The Poker Gods Punish Arrogance

Just when I was thinking this poker thing was getting a little too easy, I got taught a little lesson on variance. Got smacked in full days last week and this week. This Monday was especially savage, because I basically couldn't crack the top half of the field in most of the tournaments that I played. Which is hard to do, since my game is basically tight at low blind levels. I made a couple just terrible plays, and then ran into a string of horrific beats as well. Was also playing quite a few FTOPS qualifiers, for the $1k second chance event, as well as the $5k 2 day event this Saturday that I really want to play in. Those turbos are good way to burn through money in a hurry, especially if getting it in with aces preflop means the other player will make quads.

The worst was the 20k sniper on the "some days you can't beat the donkeys" front:

Stage #1458381828 Tourney ID 4064296 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $30 - 2009-02-09 20:43:51 (ET)
Table: 11 (Real Money) Seat #6 is the dealer
Seat 1 - IQUEEN ($1592.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - MENDIETA19 ($5595 in chips)
Seat 3 - GUYBIRD8 ($5387.50 in chips)
Seat 4 - FEAR_ITSELF ($5822.50 in chips)
Seat 5 - PAULTORICO ($3430 in chips)
Seat 6 - SOUTHCJAY7 ($9130 in chips)
Seat 7 - BZIMZIM ($6612.50 in chips)
Seat 8 - MECITEK ($6545 in chips)
Seat 9 - STAKTURNER ($4545 in chips)
BZIMZIM - Posts small blind $15
MECITEK - Posts big blind $30
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [Kd Kc]
STAKTURNER - Calls $30
IQUEEN - Folds
MENDIETA19 - Folds
GUYBIRD8 - Calls $30
FEAR_ITSELF - Calls $30
PAULTORICO - Folds
SOUTHCJAY7 - Folds
BZIMZIM - Raises $200 to $215
MECITEK - Folds
STAKTURNER - Calls $185
GUYBIRD8 - Calls $185
FEAR_ITSELF - Calls $185
*** FLOP *** [Js 5d 10s]
BZIMZIM - Bets $600
STAKTURNER - Folds
GUYBIRD8 - All-In(Raise) $5172.50 to $5172.50
FEAR_ITSELF - Folds
BZIMZIM - Calls $4572.50
*** TURN *** [Js 5d 10s] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [Js 5d 10s 7s] [Qd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
GUYBIRD8 - Shows [7d 10d] (Two Pair, tens and sevens)
BZIMZIM - Shows [Kd Kc] (One pair, kings)
GUYBIRD8 Collects $11235 from main pot

So got down to 600 chips, but built it back up, then this against the same player:

Stage #1458575623 Tourney ID 4064296 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $200 - 2009-02-09 21:59:48 (ET)
Table: 11 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 1 - MIDDLEMISS08 ($6531.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - MAINIEDELANEY ($27292.50 in chips)
Seat 3 - GUYBIRD8 ($7007.50 in chips)
Seat 4 - SUNNYDYLN ($5030 in chips)
Seat 5 - SEANP100 ($5409 in chips)
Seat 6 - SOUTHCJAY7 ($13700 in chips)
Seat 7 - BZIMZIM ($6450 in chips)
Seat 8 - MECITEK ($13525 in chips)
Seat 9 - STAKTURNER ($14874 in chips)
SUNNYDYLN - Posts small blind $100
SEANP100 - Posts big blind $200
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [Ah Ad]
SOUTHCJAY7 - Folds
BZIMZIM - Raises $550 to $550
MECITEK - Folds
STAKTURNER - Folds
MIDDLEMISS08 - Folds
MAINIEDELANEY - Folds
GUYBIRD8 - Calls $550
SUNNYDYLN - Folds
SEANP100 - Folds
*** FLOP *** [3d Qh 7c]
BZIMZIM - Bets $800
GUYBIRD8 - All-In(Raise) $6457.50 to $6457.50
BZIMZIM - All-In $5100
GUYBIRD8 - returned ($557.50) : not called
*** TURN *** [3d Qh 7c] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [3d Qh 7c 4h] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
GUYBIRD8 - Shows [3c 4d] (Two Pair, fours and threes)
BZIMZIM - Shows [Ah Ad] (One pair, aces)
GUYBIRD8 Collects $13200 from main pot

Well, alright. Whatever. Believe it or not, that wasn't even the worst player I saw that day, as there was a play in the AP 30r that night that would min raise atc every hand, then get lucky more than anyone I've ever seen. He had a huge CL was 18 left. He finished 9th. I finished an unproductive 8th. Probably back to work tonight.