Monday night at the bar

I played at the bar last night. I actually forgot to mention when I played last week there. Just as the tourney was about to start, the TD announced my finish in the National Championship to everyone, which got a little round of applause as the final Massachusetts player to finish. I don’t know if I mentioned the “big check” thing from the tourney either. When I finished 13th, although I technically cashed, I just got a regular check. Everyone at the final table, however, got one of those big checks like they give at the end of a tennis or golf tourney. You know, like the publisher clearinghouse thing. Well, I was whining to my buddy about not making it far enough to get a big check.

Well, after the TD announced my finish last week, he said that he just received a Fed Ex from the APL that day and pulls out a “big check”. My buddy had his daughter make me up the fake check to roast me with. It was pretty funny and everyone got a chuckle out of it. I ended up finishing 6th last week.

Anyway, last night, I played and finished in the middle of the pack, around 28th or so. I think my finish in the National has put a little big of a target on me there. I can’t push people off hands as quickly or easily anymore. They want to see what I have. Last night, I had this donk at my table that played every single hand and got lucky as hell time after time.

The hand that tilted me a bit was when I had A4o on the button. There were 3 limpers including the donk. The flop came A J 7 rainbow. It checked around to me and I bet out 200 into a pot of 400. It folded to him and he flat called. The next card was a 5. I bet out 400 and after a little thought called again. The next card was a 7 and he bet out 300 into the 1600 pot. Given my crappy kicker, I flat called to see that he hit the river for 2 pair of Js and 7s. I guess I played the hand too passively but still, it pissed me off that he got rewarded for chasing it.

When the blinds went up, he went out because, again, he was calling everything and his luck was turning. He had been the big stack based on his lucky earlier hands. Not just against me, but against everyone. The hand that put him out was karma I thought. The guy to my right was the BB and the donk limped in as he had been doing. The flop gave the other guy middle pair and he pushed. The donk called with…bullets. He was sitting pretty until the river gave the other guy a set of 6s and put him out. The first premium hand he had and it got cracked. The same guy who cracked him then called another preflop all in on the next hand. The guy who pushed was a small stack but had pocket Qs and the caller had 69o. The flop came 7 8 10!

I was down to 2 BBs when it folded to that same guy in the SB and he called. I was in the BB and pushed. He started to push his hand in and then realized it was only another 1k to call me. He had technically already mucked, although his hand hadn’t touched any of the other mucked cards. I said I didn’t mind if he called, so he did. I had pocket Ks, lol. I doubled up to 4k but that was short lived as the next hand folded to me in the SB and I had A4o. The BB had me covered but only by about 3k so I took a chance and pushed. The table was 6 handed and I thought I had to take the shot if I was going to go anywhere in the tourney. The BB thought for a while but correctly called me with pocket 6s, I didn’t improve, and that was all she wrote.

Comments on either of the plays I made are appreciated. I played a little bit on Stars when I got home but nothing to speak of really. Lost a few dollars at fixed limit while the wife cried watching Grey’s Anatomy. It was grand.

Last thing for today is a few new brogs linked up over on my right. Poker Junkie is a fellow Massachusetts blogger and Rory, a fine player across the pond in Dublin. I just started keeping up with their blogs and I am sure they are more exciting than me.

See you in the WWdN tonight at 8:30pm EST all.