Cash Game Anticlimax

I had pencilled in the Thursday cash game at Loose Cannon for a few weeks as my big cash session of the month. Unfortunately, it was a huge let down - I was card dead (not a single pocket pair in 3 hours and AK once) and played pretty poorly on top, chasing too many draws and by the end playing poor quality hands out of frustration. I am quite happy playing low suited gappers, but when you get a continual stream of total trash hands like K2, Q3, J5 it gets a bit disheartening. I’ll have to make sure I don’t suffer from the same indiscipline in my next cash session as I ended this one £300 down.

Fortunately, my tournament play continues to go well, and I placed 3rd in the league event for £270 so not too much damage done. Out of the 6 tournaments I have played in the “pre-Dublin period”, I have achieved the goal of 2 cashes, with still one more tournament to come, so it’s gone okay I think. I’ve gone deep in a couple of the other tournaments as well so I feel reasonably well prepared.

As far as last night’s tournament goes, I was short stacked for the first 2 hours - at one point I pushed with 57 and the French Professor dwelled for a long time before dumping pocket tens, so that was a real let off. The Volcano’s return to the cardroom ended in disappointment after he slow played Aces and got a big blind special surprise from Jody. I arrived at the final table in second last place with 3500 chips, sandwiched between Jason on 8k and Tom on 21k. It would be case of picking spots to push and hopefully pick up the blinds where I could. A few hands:

Blinds 200-400
Hand1
The Professor raises in early position to 1200, I find 77 in the cutoff and push for 3500. Geoff dwells and passes.

Hand2
I find A♠A♣ in the small blind. Jason has limped. I raise to 1.5k total which Jason calls. The flop is all spades and I push with the nut out if I have been outdrawn, but Jason passes.

Blinds 300-600
Hand3
We have lost a couple of the new players. Remaining are Tom, Mike, Jody (bigger stacks) as well as myself, Jason and the Professor on the shorter stacks. I push with 2♦4♦ for 4,200, in an unraised pot in mid position. It’s folded and I show to hopefully generate some action later.

Hand4
Very next hand I find pocket 6s and push again for 5100 this time. Jody in the big blind instacalls, but he only has A10, so I am happy to take a race at this stage of the tournament. I win the race and am now up to about 3rd place. Jody is crippled.

Hand5
Jody pushes for 1200 total. I call blind in the BB. I have the monster that is 2♠3♦. Great. Jody has A5.
An Ace on the flop puts Jody in prime position, but I hit a 2 and then a 3 on the flop and river to send him to the rail. ;)

Blinds 600-1200
Hand6
Mike raises to 3000 in mid position. I call with A♥K♥.

Flop 3♠ 6♥ A♠

Check Check

Turn 2d

I bet 3000 which is called

River 2c

I decide to check, because it’s a 12k pot already, and I think I puke there if I bet and Mike comes over the top on the bubble. AK is good.

Hand7
We return from the break, and Jason goes on a tear - winning 4 pots in a row. The Professor is eliminated on the bubble (by Jason of course - JJ this time). Mike is now the short stack and pushes into my big blind from mid position. I have AJ so make the call - Mike is live though with Q9, but misses and we are down to 3 players, all of us fairly big stacked. I estimate Tom has 28k, Jason 18k and myself 16k.

Hand8
Jason folds and I call in the SB with A♥5♥. Tom checks.

Flop Q, K, 2 (one heart)

Tom leads for 1200. I don’t think he got much of that flop given that he didn’t raise pre-flop so I re-raise to 3600 with Ace high. However, it appears I have glued my cards to my forehead as he beats me into the pot with an all in. Of course I don’t even have a credible draw so I fold. Tom shows the 2…not sure if two pairs or not. :(

Blinds 800-1600
Hand9
I have taken down a few pots preflop and am up to about the 20k mark. I call a small raise in the BB with J2 clubs.

Flop 2♠ 7♦ 9♣
Check Check

Turn is 8d

Tom bets 2000. I call

River is Ah

Tom bets 4000. I am sure the Ace didn’t help him and I wonder if he’s on the busted diamond draw. Following my polarised river betting theory I call with my pair of 2s and my theory is proved correct. Unfortunately, the same as against Sonny last week my opponent has the nuts! (J10). Back to the drawing board and down to circa 12k in chips.

Hand10
Tom raises on the button to 4000. Jason passes and I have A♦5♠. Hmmm. This is a tough one 3 handed - I can’t flat call as Tom’s raising range is pretty wide here given his stack size and the blind levels. I decide to push and am insta-called as Tom has AK. I have the chance of a suckout as a 5 hits the flop, but a deserved King on the river seals my fate.

So, £270 in the pocket, but I swiftly repatriate these funds to the poker community on the cash table, and to Jody in particular (who has taken playing any two cards to extreme levels now :)).

A real shame, as I had been looking forward to this cash game for ages. I haven’t had such an anticlimax since I was 12, and the stopper fell off the front of my skate during the first lap of the annual Rollerdisco Grand Prix. Painful memories…