White 544 - Levels 5 and 6

Another new guy at Table 544 in Seat One, replacing the Giggler.  Another hard-eyed guy buying in for the first time.  These new players are dangerous because they are already behind and feel compelled to double up as soon as possible.  Plus you don’t know their style the way you do with the people you’ve been playing with for the last four hours.


Superman just doubled up with AA when Purple Haired Lady got over her skis with K4 offsuit and went all-in on him.  Just like that, she’s at about 12,000 chips.  And just like that, the most insufferable player at the table has about 26,000.  So annoying.

And now the French Glasses Guy is gone, his KK going down to the Asian woman’s AA, no help from the board.  Superman calls her Lisa Hamilton, so I check it out on the WSOP site and there she is, a bracelet winner from 2009.  So another person to worry about.

Ack!  I gave away 9,000 chips to Superman.  His 55 held up against my AQ.  A call that I only made because I hate this guy.  Time to regroup.

New player - another headphones guy.  He is wearing the thin layer hoodie and I guarantee he will be burying his head in it on a big band - he seems like the type.


I am hitting the fifth hour funk, where I start thinking about playing junk hands just to do something.  

And then I look down at AQspades and raise to 2000.  Two callers and a junk flop with a king.  I missed everything, but you gotta be you, so I bet 5000 and go into zombie mode.  Fold, fold and I sweep a pot.

One of the players was Purple Haired Lady, who I think is now my nemesis at the table.  I hate Superman Guy, but PHL and I really don’t trust each other.

And then, as I am writing this, Superman takes PHL out of the tournament.  She kind of lost her mind and made another reckless all-in bluff with A5 offsuit and got called by Superman’s pocket kings.  And now I am the only survivor from the original six at the table.
______________________

I don’t really have a nemesis at the table now.  Maybe Lisa Hamilton, who has been raising my blind pretty regularly.  Superman really doesn’t even acknowledge my existence.  And the other guys are just … pleasant.

I suppose there’s no value in taking any of this personally - that’s why I shed 9,000 chips to Superman about a half-hour ago.  I just need to stay focused and keep folding bad hands.  Grind, grind, grind.

But the nature of the game is that any hand can be a winner, and any hand can be AA or KK until it’s not.  After that barrage of pocket pairs in the first hour, my cards have been cold, lots of J7s and 36es and K2s.  Nothing playable, except for some big aces that almost never hit.

The hard looking dude has just hit the bricks, playing a junk hand into a slightly less junky hand.  At this point, the people are rotating in and out of the game so fast I can’t keep up.  

PHL has been replaced by this guy.  He’s wearing a hat and a hoodie.  I hate those guys.

Poker couture 

Now Superman is trying to give away boxes of Percepta, which he claims he developed and is wearing as a brand on his shirt.  His website says that it is based on a product called “cat’s claw” and that it kept him from getting Covid.  Yeesch.  It turns out that Superman’s name is Alan Snow and he seems to be one of those guys who was once legitimate and then went batshit crazy.  He also has 37 cashes and two final tables.

I hate this guy even more.

______________________________

26,000 at 5 and a half hours.  That’s a lot of work to be  6,000 ahead of my starting stack.  Sigh …

At least I’m getting my money’s worth.  Hand after hand after hand is being dealt to me, so that’s something.  It’s kind of existential - as long as you are in the tournament, you get cards.  When you’re out, you just disappear from the table, remembered if at all for your last hand, the unfortunate mistake or bad fortune that befell you.

26,000 ain’t bupkis.  It’s still enough to make people pause before deciding whether to call your bet.  But it is getting less and less intimidating with each orbit around the table.

I need a big hand - and soon.

______________________________

And it came!  AK hearts, and Hoodie Hat Guy goes all in with a pair of fives into my hand.  I call and end up with the nut heart flush!

49,900 at the end of the sixth hour!





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