**** TJ’s Sundry Poker Adventures! 2025-26 ****

Sigh.

Out in 17th place, for $11,372.

Played one blind vs blind spot very poorly, which got me short. I’ll write it up tomorrow.

Down to 11bb, just redrew tables, UTG with 55, and fresh off a pay jump… yeah time to send it in. Folds to the BB who calls with TT, neither of us improve.

I played 14 hours on Friday, and 9.5 today. If I have to give myself a letter grade, for all my decisions over the 23.5 hours of play, it’d have to be at least an A- or A.

And I ran very, very well, for the most part. 88 > AQ > QJ for heaps, and AK > QQ > JJ, at absolutely pivotal inflection points in my tournament.

I also won 3 out of 3 flips today, though I was never all in at risk.

I almost didn’t make the trip, for the Main Event and the second weekend. I took a pretty big beating the first weekend. But now, the November Cherokee trip is back in the black.

So even though I’m disappointed as I sit right now tonight… its been a great weekend.

Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Grats!

Good run, although I know you would have wanted more.

I know that feeling very well, but great result overall! 😀

nice hit TJ. most important part is how well you think you played. variance takes care of the rest.

Well done!

Yeah, if you played A- game, that's what matters. Glad that turned into a cash, even if 7th is tantalizing close to the bigger money.

Also, "lifetime winner at slots" would be a great undertitle.

I want to write up the key hand that got me short.

I’m in the 60k BB with 84o, playing about 1.9M. It folds to the SB, who is the player I said I had history with. I got position on him when we redrew the tables. He limps. I consider raising, maybe for fold equity, but I have 8-high, so it can’t be for value. I check.

Flop comes Q-8-6 rainbow, he bets 75k, I call. The turn is a pretty good card for me, another Q. This time, he sizes up a bit, to 195k.

If I was ahead on the flop, I’m definitely ahead on the turn. I consider raising, but I kinda want him to keep firing, if he has an airball. I call again.

Not a great river, a T. If he was barreling with a gut shot, like JT or T9, I’m behind now. He triples the third time, for 225k.

In retrospect, I should have thought through this longer than I did. Maybe I WAS ahead on flop and turn, but lots of what he could have been barreling beats me now. I might not have been ahead, anyway. And really, all I’m beating now is a triple barrel complete airball, which isn’t that common.

I call, and he wins with Q7s.

After finally getting position on this guy, ready to put HIM in the same tough spots he put me in the last two hours, I call/call/called off, in an un raised pot, for fat value.

After playing all day avoiding traps I see weaker players get into. Snap folding ATo first in from MP1. Not calling EP raises with KJo. I lose almost half my stack, blind vs blind, with 84o.

So despite how well I played overall these two days, that hand left a sour taste in my mouth.

Still, after sleeping on it, it was a great weekend.

Especially when compared to last weekend.

Drove here with 77 bills. On my way home now, with 195.

Like Tom said, that’s conclusively better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. I’ll take it, and look forward to coming back in February!

Thanks for reading.

The bb hand is ugky in retrospect. It sucks that he had a Q but I do think flop and turn are definitely calls. River comes down to if you ever think he’d bet a third time with a bluff I guess?

Are you ok for some mild pushback on another hand?

Of course.

I post detailed HH’s because I invite strategy discussion.

to be clear, I think I call river in that bvb spot too and then feel really shitty about it. or fold and feel shitty about it too. it's an ugly spot

the other one is that...juicy though it looks, I'm pretty sure you're 'supposed' to fold 55 there utg with 11bb.

SnapShove wants us folding any pair up to 77 and then shoving 88+. and then my other charts i bought about 15 years ago have 77 as a shove

it would feel very dirty to fold 55-77....particularly given there's every chance we don't get another clean shove spot until we have less fold equity, but that's what the charts say

It is a viable strategy to occasionally raise up hands like this from BB versus a limp, simply because your hand is so unplayable that we rather want to avoid playing it all together. So if we can take it down pre it's a fine result, and if we get called we can rep high boards in a way the opponent can't (if he only limp-calls he likely has very few traps).

I don't think making it 4.5x would have made a difference in this exact spot though; opponent would probably have called with Q7s if you guys were reasonably deep.

For getting 5000 tc you also get one free night in a hotel.

Now you have lotsa buy-ins for WSOP events.

Save it for Vegas, and take 19 pulls on a Megabucks machine. If you didn't know, those are linked progressive slots throughout Nevada. Minimum Jackpot $10 million.

Yeah I agree, I think I should be folding 5’s there UTG.

I was just thinking about the pay jump we just got, 5 more knockouts away from the next one, and being in the BB next hand.

The problem with EP shoves is it allows opponents to play perfectly vs our range: they call when they’re ahead, and fold lots when they’re behind, or flipping.

…As what happened here.

Ah well.

You hear a lot about trap hands like AJ, AQ, KQ, AK ("It's a drawing hand!"), and 99-JJ. I'm happy to see those almost any time.

For my money, 77 is my least favorite hand. It's truly right in that sweet spot of being strong enough that you feel compelled to play it from every seat, yet weak enough that you're in horrendous shape against almost everything that gives it action. Charts say to shove it on a small stack, yet it never seems to actually win.

55-77 are very similar in that sense. You get these hands in EP on a small stack and the temptation to jam is strong. The charts will say it's profitable in a lot of these situations. Sure doesn't feel that way though. Feels like a guaranteed walk home.

My philosophy on shoving from EP has changed a little bit and I think on 11BB we can simply see another orbit before we push 55 from the first 2-3 seats, but it's not some type of egregious error. If it's a losing play, it's by a thin margin. Nothing to lose sleep over, though maybe next time we pass on that spot.

$11k+ is a great result and I'm sure you made a lot of good decisions to be in these spots. These kind of runs can feel like missed opportunities in the moment, but it's objectively a great outcome and one that we would happily take if offered to us upfront. It's only the proximity to the mega bink that makes it frustrating by comparison to what could've been.

this is exactly my POV, in case it wasn't obvious above.

We all obsess over our bust out hands in these spots too when probably from a chip EV perspective there would be way better/bigger spots to focus on in most cases

new thought to me as another way to contemplate things and didn't you just purchase some property?
imagine you are making payments at very high rates with terms allowing compounding interest change sans every turn of the financial quarter
now suppose you enter early into a high-leverage buisness contract formatted with extremely skinny margins, and quickly see initial results crater from predictions
your contract has a 5 day cancellation policy, you are allowed to quit it now or you are locked in to the end

Good run bro - I couldnt make it since chose the football game obviously but congrats.

Yeah, I thought so too, but I didn't want to sound like second-guessing you. Because you're behind any pair 6's or higher, and flipping against 67o or better. You had a stack that could comfortably fold two orbits.

I feel like I recognize your screen name from some 13-14 years ago around here. Back in the uNL Full Ring forums

Good to see you are still killing it!

Yep! That was a long time ago.

Still got the tattoo?

of course - and a few more haha!

That’s great!

Glad to see you’re doing well, bro.