I bitch about bad beats and then.....

...in the second hand of PokerStars Game #5166025696: Tournament #25984186, $3.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2006/06/05 - 22:45:51 (ET)
Table '25984186 1' 10-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: sam76 (1570 in chips)
Seat 2: cmy300c (1220 in chips)
Seat 3: xScrewballx (1470 in chips) (***that's me)
Seat 4: 7digitloser (1470 in chips)
Seat 5: aye fold (1420 in chips)
Seat 6: steve2106 (1560 in chips)
Seat 7: Drones75 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: gotmebeat (1810 in chips)
Seat 9: Bolt00 (1500 in chips)
Seat 10: jacobisgood (1480 in chips)
aye fold: posts small blind 10 (*** my opponent)
steve2106: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to xScrewballx [Th Qs]
Drones75: folds
gotmebeat: folds
Bolt00: folds
jacobisgood: folds
sam76: folds
cmy300c: folds
xScrewballx: raises 20 to 40 (PB:Just to stop the blinds from limping in)
7digitloser: folds
aye fold: raises 20 to 60
steve2106: folds
xScrewballx: calls 20
*** FLOP *** [Ts 3d 5c]
aye fold: bets 280 (PB:From the small blind?!? Either's he's nuts or he's got something)
xScrewballx: raises 1130 to 1410 and is all-in (PB: I've got high pair and the flop's garbage - I figure him to fold. You know what else? It's a $3 tourney. Probably not great reasoning but there it is.)
aye fold: calls 1080 and is all-in (PB:Wow. Am I in trouble?)
*** TURN *** [Ts 3d 5c] [7d]
*** RIVER *** [Ts 3d 5c 7d] [Qh] (PB: Maybe not)
*** SHOW DOWN ***
aye fold: shows [Ac Ah] (a pair of Aces)
xScrewballx: shows [Th Qs] (two pair, Queens and Tens)
xScrewballx collected 2860 from pot

I actually felt bad and apologised to 'aye fold' because at first I felt it was a bad beat. I'd "cracked" his Aces. After a minute's reflection and discussion with the remaining tablemates I realised that maybe it wasn't true in this case. At least not after I paired on the flop.

Aye fold slow-played his pocket rockets for whatever reason. I've done it. Sometimes it pays - other times it doesn't. A pair's a pair pretty much and the odds have changed. Not necessarily in my favour but they've significantly improved for me.

Unless I'm completely lost we both have an equal shot at the set, quads and FH. But I have something he doesn't - a chance for a second pair and guess what comes floating down the river?

Maybe some of the bad beats I've been complaining about weren't that bad.

I finished this tournament in 5th though. I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact I was playing the tourney, writing this post and playing at a low stakes no-limit table at the same time. Luckily, I won back the tourney entry fee and a little more before I stopped playing to finish this.

Damn muse! Leave me alone! I want to play! :)

--PB--