Feeling less depressed

So when I got back to the room last night I was feeling pretty down on myself and was in a pretty bad mood overall. Then I hopped online and saw that I had an e-mail from my girlfriend who was also on-line and I got to chat with her for a while. This brightened my night and helped me to put things in perspective. There are a lot of things more important in my life than poker is, it helps to get reminded of that sometimes.

I also have to keep in mind that I invested $1,350 in playing satellites for this event and ended up winning two of them. Therefore I received the $5,000 package plus an additional $5,000 cash. That means that even though I busted out on the first day I am still up $3,650 for the tournament. Remembering that helps take away some of the bad taste in my mouth.

Alright, I am feeling better now and am ready to run through some of the key hands that I played. The tournament was structured so that we played 90 minute rounds and started with 10,000 chips. On the THIRD hand of the tournament with the blinds at 25/50 two people limped into the pot and I look down at 67 off-suit on the button and decide to limp as well. I know 67 off suit is a trash hand but I like to play a lot of pots early on in the tournament and try to make a few big hands. The SB folds and the BB checks, so we see a flop with 4 people and 225 chips in the pot. The flop comes 673 rainbow and the BB, who is a older woman, fires out 600 chips. As a general rule women players tend to be much tighter than men and bluff much less often. The guy who is next to act thinks that she only bet 200 chips (since she threw out a 500 and a 100) and he throws out 200 chips. The dealer informs him that the bet is 600 and he tries to take his 200 back. However, in tournaments the rule is that if he puts his 200 in the pot then it has to stay there, so instead of giving up his 200 chips he decides to call as well. This may not sound like a big deal but it actually makes it impossible for me to just call now. So, I announce that I am raising the pot and throw in 1,600 chips. The older women looks down immediately at her chips and says re-raise and raises me the minimum, 1,000 more. The other guy obviously folds and I reluctantly fold my hand as well, face up. I was 90% sure that she had 45 for the nut straight and if she didn't she had either 33, 66, or 77. Anyway it would have come out she was way ahead of me and I feel like I actually lost A LOT fewer chips on the hand than most people would of. My friend Jon later said he didn't think he would have laid it down but I really think it was a pretty easy lay down.

Well that knocked me down to a little under 8,500 chips and I hovered around that mark for the first hour or so. I didn't get any good hands so I really didn't play many pots. During level two I started to drop. I started getting strong hands in some steal positions or in the blinds but could never connect on a flop and almost always had the pot taken from me. I was especially getting into it with a very wild Austrian guy who was immediately to my right. Every time I was in the BB it seemed like it would fold to us and he would raise out of the SB. I love players who do this and I kept getting huge drawing hands like J 10 suited or 79 suited and love to take a flop with these hands and try to get paid off big. Unfortunately I never could flop ANYTHING against him and kept having to give him the pot. The only hand I won against him the entire night was during one of these SB vs. BB situations. I was down to about 5,000 chips and he raised from the SB while I look down at 78 clubs. He raises my 150 BB to 475 and I smooth call like always :) The flop comes AK9 with two clubs. He checks to me and I decide to check as well. Normally I like to bet here and take down the pot but I KNOW that this guy would not fold no matter what I bet, trust me. So with no fold equity I decide to take a free card and try to hit my flush knowing that if I do I will get PAID. The turn comes a off suit 4 and I am not happy about it. He fires out 550 chips and I really don't think he's got much of anything. I decide to just call instead of raising because I really don't want to commit myself to a draw on the turn when I know that I will get paid anyways if I hit. The river comes the 8 of hearts and I miss my flush. He fires out 900 chips and I think about it for a minute. I look at him and he smiles at me, it seems like a very ungenuine smile, which usually means weakness. Unfortunately even if he is weak he may have me beat, I only have 4th pair. Eventually I decide to call based mostly on my read of him and he flips over J 10 for Jack high and I take the pot down. After that moral victory I slowly drop in chips and go to the dinner break with 5,500 and not feeling good about it. Immediately after the dinner break Jon gets all in on a flop of Q97 two spades with Q9. The guy who calls him shows A9 of spades for 2nd pair and a flush draw, a total donkey move on his part. But the 4 of spades on the river crippled Jon, he took it like a champ though. The VERY NEXT HAND I look down at AA for the first time and standard raise 3x the BB to 450. It folds around to the Donkey in the BB and he decides to call me. The flop comes 457 with two diamonds and he leads out with 500. I am loving it because I know he is on a draw, this guy is a bag of tells, so I shoot it up to 2500. He instantly calls and I am screaming "NO DIAMOND" in my head. The board pairs 5's on the turn and he leads out 2,000. I only have 2,400 left and almost pull a muscle sending it into the pot so fast. He gives a look like "well, damn, I got caught", and calls the 400 more. I expect him to flip over a couple diamonds but instead he flips over A6 for a open ended straight draw and the river blanks. For the first time in the tournament I am OVER $10,000 in chips! Well it doesn't last long when I try to re-re-steal from the button with 89 suited, unfortunately the SB had a monster and I lose 4,000 chips without even seeing a flop. About an hour later I raise to 500 UTG with AK off and Donkey re-raises to 2,000. He's the only guy that I actually think could do this with a hand like AQ or AJ so I tell myself that I can't really fold and I send my stack of 5,400 into the pot. He looks pissed again and calls me with 10's. Unfortunately the board is all low and I am out of the tournament without ever really getting anything going. I didn't feel like I played poorly, I felt that I build a fantastic table image and I just couldn't make my cards work. It's gonna happen I guess. Well I am tired of writing and you are probably tired of reading. I think there are a few 500 euro buy in tourneys this week that I will play in. I made about $800 playing 15/30 on-line this morning so maybe I can salvage out the trip.