I used to love the "ladies"!!!!!!!!!!

Well, ladies and me usually get on pretty well, but even though Ive only encountered them a few times this weekend, I'm sick of them already! Of course I'm not really talking about ladies in the flesh, but i am referring to being dealt QQ. I've had them twice here at the ISOP in Waterford, and they have cost me quite a lot of chips.

This tournament has a sick structure (good I mean), but it started on friday evening at 4pm with only 70 runners. It really deserved much more than that, but i guess with the economy in the state its in, and a lot of the serious players in vegas for the World series, low numbers was understandable. Theres also a bit of political unrest down this side of the country between the different poker fractions, so i guess that didnt help either. But the game deserved a much bigger crowd, because you'll have to go a long way to find a better structure than this.

I came up to Waterford the night before the event, decided to play in the Sattellite and managed to luckbox my way to a ticket for the ME. A lot of the players in the satellite didnt realise the difference between playing a sat and a tourney, and I used this to my advantage on many occasions during the night. It was an enjoyable game with a great "craic" athmosphere. With 12 players left and 10 tickets the prizes, I was 12th in chips. We then lost a player and we were on the bubble, and I went from bottom stack to CL and only having to show 1 hand! Played all night on the same table as Vera duffy, and she showed her class by playing great poker.

On to the ME. 20,000 chips, 1 hour clock on day 1, 75 minute clock on day 2 and a 90 minute clock on day 3 for those lucky enough to make it there. The minds a bit of a blank right now, but i'll run through a few of the most important hands.

day 1--sitting on approx 26k at the 100-200 blind level. A serial limper limps, I limp behind with 77, and larry ryan(playing 50k) (of EPT fame) makes it 750 otb. Limper calls, and i call.
Flop comes Qc-7c-3h. all check to the raiser, and he bets 1700. Limper folds. I dwell for a minute. i know larry has a hand here, either AQ or an overpair at a guess. His bet size tells me that from what i know of his play. I reckon if I jsut call and a club comes, it will slow him down a lot, so i reraise larry to 4,500 hoping he might think Im playing a flush draw aggressively. It worked anyway, because he insta shipped all-in and I snapped. he had AA, and i made quads on the turn to take away any bit of a sweat I had!

Finished day 1 on 58k.
Day 2--Still on the same table. Good player(MD) 2 to my left that is a boardie and well known to me. Blinds 300-600, I make it 1650 to go from mp with QQ. MD raises me to 5,200. Folded back to me. I think for a minute. Now MD knows me well, he's well aware of my image that I have cultavated at the table, so i reckon theres a chance he could be reraiseing me light enough here, but I figure AK to be his most likely holding. I 4 bet reraise him to 13,750. he asks me for a count, I still have 45k behind. He tanks and goes all-in for 32k more. Im sick in my stomach now, cause I know Im behind here to MD 100% of the time. I take my time but do the manly thing and fold. He shows KK. Everyone says "great fold", but its not really. Its pretty standard in my eyes.

Later day 2--I grind and grind and just love this table i'm on. Pick my spots carefully, and get up to 80k over the next few hours, and I dont remember losing a hand at showdown, not that I got to many showdowns anyway. Then my table got broke, and that was a big dissapointment.
On to my new table, and nothing really happened for me here. Had about 80k going to the table, and after about 5 or 6 hours playing there, still had 80k. So blinds are 800-1600, and a good dublin player(playing 120k) raises mp to 5,200. Im next to act, and I have 2 red queens, and Im playing about 75k. I make it 15k to go. Folded around to him, and after a 2 minute dwell-up, he flats me. Hmmmmmmmm! Flop comes 4x-4x-3x. He checks, I bet 22k, he insta ships all-in. WOW!!! Im in a world of pain here. I have nearly half my stack in the pot, and normally, its an instant call. But theres a few things that have to be weighed up, and these are the decisions that count in this kinda tourney. So what went through my mind in the few minutes i dwelt up that seemed like a few hours?
1-This is a good player. Ive been chatting away to him over the last 5 hours, and I know he loves the structure of this tourney like i do. He has told me a couple of times how he doesnt like to play too many big pots in this type of game, because theres plenty places and time to pick up chips. And I agree with him.
2- He should be aware that my range here is minimum JJ. Really, I can only have 1 of the 4 big hands. Ive half my stack in the middle, so there no way he can think he can bluff me off the pot, so i can rule a bluff out of the equation.
3-If I rule a bluff out, I now know he just has to have Kk or AA. He could do that with QQ, but aS i have that hand, he cant have it. He never does it with JJ, so he has to have KK or AA.
4-The structure. Blinds are 800-1500, I still have 35k or 24 bb's, blind levels are 75minutes long. Its a lot less than what Ive had all day, but its definately enough to play with and try to get back into the tourney.
So I fold. I tell kieth what im folding, and he's kind enough to show his KK. Even though its the right fold, I still have a pain in my gut for the next hour!!

I just grind away for the next 2 hours, and i finished the day on 44k. Blinds are 1000-2000 for another 15 minutes, and then 1200-2500 for 90 minute blinds for the rest of the day. 14 players left, and 9 for the money. Heres hoping for a run of cards today. I just have to win the first serious pot I play. 1 time and all that!!!