I Hate it When...

I make the right call and get the wrong result!

Playing the 8K guaranteed NLHE tourney at Absolute Poker this evening and it's only the 4th hand of the tournament ... I'm in the BB with JJ. It's folded to a mid position player, who raises to 900. Mind you the blinds are 10/20 at this point. It is folded to me, and I think for about 3 seconds and decide he has trash.

Anyone with a big hand like AA or KK he wouldn't want to scare his customers ... QQ is a remote possibility, but unlikely as well. I decide that realistically, worst case scenario, I'm looking at AQ, and best case, I am way ... way ahead.

I push all my chips in, and he calls, flipping 44. I must say that this is the worst play I may have ever seen at a money tournament. Anyway, since I'm writing about this, you know the idiot hit a 4 and I was bounced. A 4 flush even missed me ...

I could imagine if that is how I were bounced at a really big tournament (this tournament is only a $10 tourney which probably explains the awful play).

The worst part is that I was really looking forward to a deep tourney run, I was in a great mood and had carved out a block of time to play. The $10 I could care less about.

Well, at least I made good use of the added time by making a healthy profit at some ring games. I pushed my bankroll to an all time high. I dropped down to 1/2 at Interpoker since there weren't really any good higher limit games rolling and cleared the rest of their $3o weekend bonus. I caught some good cards and really hammered the bonus chasers. Playing 3 tables and I was able to run amok on two that were filled with tight bonus chasers, and be patient and wait for a big hand on the third looser table.

Midway through, I questioned why I was chasing $30, when I have been playing 10/20 lately, but I decided that a little bonus whoring is never a bad thing, even if I lose money at the tables, that $30 is free money.

I'm getting excited though, my forays into 10/20 have been successful and my bankroll is very healthy. I have some credit card debt ... I could withdraw all my poker money and eliminate my credit card debt ... all of it ... and still have some money to rebuild. But I am going to save that for later, I don't like withdrawing money from my poker accounts, although I think I'm gonna treat myself to a digital camera soon.

So far, even despite a very rough patch that I am hoping won't repeat itself any time soon; I am above the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year. I still don't have that big tournament win, but my ring game has been outstanding. Honestly, I don't play enough tourneys to really have the expectation of a big win at this point. I am playing maybe 2 a week if I am lucky. I am hoping I can make some time to up that number soon.