Friday Review

I was thinking about the Friday tourney one more time - I could only think of 8 instances where I saw a showdown.

1. Early rounds, folded around to me in the small blind. We checked down to showdown, my Qx won vs. Terry's J2.

2. I called someone's all-in with 88 and won a race vs. JTo.

3. Final table- I called someone's all-in with QQ and won vs. 66.

4. free play from the big with 78s. Had middle pair and a gutshot that didn't come. Villain also had pair/draw. Made a small bet on the turn that was called, won the pot with my pair at showdown. Tiny pot.

5. I had KT at the final table and tried a blind steal on the button. I had just doubled up and had about 12 BB. The big blind called. The flop missed me and we both checked, and we checked the turn and river as well. I lost the showdown to a medium Ace. Jason said to me "why no continuation bet?", and I told him my reason - with my stack, if I raise 3 big blinds and then C-Bet 3 or 4 more, I've just put half my stack into the middle with no hand. I would rather just shove (if my opponent checked and I feel he's weak), or check it down with a hand that has some showdown value (king high), and still have 9 BB if I lose.

6. My T7 all in vs. Nate's 96 - hit the ten and doubled up

7. My Q9 headsup shove vs. Jason's A9 - hit the 3 outer Queen to almost take the tourney

8. Next hand, my connectors vs. Jason's AJ - he won the pot to gain some ground. We chopped the next hand.

I think this is amazing - 5 hours of poker, probably 125 hands dealt to me - I saw 8 showdowns. In 5 of them, either myself or my opponent was all-in (and a loss would have crippled me). In the 3 others, (2 wins and a loss), the pot was small and it didn't matter much if I won or lost.