No money

One hand. It was one steal attempt gone bad that took me out. The hand was at a critical point of the tournament. That hand led to my own Matusow blow up and I was bounced somewhere in the 20s.

There was 108 people ponying up $50 to play at the smoker last night. Biggest crowd yet I believe.

As I have stated before, this crowd is full of bad poker players. I have a good understanding of how most of them play. That is probably why I was upset with my own implosion at the end.

I had made it through the early rounds with nothing significant going on. Stole some blinds, got caught trying to steal, and maybe overplayed pockets kings (was going for the bounty on a loose guy and was sure he would call with his A high). Got lucky when I pushed on the short end with A 2 and was called by A 6. The deuce on the flop kept me alive. I would chip up some more taking out a player but of course the bounty money was gone.

It was when I was moved to table 1 that it got ugly. With blinds at 500/1000, the table seemed tight. That was mistake 1. I made a quick judgement on how the table appeared to be with just 4 hands being played. I had posted my blinds and seen them go so I figured I would get them back by stealing. With K 5 I went for it. Problem was the SB woke up with A Q. That was mistake 2.

When this tournament gets down to less than 30 players, most of the field is on the short end. Ms of less than 2. Most of these players will fold their blinds to raises even if it leaves them micro-stacked. I have seen people with 2000 post the blinds, pay the 1500, and try to last out the next orbit to squeak into the money. Knowing this, stealing with K 5 was a bad move. I could have lasted another orbit, found a much better place to steal, and made my way to the final table.

I knew that one double up would get me there. That was my focus. But I got untracked by trying to steal a blind. It was the wrong move at the wrong time of the tournament and I paid for it.

I spent some time talking with some people that had been playing in Badger Poker a couple years ago. A number of these people have migrated into this game. One of them even used to read this blog. When she told me that she didn't anymore, I promised her I would make fun of her here, but I will not. She is a cute little blond who kept filling up my cup as she brought the pitcher around. Give me beer and you get a pass. If she does read this and they get a home game going, you can reach me at stb31@hotmail.com. I am up for playing.