Poker Entry No. 1

September 25, 2004
Players: 30
Entry Fee: $30
Rebuys: N/A
Place: 17
Winnings: $0

I played great in this game. I was playing tight, but aggresive. I hadn't lost a showdown for two hours. After a while, I had a lot of table respect. However, I made one mistake that led to two more mistakes.
First mistake: I had 7-8 suited. I had limped in to see a flop. The flop was 5, 6, 10. There were two spades on the board. I didn't have spades. The big blind checked it. I checked. The old man behind me checked. The turn was a Q. Big blind checks. I started to think about my options. I could check and hope to see a free card, however if I didn't get the straight, I was probably going to lose. As I was thinking, the old man behind me wasn't paying attention and thought it was on him. He said check. The dealer asked if he could proceed. I said I hadn't decided what to do. I chose to take a stab at taking the pot down right there. I bet $4,000. This was about four times the amount of the big blind. It also left me with about $15,000. The old man called. I put him on a flush draw. The big blind folded. The last card was a blank. It helped neither of us, if I was correct on his flush draw. I knew he hadn't made his hand, but I was too scared to bet half of my stack, which is about how much it would take to get the guy out if I was correct. I went against my better judgment and didn't bet. He checked also and flipped over A-8 of spades. He was on the flush draw, just like I thought. This burned me up that I went against my first thought.
Lesson #1: Trust your judgement. Your first thought is usually the right move.
Second mistake: I got J-10 offsuit. I usually limp with this hand, but the blinds were $1,000-2,000 and I only had $15,000 left. I also was steaming a bit from the previous hand. I wanted to play it so bad, but I went against my first thought and threw it away. A pair of J would have taken the pot. I was not as upset about this mistake as I was about the first.
Lesson #2: Don't let past hands affect your playing on a new hand.
Third mistake: My final mistake sent me out of the tournament. The guy after the big blind went all in pre-flop. I had a feeling he was pretty confident with his hand. I looked at my cards and saw pocket J's. Usually I am fairly excited when I have pocket J's. It is a good hand and mostly has to be outdrawn with a Q, K or A to be beaten. However, for some unknown reason I wasn't too thrilled about having it. I pondered the call, because the guy went all in with more chips than me (about $7,000) more. I had a feeling I was beat, yet against my better judgment I called. The guy flipped over K's. I had to outdraw the guy and I didn't.
Lesson #3: If you know your beat, and you don't have many outs, fold the hand.
Three times I knew I should do something and I went against that feeling. That is why I lost the tournament.