This has without a doubt been one of the nuttiest trips of my poker career. The first week wasn't too bad, winning 5 of 9 SNG's to start, getting deep and cashing the HORSE tourney...and having some success in the cash game. But then it was like I hit a wall. Like all those poly-fiber coated cards just turned on me. Me specifically. Well, me and the other people, good players....I see walking around this place mumbling in unison with me about how bad they are running.
After bombing BOTH Mega satellites on Friday and feeling totally defeated...I went downstairs, lost the only SNG I played...getting AA crushed by that awesome three-betting poker genius with 5-7...and settled into a lowly 1/2 game...where I felt my sense of utter failure slowly dissipate. Collecting one pot after another, exposing glaring flaws in my opponents, stacking one guy after another...and when 1am rolled around, and I had $1100 in front of me, I convinced myself to call it a night, come back tomorrow, and tackle the Main with a shred of new-found confidence.
We arrived. On time. Much to my disdain I discovered I'd been given a seat in the 'Midget Section.' These are the tables that have a lot of the players very ill this week. They are, in essence stud tables. They have a whole section of them here, on the other side of the room...where they have these big...I mean huge tables. It's like the difference between being a free range chicken and/or a slum chicken, with chickens all over you. The other day in the $1k...they had ALL the players playing on those tables....and playing 10-handed, which had a lot of players' blood boiling. And to make it worse...not ONE of the big tables were even being used. I mentioned something about it to Dennis Jones...and he was (thank god) proactive enough to get the floor person to get us to 9-handed immediately. The floor person's initial reply was "well, we WILL have them down to 9-handed when we get to 6 tables."
Oh really? That's marvelous! But considering we started with around 160 players...that means it will take close to 7 or 8 hours of misery to get to that point. Why are we paying $120 juice on a $1000 tourney and we can't even sit in comfort? It's kind of a slap in the face. Well, credit to Dennis for doing (at least) something about it.
My $1k, by the way...would end in typical Palm Beach fashion. After making a lot of what I think were good folds, I had blinded down to 7500 at 400/800...when a guy min raised under the gun. I looked down at KK and re-raised. Thats when Jacob Naquin re-raised ME....before it went back to the UTG guy...who did a fairly ridiculous job of Hollywooding before moving all in. Well, I couldn't fold...as I had a shade over half of my stack in there. Jacob couldn't either. Jacob and I BOTH had KK...and this other goofball had (of course) AA. It held, though I did turn a spade draw and we both had a live straight draw...neither one getting there. That sucked balls.
So I have to wrap this up. Its now 1:30 and we have to be back at 2 for Day 2 and I have BJ McBrayer staying with me...who also made it back for day 2. My roomie Barth Melius has been running as bad, maybe worse, than I have this trip...as he fired TWO bullets yesterday (as I did) and came up snake eyes on both.
My first bullet was a pisser. I got off to a decent start...but had a very tough table. One of those tables where I was constantly being put into situations where I had to make decisions that were, a lot of times, just guessing on if I was good or not. And one kid at the table...to his credit, was a VERY good player, but a fucking pest. He was also very hard to trap...as I thought I had him a couple times, but he just wouldn't bite. We had a couple of spazzes at the table too, one who would finally get snapped off. This other kid was that asshole who liked to show bluffs to everyone, then snicker to himself. We all were pretty hell bent on busting him...and when I got knocked out he was on life support...so I suppose (and hope) that karma delivered him his death blow a short while later. On my punch out...I thought I finally caught the pest. Holding K10 in the BB...and calling his (standard) min raise...the flop came 10-9-8. I checked...since the last time I led out with top pair he re-raised me 3x my bet....which led to me folding. He bet. I raised....he flatted. Hmmm...felt like he just had a jack and was open ended. The turn was an 8 and I felt like two pair HAD to be good at the time...so I shipped the rest of my stack...to which he sighed and said 'call' and turned over QJ...nut straight. Oh fuck! And no 10 or 8 on the river to save me...and I was taking yet another walk of shame.
I went downstairs...sat at a 1/2 game...and made about $700 in two hours. And since I sold two bullets to my investors, I owed it to them to try try again. Me and David Nicholson decided we were going to drink for Flight 1B. I know I've been NOT drinking anymore, and I've told my wife I won't drink anymore...as I've been trying to 'keep my nose clean' and avoid trouble. But you know what? When I play and drink....there is no mystery why I do so well in nightly tourneys. I simply play better. My reads are better. I'm not so tentative. I don't second guess myself so much. I have more fun. Hell, poker is just a lot more enjoyable. So dammit...we drank. I had fun. I played well. I was up to 32k pretty early, before losing a couple rough hands....but then recovered from them. I had a MUCH softer table...and a few older people...who were noticeably irritated with my 'spirited mood.' But oh well....I even got a warning from the floor to 'lower my decibel' level...which was a first, but which I was more than happy to comply with. Sorry guys...just (for a change) having a little fun on this trip!
When all was said and done...and it was time to bag out chips...I was sitting on 85K!!! Very, very pleased with that result. And now, with BJ texting me from the living room that he is short and really, really doesn't want to be late...I must cut this short!!! Updates to follow!!!
MONKEY
After bombing BOTH Mega satellites on Friday and feeling totally defeated...I went downstairs, lost the only SNG I played...getting AA crushed by that awesome three-betting poker genius with 5-7...and settled into a lowly 1/2 game...where I felt my sense of utter failure slowly dissipate. Collecting one pot after another, exposing glaring flaws in my opponents, stacking one guy after another...and when 1am rolled around, and I had $1100 in front of me, I convinced myself to call it a night, come back tomorrow, and tackle the Main with a shred of new-found confidence.
We arrived. On time. Much to my disdain I discovered I'd been given a seat in the 'Midget Section.' These are the tables that have a lot of the players very ill this week. They are, in essence stud tables. They have a whole section of them here, on the other side of the room...where they have these big...I mean huge tables. It's like the difference between being a free range chicken and/or a slum chicken, with chickens all over you. The other day in the $1k...they had ALL the players playing on those tables....and playing 10-handed, which had a lot of players' blood boiling. And to make it worse...not ONE of the big tables were even being used. I mentioned something about it to Dennis Jones...and he was (thank god) proactive enough to get the floor person to get us to 9-handed immediately. The floor person's initial reply was "well, we WILL have them down to 9-handed when we get to 6 tables."
Oh really? That's marvelous! But considering we started with around 160 players...that means it will take close to 7 or 8 hours of misery to get to that point. Why are we paying $120 juice on a $1000 tourney and we can't even sit in comfort? It's kind of a slap in the face. Well, credit to Dennis for doing (at least) something about it.
My $1k, by the way...would end in typical Palm Beach fashion. After making a lot of what I think were good folds, I had blinded down to 7500 at 400/800...when a guy min raised under the gun. I looked down at KK and re-raised. Thats when Jacob Naquin re-raised ME....before it went back to the UTG guy...who did a fairly ridiculous job of Hollywooding before moving all in. Well, I couldn't fold...as I had a shade over half of my stack in there. Jacob couldn't either. Jacob and I BOTH had KK...and this other goofball had (of course) AA. It held, though I did turn a spade draw and we both had a live straight draw...neither one getting there. That sucked balls.
So I have to wrap this up. Its now 1:30 and we have to be back at 2 for Day 2 and I have BJ McBrayer staying with me...who also made it back for day 2. My roomie Barth Melius has been running as bad, maybe worse, than I have this trip...as he fired TWO bullets yesterday (as I did) and came up snake eyes on both.
My first bullet was a pisser. I got off to a decent start...but had a very tough table. One of those tables where I was constantly being put into situations where I had to make decisions that were, a lot of times, just guessing on if I was good or not. And one kid at the table...to his credit, was a VERY good player, but a fucking pest. He was also very hard to trap...as I thought I had him a couple times, but he just wouldn't bite. We had a couple of spazzes at the table too, one who would finally get snapped off. This other kid was that asshole who liked to show bluffs to everyone, then snicker to himself. We all were pretty hell bent on busting him...and when I got knocked out he was on life support...so I suppose (and hope) that karma delivered him his death blow a short while later. On my punch out...I thought I finally caught the pest. Holding K10 in the BB...and calling his (standard) min raise...the flop came 10-9-8. I checked...since the last time I led out with top pair he re-raised me 3x my bet....which led to me folding. He bet. I raised....he flatted. Hmmm...felt like he just had a jack and was open ended. The turn was an 8 and I felt like two pair HAD to be good at the time...so I shipped the rest of my stack...to which he sighed and said 'call' and turned over QJ...nut straight. Oh fuck! And no 10 or 8 on the river to save me...and I was taking yet another walk of shame.
I went downstairs...sat at a 1/2 game...and made about $700 in two hours. And since I sold two bullets to my investors, I owed it to them to try try again. Me and David Nicholson decided we were going to drink for Flight 1B. I know I've been NOT drinking anymore, and I've told my wife I won't drink anymore...as I've been trying to 'keep my nose clean' and avoid trouble. But you know what? When I play and drink....there is no mystery why I do so well in nightly tourneys. I simply play better. My reads are better. I'm not so tentative. I don't second guess myself so much. I have more fun. Hell, poker is just a lot more enjoyable. So dammit...we drank. I had fun. I played well. I was up to 32k pretty early, before losing a couple rough hands....but then recovered from them. I had a MUCH softer table...and a few older people...who were noticeably irritated with my 'spirited mood.' But oh well....I even got a warning from the floor to 'lower my decibel' level...which was a first, but which I was more than happy to comply with. Sorry guys...just (for a change) having a little fun on this trip!
When all was said and done...and it was time to bag out chips...I was sitting on 85K!!! Very, very pleased with that result. And now, with BJ texting me from the living room that he is short and really, really doesn't want to be late...I must cut this short!!! Updates to follow!!!
MONKEY
Posts
1 comment:
I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the primates depicted in sculpture at the top of this blog appear to be chimpanzees rather than monkeys.
Post a Comment