Monday, November 15, 2004
Such is Poker
It is Monday night, 10:00, and I am playing in a $10 + $1, 10 player No Limit Hold 'Em sit-and-go table on Pacific Poker. I pick up some big pots early on with pocket Q's and pocket K's. Then I lose about a third of my stack when I hold the Jack of Hearts (JH) in my hand and the KH and QH are two of the four hearts on the board, giving me a flush, but Other Dude had pocket Aces, one being a Heart. He played very slowly, so I thought I had him but I didn't and he won. Oh, well.
Anyway, so six guys go down, two at the hands, or cards, of your's truly. There are four of us left. I am second in chips with about 2,000. The top three will at least break even. I am dealt pocket 7's on the button. The 1st position player calls the BB, which is 50, as we are playing 25/50 at this point. I raise 150 from my spot. Immediately after I did that I felt it wasn't enough. SB folds. Chip Lead in BB raises me 100. Itty-bitty little raise, which raises questions in my head. So, 1st position folds, I call. The flop looks good for me, 5-4-5. I like my two pair here, but I have a feeling he has a pair in his hand as well, or something like AK, maybe AQ. Chip Lead checks to me and I bet 500. I bet fairly small because I want a call and I want to feel him out on the turn. The turn is excellent, a 7, giving me sevens full of fives. Now even if he has a pocket pair, it doesn't matter, and I no longer need to worry about the heart flush draw that was on the board. He checks again. I have about 1000 left at this point. I bet 600. He calls. The river card is a Q. He puts me all-in, only 400 more, and just as he does that I know what he has. Pocket Q's. I call and lose. For a few minutes I kick myself for not playing that hand stronger, but then I realize that him, with 1000 more than me to start, is probably not tossing that hand away at anytime during the hand, no matter what I do. So such is poker and such is life. I finish fourth and down 11 bucks. I also loss 80 playing limit earlier this afternoon in a slow drip type manner, sometimes the ball just rolls to the other end of the court. I'll get it back, I'm not worried about that.
Until about an hour from now.
Anyway, so six guys go down, two at the hands, or cards, of your's truly. There are four of us left. I am second in chips with about 2,000. The top three will at least break even. I am dealt pocket 7's on the button. The 1st position player calls the BB, which is 50, as we are playing 25/50 at this point. I raise 150 from my spot. Immediately after I did that I felt it wasn't enough. SB folds. Chip Lead in BB raises me 100. Itty-bitty little raise, which raises questions in my head. So, 1st position folds, I call. The flop looks good for me, 5-4-5. I like my two pair here, but I have a feeling he has a pair in his hand as well, or something like AK, maybe AQ. Chip Lead checks to me and I bet 500. I bet fairly small because I want a call and I want to feel him out on the turn. The turn is excellent, a 7, giving me sevens full of fives. Now even if he has a pocket pair, it doesn't matter, and I no longer need to worry about the heart flush draw that was on the board. He checks again. I have about 1000 left at this point. I bet 600. He calls. The river card is a Q. He puts me all-in, only 400 more, and just as he does that I know what he has. Pocket Q's. I call and lose. For a few minutes I kick myself for not playing that hand stronger, but then I realize that him, with 1000 more than me to start, is probably not tossing that hand away at anytime during the hand, no matter what I do. So such is poker and such is life. I finish fourth and down 11 bucks. I also loss 80 playing limit earlier this afternoon in a slow drip type manner, sometimes the ball just rolls to the other end of the court. I'll get it back, I'm not worried about that.
Until about an hour from now.
