Tourneys...Not My Thing, I Guess...

So, the day finally arrived: my first ever poker blogger tournament.

To prepare for the tournament, I went on PokerStars about five hours before the tournament and decided to play in a couple Sit-and-Gos to warm myself up. And well...I guess I was warming up to take bust-outs through bad beats graciously. My queens fell to a T-7o. My AKs fell to Q-9o. And so on and so forth. I was really warming up all right...warming up my streak of terrible tournament luck!

So the tourney finally came. And I was seated in table 1. Seven players to a table to start which I thought was kind of awkward. But I didn't mind because I actually think I play better with fewer people at the table. And surprisingly, no one busted out for quite a while...(well, at least compared to PartyPoker standards, I guess). And I must not forget that these were all bloggers and readers, so they have a considerable leg-up compared to the average fish you find on Party. Oh, and Anisotropy was at my first table. Cool, the first person whose blog I recognized so far at the tourney.

Anyway, first table gets broken up after some time, and I'm a few chips ahead of what I started with. I get seated at table 9, and things go downhill from here.

I go card-dead for a while, but I'm just itching to play. So I smoothly limp in under-the-gun with a K7s. Now, of course, this is not a good hand to play in any position. But I was hoping that people would get the idea that I had a monster hand and was trying to play a trap by limping in because they've been watching me just fold away for about three rounds now. People take the hint and everyone folds up to the button. He raises the minimum. Now, I've watched this guy come into a lot of pots, so I'm wondering what he could be thinking. Did he have Aces? I doubted that. And after the blinds folded, I call.

Flop comes 7-A-7 rainbow.

Beautiful flop for me! I decide to check-raise here to gauge the button's strength. The button bets out the minimum showing signs of weakness. I immediately check-raise him four times his bet, around 120, I believe. About 195 was in the pot before my raise according to my calculations, so it wasn't an overbet, but a decent amount...kinda like a bear trap, kinda like I want him to call but to fold any weak hands that didn't hit. To my surprise, he reraises me quickly...almost too quickly. I put him on two pair and decide to move in. He calls me immediately, and indeed, he shows A-Q of clubs for two pair against my three-of-a-kind sevens. I'm feeling good.

Turn brings a Jack of clubs.

Um. Ok, so now he has a four flush with a nut flush draw. But I figure that the chances of him hitting runner-runner clubs are slim, so I sit back, and I watch as...

The fifth club rivers.

I'm down to about 200 chips from a start of around 1500. I feel sick.

After my previous busts at the sit-and-go tables, I figured that I had two ways of looking at those losses. One, I could feel really bad and think that I am the unluckiest player in the world. Or two, I could look at them as just getting the bad beats and bad luck out of my system. So, I cheered up and took option two. Surely things would get better, right?

Sigh.

Well. I scraped through one more round before I pushed my measly stack in on the button with pocket nines. The Big Blind calls and shows T7s. Is there hope for me? The phrase "a chip and chair" kept racing laps through my mind. But alas, the ten pairs on the flop. I lose all my chips. And no more seat for me in the tourney.

I finish 120 out of 133.

And that was my first ever poker blogger adventure. I hope to improve upon that next time.

Tough Luck

It's taken me over a week. But I've finally gotten over my recent streak of bad luck. Poker is just so hard to play when I'm going through streaks like this. Which is why it really takes a tough person to be a professional. I guess one way pros can take such hits is with an adequate bankroll, something that a poor college student like me can't afford. But I do hope to slowly build my bankroll this time in order to get serious about the game.

So, I'm starting to get myself back in the game. After a summer layoff and a rough jump-start, I think I've gained back some of the "feel" I had for the table games at PartyPoker. Right now, my preference is to play two short-handed $25 buy-in no limit tables at a time. I also try and play the guaranteed tournaments EmpirePoker has a couple nights a week. But, as can be evidenced in the previous post, things haven't been going so well for me.

But I really do value the comments I have gotten. And I think you guys are absolutely right. At tournaments such as these, people are just willing to be loose and call anything just to see if they make a hand. I can't continue to play expecting them to play a certain way when they're doing something else. I think I have to adapt my style of play as well. And hopefully, be versatile enough to play in any situation against anybody.

Well, I'm excited about this week because I signed up for Iggy's Poker Blog Tournament! Yeah! My first ever blogger tournament! I've always wanted to play against the Poker Blogging community since way back when it first started. And now I finally get to. It's at PokerStars Thursday, October 21 at 6:00 pm PST. Looking forward to it.

Bad Luck?

I played in a multi-table tournament last night. First hand I get dealt are cowboys. I raise in early position. Middle position calls. The guy right next to him raises big. I am immediately thinking mid-pocket pair. I move in. Both guys call.

The first guy had KJo and the reraiser had pocket tens. Flop comes JJT. I'm fucked. I need a king to stay alive, and I realize the other guy's holding a king. I'm really fucked. And I'm the first guy out of the tournament.

Tonight, same kind of tournament. About five minutes into the tourney, I haven't done anything. I get pocket Aces, and I raise. FIVE guys call. I'm thinking, "What the fuck?"

The flop is 7-8-T rainbow. People check. I immediately put them on straight draws and bet big. They all call. WTF?

Turn is a J. I hav most of my chips in there already, so I just move in, and two guys call with nines for the straight. And I'm fucked.

So, at least I lasted five more minutes than I did the last tourney, right? Fuck this.