The Hammer!!

Is there really any more joy than dropping the hammer on somebody. Don't get me wrong. I'm not the kind of guy that just plays 72 for kicks and grins. I have to have the right situation. Anyway, more on that later.

I started off the night in the 1K guarantee. Too bad this is the last week for them. It really seems to be a rebuy fest. We had a more than usual 27 people in it last night. The prize pool ended up being $1,540 after 35 rebuys and 15 add-ons. I don't have to tell you that there is some very loose play in this. Unfortunatley, last night was not my night as I ran into pocket aces twice at inopportune times.. Like when I had top pair with a good kicker. I finished in 14th. So I was down $42 ($22 buying and one add-on).

Of course, while I was playing, I was playing a couple tables of 5/10. To say things weren't going very well would be an understatement. Like the tourney above, I was at some very loose tables. The flop percentages (VPIP) were both over 30%. Each table had at least two fish in them and no really solid players. So I lost $40 in the tourney above and I was down around $250 in ring play. One particular fish had my number. No matter what I had, he had me beat. He was playing over 50% of his hands and was winning with crap hands; but when I got a hand he seemed to have the goods. To show you how bad this guy was. I have 44 in the SB and we have a total of 4 players in an un-raised pot. Flop comes 4T3. I check and it goes checked around. Turn card is a 2. I bet out and only the fish calls me. River card is a 7. I bet out and the fish calls me with A5. Now, he didn't have the nut str8; but he did on the turn and he didn't raise either time. I can think of two other times that he had nealry or had the nuts and didn't raise. Beleive me, I'm grateful that he didn't. Anyway, here is pretty much the hand that turned it around for me:

***** Hand History for Game 2274330467 *****
$5/$10 Hold'em - Monday, June 27, 22:43:17 EDT 2005
Table Table 32898 (Real Money)
Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 3: asnrcr206 ( $605.59 )
Seat 10: wilwonka ( $264 )
Seat 6: usnavyvet ( $229 )
Seat 7: CrazyCheese ( $64 )
Seat 4: Spider61 ( $279.56 )
Seat 5: basscatcher5 ( $211.5 )
Seat 2: pbj11 ( $248.5 )
Seat 9: ezerhauden ( $443.9 )
Seat 1: irish1333 ( $200.25 )
irish1333 posts small blind [$2].
pbj11 posts big blind [$5].
ezerhauden posts big blind + dead [$7].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to wilwonka [ 2d 7d ]
asnrcr206 calls [$5].
Spider61 folds.
basscatcher5 folds.
usnavyvet calls [$5].
CrazyCheese folds.
ezerhauden checks.
wilwonka calls [$5].
irish1333 calls [$3].
pbj11 checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ts, Qd, 7c ]
irish1333 checks.
pbj11 checks.
asnrcr206 bets [$5].
usnavyvet calls [$5].
ezerhauden folds.
wilwonka calls [$5].
irish1333 calls [$5].
pbj11 folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9d ]
irish1333 checks.
asnrcr206 checks.
usnavyvet checks.
wilwonka checks.
** Dealing River ** [ Jd ]
irish1333 checks.
asnrcr206 checks.
usnavyvet checks.
wilwonka bets [$10].
irish1333 calls [$10].
asnrcr206 folds.
usnavyvet calls [$10].
wilwonka shows [ 2d, 7d ] a flush, queen high.
irish1333 doesn't show [ Qs, 8c ] a straight, eight to queen.
usnavyvet doesn't show [ Js, Td ] two pairs, jacks and tens.
wilwonka wins $79 from the main pot with a flush, queen high.

You got to love it. Dropping the hammer definitely turned it around and I went on a pretty good run. When the circumstances are right, the hammer can doubly help your game. First, your raking a pot.. that is always good. Second, you might get the rep of being a loose playing and get extra calls later on that you might not get. Play the hammer wisely and watch the money come in... The short story is that after 2.82 hours of ring play I ended up with 4.53 BB/hr ($127.50). I am very happy with these results for two reasons. One of course, is that it is a winning session (which brings the streak of winning sessions to 10... one more for the tie). Two, I kept the patience and played the cards. I believe I would have "tilted" a little bit in earlier days; but I was able to keep my calm and stay steady (especially against a very loose table). I think that really made easier as I knew if I waited for the hands, I would get paid off.... But even given that fact, it is still easy to get steamed at some bad beats. (for example my aces got cracked by 35s). Right now, I am presently $40 away from getting my bankroll to an all time high. If you count rakeback, I am already there; but I don't factor that in until the end of the month.

That should do it for now. The plan is to play in the last 1K guarantee tomorrow and see how it goes. Wednesday is the last qualifying day for the wsop entry. Hopefully, I will qualify tomorrow for the tourney to hopefully dwindle the final playing field. We'll see how it goes.