JUNE SWOON

The month has gotten off to a rocky start. I don't think I'm playing poorly but I spent the first couple of days on the wrong side of the luck divide and I have been losing all of the big pots, which have added up to put me a couple of grand in the hole to begin the month. Details:

Sunday, $216 MTT: I busted in level one, trying to get some chips on an uber-draw. I got involved with 9c-8c and the flop came Ac-7d-6c, giving me the up and down straight draw with the flush draw, plus bluff equity should nobody have a big ace. The preflop raiser bet the pot, announcing that he had the big ace. I was still the favorite in the hand and, though you always hate early coin flips in a major tourney, I was sitting closer to 60% than 50% with this draw, so I put in the raise and committed to the hand. He had Ah-Qd with no intention of folding so we got it all in and he busted me when the bricks fell. Judging by how fast his chips met the middle, I doubt if he ever realized he was the underdog in that spot.

I got into a cash game and the magic wasn't there. I went down several hundred before working my way close to even. I was all ready to quit with a $70 divot in my stake, just waiting for the big blind to approach so I could leave the table. Instead, I was dealt a pair of tens (at a short table) and I was compelled to play the hand. I actually slow-played it as I didn't want to get over-involved pre-flop on my way out the door. So we took a flop three-way which came K-T-4. I went for the check-raise and got raised on top of that, so okay, let's do it, I shoved my entire stack in, as did he. He showed K-Q against my three tens. Bingo, bango - K, K falls from the sky to bust me. How bad is that?

Monday, $109 MTT, level one - I join a multi-way raised pot with T-9 and flop Q-J-8, aka The Nuts. I check, he bets, I raise, he calls. I have no intention of folding the hand even when the third diamond comes. I bet small to represent that the King scared me, he raised, I shoved, he called with the nut flush. Game over. The box score shows that I got my money in bad, but starting stacks are not deep enough to allow me to flop the nuts and then get away from it. I'm concerned only with getting all my chips in the middle at some point during the hand. That said, I can't recall a time when I've flopped a straight and actually won the hand, but still. If the board pairs, then I will slow down, but I can't fold to a three-flush when my opponent might just as easily have a set or an overpair.

So, off to the cash games I go, where I drop three $400 buy-ins in rapid succession. Actually, my first buy-in lasted quite awhile, but it was up-and-down. I lost a big hand where I was heads-up and flopped trips, only to lose on the river to a straight. I guess that hand put me in gamble mode because shortly after, I called a re-re-raise with AQs only to be up against AA. That was the end of buy-in number one.

It was only minutes later when I got re-raised by the same opponent when I held TT. I was willing to bet my stack that he had AK so I promised myself that if he doesn't pair the flop, then I will check-raise him all-in. The flop came Qxx and I checked, as planned. He put in a scary pot-sized bet, but I stuck to the plan and shoved over the top. He called instantly with AK, which I don't quite understand unless he knew the King was coming, which it was. End of buy-in number two. Buy-in three was equally short-lived. I raised with AKs, got re-raised, and decided to play upon my tilty image by shoving pre-flop. He instantly called off his stack with AQs and caught the Queen to put me $1200 in the hole for the session. Oh, to be the other guy just once.