does the satisfaction ever overtake the irritation?

Had an irritating opponent to my right tonight - raised my blind 2x every time. EVERY TIME. If I called, she bet the flop every time.

For awhile my chips were low and my cards sucked and I couldn't do much about it.

I almost didn't get to tangle with her. I raised AQ from under the gun and a blind called. The board came 9TQ and I bet my top pair. I got minraised. KJ was certainly a possibility, or a set, and I should have went away, but it was one of those deals where my mouse clicked before I was done looking at all the possibilities. I called and my opponent turned over two kings. Whhoooooops.

A river Ace saved my ass, though, leaving the villain to go kill a penguin rather than me.

---

I got to take a stand against the minraiser with AQ. She raised me 2x for the 50th time and I shoved with 9 BB. She called with AT and I doubled up. It felt verrrry good.

She folded her next few times around but then started her raising ways again. I broke the 4th place player and the bubble broke - I was content to fold for awhile and hope 2 and 3 got into a hand, but they didn't.

She kept raising. I shoved with A6 - she folded. I called and donked into her - she folded. I called with A7, then checkraised her all in on an A33 flop. She thought a long time and then folded (pocket pair, I assume). I was chipping, chipping away, but couldn't knock her out. She kept raising my blind, over and over.

The blinds got to 250-500, with 3 of us still in. Nobody had over 10 BB. I shoved KQo into the middle.

She wrote "rock n roll?", asking if I wanted a call.
I replied "up to you".
She called with deuces in her pocket, and edged over the finish line before me. Out in 3rd.

Lots of luck, work and good play to lead up to that moment, but a completely unsatisfying ending.

ICM tells me that my shove is a positive move, even unexplotable vs. an average call range. Not sure if her call with 22 was good, my guess is NO, which of course won't make me feel any better.

Update: her call with 22 was terrible, according to SNGWiz (this morning, I learned how to turn a hand around to analyze the play of another play). While my push/fold decision was .3% (that's 3 tenths of a percent) in one direction or the other (depending on villains' calling ranges), her call with 22 was between negative 2 and 3 percent.

Blah.

relief at last...

I was able to stem the tide of depressing poker late last night and end on a winning note - one third place finish, one first place.

I was able to win a nice chunk of money from a beginning player by checking top pair. I don't have the hand history handy, but I recall checking top pair with KQ on a very dry flop when the K hit, and then min-checkraising the river, which got another call from a smaller pair.

I ended up a couple bucks on the day after playing five tourneys in all.

the doomswitch is clicked on right now...

I'm trying to play a little more online right now to take advantage of the Full Tilt/Stox Poker free training deal, but I'll tell you it's not easy right now. Cards are truly awful. Played two more this afternoon and won a total of 6 hands in each. Really mentally draining - to fold and fold and fold until you've got 8 BB left, then shove ace-rag from the button and get called by Queens on your third hand played of the tourney. Why not just hand someone $22 on the street instead?

update: hey, I got a big starting hand, finally! Queens in the hole. I even got action when a beginning player with a short (but not desperate) stack shoved his 600 chips in. I called and he had nines. Sweet!

Of course, the board came with 4 clubs and I didn't have one. He had the nine of clubs.

I did manage to hold on in this one again, until I got Queens in the hole again. I was racing AK for all my chips and lost.

So now I'm getting good starting cards. I'm not winning with them, but I'm getting some. 6 tourney losses in a row, and my month has devolved into a truly average one, after starting off like a house on fire.

mood doesn't improve

Played two tourneys online after my supreme meh-ness in my live tourney - won a total of 2 hands for 370 chips in both tourneys. Watched the fishes swim around me over and over - couldn't do anything about it.

Watched one fishy (sharkscope around -27%) a call a raise and then a shove - he had a 69 suited club draw and was up against two pair, Aces and Kings. Club came on the turn.

Same fishy limped and then called an all in with 9To - he was up against pocket jacks and hit quad nines.

Same fishy limped in on me - I shoved 8 BB into the middle with two eights. He called with Jack Ten suited and flopped a flush - on the first three cards. Just to add insult to injury - a jack came on the turn (in case the flush wasn't enough).

A -27% ROI player makes way (waaay) too many bad calls, and, over time, these bad calls cost him lots of money. In the short run, though, the poker gods sometime giggle and laugh and lets him have some fun, leaving piles of tilted, decent players in his wake (who usually had their money in good).

On another virtual table, I watched Tony play a .25/.50 cash game and go from $20 to $50 (Aces vs. Queens) and then back down to zero, all in an hour. He left without saying goodbye, so there's probably some broken electronics in his office right now tonight too. (he ended his live tourney about 5 minutes after I did).

a nonpost of sorts

Tonight was the monthly neighborhood $50 buyin tourney, but there isn't much to report. I ended up out around the middle of the pack.

I made some small mistakes early on. In the first, I was the big blind with Q8 suited. The board came eight high and I bet out. Both the button limper and the small blind called the bet. The turn put an overcard on the board and I checked, and it checked around. The river put a flush on the board and paired a deuce, and the small blind lead out for a small bet. I figured between the deuce (in a limped pot), the overcard, or the flush, this bet wasn't worth calling, so I bailed. The small blind turned over a pair of threes to go with his deuces, the button called the bet and turned over pocket sixes. I had folded the best hand.

Note to self - two players to my left will call with middle and bottom pair.

Second mistake was against the same two players, again in a limped pot. This time the board ended up TT442. Again the small blind made a small bet (1/3 pot). Since he took a shot before with bottom pair, I thought he might be taking a shot again. I had king high and called the small bet, as did the button. They both had aces and chopped up my call.

Neither of these mistakes were very big in and of themselves. Possibly bigger mistakes were playing pocket deuces and threes in the middle stages, when my stack wasn't really healthy enough to do so. It's so hard to fold those pairs, though, especially when you're pretty sure you'll get a limped, cheap pot. I played both and missed, and chopped a few more blinds out of my stack.

I did manage to win a few pots based on reading the players. We had a nice older gentleman at our table that was obviously not an experienced player - he even said as much. He was playing most every hand and almost never folding. Pair, gutshot, whatever - he was in until the end.

I played a free KJ from the big blind and hit my jack. I bet and he called all the way down, showing me a pocket pair of fives at the end. After showing the fives, he started scooping the chips in the pot towards himself. (!) After checking the board one more time for a five (which wasn't there), I politely showed him my pair of jacks that bested his fives. He apologetically returned the chips to me.

I was praying for another hand against him, but it didn't come. One of the internet players got into a big hand against him - betting (seemingly for value) all the way to the river, and the old gentleman followed form and called every time. Then, on the river, he said "hell, I'm ready to get out of here, I'll go all in". Even though it wasn't double the river bet, the internet guy laughed and folded, saying "I've got nothing, I was just bluffing the whole time".

Note: Internet player 2 to my left likes to bluff, even against biggest calling station in the room. Might have trouble with opponent reading. Candidate for checkraise.

The nice gentleman put his last chips into play between two other players who were banging on each other and obviously had big hands. Once again, he exclaimed "I'm ready to go home, I'm all in" - this after an opening raise, his call, then a big reraise, and a big call by the initial raiser. He had Ace-rag and it didn't hold up against Kings and Ace-King. He got his wish and got to go home. I got a few of his chips but not nearly enough.

My last hand at this table - I got big slick in the small blind and it folded to me. The player to my left was just moved to this table, and I knew his game - he loved suited cards (even junk), and might give me some action if I raised. I made it 300 and he called. Now all I had to do was hit my Ace or King - which, amazingly, I did. The board was as dry as can be (A92), but there was no need to check this player. I had to hope he hit the Ace or nine and would call me down. Sadly, he missed his hand because he folded to my "continuation" (actually value) bet. An Ace in his hand and I would have doubled up against this player, but it was not to be.

This extra 300 gave me just enough chips to stay out of the red zone. Our table broke and I was moved to a table with at least 3 good players, one on each side of me. Great. I didn't get a playable hand for a round or two and ended up with with about 12 Big blinds. My crushing hand was AQ from under the gun. I had too much to shove, so I made a standard raise and prayed someone would come over the top so I could race a middle pair. Instead, though, I got three callers on my raise. Great again.

The big blind, a good player to my left, says to me "I was going to shove myself, but with so many callers, I think I'll see a flop". And what a nice flop for AQ - too - King, Ten, Ten - a total whiff. The big blind then announces "well, I hit the flop, I'm all in". I fold. A KJ calls him and he shows AT, tripling his stack. The fourth caller also announced that he had AQ (so that's where my outs were).

Wonder if I would have just shoved preflop if the KJ and AT go away.

I still had just enough chips, 6BB, after the blinds passed me, to take a bite out of people. My first shove of the night was with J8s on the button. The small blind calls almost instantly, shows AQ, hits his Ace, and buh-bye to me, just like that. Sigh.

A few dribbles of chips in the middle stages, but overall decent play. I did notice that my focus on other player's hands and betting patterns was very sharp tonight - I wasn't getting distracted by action at other tables or other conversations. I was able to put several people on very tight ranges and was correct (though not usually with me in the hand).

getting your image to work for you.

Thursday night game, only 7 total show up. 1 busts out very early, too - so we're 6 handed for much of the night, then 5 handed for another hour.

No big hands for me, but I'm shuckin' and jivin' and keeping my head near the water line. I'm playing pretty tightly, but very aggressive once I'm in a pot.

Example: I limp with Ace Eight suited - board comes Queen Eight Three and the blind leads into me. I raise. Villain thinks and folds, showing a queen. He says "You might be on the club draw, I don't even want to get involved". That's right, sir, don't get involved.

Example 2: Another limp, this time with 44. Board is T62 and again the blind leads into me. I raise and he folds.

Example 3: I raise preflop this time, with Ten Nine suited (hearts) - and flop the idiot end of the straight - Jack Queen King, all black. I bet the pot and scare all of the ace-rags away. (and glad there were no flush draws out there).

I'm not sure I saw a showdown all night up to this point. Except for the straight above, no big hands to speak of. I was down about $10 when the hand of the evening arrived. Tony raised it up and I called from the blind with Ace Jack offsuit. Tony was having one of those backwards nights where he was getting mixed up in second best hands, or his medium pairs were turning into crap on the board, or he was getting outkicked - one of those deals. He didn't have much of a stack left himself.

We saw a flop of Jack Eight Three, all different suits. I had Top Pair/Top Kicker on a very dry board. I was only worried about an overpair or JJ here - I was willing to go broke if he was lucky enough to flop trips on the dryest board ever. Nine-Ten was the only draw, which would make me and my Top/Top a 2-1 favorite - I could get my money in good if he happened to have that as well.

Still, those pesky overpairs were still possible in this raised pot, and of course I was out of position. Leading out with a bet here probably wouldn't tell me much - if he raised, I would have to make a decision for (short) stacks, more or less in the dark.

I checked, figuring I might find out some information based on his action. I was pretty sure he would bet any made hand, and certainly C-Bet many missed hands, but the amount might tell me something about what was going on.

Tony bet $6 into the $7 pot, and I felt like this was the information I was looking for. I read this bet as "go away, please" - maybe a smaller Jack, maybe a pair under the Jack. An overpair would probably bet smaller or even check behind on this ultra dry board, hoping to suck me in.

Ok, despite the cries of "don't go broke on one pair" bouncing around in my head, I felt I had a valid exception in this situation - short effective stacks, bone-dry board, and a decent read that I was ahead. I just had to make the best choice to get our money into the middle.

I could float this flop bet and then lead out on the turn. The success of this play would depend on the card that came, though - if an ace came, for example, it would be so easy for him to get away with an underpair. A king or queen would also not leave me feeling sure I was ahead anymore.

One other factor came into play - Tony is the best observer at the table - and he has probably noticed that I've been pushing people around on the flop and not showing anything down. Maybe he would read my checkraise as another case of me trying to bully someone off of the best hand, and he might take a stand with nines or tens or a lower jack. Yup, raising was definitely the right move here.

Tony had only about $22 left behind - I had him covered by a couple bucks. I could put him all-in here, hoping that the shove looked weak, but in the end I decided that this was too easy to escape. The minraise is always a possibility - that's not usually a move that I employ though, so that would probably look fishy too.

I chose the middle route - I doubled his bet to $12. He couldn't call this raise without going all in, and maybe it looked small enough to be another case of the bully trying to take a pot on the flop without a showdown. Even with all this planning and forethought, it was still a little disconcerting, though, to hear Tony announce "I'm all in". Tony has stated on more than one occasion that he doesn't push all his chips into the middle lightly in a cash game, and I've rarely seen him do it when behind.

My read was that I was ahead, and since he couldn't even minraise this $12 bet (he had $10.50 back) - the final pot was laying me almost 5-1 odds. I announced "well, I call, but I think you might have me". Even though my analysis to that point lead me to the opposite conclusion, I still figured I had missed something and he was going to flip over Kings or Aces. My mood lifted a bit when he shrugged and said something like "not if you have top pair...." and he revealed Jack Queen suited. I won the kicker battle and won my only large pot of the night.

I ended the night up $17 - not too terrible considering my lack of monster holdings.

my brain is slowly getting rewired

I played two tourneys last night, neither were altogether interesting. Took third place in the first, bounced out of the second early, net loss of $8. My endgame moves were all fine according to SNGWiz, so I think I played perfectly late.

In my last tourney, I had 6 BB and got dealt 88. A fairly early player made a raise to over 3x, so he would have greater than 2-1 odds to call my shove. His raise size was atypical and scared me a bit - but I decided this could be AT or 44 as easily as AA/KK. I put it in and he called with two nines. Drat! I thought that maybe SNGWiz would have a problem with this play, but it reported a clear 1% edge in pushing.

I have noticed in the past week or so that I'm thinking a LOT about other player's holdings. I mainly credit the book pictured here. I bought this book three or so weeks ago and have just started reading it for the second time. This book lays out page upon page of hand examples, but really gets into the details of the thought process of the Hero through the entire hand, and the attempt to interpret bet sizes or betting lines of opponents. One such nugget of information that has stuck with me is a certain betting line that can often be an indicator of a whiffed draw - and if you can sniff it out - you can win a pretty big pot with a marginal hand. (I'll let you buy the book on your own to find out what the line is!)

Many of the examples deal extensively with opponent range analysis. I think this book has slowly gotten me to think like the three authors (all successful online players, BTW) think.

2 for one

Picture this - you're on life support with 1100 chips, but get AK and shove over a limper. His sharkscope stats say he's a good player, but you have your doubts when he calls your shove-over with.... JTo? Odd, but you still have to dodge two live cards as only a 3-2 favorite. You win this race and are back in business.

You're awash in the little adreneline rush of a race gone your way, but the poker gods aren't ready to let you come down yet. You get dealt pocket Queens.

Full Tilt Poker, $20 + $2 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 50/100 Blinds, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP: 2,250
Hero (CO): 2,630
BTN: 2,475
SB: 935
BB: 1,225
UTG: 3,985

Pre-Flop: (150) Q Q dealt to Hero (CO)

2 folds, Hero raises to 350,
I make my raise a bit bigger here. Even though I'm playing tight and have just showed down AK one hand ago, some people seemingly forget the details and just remember things like "he's throwing chips around" I'm hoping for max value from my Queens.


BTN folds, SB calls 300,
The small blind is a bad player, I'm not worried about this call. I'll slow down if an ace comes on the flop, of course..

BB raises to 1,225 and is All-In,
Uh, oh. Now I have a decision. The small blind's call puts extra money in the pot, and my current odds are just under 2-1, which are a pretty nice thing with Queens in the hole. This player is a winning SNG player - I would put him on TT-AA and AK here. I'm pretty sure I'm well over the 33% break even point necessary here to call.

Hero calls 875, SB calls 585 and is All-In
The small blind comes along for the ride as well, bloating the pot even more. My guess before I see his hand is that he has something like 66-99....

Hero shows Q Q
SB shows J K
BB shows A K
Standard race with BB, I can take that. The SB is obviously a donkey and just called and all-in with JK after seeing a raise, shove-over, and call all-in in front of him. Hooo, brother. His dead money makes both my decision and the BB's decision to race a trivially easy one. It's like the BB and I are at the starting line, in our souped up cars, with pink slips in hand, and this guy has decided to hand his car over to the winner, even though he's just sitting in the stands.

The further added bonus is that SB he has stolen one of BBs King outs.... a bit of sugar in BB's gas tank, if you will....

I am 57% to win vs. both players - basically the same percentage as if I was up against AK only.

Flop: (3,385) T 8 Q (3 Players - 1 is All-In)
Back to live action - my head was spinning at this point about a hundred miles an hour. I was still pumped from the hand before, and now I was in another three way all-in, vs. two players no less.

When I'm in a QQ vs. AK type of race like this, the main thing I look for on the flop is one of the two overcards, an ace or a king in this case.... I don't see either of these on the board so I feel pretty good.....

Turn: (3,385) K (3 Players - 2 are All-In)
Oh, no, a king! How is that possible?!! Damn, Damn, Damn....

oh, wait... I check the flop one more time. I have a set of Queens. Whew.

River: (3,385) 4 (3 Players - 2 are All-In)
And I'm spent....

Results: 3,385 Pot
Hero showed Q Q (three of a kind, Queens) and WON 3,385 (+2,160 NET)
SB showed J K (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-935 NET)
BB showed A K (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-1,225 NET)

The hand was moving too fast for me - I couldn't keep up looking for cards and outs and whatnot. As it turns out, I had indeed hit a queen on the flop, but this was still a really disgusting flop for me - as Mr. JK donkey had an open-ended straight draw! Post game analysis shows that I had a 68% chance of beating both players at this point - good but not great considering I had a set. Mr. JK Donkey had shot up to 22% to win, and the BB was down to 10%.

The king on the turn didn't help either player's chances of winning even though they both had a king in their hand. I'm now 76% to win, Mr. Donkey needs an Ace or a nine for his straight (17%), and the BB can only win with a jack to complete his gutshot (7%).

The 4 of spades is my new favorite card. I knock out two players in one hand and take a commanding chip lead, which I turn into a first place finish.

when nine-deuce soooted is a shove

When nine-deuce suited gives you 15 outs twice, you shove.

Full Tilt Poker, $20 + $2 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 40/80 Blinds, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
SB: 6,940
Hero (BB): 1,880
UTG: 2,390
CO: 1,430
BTN: 860

Pre-Flop: (120) 2 9 dealt to Hero (BB)
3 folds, SB calls 40, Hero checks
Flop: (160) 7 8 T (2 Players)
SB bets 160, Hero raises to 1,800 and is All-In, SB calls 1,640

Turn: (3,760) A (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Wait, my draw came in? Sweet!

River: (3,760) Q (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: 3,760 Pot

SB showed T J (a pair of Tens) and LOST (-1,880 NET)
Hero showed 2 9 (a flush, Ace high) and WON 3,760 (+1,880 NET)
I was about a 3-2 favorite over top pair here.

feedburner glitch?

Must have been - feedburner now reports that I've gone from 2 subscribers to 13, an all time high! Yay.

PS - I will always welcome feedback on the content - do I whine too much? Do you like annotated hand histories or no? Should I keep throwing in the non-poker/family stuff? (tough to do, since I might be the dullest American in history. But I'll try).

One more note - I buzzed one more time through the Galactica finale last night on my Tivo , hitting some highlights and key scenes. This makes 4 total viewings of the finale. I think that this series finale, along with the series itself, will be remembered for a long, long time. A truly remarkable TV show.

If you have any inclination towards good Science Fiction and haven't discovered this show yet, I highly recommend hunting down the DVDs and investing the time.

streak is over

Finally took second place tonight and called it a night at one tourney. The poker gods still had their fun with me when I got heads up - I flopped a straight and turn and river came runner runner to allow the villain to tie the pot with one card in his hand (J3).

The key hand of the heads up, we got it all in with nearly equal stacks - I had AK, he had A9. He won the pot with quad nines. Nice. Just gotta laugh sometimes.

I felt like my handreading was doing pretty well. Here's a sample hand from early on:

Full Tilt Poker, $20 + $2 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 25/50 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 1,650
BTN: 1,890
Hero (SB): 1,595
BB: 1,425
UTG: 1,915
UTG+1: 1,485
MP1: 1,425
MP2: 2,115

Pre-Flop: (75) A T dealt to Hero (SB)

UTG calls 50, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls 50, 3 folds, Hero calls 25, BB checks
First limper is at 35/10 after about 20 hands. Raising with AT from the small blind is an option here, but sometimes I like to play a bigger hand from the blinds and disguise things.


Flop: (200) J 5 A (4 Players)
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG bets 200, MP1 folds, Hero calls 200, BB folds
I check my top pair into this bettor, whom I expect to bet pot (since I've seen him do this twice already). The checkraise would probably work fine here, but my run has been so bad lately that I decide to call instead. Monsters under the bed and all that.

Turn: (600) 7 (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG checks
My check-call backfires as the flush comes. My read is that he hit either the ace or the jack on the flop, so he doesn't have a flush now. He might be one card away, though. I'm out of position, though, so I continue to play weakly. (more aggression in position, less out of position)

River: (600) 4 (2 Players)
Hero bets 300, UTG calls 300
The river is a brick (except for junk straights) and I think I have the best hand. Any ace higher than mine would have raised preflop. Ace/rag (now Aces up) is possible, and sets are always out there lurking, but my guess is that he's got a jack and will call a bet with it. Since I'm still a chickenshit, I bet half pot as a blocking bet.

Results: 1,200 Pot
Hero showed A T (a pair of Aces) and WON 1,200 (+650 NET)
UTG mucked J K (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-550 NET)
My read ends up being good and I get value from a broadway jack.

report from the lines - still getting killed sir.

A study in 2 hands - Both a pair of jacks under the gun.

Hand 1 - JJ under the gun. Raise 3x, 2 callers. Flop comes K45r, the caller from the blinds bets the pot. I go away. Not knowing anything about his play, I simply have to believe he called this raise and hit the king.

Hand 2 - 2 orbits later. JJ again, again under the gun - let's try a limp/reraise. No raise comes - 5 callers instead. Great. Flop comes 234. I bet 200 into 300, and a beginning player shoves it all in. I figure him for a set, an ace with a gutshot, or an "overpair" under my jacks. In the end I decide I'm ahead of his range and call. He's got A4 for the made straight. Nice job.

Strange happenings, but it's not even 9pm, and I'm gonna keep playing.

Update: Next tourney, whittled down again with no cards, UTG player opens for 3x, I have JJ again and shove over. He's got KK. Buh-bye.

I know there's no right way to play jacks, but this is getting silly now. Some of it bad luck - some more bad play by me. With the last JJ, the under the gun raiser was a good player with pretty low stats (12/8, maybe?). Anyway, I know he's on a pretty good hand there, but even if he's truly raising top 8% - I'm still 56% to win. With 13 BB and perhaps a bit of fold equity (AQ/TT/KQs?), that's a decent play, right?

I know I have some problems in my game that need fixing, but this isn't all about those problems. Just some variance having fun with me. 1 cash in my last ten tourneys - and the awesome start to my month has regressed back to merely good.

In blog news - my feedburner stats say that I went from 9 subscribers to only 2, which kind of bummed me out. Not that I'm really writing for anyone but myself, but I hoped (like most bloggers) to find some kindred spirits out there that might find some interest in my writing.

Maybe (probably?) I'm simply whining too much right now. I know for sure that I played down the terrific start to my month - brags aren't much better to read than whines, and of course I don't want to jinx the lucky roll (I've apparently failed in preventing that jinx).

Finally, in family news, we had our last indoor soccer game this afternoon. I help the coaches of my oldest daughter Gabby's U13 travel team. For some reason we ended the season playing a club team (very high level), and we ended up playing to a 4-4 tie. Head coach Rich was very proud of the girls, as was I. In a week or two we resume the outdoor league - so practicing in the cruddy Aprile Cleveland weather will become a new thing to look forward to in upcoming weeks.

circling the drain

Ok, making lots of bad plays now. Today's play comes from the fact that I had a decent read on one player, but lost focus on the third player in the hand...

Full Tilt Poker, $20 + $2 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 50/100 Blinds, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
UTG+1: 995
MP: 845
CO: 2,660
Hero (BTN): 1,435
SB: 4,285
BB: 1,035
UTG: 2,245

Pre-Flop: (150) A 9 dealt to Hero (BTN)
4 folds, Hero raises to 250, SB calls 200, BB calls 150
I try out my new 2.5x raise on the button. Maybe it's too small, both blinds call.

Flop: (750) 7 J 4 (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks
Total whiff, no need to CBet into 2 players....

Turn: (750) A (3 Players)
SB bets 100, BB calls 100, Hero raises to 1,185 and is All-In, SB folds, BB calls 685 and is All-In
SB bets very small on the ace. This player is an aggressive nut - so far I've seen him raise from early position with A3, and raise up a flop bet with AT when he hit his ace (he was up against AK and lost a bunch). I feel like he would be betting more with anything that beat A9 - and he might have even raised me preflop with a bigger ace. Unfortunately, I'm concentrating so hard on the SB, I fail to pay attention to what the big is doing. He's all in with me...

River: (2,420) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: 2,420 Pot

Hero showed A 9 (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-1,035 NET)
BB showed J J (three of a kind, Jacks) and WON 2,420 (+1,385 NET)
... with a set of jacks.

My last hand of this tourney was another kick in the junk. I got it in with JK (only 6 BB left) against a pair of nines. Of course a nine came on the flop, but so did 2 spades, so I had outs. My first reaction to the fifth spade on the turn was one of happiness, until I realized that it was the nine of spades, giving my opponent quads.

Tourney #2 was the type that makes you question why you play this game - I got dealt AA, and won with it, other than that I folded 49 of the first 50 hands due to unplayable garbage. Just an endless stream of T2 and other crap. With 7 BB left, I shoved my J3 small blind into the big, an equally tight player with an equally low stack. He called instantly with 44 and knocked me to nothing. I was out 3 hands later.