Bad Moon Rising- APL Week #4

Two weeks ago I couldn't sleep because of the rush of finishing #2 during week II of the Adirondack Poker League. It's 1:38 AM 9/30/06 and I cant sleep at all so I decided to actually go old school and put pen to paper rather then turn the computer back on and go directly to blogger. I'm writing on a copy of All In magazine. I'm trying to replay hands in my head. But unfortunately there weren't too many hands to replay because I only won one pot.

Counting sheep doesn't work for me. I instead resort to Dr Suess and count... ONE FISH, TWO FISH, RED FISH, BLUE FISH. Unfortunately these fish turn into the faces of league mates and other poker playing friends I have met. I'm casting out a line and trying to reel the fish in. Im getting no bites. The fish are getting away... IM CHUM.

Normally, I run bad right before the full moon. Its not that I play poorly, but the suckouts seem worse and the hands seem crazier. The next league game for me is on the actual full moon of October 6th 2006. Without fail I will break out of my imagined lull and probably play the level of poker I usually expect of myself. Now I know that this imagined cyclical nature of the ebb and flow of cards is in my head. A more rational and logical explanation may be the fact that the week leading up to the full moon I am normally PMSing. Maybe it is the plunge in hormone levels as well as serotonin that are causing my more tentative play, inability to sleep, and the ability to not focus as well or concentrate as long. I sensed it last nite during my heads-up battle with Jeff on FTP.

But let me regress to the cyclical nature of cards. I've been told that I should see a pocket pair approximately one out of every 17 hands. The odds of me seeing a particular pocket pair such as AA is 220-1. Now I know I never saw AK all nite and originally I thought I was only dealt one pocket pair in the form of TT which went into the muck on a misdeal. I did actually get 88 on the first hand in early-mid position with some of the most aggressive guys in the league yet to act which I folded. As it turned out that was my best play all nite. I also believe I got 44 once and folded out of position when short stacked. That was it. No AA, KK, QQ, JJ. NADA.. No j9 either. One qx hand I folded which would have been trips for me but a loss to a boat. Lots of 94 and 95 and 64 and 35. and 74 and 73 and about three Doyles. Guess Im paying for the nite I had kk 3-4 times, AA once and QQ twice!!

I wasn't going to even write about last nite because there wasn't much anything that I did that is worth mentioning except the mistakes I now know I made. I realized afterwards that as bad as my cards were I should have been paying attention and taking notes. I had brought a little notebook to actually record some of the key hands of my league mates in attempt to recapture for the blog. I didn't pull my notebook out.

So I must give props to Ray and also to Karen who gave me the nudge to at least make a passing mention of a couple of the crazy hands. Yes they do happen in live play!!

I was seated in the 6 seat. Lex who had played extremely well last week had the deal. Immediately to Lex's left in the SB was Joe (sitting in for Ray who was on his way back from Foxwoods), Kamikaze Kenny (props to Ray for the moniker) was in the BB. Juddy, Mark, Me, George and Doug rounded out the table. I looked down to pocket 88 and folded wanting to get a feel for the table. I told myself to play extremely tight the first orbit playing only top 10ers. I had noticed a tendency in my live play to get involved early in pots I had no business being in. I wanted to seal this chip leak.

So, Ive folded my 88. I cant remember who else may have seen that first flop but when it came down T K T. Joe in the SB and Kenny in the BB were the only two still in after that flop. I believe the turn card was a blank and the river card the third T. Now, it was pretty clear that someone had a boat and someone had quads. When Kenny fired all in first we all thought He had the quads. When Joe called we knew Kenny's fate was sealed on the first hand. Kenny's AK in the hole which resulted in Tens full of kings was beaten by Joes quad tens (and yes I forgot his other hole card). Ray's sub now had a very comfortable lead over T10000.

I saw a couple of flops one with AJd which hit two diamonds but never completed my flush which Lex took down because he knew I was on a draw and he had the other person beat (Mark I believe). I saw a flop with 98c the flop no help to me. I announced call not hearing that Joe or Jason had raised to 900. And the board was no help to me. And I mucked a winning hand when the flop came 99848 and Kenny paired his 4. I mucked the KJd not realizing my kicker would have won. I'm fanatical about showing my cards in Omaha 8 if there is ever any doubt of who has the best hand. Once again a Rookie mistake in live play. One you don't see online. Is it clear I wasn't focused and paying attention? Last nite I wasn't. I normally have a near photographic memory and can recap the players hands, flops, bet sizes even if I wasn't involved. Not last nite.

I doubled up off Joe before Ray arrived when my AQ held against his weaker suited A and the flush didn't arrive for him. That gave me some breathing room but not enough. Juddy was having as difficult a time as me so we commiserated.

I wound up going out in twelveth of 25 same postion as last week which was 24 runners. I should stay about the same in the rankings some of the players ahead of me actually did worse then I and some of the same faces made the final table as last week (Lex, Bill, Tracy, Eric,). Karen eked out a final table spot, as did Joe for Ray. Mark and Doug, Steve and George also FT'd.

I went out with AJos vs Mikes pocket 44 which held. A few hands prior I was dealt A2os. I folded it much to Ray's dismay when he saw my ace and thought I was crazy for folding an ace when the blinds were coming around. I didnt like the kicker. Yes the flop came A2x and of course there is no crying over spilled milk or mucked cards. I felt about ten years old when I turned around and gave him my 'I'm an idiot look". The next hand I was dealt 72os and for about two fleeting seconds I thought about pushing all in with the hammer as my whole evening was a Comedy of errors. Later Karen found herself in a similar predictament folding a KT in the same kind of situation. Her rationale was exactly the same as mine. Both of us way to passive vs a guys more natural aggression.

The other exciting hand of the evening was Edawg- Eric E landing a Royal Flush to take a huge stack of chips away from his girl Tracy. Tracy got away from the hand with a big dent to her stack. Yes hands like that do happen in live poker too. And then there was the split pot QQ vs QQ vs a 999 flop if I remember correctly. Crazy hands.

That wraps Adirondack Poker League Week #4. More to follow in another post after the midnight hour.