So I am a Northern NJ resident, I live about 40min West of NYC and I gots me some snow yesterday. In case you aren't from the area a tiny little blizzard decided to run its way up the east coast and crap all over us. I feel for the folks in Boston and that area today, cause this one was a pain in the back. I just finished shoveling out and of course, don't you know it has to be the heavy stuff. So now here I am sitting in front of the computer, post shower, tired and clean and ready for a day of not moving. I think I am going to continue my assault on the mid stakes stuff and see if I can't successfully break through this glass ceiling today. I had an okay day yesterday, nothing special to speak of, a deep run in the 5.50 2.5k Cashout and the Daily Double A on FTP. I am a bit disappointed in the Cashout result as I had managed to work my way up to chip leader with 40 or so to go and then played one hand absolutely abismally to screw it all up. So here is the hand and my analysis of my stupidity.
Blinds are 1200/2400 with a 300 Ante
Table is 8 handed and I am UTG with JTo. I open to 5795. I get flatted from the HJ and the BB and we go to the flop 3 handed with my sandwiched between two players. For reference the BB is playing 57/29 over 7 hands so not much reliable there and the HJ is 20/11 over 81 so something useful there. Flop comes 27J rainbow, BB checks and I lead out 12k into a pot of a little less than 21k (as I am the OR) and the HJ 3bets me to 33600. BB folds. Now here is where things go awry. If I was thinking clearly at the time 20% flatting range out of Pokerstove looks something like 66+, A9o+, A4s+ and any Broadway combination (suited or unsuited). Knowing that, the 2 isn't likely a card that connected with him at all so I don't think the re-raise is a set of 2's. The 7 is at the bottom of his range, but lots of player flat with PP's so a set of 7s here is certainly a real possibility. The Jack is where i should get concerned. For this player type, broadways are his range, so AJ, KJ, QJ are all very likely holdings, making my JTo look pretty meek. There are some overpairs in there, but I am not sure he just flats with those pre-flop so I don't think I am looking at QQ, KK or AA. I am holding a Jack so I don't think JJ is a likely holding. Completing the thought here, the best I am hoping for is AK or AQ, but more than likely I am crushed by his range on this flop. Logical move…fold to the re-raise, maintain my big stack and keep rolling. What does the Gman do…he takes his big stack and applies a little pressure. I 4bet him all-in. He kills his entire Time-Bank and makes the hero call (not terribly heroic I guess, but at the time it felt like that) and flips over QJo to have me dominated. Rest of the board runs out unfavorably and I loose 50%+ of my stack. The rest of the tourney was a bit of an epic failure as I wasn't exactly in the best frame of mind after that.
The lesson here this week kiddies…THINK. If I had taken 30sec to digest the action, look at his stats and project his range, I would have certainly known I was pretty screwed in this spot. Acting in the heat of the moment is a big part of this game, but it needs to be kept under control otherwise this sort of stuff happens and derails a strong run. It only takes one bad hand to foul it all up. Remember, take a few seconds and think and the results could be surprisingly different. This is the Gman signing out, hope to see you all in chat! May all your flushes be Royal!