Disclaimer: I am not an investment advisor. When I describe my own trading activities, it is not intended as advice or solicitation of any kind.

13 October 2010

It's Better to be Lucky than Good

About time for a post about poker, ain't it?

Played a little online today to get me in the mood for this weekend when the poker pals from out of town invade.  Folded seemingly forever in a 9-player sit-n-go while I played some shallow cash.  Doubled up in the cash game, which was nice but unexciting (QQ vs JJ all-in preflop and they held up).  About the time the cash game started drying up, I noticed we were down to 5 in the sit-n-go; so I banked the cash and concentrated.  By the way, these 9-player games pay the top 3 players.

With a stack of 1400 chips and blinds at 60/120, I shouldn't have been in a huge hurry to leave.  But for some reason I was, because when the guy under the gun min-raised, I decided to push with ATo.  He actually thought about it before he called with AQo, which was even more embarrassing than an insta-call.  His dominating hand held up, and I was down to 35 chips.  And now I was under the gun.

All-in with any two cards, now.

Next hand: J3o and my Jack kicker won me 105.
Next hand: all-in blind with Q4s and I hit a full house for 270.

This was when I offered the other players a deal.  Nobody seemed that interested, and the 6200-chip big stack (we'll call him/her Sandy) actually tossed out a "lol" at me.  How rude.

Next hand: A9o on the small blind and a river 9 won me 660.

Whew!  Through the blinds with 660 chips.  Nice!

I had enough I could fold looking for connectors, an ace, or big cards.  So I did, treading water for 14 hands.  Got two walks along the way, which were very nice surprises, but still had to pay some blinds, so after folding for a while I was down to 420 on the button when I found A2o.  First ace I'd seen in 14 hands, we were down to 4 players now, and the blinds were up to 80/160.  Easy decision when the guy on my right folded to me.  Sandy was up to 8600, having taken out the other player.  Flopped a 2 to double up to 920.

Another fold.

Next hand, shoved in on my own big blind with A9o after Sandy-the-big-stack limped on the button.  He/she actually folded, so now I had 1160 without a contest.

Folded my K9 on the small blind, giving the big blind a walk.
All-in on the button with ATo, Sandy called with 69, and I won 2240.
Another fold.
Another walk.
Another fold on the small blind.

Sandy was nice enough to double up the guy on my right, but he/she was still the chip lead with just under 5000 chips.  I stayed out of that one.

With the blinds up to 100/200, I decided to try to steal with A6o.  I raised it up to 600 and Sandy min-raised me from the small blind (big blind folded).  Hmm.  400 to call, 1800 to win... sure, OK.  I called, and the flop came 865.  Sandy insta-shoved, and it felt like an ace to me.  Besides, I only had 1240 chips left, and with his/her bet the pot was 3440.  Fine.  Sandy flips AK and my flopped suck-out holds up.

Here I was the chip-lead 27 hands after having only 35 chips. 

Five hands later I won another 4300-chip pot from Sandy, leaving him/her with 920 chips and solidifying my lead up to just under 7000.

Two hands later, Sandy went out 4th, bringing me up to 8500.  That's what s/he gets for "lol"ing at my gracious deal offer.

I think I'm ready for the weekend.

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