Anguish / Happiness Later

I've had a good run of results recently.

After Tuesday nights league game, I didn't get to play poker on Wednesday, and it looked like another night without poker on Thursday... but I couldn't settle, so I got up and decided to 'have a look' at the $2.20 Triple Stud tournament I knew would be starting.

Five minutes later, I'm registered for the tournament - settled on the sofa with a glass of milk and a rolly - perfect!

These triple stud tournaments are pretty quick-fire, switching formats between Stud, Razz and Stud Hi/Lo every two minutes, and increasing the betting levels every six minutes after a full run-through of the formats.

I got off to a decent start but had a set-back in a Stud Hi/Lo hand, where I started with an Ace and a small pair in the hand, tried to steal the antes and got caught calling bets with the second-best hand in both directions.

I get myself a cookie, which seems to help. Now I'm playing really well and quickly build my stack to establish myself around the top three spots. We start to lose players, and gradually drop from five tables to two. I'm now in the chip lead and playing confidently, when a hand came up that really kicked me in the ass. I think the Villain in this hand didn't catch the change to Razz and thought he was playing Stud Hi. I keet betting, thinking that he will realise his mistake and fold the hand. In the end, there was so much money in the pot, I stuck him all in and hoped he had started with a pair higher than mine, or caught one:-

Seat 1: Villain 2215 in chips

Seat 2: 3782 in chips

Seat 3: Ulysses1975 (6323 in chips)

Seat 4: 6447 in chips

Seat 5: 1414 in chips

Seat 6: 3668

Seat 7: 2249

All players post the ante 30
Pot 210

*** 3rd STREET ***

Villain: x x K bets 150

Seat2: x x 5 fold

Ulysses1975: (5 3) 5 raises 150 to 300

Seat4: x x T fold

Seat5: x x K fold

Seat6: x x 6 fold

Seat7: x x 5 calls 300

Villain: x x K raises 150 to 450

Ulysses1975: (5 3) 5 calls 150

Seat7: x x 5 calls 300
Pot 1,560

*** 4th STREET ***

Ulysses1975: (5 3) 5 7 bets 150

Seat7: x x 5 K folds

Villain: x x K T raises 150 to 300

Dealt to Ulysses1975: (5 3) 5 7 raises 150 to 450

Villain: x x K T raises 150 to 600

Betting is capped

Dealt to Ulysses1975: (5 3) 5 7 calls 600
Pot 2,760

*** 5th STREET ***

Ulysses1975: (5 3) 5 7 3 bets 300

Villain: x x K T 6 calls 300
Pot 3,360

*** 6th STREET ***

Villain: x x K T 6 Q bets 300

Ulysses1975: (5 3) 5 7 3 7 calls 300
Pot 3,960

*** RIVER ***

Villain: x x x K T 6 Q bets 300

Ulysses1975: (5 3 2) 5 7 3 7 raises 300 to 600

Villain: x x x K T 6 Q calls 235 and is all-in

Uncalled bet of 65 returned to Ulysses1975
Pot 5,030

*** SHOW DOWN ***

Ulysses1975: shows Lo: 3,3,7,5,2

Villain: shows Lo: K,Q,J,T,6

Villain collected 5,030 from pot

Fortunately, I still had a decent stack to work with, and was able to negotiate myself through the final table and get heads-up. Heads up is usually straightforward in Stud games, and this section of the game went quickly and smoothly for me - quickly and smoothly downhill, that is!

After leading the tournament for a long time, second place felt a little disappointing but was a nice boost to my fledgling bankroll, even so.