The dreaded Mookie

The dreaded Mookie has started. First table is interesting with Ftrain on my right, Maudie next to him, Kat on my left, and Hoy to the left of her.

Start out slow, raising only one hand, A Q in MP. I then fold for another round. Good thing Dennis Miller is on HBO otherwise I might fall asleep. Fold after fold is little fun, but necessary. If I raise with any of these field goal cards I will get my ass handed to me on any flop that misses me.

I then try to make a play on Ftrain. I call his raise with 6 6. Flop is J 2 3. I decided that no matter what, I am calling his flop bet and raising him on the turn. Call 400 to see a 3 hit the turn. He checks and I bet. But the little bastard goes all in. Damnit. Bad time to make a play.

Down to 1275. Let's see if I can get it all back in one fell swoop.

I call Ftrain's bet from the button with A Q. I think about re-raising his steal attempt but don't have the grapefruits to do it. There are no bets as the board comes 10 high and I take the pot. Power poker people!

8 8 raise and scare the EP limper away. I am on a roll!

Then with A Qs in the BB, I raise it up just more than the pot as 3 others try to limp in. Only one calls. Hmm... Flop is 10 10 2, two spades. What the hell...push! He thinks and thinks and calls with 4 4. Good call. But I get lucky and catch a Q on the turn. No 4th spade on the river to screw me and I am back above the starting point of 3k.

So now that I have been given a new lease in this game, how will I screw it up?

Well, I can call a raise with A 10 and fold on the flop. I thought it was fishy and sure enough, he shows the Hammer. Well played!

I wonder if Hoy will let me limp on in. Yes. Flop gives me an OESD but Hoy won't give me any more chips. Damn.

A couple hands later, I try raising with 5 5 in EP but get re-raised. No, still have no grapefruits to make the call and fold. I haven't seen this person raise a single pot all game so I figure he has to have me beat.

I try again with two black 9s and it gets me the blinds. Hey, it is a start. Good thing too, lots of folding as we head into the break.

Just as the break starts, I get moved to a new table. Don't recognize as many people here. 23skiddoo and Dionysus are here as is willwonka. Better yet, I don't have the big stack arseface Ftrain to my right anymore (dawn summers called him that).

Second verse, same as the first.

The action after the break is just like the beginning of the game. Fold, fold, fold. Then I see J J come to me. I am UTG+1 and raise it up. But willwonka pushes in the BB. WTF??? Doesn't seem right. My gut tells me he does not have any of the 3 overpairs. I decide to go for broke and make the call. He shows 10 10. No improvement for him and I get over 4k.

A Ks in the BB and I get a raise. Time to pop it back! Darn, he folded.

Two hands later, I am tangling with 23skidoo again. I make it look like a total steal from the button with A Jo. I am kinda happy when he raises me back because my immediate thought is he has A rag and just try to steal it back. So I push. He thinks and calls, showing A 7. My A J holds up and I am doing great.

Next hand, I get A A for the first time. I get a raise ahead of me and repop it. He then goes all in. Does it get any better? Suddenly I am up over 11k and in second place.

I then get a phone call and begin to play with maybe half of my attention on the game. With a couple of good hands, I suddenly vault into first with over 30k in chips. Which is a good thing as I don't have many good cards coming my way or am suddenly not hitting any flops. As we head into the second break, I am on top with just over 32k and 27 runners left.

But I am card dead for the first half of the 3rd session. This really sucks. If I get something I can make a play with, it gets raised ahead of me. And if I get J 3 one more time, I am going to break my monitor. It seems like every hand I get has a J in it.

Finally I get a break and the jacks stop coming. I see a flop as wonka tries to steal. It is only A 3 but I am sick of folding. Flop pairs my A. Nice. I just call his bet and decide to check-raise the turn. Works as I get a pot and get over 50k. Now I get into stealing myself. Take a couple here and there. We are in the money but the big money is at the final table. Problem is, I don't feel like playing much longer. Work will be here way too soon.

Within a couple hands, I would go from leader to out in 10th. Sadly, I really didn't care anymore. I was too tired to try to finish this off. I made a loose call with 2 2 on a board of 10 10 3, thinking my two pair was good. But the BB was slow playing K K and that took a chunk out. Next hand I bounce back against wonka with Q Q to knock him out. But then I way overplay A Qs from the BB and run into A Ko. Just like that, I get bounced.

I wish I hadn't been tired and could focus. Playing for 3 hours to basically win a pitcher of beer just isn't worth it.