Grab a beer, I'm bored.

Live action, final table of a satellite tournament. 80 players started, down to 7. The top 3 players all get the same satellite prize package. I'm dealing the final table.

Two shorter stacks at the table, none of which are in the pot, blinds 2000/4000, average stack is maybe 55000.

All folds to the small blind (mid stack) who limps, big blind (mid/smaller stack) checks. Flop AQ7, check check, Turn K, check check, River 8, SB checks... big blind says... You gotta have me... and mucks his hand (to a Check).

As the dealer, I actually hesitated to muck his hand, but it was thrown forward and into the center of the table... I had this look of shock on my face as I looked over to seat #8 (not in the hand, but I knew he was probably the best player at the table) and he had the same look that I did. Small blind shows 56 suited... plays the board, and takes down the 6000 chips.

I moved the pot over to the Small Blind as he was the only one left with cards... the Big Blind sighs deep and says... "ugh... I'm an idiot."

He said he had 5,3 and just assumed that by limping in, the SB had better than 7 high.

You are at the final table of a tournament and you just gave up 3000 chips for being absent minded at the time. Is there a punishment for this? Or, is the feeling of complete idiopidity (thats my word, idiotic/stupidity, it should be in m-w.com soon) enough punishment of it's own?

--------------------------------------

So, I'm pretty sure that my NL days for the near future are over. I haven't sat at a NL cash game in just under a year (except a few months ago at The Borgata when there were no seats at my 5-10 or 3-6 limit tables and I had to sit somewhere... so I sat for an hour, folded all but one hand, made my blinds back and broke even). I have stuck to my strong points and it has been paying off. Limit Hold'em. I was playing stud when I was 18 at Turning Stone, NY, and I was playing Stud at the Taj when I turned 21. When Yahoo!Games started their free games section long before my days at Turning Stone, I played Hearts and 2/4 Limit Hold'em online. Talk about being confused. Took me a while to learn the basic strategies of Hold'em, but I learned them the best way you can... by seeing every hand to the river until I was out of free play money on Yahoo and had to reload. The best part was my friends and I had Dealer-Calls change games once a month and I actually realized that my free Yahoo limit hold'em play gave me an edge over my friends. Yay free lessons.

The Borgata opened up, I concentrated on Limit Hold'em. Realizing that 2-4 was a great way to get my feet wet, I sat for about 6 months... just learning, sometimes up, sometimes down. Moved up to 3-6, more ups than downs. Went to Foxwoods just after Moneymaker won the WSOP and saw him getting sloshed playing with bricks of cash at the NL table 2 tables away from my 6-12 Kill Pot.

I didn't know what a Kill Pot was until Foxwoods... MAN what a great game. I still can't understand why they can't do it at The Borgata.

So NL hold'em became the cat's meow and we all started playing it with reckless abandon. Our home games turned from $5 buy ins to $40 buy ins. I didn't have to go to the ATM for beer money for over a year because there was 2 of us (out of about 10) that were constantly winning while the other 8 traded off who would be the other big winner of the night. Over time, as the buyins and pots grew, friendships started to get in the way. It took a good friend of mine from out of town to say that if we were playing for more that $10, he was out.

This was a lawyer in NYC. Money wasn't an object. His outfit cost more than my laptop. And HE was the one saying he didn't want to play for more than $10. He knew that friendships would be put in the middle if the money kept escalating, and he was right. We maxed the buy in at $10, and had some of the best nights of cards we have had since we all brought $4 in silver to the tables in glass jars.

So, my constant source of boozemoney was cut off. But that was Ok. It was, after all, my friends money. So, if their money was off limits... let's go back to AC. I hit the NL tables for the next few years and I really wasn't seeing a constant win. I wasn't losing every time, but more often that I'd like... I was shaking my head walking away from the 3 outter that just took my stack.

So, last year, I decided to start protecting my bankroll by going back to Limit hold'em. Yes, I was made fun of by those who have never played Limit Hold'em before, but it's not about the laughs, it's about the money.

It has paid off. Over the last year, I have seen a steady increase in my "walking away satisfied" column. Just recently, I have made about 6 trips to The Borgata for work and was able to play 4 of those times. I'm paying for my new tires and alignment for my truck, my -lucktruck-, off of my AC winnings this past month. Off topic... Fuck those tires are expensive... $125 each... I used to wrap my Ford Escort with new tires for $125 installed... back to topic.

Now, this is much different that my online play. I was playing a lot of single table sit and go's online, and when I was keeping track of my stats, and taking the time to play when I should be playing, I turned 100 into about 1200 playing $10 and $20 single tables. I sold off 1000 of it and then went cold. Cashed in 1 out of 20 tournaments and went broke... well... not broke.. but online broke...

So, no more online play...except the occasional blogger or RPT tourney when I'm at home and free of distractions. So I'm concentrating on my strengths and dodging my weaknesses (terrible luck in NL). Let's see how the 2nd half of 2008 treats my "walking away satisfied" column.

Cheers.

Beepbeep.