I'm done, part 2

If anyone actually reads this, sorry for the lack of updates. I've been getting set up at my job, finding an apartment, etc. All is well.

Back to poker. After Friday's debacle, I showed up for Saturday's satellites for Sunday's $400 tournament. In the satellites, 10 players put up $90, and the last two players receive $400 each to enter the tournament with or put in their pocket.

First satellite is going well. I got lucky when I played tricky and tried to trap a couple of aggressive players. Of course, you usually just trap yourself in spots like this.

Blinds 100-200. All fold to the chip leader on the button, who limps. I just complete with JJ in the small blind, thinking there is a good chance the big blind, by far the most aggressive player in the game, will raise. He disappoints me and checks.

Flop looks good, 862, but with a flush draw. I bet 500, call, raise! Yikes. The button would almost always raise preflop with a big pair. It's much more likely he will have an 8 or maybe a flush draw. I move in, and the big blind folds what he said later was A8.

The button calls with an 8 ... 86 for two pair. Of course, I am capable of sucking out from time to time and spike the 2 on the river to make a higher two pair.

I cruise from there to four-handed play, but poker has a way of evening out the luck (and then some). Blinds 400-800, big blind from previous hand moves all-in UTG for 3K or so. I have about 10K (half the chips in play) and call with AK of spades. He has A6, 6 on the flop, no help.

It stings, but I'm still chip leader. Three-handed now, button folds, and I just move all-in from the SB with TT, expecting the BB to call with a wide range. He beats me into the pot with 66 (as he should, by the way).

This pot has 75 percent of the chips in play in it, and another 6 on the flop does me in. Now he has 15K, and the other player and I have about 2500 each.

Why does poker hate me so much? I have twice had chances to earn my $400 seat for $90, once as a 3-1 favorite and another as a 4 1/2-1 favorite, and lost both. It happens, but FUCK!

Now, I lose my nerve and ask the third player if he wants to chop and take $200 each, for a $110 profit. He agrees. Why did I do this? Answer: Because I was scared to lose.

This is not a proper mindset in which to play poker. I take the profit and enter another satellite, lose, and finish up a clean $20 for the session.

So, I pony up the $400 to play my last big tournament before heading back to work.

In my next post, you'll read how I donkeyed that money off.

I'm done, part 1

I am no longer a professional poker player.

I will likely be hired as a copy editor at a Texas newspaper on Monday. This weekend's results did not make a difference in my decision to go back to the grind, but they sure encapsulated all the disappointment and frustration I have felt over the last six months.

Start on Friday. The local home game is holding its periodical $400 tournament this weekend. I enter Friday's $60 rebuy tournament to warm up and maybe get a financial jump on the weekend. I also know it will probably be one of the last times I play in any decent-sized poker game for a while.

The tournament is going very well. I chip up and am already one of the chip leaders with 18 of the 44 players remaining when I bust another big stack to take a gigantic lead.

I have been active with my stack. With blinds at 400-800, 100 ante, I limp in early position with T9 of diamonds. Another limper follows along, small blind calls, big blind checks.

Flop QQJ. Big stack in SB bets out 2500, I call. Turn K gives me the straight. SB bets same 2500, I raise to 12000. He thinks for a bit, then calls. River 3, he immediately goes all-in. I call and beat his Q2.

The guy is a typical young aggressive player, but he always comes in drunk and keeps drinking. It is difficult to lay down trips, but I hate his play here. All he can beat is a bluff on the turn. I really hate his play on the river when I will never fold a better hand or call with a worse one.

I am now a huge stack, and I cruise to the final table. It all starts to go awry 8-handed. The loose, former chip leader, who is steaming after losing a couple pots, limps UTG, all fold, I complete A5 in SB, short-stacked BB checks. Flop comes 864 rainbow, I check, BB goes all-in for about half the pot, UTG calls. I have four outs, very possibly seven, and the rest of the hand will probably be checked down with a player all-in. I call.

Turn T, river A. The BB stands up and says, "No!!" when the A hits. I check, and UTG goes all-in for 35K, about the size of the pot. I am stunned. It will cost me over a third of my stack, and I can beat nothing. My kicker will play. I assume he made aces up or has something like AQ, AJ or AT.

I fold and UTG shows K7, nothing. BB triples up with T9. I am livid. I have played a ton of hours with UTG. He is a purely recreational player, but I can't believe he would completely forget about the situation and move in on a dry side pot. "Oh, yeah, I guess I shouldn't have done that," he says after I explain the situation. Christ. Instead of upticking 30K or so, I downtick 13K, and there are still eight players left instead of seven.

UTG busts, and I am still the chip leader with 105K. Five spots pay, first place $2,200. Blinds now 3K-6K with a 1K ante. All fold to me on the button with AQo. The player who is either second or third in chips with nearly 70K is in the BB. He knows I am aggressive, but he is also semi-competent and, I thought, wouldn't want to tangle with the chip leader this close to the money unless he had 99 or better, AK or maybe AQ or AJ suited.

I don't want him to call a standard raise and beat me on the flop when the standard raise is nearly 20 percent of my stack.

I shove for the whole 105K. SB folds and BB starts to think. At first I think maybe he is thinking about calling all the money off with a middle pair, but the more he thinks, the more I realize I have him beat.

I am surprised when he gets up the nerve to call and absolutely blown away when he shows KT of clubs. I turn over my hand, and he says, "Oh, man, I didn't think you were that good. I thought you were stealing." "With what, K9?" I think.

I mean, he actually acted like he expected to be ahead with K-high.

If my hand, which is about a 58-42 percent favorite, holds up, I will have more than 1/3 of the chips in play with six players left. Board comes J543 ... K. FUUUCCCKKK!!!!!

I am left with about 35K, six big blinds. I go through the blinds, then get caught when I am on an actual button steal and go out 7th.

Every poker player has tons of bad-beat stories, but this one just killed me. How could he call as second or third in chips when we're two spots from the money and two players have only about 20K?

I'm embarrassed to say I lost my composure a bit for one of the few times at a poker table. I didn't rant and rave, but I made snarky comments like, "Somebody's stealing again!" whenever someone moved all-in after that hand. "Here comes a steal!" "Everybody's stealing!"

The guy apologized to me later, and I, of course, told him he had nothing to apologize for. I did.

That $2200 (or event $800 for third) would have come in handy. Instead it was on to the single-table satellites for the $400 tournament on Saturday.