That’s a little more like it. Instead of donking out in craptastic fashion, I made it to the Final Table of last night’s MATH tournament.
No, of course I didn’t make the money.
We were down to seven with six paid and the stacks were within a pretty tight range. Nobody was particularly comfortable or uncomfortable with Ms between 7 and 12. With the likes of Otis, Miami Don, Mike Maloney, TripJax around me, it wasn’t a situation where I was gonna out-skill anybody.
Which is ultimately why I bubbled.
I had raised the two previous hands and gotten the blinds and antes. I didn’t want a call with either. I think it was Ax and AT. But then I got AQ and raised it up again. Maloney pushed behind. I had him covered by 800 chips. The math seemed right, as I was getting about 1.8-1 on the call. I thought I had a race at minimum, partly because it was the third straight hand I raised and the belief he wouldn’t really put me on a strong hand.
The question was whether I wanted to race on the bubble, especially in light of my stack, which would have still been okay if I folded. But, like I said, I wasn’t gonna out-skill anybody, so I left it up to the cards and the fates and called. Other possible reasons include the fact I’d drained the rest of the Maker’s and was itching to watch the season finale of “Heroes.”
He had 88 and a boat by the turn.
In the interest of not being results-oriented, I’m okay with the play. Not in love with it, by any means, some of which has to do with the fact that I’ve bubbled WAY too often in recent months on plays that I can’t defend even a little. I always want to be an aggressor near the button, because that’s when people naturally tighten up and chips are there for the stealing. I’m playing for the win, not the meager cashes. But, sometimes, a cooler, more controlled head needs to prevail.
The evening wasn’t a total loss as I got some much needed BBT points and snagged a token in the $6+.50 Frenzy.
Baby steps.