Please Tell Me I Am Not Alone

I am mired in the worst run of cards in my life. I played at Harrahs yesterday. Sat down at the tourney and was feeling good about my game. I chip up and then chip down a bit. I get 22 utg and limp. We see a flop four ways as it comes out 246 with two spades. The small blind checks and the big blind bets the pot. Now this guy is a true novice. He was confused about how the blinds worked. He acted out of turn and did not understand the betting structure. He only bet when he had a good hand. He also was a short stack. His bet seemed to scream strength to me. My first thought was "straight". I decided to just put him in then to end the suspense. To my surprise, the small blind called my raise. The turn was the ace of clubs. I put the rest of my stack in. The small blind calls with A7 of spades. The big blind had indeed flopped a straight. Good thing the small blind came along. Now if my hand holds off the flush I break about even. The river brought the oh so beautiful case 2. Sigh......quads....beautiful. I asked the flush guy what he was doing in the pot. He was crippled. He said he just loves flush draws. Yeah me too.

Our table breaks and I sit down next to an older lady that plays ABC poker. I was feeling good. I was reading the table perfectly. I felt like I was easily better than most of them. Arrogance....sigh.....beautiful. There was a lady that came along with me from our original table. She was hitting sets on flops like crazy. The only problem was she was betting the crap out of them and showing after the folds. I saw her call pre flop raises out of position only to hammer the pot when she had flopped top set. She never checked with the intention of check raising. I got into one pot with her where I could not get her to fold second pair. She called with weak hands and hammered strong ones. I was gonna exploit that later if I could. I get AA and get two callers. The flop is queen high and I bet the pot. The only other good player eyes me up and down and then folds. A shorter stack moves in with AQ and I win. The other good guy said he had AQ as well. I should have checked it and won more..damn. I limp with 66 and flop a set. Check my big blind with 96 of spades and see a six high flop with two spades. Limp with 77. Four of us see a flop of AA7. GIN!!!!. The abc older lady to my right bets half the pot. Now I KNOW she has an ace. I decide to pop it four times her raise. She just calls. All right, no high cards please. Six on the turn and she checks. I say all in and she instant calls. She flips AJ as if she has won. I show my boat and it holds. We have the biggest stacks at the table and it bumps me up over T10,000. Easily the chip leader. We started with T2000. There were only T76,000 in the whole tourney. I am doing well.

I get moved again. I have chipped up some more. I have a stack now and loosen up a bit. I call a button raise of two times the blinds with KQ. This is the same guy who said he folded AQ earlier. The flop is queen high. Check raise him all in. He thinks and calls. He has JT for second pair and I hold. I now have over one quarter the chips in play. Cruise to the final table right? Nope the poker gods had plans for me. Build me up to a fantastic fall.

I am sitting nest to a crazy Asian guy. He reads no situations just cards. The old rock at the end of the table was only playing if he had great cards. Caizian got it wrong every time. He is a shortish stack. I raise in early position with TT. Folds to him in the big blind. He pushes with AQ. Ace on the river. Ok, just a ding. A few hands later. I call a button raise of his with 99 from the small blind. The flop is J high. I hesitate and he sighs and starts to push his chips in the middle but stops himself because I have not acted. I check called his all in. He had QT of hearts. He runner runners the flush. Now he has me barely out chipped. We play for a while and he shows down garbage. I get TT again and call his early position push. He flips over JT. JT!!!!. Jack on the flop and I go home. He ends up winning the thing. Good Grief. I know none of these are bad beats, but if I just win one of the three I probably money. If I win the first one, I probably win the tourney.