Unseated at the Tourney

Just to show the level of degeneracy I've fallen into, after going to bed shortly before midnight last night my fevered subconcious conflated several things on my mind of late and I dreamed I found myself back in my teens, preparing to stage a play a la High School Musical with several people I've never actually met. An exact quote from the dream,

Fred: "Maudie, go find Iggy. If we're going to do Little Theatre, we might as well have a dwarf as our stage manager."

Please blame the above on my Id. I had nothing to do with it.

ricoM placed 5th in a field of 69 in the WWdN Katitude Invitational last night, earning $55.20 for his efforts. I was crippled - and all but taken out - by Our Host Himself when I misplayed a hand against him. Level XI 600/1200 blinds. I'm in the small blind with 13666 in chips. Wil, with 14621. Wil with everyone folding to him raises 2800. I'm the only caller, with Qs Kd.

Flop is 8c Jh Td, giving me a straight draw as well as two overcards. Wil bets another $3500, and I call. And here is where I go wrong. Turn is a nothing 2c, and Wil checks. I should have bet, and bet hard, as Wil is all but waving his arms in the air and shouting, "Bet!" at me.

Now, the point is - for my non-playing readership - that there is over $16k in the pot at this point, and both Wil and I both have only around $6k left of our stakes, virtually ensuring at this level that the one who loses this pot is the one who is going out next. If it's a trap, it shouldn't really matter to me, because I can't afford to lose. And if it's not a trap, and I bet heavy enough to convince Wil I've got him beat... then maybe he'll fold. Or maybe not, but I'll never know, because ricoM, Him Scared, as Jim McManus would say, and I forget the lessons of my new poker coach, the Mazid of Mezeritch.

1. To be willing to risk one's life even for a little thing
   
2. Not to attach too much value to things even though one has risked one's life for them

and refuse to take my fate in my own hands, and I check behind Wil. Flop is an equally nothing 6h, and Wil again checks. Maybe I should have bet at this point, but I've convinced myself I've lost the hand for myself, as indeed I have. I check, we flip. Out of the Ace or 8 I was expecting, Wil has the Ace, and high card takes it. CJ noted, "first bet wins the pot," and he's right.

I last two more hands, and with sooooted 7 A, call all-in against the then chip leader, Mungo36. He pairs his Kings, and that was all for me this week. Wil would eventually take 3rd, Mungo36 2nd, and kaellinn18 1st.