I played an error-free game.
That feels so good to say. I’ll say it again, because I’ve never been able to say it before. I played an error-free game. I can’t think of one play that was a mistake.
In the first two hours, I only showed my cards twice. Every other time I folded, or bet big enough to push other people off the hand. That was the big difference. Instead of value-betting non-premium hands I was putting in large bets and getting other people out of the way so I never had to see if my non-premium hands (low and middle pairs, K-J suited, etc.) would hold up. The only two times I showed my hand were both chops with the same person. So two hours in, no one had seen me lose.
When we down to five people, I had a bad luck run. There three coin flip hands in a row (2 overcards vs. a pair) and I lost all three. That’s unfortunate. I was right to be in the hand each time though. I fought back. With three players, I checked the option with 9-3. The flop was K-9-5. With middle pair I made a good-sized bet. He put me all in. It wasn’t much of a decision, a fold would have crippled me and I was getting 3-1 on my money. He had 9-6, his hand held up and I finished in 3rd.
Never been so pleased with my own performance to finish in third. This was my best poker playing since I started blogging it.
Running Total: $116 (three winning weeks in a row…)