Starving Crazed Weasels League June Edition

Early on I thought we were going to have record numbers. Then 6 or 7 people dropped out and we ended with 8/9. Kenneth & Stanica played as a team so there were 9 people playing 8 hands. On the bright side we had 2 new players (Roman & Amanda) and 1 who had not played for 4 months (Rick) and Josh playing for the 2nd time.

After some of the stupidity of last month I adjusted the blinds and starting chips. This month would be 3000 chips and blinds of 25/50 to start. No more 5/10 blinds with 10,000 deep...sad for me but hey...if that is what the group needs to get a better game, so be it (although there is an open question if the better game was due to tighter chip stack requirements or the absence of a specific individual might be an open question).

Anyhow, this month was a much, much better game...very enjoyable.

Pretty early I picked up pocket kings. I raised to 300, a couple callers. Flop came Q/r/r with no flush or straight draws. They checked to me, I raised 300, got rid of everyone but Amanda. I have seen her play enough to know she either had the queen or 2 pair...and I was betting she had the queen so I liked her call. Turn was a blank, still no dangerous draws out there...Amanda checked, I raised 300. She called and I was again happy...I was bringing her with me, this was going to be a nice pot. Then the river was a queen...she checked and I checked behind her. "I thought you would bet" she said, indicating she was going to check-raise me most likely. I smiled and said something along the lines of "Nah, you got your queen" which she then flipped up and had indeed tripped her Queens. So that was costly but also well played all around. She had top pair on flop and should have at the very least been calling, I figured I had the best hand and bet it that way.

A couple hands later I again had the cowboys and raised to 300. Only Stanica called. Flop brought the one card I did not want to see, an Ace. I raised, she called in a heartbeat and I was done with the hand. We checked it down and she flipped up A/2. So I got busted again. Fortunately I got out of both hands as cheaply as I could but I was still a clear short stack. So then I went into hyper-tight mode, folding my way until I had about 1500. I got it all in a couple times, everyone folded, I built back up. After a while I hit a straight and added a large number of chips. Then I lost a bundle more when Josh tripped his Jacks and was hurting again.

I then made a smart play...I got tight. You can't lose many chips when you are folding. I need to do this before I get low...except early on I like to gamble a bit, see if I can hit a couple hands and build chips early. Once I lose about 1/3rd of my stack I start looking to only play the premium hands and double up.

At some point I stopped reading as sharply as I had at first. One key hand with Roman is a good example. I had a 10/8 suited or some such trash. If not in the big blind I probably would not have even been playing it. He checked the flop, I had top pair, I raised. He came over the top all-in. That is uncharacteristic which made it a great play. I figured I was ahead but also vulnerable...he could catch up easily. I said, "You don't normally slow play." He cracked one of those "Oops, I got caught" smiles and I said, "But you never bluff" and his guilty smile got even bigger. So I read he was indeed bluffing and called...and he flipped up 2 pair. I was dead...except the turn gave me an open ended straight flush draw. That meant I had a lot of outs...9 cards for the flush, 8 for the straight, 2 of them being duplicates so 15 outs, about 30%...and the river was a 3 of spades so I doubled up. This was the only time all night I drew out on someone. On the bright side I was getting in with the best hand most of the time. On the dark side...people were drawing out on me like mad.

We got down to the final 4. First I follishly gave Josh 4900 chips when I thought I was beat but he might fold...he didn't. Then I hit trip queens on the flop. I raised. Josh called. There were 2 queens and a king on the flop. For him to call there were not many hands he could have had. He could have had a queen, a king, or maybe an A/10, A/J, something like that where he was shooting for a straight. That was my warning side to play with caution. Sure enough the River was another King...I had a boat but he either had the same boat or, more likely, a higher boat. He asked how much I had, put me all in. I knew I should not call...but did anyway because I talked myself into believing he might, despite not having done so, be bluffing. Or he might, despite my actual belief, have a queen, not a king. Of course he had the king and I was done.

I do that a lot. I figure I am beat but talk myself into believing they have a worse hand than they do. This crushes me, particularly as we get close to the finals. I am wondering if I am afraid to get beat in the finals so deliberately sabotage myself before we get there? Early on I got away from a couple hands I could have gotten crushed on (the pocket kings, both times, and when Josh tripped his Jacks) but later in the same type situation I choke off all my chips. Something to work on.