Tournaments Suck Balls

That seems to be the refrain lately, unless you're one of these donkeys. But, I'm not a cash game expert, so I continue to fight these donkeys in the $28k. Took a stab again last night. Same story, same results, just a different fashion.

Started off at a table that featured the maniac of all maniacs. You know, the kind of guy who constantly overbets the pot, sometimes as badly as betting 1k into a 90 pot. His flop bets usually meant nothing, and I took a couple pots off him with JJ and again with 54 when I flopped an OESD that got there on the river.

Chipped up early when I got AQ in vs AT and AK vs AJ. Love it when people overplay their medium aces. Was running near the top 20 just before the 1st break, ended up somewhere in the late 30s.

Chipped up again when I flopped trips with 66 on an A high board. He played back at me on when the turn came a T. I really hoped he had AT, and with straight & flush possibilities, I decided not to slow play and repopped him. He asks if I have AA and folds it. Next hand, I raise it up, he calls again and folds to my flop bet. I show him AA. I know this is fucking with him and I'm hoping I can turn this into getting his whole stack, but I get moved to another table.

The new table has one of the big stacks so far, but I'm really not too far behind him. I'm not wary of anyone else, and I get quite a bit of AK-AJ to take down some pots. Chip up to a high point of 8200, good for somewhere in the 20-35 range at this stage of the game.

This is where things get aggravating.

Raise to 600 from CO+1 with JT, CO calls, button goes all in for 400 more. We both make the call. Flop comes T high with 2 clubs and I expect to check it down. CO bets 1k and I tank it for a bit. Did he flop a set? AT or KT? With no clubs, I'm easily beat, so I make what I think it a good lay down.

CO shows 55. There's no 5 on the board. WTF? What's worse, the all in shows 66. I lose a 3700 pot because of the redonkulous play of the button. Seriously, what was the purpose of that bet?

Chip up again to 7500, get TT in the BB. Folds to button, the bigstack, who limps, and SB raises 5x. He's about half my stack. I reraise to 2000, thinking that he can lay down a weak ace, or if I'm up against two overs or a pocket pair I'm ahead. Not really afraid of AA-JJ here. He tanks it and goes all in for 600 more. He shows AK. The A high flop seals the deal. I'm down to about 4k.

Between the JT hand and the TT hand, I start going on tilt. Not to the point where I start spewing chips, but I don't play very focused, and I make what was my only mistake of the game.

I play tight for a while until it folds to me in MP with T9o. When I play this, I'm really only trying to steal. Button calls and we go heads up.

Flop is K high, two clubs. I have no clubs. My hand is dead, and the only way I win this pot is on a bluff. I slide the betting scale over, primed to c-bet and take the pot down, when, from out of nowhere, my inner wussness takes over, and I check it. We check it down and the buttons A9h is good. A c-bet takes this down, and I knew it, but I second guessed myself and decided not to put any more of my lowstack in, even though a c-bet is the right play here.

Down to about 2600, I get the lovely JackAce sooted a couple hands later and raise to 1000. One of the buttons call. Flop is J high. The rest is automatic. He calls my push and shows AK. Nice! I flop a 3 outer and take a dominating lead.

Turn is a pointless Ace.

River is a K.

Fucking gross.

I start shaking with anger. The final stomach punch. I go out in I don't even fucking know or care.
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For the past two MTTs, I've been very pleased with my play. I've only made 1-2 costly mistakes per MTT, and when I say costly, I mean costly to a point - I'm not busting out on mistakes. The mistakes have been damaging but not crippling.

I was really surprised when I realized how much those two hands bothered me. I didn't even realize it until it was afterwards. I let the "what ifs" get to me. What if my TT holds up? What if the JT hand gets checked down like it should have been! That puts me at about 16-18k and in great position. I had a decent read on the table, knowing who to play back at and who to be cautious with. But the cards weren't there tonight, and I just couldn't recover.

I'm feeling good about my MTT play and I know that I'm going to find success sometime, hopefully soon. However, my bankroll isn't where I'd like it to be. I'm gonna focus on some SNGs later today, then give poker a break for the weekend. I need to get some rest and refocus, then work on my shortcomings.

A HUGE shout out to Alan for railing me during this thing. It was a lot of fun chatting it up - if only you could have pointed out my need to c-bet that shit sooner! It's all good - I gotta get past mental lapses like that. Thanks again, brotha.

If you made it this far, thanks and have a good weekend!