The overwhelming strength of J-5 off-suit...

Sorry for the lack of updates in the last few days – I ended up having a busy weekend that didn’t involve much playing of poker (though I did read a chapter or two of Harrington and watched some on television), and last night I was super-tired and figured that wasn’t the best time or frame of mind to be playing. I did play in one $1 SNG on Sunday night though, and was fairly unlucky not to cash.

On the third hand of play, I found 3-3 in middle position. There was one raise in front of me, but only up to $40. For just 2X BB, I’m definitely calling that. Imagine my joy to see a flop of A-Q-3. The two picture cards were both clubs, so I was resolved to either take it down right away with a big bet, or get all the chips in there and see what happened. One of the pre-flop callers raised to $200, the original raiser just called, and I popped it up to $1000. That set the first guy all-in, and he called. The original raiser was the big stack (he had tabled someone on the first hand with a full house) then went all-in himself, to which I quickly called.

- The post-flop raiser showed Q-8 off, no clubs.
- The pre-flop raiser showed A-4 off, no clubs.

Thank goodness for the stupid. As if it were a message from the poker gods, the river was the case 3 to give me quads. Of course, I wish I had gotten quads on the river in a cash game against a big stack who had the nut flush, but I’ll take them in this case too!

That brought me up to $4,050 in chips, and admittedly I didn’t play my big stack well. I could have probably bullied some people around, but I generally prefer to semi-bluff rather than straight-out bluff against loose opponents. You saw what people were raising and calling with above, so I didn’t want to get too cute raising with absolute garbage.

I didn’t seriously play another hand until Hand 21, with 10c-8c. I figured I hadn’t played in a while, so let me pop it up to 3X BB (I was the initial raiser) and see what happened. Of course, I got four customers. The flop came Qs-Js-2h. One player checked in front of me, so I put out a continuation bet of $388 (1/2 the pot). One person folds, then another went all-in for their last $920. Well, shit. I of course muck, and so did everyone else.

Six hands later, it was down to four-handed. I only played one of those hands, won about $100 with Ad-9d. So, under the gun, I call with Jh-10h. I know I should have raised or folded…that was the kind of mental error that I made because I was tired…and least I was smart enough to only play a $1 SNG rather than risk any kind of money playing a cash game. The SB folded, so it was three-handed with me, the genius who raised with A-4 from the hand where I had my set, and one other player. The flop came 5-5-2 with no hearts, and was checked around. The turn was the 10d, Mr. Genius bet $175, and I called…the other person mucked. In truth, I had no idea what he had. The river was the 6h, and Mr. Genius bet $525. It looked like a steal attempt to me, so I raised up to $1,600. He re-raised me right back to $2,675, and given how much of an idiot donkey this guy was, I should have given up the hand right there. But no, I went all-in and he of course called.

Of course, he shows J-5 and sends me to the rail. This is why I try not to play when I’m exhausted, but even if I had raised pre-flop, this guy probably would have called me anyway. I’ll call it 60% poor play on my part and 40% shit luck.