Tao of Poker

Pauly Goes Down... And Finds Four Aces

"And then the monkey kicked the Lion in the ding-ding!" - Punchline to one of my favorite jokes

I hope I'm never the punchline to a bad joke, delivered by watered-down, bad-suit-wearing talk shot hosts, and ripped off the morning after by second-rate shock jocks on the radio. At any rate, yesterday I had the worst day ever... for me on Party Poker. It's news for me. Since I started playing online in February, I never lost more than $100 in one session. I always logged off before that could happen. I installed a stop-loss method to playing online: Never play more than eight hours per session and never lose more than $100 per session. Those are my rules and I stuck to them... until yesterday. Yes, yesterday, it was ugly. Like double bagger ugly. My Party Poker bankroll took a massive hit. Sure I lost about $50 in tourneys ($5 + $1 NL multi and two $20 SNGs where I came in 9th and 4th) but I also got slaughtered on the NL ring tables.

In the multi, I had AQo cracked twice! I lost to a short stack at my table with KK. He went all-in in LP and I went back over the top of him. I never put the guy on KK. Then in Level 5, I walked right into a guy with AA when I had AQo. Ouch. Busted out 491 out of 1154. I was feeling good too. I was smacked around maliciously like one of Rick James' drug-riddled groupies. I wrote for an hour and logged back into Party Poker.

All my good hands were cracked. AA lost to 10-10 (river 10). KK lost to JJ. The mimrod called my $10 over the top re-raise and caught his J on the turn. My AKs lost to AJ when he caught runner-runner for a set. One of those days, eh? I did what I could. I got my money in pots when I knew I was the favorite... and I got idiots to call me, which I wanted. My expected results were not fun to stomach. I reloaded three times. If I felt I was near tilt, I would not have reloaded. I would have walked away. But I was sure I could turn it around. Said like a true junkie.

I got my little heart crushed in the $20 SNGs. I had been winning them 33% of the time. Nothing like adding a quick $100 to your bankroll. I figured I'd place in both. It didn't happen the way I scripted it. Like when Joey dumped Dawson on Dawson's Creek... I was doomed. My AKs flopped a flush. I went all-in vs. KK. Yes... he caught runner runner for a full house. D'oh!! Out in 9th place. Then I was bubbled out in 4th in the next one. I grinded my way and I should have been knocked out sooner. I logged off a little depressed. I needed to play tic-tac-toe with a bunch of six year olds to get my confidence level up. I even turned on Wheel of Fortune, which I do when I want to feel smart.

Four Aces?

After dinner, I logged in to see who was playing. Maudie was on another rush and I couldn't resist sitting down. I'm glad I did. Stinky showed up a few minutes later and they witnessed yet more history. My first ever quad aces.

***** Hand History for Game 660344926 *****
Boygza has left the table.
0/0 TexasHTGameTable (NL) - Tue Jun 08 20:51:55 EDT 2004
Table Pick Pockets (Real Money) -- Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Dr. Pauly posts small blind (0.25)
chata911 posts big blind (0.50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Dr. Pauly [ Ad, Ac ]
kelly_g44 calls (0.50)
Murlz calls (0.50)
Maudie_B folds.
sniperd calls (0.50)
goldencondor folds.
stinky_pants folds.
Crackinizer folds.
Dr. Pauly calls (0.25)
chata911 checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Ah, 5s, 9s ]
Dr. Pauly checks.
chata911 checks.
kelly_g44 checks.
Murlz checks.
sniperd bets (2)
Dr. Pauly calls (2)
chata911 folds.
kelly_g44 folds.
Murlz folds.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ As ]
Dr. Pauly checks.
sniperd checks.
** Dealing River ** : [ 3s ]
Dr. Pauly checks.
sniperd checks.
** Summary **
Main Pot: $6.20 | Rake: $0.30
Board: [ Ah 5s 9s As 3s ]
Dr. Pauly balance $34.90, bet $2.50, collected $6.20, net +$3.70 [ Ad Ac ] [ four of a kind, aces -- Ad,Ac,Ah,As,9s ]
sniperd balance $21.75, lost $2.50 [ Ts Td ] [ a flush, ace high -- As,Ts,9s,5s,3s ]

Yeah! It made me feel better. I wish he bet out on the flush!! And I was going for the check raise on the river, inc ase you were wondering. Too bad he didn't bet. I need to play with Stinky and Maudie more often... since Sunday, they have seen my Quads Aces and my Royal Straight Flush!!

Time to pick up the pieces and play much better today.