Sigh.

Had $76k with 45 minutes to go.   2 hands that hurt me at end.  I can’t do much about the 1st.  KhQx in BB, utg limps, mp limps, i check.  Flop K9h8h .  Check around.  Turn 6h.  I bet 800, utg folds, mp makes it 3k. He checked behind A hi flop and then raised blank turn on me a few hands earlier.  I call.  River offsuit Q.  I check-call 6k and he flips T7 for the straight.  Free looks from the BB can be annoying but I probably lost the minimum possible at $9k.  “Free” looks from the BB often turn out pretty expensive.

The hand I fucked up.  swedish guy raises in emp to 1100 (blinds 200/400 ante 50), Irish calls (he’sjust doubled to about 30k),  I make it 4100 with AsQx, original raiser folds and Irish calls.  Almost all of his range here is pairs with an emphasis on medium pairs.  Flop 7s6s4.  We both check.  There seems little point in my c-betting. If i was sure he’d check call the flop I’d be tempted to 3-barrel it, but that’s probably bad in a soft-field tournament anyway.  He’s probably going to check-raise his overpair/set here tho.  Turn 5.

ahhhhh. That’s gonna get me into trouble.  He checks.   I tank.  I should probably just check it down, try to catch and be done with the hand.   Failing that I should bet $7k ish and shove the river.  Instead I bet $5025.  He calls after a little thought.   River 4.  Fuck fuckity fuck.  Not a great bluff card.  At this point i talk myself into betting 15125.  He thinks about folding but makes the call.  Shoving > 15k im sure even tho its an overbet.  Making my turn bet a little bigger to let me put him in on turn isn’t hard and would normally be automatic.  Tiredness is to blame and for the next 10 minutes I struggle to control the tilty rage that sometimes comes when I’m tired and have just fucked up/taken a beat.

So on the plus side I do that successfully, moving my remaining 35k back up to $40k. $40k is still twice the starting stack and looking at it as turning $10k into $20k equity doesn’t look so bad (especially because those are only nominal figures and the skill adjusted figures are closer to $35k and $62k). 80 big blinds at the next level of 250/500 50 is plenty to work with. And I get a new table that I can abuse all over again for a couple of hours until tey get sick of me.  Also the $20k mistake isn’t *that* bad and I did play a lot of hands well throughout the day.

So I’ll probably feel a little better about things tomorrow and by wednesday when I play again on Day 2b, I’ll be refocused.  For the moment tho none of the last paragraph outweighs the fact that $40k isn’t $75k and that errors are unacceptable.

Two more cheeful hands.  I raise JTo from hijack to 225 in 1st level  (I’ve been raising a lot of hands to 225).  Lady in SB reraises to 650.  I call (we’re over 200 bb deep).  Flop 8s7s6.  I have no spades.  she bets 1100.  I insta-float.

Turn Qd.  She checks, I bet 2500.  River Qs.  She checks.  I bet 8k. She tanks and folds. I show the bluff as I’m not planning on making any more big river bluffs in a while, but want to make sure I get paid on my value bets.

Later at the 100/200 25 level.   Utg (belgium – young – really woke up since the antes kicked in) limps, I make it 925 from mp with AKo. Flop K72 rainbow.  We both check.  We’re too deep for me to stack off to a set here (effectives are around 300bb), so the check is partly for pot controland partly to induce action as from previous hands we’ve played I expect him to bet his entire range on the turn.

Turn 3.  He bets $1k, I call planning to put in a small value raise on any river.

River J.  He bets $2k.  I make it $5k he makes it $17k.  Sigh.  I fold face up saying nice hand.  He makes a face and shows me JJ.