Second Time Making the Final Table Together
Posted on August 30, 2008 by Ching under Poker, Toys.
Brian and I both made the final table at Blue Collar last night. I took 5th, while Brian and Chris chopped 1st and 2nd. They walked out with almost $200 each.
Brian played really well last night. I played really well, too. I only had $17K in chips after the break compared to Brian’s over $99K. Considering that we both made the final table, that says a lot.
I made a couple of crucial mistakes, but overall I was pretty satisfied with the way I played. One of the mistakes I made was against Rou when we were at two tables. Brian thought it was a mistake because I would have knocked Rou out if I would have just called. I thought I played it right, though, given the information I had.
Blinds were $3K-$6K and I was under the gun with Ace Jack off suit. I raised to $24K total. Everyone folds except for Rou in the dealer position. He went all in over the top. I needed about $32K more to call. I would have had about $15K left if I would have called and lost.
I thought about it for a long time and finally decided to fold. He turned over King Queen off. I was obviously in the lead with Ace Jack, but it was still pretty much a race. We’re not supposed to rabbit hunt, but we rolled it anyway. The flop would have been 10-Queen-10. The turn would have been another 10, giving Rou a boat. But then, the river would have been an Ace, giving me a bigger boat. He would have been out of the game at that point if I would have just called. I just couldn’t pull the trigger.
Fast forward to the final table. I am under the gun again. This time I have Ace Jack of clubs. The extra 3% edge suited cards have always seem to give me more confidence in my hand. I wasn’t messing around this time so I went all in. Rou called me with King Queen off (again). It was just the two of us in the hand. We both missed the flop and my Ace held up.
The one bad play I feel I made, though, was with my straight. I had limped in with King 10 in the small blind. There were three players in the hand. I ended up catching an Ace-high straight so I raised. Big blind went all in after my raise. I needed $140K more to call. I ended up calling with three hearts on the board because I didn’t think he had it. I just couldn’t let my straight go without seeing what he had. Just my luck! He had the flush. I ended up with only $15K left after that hand.
My first mistake was limping in with my marginal King 10. I should’ve raised pre-flop and just picked up whatever was already in the middle. The 2 4 of hearts would never have been in that hand.
Of course, calling the all in with a flush possibility on the board was an even bigger mistake. I think if I would have folded that hand, I would have finished higher and walked away with more than just the $24 I came home with. Oh, well.
The other nice thing about last night (besides Brian and I making the final table together for the second time) is that Michael (Caylor) came out to poker that night so I was finally able to give him the toys Brian and I had set aside to give away after cleaning our garage a couple of months ago. We had been lugging the stuff around in the trunk hoping that he would come to poker one day so we could give them to him.
We gave away Brian’s old Razor scooter that he used to roll around the T-Mobile call center in, pogo sticks, a table air hockey game, and a frisbee golf set. He has three young boys so we figured that they would get good use out of them.
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