not another bad beat story

i am pokermax

My name is Vic de Guzman. I am an amatuer poker player from the Philippines. Though I play a lot of poker, both tournament and cash games, I still do not consider myself as a professional player. However, I consider myself a student of the game, eagerly learning and appreciating this mind-blowing card game. I am known in the Philippine Poker scene as POKERMAX. Why POKERMAX? A lot of people say that I bring so much action at the tables. I've had some Poker Tournament success in my 5+ years playing poker, namely, Champion of the 2nd season of the POKER BAR TOUR (2006), 2009 Filipino Poker Tour Champion wherein I bested a field of 667 (the biggest field in Asia) with a prize pool of 6 Million pesos, Champion of the 1st Rotary Charity poker event, 48th place in the 2009 Asia Pacific Poker Tour in Cebu, and several other tournaments wherein I placed in the money. I am currently a regular player at the Manila Bay Poker Club at the Mall of Asia and The Big Ace Poker Club in Mandaluyong.

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A really, really bad day at the office
Thursday, April 15, 2010
11:27 AM

I had a terrible poker session last night. In fact, the word terrible is an understatement. I haven't seen myself run as bad as I did last night.

Let me start with the best looking card in Texas Holdem (after AA of course), the AK. I was dealt this "beauty" 8 times last night! Most of the time there was a raise before the action got around to me. Since I'm not just gonna sit back and limp with it, surely a healthy pot ensued. Sadly for me, I lost all 8 times. Oh yeah I tried to bluff with it and all the time the bluff blew up in my face as my opponent would hit 2 pairs or a set at the river. In one of my miserable run, I had AK at the button. 3 people limped around to me. Like in the other times I had these cards, I raised it to 4.5X the BB since there were limpers already. The SB folds and the BB goes All In. It was folded around to me. As expected, I called. Heads up. BB shows A9. I have him dominated! Flop show A A 10. I am sooo ahead. Turn 2, no help to the other guy. River....you guessed it, 9! Oh AK, why have you forsaken me? A couple of times, I went up against AK too. One time I had QQ and the Ace shows up right away at the flop. The other time was worse. The tightest player at the table raised with a bet of 2.5X BB. 2 other people called. I had a suited 9 10 at the button. Putting the raiser with a hand like AK, I called simply because I feel I can outplay him if no A or picture card shows up at the flop. I called. Flop shows 9 10 A. Perfect! The tight player leads out with a pot size bet. Everyone else folds around to me. Not seeing any threat on the flop, I flat called his bet. Turn card was a "harmless" 3. Tight player checks. I bet half the pot. He calls. River card...... 3 Ouch!!! He checks. Knowing I'm beat I check as well. What do you know? He shows AK!!! In hindsight, AK is nothing more than a couple of drawing cards. As they say in the poker world, AK is often called Anna Kournikova (after the beautiful tennis star), "looks good, but never wins". With the 8 times I was dealt AK, I am beginning to believe its true.

If you think that my miserable night started and ended with AK, there's more. Twice I made straight on the flop. Both times I didnt slow play as I was already stuck big. Both times I went All In after seeing the Flop and making my nuts hand. Both times I lost! Both times I lost to a 2-card runner. One for a bigger straight only after having an over pair, the other for a flush on a rainbow flop! Oh yeah, I also made 2 pairs on the flop 4 times. All those time, either one of my pair got counterfeited or an idiot with a pair (not even an overpair) commits himself All In and hits set on the river.

I lost an insane amount of money last night. I was already 2nd guessing my plays. I was already very tentative (or scared) everytime I was involved in a pot. I had to quit. Or so I thought. Driving home, I cannot believe the run that I just had. I remember a friend telling me an advice he got before, the once one gets involved in a car accident, one must try to get into a car and drive as soon as possible so as to shake off the trauma. I did just that. Stubborn as I am, I detoured to the nearest card room and sat down. I told myself that I am just gonna play for an hour, just to shake off the "trauma". Luckily for me, I doubled up in less that an hour. I was able to cut my losses significantly.

Last night was definitely one horrible night of poker for me. It surely feels like I got one whole month of bad beats in just one night. I still feel sick just thinking about it. Nothing I can do about it.

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