Mean Gene

A Little Bit of Luck is Luck Nonetheless

After spending two days wallowing in self-pity--and enjoying it immensely--it's time that I snap out of it, pull myself up by my bootstraps, see the forest for the trees, the silver lining, etc. Last night I played some volleyball, had a few beers, and when I got home around midnight I decided to play a little bit of poker. I took second in an SNG (not a $300 one, either) thanks in part to a piece of insight I gleaned a few hands into the game. If you're sitting to the right of a player who goes all-in 90% of the time, and you're dealt aces, and it's folded around to you in the small blind, just limp in. The rest will take care of itself. I don't see the logic of going all-in with the blinds 15-30 and you holding 8-3, but I'm not him. The aces held up.

Then I played a little micro NL. I was dealt aces in the SB and raised to chase out a few of the limpers. The flop came queen-high, my opponent held Q-J and figured that was good enough to risk all his chips. A bit later I was dealt aces again. This game is quite easy when you hold aces, have you noticed that? Anyway, after a ten-high flop I bet and the other guy goes all-in. I figured him for a set, but he didn't have much behind and I had to call. I spiked an ace on the turn and his set of tens were only second-best. Felt kinda bad for the guy.

Woke up, didn't feel like going out to watch the rather lame World Cup lineup this AM, so I played another SNG, a Turbo this time so I wouldn't waste the morning. I assumed, of course, that I would make the money. And I did, no thanks to my own play. Down to five there were two big stacks and three itty-bitty ones, and I was one of the itty-bittys. The shortest of us went all-in, the big stack called, and the other guy with chips called too. By the turn the board showed two jacks and two hearts, and for some reason the guy in 2nd-chip position pushed. The chip leader had enough that even if he lost he'd be in first place, and after thinking about it he called and turned over a king-high flush draw. The guy in second only had pocket tens, meaning he was dead to a jack if the chip leader had one. Not the play I'd make, and when a king spiked on the river...I was in the money. With T850.

A few hands later I knocked out the other shortie when my AK beat his A8. So we're heads up, and I'm about a 10-1 dog in chips. And with the blinds standing at 75-150 and my opponent calling everything in sight, some cards would be in order. And I got them--pocket fours against J-6. Until a jack popped on the flop. I typed "gg" and was halfway to the fridge when a demure four appeared at the river, and suddenly I was in business.

The next hand my A-10 doubled up on K-8, and then I bluffed at a pot with flush and straight draws that got up up to about T3000, and then I won a nice hand when I pushed with pocket sixes at a threatening board and got him to lay down. The hand that turned the tables came when I had pocket fives, flopped a set, and he made top pair. That gave me a 2-1 chip lead, which I extended to almost the 10-1 gap I'd faced at the start. All I needed was a trap hand...and I got one in AQ. I limped, knowing he'd push. He pushed, and turned over K-8.

Unfortunatly, the flop came K-8-4 and suddenly my lead wasn't quite so comfy. No matter, a losing the blinds a few hands in a row all the money went in with me holding pocket nines and him with A-2. A two on the flop wasn't good news, nor the five on the turn that gave him a gutshot wheel draw. Which duly hit, yet another four on the river.

Sigh. Crippled now I pushed with 9-7, only to be called by J-9. And then I flopped a seven, giving me hope that another comeback was in the offing...but he hit a jack on the river and that was that. Pretty disappointed. I got stupid lucky making the money in the first place, let alone second-place, and if I don't hit my two-outer thirty hands earlier this would've been a much shorter story. Still disappointed.

Well, what to do with the rest of my day? I have a few errands to run, so I'll run 'em. In addition to looking for a job I'd like to get some serious writing done while I'm idle, and hopefully lose some weight, too. That wouldn't hurt. So that means I can't sit at this desk playing poker all day and writing this crap. Time to mosey.

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