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!

Changing the Way I Do Things

I've decided I play too much poker. I'm only going to play deep stack tournaments from now on. By deep stack I mean starting chips of 5,000+ and blind rounds of at least 15-20 minutes. I feel that I get to play more poker this way instead of the stupid ram & jam necessary in the short stack 10-minute round tournaments. The deep stacks also pay better and they are not that much more expensive.

Thus, I will probably play only once or twice a month at the Moose ($60) and once or twice a month elsewhere (Jokers for $40 or Island for $65 probably). My goal is to get damned serious and start winning more of these so I can play bigger and bigger tournaments. I would really like to play in more of the Pendleton tournaments or up in Spokane at Northern Quest's Best of the West, but I never seem to hold onto any of my winnings very long.

So, my goal over the next several months is to basically play ONLY tournaments, ONLY deep stack tournaments and to SAVE my damned winnings, which will be the hardest part believe me because I love to blow money. Don't we all?

For starters, I'm playing in the $100 buy-in at Pendleton on Friday, November 4. That's the only one I can afford to play in unless I make lots of money in the tournament. Wish me luck!

Worst Player Ever (Me!)

Playing in the Jokers Tuesday night tournament, I had about 22,000 with blinds of 1,000-2,000. I was in the cut-off one seat before the button. With no raises in front of me and 4 limpers, I called with 4-4. (First mistake.)

Flop was 4-8-A, all spades. It was checked around to me and I checked also with my set. (Second mistake.)

The turn was another spade. Oops. Checked to Ryan 2 seats to my right. He bets 3,000. I call. (Third mistake.) Everyone else folds.

The river is a blank and naturally doesn't pair the board. Ryan bets 4,000. I go into the tank for about 1 minute and decide he's bluffing with 4 spades on the board and call him. (Last mistake). Naturally he has Q-J offsuit with the jack of spades.

I honestly believe I could have avoided all this stupidity with a shove all-in pre-flop. Knowing Ryan, I don't think he would have called 22,000 pre-flop with jack-queen offsuit.

On the very next hand I pick up 9-9 and shove my last 11,000 or so into the pot. I get called by K-Q and Q-J and naturally a queen falls and I'm toast. Worst Player Ever!!! (The only two good things about the tournament were that I made the final table (as usual) and that I had (as usual) the best hand when I did go all in.)

Why Do I Do These Things?

It's official. I'm a poker idiot. I was the first person out at the Joker's 2:00 tournament on Sunday & that's very unusual for me and probably hasn't happened in over 3 years.

My first idiot hand was A-K. I raised the big blind 3x and got 4 callers for a pot of $750 or so. Flop was Q-8-3. I C-bet $300 when it was checked to me and then got check raised the minimum to $600. Did I fold? Oh, no. I reraised to $1800 hoping to induce a fold and representing a big hand. All this got me was 2 free cards, the last of which was my ace and I got stupid again and bet $2000 (we start with 15k in this one & it was early). I was called and he had Q-8 for a flopped 2 pair. Eeeek.

I played a couple of hands after that, mostly folding after the flop. I got bored and ended up playing a Q7 suited in clubs for the extremly stupid reason that it had been a really good hand for me the last time I played when I won with it 3 times. The super stupid part was that I called a raise with it. (Blinds were 50-100 at this point & the raise was to 300. I was on the button.)

The flop was 7-7-5. Yippee!! There were 3 players in the hand. The original raiser (under the gun) bet 300 again. Evan on my right flat called. I raised to 1,000. The original raiser folded and Evan flat called again. The turn was a 3 and Evan checks. I bet 1,000. He raises to 3,000. I call. The river is a jack or queen or some such face card. As quick as lightning, Evan shoves all-in with a big sigh. He has me covered.

I think he's full of it but I think about it for 2 minutes. I call. He has 7-5 and flopped the full house. I don't even show my hand. I say nothing & just get up and walk out, thoroughly embarrassed with myself. Sometimes I seriously think I should just quit. On the other hand, Evan made a bad call pre-flop too, so I guess we get what we get.

Just Bitching

Oh my gosh. Sometimes it's just hard. I was playing in the 20,000 chip 10-minute round turbo tournament at Jokers last night. There were only 16 players that showed up. The weather's too nice I guess. Anyway, first place was $210 and second was $130 with $40 to third (agreed between last 3 players) on a $35 buy-in. So even with only 16 players it wasn't too bad for pay-outs.

I was one of the final 3. I was probably 2nd in chips when the guy on my right raised and put me all-in. Looking down at Q-Q I insta-called because that's a mighty powerful hand in a 3-handed game. He had A-10. The flop was K-J-3. The turn was a blank. Did I really need a queen on the river? Oh, hell no. That gave him a gutshot straight and it was bye-bye Lynne with the best hand before the flop yet again. I took the $40, gave the dealers $5 and went home with my buy-in. Whee.

As I said . . . just bitching. Why me all the time? Phooey.

Sometimes You Gotta Get Lucky

Last Sunday at the 2:00 Jokers tournament, there were 3 of us left - me, Big Daddy (Sean) and Sal (Sal & Rosa). Sal was the overwhelming chip leader, Big Daddy was second and I was a distant third. Big Daddy & I playfully asked Sal to chop 3 ways a couple of times. He ignored us. Big Daddy insisted that he could never win against me & was waiting for me to make a mistake. I indicated that I was waiting for them to make a mistake.

Sal ended up calling a couple of my all-ins and losing. His stack started to dwindle. Big Daddy's stayed about the same. After a while, Sal had fewer chips than me, although not by much. I raised all-in with 6-6 (bad play) and Sal insta-called with A-A. I knocked him out when 4 clubs appeared and I had the 6 of clubs and he had the wrong aces. Icky!! This was super lucky.

Then I raised with A-Q and Big Daddy called. He still had me covered at this point. The flop was A-Q-? and he moved all-in with an A-5. I naturally called and he was down to less than the big blind. I called in the dark and had J-7. I forget what he had but I hit my 7 and it held up and I went from being miserably short-stacked to winning the tournament!! I'd rather be lucky than good, although it helps to be both. Two Sunday tournaments in a row at Jokers. Maybe I'm beginning to figure these guys out!

Someone Else Plays Bad & Gets Lucky

Radical Roxie. I would never call her that to her face. She is a semi-regular in the Jokers tournaments & I know she is a little crazy. I know this because I raised once with 10-10 and she called me with A-6 offsuit. Naturally she spiked an A on the turn. However, I had kept the pot small & didn't lose too much. I said to her, "I guess I'll have to go all-in next time." She said, "I would have called." Oh my gosh. So I knew she was a little out there.

Tuesday night I was playing at Jokers and Radical Roxie was to my right. I was doing OK when about 5 limpers entered the pot. I had A-K and only about 15 big blinds left so I shoved all-in. Everyone folded except RR. She called with K-J suited. Excellent. Until a king hit the flop and a jack hit the turn. Playing bad & getting lucky. Now I was hurting for chips.

A few hands later the same thing happens - about 4 or 5 limpers including RR. I have 4-4 so I shove all-in. She calls me with the dreaded weakish ace (A-9 offsuit) and spikes an ace right on the flop. Bye bye Lynne.

Again, however, I want her at my table. Most of the time I will win both of those hands and she will be history. I sure wish I got lucky more often. Playing bad? I've got that down - LOL.