1. 2008-02-14 07:39:30

   Losing to Monsters

   I played in a "high roller" tournament this weekend and I got smashed. Kind of. I guess.

   "Cash" Game

   We played some dollar Hold'em before the tournament started and I got KK, KK, AA, and AA. My aces and kings each got cracked once, but I got out $10 ahead. Very nice!

   Flashes of Brilliance (or Stupidity?)

   Relatively early in the tournament I had seen a few good hands and played them pretty aggressively. That included another KK that managed to win. I had almost double up my starting chips when this hand went down.

   Kyle, who was two to my right, had been raising a fair amount of hands, but showed good cards - when he showed, of course ;) I get pocket threes in early position and go for the limp. A couple others limp in and Kyle raises from the big blind. My brain interpreted it at the time as a "get the heck out of here bet", so I was disinclined to acquiesce, as the say. I think the raise was a bit high (there were 3 limpers so that would be a good play), but I might have just been trying to give myself a reason to call.

   The flop is J76, rainbow. Kyle bets out without much thought. I can't remember how large in relation to the flop, but it was hefty. Probably not an overbet, but something triggered that made me consider calling. I guess I really didn't think he had AJ (and certainly not a worse J, 7, or 6). He could have had a pocket pair, but I would expect a check from the big blind with a small pocket pair, which reduces the chance of that.

   The turn is another J, and he fires another round. Now I really don't think he has a jack, and it still seems like he really really wants me to fold. I realize that by calling here, I'm probably going to end up putting the rest in on the river. So I call. Huh? I'm pretty sure a raise would be the right play here, folks. If he has that smaller pocket pair I'm worried about, I might get him to go away. If he's bluffing with a good ace, I can make him pay for his draw. And if he has me beat, I had already decided I was probably calling anyway.

   The river is a queen, which I dislike very much, he goes all in, and I call. He utters my favorite phrase, which is especially gratifying when your opponent has yet to see your cards: "You got me." He turns over AK.

   I've folded and not raised many times when my gut says to do the opposite, and I try to follow my intuition when I'm not accidentally ignoring it. I think this was one of those times. I just hope it wasn't primarily me being stubborn.

   Big Phil's Big Hands

   I don't remember the details of these hands - I had to purge them from my memory. In both scenarios, Phil checked and let me do the betting until he went all in on the river. Ugh.

   TT

   The flop is AAT and I have a ten. At least I folded on the river this hand.

   Q8

   The flop is QQ8 and I have 99 (or TT-JJ - can't remember).

   These hands were in quick succession, and the real killer is that he double up the money that I gave him on the first hand, which means he quadrupled his money on that just off of me! I'm glad I had a decent stack, because now I'm back down to what I started with.

   Done

   Brian and I had just Voltronned to take Zac out (my flopped set lost to Zac's 4-flush which lost to Brians nut 4-flush), so we were at 4 players. We were in the money, the blinds were hefty (2500/5000), and my stack was not (40k), and the average stack was 120k, so I decided it was really time to get moving.

   I looked down at AKd - such a beautiful hand. Brian was to my right and limped in under the gun. i knew Brian would call me with any two cards that he would limp in with since he was the chip leader, so I went all in. Brian said "it's probably 60/40" and called.

   The window card was a Kh, so I'm feeling great. The next two are the ten and eight of diamonds. I have the nut flush draw and top pair, top kicker - seems good. Of course, Brian's my friend, so I call out for the nine of diamonds, just for fun (har har). Perhaps I shouldn't do that... Brian turned the nuts (straight flush to the J) and that was it for me.

   Final Note

   I think I'd rather lose to mega hands like that. It almost feels like it was meant to be that way. Ah well.

   Posted by Jason M at 2008-02-14 07:39:30

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Comments on “Losing to Monsters”

1. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-02-15 22:15:54
   • 

   • How about we define from this moment forth that Voltronning somebody is trying to take them out by implicit collusion that good players do without speaking when the bubble is all in.

     RE: correction - Fair enough, thanks. It was all the same to me :) I knew you'd call because you had to.

2. • Posted by Brian (unverified) g 2008-02-15 21:01:10
   • 

   • The greatest part of this blog was the "Brian and I Voltronned to take zac out" Implies collusion = voltronned, ok im writing that down.
     The only inaccuracy i saw was the blinds when you went out.
     Blinds were 3,500/7,000
     you were big blind i was small blind.
     mike called from the dealer position.
     i called.
     you went all in
     mike folded
     i called

     :)
     not a big difference but id rather be know as the guy who hit the nutz when i called 40k to win 61,600 then the guy who called 40k to win 50 :)