Dumb, dumb, dumb

Last night I played a live tourney and ended up doing pathetically (wound up something like 26 out of 35).

During the first couple of rounds I just could not catch cards to save my life. The first hand I was dealt was K3 offsuit, and after that I didn't see a card higher than a 9 for a very long time. I eventually got AQ offsuit, which I ended up folding after I missed the flop and someone else came in with strong bet.

I won two small pots by betting when an ace came out. I had a decent pair on both occasions (TT and JJ), but the other players assumed I had an ace since I'd been beyond tight at the table, and they quickly folded both times.

Then I made my real dumbass mistake. I had KT offsuit, and thought it to be a playable hand. (I was in middle position with a relatively short stack and there wasn't more than one caller in front of me.) I called the blind of 800, but then another player in late position raised it to something like 3,200. I guess I really wanted to play that hand because I stupidly called. Then the chip leader (also in late position) who had previously just called went all-in. I was pot-commited with very few chips and pushed the rest of them forward with a sick feeling in my stomach. He had AK and the other guy had 77, which held up to win.

I felt absolutely horrible after going out that way. I never should have called the 3,200 with my lame little KTo, but I guess I just really wanted to play a better hand than most I'd been getting that night. I mentally beat myself up all the way home... like why am I doing this, I must be a terrible poker player, blah blah blah... but I really enjoy the game so will do my best to get past it. It's really just one tourney after all, right?

Luckily I tend to do well at radio call-in contests, from which I've won more than $1,000 over the last few weeks.

How do these work? Does the DJ ask you what hand you've got??

Sometimes the cards don't run and that's that! If you're short-stacked you cant be as choosy with the hands you play, so I wouldn't beat yourself up over that one!

No, they've got nothing to do with cards (though I did once win a trip to Las Vegas by "playing blackjack" on the radio). It's usually more of a "be caller 101 and win" or "be caller 25 and match two squares" deal. Radio stations give away scads of great stuff... I often win concert tickets, meals out, that sort of thing.

I've felt a little better about last night's tourney as the day has worn on. Will give it another shot tomorrow.

Yeah I call it suicidal tendencies..... When for some odd reason the wrong message gets sent to your hands from your brain!

Yeah, the old hand-brain disconnect!

I just finished second in my first SNG so not feeling totally down, though it was a "steps" one and only 1st place moved on to the next level. Oh well, at least I've got a free entry into another one later on.

I donked off all my chips in a tourney with Q6o today, so I have you beat!

(ok so I was BB in unraised pot and some uber-donkey had limped UTG with AK on the world's most passive preflop table and called my pot bet on the Q-high flop with overcards, but meh. I already had notes on him saying "Is passive with big hands" and "can't get away from big hands" so me pushing on the turn K with second pair crap kicker was probably st00pid - I've been playing too much Omaha8 recently..).

Anyway, don't limp with a short stack. Fold > Push > Limp here. In this case if you push you're getting called of course, but in many cases people might fold better hands than yours if your stack is still threatening enough.

Just a tough spot. You probably just fold there. Save your chips until you get a pp or ak and just push all in. This way you still have value to your bet.

I LOVE the K,10 but I wouldn't call a big raise with it, especially if they are off-suit. It's just a bad call and you learn from them.