Nines, Suck: Part III...

10/30/08

Nines, Suck: Part III...

Today, I went to the Green Valley Casino Poker room to play
in their $45.00 NLHE tournament. You got $2,000.00 total in
chips to play, with 30 minute blind levels. I usually don't
like playing in short chip tournys, but I had some time in the
morning to play. I also wanted to check out the casino, as I've
never been down there before. About 27 people signed up for the
event. You could also rebuy back in if you busted out in the first
level. I guess it can be a good thing, it puts more money in the
pot. It kinda' felt like a house game, hehe...

I managed to make a good bluff (well, I thought it was one, the
other player never showed down). I was sitting in midposition
with Jack/Ten of Spades. I just made a call of the bet, which
was $100.00. There was a total of about 5 callers, which put
the total pot amount at $500.00. The flop was dealt King of
Hearts, Queen of Diamonds and Three of Diamonds. The small
blind player checked, the big blind player bet out $200.00,
the player to my right folded, I called the $200.00 and the
dealer button folded. We were now heads up in the pot. I
thought she might be betting a pair Queens in this spot, just
to see where she was at in the hand. If she had a pair of Kings,
I think she would have at least bet $400.00 (a pot sized bet
at the time), to protect top pair, from a flush draw. I also
had an open ended draw on the flop, where if I hit my straight,
I would pretty much have the nuts. Anyway, the dealer dealt
out a Five of Spades. That was not much help for me. The
big blind player bet out $300.00 into a pot of $900.00. I still
put her on a pair of Queens, she didn't want to get too invested
in the hand, I guess. I decided to call the $300.00, and now
the pot held $1,500.00. The dealer dealt out the river card,
which was a Ten of Diamonds. All the while, I was looking at
the other player to see her reaction to the board. She really
looked upset that the river card hit a diamond, putting flush
and straight draw cards on the board. I had a lowly pair of
Tens, with a busted straight draw now, I may have to bluff
at this pot. The other player checked and I looked at my chips
to see what I had left. I had about $1,200.00 at the time.
I decided to push all in, as I felt that I could take her off
her pair of Queens (well, I don't know if she had them, that's
what I put her on). Anyway, she let out a sigh and slowly
folded and said that she did not want to see a diamond hit
the river. With her saying that, I felt she indeed had
a pair of Queens and I was behind in the hand. Whew...look
at me, sweatin' a $45.00 buyin poker tourny, hehe...

Basically, I survived into the fourth level, where blinds were
at $200/400. I got down to the final 9 players and had only
$1,800.00 in chips.

Those momentary lapses of inattention can get you in trouble,
which alludes to how my bustout occurred.

I was sitting in midposition and saw that I had Nine/Ten OS in
the hole. I decided to push all in, knowing that the small
blind and big blind players (who were at my last table) were
pretty tight and would lay down hands like Ace/Jack, small pairs,
marginal hands that could beat my hand preflop. I failed to
realize that the player 2 spots ahead of me had already raised
the bet to $1,000.00 even. Everyone folded and the bet went
back to him. He had alot of chips and made sort of a crying
call. I hoped that my hand was live and didn't run into a
premium pairs. Just my luck, he had an overpair of Jacks in his
hand. The board flopped out Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts and
Three of Clubs. I need a miracle of runner Nines or Tens. Well,
the turn bricked out a Five of Spades and the river bricked out
a King of Diamonds.

I should have paid better attention of the action in front of me.
I didn't even have my shades or Ipod on. What happened?

You have to minimize these types of mistakes, yo...

Again, I broke my rule of going all in with a hand that had a
Nine in it, lol...

Nines, do suck...hehe...