FYI - I wrote a post showing how our poker league is set up if you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about here...
Last night didn't go so well due to a few misplays. I was too tight when I needed to be looser and too loose when I needed to be tighter. It only takes a few bad hands for things to spiral out of control. So it goes...
As always, we started with 20,000 chips and I was down only a couple big blinds early in the game when this hand happened.
I'd seen him play a pretty wide range of hands and didn't really give him credit for an ace. A few hands earlier he preflop raised with 8h 5h and spiked two 5s on the flop. That's where most of his chips came from. Anyway, I just tried to play it safe and ended up misreading him. I could have gone broke here, but I maintained my stack of 25 big blinds.
I managed to get myself back up to 19,000 chips heading to the final table, but that's when things went downhill. Blinds were 500/1000 at this point.
I was dealt pocket 6s two hands in a row and played them badly each time. Both times I limped hoping to spike trips (not a horrible strategy but a bit more aggression could have taken at least one of the pots preflop). The first flop came with three overs [J Q A]. I bet out and got raised (lost 3400 that hand). The next flop came [5 5 8]. Instead of betting I check-called 2000 (weak). I then check-called another 2000 on the turn (weaker). Finally, I check-folded to a bet of 4000 on the river (lost 5000 that hand). I should have simply played those sixes to see trips and got the hell outta dodge when I didn't.
My last hand of the night was a bit of a doozy. I was dealt Ks Js in the small blind (blinds were 600/1200). Two people limped making the total pot 4200 with action on me. I had 600 in and should have shoved my remaining 11000ish to increase my stack by 40%. Instead, I limped too and went up against 4 people. Stupid stupid stupid.
As you can see he hit a runner-runner straight flush. I can't be mad about how the hand played out because it went exactly like I would have wanted it to. I had squadoosh on the flop and everyone checked around. I finally picked up a decent draw on the turn (I figured any K, J, 10, or spade was good), not knowing that he had an open-ended straight flush draw. If we rivered a blank, I might not have had the guts to pull the trigger again and it would have been up to him. If he checked I would have won, but he had enough chips to make a fair sized bluff if he wanted to.
You can't really complain about losing to a straight flush in my opinion because it's just such a rare premium hand. When he called I was actually worried he had an ace-high flush (As 3s) and I still would have lost.
So yeah, not the best night on my part. I picked up a whopping 1000 points for finishing 9th, which brings my season total up to 7500. My guess is this leaves me somewhere in the middle of the pack.
Week 1: Finished 3rd (6500 points)
Week 2: Finished 9th (1000 points)
Here's hoping I do better next week!
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