Dead Money Poker Satellite Final Table (kind of...) part 4

To continue with the Dead Money Poker tournament. I had just failed impressively trying to check raise in maybe not the best situation. The irony is I made trips on the river and would have scooped. My misguided thoughts led me to the conclusion where I actually thought that action, check raising a raise and a call might make my play look even stronger… however, what I had forgotten was the other hand I had just raised preflop.

Yes, the squeeze play is never a bad idea but perhaps I wasn’t as cognizant as I should have been at what the others had been observed. Poker is all about readjusting to the image on display. That is a vital part of poker strategy. Your opponents don’t see your cards so all they can go by is what they see. And, my check raise which might normally look uber powerful here could have been judged another reckless bullying attempt, so arguably it was done in a bad place.

The hand that I had just raised played out quite interesting. Under the gun led out, then I got repopped by the player to my left, the entire table called. Action got back to me and I threw out a ton of chips. I read a lot of weakness and thought the reraiser was a little passive in general. If he had a monster he’d probably ship it and I could fold. If he didn’t I could probably scoop it right there.

To my surprise I got called by the player that popped me, and everybody else rightfully headed for cover. I had AQ and checked it down when the board missed me. I didn’t know if he’d call a bet in that spot with AK which I thought he had, but I wasn’t going to contribute anything more to the pot. The other possible holdings he might have all crushed me. At the end to my surprise my opponent had KQ and I scooped the pot. So, showing down AQ meant everybody knew I was willing to get a little out of line.

So my checkraise went awry and I was steaming a bit. I promptly got KK in the big blind. There was a raise and another load of callers. Table full of limpers I overbet again now playing into my looser image. I couldn’t get action this time, but the pot helped me get a lot of my chips back. I was feeling a little better.

Lee correctly put me on Kings. Hmmm, that’s not good.

Then I got AA and poor Joe C got coolered. He bet from the button I raised from the small blind. He shoved over the top and I called. Joe turn over pocket queens and no set hit to send him home. Seemed like Joe couldn’t get anything started and the first big hand he got just finished him.

Four handed it was Lee, his cousin whose chip stack had swollen like a kid allergic to bumblebees fresh after a sting. Four handed I was willing to mix it up and despite Keenan and Lee nursing little stacks I knew the payout was top heavy, with the second place prize barely covering my buy-in plus my last longer, so I was going to mix it up.

I kept finding myself in bad spots and couldn’t figure the kid out. I had some physical information on him and thought I would figure him out. Alas, not to be. When I’d read him as week and made a call with Ace high he had pocket threes. What made it worse was that he knew he was good and said he would have called a river bet. I guess I’m an open book. Keenan needled him a bit “You really thought you were good, there are five overcards out there.” The guy just smiled and raked the pot.