Tiltin' like Stilton (non-sensical post title)

You try to do your best. You do. And sometimes it just doesn’t happen. Not that I didn’t play well tonight. I even sucked out, in a way. But at the end, when it mattered, the gods of poker abandoned me. As they always do. I don’t, as they say, “run well”.

The first tourney tonight, I bubbled. That’s the long and short of it. But in between were some heartbreakers. I was playing pretty tight until I looked down in my big blind (50/100 blinds) and saw 3h6h. Uh, a trash hand, true, but Mary raised to 300 UTG. There was another caller along the way and I decided to call on the off chance I flopped something good. The small cards are good for breaking people. Well, the flop was something like 359. Yes, I flopped bottom pair, but this is a really bad hand. I check and Mary leads out with 700. The other caller folded. I started to piece together the hand and I decided that Mary had AJ or AT and she was making a continuation bet. Yes, I only had a pair, but it’s better than AJ or AT, right. I had about 1700 total. Instead of completely trusting my read, I gave myself an out and called (mistake, I know). But a miracle 6 came on the turn, giving me two pair. I checked again, knowing Mary was going to fire and she went all in on the brick. I called and she looked incredibly pained to flip over JJ. Wow, what a bad read on my part. I was crushed the whole way and got very lucky. The river didn’t pair the board so I was good and I doubled through, sending Mary on silent revenge. I must have apologized about 5 times to her. Not for sucking out, though, but for being such a bad player that I would be in with that. I will defend my initial call though. But the flop call was awful since I had made the wrong read. But it seemed to make sense to me, in a weird way.

The double up put me in good position to cash and as people started to bust out, I was feeling good. LJ went up big and took a big pot off of Abbie to vault well into first. At the bubble position, it was between Abbie and Paulie, the short stacks, to bubble. All I had to do was stay afloat, and maybe pick up some chips here and there.

Later on, I have 77 and people give me crap when LJ raises to a decent amount UTG and I fold my 77. Good thing, too, because she had KK. With LJ as the big stack at this point and me in a good chip position, why would I go over the top with middle pair when I’m 50/50 at best against her? That was my thinking anyway. I got a lot of heat for it though.

Finally, I look down at KsQs. Paulie is to my left with about 2400 and the blinds at 300/600. I measure out 1500 UTG and raise. Paulie looks down and makes the decision that his cards are good enough to gamble with. This is what I want, of course, and he moves all in. I call and he flips over the dream, K9. I have him killed. Abbie flashes me the KQ that she folded but I don’t mind so much. I don’t have to hit. I just have to avoid a 9. The flop is garbage, but the turn is a damned 9. This cripples me and now *I’m* fighting to stave off the bubble! I hate this shit. I look down on the button two hands later and see 55. This is the place to try to pick up the blinds, right? Even if someone calls me, I’m racing, right? Paul calls my all in and shows KK. Aaaargh!!! Hello bubble! LJ went on to win the game with Abbie coming in second and Paulie third. There is no justice I swear (except for beautiful women winning at my table! W00t!).

The second tourney was a complete snooze for me. I didn’t get a single damned hand the entire tourney. I basically folded all the way into 6th place when, UTG+1, I get T9o. I decide this is a good place to race and I push all in for 1000 (blinds are 300/600). Incredibly, it folds all the way around to LJ, who practically giggled when she called with KK in the BB. I turned a gutshot straight, but believe me, that only happens to other people.

The most interesting hand of the night came in the 200/400 blind level of the second tourney. Tommy Drama went all in UTG for 700 total. LJ called. Ben called. Wendy went all in for about 3900 total. A huge bet. LJ, who barely outchips W, also goes all in! It’s now to Ben who has to make a tough decision. He’s outchipped by W and LJ and he’s facing 3 all ins! He decides that there’s too much money in the pot to ignore, and he calls. 4 all ins! All the players flip their cards over. Tommy has A4o (remember he was UTG and severely short stacked). LJ has JJ. W has KK. Ben has…AhJh! Wow. Personally, I think Ben made an awful call with a very mediocre hand facing 3 all ins, but he had the last laugh because an Ace flopped and stayed good the whole way! Ben won the smallish main pot and the enormous first side pot. W took a small amount of the second side pot. But at the end of the day, Ben now outchipped the entire table 2-1 and W and LJ were very very short stacked. LJ ended up coming back and even outchipping Ben as they went heads up after going into the money. But Ben managed to win a race against LJ and ended up taking the tourney when his 2c5c (The Darko!) turned a straight with LJ pairing the same card. Dennis placed 3rd.

The tourneys were great and I had a good, if frustrating time. But there’s a few things that I wish for for Wall Street Poker.

In no particular order:
I wish we had a slightly better sense of comraderie. Folks, we aren’t here to fleece each other.
Remember when the object of our little table was to help each other learn? Where did *that* go?
More love needs to be shown in general.

Ok, that’s all. I love you all, my gentle snowflakes.

Oh, and thanks to Drama who is collaborating with me on a new song. It’s a blues shuffle called, “Room Temperature Woman”. My new joint.