Tourney recap

wow, I'm not playing much poker these days. This Friday was my monthly tourney, and while getting ready I realized that I had played only one other time since the last tourney.

I played this tourney well. Two hands stick out. In the first, I had pocket jacks, raised, and got one caller. He was an opponent I had played with several times before. I considered him a decent player. The flop was nine-ten-four, with a flush draw. He checked and I made a value bet, which he called.

The turn paired the nine, the second card on the board. He checked-called a second bet.

The river bricked the straight and flush draw, and my opponent bet 800 into the pot, a big bet.

Bleah. Big fun for me - a tourney-committing bet in the second level. I went through the hand - he could have a few different nines, but I also felt like he could have either the flush or straight draws, which both busted out. He was also a good enough player to take this kind of shot at me. Thirdly, his river bet was ultra-quick, which seemed a bit off to me. Lastly, I decided if I called and was wrong, I would just fire up the after-tourney cash game a bit early.

"Well, you might have a nine, but I call", I said. He quickly "nice call" and mucked.

In the second hand, I was dealing with a guy 2 to my right who was getting aggressive. He stole my blinds twice and made a couple other raises as well. In this hand, he raised from middle position while I was on the button. I decided that if my cards were anything playable, I was going to three-bet him with position.

My turn came, and I checked my cards. Four-Seven of spades. Playable? Eh, sort-of. What the hell.

I raised it up. As often does with the best-laid plans, mine seemed instantly ruined when the small blind flat-called my three bet. He was a nitty fish who had already limped with AK and pocket tens tonight. His call made the original raiser's call easier, and he did so.

We saw an Ace-Jack-6 rainbow flop, and both players checked to me. I figured I needed to fire one more bullet - since everyone always puts you on Ace-King, I needed to represent it here. I bet just under half pot and got two folds.

I made it to the final table with a nice stack, but my cards then became unplayable for 3 levels. I busted out sixth, shoving a king-nine into 2 limps. One of them had pocket tens and decided to call me.