So Far So Bad

Well it's barely 9pm ET tonight, and I've already taken not one not two but THREE super annoying beats in online tournaments. First, the 2200-entrant $10 buyin event on party. I won the first hand preflop with a 3x raise with QQ, folded the second, and then in the third hand was dealt AKo. It was folded to me, I raised 4x, got 2 callers. Flop comes A-10-9 with two diamonds. I like the flop for a couple of reasons -- obviously I have tptk, and no possible overpairs, but there are also many possible draws out there. Now, with 8 players, that many draws would become unattractive as my likelihood of losing to one of them grows. But with only two players in the pot, I like that there is a good shot I can get some action on a flop where I most likely have the best hand (barring the fish playing A10 or A9 that is). To be sure not to give any free cards to the drawers, and to make sure no one has flopped two pairs (or find out if they have), I lead out with a bet of 200. First guy calls, and second guy moves in. I think for a while, and I just don't put him on A9 or A10, so I have to call. The other guy folds, and we flip -- my tptk against his 78o for just an OESD. Well, needless to say I am thrilled, the turn is a rag, and then the river comes...Jack of clubs. Just like that, on hand #3, I am out at the hands of a fish.

Then, while waiting for the 9pm $10 buyin event on FullTilt, I enter a $10 sng to pass the time. On the 8th hand in that tournament (I won 2 of the first 8 hands for small pots), I am dealt 9-10o, and after 4 limpers to me, I decide to limp along as well in last position. With 5 players total, the flop comes 8-9-10 rainbow. 3 checks, and the guy before me bets 200. I think and raise him to 400 with my top 2 pair. Everyone else folds. This guy raises me to 600. I move in, thinking "What are the odds that he flopped a straight with a cripey hand like QJ or 76, just like that"? Well, he raises me allin, and at this point I am clearly committed and have to call. I confidently flip my 2 pairs, expecting to see the OESD along with a pair. Bam! JQ it is. Of course no boat fillage comes for me on the turn or river, and I am out of that tournament as well.

To top things off, I then entered the $10 buyin tourney on ftp, which ended up with close to 400 entrants. Cutting to the chase, in hand #10, I'm in last position, holding 10-10, everyone folds to me, so I raise it up 5x, trying to look like a too-big bet for a steal. The BB doubles my raise, which I didn't believe for a second represented a hand bigger than my 10s. But I know I don't want to take 10-10 to the flop, so I move him in. He thinks for about 3 seconds and calls, flipping QQ. Great! Of course no help on the board, and I am down from 81st place out of 370-some to about 360th place with only 600 chips left. 5 hands later with my stack dwindling, I am dealt 88 in first position. I debated just pushing right then, but figured instead I would just limp, draw in some other callers, hopefully then a raiser so I could push and get the max bang for my buck with what should be the best hand out there. Well, not exactly. My plan works to absolute perfection, and when the same guy raises from the previous luckbeat, everyone folds to me, I push. He once again calls. I flip my 88, expecting to see A-10, KQ, etc. But no, this time it's JJ. Of course no help on the board, and just like that I'm out. In the first 16 fucking hands, I get 10-10 with all folds to me, and 8-8 in a great situation short stacked, and in both cases the same ahole is dealt QQ and JJ and knocks me out. Goddammit why does this seem to happen so much to me.

Three horrendous luckbeats in the span of about an hour. And to think I was all psyched up to win something big tonight!

As a post-script, I did end up also entering the stars $5 turbo nl tourney tonight, and doing pretty well in it, so I'm feeling a bit better than I had been previously. Generally I try to avoid turbo tournaments, because that fast structure just plays into the hands of the fish, the pushmasters and the suckerouters, and detracts from the chances of the solid, smart players. Generally I'm a guy who believes that given enough time for me to get my share of good cards, I will grow my stack and find my way into the cash, or get bad beat out trying. But I guess because my standard tourneys weren't doing so well, I found my way into the large turbo tourney on ps, and I managed to triple up on the third hand of the tournament with AKo and a board of AQJ rainbow. One guy moved in with what turned out to be KJ, and another pushed all of her chips in with A-10. I thought it over and had to call, despite my sick beats from earlier in the evening, and once again I had the best hand going in, but for once this time that best hand held up as no straights and no trips came on the board. I managed to ride that huge opening (which vaulted me to 3rd place out of 1600-some active players) all the way past the first break and up to the $1000-2000 blind level. After getting the benefit of a great suggout when the Ace I needed for an improbable straight hit the river, I won a few, lost a few as the tournament entered pushfest time. With about 35% of the average stack, and an M of just under 4, I decided I had to push regardless of my cards when the 2000-chip big blind came to me, taking another 30% of my stack right there. So, even when an MP player pushed allin, and an LP player called the allin move, I still stuck to my guns, being thankful for the equity of the two callers to my allin move, despite the fact that I had 97o as my hole cards. Well, the poker gods smiled on my briefly then, as the flop of 8-10-Q rainbow gave me the flopped straight, and tripled me back up to over 20,000 in chips. Then, 8 hands later I ended up in another 3-way pushfest, with my pair of 3s up against a K2 and a KJ, and I was sitting pretty once again, and primed to be among the top 10 on the leaderboard if those 3s could hold, which I felt better than usual about since the two Kings counterfeited both of my opponents' hands somewhat. The board was 962 rainbow. Turn was an Ace, leaving me a big favorite with one card to come. And, the river, well let's just say it wasn't the counterfeited King. It was a jack, and I had been sugged on once again to get me out in 84th place out of 1777 entrants. In all a positive end to a very negatory evening on online poker.