Time For a Change of Scenery...

 

Well, Coconut Creek managed to chew me up and spit  me out. The Main Event started out pretty decent. I drew a very tough table. And seat 1...which I loathe with a passion. 1 or 9. We had 5 very good players, 2 decent players, and 2 lousy players. Probably not hard to predict that I would have all of my problems with the lousy player seated on my left.

 

We started with 30k chips. I was up about $2000 after the first break. Then in the next stanza...I lost a huge hand, with good 'ol pocket kings..to the fish in seat 2. I would raise preflop. He would call with 55. The flop came 9-7-4. I bet a good amount on flop, he called...why? No idea. Oh...he 'put me on AK.' Of course...they always do! He conveniently turned a five. I lose 13k on the hand when its all said and done.

 

I rallied. Got it back up to 30k by the next break and felt a lot better. Then in Level 5 I won a couple big pots...including one where I check raised this twerp who had been constantly raising my blind with crappy hands. He folded...and that pot put me near 40k. Then it happened.

 

I look down at AA. That great feeling I used to get when looking down at those two beauties...has dimmed lately. Ace of hearts, Ace of spades. I raise to 800. The fish, the nemesis, seated next to me, min raises, to 1600. I then re-raise to 4800. He hesitates. Then calls. The flop comes Kh-10h-6h. I look to make sure I have the ace of hearts. I do. Great place to check and induce a bet from him. I check. He bets 5200. I have a weird feeling he has AK. I make it 13,200. Then he instantly puts me all in.

 

Shit! That tells me he has got KK. Unreal. but I've got two cards to catch a heart...or another ace...to go to 80,000...be in the top five in chips...and cruise the rest of the day probably. Plus...he COULD just as easily have QQ or JJ with a heart. I call. Yup. KK. And I whiff on the flush or hitting an ace. And bust.

 

I go play cash for an hour...winning $140 in half an hour. Then decide to go 'try my luck' in the 6pm $560. It comes with a $30k guarantee, which is generally just an after thought, since very few 'guarantee' tourneys ever fail to reach their number. but this one? When I eventually got busted, again with AA...the same ace of hearts and the ace of spades (this time to a clown with KJ who had three hands before re-raised a guy with 3-7 offsuit...and magically hit a gutshot straight on the turn) their were only 21 players...and were paying 6 spots...meaning all of them were going to win decent money.

 

Had I known how the next ten hours were going to turn out (playing 2/5 cash game) I would have re-bought into that $560 and gone for the top 6 payouts. Well, obviously I'm not Nostradamus...like the imbecile in the 2-seat during the Main. Oh...it wasn't just me he did that to. I watched him float the flop bet on FOUR other occasions, only to get the card he needed on the turn THREE times. I started calling him 'The Floater.' Not sure if he enjoyed that nickname. Frankly, I didn't care.

 

I  played 2/5 for the next 10 hours....since I knew I wasn't playing on Sunday...but would wait around for Claudia, who had made it back for Day 2 with a small stack. I grinded for hours...getting my 800 buy in busted...bought in for another 500...and after a marathon, ran it up to 1600...or +$300 for the session. Smart move? Get up and GTF out of there with a profit, albeit slim. Dumb move? Try to run it up to $3000 and get to even on the trip. Dumb move would see me flop top set (on a flop of 6-3-4) against a guy who had raised behind me....leading out for $45. I raised to $105. He makes it $225. I'm looking at the board and asking myself...could he really have raised with 2-5? Or 5-7? He wasn't a bad player...so I had a hard time putting him on an overpair...he was capable of folding that. He definitely had SOMETHING. Maybe a set of threes or fours.

 

And I just couldn't see bringing myself to fold...knowing how many outs I had if he DID have a straight...to win...get my stack to over $3000...and leave with a really good taste in my mouth. I call the $225 to see what the turn brings. It brings a king. He shoves all in. Okay...now why would he do that if he had a straight? I really start thinking he has threes or fours.  Or maybe 55....for a pair with open ended straight draw. I call. Then watch the river bring nothing to help me...a ten. He turns over 2-5 of clubs. Oh my god. He DID raise with that. And flopped a damn straight. I want to throw up. That was it. I got up and left.

 

Sunday, I took Claudia to the casino, came back to my room and essentially slept, off and on...all day!

 

We are going to get packed up, check  out of this room, and drive to Palm Beach, look for a room up there...then play the back end of the schedule up there, hoping to make a hit somewhere along the line before next weekend's main event there.

 

Monkey