Let me preface this post with: I am not a very good loser! Especially when its to an inferior player...
I ventured out to the Hard Rock Casino - Tulsa to participate in one of the nightly $120 buy-in NL hold'em tournaments. I had a great start with six limpers to me in the big blind with 10 - 4 off suit. The flop came 10 - 4 - 4... The small blind checked and I made a small bet. Five folds and a call by the small blind. Turn was a 7 and again the SB checked to me and I laid out a bet for roughly half of the pot and he called. The river was a 2 and he checked and I again bet half of the pot and he folded... I was off and running.
Our table was the first to be broken and I moved to a new table after about 45 minutes of play and around 9K in chips (starting stack was 6K). I immediately went card dead for the next half hour. I finally woke up with A-K diamonds under the gun and made a raise and everyone folded back to me. I guess I had a pretty tight image at the table.
Finally the cards started coming around... or maybe I just got a bit more aggressive, and took down a few more pots, most without a showdown.
I went into the first break in the top 10 overall in chips and easily had the lead at our table.
I've always told my wife thats she's the biggest cooler in the world. I can be on the biggest roll evr and she calls me or stops by to talk and everything goes south from there. So why in the name of all that is good did I call her during the break???
After the break, I was once again pretty card dead, but I did manage to take a couple of short stacks out and win a couple of other rounds of blinds just by betting and watching everyone fold. The guy to my left, on the other hand, went on a big heater.
He had been down to around 3K in chips and ended up with it all in and sucked out on the river to double up through another player. When its your time, I guess its your time... And it was definitely this dude's time as he continued to catch cards and come from behind to win pots. He soon had taken the chip lead at our table.
Then things seemed to change as he lost a couple of pots, but still had a small chip lead over me. I limped into a pot with A - 8 spades as did he, the small blind and the big blind checked his option. The flop came down A clubs, 8 diamonds, 10 diamonds. Both blinds checked and I bet 3K into a pot of about 4K and he raises to 9K!
I had been at the table with him for a few hours so I knew he was pretty reckless at times. I thought about it and figured him to have A - small of diamonds. Both blinds folded and I called, leaving me around 12K in chips.
The turn was a Q spades and I laid out a bet of 3K and he again raised, this time to only 6K... If I call, then I would only have around 6K left for the river and I pushed it all in. He stopped and thought about it for a while... counted his chips... he had me covered by 800 chips. If he calls and loses, he's done... He calls!!!
I throw out my A - 8 for two pair and he turns over A - 2 diamonds... The only thing that will win it for him is a diamond... Then comes the river and its a 6 diamonds and my night is over.
I was right in the way I played it and would have loved it if we would have been in a cash game, because chasing a draw is sure way to lose over the long haul.
I stood up from the table and he reached to shake my hand... I reached out and shook it and as I walked away couldn't help myself but to do my best Helmuth impression: "How many times can one person suck out?" I said.
He was out of the tournament less than thirty minutes later after having climbed to 4th overall in chips after taking my stack.
Sorry for the bad-beat story... It won't happen again... hopefully.
