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Bubble Entendre
Thursday, May 25, 2006

Bubble Entendre

Last night I played one game, The Mookie, and had a good ole time in the process. The final result is probably a given if you read the title of the post ( I bubbled going out 6th out of 42 with 5 places paying), but das pokah baby. I had a few cards drop my way just to get that far, but I feel like I played a pretty good game in the process. Early on I got into a SB vs. BB hand with smokkee where we both had K with a stinky kicker, but my kicker was a tad more funky than his(his K8 vs my K6). Unfortunately for smokkee I was suited and the turn and river brought my suit to help me and cripple him.

That hand got me above average and helped me set a decent pace. Not long after I flopped the nut flush and took all the chips from a K high flopped flush. He was low on chips so I didn't chip too high on that one. Other than that, I don't recall too many hands. The only monster I recall was AA and everyone folded to my raise. When we got down to the bubble, I was either last or next to last in chips when DrewsPop got it all in against SirWaffles who was the chip leader. Pop was dominated AK vs. AT, but hit his Ten on the river to stay alive.

After all the hands that were played during the tournament, it is wild how one hand - and even one card - that I was not involved in proved to be a factor in me cashing or bubbling. I would like to think we all play the game with a resolve to put ourselves in a position to cash and/or win any tournament we play. Sometimes, however, there are mitigating circumstances that you cannot control that end up making the difference in a perceived success or a gut punch disappointment. Last night was neither a success or a disappointment as it was not enough money to worry about, plus I was happy to see Pop do well as he is my buddy.

Poker is a wild game. Every turn of the card can make you or break you, sometimes when you are not even in the hand or at the same table. It can be the most frustrating at times, but truly makes this game an adventure to play.

Mookie, I really enjoy your tournament and I think Gilain is right, for me it is the closest thing to a home game on the virtual felt. And keep on live blogging them each week as I enjoy reading the action during the tournament or the recap the next day to see what I missed at the other tables. I'm sure I'm not alone in that respect.

I see it all too often these days...a post about a NL cash game player where his/her monster pre-flop hand is toast by the river at the hands of an inferior hand. What we don't often see is the guts of the hand and the true thinking behind how the hand played out and what the winner was thinking in the process. Yes, many times it is a donkfish playing horrible and being rewarded for his actions, especially at the very low limits. However, how often is it actually a calculated well thought out play where the inferior hand played every street correctly given his set of parameters and managed to stack the guy playing the monster hand?

Like it or not, I want to be that guy finding the spots to take inferior hands and stack the monsters with them. Monsters only come so often and sometimes even when they do come - even when you play each street correctly - you still get spanked with them at times. I don't want to be the guy waiting around all day for a monster. I want to play my hands correctly and take calculated but correct risks. When the monsters come...awesome...when they don't...make the game work for you in the interim.

Many poker books preach the way of the aggressive player, and other avenues have given us a framework to find successful ways to break the tight players bank. Abdul comes to mind, but what I've read from him is based on limit games. Lately Waffles has been pimping Fluxer like he is the next coming, but I gotta tell ya, the more and more I read the more I'm interested to hear what they both (and others) have to say. At first I was pretty tired of Waffles seemingly over doing it, but after a while I liked hearing the way they think about the game and how they put the non traditional plays into perspective. Not saying it is right or the way, but it is great to get it out there to discuss.

I don't even play enough NL cash games to enter the arena of thought on putting yourself in a position to destroy the field over the long haul, but I hope to get there someday and reading fellow poker bloggers will help me get there.

Follow-Up Thoughts From My Previous Post:

A big thank you to the commenters who helped me feel a little better about this here blog. When you write nearly every day of the week it is inevitable that you will eventually be at a loss for words. I just have to learn that, though I should strive to blog everyday, sometimes I just have to do something else and let life happen. Usualy when you do that the material will write itself. It's just a friggin' blog, but I want to enjoy it and I have so far and plan to going forward. This is the longest I've ever stuck to writing anything, so every day is a new record for me.

Big Ups To These Fine Folks Who Left A Comment In the Last Post:

pokerfool
dawnsummers
hoyazo
smokkee
alcanthang
garyc
felty
iakaris
klopzi
csquard

posted by TripJax @ 11:27 AM,

1 Comments:

At 10:25 PM, Blogger drewspop said...

Hey Trip, I am finally catching up on my blog reading as I was out on Thursday.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words. That was a rough suckout for me to put you on the bubble. I got lucky, lucky, lucky.

See you at DADI.

 

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