In the Zone

Do you ever feel like it's not really you who's playing poker? Yesterday felt like that to me.

First, I should preface this by saying that on Tuesday I played the 15,000 chip tournament (15-minute rounds) at Jokers and busted out right before the first round was over. I had not played one single hand (and had folded both small & big blind to raises) when I picked up the dreaded A-A. With blinds at 25-50, Bill somebody-or-other raised to a ridiculous 325. Two people in front of me called and I had A-A on the button. I re-raised to 1,025. Bill insta-called and one of the other players called too. You would think one of these bozos would have noticed that I hadn't played a hand yet.

The flop was 10-5-4 with 2 hearts. Bill bet 3,000. The other player folded and I raised to 6,000. Bill went all-in immediately. Oh dear. We had the exact same chip stack. My first thought was that he had flopped a set with 10-10, but I've played with him before and I really thought he would have re-raised me before the flop with 10-10. That's just the way he is (very aggressive). So I discounted 10-10. I called like the idiot I am for all my chips and he had flopped a set of fives. FIVES for God's sake. Here is another example of me thinking I would never call a re-raise with 5-5 but not assuming that someone else would. Great googly moogly.

Anyway, I made up for it yesterday. I could do no wrong. The flops all came my way. I played any two cards for a bit because I was just hitting everything. It was crazy. My pocket aces held up twice. (Bill wasn't playing which is probably a good thing.) I hit two pair about 6 times. I hit the river several times to win when I was behind. I felt like I was on automatic. And I won the tournament. This is good because I haven't cashed in over a month, which is really unusual for me. I have been making final tables left and right, but not cashing. I needed it, even though there were only 14 players and I only netted $150. I just don't care. It feels really good.

Onward and upward! Now I can play tonight at the Lucky Bridge. They add $700 and the pay-outs are pretty darn good. Wish me luck!