Interesting Observations from the Felt, Volume 1

Sunday, July 6th, 12am. Fayetteville Street Tavern, Raleigh, NC.

I'm in the final five of a 12 person tournament. I'm chip leader by a little bit, with the other big stack directly to my left. He's the only player I'm really concerned about, even though a WSOP vet is directly to my right.

So, one hand caused my night to end prematurely. The player to my left, I'll call him "Big Donkey" or "BD" for short, has been his typical calling station self all night long. Blinds are 500/1000, I'm big blind with J/10 off and he opens with a 3x BB raise. Next player pushes with about 5k, everyone after folds, I call, BD of course calls. Flop comes J 8 9 rainbow. I'm feeling good, and check it one time. He checks as well. Turn is a J. I bet 5k. He pushes all in. He has been using position power all night, and that's part of his game. It wasn't this time. I call. He has K/J. I missed a boat and the straight on the river, and he took 90% of my chips.

I'm not accusing him of playing this hand poorly. He's built his rep around playing bad hands, and it happened to work for him this time. Blind checks, blind calls, reckless calls, etc. I enjoy playing against him because it adds an element of the unknown, even more so than with most other players. It seems like I can read him most hands, but this one had me completely lost. I couldn't give him credit for a J, much less a J with a better kicker. I put him on a pocket pair of some sort, which he's been known to overvalue, and I just got hosed. No other way to describe it. I could say it was bad luck, but I know I'll be more cautious next time. Rematch is tonight, 7:30pm. I'll let you know what happens.