Ace Queen, No Good...

9/10/08

Ace Queen, No Good…

Today I went to play my favorite NLHE tourney at Caesars.
Only 36 people signed up for today, but it is hump day, not
a busy day in Vegas. It was good enough. I eventually
busted out 11th out of the 36 players.

I think I have to listen to my gut instinct more when playing.
I got lucky with 2 hands and of course lost the other, which led
to me exit out of the tournament. My first lucky hand consisted
of my having Ace/Queen OS on the dealer button. I raised it to
$250.00, which was 2.5 blinds at the time. I got calls from
the small blind, big blind and a mid position player. The flop
was dealt Queen, Two and Four, all OS. The small blind checked,
the big blind bet out $400.00, the midposition player folded,
and I then reraised him the $1,200.00 (I had a pretty healthy
chip stack of $7,000 behind). The small blind player folded,
the big blind player called and the midposition player folded.
There was now about $3,400.00 in the pot. The turn was dealt
another Queen, now I had 3 Queens with Ace kicker. The big
blind player bet out $1,200.00 (he had about $2,000.00 left
behind). I was kind of perplexed in trying to guess what he
held in the hole, I just knew that he was pot committed. I
paused to think, “does he have a full house now, like Fours over
Queens, or Twos over Queens?”…Hmmm…I decided to put him all in
for the rest of his chips. I tabled my hand for 3 Queens, and
the big blind flipped over Pocket Aces. Wow, he didn’t reraise
me preflop with that hand. If he reraised me big, I probably
would have folded my hand before the flop. It was his own fault
for trying to slow play Aces. You either win a small pot or lose
a big pot with Pocket Aces. Anyway the river bricked out and I
won the pot with my 3 Queens. Ace Queen Good!!!

My second lucky hand consisted of my hand on the dealer button
with Pocket Sevens. The under the gun player raised it 2 times
to $2,400.00. Everybody folded to me. The UTG player’s raise
indicated a pretty strong hand, a hand that wanted action. I
was hoping for Ace/King, or something like that. I had about
$13,000.00 in chips, it was pretty much now or never (blinds
were going up and we still had about 19 players left, with the
last 4 into the money – still a long trek). I decided to go
all in and asked the UTG player if he had a pair of Aces. He
gladly obliged and called my all in with what else, Pocked Aces.
But the poker gods wanted me to play longer and hit me a third
Seven on the River. Poker is brutal, but I’ll take that river,
hehe.

We were then down to the last 11 players. I had about $22,000.00
in chips with blinds at $600/1200, not necessarily short stacked,
but not a chip leader. The UTG player raised it double to $2,400.00.
Everyone folded and I peeled up Ace/Queen of Spades in the small
blind. I decided to call as did the big blind. The flop was
dealt Queen of Clubs, Two/Four of Hearts. I wondered am I good
here? He might have raised with Aces or Kings. Maybe not Aces,
as I have the Ace of Spades. I bet $7,000.00 into a pot of $7,200.00,
I had about $12,000.00 left behind. The big blind player folded
and the UTG player paused. I thought he may have a big hand now.
But I have top pair with top kicker! He then went all in over the
top of my bet and had me covered by about $6,000.00. I hate these
decisions, I even said out loud a few times that I felt that I was
behind in the hand. He made a very strong bet. I called his all
in and he peeled up Pocket Queens for a set. I’m pretty dead in
the water, I need runner runner Aces, that’s it – no chance for
straights or flushes with this board. No luckfest this time and
he took me out.

I’ve told myself not to play Ace/Queen out of position with a raise
in front of you. I should have folded preflop. But the hand looks
so pretty, suited too…Ace Queen, no good, she hurts me too much, hehe….