WAITING OUT THE SLIDE

I took a week off after a series of bad beats last weekend and the layoff didn't end the bloodshed. I've had AA twice today. The first time I raised and got re-raised by the small blind. I figured he must have KK or QQ. When the flop came 9 high, he bet and I made a big raise and we wound up all in. He not only had 99, but he hit quads on the river. The second time I was in the big blind. A guy made a 3x raise and got 2 callers. I raised the size of the pot and he called. The flop came Q high and with a flush draw out there I made a big bet again and wound up all-in only to see his QQ.

I did have KK earlier and I was happy to see the flop only Q high, but I suspected my opponent had something. It turned out he was slowplaying AA and I saved a lot of money not getting crazy. Some might call it gunshy, but these sorts of things tend to be streaky and it's better to play it cautious until the bad times pass. It's the first time I can remember it not going away after a big break.

Other crazy hands include getting the short stack to play KQ for half his stack against my QQ. He had no trouble hitting his K. Rushing back from the kitchen and racing the clock, I cold called KK to keep from the autofold and flopped a set and yet no action anywhere to be found. I try something crazy like raising in late position with T9 suited. I get two callers and I flop 994 glorious. With two clubs out there I play it fast and I'm check-raised all-in. I figure the guy semi-bluffing the flush or JJ at best. He flips over 44. CURSES!

I went searching for a SitnGo to confuse the poker gods. I found a cheap $11 buy-in and was surprised to learn that it was for 20 players instead of the usual ten. I busted a guy out pretty early on when he couldn't get off top pair and I had two. Instead of getting wild, I sat back and let the other jackals go at it. The biggest pair I saw was JJ and yet I was around the chip lead all the way to the money. With three of us left, the chip leader had 14,000 and we had 7,000 a piece. With A3 on the big blind, the chip leader called and I raised 4x. He called. The flop came ten high and I hit a 3. When the aggressive guy bet out, I figured him for a probe bet, and I decided to go all-in. He had T4 and I finished 3rd and made a little money.