Sometimes You're Just Meant to Lose

With the amount of poker that I play, I’m just not that into bad beat stories. Bad Beats happen all the time and you just have to live it with. If you manage your money correctly, you should be able to weather the storm. Having said this, I have a bad beat story to tell.

Whenever I have about two hours to kill, I like playing a bunch of SNG’s on Full Tilt Poker. Last night it was getting late for me and I desperately wanted to play poker. I had an hour, so I decided to play 2 SNG’s at the same time. I find that if I play several at once, I usually cash and actually make money.  In both SNG’s I was able to build my chip stack and then in all came crashing down. Let’s review both.

Sit-n-Go #1 – I’m on the 3^rd level (blinds: 30/60) and I built my ship stack to 1,800 in chips. Not bad at this stage. I’m in middle position and I am dealt pocket aces. Under the Gun makes a 3x raise of 210. I raise to 450. The button then shoves All-In, UTG shoves All-in and I, of course, call with the best hand preflop. Yes, I have the best hand preflop.

The board then proceeds to show a spade four-flush and the UTG has the King of Spades.  I’m out.

I understand why the pocket Kings called, but why did the pocket 9’s shove? He was not short stacked and with two raisers up front, 9’s are just not that good.

Unless UTG put me on Aces, his call was correct. Maybe I was just not meant to win that SNG.

Sit-n-Go #2 – The second loss was worse. After the first hand I was down to 1,200 in chips. Through some great aggressive play, I built my stack to 3,000. I’m now in second place behind the chip leaders 3,115 chips.

I’m now in middle position again with one limper (blinds: 40/80). I am dealt pocket Aces again.  I make a standard raise of 280. The chip leader on the button calls and everyone else folds.

The flop comes: 8 – 3 – Ace.  Sweet I have trips. The pot is around 700. So I bet 350 as a continuation bet.  The button calls.

The turn comes: 8.  Excellent. I now have a full house: Aces over 8’s.  I check and the button bets 350. I insta-shove and the button insta-calls. He then shows me pocket 8’s. My full house is up against his quads. The river is air and I’m out and I doubled up the chip leader.

May I was just not meant to win.

I didn’t want to press my luck so I quite for the next. I was just not meant to play poker that night.

Now I need someone to come over and fix a broken window…oh and I need a new computer too.