Riding the Bodonkey roller coaster, all the way to the end

I think the wild ride started when I folded AA preflop.

In the Bodonkey last night, things went slowly for me early on. Not many hands worth playing, not many pots won when I had something. I stayed tight and didn't try to make any tricky or fancy plays. "Keep it simple" was my motto, and I stuck to it.

My stack dwindled down but I hung in. When we were down to about three tables, I picked up AA in late position. One player raised to 1,550, it folded to me, I min-raised to 2,500, hoping for a reraise all-in so I could call. On cue, the raiser pushed. I reached for my mouse to click the "Call" button, but my finger clicked the left button as the cursor was crossing the "Fold" button, and my bullets vanished. I nearly jumped out of my chair. I couldn't believe that I had screwed up my chance at what might have been an easy double up. Lucky for me, I still had a barely decent stack of chips left, but I was sure that my doom was sealed. I have been telling myself ever since that the Aces probably would have been cracked.

Then again, maybe not. Not long after that hand, just about everything started going my way. I picked up some strong starting cards. I bet them, and either picked up the blinds or won the hands on later streets. If someone pushed, I had a strong enough hand to call, and it held up. I still played extra tight, folding hands like AJ and 88 when I was out of position or sensed strength in my opponents. It got to the point where, by the final table, I could do no wrong. Mostly, I got my chips in ahead and came out ahead. I remember one suckout where I got all my chips in with 99 against Columbo's A-x. He flopped an A, but I turned a 9 to cripple him. A few hands later, Columbo doubled through me when he came from behind on one hand. But my rush would hold out and I started knocking players out one after another.

The end of the final table went so fast that I was able to pull these from Bodog's hand histories without much trouble:
Columbo pushes with JK; I call with 66. A Jack flops, but the turn is a 6, and I bust him.
Three hands later:
Kurokitty pushes with 44. I call with 88 and bust him.
Next hand:
Newinnov pushes with 99; I call with TT and bust him.
Two hands later, blinds $1K/2K/200:
I raise to 3K from the SB with J4; TFG in the BB calls.
Flop: 3h 4c 5c
I bet $6K; TFG raises to 12K; I call.
Turn: 6c
I check. TFG pushes for 8,856. I have over 116K so I call. TFG shows Ad 2d for the flopped straight, which has become a 6-high straight on the turn.
River: 2s
We play the board and chop the pot. TFG goes on tilt.
Four hands later:
I have Ac Jc on the button and open raise to 9K.
TFG in the SB pushes for 20,356. Pokerpeaker folds. I have over 120K so I call. TFG shows Ah Th. Board comes Q-3-J-6-J rainbow and I bust him.
Very next hand, heads up:
Pokerpeaker in the SB/button pushes for his last 8,684. I have 4d 3c but I have $150K so I have to call. Peaker shows Kc 6d.
Board comes 3s 5s Ad 5c 9s. My pair of 3s busts him.

Come on, say it with me - sick, sick, sick.

Stop the presses - I won my first ever blogger tournament. My previous best finishes in any blogger tourney were one second place, and two third places. But I'm not fooling myself by thinking that I won last night by my mad skillz. The Card Fairy dumped a boatload of good luck dust on me, and I know it. Now I plan to use the bankroll boost and T$ to play a few extra games and practice so I can improve my play. I don't want to depend on the good graces of the poker gods every time I sit down at the felt. But if they choose to smile on me again like they did in this week's Bodonkey, I will take any favors they are willing to bestow on me.