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Stunning Poker
Thursday, December 21, 2006

Have you ever seen the You Tube video of the fat kid on the roller coaster ride nearly slipping through his safety belt and plummeting to his death, all the while his Mom is laughing it up and having a hella good time? If not you should check it out. I would link to it now, but I don't have access to You Tube through work. Actually, I just did a Google search and found this link and, though I can't view it, may get you to the video. I'll confirm the link when I get home tonight. Or you, dear reader, can just comment and let me know I've not sent you astray.

Anyway, after the Mookie last night, I felt like the fat kid on the roller coaster (I actually think it is one of those bungee rides, but we'll just call it a roller coaster). Let me explain.

I had high hopes prior to starting the tourney. I've been playing well lately, so I felt good about my chances. At this point, I'm the fat kid, but just getting on the ride is exciting and sure to be a good time. I get down to around 800 early from our starting stack of 1500, but manage to build back up to over 2500 relatively quickly. The roller coaster has begun.

I continue the up and down theme and eventually get into a hand with G where I ended up winning with my AJ pairing a Jack against his 55. This got me back on track, but the roller coaster continued. My biggest mistake came at this point. Most of my memory of these hands is blurry, so bare with me if I miss a few details.

Fuel55 had come to our table and, with the big blind at 150, I raised it up to around 400ish with KTo in middle position (I think). He was directly to my left and min raised me to around 800ish, but at the time I did not realize it was a min raise. I was distracted with non pokery stuff, but that is completely my own fault. I called his raise and saw a Ten high flop giving me top pair okay kicker. I then checked which was a mistake. He then bet around 800 and I pushed my stack in, which was probably around 1800 or so (another mistake). He insta called and showed his AA. I'm the fat kid who has been getting jostled around all over the place and I'm slipping through the safety belt.

In hindsight, I made the ultimate mistake of being distracted, overplaying my weak hand, and misreading what I put my opponent on. The culmination was giving myself a big slap in the face. At this point, I figured the game was over, but I still had 98 chips. I couldn't even meet the big blind, so I figured my night was effectively over. This is a roller coaster ride though right? My night was not over.

A comment before I proceed however. Fuel proceeded to do something that bugged me at first, and I almost let it effect me, but in the end I did not. He got a case of diarrhea of the mouth. I could be making a bigger deal than I should, but on rare occasions I like to let my voice be known. I played the hand poorly and accept that, but I just don't get people who proceed to make jack ass comments after the fact. Granted we broggers enjoy our shooting the shit at the tables when playing amongst each other, but sometimes I get the feeling it is more than that. Some people do it when they played a great hand, but ended up losing the hand to a bad beat. More puzzling, however, is the player who plays a great hand, wins the hand, but still has to make a comment. What are you getting at or trying to prove?

His comments almost pissed me off, but I decided not to worry about it because I did play the hand poorly and there was nothing I could do about it. I can't take it back, but I can re-evaluate the situation after the fact and learn from it. Whether I lay a bad beat, incur a bad beat, or am part of a poorly played hand, I move on to the next task at hand. But people who try and belittle others at the table intrigue me. I would like to think of it as a form of attempted tilt, but I was 99% out the door, so there was not much to tilt me on. If it was just diarrhea of the mouth, then I implore you, try the higher road next time. At that point, I was the fat kid and Moms was laughing about my situation.

Moving on...so there I am with 98 chips left and a big blind of 150 creeping up on me. I ended up winning a couple of hands and before I knew it I was over 1000 again. I don't remember many of the hands, but I again was treading water between 1000 and 1500 for a while. I managed to build that up a little more and then...get this...I took Fuel out. I played the hand exactly how I wanted to, got him to commit his chips, and managed to build a hefty stack through him. He had been aggressive in the blinds when I would raise or call so I knew if I could get him to push all-in there I had a good chance of winning the hand. I pressed my small edge and won.

At that point I was back in control of my destiny. I was the fat kid who was no longer at risk of dying, but still reeling from the near death experience. A small part of me also reveled in the hand I just took down. Methinks I may have tilted Fuel a wee bit, but we're talking about a $10 tourney here folks.

Not long after that hand, I managed to chip up even further and took the overall lead at around 17,000+. From 98 chips to 17,000+. I was feeling like it was meant to be. And when we hit the bubble, I felt even better about my chances of winning. I didn't even have an inkling of thought about not, at the very least, making the money. Life had other plans though.

When we were down to the bubble I made the mistake of not adjusting to the players and their stack sizes well enough. I wanted to take some blinds down, but the players I was against are not your typical donktastic players who are going to cower on the bubble and let me take over. After a few unsuccessful raises where I wielded to return all-ins, I found myself back in the mix with around 10k. I'm still fuzzy on a couple of the hands on if I should have called any of those all-ins. I need to go back and look at the hand histories a little closer.

From there the blinds went up and the others players were very aggressive, which just ultimately put me in a bad spot. I had made some mistakes in this tourney, had been on a major roller coaster ride from worst to first, but was still eyeing a bubble finish in the face. In the end, I was in fact the bubble boy, and though it smarted a little at first, I knew I was extremely lucky to have even had the chance to be at or near the money.

At this point I'm the fat kid who gets off the ride and comes to the realization that I'm still just a fat kid who didn't die, but will really have to work hard to get any skirt.

Sometimes I play great tournaments and win them and other times I play great and am no where near the money. Other times I make too many poor decisions, but still find a way to have a chance at the tournament. I certainly want to work on my game such that I can eliminate as many of the distractions and errors that I make, but that comes with time. Either way, I'm going to take my wins and losses with an even keel.

Know this, however, I'm going to push my edges when the situation warrants and I feel I am ahead. Sometimes I will be wrong, but still beat you. Sometimes I will be right and still lose. Either way, I will remain even keel. When I do win those hands, though, it's on. I've got a lot to learn about poker, but I'm not backing down in this lifetime.

posted by TripJax @ 2:41 PM,

11 Comments:

At 3:45 PM, Blogger smokkee said...

helluva a comeback even if you didn't finish ITM. very impressive.

i don't know why Fuel felt like kicking you when you were down. he probably just felt great about the way that hand played out and got a little excited. i've been known to mouth off when i win a big pot from another player who misplayed their hand. it just comes out in the heat of battle.

in last week's mOOk, you got me to call your all in with AdKd vs. your KK preflop. it went raise/reraise/all-in/call. i had no business calling your all-in. i was 2nd on the board in chips and you were the only one who had me covered. best i could hope for was a coin flip. a retarded call on my part.

but, you didn't make me feel worse about it. i was beating myself up after that hand anyway.

much appreciated.

 
At 3:58 PM, Blogger TripJax said...

I think in many situations you would have been right to call with that AKd, but the way that one played out, you are probably right that it stunk of me having a huge hand.

The hand with Fuel also stunk of him having a monster, but I didn't catch it during the hand so I paid for it after.

Like I said, as bloggers in a private tourney, we are always cracking jokes and having a good time...it's just on occasion I see things that make me scratch my head. And it has nothing to do with the cards.

If we are all playing a live game around a table and the same remarks are made, we probably all laugh it off together and see it as the joke it is. Unfortunately the chat box, much like email, leaves a little extra for interpretation. I'm sure Fuel was just poking fun, but damn sometimes I wonder about poker players and their comments. If it is to try and tilt someone, then so be it...cause that works sometimes. I just didn't see it that way. No biggie. I don't lose sleep on these things and like you said, a lot of it is probably the emotion of the moment. It's all good.

Thanks for commenting smokes...

 
At 4:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great post, Jax. Yes, Fuel certainly sent you a postcard screaming MONSTER, but if you were distracted, you were distracted. I love how people think they're so amazing for winning a hand with AA. Next time politely say "that hard to win with aces, eh?"

Moving on, loved the end: "At this point I'm the fat kid who gets off the ride and comes to the realization that I'm still just a fat kid who didn't die, but will really have to work hard to get any skirt." -- Classic.

ITM or not, certainly one hell of a comeback. Well played, sir.

 
At 4:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great comeback last night...I had Hollywood on the phone and a deal was nearly inked for "TripJax: The Movie" but alas it wasn't meant to be and I lost out on a huge movie deal. Gee, thanks alot.

hehe...

 
At 4:40 PM, Blogger Jordan said...

Trip, minor point in your post, but I'd like to point out the odd fact that you, me and G always seem to go to war in these things. Friends indeed, ya pricks!

 
At 4:57 PM, Blogger TripJax said...

Damn Mo0k, that would have been the shizzle. Especially if BORAT played me in the movie.

*Wins Huge Pot*

"Nnniiicccceeee...High Five...I'm goot card player for money and chickens, right?"

-----------

Jordan, so true. The hand was so much about us playing each other. I had beat up on his blinds for a while, but surprisingly had pretty good hands when doing so. He never retaliated, but I felt like he might. A while later he re-raised a hand up when we were both pretty near in chip stacks, but both needed to accumulate. I just didn't think he had the goods and would either fold or we'd be racing. I could have been dominated, but I didn't feel like he had AK or AQ and definitely didn't feel a big pair. I felt like he was playing me more than he was playing his cards. It was an interesting situation, but I nailed the river. As always, I feel bad about doing that to my boys, but I know he'd do it in a second, so it's all good.

 
At 5:00 PM, Blogger Littleacornman said...

Freakin' great clip and post.

 
At 7:50 PM, Blogger SirFWALGMan said...

HAHA! Love the Fat Boy! You played a good game Trips.. Sad to see you bubble but better than me.. heh. I only lasted one more spot. People always talk shit at these things.. hell, Jordon and I have been known to alot.. I think sometimes the adreneline gets flowing and you say stupid shit.. As long as you have confidence in your game you should just shrug that stuff off.. nice comeback again!

 
At 12:37 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very nice comeback.. It stinks to make it back and then bubble... I feel your pain.

 
At 9:08 PM, Blogger Wolverine Fan said...

Merry Christmas

 
At 1:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

There's being funny while shooting the shit, and there's being an ass.

He was being an ass.

 

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