Poker as Usual

I almost didn't play tonight. I was really tired after a long day at work, and I was running late for the tournament, but I decided at the last minute to get off at Exit 9 on 400 and play at Sidelines Grill. It was fun, but I ended up busting out around 15th of about 35 total players or so.

It started off great. I was sitting to the right of a regular named Brian who plays every week but usually shows up drunk. He's got a good knowledge of the game, but he really likes to bluff a lot and I'm pretty sure I've got a tell on him. On the second hand of the tournament I drew pocket 10's and raised 1000 out of the big blind. Brian and another guy call me. The flop is low garbage, so I bet 500. Brian pushes all in and the other guy folds. I look at Brian for about 20 seconds and he's just staring down at his hole cards. Normally he's laughing it up and talking a lot. I ask "So Brian, you got a high pair or a low pair? Gimme a hint here." He doesn't say anything and just slowly shakes his head. At this point I'm pretty sure he's blowing smoke, so I call him. He flips up his 89o and says something about it "mostly being a bluff and at leasts he's on a straight draw." Fourth and fifth are garbage and I double up early in the tournament.

A few hands later I got the only hand I was really proud of. I had A5 of clubs and limped in as first to act. There was a small raise of about 400 and I was the only caller. The flop had 3 clubs and I had flopped the nut flush! At this point I decided to try sell the hand and did something I don't normally do and threw in a bit of acting. I looked at my cards for about 10 seconds, sighed a little, and checked. The other guy checked me pretty quick. Fourth street was garbage and I looked at my cards, sighed a little, and checked. He checked as well. The fifth card was no help and I knew I had the nuts at that point. I didn't want to risk him checking out on me so I threw in 500 chips. He reraised another 500 and I reraised 1000. He called and I showed him the nut flush. He wouldn't even show me his cards. Heh. At that point I had close to 15k in chips and you start with 5k, so I was sitting pretty. So of course it was time for me to go on tilt.

I switched tables and still had a good many chips left, even though I had lost quite a bit chasing draws, which is a bad habit I need to get out of. I was soon down to 2000 in chips and went all in with 89o. I had two callers and ended up winning the main pot with a pair of 9's. The next hand I had pocket 10's and got in a betting war after the flop. I was really tired by this point and just didn't put him on the top pair with a Queen showing on the flop. He put me all in and that was that.