Day 7: Another Accomplishment
The Perfect Storm and I Get Blown Away
So the small blind let me limp in on this one with Qc 7c. When the flop came down Ac Jc 7s, it looked ugly, but I had paired the board and had the flush draw so I placed a bet of half the pot. I guess my opponent wanted to slow play it, because he called. When a spade came on the turn and my opponent checked to me, I went all in hoping he’d call. When he did, I feared that he had a better flush for a second. Then I saw his cards.
For the record, I would have had a hard time getting away from 2 pair with aces. But he must have seen the flush. This would have been a tough call.
I celebrated for one second until the river turned a 7. I had three 7s and a flush. He had three 7s and two aces, a full house. I had a hard time not falling out of my chair. He had all my money.
Another Reason Not to Let Me Limp
Everything I’ve read says limping is a no-no. I see three reasons for this:
- If you raise pre-flop, you might take the hand down right there without a fight.
- If you raise pre-flop and make the hand you win a lot more than if you limp and make the hand and can’t get any callers because no one else made their hand.
- Raising pre-flop gets rid of hands you can’t see coming-crappy hands no one should be playing.
- Raising pre-flop gives you information about the other hands. Is this guy holding a hand good enough to call a raise of 3 times the big blind? He’s raising that bet? That must mean something.
In this case, no one raise and I was the small blind and so I got a free look at a monster flop. When it came out, I checked to see whether someone else had hit the jack. I didn’t want to bet and take the pot right then. Sure enough, someone else had hit. He bet half the pot. I called. Then the turn came. It was a 5, which didn’t help me. I checked. He did too. I was confused. Then the river came and it gave me the totally hidden full house.
How lucky for me that he had hit 2 pair on the turn because I bet all in and he called. He gone!
Ninth in a “Big Tournament”
It may not seem that significant to everyone, but it felt good to me. Today I made the final table of a 180 person sit n’ go tournament. I ended in 9th place (the first one out at the final table) but that was good enough to quadruple my money. Better than that, it felt awesome.
Saved by the River
So far I’ve written mostly about how other people suck out on me. I think it is only fair to let you know when I’ve done the same. In this case, I overplayed top pair again and it should have lost it for me, but I was saved by the river.
This was a cash game where a lot of people had left the table. Or should I say that I drove them off the table. I was playing well and getting cards. I had taken the $8 I put on the table up to almost $50. I put this guy all in with my tens, only to be surprised by his trips 7s. Oh well, I lose. But wait, the river has a present for me.
Unfortunately, I didn’t leave the table until I was back down to around $30, but that was stilla good night. Right now I’m working hard to try to understand when to leave a table. I can’t seem to leave at the top of the money. I have to lose a little before I know it’s time to go.
