If I wanted to make a career of this, I could have worked the WSOP Circuit Event in St. Louis 4/12 to 4/23, tried to get hired for Chester, PA (Philly) 4/26 to 5/7 and followed that with the final pre-WSOP Circuit event 5/10 to 5/21 in New Orleans where I still have a valid gaming license. I missed getting hired by the Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL for their World Poker Tour Showdown event 4/18 to 4/23 but I'm still in this as a part-time thing. Working all those tournaments would be too much like having a full time job. The real reason I wanted to do a few other events is that I wanted to be sure to keep my skills up so that I could be sharp for the WSOP and have a little fun along the way.
Back home I'm back to playing golf and poker. The layoff did my golf game good. First round back I shot a 2 over par 74, one of my top five best scores. My poker game, maybe not so much. I spent a little time at the Hard Rock asking myself, "Why does this always happen to me?" I still haven't quite figured out how to beat the push monkey. Of course, there is the strategy of just playing very, very tight and only putting chips in the pot with extremely strong hands but the loose-aggressive players seem to see me coming and get out. I wind up having sessions like the other day when over the course of a few hours, I got A-K or A-Q six times and never flopped top pair. Frustrated, the seventh time, when I flopped Q-10-7 holding the A-Q I ran into a caller holding Q-10 and kicking my butt. I know, I know, Phil Gordon says you should never go broke with just one pair, but sometimes, I just can't lay it down.
The main problem I have with loose, aggressive push monkeys is that I know that with their reckless style of play, they will eventually go broke and give back all the money they have won running people off of pots. I just can't seem to be the one that busts them.
Not that I haven't had my share of good luck hands lately. Here are some that made me smile:
- I min-raised with pocket Kings and got reraised all-in by a short stack who is called by another player. I re-reraised and got called for the side pot. The flop comes King high. I bet out and took the side pot. The all in player shows pocket sevens and the board runs out with the fourth King on the River. Sweet. Kings have been trouble for me over the last few years.
- Twice during one $1-$3 No Limit Hold'em session I cracked pocket Aces. Once I made a Flush going all-in with two overs and a Flush draw, spiking the Flush on the River. The other I called a big raise with pocket fives. A five on the flop gave me the strength to think I could beat anything and so I went all-in when the raiser check-raised me. Yes, I could be losing to a bigger set, but he called for his whole stack with just the Aces and my three fives held up.
- There is an old Hold'em adage that pocket Aces are good to win a small pot or lose a big one but once in a while, they win a really big one. I reraised with the Aces and got two callers. The flop came 6-7-8 and with about $80 in the pot I went all-in for $250 and both of my opponents called. My plan had been to price the draws out of the pot and thinking that I would only really get a call from someone who just hit three-of-a-kind I was really surprised when my opponents had 9-9 and 10-10. I had to fade two nines, two tens and four fives to avoid the straights My Aces held up and won a pot with almost $800 in it.
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