4-3 seems pretty far right now...

On Thursday night, I played TripJax hoping to throw some salt in his game. That did not work out so well....

On the plus side, I saw a few things from TripJax that I had not seen in the HU SNGs so far and I immediately copied them into my game. Not going to share them here yet (it will cost you $5.25 and seat to see it during the challenge) but it was worth the price of admission.

The game was not very noteworthy. His chat knocked me off my game one hand (he implanted the hammer in my head) and it seemed like anytime I went deep, I ran into two pair. Not very fun. After he won, he graciously agreed to a rematch.

The rematch was much more enjoyable, perhaps the pressure was off? Regardless, I was really catching some cards this round and took an early lead (opposite of Round 1) and we both made some nice bets with the weaker hand forcing a fold. It was fun to play a more thinking game and not just ABC poker. One memorable hand, I saw something suspect in the betting pattern. I had middle or bottom pair and in my head I envisioned too many hand possibilities in his hole cards. His large river bet scared me off of the best hand. I returned the favor later. Back and forth until he pushed with a soooted AQ (but too late, my 56 had found a flop of 477 and turn of 5) I called his all in and evened up the bankroll for the evening (minus rake).

Thanks for the fun and the ideas TripJax. GL

I managed one more match tonight against GCox25. It was a very very good one with both of us over 2k and under 800 chips at differing times. Gary pushed hard with the hammer on several occasions and I seemed to hit the flop everytime. I dropped it once successfully. The final hand dropped my jaw and made my junk shrivel. My Poker Tracker did not grab it. Here is my recap:

I had just taken a large pot from GCox25 with a pair of Aces. He was on a draw and I pushed him all in. He folded and showed. It was a good laydown, but if he rivered a diamond he would have won. The very next hand, I raise with Q10o and he pushes all in. This is the first all in of the game and I had enough chips that even if I lost, it would be close to even again. "Screw it" I thought and pushed the call button. I half expected to see AA or KK, and I was mentally prepared for that. I knew that was a possibility when I called with my suckout hand. I was hoping for AK and a suckout by me. What he revealed was even more damaging to my psyche. THE HAMMER. That is right folks, if you couldn't read that because Gary's brass balls were blocking your view, I will type it a little lower.


THE HAMMER.


I was stunned. Too paralyzed to react or type, I watched the flop. I think a Q came on the flop or the turn, I am still in some state of shock I think. I was floored. I almost didn't call. The poker gods have to respect his wielding of this blogger tool. For some reason, against all odds, they did not and my Q10 help up. Any person that can commit seppuku like that with the mighty hammer is a force to be reckoned with. I looked deep into my soul and did some serious searching.... I have to admit I would have folded it meekley there. Perhaps that is my albatross, too risk averse and too afraid of being trapped.

Hammereness aside Gary, that was a good game, very similar to my round 2 match with TripJax. Thanks for a portion of the SNG challenge winnings back. 10/25 ths of the way there.....