Finally I get pocket tens again and hit another full house. I make about twenty off of it. Then I hit a straight in the big blind and that gets me up to about $70 total. Things are starting to turn around. This is the longest live poker session I’ve had in forever and I’m dead tired. I’m so tired that I actually doze off during one part of a hand at the table. This is where we meet the hero of my story. The hero is called the zone. I used to hit the zone in track and football and high school periodically. I can’t explain it. I’m not trying to do it. My subconscious just takes control of my body and my mind can’t stop it.
Case in point #1) I have 6-4 in the big blind. It is folded around to the button who just calls. The small blind calls. I check. The flop is 6-7-8. It is checked around. The turn is a 6. It is checked to me. I should bet with trips and draws to a straight and full house right? That’s what I’m thinking but I check. The button bets. Small blind folds. I fold. What the hell am I doing? Why did I just fold that face up? Why did I just say “Nice Straight.”? The button makes a little smile and turns over 9-10.
Case in point #2) I have 8-3 off in late position. It’s raised pre-flop and I am thinking fold but my hand throws in the $4. The flop is K-10-4. The raiser bets out. My hand auto-raises. I’m sitting there going what the hell did you do that for Hand? The guy calls. The turn is a miss and the guy checks. Hand bets $4. The dude shakes his head and folds.
The whole time I was sitting there thinking “What the hell am I doing?” but like I said I was in the zone. It was pretty sick.
Anyways, long story short. I got unstuck and walked out of a 7 hour session +$8. What can I say? I’m a high roller.
The next stop down memory lane is Bodog’s Sunday Guarantee. I have played in it twice previously but both were about a year ago. I didn’t cash in the event. That is disappointing. I didn’t bring my A game either. I probably brought my C+ game. That’s even more disappointing. C+ just isn’t good enough against a field of 1900+. And I only give myself a C+ because I feel I played well after I stuck myself in the position of being a short stack by playing my D game for the first couple hours of the tournament. However, there is a bright spot. I had to find it. Something positive to give myself hope. The first two times I played in this tournament I felt hopelessly over my head. Not so now. I felt like I belonged and that if I played well I would have a chance to take this thing. It gives me a reason to play again. It’s not a $39,000 check that Wells Fargo may or may not accept but it’s something to keep me going.
The last stop down memory lane is a visit from my old nemesis. This nemesis goes by one name and one name only: Top Set of Jacks. It seems like every huge (monetarily) bad beat I take happens with this hand. The most memorable which I previously posted about was when my top set was beat by a runner runner flush in Vegas. Once again, I was playing $1-$2 No Limit. I limped in early position looking for a raise that I could re-raise. However, one person called and the big blind checked so three of us saw the flop. The flop came J-7-4 rainbow. Big blind checked. I checked too because I knew the third player is aggressive. Sure enough he bets the pot. To my surprise the big blind raises. I’m not worried though because I have the best hand. I re-raise him. Once again I am surprised when both players call me. The turn is a 10. There is still no flush draw. Big blind checks and I push all in for roughly the pot. Both players call. Big blind turns over 5-6 and the other dude turns over 3-5. What the hell? A gut-shot and an open ender and they are taking away each other’s outs? Needless to say a 6 hits on the river and the biggest idiot wins a $500 pot. I can’t fault the open-ender too much. By the time he called for the river card he was okay pot odds. Anyways, the nemesis struck again. Next time I’ll just see if the nemesis likes the taste of the muck and save myself $100+.
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