MID-DECEMBER

The year is nearly over and it will be the first year since I began playing poker that I will lose money. Here's an example of my year in microcosm: I saw a flop with T9 from the big blind and the flop came QJ8 with two clubs. I made a strong bet and was raised. I had the nuts and didn't necessarily want to see a turn card so I pushed all-in. I was called instantly by KK. He had one club but was a 9:1 underdog. The clubs peeled off and I was out.

I actually took a lesson from that hand. I have been playing so tight that inevitably, my demise comes when all my eggs are in one basket and the basket is upturned. When I'm playing well, I am nearly always getting my money in with the best of it, but my tournament chances are wholly invested in winning that one pot and when the odds upset me, I am out.

I realized that I have to make some magic happen for myself and mix it up in more pots early on when the pots are smaller and more frequently go to the river. It's imperative to build up a chip stack during the early phase of an event because eventually it becomes a shoving contest. If you have some chips to work with, you can go after the blinds once the antes kick in and keep increasing your stack, while having enough margin for error to get away from marginal situations when the other guy wants to play a big pot. Meanwhile, you are active enough that ultimately you will have a big hand when the other guy tries to push you off of it. So long as the money goes in when I am a favorite, I should be able to accumulate chips despite the occasional setback. The problem I have been running into is that I cannot afford a single setback because when my money gets in, although I am generally favored, I don't always win the pot and when I lose I am either crippled or eliminated.

So, I'm willing to take more chances early in an event because getting chips is key. Once I have the chips, it is like holding the hammer, but I have to apply the hammer, not merely sit around waiting for more hammers to be passed out, which is what I have been doing by tightening up too much during the middle stages. I definitely want to wait for good spots and not try to run over the table, but by waiting and appearing tight, I should be able to mix it up on occasion and take some pots away from opponents who aren't sitting on the nuts. I know, this is remedial stuff, but I have to relearn certain strategies all the time. I play like I'm manic-depressive and I feel as if I'm coming out of a long depressive stage and I'm excited heading into the next year.

I railed Annette_15 for a couple hours the other night and saw her mixing it up pretty good. Sure, she got lucky lots of times, but the other players were constantly off-guard and would occasionally dump a huge stack to her when she had a monster. Other times they would sheepishly fold to her preflop raise, knowing she had a marginal hand, but unwilling to risk their entire stack on that hunch.

I played the $75 Knockout tourney on Monday night and finished 9/464. I really felt good the whole way and I was sure I was heading to the final table. The good news is that I got there, but the bad news is that I was the first player eliminated, despite going into FT play as the third overall chip stack. The first hand I played was disastrous - I raised with AJh from second position and got a caller in the big blind. The flop came J53 rainbow. I made the continuation bet and he raised me. I felt I was ahead but decided to just call to get more money in the pot on the turn. Fourth street paired the trey and now I was sure I was ahead unless he was sitting on a pair of fives. He made a good-sized bet which basically pot-committed him. For whatever odd reason, I called rather than pushed. I guess I had this fantasy that I could still get away from the hand if he pushed the river with a full house. The river was a ten and he made a very small bet, which I was forced to call. He turned JT and showed me the bad news. It was a half-a-million dollar pot which put him squarely in the chip lead while I busted on the next hand I played. Would he have folded to my push on the turn? I don't know, but I sure wish I could go back and make that play while I was a 19:1 favorite.

In the next event I played, I only finished 27/390 but at one point I was down to $150 after an all-in battle gone wrong. I built it up to $2k, then put most of it in from the big blind against an all-in and a caller, when I was hoping to strike gold. I folded on that flop and was down to $450. I managed to build that all the way up to $50k and made the money before meeting my match.