Finally figuring this stuff out....until next time I'm sure

I finally broke my tournament drought. It was only a ten player tournament, but it was in my WSOP League so the win was very important. The points I received for 1st guaranteed me a spot in the finals. 1st and 2nd place in the finals each get $2,000. That would be a nice bankroll booster right before Vegas. Good Luck me.

I have been playing a decent amount of cash games lately. I have been running and playing a little better. I love to gamble and play a lot of hands but that was getting me in a lot of trouble lately. I am very happy to say that I corrected that leak (for now) and I am playing much better. I have been watching players that I know are winning players and trying to learn as much as possible. We shall see how it goes.

I played a cash game at my office last night. We were supposed to start at 7, but everyone had stuff to do, so we did not start until about 9:30 or so. That was fine with me as I met a few friends at the bar attached to my office building. I was feeling pretty good when the game started. I did not play very well for the first hour or so. I had decent hands and decent draws but I was not playing the hands very well. I started with 300 and had to reload a 100. Good thing I did for when this hand came up. Grayday was in the small blind, Megan was in the big blind. I was in earlyish position and look down at AA. I raise to 15. It was kind of a big raise but I hate playing out of position and I was pretty hopeful that the small blind and big blind would call. I had been raising Megan's big blind a lot and she pointed it out so I was hopeful I could get a call. Grayday loves to play ATC so I was hopeful about him as well. It folds to Grayday in the small blind and he raises to 45. Everyone folds to me. I want to four bet, but I figure I can play the pot heads up and in position so I just call. Flop is 24x with 2 hearts. For the life of me, I cannot remember the third card. Grayday bets 75. I decide he has a big pair and will not lay it down on this board so I shove all in. I think I have about 150 or so more. (Normally I remember all this shit, but it was early in the night and it is kind of a blur.) Grayday gathers the chips necessary to call and is about to make the call when he realizes that 24 is on the board. He knows that is my favorite hand. Now he starts talking out loud. Do you really have 24. I know it is your favorite hand, I don't know if I can lay down KK. I was really hoping that my favorite hand being on the board would not cost me the call. He eventually decides his KK is good and calls. I announce I have AA with the A of hearts. Any guess what the turn card is? The King of Hearts. I wanted to puke a little. Luckily for me the 9of hearts hits the river and I double up. These kind of roller coaster hands are why I love to hate this game.

When I posted the game, I said we would play until the game broke. At about 4:30 I was exhausted, but we were having so much fun I did not want to quit. I thought about calling last orbit, but I am DeJen so I did not. We had 4-5 people at that point so the game was still good. When we were 4 handed, Data and Mike T. continued to play pretty tight (i.e. smart poker and folding junk hands even though we were 4 handed). I mixed it up with Grayday quite a bit. One hand we played I had 83 off. I button straddled. I think he raised, but not positive. You know I like to defend my straddles. I flopped a 3 and called his flop and turn bet. I got 2 pair on the river. He checked. Now I was sure he had nothing but I bet pretty big trying to make it look like I missed the club draw. He called. I announced 2 pair. He berated me of course. I kind of deserved that one. I really thought he had nothing until he called the river bet. I really wish I knew what he had.

The final hand of the night was an interesting one. (This was not called as the last hand, it just ended up being the last hand). I was in the small blind. Grayday button straddled. I called the 5 as did Data. I think Mike did also, but not postive. Grayday raised to 20 all day. I called with qj. Flop is k107. It was checked to Grayday who bet. I think he bet 35. (again normally I remember amounts but I was really tired.) I was the only caller. Turn was an A. I checked. Grayday did his stand up look at the board and he checked behind. Shit. I wanted to check raise. River is a 7. I don't love that card as I no longer have the nuts. I bet 50. Grayday shipped it for 252 more. Can you say vomit in your mouth. I actually tanked. I kept thinking did he really fill up here. I started talking to see if I could get any info from him. His check behind on the turn is what confused the hell out of me. He was being very aggressive 4 handed why check the turn after I have shown weakness and checked. Is he trapping with a set or two pair? I could not figure that part out. Finally, when I studied the board I determined that no way he would have checked the turn with 2 pair or a set so I made the fuck it call. He had j7 and river trips. Whew. It may seem like an easy call with the nut straight but I seem to get burned so many times when the board pairs that I just KNEW he was going to turn over k7 or 107 for a boat. The other part of the scenario that should not factor in but did was that if I called and was wrong I turned a night of grinding out a profit to a loss. But then I figured we would continue playing as noone seemed ready to stop playing.

I actually felt bad. I know Grayday got blinded by the fact that he hit what he thought was his miracle card to get me back for the 83 hand. I am not sure he ever saw the straight on board. The game broke just as the sun was coming up over Lake Erie. I love this stupid game.