I played a bit tonight. Two and a half hours, actually, in a tournament of 42 people. Top seven would be paid; I got knocked out at 20th, which has become an all too familiar story, over the last nine months… my middle game has been ass lately – I get tired and sloppy. Or worse, I get tired, sloppy and all emotional – bad combination for poker playing.

Tonight, though, I’m a wee bit frustrated and I think it might even be justified.

My opening game is usually pretty good; I’ve only washed out in the first 25% of a tournament three times since I’ve been playing in them and I think one of those was a bad-beat, first hand outting. My end game is also pretty good; I’ve only washed out on the bubble twice since I’ve been playing in tournaments. The middle game is the my weakest part of my play, which can make sense I guess: it’s where you spend the most time playing. Knowing when to loosen up and then when to tighten back down can take years of studying people and full time play.

Tonight, I brought my A-game tonight, for the entire time at the table.

I laid down AKo when other people’s betting told me I should, and I was right. I laid down QQ when someone came over the top in spite of position. I dodged a few other bullets, when people “told” me I should – I was aware of their betting and the board. I also went after two players that showed weakness… I check-called them into a false sense of security and wound up in the lead at my table for a while. I didn’t have to suck out. I didn’t have to hope for the “long shot”. Like I said: my A-game.

So what went wrong? Ah, well, that’s the tricky part of poker… the same kinda of luck that has saved me when I didn’t have my A-game decided to kick me in the dick tonight. Yeah, that’s poker: the odds can only take you so far.

On my last hand tonight, we had ten players at the table; I was two behind the button. Blinds are 200-400 at this point; 20 people left in the tourney – we had just combined tables two hands before this one so the tables are at 10 and 10. I look down to see AA. As action moves around the table, three people fold; UTG+3 (two before me) raises to 1200. I think, “Hm. I was going to do that” so I smoothly call. Everyone else folds.

Flop comes up As Ks 4h. Other guy opens with 2500, about 1/3 of his stack. I think “WHOO! ACTION!” At this point, I have to assume he’s got AK, KK, 44, or maybe A4, all of which I currently crush. He can’t have AA, so no chop is possible. If he’s got AK, he’s doomed. KK he has one out on the turn and river; if he’s got A4 he needs a 4 on the turn and the river. I even considered a flush draw, but being honest: the two highest spades are out there, so unless he’s got QXs… post Flop, sure, but to go throwing 1200 pre-flop with two low spades? Risky move… even if he did, that makes for 9 outs on the Turn/River and who knows how many were folded with the other 16 cards in the muck. I like those odds.

I raise to 5000, which puts me All-In. He insta-calls. The Turn is 8d – no help to either one of us – and the River is a spade. His flush beats my AAAK8.

Pre-Flop I was favored to win, 80% to 20%. At the Flop it goes to 70%/30%; on the Turn, it’s back to 81%/19%. The big question at the table was “why didn’t you raise pre-Flop?” I considered it… Honestly, I did. If the raiser didn’t raise to 1200, I would have. That was the bet I wanted. Go to 2400? I could have… but to what benefit? Given the hands I figured him for, I had two options: push him out of the hand now for 1800 (with the blinds) or try to get as much of his stack as I could, doubling myself up (from 6200 to 12400, which gets harder to do as the game goes one). Sure, if I knew he had 43s, it’s a no brainer to push pre-Flop: who wants to let him draw and hit something? I have little doubt that he would have folded. He wasn’t pot committed by any means – unless he thought I was trying to buy the pot, he would have folded.

But was that the best use of my Aces? No. I wanted as much as I could have gotten for the AA: to do that, I wanted to see the Flop. There are many times that I don’t want to see a Flop. Pocket Queens? Jacks? In late position? Sure, push and hope for the best. This time, I wanted action… I wanted him to have AK and be a hoover for the rest of the hand. And quite rightfully so… after all, the odds were at least 70/30 in my favor the entire hand – felt like a smart move then. Feels like a smart move now, in spite of the outcome.

Ah, well, that’s poker.

FWIW, this wasn’t the worst beat of the night: two other players went All In with AA vs QQ – Flop was Qxx (10% to 90%), the Turn an A (98% to 2%), and the River a Q (yeah, that’s one of those “one out” situation I mentioned above).

Yeah… that’s poker.