Cash game or Tournament? Which to play.

Friday nights when there is not a home football game I get to play poker. Last Friday I had my choice. A tournament near my house or a great cash game about 35 minutes away. Hmm. I decided to only risk $60 of my bankroll and play the tourney. Since I am leaving for Vegas on Sunday I figured it was best to save my money to play against the really bad players in Vegas. The cash game players in the group are pretty tough. Some are horrible, but most are pretty good.

I got knocked out of the tourney in the third level. It was horrible. I lost a decent chuck of chips when Jack had JJ and I had 99 and the board was 10 high. I couldn't put him on a hand that beat me so I called his bets. He played it well and got maximum value of this hand. Then he played like Jack.

He called a pot sized bet on the flop out of position with a gutter ball to the sucker straight on a flushy board. The board was AJ7 with 2 clubs. I had AJ with the A of clubs. He had 89 off. Of course he hit the 10 on the turn. I couldn't fold my top two pair to him. I thought when he raised me on the turn that maybe he had KQ, but I actually thought he wouldn't call a big bet there with a gutter ball. Stupid Jen. He will call any bet with anything. I lost most of my remaining chips in that hand.

A few hands later the blinds are 75/150. I have 1025 chips left. He limps UTG. I look down at 77. All in. Of course he calls saying I will give you some chips back. Of course he limped UTG with 910 o. Hmm..what do you think came on the flop? I know he had about 18000 chips but really. 910 o.

I tried to get Data to let me buy back in but he would not budge. The rest of the players wanted me to buy in because they knew I was tilting and would probably spew chips. Better to spew in a $60 tourney than go to Terry's and spew with $300. Julie made my decision easy by giving me $200 to go to Terry's. I intentionally only brought an extra $100 with me so I would not be tempted to go to Terry's. It wasn't even 9 p.m. yet. I couldn't go home yet on my actual night out.

Off to Terry's cash game. I bought in for $300 and was seated with Jeremy, Ryan, Joe, Uncle Bob and Pyxis. Not a bad table. I stacked Ryan early on. I had KK, He flopped the nut flush draw. I was pretty sure he was pushing with the draw so I was willing to gamble. I was playing pretty tight, picking my spots trying to stay out trouble. It was working. I was up about $250.

Then I had a cooler hand that I just do not think I can fold. The game is 1/2 and it is pot limit preflop. I raise to 7 with 77. Uncle Bob reraises from the small blind to 21 (I think). I decide to set mine. I was in position so I think I have to do that. Flop is K79 with 2 clubs. He bets $20. I raise to $60. He raises another $100. Now this is where I should have thought longer. I did not spend enough time thinking about what he could have here. I just thought..Hey this is uncle bob...he could be doing this with a flush draw...with AK or with AA. I am all in. As soon as he insta calls I knew it. You have a set right. Yep. Top set. Grrr. Can I fold bottom set there for $250 total? Against a different player I can maybe fold..but I am not sure that I am a good enough player to fold a set there. Maybe if we are really deep stacked I can fold bottom set, but not when he has less than a buy-in in his stack. Thoughts? Fold?

I build back up from that cooler hand when I run into another cooler. The other table decides to take a break. During their break Charlie grabs part of his stack and sits at our table for a little bit. He is pretty aggressive and we have a lot of history. I know that he thinks that I do not like to play big pots with him. This thought blinded me from making what in retrospect is an easy fold to Charlie. I am in the big blind, he is the small blind. A few limpers. He raised to 12. I reraised to 30. I had QQ. It folds to him and he raises the pot. Now this is where I tanked. I thought for quite a while before deciding to commit my stack. He had KK and hit quads just to rub it in. I know better. I do not need to stack off there with QQ. Charlie is really aggressive and likes to put a lot of money into pots....post flop. He would always rather play post flop because he is a really good player. I know that. As soon as he made the third raise I should have known better. With a smaller pair or a big Ace he is just going to call my raise even out of position to see a flop. He knows that he can outplay me after the flop. (I know it...he better know it.)

Two big pots and I am rebuying. A few people leave and we combined back to one table. My stack goes up and down. I lost a decent sized pot when Jeremy called with k4 s and hit the flush. I had AQ. I had top two pair and should have known better, but I still bet into him on the river and paid off his min raise. Dumbass. (Me not Jeremy)

Next hand I am UTG and look at one card the A of diamonds. Fuck it. I am not looking at the other card. I can only raise to 7 anyway, if I get raised I will look. (Can you say Tilt from the K4 hand). Flop is Axx. One diamond. I bet out. I think I got two callers. The turn is a 5. (I eventually looked and I had A5) I bet, Jeremy raised me all in. I call. I got there. River is blank and my two pair beat his AQ. Just trading chips.

We end the game at 2 am. I am down $275 total for the night. Not to bad for those two big pots that I lost. I have resigned myself to the thought process that I had to call with the Set and should have folded the QQ. I have been thinking about many of the hands from that night for the last few days. Hopefully I learned something from all of the hands and I can really start to get my game back together. I have been running bad which leads to playing bad so I am really trying hard to get it together.