Bring on the Shaman (100nl 6max & SCOOP HU)

Posted by icemonkey9 on Apr 7, 2009 in 100nl | 3 comments

The title of this post probably won't get many SEO hits but you'll find this post interesting. Yesterday was another excruciating experience furthering my funk/slump/downswing to yet unexplored depths. But this post ends in a funny story, so you'll want to keep reading.

The $15+1.50 SCOOP Heads Up Event
This might have been the most painful tournament I've ever played in. I played a bronze star who ended up being a 92/58 who folded exactly NEVER and ended up sucking out 4 different hands. The first one was an AK vs 58 on a Axx board where he called my cbet, 8 on the turn, called my bet again, and then hit an 8 at the river. Finally I fought my way back and pinned the SOB to 6 outs on the river with all the money in ... and yes he hit a 6 outer to gain an chip lead on me.

Finally, for my life, I stack off with AK suited ... and I get called...

I'm a 75-25% favorite at preflop and a 92-8% favorite at the flop. I lose and am done. Suckage factor = 90/100%.

Moved on to some 100nl 6max
I ran into a guy named "holtay" who played a 91/32/2 style over a bunch of hands at 100nl 6max. The guy was straight up an idiot and called down with Ace high and was paying everyone off left and right. I saw him raise the turn multiple times into an opponent holding bottom pair no kicker.

Holy crap. WHOOPS. So the other 50+ hands where he's paying people off calling this bet with bottom pair (or WORSE) and with me he hits two pair. UGH.

After that I had this beauty:

Preflop here is pretty standard, you get it in at 6max with KK every time, and get called by AK suited, so no problem there we both did what we had to do. I think the flop is okay but the odds don't change much since he has an over card (A), a gutshot (K), and the flush draw. In the end my 65-35% advantage through the entire hand doesn't hold up. Yet another $150-below-EV session in the books.

So where's this funny part you promised me?
I was on the phone with a very nice lady who represents the Ladies Poker Alliance, a group I'm hoping to do some work with in the future. I had briefly gone over how I have been going through a really rough stretch, so she told me the story of her friend (name excluded you might know him!) and how he got out of a 4 month slump.

What he did was hire a Voodoo Shaman who met him at the beach. After a "Curse Removal Ceremony" the Shaman cast his spells and then rubbed special secret oils on the guy's head while chanting a song. Finally he "cast" him into the ocean for cleansing and afterwards gave him "magic leaves" for him to carry with him everywhere he went for 1 week for the spell to take effect. In the end, she said the whole thing actually worked and he went on to recover from his 4 month slump and continues to play to this day.

Obviously, there's no way I could have made up that story and laughed at it when she told me. But the absolutely *sick* thing about it is that I'm actually wondering in the back of my mind if it really worked on some level, whether it be "mojo" or simply as a placebo. I say this as I head off to the Red Cross where I am going to donate platelettes for Cancer victims ... I have a rare blood type and try to get in as often as I can. And just try to guess when the last time I went in was for a donation? Yup, you guessed it, about 2 weeks before this huge swong started.

Here's to saving lives and gaining karma points!