Bubble Boy

The title accurately reflects my recent play as I’ve been just out of the money in a few of the MTT’s I’ve played. Friday night wasn’t really a bubble but I did get pretty deep in a Omaha h/l limit tourney I played in. Traumapoker made it deep and drizz also cashed but talk of three bloggers at the final table didn’t materialize. Actually, the fact that I made it as far as I did was amazing. For the most part I was card dead and when I did catch a good starting hand the flop was terrible. The difference was catching both nuts on consecutive hands during the later stages of the tourney to give me a chance. This was about the time I started to catch good hole cards that would miss the flop. If I catch one of these I money and could have made a run at the final table.

My big bubble was a Saturday evening tourney that saw 63 players being paid and me taking 64th. I was the true bubble boy. It was an uneventful tourney in that I stayed tight and got chips through patience. I had one double up before going on a terrible run of cards. I tried to make plays to put my self in position to go deeper but pocket pairs saw big over cards and my over cards saw pocket pairs. At the bubble I was on the big blind with 8, 5 and all-in. My opponent shows AJ but the flop hits me with 85A. Of coarse the turn is a jack and I’m done. Overall I was happy with my play other then being passive as the bubble approached. I should have made a stand a little earlier just because I still had fold equity.

I also played the 25,000 on FT and made a nice run into the final 300. 216 paid so nothing for me there. The tourney was a great example of patience as I waited for opportunities to double up. Early on I raised with AQ suited from early position and folded to a push from the BB. I would have been getting about 1.6-1 on my money so I let it go. I figured at best I was a coin flip and at worst I was dominated. I still had chips so bye-bye hand. He showed jacks and started talking about how good a player he is. I took notes. Later on after chipping up some I get JJ in the same early position. I make a 4x raise and the same BB pushes. From his previous play I’ve noticed his tendency to push with medium pairs in this scenario and with me getting 2.5-1 I make the call. I’m only afraid of 3 hands here and I’m sure I’m ahead. He flips over 8s and I double up. The very next hand I get JJ again and make the same raise. A middle position player pushes over the top and the action returns to me. Now I’ve just shown that I raise with strength and this guy pushes. I have a nice stack and I’m getting 1.3-1 on my money. It’s a great spot to double up but I fold because the read I have is a big pair. I tell the table I’m folding JJ this time and the guy who I crippled previously can’t understand the fold. I started to explain but then realize I want him to not understand.

Do you think that folding JJ at this point was a good move? Blinds were 50/100 at the time.

I withdrew a bunch of my online money in an attempt to refocus my game. I left my self with 20 buy-ins at the $10 level to achieve this objective so hopefully I will stay on my game. So far I’ve cashed in each of the SNGs I’ve played in since that decision. We’ll see where it goes.

I played an uninspired game at the blogger big game and got knocked out around 15th give or take a spot or two. The beginning of the end happened when I made a re-raise with a strong hand vs. smokkee who then pushed. I eventually folded and was all but crippled. I chipped back up over time and pushed over the top of smokkee with 55 and he calls with 1010. It was a questionable move but I needed a double up and would have taken the coin flip. A 4-1 underdog is not a coin flip.

Wednesday may be my last Mookie for a couple of weeks. I’m heading to Japan on Saturday so playing it will be hard. The Mookie on the 15th will be at noon on Thursday the 16th for me so maybe I can rail it while I’m there. We’ll see.