FRUSTRATING GAME

My dad called yesterday and got around to asking me how poker is going lately. My report was brief: my game is improving but my luck is getting worse. That sums up poker in a nutshell. I can't control what happens once all my chips are in the middle. I try to have the odds on my side when I do, and I'm probably winning at all the right percentages but bad luck has me winning small pots and losing the monsters. I'm sure if you normalize the numbers to account for luck, I would be down thousands all the same.

You signed up for a bitch thread, so here goes: last night, I played $2/4 pot limit Omaha 8, a game in which the pots were getting huge due to some mondo aggression from a few of the high-profile players at the table. I had the most aggressive player to my left and I just sat back and waited for a chance to get involved in a big pot as I sat on my $450 stack ($200 buy in). Finally, it folded around to my small blind as I held (As Ah Th 2s). It was golden. I limped, and as expected, he pot raised. I pot raised behind him and he called.

The flop came (Js 9h 6s) giving me the nut spade draw as well as the overpair and the back door nut low. I led out with a half-pot bet tos feign a weak continuation bet. He pushed over me with a pot-sized raise and I came back all in. He called and the pot was over $900. He held (Ac Ks 7s 5s). He had the second nut spade draw and some sort of inside straight and he was going for broke, drawing very thin against my aces and nut spade draw. He wound up backdooring two pair with a 5c turn and a Kh river. It was so sick. I was 76% to scoop when the money went in and still 65% to scoop after the turn. It was just brutal. I went from up $250 to down $200 through no fault of my own.

I bought back in for $300 and promptly played another big pot with the same player who again came in trailing only to scoop me. The same scenario played itself out preflop with me holding (Ac Ks Kd 8h) and him (As Qh 9s 5s). There aren't many scenarios in which I am going to get shut out of this pot but by the end he had Q9 two pair to make off with my chips.

Once more I bought in for $300 and yet again, the same guy got it. This time he at least had the courtesy to have the best hand while I had a cooler. With a flop of K43 with two clubs, I bet and he raised. I had the 43 two pair plus a ten high club draw. He had not raised preflop so the last hand I put him on was a set of kings. I still had the club draw and promptly filled my flush on the turn. I knew it was coming and it was almost in slow-motion as the four hit the river to fill us both up and push the chips his way. I was down $800 and couldn't find a fault with my play.

Okay, no more tales of woe. Here are two funny things that have happened lately:

First off, I raise with AA to get heads up and the flop comes A66. I check but there is no action. The turn is a 6 and I check but there is no action. The river is a 6 and we chop.

Second, in a low-stakes tournament, I push all-in with KQ on a T9x board. My opponent calls with QJ and loses to my king high. The funny thing was his parting comments: "LOL gutshot" then a moment later, "at least mine was open ended". Priceless.