Poker League Returns – the beats continue

League resumed last night at Brother's Bar & Grill. I was excited to get back. I was full of confidence and happy to see some usual faces.

I was assigned to table 2. Summer leagues are much small than normal. I think there were 5 or 6 tables of 8 last night. Professor Jensen was on my left and Mrs. Bodie25 was 2 to my right. The Kid from a local church college that's not supposed to be here was directly on my right. Across from me was the Comic Book Guy. It seemed to me to be a pretty tight table.

I folded for a little. I'd started in middle position and half of the people I'd never played before, so I didn't want to get into trouble early with a marginal hand.

The first real hand of consequence came at the 25/50 blind level. I raised with pocket aces, a 3XBB raise. The flop came all heart and no aces. I made a continuation bet of about half the pot. The Comic Book Guy called me and everyone else folded. The turn was another heart. OK…I'm not sure what he has, but at this point, I'm really not sure I want to pay to find out either. Well, the river was yet another heart. OK. I've got aces, but neither of them is a heart. He called my bet on the flop and could very easily be slow playing a flush. I check. He checks…huh…he's got a set of 3s. We chopped the pot.

The next hand of consequence went pretty well. Like I said, I was very confident in my game. I was also keenly aware of how this table was playing. The blinds were still 25/50. I open the pot with a raise from UTG + 1 to 150. It folds to Comic Book Guy and he raises to 300 from the button. To my surprise, the LB and BB both call his bet. I join the call. I should tell you, I have 10s and miss the flop. I check, and it checks around. The turn, another blank and another group check. Now the river comes and it's a Ace. There's no flush, no straight and an ace on the river. Now, Mrs. Bodie25, I really figured she would raise the turn with ace high. I decided I should try putting a bet out there that looked like I wanted a call. I put out 250. Everyone folded! I was willing to lay it down to a raise…but they bought it hook line and sinker. I showed the semi-bluff and Comic Book Guy turns over his mucked QQ.

I think this play cost me the tournament in the end.

Later on Professor Jensen got into a little squabble. I limped to him in the LB. He raised it to 300. The blinds are 50/100. Well, I had squeeze AKo. I really believed he'd do this with either a medium/small pocket pair or a bigger ace. Not really wanting him to flop a set, I raised to 900. He called. Now, I really didn't expect this, but let the cards fly. The flop comes A 2 4. OK, I have top pair with top kicker. If he's got AA…I was dead a while ago, but I really don't think he does. I think he would have folded A 2 or A 4 preflop, those hands would be too vulnerable. So, I think he's now on a medium pair. I have the best hand. So, I raise to 1000. And he calls – AGAIN! OK. Now I sense a bit of frustration from him. He seems annoyed. The turn is a 3. I push him all in. 55 is too low and he'd never chase a straight draw for his tournament. AND HE CALLS AGAIN! So I get to see his cards at least. He turns over 88. SWEET! I'm way ahead. The dealer turns over the river…and as I posted from my cell phone. I frick'n 8 on the river! That was most of my stack.

Now extremely short stacked and the blinds growing fast, it wasn't long before I was all in with AQ and lost to Mrs. Bodie25. As is usual. She's taken me out several times now. Her A9 of spades, of course, hits the flush on the river…sheezzz…

I love this game!