Why am I writing more about poker? I think reading Terrence's posts have inspired me.

Today's post will be short... I went into a tournament today feeling pretty confident after my high finishes in the past few tourneys I've played.

I got to the table and decided I was going to be aggressive. Of course, it helped I that I was catching wonderful cards in the first few hands. So I was basically having my way with the table pretty early on.

For some reason, Pete picked up JJ against a raise from me and a re-raise from Bobby ... and decided to reraise it again. He made it something like $6 to go, and I raised it to about $16 to go (blinds were $0.50/$1 at this time). The pot was sitting at about $40 at this time... and the flop comes A-blank-blank. I'm thinking Pete has made his aces up so I check it to him. Here is his mistake. He bets... $1. Into a $40 pot. As Terrence calls it, Pete made a "My Little Pony" bet. Smelled of weakness and not a trap. So I reraised to $5... he called. Once he calls, I realize he's holding either JJ or QQ (for some reason, painted pockets are a "big favorite" amongst people, but people don't seem to realize that JJ and QQ are pretty crappy hands). I decide that taking someone out on the second hand is pretty cruel, so I check it down to the river (dark checking the river straight up).

A few hands later, this new kid Alex and I get tangled into a pot. I forget what transpired, but basically a lot of chips end up in the middle preflop with me holding AQ. The flop comes J9blank. I've completely missed the flop, but he might of missed it as well ... so I check. He checks. I think that maybe we both missed the flop. Turn comes a blank. He bets a ridiculously weak amount (something like $4, which smelled of fear). I decide to test him, fully expecting him to fold when I make it $14 to go. He thinks for a second, then tries to pull a Mike McD and says, "I don't think you've got the best hand" and puts +$9 into the pot.

Originally I thought he had missed the flop (maybe overplaying suited connectors, I don't know). When he went all-in, I seriously thought he was playing KJ (and not AJ because I couldn't imagine someone risking a flush draw with two clubs off the flop with J high kicker). I'm kicking myself at this time for overplaying my hand, but I call ... getting something like 7-1 to 9-1 on my money. He flips over a friggin AT and remarks, "I can't believe you called that." Moron, if you're going to make a move for the pot, don't do it against the chip leader who just got pot commited with what he thinks is a 6 out hand (quite reasonable!). Yeah, so that got me up to like $100 in chips (we started with $40). I'm flying high right now.

A few hands later, I pick up AQ. This new player Josh limps the hand. I raise it about 3x or 4x the BB (can't honestly remember cause of the high number of hands I played tonight), and he flat-out calls along with someone else. The flop comes AAK.

At this time, I'm 99% sure I have both of them beat ... neither of them seemed confident calling the reraise preflop which might indicate KK or AK. I decide to slowplay the aces and check. The flop gets checked. The turn comes a blank ... and I decide no more fooling around. I play the hand hard against a small raise from Josh (new player). He reraises, and I take him all-in. Now, realize at this point that this is a huge pot; it's looking to be about $120 in chips. If I win this pot, I'm going to be up to about $160 - $180 in chips and I feel confident I can win this whole thing. I lose, and I'm back where I started.

The dude calls my all-in and flips over an A6, looking quite smug. I flip over my AQ and his stupid grin vanishes. WHAT DID HE THINK I HAD? At best, he was looking at a SPLIT pot ...

Of course, the river spits out a f'ing 6 (one of the three cards that could only beat me) ... and he wins. He smiles, as if he's doing something really good.

I was totally pissed at his moronic play. Sure, he had trip aces, but it was pretty obvious to anyone at the table I'm holding aces as well, and his kicker was shit. What the hell was he doing calling preflop with that ugly crap anyways?

I was fuming (still am actually).

The rest of the night is pretty inconsequential. After that slug to the stomach, I lost my stomach to play. I hung around ... although I did play two hands against Josh dark [without looking at my cards] and beat him in both hands (which made me feel slightly better). I eventually lost when I miscalculated against Godwin; I thought I could move him off his mid-pockets with a huge reraise (all-in), but he called and busted my pocket 3s.

Roy's thought of the day: WHY DO PEOPLE LOVE PAINTED POCKETS SO MUCH? Specifically QQ and JJ. If you're any type of player, you want to avoid races (coin flips with pockets against overcards) as much as possible. JJ is going to bust you about half the time when running up against AQ and AK. Sure, QQ limits the hands that will race you to the finish down to AK ... but it's still a grossly weak hand. If you're looking at a reraise preflop against a solid player with JJ or QQ, toss them. At best you've got 2:1 odds, and at WORST you maybe a huge underdog against higher pockets with 4:1 odds. The last three times I've had JJ, I haven't even been able to play them.