no longer a Bubble girl

No update and not much poker lately for me. In the past few weeks, I only played live twice. Most of the games I played lately are online freerolls due to the convenience and bankroll situation.

Last week, two good friends took me out on a “Jazzie Day”. They treated me dinner and staked me in the tournament. I’m so touched. I had a blast! Thank you guys, you know who you are. I really appreciate it.

During the tournament, I tried to play a good game as I would always do. But I tried extra hard, not just for myself, but also for my friends who believed in me (or maybe just for me to have fun). Then comes the final table, I’m glad to still be in the game. My chip stack was decent enough. But the thing is, I was getting pure trash and I can’t even make a move because someone (and possibly more than one) would call me. Eventually, I held on to my few remaining chips. Resistance is futile. I bubbled. Again. So frustrating!!!

I just can’t believe the trash I was getting for about two hours. So I checked my wallet and I still got a thousand and a few hundreds. I was thinking, would I risk my money on the ring? But what else would I do? So I sat there and saw more trash. Hmmm… I don’t think this is really happening. Then at the midst of grinding, some prayers were answered. If I wasn’t folding, I would raise. And eventually, I got 2 quads that night. Yummy! After a few hours, my baby went there wasted and I’m exhausted as well. We decided to call it a night. I cashed out almost triple my buy in. Good.

Then last night I joined the tourney, the place was packed with 4 tables, 11 players each. I know this ain’t gonna be easy. I was in table 1 seat 8. While the cards were being shuffled for the 1st deal, I looked around. There are good players, new ones, bluffers, tight and aggressive players… wow! I was thinking, with this field, I better not commit the mistake of playing too many hands. Then I looked at my hole cards, AA! What to do, what to do?! From UTG, only one player folded, they all called. The guy acting before me raised the BB (100) to 300 total in chips. Maybe I got from playing too many freerolls, I dread good cards on the first hand. I actually don’t know what to do with my rockets. I don’t want to push all in (online nightmares flashback). I don’t want to just call his raise when I am holding AA. I looked at the pot and for me it is good enough even if no one calls. It’s better that reeling me in or a bad beat. So I re-raised to 3,100 total. Starting stack is 5k, so I guess people wouldn’t really risk more than half of their stack on the first hand if they don’t have group 1 cards or group 2 at the very least. Everyone folded except for the guy before me, he called my re-raise. Flop comes 9h-3h-As. He checked. I know I got a set now, but there’s a flush draw showing. He may not have hit anything, but he might be drawing for a flush. I have very strong cards. He may have a flush draw, but I also have a good chance of getting something better than flush like full house or maybe even quads. So, what the heck… ALL IN! He took some time thinking… then eventually folded. Dang, that hand was intense! Hours and hours after, I made it again in the final table. It was a long game and helluva fun. Prayed damn hard not to bubble again. Luckily, even with a short stack, I as able to finish 5th place and ITM, baby! My last hand was ugly. I’ve got the shortest stack on the table, I’m on Big Blinds and my remaining chips are just around another Big blinds. I was holding 2-4 and everyone folded except the one on the button. Heads-up, and flop came K-K-J. We both checked. Then, it was announced that blinds will increase on the next hand. Turn, 8x. We both checked again. Then the river, 6x. I know for sure now that he didn’t hit anything nor have a pocket pair. So I decided to make a move and pushed all in. Yeah, I know I’m holding 2-4. But hey there’s no flush or straight showing. And I don’t think he got a boat nor trips, not even a pair. Besides I’m gonna be small blinds on the next hand, and that would mean putting ¾ of my chips for the blinds. And if that happens, chances are, I would just be forced to go all in when the blinds go back to me. Or if I’d get good cards and go all in, I would be very prone to bad beats. I mean, my all in wouldn’t even make them think. Ah what the heck! Make a move and hope that I read him right so he will eventually fold. Well, he took some time thinking but he’s 3rd in chip lead with the 5 of us remaining. Then again, my raise wouldn’t really hurt him too much and he decides to see my cards, saying “I’ll donate to you”. Damn. Well, at least I read him right. He doesn’t have anything. But he’s got Queen high plus the chips to afford my move. And I made him think before risking his chips. I love making people think. Besides, I am happy with 5th place where I get both our buy ins back plus P200 rather than grinding for hours and busting out on the bubble. Good game, guys!

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I just saw on youtube that Jamie Gold won the 2006 WSOP with a Q9, my favorite trash! :-)