Running cold

There's cold and then there's ice cold. I seem to be doing the latter.

Last night I played in the Goldstrike Saturday night tournament. It was $80 buy-in with $10 added to get more chips for dealer appreciation. When the blinds were $200/400 with a $25 ante, my stack was about what I started with. I was on the button and pleased to see I had: ♠A ♣A. From early position, there was a raise to 1200, folded to me. I usually re-raise to get heads up and get more money in the pot, but because there were only the blinds behind me, I smooth called to disguise my hand. If the flop would be queen high, for example, and the guy had a queen, I might get his whole stack. Indeed, both blinds folded.

The flop was ♣J ♣9 ♣8. This isn't the greatest flop for me, so I knew I'd have to be careful. I did have the ♣A, however, so when he checked I bet 1200 and he called. The turn was magnificent: ♣3, giving me an ace-high flush.

I don't remember the betting, but we got it all in and the villain turned over ♣Q ♣10 for a flopped straight flush. I would never raise with a hand like this, but it worked for him. Nice hand, good game, screw me.

Tomorrow's another day. Oh wait, I said that in Friday night's post!