Kicked In The Junk

So for my birthday, I decided to take the day off and make the rounds of local WA cardrooms, hitting up as many of the daily NL tourneys as I could stand. Talk about getting Birthday Beatdown...

First one at 10:00am: It was too early to think clearly, and I made a bad call when I raised EP with KQ, flopped a K and led out. Got raised and I went over the top... he had AK. Sat tight on my leftover chips and finally pushed UTG with Pocket Tens. Got two callers, so I figured I was in trouble, especially when the flop showed the King and Jack of spades. Another guy pushed and the button called. First guy had A9c and was just trying to make a play (he was pretty much short-stacked as well); and the Button had QT of spades so had a pretty powerful draw.

Well, at least I thought I was already beat, so it would have been a nice surprise if the Tens actually held up. Alas, no birthday surprise for me as a Q hit the River.

Second one at Noon: Second orbit - get AQ in the BB. Raised by MP and I call. Flop is QQx. I check, he pushes... not a tough decision on whether I should call or not. He has KK, as I somewhat expected. King on the River gives him the boat and I'm out on the first real hand I play.

Here's where I take a little break and play a live 3/6 game and proceed to make most of my buy-in money back. At least I'm getting a little bit of lovin' on my birthday!

Third one at 3:00pm: I don't get anything decent in the first round, but at least I'm still alive. Everytime I decide to make some sort of play, raising to steal the blinds, or limping in on the button to try and take down an orphan pot; I get re-raised or bet into so I have to abandon ship. The blinds keep going up and I've got to make a move soon or won't have enough chips to really push anyone off.

King-Duece suited, what the hell, all in for about 4x the BB. Get called by KJ and the flop comes K2x. Wow, something going my way! I get K2 again the very next hand, but now that I have chips I can fold it with no remorse. I sit tight for another few orbits and the blinds have doubled again, so I'm back in the same position as before... need to make a push while I have enough to actually push people out. K6 suited, all in for 4x the BB. Get called by the same person who called my K2 and he's got me dominated again with KT! A 6 on the flop puts me in the lead, a T on the turn takes it away, and a 6 on the River lets me double up again.

I call two short-stack all-ins with A2 of clubs and River the flush. "Must be your lucky day!" someone tells me. "It's my birthday and I haven't had much luck yet, so I've been due."

So now I'm practically the chip leader at my table (30 people left). I throw away everything, until I see Pocket Kings. There's an all-in UTG that's about 3/4 my stack, so I go all-in over the top to isolate. He shows AQ. Board comes 89TJ... no Q to give me a higher straight and I'm crippled. It's always, ALWAYS those fucking Cowboys that kill me.

I've got no choice now but to go all-in with my A8s in the BB. Get one caller who's got K9. The board is all low cards, and the only paint we see is the King on the River. Always those fucking Cowboys.

Well, that was about all the Birthday Bad Beats I could stand, so I gave up the last two stops on my tour and enjoyed with rest of my birthday with my kids, and then with a few hundred of my closest friends online.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 20, 2005 at 1:10 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.