The poker Gods were trying to tell me something today and I just wasn't listening. This is a perfect example of one of those days when you shouldn't pick up a card. I had a short day at work so I was excited that I would be able to play in my local Sunday MTT. I have played in some there before but never the Sunday afternoon one. I was looking forward to getting to see some new blood and hopefully some fishies trying their hand at that great new craze on TV on their Sunday romp to the casino while wifey wastes her money on the slots. This casino is close enough to Naples, FL. that it attracts that affluent type on the weekends.
I got there early enough to warm up at a $1/$2 limit ring game, the standard fare for Florida due to bet limitations restricted by the State of Florida. Granted it's nothing close to a no limit table. You can't protect your good hands with a hefty raise. 1-2 is basically a game of "Best of Seven Showdown". I knew that and can usually overcome the bad players by being patient and playing only my best hands. One of my first hands I get rockets and the player to my right is betting. I'm happy to re-raise which is called by him and another player. To cap the hand, we bet and raise, he folds on the river when we both get raised with 99 on the board. I pretty much knew I was beat but donated $2 more to see the trip 9's crack my Aces, other guy folded his queens saving him $2. A few hands later my straight gets beaten by QUAD 3's.....another straight gets flushed. A few top pairs get beat by two pairs, it just never went my way.
Finally it's getting close to tournament time so I'm forced to cash in my few remaining chips. I do some quick math and calculate my loss so far....-$66.....ughh. Definitely not the result I was looking for. I've played in tournaments fairly often before and I never like going in cold, I always try to get a few hands in just to loosen up if nothing else. Generally speaking I will at worst break even but often I'll win enough in the warm up to cover part or all of my tournament entry. Not the case today.
So I'm at a table with a few familiar faces but none that I had played in a tournament with. It's a good mixture.......an ex-dealer who is chatting with our dealer about when she worked there, etc.,........3 of those weekend fishy types I was mentioning,.....2 young guns,....one absolutely horrible player whom I was itching to get involved in a hand with,......a seemingly solid player who was raising a lot of pots and winning most without a showdown, and one player whom I had no read on. Of course all the above information I had gathered before the tournament started and during the first ten to fifteen hands. Now we're all sitting there waiting for the tournament to start. This is a $100 buy-in NLHE MTT, it's looking like six full tables for 60 players. Our dealer is rambling on to his new favorite player the ex-dealer about how there are more people wanting to play and they are trying to get more dealers called in but it's close to start time so that wasn't looking good. The tournament director, whom I'm not too fond of, decides to make it eleven player tables. GREAT!!!! This particular poker room is already cramped and the tables too small for ten players to sit comfortably. Little did I realize that this was simply another sign from the poker gods that today I should be cutting the grass or something. 60 players on 6 tables, hmmm.....add one to each table...66 players. Damn that number should have set off fireworks in my head but NOOOO!!!!!!! I didn't see the connection yet, did you? Re-read paragraph three above.
So we're at Level I with blinds at $25/$50 with starting stacks of $2500. I'm generally pretty tight at first, opting to play only my best hands and using this time to get reads on my opponents. Today for some reason I had loosened the belt. Not tremendously but enough to dabble in a few pots. There are lots of callers at this table but few raisers, a scenario that can be lucrative or dangerous on any given day. I decide to limp into a few pots but the Flop God of course is out to get me. My stack is shrinking but nothing to concern me, it is still early and I've not tried to put up a fight if I was beat.
My best play wa pretty basic.....and pathetic that THIS was my best play, anyhow....I'm in the big blind and the action is folded around to the small blind who calls to see a cheap flop. I've got KQo so we'll have none of that, I raise to $200, he promptly folds gaining me $50 woohoo. Damn that's $50 in chips not dollars...oh well. Four hands later........I get KQo again, I'm sitting in late position and decide to raise as 3-4 limpers had come into the pot. I raise 4X the BB to $200 knowing that's enough to chase out most of the limpers by their previous play. It folds around to the SB who re-raises to $400. As it folds around to me I'm thinking, this is the solid, bully type who has been chasing people out of the pots so I'm calling with my now marginal KQo. Flop comes Q-10-4 rainbow and I'm ecstatic. We're heads up now and he checks. He's been betting out all along so this is a great sign. I've got top pair with 2nd best kicker and the only thing that has me beat at this point is AQ,QQ or two pair. I can rule out two pair as only an idiot would re-raise with Q-10 or worse. This left AQ or QQ and I since I held one Q I decided to make a stand and show this bully that I was open for business. If he had AQ or QQ, so be it. I got all-in betting my $1875 into probably a $1000 pot or so. He thinks........thinks.....thinks.......calls me.........not sure if I'm happy or not until he turns over 99 (upside down 66 BTW). YES I've got him, right? Of course not, the Flop God set me up. Turn......NINE!!!!!!! OMG!!! WTF!!! This guy calls an all-in after the flop with pocket NINES with two overcards on the board?!?!?!!!!!
So I'm the First Out of the tourney. Lesson learned.........Don't make a stand without checking stack size, a careless mistake I know better than. Don't make a stand on Level I, there's just no need for a play like that. Don't make a stand on someone you honestly haven't had enough time to get a GREAT read on. In this case he made a bad play that worked out great for him. And finally........listen to the Poker Gods when they are slapping you in the face....you see....when they added that 11th player to our table it made me player #6 completing the Poker Gods of Hell's mark of 666. Bwhahahahhaaaaaaaaa.
