Bad Luck With La Thief!

The last time I played 2-20 I had about $80 left when this hand came up.

I was on the button.  One player limped UTG and Latif (a/k/a La Thief) raised to $7.  Two players after him called the raise so I did as well with my A5 suited in clubs.  The small blind and big blind both called so now it's a fairly good sized pot of $49.

The flop is pretty good for me: 5-7-3 with 2 clubs so I have a pair and 4 clubs.  First player checks.  Latif makes it $20 to go.  Ouch.  Did he flop a straight?  I don't think so.  One of the 2 players after him calls.  I decide that I have no chips left and, hoping to isolate Latif I raise to $40.  First player folds, Latif calls and other player folds.  Good.  Head's up.  The pot is now $109.

The turn is an 8 and it's a club which makes me very happy because if Latif is playing those small cards like 4-6 and has a straight, he will definitely call me on the river.  He bets out $20 again and I raise to put my last $33 into the pot and he calls so now the pot is $155.

He turns over 7-7.  He flopped a frickin' set and called my first raise with a possible straight already on the board and called my all-in (I admit it wasn't much) with a possible flush already on the board as well.  Great googly moogly.  Yes, you guessed it.  The 5 on the river pairs the board and I am screwed and out of chips.  I said absolutely nothing and just left.  Why do I even bother?

To Shove or Not to Shove - That is the Question

OMG it is hard to make decisions in this game sometimes.  I finally made it to the final table of the Sunday Crazy Moose deep stack tournament without being the final table bubble girl as per usual.  There were also 2 people knocked out after I got to the final table so I was doing OK.  I only had about 16 big blinds however.  Then this hand came up.

In the big blind (500-1,000) I had 7-8 spades in an unraised pot.  I almost shoved then because I love suited connectors against almost any other hand.  I decided to check my option.

The flop was terrific - 6-9-10 with the 9 and 10 both being spades!!  Not only did I flop a straight, but I had an open-ended straight flush draw.  Did I shove?  Oh hell no.  I had the huge chip leader on the button and I decided to get greedy and get some of his chips.  Stupid woman.  It was checked to the chip leader.  He bet 3,000 and I flat called.

The turn was J clubs.  Not a bad card for me.  Just gives me a bigger straight.  I still have the nut flush draw if I hit a 6 or jack of spades and I have the regular flush draw.  I am unconcerned.  Stupid woman.  Everyone checks this time.

The river is K clubs.  Oh boy.  Check.  Chip leader puts me all in.  Gak.  Groan.  Crap.  Stupid woman calls and sees that chip leader has 10-Q diamonds.  OMG.  So, maybe shoving would never have worked anyway.  If I shove on the flop, he probably calls me with top pair and semi-decent kicker.  It won't hurt his stack much if he loses.  If I shove on the turn, he has top pair and an open-ended straight draw, so again he's probably callling me (although I asked him later and he said he would have folded on the turn if I shoved, which I find hard to believe).

So, what are your thoughts my loyal reader(s)?  How can I get so unlucky as to be beaten by runner runner bigger straight?  When should I have gone all-in (if at all)?  This game is starting to make me more "disturbed".

578th out of 578

Yes, it is sad but true.  After all the pep talks I gave myself and after the "play tight" pep talk from Dr. Phil right before the tournament started, I did indeed go out on the very first hand of the first Friday tournament in Pendleton.

I am not going to go into details no matter how much people beg.  I will say that I had top two pair and got beat by a set.  I played terribly and I know it.  It's almost as if I knew I was playing badly while it was happening, but I couldn't stop myself.  There were so many things that beat me but I had visions of 20,000+ chips in my brain.  STUPID STUPID STUPID.

I will tell you that this will never happen again.  I got QQ on the first hand of the Sunday deep stack at the Moose and folded it when 3 hearts hit the board (not having the queen of hearts).  I am forever hereforth the tightest player who ever lived.  Count on it. 

Cheaper Than a Movie!

I did a little poker marathon on Saturday, all at the Crazy Moose.  I played the 8:00 a.m. tournament (busting in 11th) and the 10:00 a.m. tournament (2nd place).  In between the two I ate a yummy breakfast.  I then took a 2-hour break for grocery shopping, etc.

I came back at about 2:00 p.m. and played the Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em table game for 1.5 hours while waiting for my seat in the poker room.  This is a pretty spendy game at a minimum of $6 per hand and I never had to rebuy.  Very nice.

I played 2-20 spread from 3:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m.  I ate a late lunch and a late dinner.  Naturally, I tipped the waitresses also.

I walked into the Crazy Moose just before 8:00 a.m. with $130 and I left at 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning with $120 so all this grand entertainment cost me only $10.  Where can you get this much entertainment for only 60 cents per hour?   A movie is about $10 but it only last two hours.  I love being a cheap gambler. 

Playing in Pendleton on Friday.  Wish me luck!

For My Legions of Fans

Hi Dr. Phil.  Since you so graciously requested a blog entry . . . I went to play live at the Crazy Moose on Halloween night after my 15-year old granddaughter took the younger grandchildren in tow and said I should go have fun. 

I had recently read Dr. Phil's blog about hands he hates and I agree with most if not all of those hands.  I was bound and determined to ignore Q-10, K-9, etc.  Unfortunately, or may fortunately as it turns out . . . these hands did not ignore me.  The very first hand I got was Q-10 offsuit in an unraised pot and I was in the cut-off so I played it.  I flopped the nut straight. 

The entire night was like that.  I was pretty good and didn't call any raises with my trouble hands except once.  I raised to $6 with A-10 on the button and got re-raised to $12 and called.  I flopped 2 pair and went on to get the midnight high hand AAA1010.  Happy face.  Most of the time, however, I was folding 6-9 suited and 7-8 and Q-9, etc., etc., etc. 

It was interesting that almost every time I had Q-10 or K-9 (and a couple of K-Js) I was in an unraised pot and won the hand almost every time.  Sometimes these crappy hands just follow you around and there's nothing you can do about it and you definitely have to "play your heater".  It's hard to be good when the junk is winning.  I went home with a profit of $195 so there is something to be said for junk hands - at least once in a while!

Friday Girls Night Out

My friend Kerry invited me to play the Friday night live game at the Moose.  I told her I was flat-ass broke and would have very little live game money until after the 1st of the year due to expensive house buying.  She told me she would loan me $200 with 60 days to pay so I went on down.

I had just moved from the third table to the second table when I got AK and hit AAAKK for the high hand.  It was just after 8pm and if it held until 10pm I would get $100.  I honestly didn't think it would hold, but it did.  I asked the floor for cash & paid Kerry back half what I owed her.  Sweet.

We were playing at the main game by then and sitting next to each other.  She unfortunately struggled and had to rebuy a couple of times.  I went on a bit of a rampage and got up to $525 at one point.  When it was 3am I decided to take my $310 and go home.  YAWN!!!  I gave Kerry the other $100 I owed her and still left with $210.  Sweet again!

One thing I love about Kerry is that she's a real trooper.  She texted me at 2:30pm on Saturday - "I stayed after you until 7am and guess where I am right now".  That's right.  She was playing at the Moose again.  Crazy woman!  I have about 20 years on her or I probably would have stayed too - LOL.

I'm Glad Some People Don't Know What They're Doing

Playing in the Sunday deep stack at the Crazy Moose, the blinds were 1,000-2,000 and I was having the worst run of bad luck ever.  I only had 1,500 chips left.  I looked at an ace and just tossed my chips in the middle.  I got three callers (not good) but after the flop (queen high) one of the callers pushed all-in and the other 2 folded.  As it turned out, this was the stupiest play of the day.  He had NOTHING except needing a gutshot 10 to fill his straight and my ace high held up keeping me in the tournament and infuriating the other 2 guys who were in the hand, both of whom would have knocked me out.  They gave him some verbal abuse for a while and I thanked him profusely. 

Two hands later my 6,000 chips and I were at the final table.  I doubled up again with A-2 of spades against 8-5 off suit (he "had to call" with his bigger chip stack).  I went on to take 2nd in the tournament ($420).  I may have won if I hadn't hit 2 pair on the river on the last hand because I may not have called my opponent's all-in with just middle pair.  He ended up hitting his straight on the turn.

Anyway, I appreciate this guy's bad play.  He didn't cash.  The poker gods were smiling on me.