A good plan gone bad

Sometimes things just don't work out as planned. When that happens, the key is to not go broke.

The BB in this hand was a maniac. Raised a lot preflop, especially when there were limpers. He almost always made a pot-sized bet on the flop and often followed that up with an all-in on the turn. I waited a half-hour to get in a good situation to spring a trap. It finally happened.

Two aces in second position is normally an automatic raise, but I limped in, hoping a couple others would follow and that the BB would raise. I planned to reraise, forcing out the limpers in hopes that the maniac would call. Everything went wrong.

Strike one: Everyone folded to the BB.
Strike two: BB limped.
Strike three: Crappy flop.

As expected, the BB made a pot-sized bet of 150. (I had hoped he would raise, which would have made the pot bigger, which would have led to a pot-sized bet.) Had things gone as planned, I would have called the bet on the flop and let the BB bet the turn before I pushed all-in. But I couldn't see letting a maniac catch up with a couple of garbage diamonds or a king with garbage kicker. So I raised, he folded.

There have been times where I've been tempted to stick to the original plan. But sometimes winning a pot is more important than being tricky. Sometimes being tricky just means you go broke.

Here's the hand:

Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 30/60 Blinds, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (UTG+1): 1,510
MP: 1,160
CO: 1,195
BTN: 4,795
SB: 1,175
BB: 2,985
UTG: 1,990

Pre-Flop: (90) A A dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG folds, Hero calls 60, 4 folds, BB checks

Flop: (150) Q J A (2 Players)
BB bets 150, Hero raises to 600, BB folds

Results: 450 Pot
Hero mucked A A and WON 450 (+240 NET)

A second chance

Luckily for me, I took a horrible beating on the online felt during the last week. You see, I promised myself when I started my online poker account with $50 with the hopes of building a good-sized bankroll that I would start blogging about it once I reached the $500 mark.

A big score a couple weeks back — first place in a $11 buy-in 45-person event for $171 — put me well over $500. But I didn't have this blog set up yet. So I went out and lost more than $100 — $5 or $10 at a time in what was the worst run of cards, luck and boneheaded moves I've ever been through.

Well, I'm back. Back on the winning side and — thanks to a first in an $11 buy-in, 18-person sit-and-go that earned me $72 last night — back over $500. That gave me a second chance to do what I had planned to do all along: start a blog when I reached the $500 mark.

Where will this go? Where will it end? Can an amateur poker nut really use pretty good poker skills and a ridiculously strict bankroll management system to turn $50 into $50,000? I have no idea. But I hope one or two people will come along for the ride through this blog.