Hella Hold'em

Ever made one of those plays where you know it's wrong as you're making it, and you even say to yourself while the action timer counts down, "you dumbass, FOLD!" but you keep calling off your chips anyway in hopes of hitting that miracle gutshot draw? (Of course, with absolutely no semblance of suitable odds to chase the draw).

Why does that happen? I consider myself a fairly disciplined player. I laid down pocket Aces tonight on board of 3 clubs with one card to come, to a raise of my pot-sized bet. I took most of my 15 seconds to think about it, and having notes to the effect that my opponent is a solid player, I managed the laydown. (I told her it was only because she's Al's girl, but... I was beat).

So how is it that our actions can sometimes completely bypass any logic or programmed patterns of play - even when we consciously know we're being idiots? Or is that just me? I'm not even a chaser by nature, for goodness sake. WTF?

That moronic play on my part most certainly foreshadowed my exit from that $20 SnG on the bubble. I was sure of it. The call-off of half my stack on a gutshot left me with 6 big bets or so. MrsCan'tHang (who was at my $25NL table) asked how the tourney was going. "Life support" was my reply. It was looking grim.

And then, I won the thing.

Huh? Yeah, I don't know what happened - my all-in QQ held up against my opponent's 88 for a double-up, and I bullied a big pot with K8 when the flop came 844. I bet the pot on the flop and was called, and pushed all in when a rag hit the turn, hoping my opponent had no four. He laid it down, and I just waited patiently at that point for the bubble to go out. Then began my rampage. Actually, it was a rampage of deception, as my opponent was an oober-aggro, so I let him do all the betting and trapped him when I finally hit hands. It worked out well. I even got a "nice slowplay - gg" when I took the game down. I know my rule is "no slowplaying allowed" - but that doesn't apply to heads-up play!

Sweet.

I had two ring games up while I played the tourneys (I went out 5th in the first $20 SnG I tried). Ended up even on the ring games - up a buck on one and down a buck on the other. No big scores tonight. So - essentially, up $50 or so on the night.

I am happy with that!

Is it time for Vegas yet??? I just learned today that I will miss my third Diamond Game in a row. It's the same night as the WPBT Aladdin Classic. As much as I hate to miss that game, Vegas calls!

Tomorrow I'm serving as a faculty marshal in the graduation ceremony at the college I teach at. Hopefully I will not get my batch of students lost. When it comes to walking in lines, I do much better as a follower than a leader! Watch me trip and fall and cause a 12-person pileup in front of the whole place. Heh. I hope not :)

Time for bed...