Bubble Boy

Last November, I won a home tournament. I played smart, caught cards, and I made only one big mistake the whole evening. So I figured, why not return and see if I can repeat?

The answer: no. But I came close.

First off, the play was just as poor as I remembered: people will call you down with any A-crap, very little betting strategy and generally loose-passive play.

So the deck, of course, froze me out.

I played maybe two hands in the first three levels: one I folded because the flop missed me by a mile. The second I played pocket fives and flopped a full house: fives full of queens, and the calling stations paid me off nicely.

Clawing my way to the final table, I had a nice stack -- somewhere in the middle, but no cards. When we made it to the bubble, the table tightened up. In fact, it clenched so hard I think it blew an o-ring. To quote Otis, we needed a priest to administer last rites.

If you raised, everyone would fold. Anytime they would raise, I would have nothing - nothing worth calling them with. The guy to my right was constantly short-stacked, but every time he'd push, I'd have something like 5-2 or 3-6. Finally, I caught KQo under the gun and put in a raise.

Mr. Big Stack lept over the top and I had to make a decision. So, of course, I made the wrong one and called. It was purely an emotional decision - I was hungry and bored, and it cost me big. My KQo ran smack into his AKs and slinked away, whimpering.

In hindsight, I should have played even more aggressively - and figured out that Mr. Big also was uber-tight, so calling him wasn't really a good idea.

However, I also now know the game is very beatable, so I plan to return next month and reclaim my title.