One of those weeks
Posted: 2007-10-22 20:26:52By: Debo34
I had one of those weeks that from a poker player's perspective I'd just as soon forget. Seems every time I'd gain momentum in a tournament something would go wrong, or the wheels would just fall off. As a poker player these weeks, sometimes months, are part of the game. Sometimes bad runs can create bad play in my game, so I have to be careful to keep an eye on this. As the week progressed and the nonstop 2 and 3 outers kept coming, my game deteriorated. I was playing mad and reckless, and things were getting worse. I decided to wise up and step away.
The weekend provided a nice getaway for me. I had plenty of things on the weekend schedule which was nice. I had planned on playing Friday night, but instead took my wife and son to dinner and a movie.
Saturday my son had a soccer game. I was excited to go since I had missed 2 games while in Aruba. The game was fun despite the 39 degree weather.
Saturday night my wife planned a party at our house for my birthday. I had turned 36 on Tuesday (as if my week wasn't depressing enough). We had a good time with family and friends, playing games and hanging out.
Sunday it was back on my horse for a full day of poker, or was it? Well this was my intention. I woke up with a positive attitude ready to get my poker face back on and put in a full day. My tournaments went exactly how my week went, poorly. After losing all ins with AA vs QQ, JJ vs 77, and AK vs AQ I was down to 1 tournament left, which had just started. The UB Sunday 200k, my nemesis tournament.
I spoke in my last blog about how having a bounty on my head might possibly change the way I approach this tournament. I decided Sunday in this tournament I was going to try something different. Instead of playing my normal, trapping style I was going to play it straight forward and power bet all my big hands. Even if this meant putting a ton of chips in the pot early, which I hate to do. I hate playing this way, mostly because it's not my style, and it opens me up to being trapped easier. This was short lived. With the blinds still on the first level of 5/10, I was in the small blind with 36. The flop came out 36Q rainbow. I decided to employ my new strategy of betting on this hand to see what happened. There was a bet of 75, 1 call, 1 fold to me. I decided to over bet the pot here, something I rarely do. With approximately 200 in the pot, I raised to 450 and got 1 caller. O…..k . The turn brought a 4 and the player checked to me. I thought a second and decided to again, over bet the pot, this time moving all in for around 1900 into an 1100 chip pot. When my opponent instantly called, I thought, oh great I got trapped. But no, the player turns over QK. Another 4 fell on the river and I was out on the 9th hand of the tournament. I don't consider this a bad beat, I mean after all the player had 8 outs to win and hit. It happens. Just seemed like a fitting end to my week.Glad that week is in the books. Time to start a new one.
Debo
