Well, the main event was a little bit different today. For the first time in ages we had a turnout smaller than 10 players, so we settled on a single table with 9 players. Usually we have at least two tables of 6 going and shorthanded play allows you to be a bit more aggressive and “creative” with your hands. With the full ring, not so much, tonight. Cards were so and so…my best hands were AhKh which split the pot with AsKs, AQ which I had to laydown preflop to three raises, a Kx which boated up to split yet another pot and some mini-pairs (2x deuces)…so sooner or later I had to make yet another move. Good thing I didn’t make that move in the hand I had deuces for the second time. Mini-raise preflop…hmm…maybe Aces? Maybe AK/AQ/AJ? I call with the ducks…flop comes down Q86…preflop raiser bets out half the pot…hmm…I honestly thought about pushing there for a while – my reasoning being that if he indeed had AK/AJ/A10/Ax…I might as well be ahead here…then again…if he’s on AQ or better…I’m toast…so I decide to lay it down…my instincts were right…he shows AA…

Soon enough I found myself in a desperate position, yet again, and I was forced to move…no joy and I exited in 7th place. The side game was a whole different game. We played 5 handed after the next two players had busted out of the main event…and after the first few hands I pick up the first superb hand of the night…KK in the BB…two limpers…I pop it preflop…one caller…flop comes down Kxx with two spades…I bet about half the pot…call…turn pairs the board no spade though…I bet out again…call…I hope that the river brings the third spade, but it doesn’t…I lead out again and start to talk…I talk my opponent into calling and I showdown my Kings full…he mucks…nice!

A few hands later I look down at AcAd…nice! I pop it preflop and get one caller…flop comes down KcJc10c…I check…errm not really a good move….he checks behind…turn pairs Kings…I check….errm not really a good move…he checks behind…river 6s…I bet out…he reraises…hmm…couldn’t have played that hand much worse…I make a crying call..he shows 78o for the straight…man did I blow that hand. I raised preflop, I have the goods…if I check the flop…that’s okay (although leading out would be much better)…but as the turn pairs the board I need to fire at it…I would have won a small pot…instead I lost a medium pot…oh well…my bad. After some more jabbing and grabling I was able to knockout two players and my opponent knocked out the third one, so we started headsup. I was ahead…but he fired at me relentlessly…in the end 35o was good enough to win though…..unraised pot, flop comes down 367…so bottom pair + gutshot for me…I bet he pushes I call..he got two overs…I win. Nice. Then I sat down in the next sidegame which was under way…I sat down as the blinds were 30/60 (1500 starting chips, I had 1300 remaining as they had started with me still being headsup in the other sidegame)…I take down some nice pots and find myself sitting comfortable at 2500+ chips. Then everything starts to unravel. I look down at AK in the BB…we’re four handed and the other three limp…no limping under my watch here…blinds are at 50/100…so 400 in the pot…I pop it to 700…one caller…hmm…flop comes down three rags…I fire the second bullet and he calls…we check both the turn and river…and he shows A8 for the pair of eights. Option 1: I fire another shell on the turn and/or river, he calls/folds…I guess he would have called after my hesitation…Option 2: He lays down the friggin hand for 600 preflop…as if 😉

Some hands later I make my exit…I got roughly 1.1k left and I limp in the SB with Q8o…we see a flop of Q92 rainbow three-handed…I check…BB bets…MP calls…I push…BB ponders…calls…MP folds…I show my Q8…BB shows Q10…MP had folded AK…turn 9…river hmm….7…oh well…cya…

So…all in all I’m satisfied with my performance tonight…played the cards that were dealt to me, tried to play my opponent here and there, but it’s hard to win a pot if your opponent will call you down no matter what (especially if he/they keep hitting flops against you)…the only hand that I foobared was the Aces hand…but that one didn’t cost me much…so it’s all good…broke even for the night…not really good, but better than finishing the night down 😉 …I’m out…