Double Deuce

As fate would have it, the study group I was looking for has shown up out of thin air. It's an older bunch with varying opinions and styles. The nice part is that they can talk about poker without having an emotional attachment to their views. This opens up a lot of different avenues of thought that wouldn't normally be exposed for evaluation. We can actually debate the different approaches without someone flaming or getting pissed off. I can't tell you how delightful that is compared to some of the forums that I've read. The game is one of logical assumption based on incomplete information. Thought about from that perspective, please leave your emotions at the door. It is possible to disagree and still get along. That's one of the nicest parts to poker. No one approach is completely valid, so all styles can work in any given situation. The debate itself can show you how your competition thinks and reacts. What better way to defeat them then by their own means?

It was this group that introduced me to the Double Deuce tourney at FTP. Great tournament with a nice structure. You can satellite into it for as little as $.50 and it's a $100k guaranteed purse. I think you can see the value in that. After the second break(maybe 15 minutes from the next), I was down to 12bb and looking to get my chips in when this hand came up:

Full Tilt Poker Game #9988455946: The $100K Double Deuce (73510655), Table 34 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:30:27 ET - 2009/01/11
Seat 1: Percy80 (14,910)
Seat 2: AAAAlexis (25,002)
Seat 3: EZpleze (9,555)
Seat 4: caisson (7,647)
Seat 5: lafortuna24 (31,722)
Seat 6: 123223 (40,780)
Seat 7: Juana de Arco (9,545)
Seat 8: Purple_Gold08 (7,850)
Seat 9: Simme123 (13,712)
Percy80 antes 75
AAAAlexis antes 75
EZpleze antes 75
caisson antes 75
lafortuna24 antes 75
123223 antes 75
Juana de Arco antes 75
Purple_Gold08 antes 75
Simme123 antes 75
Juana de Arco posts the small blind of 300
Purple_Gold08 posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to caisson [Ks Ad]
Simme123 folds
Percy80 folds
AAAAlexis folds
EZpleze folds
caisson has 15 seconds left to act
caisson raises to 7,572, and is all in
lafortuna24 folds
123223 folds
Juana de Arco folds
Purple_Gold08 calls 6,972
caisson shows [Ks Ad]
Purple_Gold08 shows [Qd Qc]
*** FLOP *** [4h Kd Kc
]*** TURN *** [4h Kd Kc] [7d]
*** RIVER *** [4h Kd Kc 7d] [Qh]
caisson shows three of a kind, Kings
Purple_Gold08 shows a full house, Queens full of Kings
Purple_Gold08 wins the pot (16,119) with a full house, Queens full of Kings
caisson stands up


On the flop, be still my beating heart! On the river, wow!! Nice hand sir, good luck. A month ago, that hand would have had me depressed for a couple of days. Now that the maths are starting to sink in, good game me and let's gettum next time. You have to win a few of these coin flip situations to go deep into the $$$. Nice part is I know that day is coming and that makes all the study worthwhile.

For those keeping track, sobriety for 12 days. I would have thought there would be some form of mental/emotional complication but there hasn't been. Maybe that is why all the poker information is starting to meld into something useful. I've also lost 5 lbs but I think that's nothing but water weight. It's amazing how the body will let go of things it stores when you give it enough of what it needs. Maybe the mind works along the same lines. That something to ponder.

Well, good luck everyone and til next time...