Ahhh, the joys of suck, re-suck, and back-suck… I plopped into a 20-seat $16 SnG on Pacific last night to continue my “quadruple-or-nothing” spree in the online poker world. [Side note: I think I saw Otis in an Empire $30+3 O8 tourney that filled just before I could grab the last seat or else I would’ve had some real stories.]. Anyway, after watching the Red Sox be, well, the Red Sox, I wanted to cleanse myself of that icky feeling I get whenever the Yankees win, so I took a seat in my favorite SnG structure.

Fast forward to the final table, seven left, so I’m almost to the money, but I’ve been blinded down and am desperately shortstacked due to absolutely shitty cards. I lost a big chunk early when I overplayed the Hammer and lost to a pair of 6’s. I pick up AJ in MP, and raise to 3xBB, but not risking the other half of my stack. This is a conscious tactic I use when I’m trying to double up. I’m trying to look like I’m on a steal, but want to encourage someone to try and push me off it by kicking me back. If I’m raised back all-in, I’m willing to take the likely coin-flip to double up. My goal is to double up, and not merely tread water by taking the blinds. If I go all-in immediately, I basically telegraph my hand as a desperation Ace and might only pick up the blinds by folding the small pairs or sooted connectors. I’d end up with one extra round of blinds and no guarantees that I’ll ever see an Ace again. A medium raise represents my best value bet because I might get two callers rather than just one, and possibly triple up on a decent flop.

Anyway, my AJ is raised back just enough to put me all-in [this is a sign that the guy knows what he’s doing since he knows how to manipulate the raise bar], everyone else folds, and I accept my fate by calling. He flips JJ and I know I need an Ace to survive. Sure enough, the flop is AT9, and I’m sitting purdy though still worried about the backdoor straight. The turn is the CASE frickin’ J [ahhh, a one-outer] and I’m hosed after the river is a rag. Un-fucking-believable. Sigh. Got some sympathetic comments in the chat box, but a loss is a loss. No such thing as a moral victory at the poker table.

So, I’ve basically made up my mind about online poker. I really think that I’ve burned out on the whole deal. Plus, it seems that the fish are catching up to me either because they’re improving or I’m regressing. I’ve still got about $110 still at Pacific, $80 at PokerStars, and $60 at Empire. I’ll run with that amount until I either build an online bankroll back over $1000 or bust out at -0-. Since I’ve already cashed out [as in, got the check already] roughly $1K ahead, all of that online money is EXTRA profit, and for the sake of this discussion, “play money”. I’m still gonna play the same games I was playing before, but probably with a looser (or loser)attitude. So keep an eye out for me at the $16 20-seaters at Pacific, the $6.50 or $15 Turbo SnGs at PokerStars, or the O8 SnGs at Empire. I should be easy pickings… but ya never know.