The Bat Cave

Wow. I haven’t been this annoyed in a live tournament for a while. I made note of all the pots I played. I’ll let the hands do the talking:

blinds 25-50, UTG raises to 200, one player calls, I look down at QQ. I sometimes like to play QQ conservatively preflop, but I sensed a bit of weakness here and decided to make it 875 to go. The UTG raiser called and the other player folded and we saw a Q54, two spade flop HU. He checks to me. Its hard to make money on this kind of board given his hand range (AK, AQ, small pair). I could give a free card here and see if he can catch up a bit on the turn, but I decide to bet 625 and hope he has AQ or TT and gives me a little action. If he has a set, the money will get in eventually no matter what I do. He folds though and I thought about how I could have played this flop differently for quite a while… Oh well, +1125 on the first hand of the tournament is just fine.

blinds 25-50, several people limp, and the button makes it 250 to go. I have 77 in the small blind and decide to call since I expect most of the limpers to come with me making it worth it to try and flop a set. They all do call and the flop comes 954. Not too bad of a flop for me, but I’m out of position against several players including one I suspect has an overpair, so I just check. One of the limpers bets 200 and the preflop raiser makes it 600 to go. I fold.

blinds 50-100, I raise in EP with AK to 250. One person calls me, next guy goes all-in for 900 and the SB shoves for 1825. Folds back to me. Folding seems wise.. but if I call and lose, I’ll have 2500 left which is plenty of chips to play with at this level, so I decide to gamble and try to build a big stack. They show QQ and JJ and I spike a King on the flop to build my stack up to 7700.

blinds 75-150, one tight-passive player limps UTG, folds to me OTB with 9s7s and I make it 425 to go. Small blind calls and the limper folds and we see a K83 flop HU. He checks to me and I check out his stack size. He has about 1300 left. Since I missed the flop completely, I decide to make a feeler bet of 350 and if he calls or raises, my following decisions will be easy. He folds though and I’m up over 8000 in chips.

blinds 75-150, a solid player UTG makes it 500 to go. I look down at QQ. I get a stack count from my opponent and he’s got about 3000 left, so I decide calling is best here. Someone floats behind me and we got 3-way action to a J93 flop. UTG shoves the rest of his stack in and I go in the tank. He just bet 3275 into a pot that has about 1700 in it. Before the flop, he asked me if I had Kings jokingly and then when I just called he said “wooo.. you scared me there.” I think he’s a pretty solid player and my instincts were strongly saying to fold here. I counted down my stack and I’d have over 4000 left if I call and lose. I felt a lot of strength from him and that he had a pretty good idea of what I had, plus his comments before the flop kind of indicated strength too. That being said, it seems like an easy fold in retrospect, but I decided to call just in case my read was wrong and because my stack would still be in solid shape if I lost. He showed Kings and wins the pot. Some people might think this is bad luck or a cooler, but I honestly think I should have and could have folded the hand. This is simply poor play on my part.

blinds 75-150 and I open to 450 with AK. One loose, bad player calls me OTB and we see a JJ2 flop HU. I decide to check the flop and see what he does, expecting him to check a large percentage of the time. He does check and the turn card comes with an ugly T. I decide to check again since a lot of hands he could have might call me now and I’m technically still drawing and I think he’ll check if I still have him beat. River is a 5 and I have no reason to bet for value or try to bluff him off the best hand here. I check and hope my hand is good. It’s not… he has A5 and scoops the pot. I was mad at myself after this one.

blinds 100-200 and here comes the most obnoxious hand I’ve been a participant of in a while. Two loose, bad players limp in and I look down at TT OTB. I decide to make a hefty raise to 1100 and I’m pretty shocked when both blinds call as well as both of the limpers. I’m really hoping for a ten on the flop or a board with undercards and I get my wish when it comes 985. The SB only has 100 left and puts it in. The BB makes it 1500 to go and appears all in. One of the limpers (my opponent from the last hand) puts in his remaining 2000, but looks weak. Back to me… I could fold here, but I really don’t feel like I’m beat at all, so I call. Then I’m annoyed when I discover the BB still has chips left when he puts in another 500 to call. He has another 500 behind and the extra 1000 was hiding in his palm. Thanks, man. Don’t worry, your stack size doesn’t affect anyone else’s decisions, you idiot. The turn comes a brutal 7 and the SB puts in his last 500. I call and we flip over our hands: K7 in the SB, QJ in the BB, and…. 96 from the limper. Are you kidding me? Calls a 5.5xBB raise preflop, puts in 2000 on the flop and spikes his fucking hand? Jesus. I do have an open-ended straight draw, but I come up short on the river and 96 scoops a 8500 pot and I get 1000 back. Now I’m pissed and down to 3100 chips when I should have a monster stack.

blinds raise to 200-400 and I fold my BB and SB and I’m down to 2500.

blinds 200-400 and folds to me OTB. I’d probably push with anything here, but A8 is like the nuts for me, so I shove and scoop the blinds.

blinds 200-400, two weaker players limp in and I look down at Ad5d with 3100. I push it all in since I need to pick up chips and expect to win the pot uncontested a large percentage of the time as long as no one behind me wakes up with a hand. Everyone behind me folds but the second limper surprisingly calls and shows me a gross-looking KJos. The way the tournament has gone so far, I’m 95% sure I’m going to lose the pot, but the flop comes favorable enough showing 843, keeping me in the lead, but the turn peels off a jack and I brick the river and get sent home.

I continue to run horribly in this tournament. I’m hoping that my luck can turn in the next couple weeks before I have to take a 3 month hiatus to finish my degree at The University Of Washington. I don’t want to take my break while I’m still in the red in a tournament I should be beating. Ugh.