Aggravating Night
It’s a strange inaugural post to my poker stuff section, but last night was an aggravating night.
Played at my friend RJ’s house last night (standard $20+$1 game), and having come off of a pretty good streak of decent luck and smart play, I felt pretty good going in.
But smart play just doesn’t cut it when your reads are off and every good hand you get is trumped by an even better made hand (not even a draw).
I was first out, having been crippled by two hands, and then blown out on a third.
I was down to about half stack when I got :As :Kd on the button and raised pre-flop. Two callers, and an ace on the flop. I checked, one player bet, second folded, and I re-raised all-in. He thought a good long time, finally called and turned over :Ac :Kh. No hope for any flushes, so we split up the small blind and the one other caller’s bet. Waste of a good hand with good play.
Then a few hands later I had :Ac :Jh in mid-position and just called. Flop came :Jd :5c :5h and after folds I had inherited the button and last position. Only two in by now, and the pre-flop raiser put in a medium bet, which I called. The turn was a brick and he went all-in. I thought for a good long time. Could he have the other five? He wouldn’t have raised pre-flop with 5-junk, but maybe with :5d :5c, which was my biggest fear. I had two pair with :Ac kicker, and I felt like my hand was best, so I called. Turned out he had :Kc :Kd and the river didn’t help. Now I’m down to about 1/4 stack.
Two hands later, I get :Qh :Qd under the gun. I triple the BB and get one caller, flop has an ace and my opponent checks, so I bet into it to represent an ace. Quick call. Turn is a jack & he bets, I call hoping he hit the jack. River is junk and he bets about 1/2 the pot, I go all in (which was a call plus a remaining 500 or so), and I run into that damn :Ac :Jh — the very hand I lost on, but it gave him top two pair.
Maybe I was just on tilt, but my read was way off. That took me out first and sent me home. Luckily I got on Full Tilt and won back my losses later in the evening, but that only helps my bankroll, not my pride. I can’t remember the last time I was first out in a live game — maybe never.
And don’t plan on doing it again.