That's So Dank

"The Dank" (fka "The Mookie") is back.  I like calling it "The Dank" because it's just so....dank.  (At least that's the term the kids use these days for things that are cool or awesome and I want to seem young and hip so...)  I really only got in on the tail end of this tournament right before Black Friday happened, so I'm not as familiar with all of the participants as other bloggers. I'd guess that I've interacted with around a third of the people that played last night.

It's always fun to play a little poker and have a little online fellowship, but the nature of a play money game makes it play looser than one where something is on the line.  I know I personally found myself making looser calls than I might have if I had invested even $10 on a buy-in with the chance to win $100 or so.  So here goes some examples of my less than perfect tournament play.

Very early on with blinds of 20-40 I raised to 100 preflop with pocket tens. I got two or three callers. The flop was a lovely K-10-2. I don't believe there was a flush draw on the board.  I bet out about two-thirds of the pot and got raised by Tatude1.  I repopped it to like 1,000.  They (I'm unsure if Tatude1 is a he or she) shoved and I called hoping I just didn't see two kings.  Unfortunately for them they had flopped bottom set with pocket deuces to my middle set and it was buh-bye in 21st place.

I only had one massively memorable suckout. I limped preflop with Q-8 suited. The flop was Q-8-5.  I bet and got raised by Bammer. I reraised and he shoved. I called and was horrified to find that he had me crushed with pocket 5s.  I was saved when my four outer came through on the river with a third queen to boat me up and reward my very bad play.  I was immediately consolidated to another table, but luckily had the chance to tell Bammer sorry.  He was very gracious.

The hand that essentially ended my tournament took place on the last hand before the final table was seated.  I'm a little fuzzy on the preflop action.  I think I raised to like 3X the BB preflop with two black jacks, then Elcee reraised and I elected to just call.  (Elcee is another who I'm not sure is male or female, but I'm guessing female from the very frilly calligraphy LC that was their avatar.) The flop contained an ace and two other insignificant cards, but all of them were spades.  I think I checked and Elcee shoved. I had her covered by about 750 chips. The shove read to me as an ace that was afraid of the flush draw and wanted to end the hand right there. 

Edit: I've since learned that Elcee is very much a guy. So no offense intended by any of my remarks. Now I know better!

Now...this is definitely a situation where I played differently because I didn't have anything other than pride on the line.  I figured I had my 9 spade outs plus both jacks to have the best hand by the end.  So if my read is correct I'm about a 60-40 dog there.  In most cases I would reluctantly, but in my opinon correctly, fold there. I would have still had 10-12 big blinds left and could have made it into the money with smart play and a little luck.  My messed up rationalization last night went, "It's only play money and it's almost my bedtime, so who cares if I lose this hand." I called and discovered my read was exactly correct.  Elcee had AQ of diamonds. I didn't catch a spade or jack and was down to 750'ish chips when the final table was seated.

The very first hand of the final table I was dealt Q-10 off suit.  I shoved and got called by K-J.  I don't remember if they paired up or if neither of us improved, but it was GG me.  I logged off without saying any goodbyes or good games because I was kind of pissed at myself for being such a donkey.  So I'm sorry to everyone that was still around.  I should have at least said good night and been friendly.

I'll probably play in future Danks just because I'm a poker junkie and I need my fix.  I just wish it started even one hour earlier.  I have to be at work at 6:00 AM and I'm guessing the tournament went on until around midnight my time. My carriage definitely turns into a pumpkin about 11:00 PM Central Time.  So if you find yourself at my table and the clock is approaching that time, you should probably try to play hands with me.  I'm very likely to do something stupid and dump a bunch of chips because I can hear the call of my pillow, or better yet the clang of the very early alarm clock.