On the second hand I had pocket kings, converted for a nice pot. Twenty minutes later I had pocket queens and a queen came on the flop for another super tidy profit. I bluffed everyone out with J-5 and found myself with a nice healthy stack as we moved to the medium rounds.
I was dealt 8-9 in the big blind and limped in. The flop was 10-7-3. I semi-bluffed, pushing 600 into a pot of about 600. Small blind called me. The turn was 9. Now I had second top pair with my open-ended straight draw. I put in another 600. He came over the top with 1500. It was an easy decision, putting 900 more into a pot with 2400 in it with decent cards like that was a no-brainer. He had pocket 3s, and his set held up. Darn it! Now I was down to a smallish stack.
A little while later I was in big blind again. I have 200 in the blind and another 1200 to my name. Everyone folds except the small blind calls me. I have K-7. That’s good enough to push, I go for 600 total. He wavers and then calls. The flop is A-J-7. He checks, and I instantly go all in with my remaining 800. He mutters for a good few minutes about “catching the A”. He has his money counted out. Finally, finally, he decides to call me. He has Q-10. I have him beat but he has plenty of outs. A 10, Q, or King for the straight will beat me. The turn is a 9. Now he has one less card, but an 8 will give him a straight also. The river is a King, I am knocked out.
I was frustrated because I think I played both of those hand correctly, but failed to get lucky on either of them. I don’t think the other guy played them badly or anything, I just didn’t get the breaks I needed.