not my night for poker

I had a nice string of seven straight tournaments online of getting into the money, and the $100 I invested at Poker Stars was just shy of $200. And then the streak came crashing down something fierce tonight as I bombed out of two tourneys early.

In the first one, I was left in the big blind with the seven-five of clubs, and the flop came A94, all clubs. This is the kind of hand I didn't want to muck about with, but wanted to win it right away. If another club hits, then some clown with the ten of clubs will take this hand down. So I move in with my stack, not a huge one thanks to a tough beat prior. Dude calls me with A6 offsuit. Um, okay. Except that it came runner runner aces to give him quads. Ouch.

Next tourney, I am again left in the big blind, this time with a nine-seven off-suit. Flop comes 754 rainbow, and somehow I am looking at top pair. I bet the size of the pot, figuring that this might take the pot down right away, and if not, it is likely to an overpair or two overcards, and I will be able to figure out which and how to play it down the stretch. One guy calls the bet, and I think that I am likely facing overcards for now. Next card comes a 9, and now I have two pair, and should even have an overpair beat, and so I make another bet about 2/3 the size of the pot, hoping this guy has an overpair still. The river pairs the four on the board, and this card worries me because now an overpair to the board has me beat. So I check but call his smallish bet, and the weasel had 54 suited and made trips on the river. Crappola.

So now I am shortstacked, and pick up K5 suited in the small blind, and I complete the blind when only one person called. Big blind checked, and the flop came KT5, and I have two pair. So I bet the size of the pot and get one caller, a blank comes on the turn, and I move in, and the dude calls, and he had KT and I am drawing dead to a five, which doesn't show.

These tournaments have 45 players, and I was out in 42nd and 39th place respectively. Fortunately, they were the $1.20 tourneys, so I am only out $2.40. I had a feeling before I sat down I wouldn't be lucky tonight, and then I wasn't. Hmmmmmm.