Elks Lodge Tournament

over 90 players, 3500 starting chips.

I started slow, folding hand after hand. By the 2nd time through the blinds, with the blinds up, I had only been able to "play" one non-blind hand...I picked up pocket 4s from middle position. I had it read as a soft table, raised 3 times the blinds, they folded.

A couple hands later picked up pocket 10s, raised 3 times the blinds to 300, one caller. This guy was a maniac. He would call down straight and flush heavy boards with anything from a pair to a low flush. Of course, the maniacal nature of the table had been set on hand one when Aces raised, Queens called, and on a flush and draw heavy board where neither ever improved, they got it all in.

The flop came Q/Q/8. I thought he might have something like A/Q, K/Q...but he might also have something wildly different. I threw out a 300 chip feeler bet. He raised to 500, we pointed out it had to be 600 so he reluctantly did.

That could mean a couple things; it could mean he had the queen...or it could mean he thought I was making a continuation bet and would fold. I called to see one more card. It was a blank. I checked, he raised. I thought about it, said, "No, I can't get away from thinking you have the queen." and folded. He showed pocket 8s. He had flopped the boat. I got away from it pretty cheap but still it cost me 600.

A few hands later in the big blind with several limpers I had the bachelor hand. The flop was something like 5/7/8. Checked around. Turn was a 9. Checked around. River was a king. A guy made a minimum position bet. I was not sure if he had the king or straight so I called 200 to win about 1000. Nope, he had the straight.

So now I was in trouble. I had won one hand, played 3, and was getting blinded out. I wanted to make a move but I just had trash hand after trash hand. Finally I picked up K/J suited. I had about 1500 left, we were on the 4th blind level, 3/600. A guy 2 seats to my right raised, I went all in. He had pocket queens...uh-oh. One out. And I flopped it to double up.

Next hand I picked up pocket 10s. I raised it. The guy who value bet the straight called. The flop was beautiful, A/10 diamonds and a rag. I went all-in. He went into the tank. I put him on either something like a diamond draw or MAYBE something like top pair and trying to figure out if his kicker was good. But I thought the draw was more likely, I thought he would definitely call with top pair. I was wrong, he had A/9, top pair, mediocre kicker, and he called. My set held up and suddenly I was chip leader.

I won a couple more hands and finally our table was broken up. I ended up sitting next to John. I came out firing, knocking down a couple quick pots with strong hands. And I was playing correctly...it was raise or fold, put the pressure on. I even raised a J/8 off and everyone folded. I knew I had the correct table image.

Then I went card dead. I doubled John up once when I had pocket 9s and he hit an over.

But I was bleeding.

At the next break I had about 11,500. And the blinds went up.

Now it became an all-in fest so unless I had good cards I could not play at all. And with people going all-in for 6, 8, 10K it just wasn't worth playing. One guy kept going in with stuff like K/5 so I knew I would call him with any reasonable hand. And I picked up pocket 3s. Sure enough, right on cue he went all-in. I was going to call...when 3 people called before it got to me. My 3s went into the muck. Ironically...they would have held up. Nobody ever paired and he took it down with A/Q.

Well, I was in trouble and ended up going all in from late position with K/2 hearts. If everything followed recent form, everyone behind me would fold. But the big blind had K/J and called. No help on the flop. None on the turn. But I spiked a deuce on the river. It was a bad beat.

Bled down a bit, picked up K/6. All-in since I would be in another circuit anyway. Again, one caller, the big blind (different guy, I did this one from early position). He turned up...wait for it...K/j. No help on the flop. None on the turn. And I spiked the 6 on the river. Brutal.

But now I had over20K.

And by the time the all-in fests let me play another hand I had 16K. With blinds at 6K...I was in trouble. Pocket 5s. All in. Only the guy I had spiked the 6 against called...and he only called because he was in for 6 in big blind and only had 2K more. He flipped up K/7. And hit the 7 on the first card. So now I was down to 8K.

And I was on the bubble. Should I have made that move? We were 9 handed, final table. That guy had only 8K so he had to survive the blinds. The guy 2 spots to my left would be all-in on his circuit of the blinds. So I could sit and wait for them to go through the blinds and see if they survived...or I could take a shot at really moving up the rankings. On the bubble, a lot of people get tentative. That is the correct play for them. For people like me who are trying to win, not make the points, I would argue it is the wrong play. I am not disappointed at all.

Well, the next hand, the guy 2 seats to my right went all-in on a flush board with a pair of queens...and was taken out by a pair of aces. Neither of them had any of the needed suit, though the board had 4 hearts. Crazy. So I was at least 8th.

I had 2 hands left. And next hand I picket up 7/8 diamonds. Not a good hand...but at least a decent drawer with the odds it was probably better than my next hand. I went all-in, everyone except the big blind folded, he just had k/5. But I never got any help and was gone.

Weird. When I played well, I lost chips. When I played poorly, I won lots of chips. I was a suck-out artist all night. And that makes it hard to feel good about finishing so high.