Mixers, 4/17

Large crowd. There is a real push on as the tournament for entry into the WSOP satellite is coming up and people are scrambling to make the top 64. I, meanwhile, continue to just play for fun so the points don't matter. I still want to win.

Well, we end up with 4 people at the table I don't know. The guy is one of those self-important know-it alls who spends most of his time shuffling chips and playing like crap while his wife is pervasively annoying. Meanwhile we also had Josh, aka Cpt. Bluff-a-lot, and Florin. Still, I was joking around, having a good time, largely at Florin's expense as he likes to take a lot...I mean a LOT of time before even calling the blinds.

First pot I stayed in I was able to get a free card and hit a straight but anyone playing an 8/9 would beat me (I had Q/8). Josh raised, chip-shuffler called, I almost re-raised since I did not believe Josh had the straight and chip-shuffler spent so long debating the call I knew he had at best an 8 high straight to match my own. I got scared and just called. Florin went into the tank for about 5 minutes before calling...and matching my 8 high straight. Josh had 2 pairs and chip-shuffler had the ignorant end of the straight so Florin and I split it.

Stayed in on a couple of draws, got down to about 1500 and went all-in with a weak hand, A/10 suited. That pretty much let me know I was on tilt. Florin went into the tank for another 5 minutes before calling. He also had A/10 suited. We both paired our Aces, and it was once more a split.

I went up and down a bit, having a lot more fun joking than playing. Torman joined the table. He, if possible, was playing even slower than Florin. Grr.

Finally I was low on chips and bored so I went all-in with A/6. Florin called with A/q. Board was A/8/8. Turn was a King. River was a 3. I started to leave, then realized...the King on the board beat our kickers...for the third time we split a pot.

Built up to about 5600 but was still not having enough chips. Picked up K/9 5 handed and went all-in UTG. To my shock Roman, who had played maybe 6 hands all night (lost with kings, won with Kings, lost with Queens, been in the blinds the other times. Won one other hand with a straight and one more with Big Slick) called. And annoying woman re-raised all in. And Florin called. 4 players? Oops. Roman won with trips Aces. I needed a jack on the river but he got an Ace instead.

At the time I did not think poorly of my play. I had decent reads on most of them...I just played bored. But then I figured it out...playing bored is a form of tilt. So in actuality I played poorly indeed. I need to learn to play well whether bored or not if I am to play well in tournaments.