because all I have are bad beat stories....

I've been busy recently, and haven't played much poker, but I did manage to get into a tourney yesterday. The usual $6/90 player kind I always play, and although I made it quite far, I ended up with nothing but a bad taste in my mouth.

Down to the final 14, top 9 pay out, and I'm dealt pocket Aces. I hadn't been playing very many hands at all, so much so that earlier in the tournament I made the minimum raise UTG with 2-3 suited, and everyone folded very quickly. As a result, I'm left wondering what to do with this hand.

I'm the BB, so really it's an ideal situation to be in. Everyone folds until it gets to the Button, who limps in. The SB folds, and I'm left with a tough decision. My concern is if I raise, the player on the Button will fold because I have created such a tight table image for myself, and I'll have lost a great opportunity to double up. On the other hand, if I let my opponent see a cheap flop, I'll be putting myself in position for yet another bad beat.

I decide to make a relatively small bet at 3x the BB. The blinds are getting pretty high, so even though it doesn't seem like much, I know there's still a decent chance my opponent folds. He makes the call, and we see a flop.

10-J-6, with no flush draw.

I'm first to act, and not really sure how I feel about this flop, but unless he has 10s or Jacks, I'm likely still ahead, so I bet out about half the pot-size. Seems again like a small bet, but at this point the pot represents about half of my entire stack, my opponent doesn't have a lot more either.

He calls, and the turn brings a K.

Now I'm feeling a little more comfortable, thinking maybe he has a hand like A-K, and he'll push all-in here. So I check, and sure enough, he immediately pushes all-in. As this is all part of my brilliant master plan, I don't even hesitate to call. He flips over K-Q for top pair with the open-ended straight draw.

I have to avoid him hitting any 9 (4), any Q (3), any K(2) or one of the 2 remaining Aces. By my calculations, I'm more than an 80% favorite to win this hand, but when the Ace hits on the river, giving me a set of Aces but giving my opponent a straight, I was understandably pissed off.

I can't really fault my opponent, although at that stage of the game calling a raise with K-Q off suite may have been a bit weak, but then my raise wasn't huge, and he did have a solid hand. 

Now my online account sits at less than $50 for the first time since winning $92 after winning the money in the first place from 2 freerolls. Still making something from nothing, but considering just 3 weeks ago I'd managed to get build my bankroll to just over $200, things have really gone downhill.

I will need to win some money soon, or I may be back to playing freerolls, and that's not an attractive thought at all. A long way from my dream of playing in the World Series of Poker without investing a single penny on my own, but as the saying goes, all you need is a chip and a chair.