The game

YO! I have been feeling much better recently. I think the medication is working.. I really didn't want to use it at first but when the doctor explained it all to me it really made sense. You see, when you get where I am you are coming to a point where your brain actually doesn't work anymore. Its scary, depression actually makes you dumb! I know Im not the sharpest tool in the shed by far, but man I have been feeling really dumb for a long time. Im not using depression as an excuse either so don't go there! j/k. Obviously Im going to be taking the stuff for at least 6 months, I hope no longer than that but I have a few follow ups appointments with the doc.. so we will see.
Well the game this past week went pretty good. I totally brought the pain, they had no idea what was coming at them. Im not saying that just because I played well either... they seriously had no clue what was going on. They probably had me pegged as a total knit, which is partially true, so this week I wowed them with my hyper aggressive style of play. Sad part is I still got 3rd. I got my share of bad beats, over and over again through the night.. and had it not been for that the game would have probably lasted an hour to and hour and a half tops. My first bad beat came when I had KK, I raised pf (preflop). A nice raise, no just doubling the blinds here, I wanted to look like I was buying the pot. My plan worked too flawlessly! I got a caller! The flop came 10 high, and I made another good sized bet, nothing over the top but a decent bet, like 3/4 of the pot. The night was still early and Cram had been playing pretty much everything.. He surprised me by pushing all in on me. He normally doesn't make plays like that! They give a lot of chips at this tournament so his raise here was HUGE! I really just wanted to make the right play, but I just didn't think he had me beat. I thought he put me on two big cards but not a pair, either that, or he had JJ or QQ and was waiting to see the flop and hope that an A or K didn't come. Well I thought about it for a good bit, in poker they call this "going into the tank". So there I was "in the tank" and finally I just decided I had the best hand. We flipped them up and he has KT, he hit top pair and was hoping I was on two big cards. Which I was.. KK!! I was proud of my play, and it was actually a hard call for me, most people would get their chips in so fast it could make your head spin, they have KK and nothing is going to make them fold. For a second though I thought he may have AA, but I know he wouldn't have just went all-in there, he would have tried to suck the chips out of me which was one of the main reasons I called. I was relieved! until.... doom doom doom!!! the turn was clean.. then the river... GOD NO!!! a TEN!!!! 2 outs is a 22-1 shot but somehow I always seem to be in the 1 time out of 22!! haha. Poker is luck too, Im learning.
Lucky for me, the first tourney is a rebuy! So Im back in! I quickly gain my chips back and then some. Im totally dominating. I keep getting hit though for like 1/3 of my stack by short stacks who are going all-in.. after I make a raise. once I had AK -vs- KJ.. he is dominated but he hits a Jack and I don't improve.. two hands later it happens again against another stack I have AQ and he has KQ.. he hits a KING!! I dont improve.. Then I get AK again and Im forced to go all in again! 4 people call, and Im hoping for a king on the flop... it comes!! YIPPIE! one guy bets into a dry side pot and the other two fold so I am prepared to scoop this one. NOPE, the guy has A4s and runner runners a flush on me. That is a 28-1 against happening by the way, and it happend to me twice that night. These actually arent unusual circumstances in poker for me though. I play right.. demolish, then lose to luck or something dumber.
The second game I bring it right away! I flop trips and split a pot with the other guy who flopped trips with me, we both had 52 imagine that! Dan one of the guys there keeps raising so I get tired of it and decide to play some real poker. Everytime he raised I reraised him. I had 68 off suit and bluffed him in a pot and showed it too him. The very next hand I get 68os again, he raises, I reraise with it. The flop comes 8 high and he bets out big.. I think for a second and go all-in.. he folds and throws his 55 into the muck face up. I end up busting him a few hands later with something I dont remember. We get down to 3 handed and Im still dominating, they are totally scared of me because they have never seen me play like this before. Im making them fold better hands, Im making them fold when we have the same hands. The call me down when Im not bluffing and fold when I am.. everything is falling into place. Then I get KK again. I called in the sb, then cram says it again.. ALL IN! Im like SWEET... CALL! He flips over ATos. cool. The flop comes Queen high. on the turn I make a set of kings.. and on the river.. with 4 outs between me and all his chips.... it comes.. the jack. He hits a straight and has a nice stack again. I proceed to dominate but get unlucky in similar circumstances the rest of the night. I cant beat them if the deck doesn't co-operate with me. It sucks to continually lose when you are dominant with dominant hands..and then when on the other side of it, and never get lucky when Im in a position that I have to call. So I get the booby prize again! 3rd place.
Im definitely going to play a similar style this week, and change gears a lot to throw them off. It was nice though to have everyone admit that I just got a string of really horrible beats when I was way ahead the entire night. I never really got mad either, which Im proud of, but I did want them to think they were throwing my game off. I was shaking my head a bit though. Man it was war!