Life and Times of a Poker Addict

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Well, yesterday was a soul sucking adventure in poker. I'm trying to look on the bright side of things because I know that I really didn't play poorly except in one sit n' go, unfortunately it was a $100 sit n' go, and I tilted off my stack in that one pretty quickly.

Everything seemed to start off well. I was waiting to head out and run some errands, opened up Full Tilt for a quick look and saw a buddy from my tournament win the other night so I sat in with him on a $1/2 NL table. Posted and was dealt 26 offsuit. No one raised it up, so we played six handed and the flop came 269. Thank you poker gods! 3 minutes of poker and I'm up $42. Fold, fold, fold until the big blind comes around and then I'm looking at Eke and Ike (Aces for my non-poker playing friends). I picked that up from T.J. Cloutier and I kinda like the sound of it. So 7 minutes into poker I'm up $106, and it's time to go get some things done. I like that kind of return on time and investment.

I probably shouldn't have played again that day, but when I got home I decided to play in the 11am $20 tournament on Full Tilt. Out of 91 entrants, I went out 53rd on a hand I can't really remember. I got dealt pocket 10's three times in the first thirty hands and each time I had it I went up against KK, AA, KK. The signs were out there, I should have paid attention and just stopped playing.

Got back in on the 3pm $20 Full Tilt tournament, with 115 participants. This time I went out 94th when my KK got cracked by A6 of clubs. You're probably thinking he hit the flush on me to knock me out. Au contraire, bonjour, he made his four card straight. Pay attention to the signs, John.

Then I sat back in on the $1/2 NL tables for a while and bought in for the max of $200. I'm down about $20 when I get dealt Eke and Ike again, and I've got two raisers in front of me. Raise again to $50 and then lightning strikes and the other big stack at the table pushes it all in for $180. If this were a live game, forget the rest of the players, I would have acted out of turn to get my remaining $128 in the pot. Fold, fold, fold and I'm all-in. He turns over KK. JENGA!! Flop comes blank, blank and blank. Birds are singing, I hear children laughing and playing outside and I think I hear something about world peace breaking out on CNN from the television in the other room. Turn is a blank and I'm starting to figure out, damn, I'm gonna be up like $900 on the week after this... A FUCKING KING ON THE RIVER?!?!?!?!? ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think the earth stopped rotating for a second on that one.

So what does a stubborn Irish-Italian do when he gets stomped like that by a two-outer on the river for $178? He buys in to the $100 tournament at 8pm. 71 players and two pros, Chris Ferguson and Hoyt Corkins, make up the field on this one. A lot of the usual suspects are playing and I get sat at a pretty decent table. Things are bad at first, good enough to call and see the flop and then hitting nothing. Finally start catching some cards and things are off and running. I get monumentally lucky with about 53 players left when I thought someone was trying to buy the pot and re-raised all in with my Q 10 offsuit. He called and turned over AQ. *insert taps theme here* I was feeling pretty stupid about my read until I spiked a 10 on the turn and doubled up. So now I'm off and running again and people are just getting dumped out of this tournament as the blinds go up and up. 40 players, 30 players, 20 players... I'm still in this thing with T7269, good enough for 8th position. So it's seventeen of us plus Chris Ferguson and the top nine positions get paid on the final table. I'm revelling in the fact that my game is finally coming along, as this week I've been finishing in the top third of most of the tournaments I've been in and I am seeing a lot of progress. I get K9 suited in the big blind ($240) and the first position makes it $480 to go. Folds around the table and the small blind and I both complete. Flop comes 259. SB checks to me, I make it $1500 (pot bet) and the other guy takes most of his time before calling and the SB folds. Turn is a blank and I make it $2500 to go. Again, he's taking his sweet time, and I figure he's raised with KQ or AJ or something and trying to decide if the sweet poker angels will deliver one of his six outs to him. All-in. Hmmmmmm, I did not expect this move, sir. But I push back because it's only $1200 more and I've got the King so maybe one of his cards is dead and then he turns over A9 clubs. Unbelievable. Crippled with about 14 players left. A few more hands go by and we're down to 12 players when I get K10 on a 10 high flop. I think you can guess that I went all-in, only this time the other short stack on the table is in with me and she turns over A10. I'm noticing a theme here, are you? So now I'm down to T594 with 11 players to go. Then the miracle cards start coming, I'm getting blinded in and catching one of my rags to win. I'm back up to $2200 in chips and we're at $300/600 blinds with $75 ante. A few hands of nothing and then right before I get the blinds again, I'm dealt KJ. SOMEONE PLEASE KNOCK OUT TWO PEOPLE ON THE OTHER TABLE!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!! All-in. I get called by AA and the flop comes 9,10, J. That seems a bit unfair, Full Tilt, no need to taunt me like that. I'm knocked out 11th, Ferguson knocked out two hands later in 10th, and we both miss the money.

I can at least take solace in the fact that I can tell everyone that Chris Ferguson and I got knocked out right in front of the money last night.

Then my drunk buddy comes home and goads me into playing some more and I get knocked out 5th on a $50 2 table sit n' go where the top four get paid when some guy cracks my AA with runner runner flush and then I get knocked out 4th on a $20 sit n' go where top three get paid. I had 46 in the BB special, 469 flop, I raise, get re-raised by some ass clown, go all-in and he calls with AQ offsuit, no draw on the board. Naturally the board paired the nines on the turn and then delivered his Ace on the river and I'm done again.

So it's 3am and I must be lonely... And pissed... And down $460 on the day.