Several times a week I sit down to enjoy some multi-table tournaments at Party Poker, and I have done reasonably well in the range of 10 to 30 entry fees, having reached 18 final tables just last month. It seems, however, that even assuming calculated and favorable risks, the party’s poker asses insist on trying to beat a made hand. Suffice it to say that it seems to happen more often than it should. Now don’t get me wrong, if it weren’t for these players, there would be no profitable poker. Having them tied against you is, although painful, a step forward towards your profitable game. With the best, even dominant hands can be beaten, but it’s entirely up to you to maintain your composure and know that cooler heads prevail, and donkeys only serve to keep your chips warm for your eventual return, whether in this tournament or the next.
Here is a recent example from the history of a group poker hand that I selected to review. You can view the hand history using the link in my bio below.
In the middle of the tournament, I have about 12,500 chips with 2 or 3 others almost the same and the rest between 3,000 and 6,000. The blinds are 150/300 and I get QsQd, which increases to 800 after UTG and the next player folds to me. DonkeyOne next to me calls my raise and it is passed on to the small blind (DonkeyTwo) which curiously raises to 1150. I call with the concern of seeing an ace or king on the flop, just like DonkeyOne.
Here’s the flop: 4c 4h 6c. This is good for me, as no high cards fell BandarQQ Online, and the low cards didn’t worry me much about the preflop raise. But DonkeyTwo comes out with a weak bet of 300 in the now 4,000 pot, so I raise it to 1,500, thinking about lowering right there to cut any flush draw.
DonkeyOne Calls! Wtf? He was loose before, but I didn’t think he was stupid. The slightly smarter DonkeyTwo realizes he is defeated and gives up.
Here’s the turnaround: 3 am I felt it must be a brick. Therefore, the table shows 4c 4h 6c 3h. I bet 1725 and DonkeyOne raises all-in with another 1200 chips. I have to pay wondering if maybe he was throwing aces here slowly, but as I found out later, he had 7s 3s and hit his 3, figuring he now had me. Yes, 7s.3s, one of the weakest hands to play, and he played with an aggressive preflop raise.
The cards have turned and I see your stupid hand knowing that I will eliminate you and become one of the tournament chip leaders.
Here is the river. 5 am I didn’t get it at first, but your silly game miraculously turned straight and knocked out about 70% of my stack. When I recovered, I continued to see DonkeyOne in an incredible run of luck, eventually becoming the tournament chip leader, but not before facing poker death in the eye several times, only to return with runner runner what he seemed to be about ten times. For example, he later called an all-in bet after the flop showed 3 overcards for his pair of 3’s. Your competitor showed QQ, and the turn and river brought DonkeyOne a three-block set!
I regrouped and ended up with the money, carefully picking up some DonkeyOne chips, but avoiding his unreal luck. He finished just a few places in front of me, eventually losing his luck. If he had any judgment to support his luck, he could easily have controlled the tournament to the end. But unfortunately, it’s because of players like DonkeyOne and DonkeyTwo that Party Poker is a great place to play.