icky session

18-person, $10+1. Somewhere in the first 20 minutes... I've been playing super-duper tight, and noticed the table was pretty squeaky-tight as well. Folds to me on the button, I have K9o. FAR from a powerhouse, but I'm thinking a raise could easily take down the blinds, and if we go to a flop a c-bet would probably take down the pot. Surprisingly, both the sb and the bb called (was a standard, 3x's raise, and they both had been fairly passive, so it worried me a bit).

FLOP: Kd 9d 10s

"I love it when a plan comes together," I say to myself. After a raise and a re-raise, all the money is in, and this is what we get:


I guess I should have been able to get away from this: the BB could easily have had QJ there too, a hand I could see calling a raise from (especially after the SB called and gave him a good price). Both players flopping 2 pair has got to be fairly rare, I'd think. SO - #1. I played a junk hand and got junk results; #2. I pushed a marginal hand into a board that could have me beat (if he's got a set or QJ I'm drawing super-slim; if he's got Ad10d he's also got a huge draw (9 diamonds, 3 aces, 1 10 (the 10d counted in the 9 diamonds) = 13 outs ~ 52% to win). I didn't need to put my tournament life on the line, but I saw 2 pair and saw a double-up coming my way!

Next, I went to a single-table game, where after floating around even for a while, I performed this masterful suckout:


This was the 2nd time today where I tried a steal-re-raise and rain head-on into aces (lost the other one)... super-lucked out on this hand.

One other suck-out, but I'm thinking this one was a good play actually; not sold on it yet. 4-handed, 3rd chip position. Dealt Ad 10d in the BB. Button min raises to 400, sb folds, I call.

FLOP: 6d Kc Qd

Here, I'm thinking any diamond (flush), any ace (top pair), or any J(straight) gives me the hand. To be safe, I leave out the ace in case he's on AK, so any diamond (9) plus any J (3) gives me 12 outs, and a roughly 50% shot. It' s bubble-time, and I need chips to win this, so I figure I'll take the coin flip.

I bet out 400, other dude bumps it to 1600, I shove - INSTAcall by... KdKs. Great, he's got a set and one of my diamonds. An ace won't do any good, so I need a diamond or a J = 11 outs, about a 45-55 dog. Spiked a 5d on the river.

He was the chip leader and playing bully-poker, so I just didn't put him on such a big hand. Got lucky. I'm happy with my reasoning, though -- in 3rd chip position, I want to get the chips -- I shove hoping to win the hand there, but if I get called then I'm (I think) about a coin flip. Turned out I was in worse shape, though, but I'm happy with my reasoning. I was playing for the win, and sometimes you gotta take a coin flip.

One of my leaks I think is that I play too safe. I imagine the worst way too often, and chicken-out of pushing marginal hands or draws. I'm trying to turn that around; honestly playing in those donkorama bingo-poker Aussie freerolls on tilt has made me a tad more ready to take risks when needed. I'll need to bring that same mentality to games like the $28k's and Midnight Madness (well, not the exact same mentality, but at least some of it!). That's what crackinaces talks about in a lot of his MTT strategy posts, how you've got to accumalate chips early to be able to coast through rough-waters. And that means pushing small edges. I've now been to the final table in 6 of these Aussie freeroll things, I've made the top 20 about 8 times, the top 40 another 5 or so times.... I'm able to get deep in them (well, except the ones that I bust on hand #5 when my AA calling a push all-in gets beat by 52o or a 94 or some other crap!) often enough, by playing a non-small-ball brand of poker. Big risk in that, I know... life's about risk anyway.

I want to play more fearlessly.

Oh, in case you're wondering: I ended up 3rd in that last sit n go: same dude I sucked out on with the set of kings raised, I re-raised with AQs, he shoved, I called - his pocket 10's held up.

One more funny hand:

Both QQ. Either of us shoved, the other is folding for sure on that board!

Tomorrow may be a day at the beach; the tail-end of summer weather is here and I need to soak in as much sun as I can before the gray sets in, so probably no poker 'till the evening.

I signed up with flexcar, so there's a very good chance next Saturday will find me at Tulalip for the first time! I love live games so much; my play in Vegas was really top-notch, and my play since then has been much better and more deliberate. I'm looking forward to getting into a live NL game again. I'll play low-stake limit online, but I can't stand 3/6 limit live. Until I have a roll big enough to sit to a 30/60 game, I'm probably staying away from limit.