The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

I played what will likely be my last live poker game before heading to Las Vegas to play in the World Series. Tonight, I was actually on a roll, accumulating lots of chips. But one hand cost me.

Four handed, I raised on the button with King-Jack. This holding is usually a trap hand at a large table, but I decided to play as its value goes up in four-handed situations. I got two callers, which should already sound off alarm bells. The flop is

K-8-2

What I was looking for...top pair with decent kicker. Dan bet strongly into the pot. As I had almost twice the number of chips he had, and I've seen him steal a few pots, I wasn't too concerned with his bet and put him all-in. He did not hesitate to call, showing me King-Queen. Ugh. What I feared would happen. He won the pot and my chips took a big hit.

My inner voice told me just before I entered the pot not to get involved. The reason being I was involved with three of the past four hands and won lots of chips. "Don't push your luck", my inner-monologue tried to warn me, "you can get cut off".

Well I ignored it, thinking with being the chip leader it's my job to bully and steal chips. And it cost me. I couldn't recover after that and lost a few races and couldn't hit any cards. My evening was done.

Aside from that one hand, I felt good about how I played. But tonight sheds a new light on my nearly one-year wait to play for a coveted World Series of Poker bracelet. Every hand is a gamble. Every hand has the potential to cost you all of your chips. Sometimes it isn't your job to see how many pots you can steal or how many trap hands you can outplay your opponent with.

I think every experience, every win and loss over the nearly three years I've played No-Limit has come together. My last live game reminds me not to get too cute. Play solid, don't get too fancy. It's not your job to be the most clever player at the table, just the one with the most chips at the end.

You can't control luck, but you can control the odds you put yourself into when you play. My goal is to play the best poker of my life on Saturday, and if I do so, I think I have a shot of taking home some money.

No bad beats. That's all I ask. And I'll take care of the rest...along with listening to my inner-voice.