, "Geez, why couldn't I hit my straight or my flush?" I replied, "Your flush draw was no good. I had a higher flush draw." She replied, "Well, I had a straight draw and you didn't." So, I said, "Yes, you did, but it was an inside straight draw." Then she says, "Well, I guess I will just have to bet huge amounts to get you to quit drawing to crap." This annoyed me quite a bit, but also made me laugh a little because who had the crap here after all? I smiled and said sweetly, "You do what you have to do." She said (and not very kindly), "I WILL!!"

After that, it was a classic case of tilt on wheels. I could not believe it. She just fell apart before our very eyes. She played almost every hand just trying to make something happen and she was gone before the end of the second blind round. Good grief. I'm still shaking my head over this one. I have played with this woman on several occasions and I quite frankly don't understand her attitude, although I have seen her get slightly emotional before, but nothing like this. It makes me want to try even harder to never go on tilt. It's an amazing thing to watch.

I got knocked out of the tournament about 30 minutes later (with the best had as per usual) and she was playing Texas Shoot Out. I sat down next to her and said hi and made a couple of nice comments about her wins, but she virtually ignored me. I just went home. Sometimes, there's just no point in trying to be nice - you know??