Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Thought that I would cry the other night. I had accumulated enough raked hands on Poker.com to get entry into a $20,000 freeroll. There were about 900 entrants and it paid, I believe, the top 150.

After nearly going out, I mount a strong comeback and make it down to the final 50. It was kind of fun seeing each person go out and the payoff keep going up. Unfortunately, I spied the $4,000 first prize and was hoping for the final table to have a shot at it.

The hand that did me in: I had A-A and pushed out a decent raise. Maybe I should have pushed more, but I was afraid of the nasty little things that seem to happen to pocket rockets.

One of the chip leaders was at the table, and much to my surprise, he called. The flop was 2-3-5. I put in a decent raise but wanted to make sure that I wasn't trapped by someone hitting a set. Surprisingly, my opponent calls. The turn is an Ace. I now have a set of aces, but am vunerable to the straight. I push, and the other player puts me all in.

Now, seeing as how the other player appeared to be quite good, I know he didn't go this far with something like A-4. I am guessing that he either had two pair - aces and whatever - or more likely, had a set of 2's, 3's, or 5's and is planning to bury me. Hehe - I'll show him. I call.

Much to my surprise, I find out his deadly secret: 4-4! Now, I am surprised that he called my original bet with such a low pair. Guess he thought it was worth the risk to try to hit the set. Probably put me on A-K or something. He was gambling enough to stick with me for at least one more card after the flop, figuring that if he hit the Ace or a 6 he would reap the big reward. Well, the Ace coming on the turn was the worst thing that could have happened to me.

A quick prayer to the poker gods to deliver an Ace, 2, 3, 4, or 5 on the river went unanswered. Twelve outs, but none came. I went out in 36th place and won $100. Now, $100 in a freeroll is great. Compared to that $4,000 first place prize, however ...

A positive aspect of the tourney was that I played solid, fundamental poker and went deep in a tournament that had many good players. It gives me hope that all these hours that I invest are making me better each day. Unfortunately, part of that learning process is taking the kind of beat I took. My gut told me to fold - "he's got to have the straight" - but my mind told me to stay. Maybe next time I will make a better decision.

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