Not Much Happening Lately

I haven't had much luck making the money lately, although I am still at the final table quite a bit and you can't win if you don't make the final table, so at least I am getting the chance.

Last Thursday at the Cable Bridge, my chips just mysteriously disappeared - :) I had over 6,000 and then I was down to about 2,000 and out early. I do believe I got over-zealous and played way too many pots that I did not need to get involved in. Phooey.

The only cash I had last weekend was 4th place at the Cable Bridge on Sunday night and my profit was only $15. They usually only pay 3 spots and the final few players decided that they should all get paid, and the payouts were larger than normal, so it all worked out. I guess money is money, right? The thing I liked most about the final table was that there were SIX women at it and only four guys. Nice to see so many women playing poker.

A Couple of Good Wins (And Fun Too)

I split first place with "old" Joe in the Saturday morning 8:00 tournament at the Crazy Moose last weekend. I played a basic solid game for the entire tournament except for one time when I got really stupid (and extremely lucky) trying to steal Triple Gutter's big blind. I was on the button so I figured it was worth a try. The blinds were 300-600 so I made it 1500 to go. My mistake was that Gary was all-in for 200 in the small blind and I did not realize it. This is what I get for not paying attention. Then Niles went all-in for 1800. I was pot committed. I called. Yes, I had 7-2 offsuit. Oh, my God. Anyway, the dealer flopped me a seven and it held up and I knocked out two players with my favorite garbage hand. Life is good.

I also took a solid fourth place in the Saturday afternoon tournament at the Cable Bridge. I believe I would have finished higher except the chip leader (Dante) was totally on fire and catching everything. He made a normal raise before the flop. I re-raised with pocket nines and he put me all in. I insta-called because I just knew I had him beat and I was right - he had pocket fours. However, as he was totally on fire he spiked a four right in the door and that was it for me. Oh, well. I love going all-in with the best hand. It's all you can really do.

Rookie Mistakes

Sometimes I do not know where my brain has gone. A couple of examples -

(1) In the deep stack tournament last Tuesday at The Island I was one of the last 18 players and had just chipped up nicely with pocket rockets when I got stuck with K-3 clubs in the big blind. There was a king on the flop and I bet out. A guy who had me covered re-raised me and I made the donkey play of going all-in. Where was my brain? I do not know. Needless to say he had a bigger king (K-9) and I was gone. This was complete and total stupidity.

(2) In the Sunday $60 tournament at the Crazy Moose I went all-in (with plenty of chips left and it was a move I did not need to make) with pocket threes after a fairly tight player raised in front of me. He had pocket queens. Needless to say, the result was the same as #1 above. Complete and total stupidity.

It is a wonder that I win anything at all. Still, I did take a split of first place and a solid 4th place over the weekend. See other post.

I am playing the deep stack again tonight at The Island. I shall NOT make any rookie mistakes and I will take no prisoners!!

I Should Have Used The Stop 'n Go!!

The hands I had were ridiculous - I was short stacked and got QQ-JJ-JJ back-to-back-to back. I was gone from the tournament after the third pair and it is certainly because I played them badly. I was thinking about it after the fact and if I had simply called before the flop, I could have pushed after the flop and I simply know that I would still have been in the tournament.

Blinds were 200-400 and I only had 3400 left. Dante raised in middle position. I went all-in with my queens. The big chip stack called me and Dante put the rest of his chips in. I had Dante covered. He had A-9. Big stack had K-9 suited. The flop was 8-3-9. I don't remember the turn, but the river was an ace, so Dante hit two pair. I lost 1000 chips but was still in with 2400.

Very next hand . . . somebody raised and I went all-in again with my 2400 chips with J-J. I do not remember anything about this hand except that the flop was all under 10 and nobody beat me, so I was back up to about 4000.

Very next hand . . . Dante raised again. I pushed all-in again with J-J. This time he had A-K and hit his ace on the river . . . crap! Again, the flop was all small cards.

So, (thank you Phil) the moral of the story is maybe to see a whole lot more flops and push all-in afterward. I would not have won the first hand in any case, because Dante would have beaten me, but I still had chips and I'm positive I would have won the last two with the old stop 'n go. Something to think about.

A Taste of My Own Medicine

Last night was very annoying. I was playing in the $15 tournament at the Cable Bridge and was down to only 2,000 chips after the first break and the blinds were 200-400. I was so low in chips because on a previous hand my two pair of Ks and Js got beat by two bigger pair of Ks and Qs. Phooey! Anyway, I figured I was in all-in mode at this point.

I started the round on the button and did not find a suitable hand until my small blind. The guy in the cut-off spot made it 1,200 to go. I looked down to see pocket 9s. Was the guy in the cut-off spot making a move or did he have a hand? He did not look very comfortable. I went all-in for 800 more. Even though it was only 800 more to him, the additional 800 would have been about one-third of his remaining stack, so I really thought he might be able to fold.

He said, "Oh, you caught me. I have my favorite hand and was just making a move, but (here's my least favorite saying of all time) I have to call." He rolls over 5-2 spades, which I was very happy to see until he got a flush on the river. Ouch! Bye bye me. I just walked away. What can I say when I will raise with 7-2? However, I can honestly say that if someone has come over the top for all their chips (pre-flop) and it is not more than one or two chips, I have folded 7-2 every time. I do not believe I have ever called an all-in with it except twice after the flop when I had two pair.

I guess this is another one of those things where you wonder how people can do it. Sick.

The Poker Player's Prayer to the Poker Gods

I found this on a t-shirt which I might order someday:

Our Game Which Art From Texas
Hold 'Em Be Thy Name

Thy Cards May Come, Thy Blinds Be Done
At Home Games As It Is In The Casinos

Give Us This Day Our Daily Outs
And Forgive Us Our Suck Outs
As We Forgive Those
Who Suck Out Against Us

And Lead Us Not Into Bad Calls
But Deliver Us From Bad Beats

For Thine Are The Chips
And The Cards And The Tables
For Ever And Ever

ALL IN

Never Go Broke With Ace Queen

Bad decision = unnecessary knockout. I made it to the final table again in the deep stack tournament at The Island. I was also the first one knocked out. Boo.

I had pocket cards of A-Q offsuit. Blinds were 3000-6000. I raised in early position to 18,000. The chip leader went all-in and had everyone at the table covered. When it was my turn again, I hardly hesitated before going all-in myself. The main reason I did so was because I had seen him bullying the table most of the night and going all-in with very marginal hands, such as Q-J offsuit and K-10, rightly using his chip stack, but still risking a lot. With my usual luck, he actually had a good hand this time (A-K) and it held up and I was out.

The other reason I called was because after my raise I only had 9.5 times the big blind left. Still, I should have folded A-Q in this spot and I think my plethora of readers will agree with me.

Oh, those darned decisions . . . . !

I Am The Champion!

I am a happy happy girl! I took down the Tournament of Champions yesterday at the Cable Bridge all by my little old self!! I do not play a lot of expensive tournaments, so I do not obviously make a living playing poker, but this was my biggest payout to date - $1220!! (My second biggest was a deepstack at the Crazy Moose for $900.) Not bad for a $30 buy-in.

I am even happier because I honestly feel that my decision-making process during this tournament was at a rare level. Early in the tournament, Gary raised to 3 times the big blind and another guy reraised to 1,000 right behind him. When I got to the button and found my pocket 10s, I stopped for a good 30 seconds to think about it instead of just pushing all-in. For various reasons (mainly the players involved) I ended up going all-in with the 10s. Gary folded and the other guy took a while to call (which made me feel better) and ended up calling with pocket 8s and I doubled up. There were several other instances during the tournament when I took longer than usual to think about things and eventually made the right play. I believe that I am getting much better with my decision-making based on position, players involved, hand selection, chip stack, etc., than I have been in the past.

At the final table, I was almost the shortest stack. I battled valiantly if I do say so myself and still only had about 24,000 chips when there were three players left. Gary (not the same Gary from above) had about 40,000 and Bob (there were about 6 Bobs in this tournament and I don't know his last name) had us both covered with an outrageous chip stack of 101,000!!

My lucky hand against Gary was A-4 offsuit. I had 20,000 left and just pushed all-in with it. He was down to about 30,000 at that point and called with A-Q. I spiked a four on the flop and it held up. Gary was crippled and went out shortly thereafter. When Bob and I went head's up, Bob had at least a three to one chip lead on me. Our important hand came after I had clawed my way to almost even. I held 9-6 offsuit and Bob had 6-2 offsuit. The flop came 4-5-6 and Bob pushed all-in with top pair and a straight draw. I thought about it and then called with top pair. He never got his straight and I was now chip leader!!

After a couple more small hands, I was dealt A-5 suited (clubs) and put Bob all-in. He called with K-J suited (spades) and my hand held up. I was the champion!! I was so totally excited and happy you wouldn't believe it. I never once imagined that I could overcome Bob's huge chip advantage, but I did it. I really believe in myself now. I received many nice congratulations and I am in 7th heaven for at least this week!! :)