Fox end of season play-off - catharsis

8/13/2008 01:20:00 am / The truth was spoken by Rich /

I must get this off my chest. I've been cursing myself all day for making the kind of mistake that litters my pokering history. In short, I made a move. Up until this suicidal moment I thought I'd played pretty well. I had me a starting stack that allowed me to play the small ball strategy I'm paying Daniel Negreanu $30 a month to teach me.

It was working beautifully too even if I do say so myself..so why WHY in all that is green and lush in the fervent forest of my mind did I abandon a strategy that was working so well for me and adopt a home-run hitting long ball tosh bollocking tactic on this one and fatal occasion? Why Why people? Why? I'm my own worst enemy. I am both Dr Frankenstein and his monster; Jeckll and Hyde and both of the Krankies.

So, final table and the blinds at 200-400. I am in the small blind with somewhere in the region of 12,000 in chips, which was a comparatively decent stack - chip-leader has about 40,000, we're nine-handed and there's approximately 120,000 in play - but not so comfortable that I could mooch about waiting for the big hands.

I have the gay mechanic..Queen with a Jack. Queen of diamonds, Jack of spades. Under the gun raises to 1,300, called by middle position dude and button dude. So now with 4,500 in the pot it's 1,100 to play.

The play here is to fold, fold faster than an origami enthusiast in a hurry. I'm getting 4:1 but there's no way in heck that I'm 4:1 to win here. I call though of course, big-blind folds and we see a flop of 9c-9s-10s.

I have me now an open-ender with back door flush. So of course, instead of checking and hopefully getting to see a free card small ball style, I shove the whole of my frooking 10,000+ representing a nine and hoping if I get looked up I'll hit my straight.

Under the gun calls and everyone folds. He shows pocket kings! The worst pair I could hope to see as it removes four of my outs. He doesn't have the king of spades though so I also have the back door flush to deliver me from my own evil.

Turn card is in fact the three of spades. I now have eleven possible outs, I miss. I had no reason to be involved in this hand and paid the ultimate price. I spent today litter picking to punish myself.

Not for nothing, but although my play was reckless, I'm not sure his call was a good one. It might look like I'm on a draw, but I would play a nine exactly the same way - and he still has two players to act behind him who may also have a nine. He began the hand with approximately 10,000, had only 1,300 invested in the hand and could have passed and left himself with a playable stack of over 8,000. He has two outs if one of the three callers is holding a nine.

The game concluded incidentally heads-up with multiple incidents. A titanic toing-and-froing with some astonishing draws, re-draws, out draws and suck outs. Eventually with both players seemingly on the brink of suicide a chop was agreed. They both may never be the same again.

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