Lucky dollar indeed

I spent my day off playing quite a bit of poker. I played a couple of the Maui SnGs at Noble to little avail. Made my money back except for the juice. Either you get a table that has such craptacular play where 3 people bust out in the first orbit, or you get one that is extra tight where there are 6 people left and blinds are 100/200.

I had a taste of both. In the first half the field was gone in the first 10 minutes. An ugly beat sent me home there. Then I got very loose at the tight table and started to ram and jam. An ugly beat sent me out in 3rd when I raised all in with A K off and 4 of the 5 remaining players called. J J was ahead early but an A came on the flop. Another player called with A 9 suited (WTF?) while the 4th had K 10 (double WTF? both of these players could have folded). I looked golden- having all players covered- until the 9 hit the river giving both 2 pair. I pissed out on the next hand.

The scary thing was that I wasn't getting any cards to play in either. Lots of folding that made me force certain hands out there.

Seeing that I was getting crap, I of course went to PokerRoom to cash in some points and play a SnG over there. Came in 3rd again. I like what PokerRoom has done with their tourneys. Showing the percentages on the showdowns is great.

From there I went to Party to take advantage of the bonus (Bonus code IGGY!!!). Played there for 20 minutes only because I had noticed PokerRoom had a Lucky Dollar starting up. They pop extra cash into these so if you make the top 5, there is a decent payout. This one had an extra $1000 added. Not bad but the Saturday afternoon always has an extra $2500, giving first place in excess of $1500. Not too shabby for beating out 2000 players.

The Friday tourney started with 1265 players. I took my time early on. I actually was getting some nice starting hands. Kings came by twice for me and I chipped up. My best hand though came with Q J spades in early position. I raised it up on the tight table. Get 2 callers. Flop comes A K spades and a 9. Nice. I bet it and only one caller. Turn is a rag. We both check. River is the 10 of spades. Sweet, a Royal Flush. I bet just over the pot, trying to make it look like a steal. No dice as he folds. I show it for the oohs and aahs at the table.

That appeared to be the highlight for a while. First break would come and go with me just under the middle of the pack. Second break had me even lower. At the third break, we were in the money (it pays a lot of spots) and I was sitting 30 out of 40. I had gotten this far mainly on some lucky blinds play. Stuff like 8 3 offsuit hitting two pair on a free flop.

Once we got back from the break I was able to make my move. I go from 30th to 10th in 2 hands. 3 hands later, I am sitting in first! Q2 flops me two pair and I shove my stack in- around 6k- and get enough callers to pop me to 24k. I hit another big hand with two other callers to pop me to 80k. Then K K comes along again. I raise it up UTG a standard 3xs the BB. The big blind pushes. His 10 10 is no match for my Cowboys and I am on top of the mountain.

I slow down my play as we get closer to two tables, then one. I pick off the blinds here and there but avoid major confrontation with the big stacks. I drop a bit to 4th when I catch no flops. I get decent staring hands but the flops are missing me. J J would see a flop with two overcards. My opponents were too predictable too. An A on the flop would guarantee someone would push. Big connectors weren't hitting me either. I felt sick raising it up, then folding to a big re-raise on the flop.

At the final table, we are slowly moving along. With 6 left, the table is extremely tight. No one is playing, just folding. I start to raise a bit with mediocre hands and get some blinds. I have a chance to put this one away and have a commanding stack when I see K K and just give a min raise. The big blind pushes with 9 9. A 9 hits the flop. I go from being over 1 million in chips to a short stack right there.

I need some cards again. 10 10 doubles me up. I knock a guy out when Big Slick comes through. We get down to 3 and then it happens again. I go flop dead. Again. This is painful because the short stack is pissing away chip and then getting lucky. When we are down to 3, the short stack keeps winning his all in bets. Just can't get knocked out. Q J beats A Q. Then he gets A K up against A Q. He hits everything to stay alive.

Me? I piss it away on a missed flop and then push instead of being blinded out. Finished 3rd which was good for $185.73. The weekend Lucky Dollar would have paid me another $500 which would be nice. I will settle for the $185 though.

I felt pretty good about my game, mixing it up, speeding up and slowing down. It gives me some encouragement to play some bigger tourneys this weekend.

It also had me thinking of some things that I will have in a different post. I am beginning to wonder if table image really matters online. My answer right now is no. More thought later on that one.