£31 tourney. £3 entry. 35 runners. 9500 starting chips. 2×30 minute blinds of 25/50 and 50/100. After that, 25 minute blinds. They say don’t go broke in an unraised pot and I did. I had been playing for 3 hours. Over half the 35 field was gone and blinds were 400/800. I had just over 14,000 chips.

 

When I told my old friend Luvdoinit how I got knocked out, he thought it was Tom Dwan contacting him.

 

I am not particularly unhappy with the way I played overall. I was card dead once again for an hour and a half. A young player received AK AK AQ TT 88 AJ, and hit nearly every hand he played, including a straight against trips. Ah, that’s the way it goes. It’s not that he’s a bad player, he is a reasonably sensible but unpredictable and erratic player. It’s just that one or two players seem to hit everything on the night. As usual I was trying to scrape the barrel to survive. In 3 hours I saw  JJ AT AT A9 A9 and 77. They were the best hands, but against a raise they are mainly dogmeat, except for the jacks. Sometimes you have to try and make things happen. Let’s start at the beginning. Here are some key hands.

 

I had played no hands for the first 20 minutes. I received 3-6 spades under the gun. I raised the 25/50 blinds to 200 and got 3 callers. There’s respect. The flop comes Qd 5s 9s. I follow up bet, get raised and reraised. What would you do? I folded. The player I referred to above, who hit most things all night, turned over 5-9 for 2 pair. I convinced everyone I had AQ because of the way I play. I made it look like such a hard decision.

 

I limped in early with KJ, my best hand so far, then called the raise to 650  from the same player. There was one other caller, a solid female player. The flop comes 4 4 6. I check it, so does the female player, and the follow up bet takes it. Like taking candy….

 

I had 4-6 hearts on the button, it was folded all the way round to the cutoff, a young but very solid player, who raised the 50/100 blind to 250. I called. Flop comes 4 J 3 rainbow. The cutoff checks and I bet 300. This wins the pot.

 

I get dealt AT on the button. I flat call. I know that is poor play. My only excuse is that I have that feeling in the pit of my stomach that everything is the same as last year and the year before. Card dead and any hand I play misses. Flop comes 6 8 9. The SB BB and myself all check. There’s an 8 on 4th so I bet and get called by the BB. There’s no flush draw and a 7 arrives on the river. Just what I needed. The BB checks, I bet 700 and get reraised all in for 6000 more. Basically my whole stack. I think for a bit then toss away AT. The BB turns over 5T for the same str8 I had. I have no problems with my fold, but I should have raised preflop.

 

I have had no real playable hands. Everyone picks up their starting hands and I look down to see 2 starting hands in front of me. The woman next to me hasn’t been paying much attention, so doesn’t notice there are more hands near us than needed. No one has noticed so I am trying to alert the players to the misdeal. I pick up and look at the 2 hands in front of me. This just sums up my evening – 99 and AA. The young lad who has been hitting everything says “when it’s just not your evening it’s just not your evening.” I laughed because it was funny, but I resolved to play just as hard.

 

After the break things continued in the same way.  I get A9 in the BB when down to 14 times the BB. I nearly reraise the player who is hitting everything. I fold to his raise. He turns over 99.

 

I get 77 under the gun and consider all in because that could be my only move. I fold and find another player had JJ.

 

The player who was hitting everything called a reraise and all in reraise with TT. A player I have played with for years folded JJ. The tens were against aces and lost. The correct jacks laydown would have hit trips. The game really does brutally punish good play at times. That was the one big match up hand all evening. The call with tens wasn’t great and all the experienced players said the tens had to fold there. They were correct I believe, but I have seen TV players make far worse calls than that. I would fold TT or JJ there without too much agonising.

 

I called with QJ on the button. The flop comes J A A. It’s checked to me and I bet. The player who is hitting everything and the other player insta fold, and we have a good discussion about how you should always bet not check, when you hit trips. If I’d had the ace I would still have bet in the same way.

 

I have A9 in early and I move all in. You can’t call or reraise with it, unless you’re desperate, but as first one in it’s worth a shot. If I get called I’m dead.  Everyone folds

 

I have 6600. Blinds are 300/600. There’s a limp under the gun, and the solid young player to my right raises to 1800. I know he has a hand and he is probably calling my reraise, but I’m cornered. I have JJ and that’s it, I have to move all in. The steady woman player calls with slightly less than I have. The original raiser surprisingly tosses away AQ and the woman player shows QK spades. Miraculously I win and take down a nice pot. I hit trip jacks on the flop but an ace hits too, so I have a sweat on the river. The way I’m running I expected a ten to hit.

 

I have AT in the SB. Everyone folds to me. I move all in, and show AT. The BB folded Q9. He had about 8000 to my 12,000. It’s the second time I show a hand. I want to show I’m not betting with nothing. No one knows I played 36 46 or JK earlier or that I follow up bet with nothing. I just want them thinking I bet with nut hands, which for the most part is true.

 

I have A6 on the button, swallow hard and raise the 600 blinds to 1500 I hate this sort of move but tell myself that’s what real players do. The SB calls. He checks a flop of 8 8 4 and I follow up bet for 2000. He folds.

 

My stack is just over 14,000. Blinds are 400/800. I have 9-2 diamonds in the small blind. There had been 4 limpers at the 7 handed table, which had started with 9. It was very rare to get a number of limpers. It was usually raised preflop and the raiser found one or two callers. I called and the BB checked. 4800 in the pot. The flop comes 2c 9h Th. I push the lot in. Okay you are probably going to say what I usually say - that it’s risking too much to win too little. I figured I wasn’t against trip 9’s or T’s, but those suited connector players were not going to give up their hands. If I bet the pot I get raised and one or two then decide they have the odds to call my all in, because by then they would have. I could be against 9T or 22 but that’s the chance I took. The minute the best player at the table went all in I knew I was beat because I had a hand that couldn’t possibly be ahead if I got called. He had 15,000 and we were two of the biggest stacks. He had 22 and I was gone. The board meant I was against a lot of drawing hands, in fact a QJ folded to the all ins and the 8 hit. As another player commented, you cannot call an all in of that size on a draw.

 

Yes it was a horrible play. My reasoning was to not give the drawing hands the right odds to call. But I risked a relatively big stack to win a relatively small pot. My faulty reasoning was similar to some super villain who intends to bring world peace, by killing everyone.  The play has a negative ev. I still find myself wishing I could do some really bad things at the poker table and win, just like the other donks. When I make a mistake I usually pay for it.