There’s something particularly humiliating about bouncing out on the bubble, especially when you know you could have post-and-folded into the money. I was one of two or three short stacks in this morning’s freeroll with 21 players left, which was a shame, since I had been one of two or three large stacks when there were 113 players left. Anyway, I had about 2xBB left and decided to limp in with QTo UTG. ?! Flop missed me and I folded. Wow, that was stupid. Next hand I post the BB and with T$5 left I call a raise from the SB with 55. First he makes a higher pair, then he makes a higher flush, and I’m out in 21st. Frustrating.

So here’s something that I need to figure out: I may have missed out on an opportunity to make even more money early on in the tournament. I flopped a boat, nines full of jacks, with J9. I bet the minimum and got called. Next card is another Jack. I bet half the pot and got called. River’s a rag, and this time I bet a third of the pot and got called. He had the other nine and I swept the pot, leaving him with about 35-40% of his starting chips. So the question is, at what point am I supposed to realize that this guy is with me to the showdown and push?

Against my better judgment, I risked the rest of my chips tonight at a 1/2 table and left with a dollar! Might have gotten more fun out of them by playing four SNGs, but that’s ok. I’ve been feeling like I’ve been playing too much anyway. About 50 hours since the start of the month, which comes out to a couple hours everyday, not counting these freeroll tournaments. Including those, that comes out to about 4-5 hours a day. As you may or may not be aware, I’m in grad school right now, so I might be better off spending that time doing something productive.

Good question.

There’s been some confusion as to what not placing in the money in these freeroll tournaments and losing lots of big bets on Wednesday means for my overall bankroll situation.

The freerolls don’t affect my bankroll at all (esp. since I can’t seem to place in the money). These are free multi table tournaments (with cash prizes!) that MultiPoker holds twice a day. Like I’ve said a few times, my tournament play is lousy, so I usually won’t buy in to a cash tournament. And while playing a no fee tournament does introduce an element of wildness, most of the players have thus far been pretty solid. According to HD, MultiPoker advertises a lot in Sweden, thus explaining the fact that 90% or more of the freeroll registrants are Swedish. These guys, for the most part, aren’t WPT-wannabes, so I think it’s still good practice to play these freerolls.

As for the big loss on Wednesday, that came after two weeks of fairly consistent wins. I’d withdrawn a few hundred dollars since the beginning of July (to pay myself back for my early losses on PokerStars and poker-related purchases), so overall, July is looking good for me. Unfortunately, Wednesday’s losses are somewhat crippling, so I’ll have to be a bit more careful. I’d prefer not to re-fund the account with my money. OPM’s much easier to play with.

The slaughter continues. Early on in the evening I lost nearly half my stack to JN when my flopped queen high flush lost to her king high flush. Ouch. I guess you shouldn’t discount beginner’s luck. The rest of the evening went on pretty much the same way, with the exception of a medium pot I won with AK. The last hand I played was pocket jacks, which I raised before the flop. I bet after the flop, putting me all-in. CR had pocket queens and flopped a boat with Q55. Then the river showed another queen. That’s right. Quads. Wow.

   This week Cumulative
CR   +$3.10   +$2.05
EM   +$3.85   +$6.40
ER   +$3.05   +$3.90
JB   -$4.00   -$5.30
JC   +$1.45   +$8.95
Me   -$5.00   -$8.95
JN   -$2.45   -$2.45

EM ended up with the biggest stack tonight. ER and CR also made a good showing. JC continued his winning streak. I don’t even know why I play.

Early on in this morning’s freeroll (level 3, BB is 30), I find myself UTG with rockets. I raise to 60, MP2 raises to 90, and MP3 goes over the top. I call and MP2 calls. MP2 had KQo, MP3 had nines, and I swept the pot (2760). I was in good shape.

Then I got moved to another table where I met the luckiest guy in the world. It’s level 4, BB is 50, and lucky guy’s the chip leader with 260 times the big blind. He’s UTG. The next biggest stack is UTG+1, with 65 times the big blind. Lucky guy decides to call, UTG+1 raises to 425, MP1 re-raises to 870 (all-In), Lucky guy calls, UTG+1 re-raises all-in (3275), and Lucky guy calls. Lucky guy has 92o, UTG+1 has KK, and MP1 has JJ. Here’s the board: 7 A 9 2 5. Unbelievable. Lucky guy now has 340 times the big blind.

Over the course of several hands, I notice that lucky guy plays almost every hand (at least four of the ten people at our table were away) and either uses his stack to push people around, or pairs a rag for a win. I stay out of his way and resolve to only play the premium hands.

A few levels later, I get a premium hand. I’m in the CO with cowboys. Two people limp (BB is 150) and I raise to 500. Lucky guy is in the big blind and calls. One of the limpers calls and the other folds. Flop is 2 2 J. Lucky guy checks, limper bets 375, and I raise all-in. Was this a mistake? I don’t know, I think I was pretty safe with my pre-flop raise. Lucky guy has 9x the chips I have and calls. Limper folds. Lucky guy has pocket fives and I figure I’m good. There are only two cards out there that can help him. He doesn’t have any runner-runner flush or straight draws whatsoever. Predictably, the turn flips up a 5 and I bounce in 98th. Lucky guy eventually finishes in the money in 20th place.

Now, I’m sure I could have folded into the money (people get desperate), but who the hell folds cowboys?