The very next night (again at Jokers) I ended up getting beat pretty badly in a hand and was short stacked. It's funny how I can never remember the hand that got me short stacked in the first place . . . only the one that eventually takes me out.
A very nice guy named Mike had lost quite a lot of his chips too. In his very next hand he went all-in, tossing his chips in the middle like he just didn't care. I was in desparation mode myself and saw an ace (not the 2nd card) and went all in too, thinking he was just ticked off. He ended up having a playable Q-J but I had A-5 so I was happy to see I was ahead. Naturally, however, the flop gave him an open-ended straight draw and he hit it on the river. Great googly moogly.
I can't honestly complain too much however because I myself actually hit an open-ended straight draw earlier in the tournament, which I rarely do anymore, so it really surprised me even though hitting the damned thing was what I wanted.
I raised to 150 under the gun (best place to bluff) with my beloved 7-2 offsuit. Nadine re-raised to 500. Two or three others called so I did too. There was NOTHING for my hand on the flop and I checked. The flop was A-5-4 rainbow. Nadine bet 1,500. Completly intending to check raise her on the turn & try to steal the pot, I called the bet. The turn was a 6 and gave me an open-ended straight draw. Good grief. I checked again. She bet 2,500 I think. I called again. The river was a 3 and I hit the damned straight. I actually had a 7-card straight from the A to the 7 - LOL.
Believe it or not, I checked again. My reasoning was that I honestly did not believe Nadine had anything except maybe an ace or a medium pair. I didn't think she would call me with what was on the board because I only needed one card to make a straight. She surprised me by betting 3,000. The board wasn't paired or flushed and I wasn't worried about it, so I shoved my last 8,475 in the pot and went all-in saying, "You're going to hate me." The guy sitting next to her looked at me and smiled. He knew what I had. It was too funny.
Nadine thought for quite a while. She had me more than covered. She finally called and showed a set of 5s. OMG. She couldn't believe it!
So, open-ended straights . . . nemesis or not? I really do not hit them very often. Give me a good gut-shot any day of the week. :)
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Open-Ended Straights Are My Nemesis
Tuesday night at Jokers I was rolling along the entire time. I bluffed the very first pot & just kept going from there. I was on fire. At the final table I had a good chip stack. They were paying 3 spots & when we got down to 5 we decided to pay $50 to 4th & 5th ($40 buy-in). I finally whittled my stack away to about 15 big blinds. When I was in the big blind, the first 3 guys folded & Kim Hammond limped in. I had J-10 suited & my woman's intuition told me to raise. I should always listen to it, but I sometimes don't and it screws me over every time when I don't pay attention to myself. I checked.
The flop was J-8-3 rainbow. Kim made a minimum continuation bet. My woman's intuition worked this time & I simply did not put him on a made hand. I thought he had maybe flopped a draw & I was right. I pushed all-in. He took a good 3 minutes thinking about it. He counted the chips. He had me covered but if he called he would be down to less than 2 big blinds. He called. He had 9-10 offsuit and hit his 7 for a straight right on the turn. Good God what a bad call. He says to me, "Remember that time last week when you went runner-runner for a bigger 2 pair than me? Now we're even." I was just amazed. Revenge poker? Are you kidding me? Of course, I want the call most of the time, but I thought it was just insane for him to make it considering his chip stack & the fact that he absolutely had to know I had him beat at that point. Nonetheless, I got my lousy little $50 bucks and went home.
Part 2 of Open-Ended Straights will be posted a little later.
The flop was J-8-3 rainbow. Kim made a minimum continuation bet. My woman's intuition worked this time & I simply did not put him on a made hand. I thought he had maybe flopped a draw & I was right. I pushed all-in. He took a good 3 minutes thinking about it. He counted the chips. He had me covered but if he called he would be down to less than 2 big blinds. He called. He had 9-10 offsuit and hit his 7 for a straight right on the turn. Good God what a bad call. He says to me, "Remember that time last week when you went runner-runner for a bigger 2 pair than me? Now we're even." I was just amazed. Revenge poker? Are you kidding me? Of course, I want the call most of the time, but I thought it was just insane for him to make it considering his chip stack & the fact that he absolutely had to know I had him beat at that point. Nonetheless, I got my lousy little $50 bucks and went home.
Part 2 of Open-Ended Straights will be posted a little later.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Open Apology to Dr. Phil
I know I shouldn't have called your raise with 10-3 suited, but if you'd been hitting every hand like I was, you probably would have done the same thing. It's a crappy excuse but there it is. Please feel better knowing that I went out on the money bubble so I made exactly the same amount of money you did - ha! I HATE THAT!!
Bryan (organizer's son who only plays once in a blue moon because of his work schedule) raised to my right. I had K-K. I went over the top as I had him covered & just wanted him to fold. He went all-in. He had A-K hearts and hit his flush, so I was down to only 1500 with blinds of 500-1000. I made a pretty good comeback to about 8500 and went all-in with A-8 hearts and hit an 8, but my opponent hit top pair & a flush draw with Q-9 diamonds. He hit his flush, but it didn't matter because his queen was good enough. Phooey.
I hope you enjoyed the tournament even though you didn't get to play too long. It only happens once a month so I'm not sure how often you would be able to play, but I would be happy to provide Steve with your email if you want me too. I think the next tournament will be on July 10. It's always at 2:00 p.m. and you always get 3000 chips. If you come by 1:30 you get an extra 500 chips & if you bring 2 cans of food you get another 500 chips. Sometimes you will get extra chips for doing various things, like wearing a football jersey or whatever. There is always some kind of theme. It's just fun & not so much pressure & I basically do it to donate to the food bank because Lord knows I never win! I did get 2nd once. My goal is to get on the wall of fame because I'm already on the wall of shame.
Oh & I got a nice new hammer for high hand to go with my handy dandy wrench. LOL.
Bryan (organizer's son who only plays once in a blue moon because of his work schedule) raised to my right. I had K-K. I went over the top as I had him covered & just wanted him to fold. He went all-in. He had A-K hearts and hit his flush, so I was down to only 1500 with blinds of 500-1000. I made a pretty good comeback to about 8500 and went all-in with A-8 hearts and hit an 8, but my opponent hit top pair & a flush draw with Q-9 diamonds. He hit his flush, but it didn't matter because his queen was good enough. Phooey.
I hope you enjoyed the tournament even though you didn't get to play too long. It only happens once a month so I'm not sure how often you would be able to play, but I would be happy to provide Steve with your email if you want me too. I think the next tournament will be on July 10. It's always at 2:00 p.m. and you always get 3000 chips. If you come by 1:30 you get an extra 500 chips & if you bring 2 cans of food you get another 500 chips. Sometimes you will get extra chips for doing various things, like wearing a football jersey or whatever. There is always some kind of theme. It's just fun & not so much pressure & I basically do it to donate to the food bank because Lord knows I never win! I did get 2nd once. My goal is to get on the wall of fame because I'm already on the wall of shame.
Oh & I got a nice new hammer for high hand to go with my handy dandy wrench. LOL.
Friday, June 10, 2011
What's With the Ladies Tournament?
I guess I just have to whine some to feel better & start playing good again. Who knows?
Last night I won the ladies tournament at the Island AGAIN and for the 2nd week in a row. I have now played a total of 10 ladies only tournaments at that location. I have 4 wins, 1 split of first place & two 2nd place finishes. No 3rds or 4ths. It's either 1st or 2nd or nothing with me, I guess. So basically I have a 70% cash rate, with 50% of those cashes being 1st place. I have to be doing something right.
And as for whining - I will try not to do that any more. Last night I was pretty short-stacked and went all-in with 7-7. I was called by Q-J and she hit a Q on the flop. I hit my 7 on the river to double up & go on to eventual victory. Also, on the final hand, my opponent pushed all-in with Q-Q and I called with J-7 because I just had her clobbered in chips. I flopped 2 pair and the tournament was over. In all fairness, her odds were not good to win even if she doubled up because I still would have had 90% of the chips in play, but you never know.
So, no more whining for me except to say I wish I had this winning percentage in all my tournaments.
Last night I won the ladies tournament at the Island AGAIN and for the 2nd week in a row. I have now played a total of 10 ladies only tournaments at that location. I have 4 wins, 1 split of first place & two 2nd place finishes. No 3rds or 4ths. It's either 1st or 2nd or nothing with me, I guess. So basically I have a 70% cash rate, with 50% of those cashes being 1st place. I have to be doing something right.
And as for whining - I will try not to do that any more. Last night I was pretty short-stacked and went all-in with 7-7. I was called by Q-J and she hit a Q on the flop. I hit my 7 on the river to double up & go on to eventual victory. Also, on the final hand, my opponent pushed all-in with Q-Q and I called with J-7 because I just had her clobbered in chips. I flopped 2 pair and the tournament was over. In all fairness, her odds were not good to win even if she doubled up because I still would have had 90% of the chips in play, but you never know.
So, no more whining for me except to say I wish I had this winning percentage in all my tournaments.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Why Me? Why Me All The Time?
Do you ever feel like the poker gods are just having a ball at your expense? They are just hanging around laughing their asses off at your misfortune.
Even though I split first place last Saturday & took second in a tournament yesterday, for the most part the poker gods have been super unkind to me lately. I hate to whine . . . but . . . here are a couple of examples.
On Tuesday evening at Jokers I was at the final table (like I usually am) when TWO rather loose players went all-in and I had them both covered and I had A-K and called. Naturally I had the best hand. Loose Player #1 had 5-6 offsuit and Loose Player #2 had Q-J or some such thing. They both hit pairs on me and I lost quite a few chips. LP1 really didn't have any chips, so it was mostly LP2 that did the damage. One time, can't I win these damned races?
The second example is really in 2 parts. Two Saturdays ago, also at Jokers, there were SIX limpers. I had 6-6 on the button and quite a few chips (feeling frisky) and shoved all-in. Everyone folded except the guy on my right who called with 5-5. There was naturally a 5 right in the door & his 2 outer left me severely short stacked. Punished for making a good play.
One Saturday later at the Moose, I was head's up with Marco. I called his all-in holding 7-7 and he showed 6-6 and yes, you guessed it, another 6 right in the door. I told him before we even saw the flop that I had a bad feeling about it. Do I jinx myself? WHY ME ALL THE TIME? ( will admit that this is the tournament that I split 1st place in.)
I believe when I go all-in that I have the best hand 90-95% of the time and I still almost always get creamed. What's up with that?
OK, I'll stop now. I will try super hard to get my positive attitude back & quit being so grumpy.
Even though I split first place last Saturday & took second in a tournament yesterday, for the most part the poker gods have been super unkind to me lately. I hate to whine . . . but . . . here are a couple of examples.
On Tuesday evening at Jokers I was at the final table (like I usually am) when TWO rather loose players went all-in and I had them both covered and I had A-K and called. Naturally I had the best hand. Loose Player #1 had 5-6 offsuit and Loose Player #2 had Q-J or some such thing. They both hit pairs on me and I lost quite a few chips. LP1 really didn't have any chips, so it was mostly LP2 that did the damage. One time, can't I win these damned races?
The second example is really in 2 parts. Two Saturdays ago, also at Jokers, there were SIX limpers. I had 6-6 on the button and quite a few chips (feeling frisky) and shoved all-in. Everyone folded except the guy on my right who called with 5-5. There was naturally a 5 right in the door & his 2 outer left me severely short stacked. Punished for making a good play.
One Saturday later at the Moose, I was head's up with Marco. I called his all-in holding 7-7 and he showed 6-6 and yes, you guessed it, another 6 right in the door. I told him before we even saw the flop that I had a bad feeling about it. Do I jinx myself? WHY ME ALL THE TIME? ( will admit that this is the tournament that I split 1st place in.)
I believe when I go all-in that I have the best hand 90-95% of the time and I still almost always get creamed. What's up with that?
OK, I'll stop now. I will try super hard to get my positive attitude back & quit being so grumpy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
