There's Always Tomorrow

"Sister luck is screaming out somebody else's name"
-Black Crowes

It's amazing how frustration can pile up quickly. I've been running more bad than good in recent weeks. I try not to let one day affect another, and I am generally successful at that. What I try to be aware of is that my fuse on the next day may be a little shorter when the previous day ran real bad. In that light I try to keep my eyes open to self realization. Huh?

What I mean is, if after some bad beats I see myself making very uncharacteristic plays and calls in the next game, I realize that I have been thrown off kilter and I shut it down for the night. No sense making a bad situation worse. Such was the case last night.

It started off badly enough. While waiting for the Riverchasers game to start, I jumped into a 6-man SNG. Always seeming to be second best I quickly found myself sitting on a short stack and nursing my chips. Somehow I managed to survive to three-handed play. I was able to steal a few and then the second stack lost a big pot to the chipleader. Amazingly I was in second now, by a margin of just under 300 chips (but still small compared to blinds). Next hand, the shortstack limps UTG and I shove KQ. He calls with K6. He turns his 6 and suddenly I'm down to 285. The very next hand I have AT and put my money in. I am called by the chipleader who shows A4; dominating again. Flop comes 235 of course. Good game Japan.

So then the RC starts. I lose a bunch early to Waffles when I pushed back hard with my underpair to the board. He apparently flopped TPTK with his AQ and wasn't about to let go, and I eventually had to give in. But this was not crippling (thank you deepstack tourneys). However, for the better part of the rest of my short stay, I rarely made a bet that wasn't re-raised by somebody, or at least it seemed that way. There was at least one occasion where I felt a move was being made, but discretion always seemed the better part of valor, and I was always able to lay down good, but certainly not great, hands. Finally I cracked. After getting re-raised yet again, I could stand it no longer and decided to shove with 66 in hopes that, miraculously, I would only be in a race (not that I've been winning many of them lately). Alas, Waffles ended my misery when he called with his lowly KK.

I still felt ok though and decided to jump into another 6-man SNG. I more than double on the first hand. UTG+1 raises to 105, cutoff calls, I have 33 on button. What the heck, I say to myself, see if I can hit a set and do some damage. Three to the flop which comes AJ9 rainbow. Initial raiser and CO both check. Hmmmmmm. I throw out a 3/4 pot bet. Raiser calls, CO folds. Turn is a 3...YAHTZEE! Raiser checks again, I bet 2/3 pot, he calls again. I decide he is on a straight draw. I figure as long as a low card hits the river I should be good. River is a 6 and I'm certain I am gold. Raiser shoves his last 500+. I see this as a desperation shove after missing his straight draw and instacall. Sure enough he flips over QTo and I rake in the pot. I won't even get into the preflop raise with QTo, I'm used to that stuff by now.

About one orbit later I eliminate player #2 and I'm feeling really good. It gets to three handed and I'm still the comfortable chip leader. Mayhem then ensues. I have forgotten the specific details of the suckouts that followed (I believe that is clinically referred to as "hysterical amnesia"), but it was in keeping with the crap that has been hitting me quite often in recent days/weeks (indeed, similar to the pre-RC SNG described above). So there I sit, having gone from chipleader to out on the bubble (again) in a virtual blinking of an eye. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

I immediately jump into another one. On the third hand I watch myself put all my chips in the middle (after some back and forth raising and re-raising) preflop with TT, being quite certain that the guy is going to call and flip an overpair. He does. QQ. That's about the time I AIM riggstad that I am shutting down for the night. Tilt cost me the last SNG buy-in, but at least I knew that I was out of my game and that I needed to wait until the next day to play anymore.

Hopefully the good run starts tonight.