6/30/06 $2,500 Short handed No limit

One hell of a roller coaster on this day. I was down to two pink chips at one point (1,000 chips), and should have been broke on a couple occasions before then had I been playing my normal aggressive style. One round into play the guy on my immediate right seemed like a fairly tight player, so I weirdly decided to flat call his open for 100 with TT (blinds at 25/25). Normally this would be an obvious raise on my part, but I told myself I wanted to play tight in the first round and feel things out. The small blind came over the top to 400 and I immediately grabbed my chips to go all-in, as I thought this was an obvious squeeze play, but decided discretion was the better part of valor, or however that saying goes. Anyway, I flat called, and the flop came QQx. Check, check. Turn bricked – check, check. River bricked as well, now he fires out 500, which was insta-called, and flips over K,K….disaster averted, phew. A few hands later, UTG to my right again raises to 100 and now I look down at a beautiful AhJh, however decide to play it passively again for some odd reason and flat call! I swear this is honestly the way the hand went, though many of you probably can’t believe what you are reading – the fish not re-raising with these hands? What has the world come to?! Anyway, head up and the flop comes A,9h,4. Check, check. Turn came a 5h check, I bet 150, raise to 300, call. River 9. Bet 500, call. He turns over A,A! Though still in the tournament, I’m on the respirator. A round or two later folds to the SB and he makes it 100, I make it 300 with AQs and he immediately goes all-in for my remaining 700 and I beat him into the pot. He shows A,K and the board came x,x,x,x,Q! Bad news for the table, muahaha. Though still short compared to the table, I now had chips to maneuver with. The next round the wolf comes over to my table to show his support and informs me that seat 6 is my online whipping boy, Shavlick. This was music to my ears, as I know exactly how this guy plays and now know exactly what to do in each situation. Later Shavlick makes it 600 in 2^nd position and I look down at A,K and go all-in for 3,700 and he calls all-in for 3,400 total. The board comes 9,7,2,2,9 and we devastatingly split it. He is a great player, and not only did I need the chips, I wanted him out of the tournament a.s.a.p. I made my way to 7k after winning a huge toss up with AT all-in against KQ and was sitting nicely. A few orbits later Shavlick makes it 800 (blinds at 150/300), despite my continual re-raises preflop. I’m in the small blind with 8,200, the big blind has 14,000, and Shavlick has 7,400 total. I look down at 87s and immediately grab chips to raise, but I don’t want to raise and get re-raised, and don’t want to run into a hand from the BB, who has me covered, so I weakly decide to flat call. BB calls as well, and we see the J,8,4 flop. Check, check, quick bet of 1,800 and the thought of folding never entered my mind. The question was to call or raise. I decided to play it safe and flat call, just incase the BB liked his hand, but he quickly folds and it’s head up. Turn comes a 7, giving me two pair, and now I decide to bet 1,800 into him. A weak bet, because I want him to do his typical bullying crap and raise me all-in, or weakly call with overcards hoping to hit or bluff me on the river drawing dead. At this point he has 4,800 in chips and makes the call. River came a 6 and I quickly went all-in, reading him for 99, TT, JT, or a similar hand after his call on the turn. He called and showed me a disgusting 95o for a straight. “What the hell did you just call me with?!” “I picked up a gutshot on the turn, haha” “That is foul, that is just plain foul. I can’t believe you, I honestly can’t believe you”. “Hey Mike, come check this out! I just won a huge pot over here, hahaha”. The very next hand it’s folds to me and I look at a 78 and go all-in for 800 and get called by the BB’s Q9o. I pick up an open ender, but no help came and I was out of the tournament I was so sure I was going to win. As I left the table Shavlick said “good playing with you man”. I remained silent, still fuming from what had just happened. However, after thinking more about the hand, I realized two things. One, he had a double belly buster straight draw, not a gutshot, which completely justified his call. I played the hand based on a read that was incorrect, and so I blame the lost pot on myself and not some dumbass call by a maniac. Two, though I was pretty upset about him bragging to his friend about the pot with me right there, I still should have shown some class and reciprocated the polite gesture he offered. In retrospect, the thing I learned was to not be too greedy when the other person in the pot can cripple you. I could have played it safe and gone all-in on the turn when I knew I had the best hand, and he most likely would have folded, but instead I got greedy and went with my read, trying to get the rest of his chips because I was convinced he was drawing dead.