TalkFlop.com

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.

Heads up for the title and I’m out chipped by about 10:1.  We’ve been playing heads up for about 20 minutes at this point and I’m hanging tight.  I’ve moved in a couple of times and he’s folded.  I’m to the point that I really can’t call a raise so he’s moving me all in when he raises (typically from the button).  I look down at 77.  I obviously can’t fold here and would probably take the pot down here with an all in (my opponent confirmed this after the game).  Instead I choose to raise and try to win a big pot.

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.

I knew when I raised preflop I could be getting myself into trouble.  In all honesty I may have been getting a bit antsy but I was really hoping to get a double up to gain some traction.  Going into heads up 10:1 or 15:1 I knew I was in for an uphill battle and figured that this hand was as good a time as any to try and make my move.