Badger Poker...Outkicked

I bet most people that play in the Badger Poker Series do not understand the value of a kicker. Yeah, they see the A or K and start getting their chips in eagerly. When they get called down at the river, they show their A 3 and lose when the other guy shows his A J and wins because of the kicker. They will moan about the bad beat (which it isn't). They will never realize that they probably shouldn't have been in that hand to begin with. And that is why I like playing in the Badger and have done well (if I say so myself).
I got outkicked last night. And no I didn't have A 3. I had A Q. But I will get to that later. Everyone crowded into the basement at Rock Bottom for the last night there. I sat down at an interesting table. Initially there was only one person there I had played with there, but then Bucksman sat down to give us 8. Just after we started, everyone's favorite player, Bagman, came in. We still have 2 open spots at my table. I watched Bagman come over, see me and turn away to check another table. Oh how I hoped he would take the seat to my right, but he didn't. He took the far chair. Bummer. He was quiet for the first couple of hands too. On my left was an aggressive mellow guy with a State visor. The guy who eventually sat to my right was pretty loose and didn't last long. One spot over was a rather solid player. The only guy worth noticing was the smoker on the other side of the table next to Bagman.
State visor got off to a hell of a start. He raised up the first hand and kept firing chips. Did the same with the second hand. Took both down uncontested. On the second hand, he showed 8 8. On the third hand, he was at it again, winning with 10 10. He claimed his first hand was actually 9 9. Not a bad start. Me? I didn't play any of the first 12 hands. Got nothing to play, and didn't have a chance to defend my blinds. Around the table, Bucksman is down about a third. Bagman is bleeding chips (like always). The smoker on the far side has collected up a tidy sum. He slowplayed A K by limping in and calling on down. Loose guy to my right is distributing chips to the guy on his right. Basically, the chips are flowing downhill. I finally get a chance when I see K J hearts. I raise up to 1500 from the big blind. Loose guy on my right is all in for his last 300. I get one bleeder to call. Flop comes Q J x. I bet out 1500 and get raised all in. I call his last 1200 and he flips over Q Q. Ouch. Bigger ouch when the case Q hits on the river. Minor setback there.
After the break, I again don't get much and decide to change gears and raise up with A 8. With blinds in the 300/600 range, I bump it to 1500 and get State Visor to call. Flop comes A 6 3 with 2 clubs. I bet 2500 and he bumps me all in. I think for a bit. I am pretty sure he has the A, but have seen him play any A. He also may have a small pair. Considering I haven't gotten any great cards, I call my last 2200. He turns over A 6, two pair. Ugh! Turn is a little help as it is a club. River is an 8 and somehow I survive. State Visor congratulates me as I tell him I got lucky. Suddenly, I am back over 10k. Once again, I raise it up from the small blind a couple of hands later with Q Q. There were 5 limpers ahead of me so I took it up to 3500. Everyone folds. Bagman hems and haws before tossing them (I knew he wasn't playing). I do get one caller who took about a minute to make his mind up. Flop comes K 10 3, all spades. After taking his time, I figure he may have an A tops, but most likely a mid pair. I bet 2500 and he quickly folds. I am suddenly around the 18k mark after some quick hands.
We have a couple guys fall out. Bagman goes out whining when his A J is beat by J J. Funny how he then proceeds to tell anyone who would listen his bad beat story. Dipwad, it wasn't a bad beat. He had you beaten all the way. One guy goes all in blind and quads up with K K. Nice blind call.
I stayed around for a couple more hands until I saw A Q clubs. I raised up and had just a caller as the 2 limpers folded. I seemed to be in a nice spot of being able to raise only after everyone had put chips into the pot. The limpers were not going to see any cheap flops tonight. Flop came 8 8 2, no clubs. I bet 2500 and he calls. Turn is an A. I decide to take the pot down now and push all in. He quickly calls. I ask if he has the 8. He doesn't. He has A K, again. Slow played it again. I get no help and am out, again. I remember than he slow played that A K earlier but it is too late. I should have checked the turn to see strength as I am pretty confident he wasn't going to push all in, but may have made a decent bet. I had roughly 12k in chips that I tossed away from being too aggressive.
In the end, I blame my friend C. I was talking to him when I got that A Q because I had noticed he was gone. 15 minutes ago he had 30k and now he was done. He said he flopped two sets and lost both hands. So I figure his bad luck came through the phone and infected me. That is my story and I am sticking to it.
I don't know if I will play at Gametime tonight. I need to check in on a tenant. I could wait until the weekend but I believe on getting it done right away. Maybe I can take care of it after work and still squeeze in some poker. At the very least, I want to see if people will still be complaining about having to buy the bottle water. I don't think I had mentioned this last week but I found it to be hilarious. A lot of people drink water at these events. When they do, the bars don't make much money. How do you earn when this is happening? Force them to buy the water, which Gametime did. I thought it was brilliant. Others didn't. The capitalist in me was smiling.