Yet more disappointment

I played Day 1A of the WSOP Main event yesterday. At my table were poker pros Noah Schwartz and Javier Zarco. Unfortunately, there was little great play on my part that I can discuss. I won an early hand with pocket As when I raised under the gun, Javier reraised, and then I reraised a lot. He looked at me and said, “What was I thinking? I know what you have. I shouldn’t have raised. If I fold, will you show?

I just shrugged.

“If I had kings, I would call,” he said as he showed pocket Qs. So I showed my pocket As and he nodded.

I won a hand against Noah, but I don’t remember what it was. He won a hand against me when I had A♣K♦. The board was K♣J♣J♥2♣7♠. He was betting like he had the J, but I was hoping that I would get the flush on the river. I didn’t, but I bet an amount that was big but not too big. I thought my K might still be the winner but if not, I hoped he would hesitate to call, thinking I had the lock flush. It didn’t work. He called with a J. He claimed he knew I didn’t have the flush. Maybe I should have bet more on the river. I lost a lot in that hand.

Unfortunately, I was getting the worst possible situations in poker: great hands including JJ, KK, AK, AQ, and AJ, but bad flops. Twice I bet a lot pre-flop with pocket Js, but both times, a very tight older player called. There was then an A or a Q on the flop, and he would lead out with a really big bet, so I had to fold. When I got KK, there would be an A on the flop and when I got AK, AQ, or AJ, there would be a mid-range flop or, worse, a low flop so that I’d stick around, trying to get the wheel (a straight from A to 5), but I never connected and wasted a lot of chips.

After about 5 hours of play, I was very short when I got Q♣J♣. The flop was 2♣3♣8♣. With the third lock flush, I shoved and, to my (temporary) delight got two callers. The older man tried to reraise, but the other player objected because my bet wasn’t large enough to allow a subsequent raise (I don’t want to explain that rule here). The next card was 7♣, and both players shoved. The older man had K♣10♣ for the second lock flush. The other had A♣K♦ for the absolute lock flush. I had been drawing dead the whole time. I busted out.

I can’t describe how disappointed I was. I didn’t even make it till the end of Day 1. Once again, I need to reevaluate my poker “career.”

Bob Zeidman is a high-stakes recreational poker player. He created Good Beat Poker, a free online poker site using patented technology for audio and video—see and hear the other players at the table if you choose.