I regret not posting earlier in the week. Instead, the content is not going to be that uplifting. I did, however, make a 60ish foot putt on Monday in the golf tournament with a 7 footish breaker from left to right with about 10 beers inside of me. I hit the ball better than I ever have before and made plenty of contributions to the team. We finished 1st in Net. Basically, it was a way to do the scoring to award us 1st place instead of 3rd place. Matt and I shipped the raffle for a foursome to Calabasas Country Club and received a $45 gift certificate to the pro shop as well. The beer was cold, the beer mom’s were hot and I obviously got sub burned.
So, I went to Commerce last night. I started at 5/10 and made a terrible play that left me not wanting to leave. I grinded out half my losses back there before I went to play 10/20 after the easy spots made their way to the exit. The 10/20 was playing relatively slow which I liked until this Russian player sat down. Boy, was he ready to play. I’ve never seen someone get away with so many bluffs and continue to keep showing. It was miraculous. He went broke twice early and then went on a heater after the worst fold I’ve seen in a while. Tight player raises in a straddled pot to 150 and 4 players call him. The flop comes J73. Russian check/calls 400. The turn is a Q. There are now clubs and spades on board. Russian bets 500 and tight player calls (lol). The river completes the flush and Russian goes ai for 800. Tight player tanks and folds QQ face up. Russian shows K3. I have no idea what the other guy was thinking obviously and neither did he nor anyone else.
the Russian goes on a tear. He built his 2,000 rebuy up to 8,000ish when Hand #1 comes up. I’m really upset about this one and will be for a long, long time. I’ve always wanted to be able to make this type of play and wasn’t able to pull the trigger when the opportunity arose. It’s my straddle. Action is folded to the Russian and he raises to 240 which he had been doing just about half the hands per round. I call with ATcc. We’re headsup. The flop is 744 with 1 club and he bets 400. I call. The turn is the 5c. He bets 600. I deliberate for a little time and raise to 1,600. Also, there was an A9 (no club) exposed pre after I had already called. The Russian asked the dealer for no point on 2 occasions I believe. Immediately after I raised, the Russian said, “reraise 2,200.” So, it was only 1,100 to me. It really smelled fishy. He was bluffing so much and I just didn’t believe him. To be honest, Iwas thinking more about trying to raise him off a better hand and not a bluf or AJ/AQ/AK. The problem is that I only had 2,600ish after the 1,100. I thought for several minutes trying to find more money (lol) to raise with. In hindsight, I should have listened to my guy. It was crying out to me, but I couldn’t think clearly because it was obvious to me that I at least had to call. This guy didn’t have a 4 or a full house. I was very certain of that. I thought too much about the outs that I had rather than the merits of shipping it in his face. I finally called. The river was an 8 completing a backdoor straight. He immediately bet 1 stack of 100s for 2,000 and said, “2000.” I immediately felt that he was bluffing, but I just wasn’t thinking clearly. I wasn’t prepared for this situation after awaiting it for 5+ years. Here I was in a spot to make the HOF bluff for my last 600 and I was so confused I forgot to pull the trigger. I thought for another couple minutes. I knew that he could have me beat with AJ/AQ/AK, but I didnt’ put the pieces together and realize with confidence that he couldn’t call with those hands. I even said, “I’m going to be so sick when you show AK” right before I threw my hand away. He showed KJ and I wanted to throw up. This was a terrible lapse of judgement on my part. I genuinely felt that he was going to show a bigger A and for some reason I didn’t raise allin for my last 600. I simply just wasn’t prepared for this one.
I regained my composure and battled back. In less than an hour, I was a winner in the game again. I kept chipping away at and the Russian. Then, Hand #2 came up. The Russian raised to 120 early, I called with KK. This was really stupid looking back. I was more afraid of him folding more than anything but I did have position on him and why I just flatted. My friend Jerry called behind me. The flop was JT5 with 2 hears. The Russian cbet 240, I called and Jerry raised to 800. The Russian thought for a few moments and called. I backraised to 3,200. Jerry folded. Action is back to the Russian. He has 6,960 left. He thinks for a few moments…
TR: “Will you check it down if I call?”
Me: “No.”
TR: “Ok, I’m all in.”
Me: “I call”
I show KK. He shows AJ.
Jerry: “Don’t worry [Mike]. I had AJ.”
Turn… X
River… J