Feb 15 2010
Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda
Lately I’ve been playing pretty tight at the tables. I’ve hit a pretty bad run of cards and if I’m being honest with myself have begun to play a bit scared. Never a good feeling. I try not to watch hands where I’ve already folded but I simply cannot do it. I watch every hand and find myself (more often than not) saying “Man, I wish I would have stayed in for one more street.” Here are just a couple of examples from a recent game:
Hand #1
The under the gun player folds and the next player raises to $400 early in the tournament. I look down and see a nice looking King Ten suited and think for quite a while before throwing my hand away. I figure that against an early position raiser I’m most certainly behind – potentially crippled. Of course, the flop comes out with three clubs including the Ace. I could only sit and watch as the pot was pushed to someone else after I’d laid down my nut flush pre flop.
Hand #2
The second time I had the deal I look down and see those beautiful bullets. It’s music to my ears when the under the gun player raises. It’s folded around to me and I make a decent size raise which he calls. At this point I put him on a middle pair or AK.
AA on button, raise, called by one player. The flop comes 224 and he moves all in. I fold. This is a pathetic play and I realize it even before he turns over QQ. Playing scared sucks.
I’m happy to say that the next time I sat down at the table I did NOT play nearly this scared. It’s very important to look at your game objectively. Gotta plug those leaks whenever you can!
See you after the flop.
A pretty terrible flop for my sevens but I do have an inside straight draw. I check giving up the lead and the button makes a reasonable bet which I call.
Trips on the turn puts 4 to a straight out there but I’m backed into a corner at this point. I move in and get called instantly by J9 for a made straight. I fail to fill up on the river when an Ace comes and the tourney is over.