HugePoker

The frustration has continued. I haven’t cashed in *anything* since my last post. I’ve bubbled a mega-satellite, finishing 7th while the top 5 finishers got $10,000 each. I’ve busted out 10th (out of 10) in a single-table satellite when my Aces fell to the mighty King-Eight. I’ve busted out of the Wynn tournament in a huge 3-way pot when my (again) Aces got all the money in on the *turn* against K-Q on a Q-9-3-3 board (in case you don’t see it, his King is counterfeited - if he hits a King for top two pair, I’ve got a higher two pair). I built up a good stack in another mega-satellite, and then in three quick hands lost a coinflip with JJ vs AQ, chopped a big pot with 99 vs Q-9 when we both made straights on the river, and then got my short-stack in with AJ against AQ (AQ continues to be my cursed hand of the tournament - I can’t win with it and I can’t beat it). I thought I had hit rock-bottom when two nights ago Mark, Josh and I all played the 11PM “last chance” tournament at the Rio, and I lasted a withering hour and a half without winning a single pot (OK I lied - I got a walk in the big blind once - woohoo!) - possibly the most pathetic tournament I’ve ever played - no big hands, nothing dramatic, not even any tough decisions, just a slow draining death by paper cuts.

The only bright spot in the week was Josh - after I would bust out of the Wynn or the Rio tournaments I would hang around to sweat him as he went on to the three best cashes of his poker career - 2nd at the win for $2,000, 4th at the Wynn for $1,000, and then 2nd at the Rio 11PM where I had my miserable performance, for $3,000. Mark and I stayed up until 5:30AM to cheer him on and advise him in his masterful performance (he really should have won the thing - the woman he faced heads-up was pretty weak, and they ended up getting almost all the chips in the pot with Josh’s A9 against the villainess’s K9 and ended up splitting the pot when they both made straights with their 9’s - seems a little familiar). If he had won that hand it would have been all but over and he would have pocketed $4,800 instead of $3,000. But still, his best cash ever warranted a walk across the street at 5:30AM for a celebratory breakfast at T.G.I. Fridays at the Gold Coast. I wasn’t celebrating Josh’s success only out of supportive camaraderie - I had a 25% stake in his action, so while I was hemorrhaging money at least Josh was providing me with a slight profit infusion.

The next day I declared that that miserable late-night tournament was going to be the low-point of my World Series … not that I would necessarily cash the next time I played, but that things would improve from that point on, with better play, better focus, and ultimately some cash. I’m not sure if my prediction/pronouncement has held up – I’ve had a couple of good runs, and I think I’m playing fine (even quite well sometimes) but the frustration continues, hitting its climax a few hours ago when I ran into the worst bad beat of my poker career (pretty sure that’s true – maybe something more freakish has happened online, and I’ve had bad beats that have cost me more money or equity, but in terms of pure odds and pure stupidity, this one has to be the worst)…

I was playing in the noon Caesars tournament - $340 buyin, 154 players, very deep starting stacks. I ran into a nasty speed bump early on when I flopped a set of nines on a 9-T-Q board and was confident that my opponent had JJ, QQ, KK, AA or AK because of the preflop action. I raised very strongly on the flop to make any of those hands pay dearly to beat me (or if she’s got QQ, oh well, she’s getting my chips anyway). She called reluctantly and I knew I was ahead, but when a hideous Jack fell on the turn, all of the sudden the number of my opponent’s possible hands that beat me went from one out of five to four out of five. When she made a very value-ish looking bet into me, 80% looked more like 99%, and I had to sadly fold my set. Later I made a speculative raise with 87s and got called in three places. The 3-5-6 flop with two of my suit looked like it gave me 15 outs twice even against an overpair or a set, so I was pretty happy to get a lot of chips in on the flop. When I got checkraised all-in by the big blind I thought “oh well, I’m probably still ahead” and flung in my chips, only to have the guy turn over J-6 offsuit (remember that he called a raise with that), giving me … umm let me see it’s hard to count that high … 21 outs twice … making me a 69% favorite even though I had no pair on the flop, but the turn and river brought nothing but bricks and half my stack was drained away. After these serious setbacks I kept fighting, building my stack back close to average by the dinner break, so I was feeling pretty good about my play as I went off to the BBQ joint at Caesars for BBQ brisket and jalapeño cornbread. The dinner break at Caesars is 80 minutes, which always seems like a bit too long, especially when stuff like the following happes:

First hand back from the break, it’s folded to me in the hijack and I look down at a pair of Jacks. I raise the 1200 big blind to 3200. The small blind calls. The flop comes 7-T-J rainbow. The only thing that beats me is 8-9 for the straight, and if he’s got that then God bless him. When he shoves in for a massive 20,000 chips on the flop I’m almost certain he doesn’t have the straight, and I snap call. Guess what he has … can you guess? He has Ace-Ten-offsuit. Second Pair. I love this guy. He’s (almost) drawing dead and he’s throwing money at me. Fantastic. Let’s take a moment here to evaluate his play. Can he make a better hand fold? The next better hand after his is a Jack – but what kicker could I possibly have after I raise preflop that would likely be folding? QJ … maybe? But with his massive bet even QJ might get suspicious and make a loose call. Anything better than a Jack is obviously calling. OK so getting a better hand to fold is a bit of a tall order. Can he get a worse hand to call? Maaaaayyybe T9 or T8 would call, but they would call because they have decent outs against a hand like AT, so he’s not really gaining much there either. He’s a coinflip against KQ, which might call and might not, but he doesn’t really gain much from either response. So there might be a small handful of hands that he could force into a “mistake”, but every other hand I could have will make a perfect decision when he shoves – folding if they’re behind and calling if they’re ahead, and he’s risking 17 big blinds to win 8. His play is really really icky, and when I see his cards I think “I love you, you idiot!”

The turn is a Ten and everyone chuckles a little, since his hand improved to trip tens but mine improved faster to Jacks full. When the river brings yet another Ten, no-one chuckles, and in fact a loud staccato shout erupts from pretty much everyone but me, and two other players say in unison “OH MY GOD!”. Then everyone gets silent, looking at me to see how badly I’ll blow a gasket. I shake my head a little and grimace, but then I laugh and push my chips forward for the dealer to count. Sort of adding insult to injury is the fact that I barely had him covered, so I have to sit there for a few hands before I could get my puny stack in play, ending up as a coinflip with KQ vs 22, and of course losing it. The players say various things to console me like “well at least you’ve got a good story” and “you’re really extraordinary for taking it so well”. Thanks guys. I can’t resist an only slightly sarcastic “Nice Hand, Sir!” but I do restrain myself from sniping “Well Played!” and I certainly avoid the moronic and overly abused cliché “That’s Poker!!!”. When the money went in on the flop, I had a 97.2% chance to win the hand and he had 2.8%. When the Ten hit on the Turn, strange as it might sound, his chances got *worse* (because the possible straights and Aces full are no longer possible) to 2.3% vs my 97.7%. He would have been in better shape against me if I had flopped the nut straight.

I went home, took the night off from poker and drove to a movie theater to watch “Wolverine”, slurping a milkshake.

Back to the fray tomorrow. Probably mega satellites at 3PM and 8PM. It has to get better, right?