Aussie Millions

You ever been in a tournament where absolutely nothing seems to be going your way? Man, that’s how things went for me in the Aussie Millions. I was trying my absolute hardest, made all of the right moves, but never had a chance. I didn’t get dealt any premium hands really, aside from AK once, AQ twice, 66 twice, 55 once, and 22. The key hand I lost was against the table’s resident maniac and it went like this: A player limps under the gun, one more player limps, and I limp from the button with Q-J, both blinds are in there as well. The flop comes Jd 8h 6d. It’s checked to the first limper who bets 300 into a 500 dollar pot. I felt like I wanted to get some information about the strength of the limpers hand, so I made it 900. The “maniac” in the big blind called as did the limper. The turn came the Qs, and the maniac fired out 2000. When the limper folded, I considered raising but realized that since I actually put the maniac on a draw, that 9-10 was a legitimate possibility. I wasn’t about to go broke on the hand, so I just called. The river came a 6, pairing the board, and the maniac checked over to me. I was certain he didn’t have AA or KK, or a full house. He “could” have the straight, but I thought it was more likely that he may have hit the Q with a hand like Q-10 or Q-9. I thought about checking it down, but ultimately figured that it would be a weakish play. I bet 3000 for value and the maniac called. He did have the straight and I’d lost half my stack by that point. The next key hand I played, I feel like I played brilliantly. Short on chips I limped with 22 for 200. A player in late position raised it to 800 and it was back to me heads up. I had a great deal of information on this player. He never raised from early position, limping even with AA, but from late position frequently raised with ace high type hands (A-K through A-9). I was rather confident based on the way he made the bet that he didn’t have a big pair, or even a mddle pair for that matter. Rather than gamble on a coin flip, though, I figured I would see a flop first before making my move. The flop came 6-8-9 and I checked to gather more information. My opponent bet 1200 and then gave away the biggest tell of weakness I’d seen in a long, long time. At that point I was pretty certain that my 22 were good, and I was also pretty certain that if I raised him my last 2050 that he would call me. So, I just called the 1200. The turn came a 5, putting a four card straight out there, and after a very long hesitation to make sure my read was accurate, I moved all in for 2050. He says to me, “I don’t think you’ve got it,” which worried me ever so slightly. He finally decided to call the 2050 with… A-J! Here was my chance to double up and get back in the game. The river 7 made it a split pot. Later, in the big blind for 200 I called 300 more with 8-10 of diamonds heads up against Tony Bloom. The flop came 10-6c-5c and I checked to Tony who bet 1200. I had close to 5000 and moved it all in. Tony quickly called and turned over Kc Qc for two over cards and a flush draw. The turn was a Q, and the river was the 2c for overkill. I was out, and was just sick about it. I made some excellent reads and felt like I really had my A game working. I just got no help from the deck at all. Anytime I made a hand, someone flopped a better one, it was totally frustrating, but that’s just how poker works sometimes. *************************************************************** I am going to stick around for a couple more days and watch some of the Australian Open. Andy Roddick got tickets for me and David to sit in his box for his first round match against Michael Lammer (Swi), while James Blake drew Jose Acuasuso (Arg). I met James yesterday morning when I was having breakfast with Kirk Morrison. He seemed like a really cool dude and I mentioned to him that he got an honorable mention in my blog. Actually, when I was getting up from the table I knocked my chair over near Blake