August Challenge and the $2K coffee

Carolina John won both categories of the August Challenge.

He had the biggest chip stack at approximately $2,300. He also had 43 opponent bustouts, which about doubled my tally and edged out Todd at 38.

I ran well below expectation for the 10-day period. That could have been corrected very quickly at 3 am Saturday morning but instead I lost the biggest pot of my life.

I had made a big call with QQ against a player who checkraised all-in on the flop for $350 more on a T82 board with two spades. He had JJ and after that pot I stood at over $800. It got the adrenaline flowing and I took a walk and got a cheese danish at the gift shop downstairs. When I got back to the poker room I ordered a coffee with cream and put the danish aside.

John was sitting to my left, and to John's left was an Asian woman named Too. She had about $1,000 in front of her. She had made half of it by calling an all-in on the turn with a gutterball and flush draw against her husband. I'd been playing with her all weekend and knew she was a really loose player who was running hotter than the sun.

I still hadn't gotten my coffee when I picked up AQ of clubs on the button and raised to $12. John called, Too called, and the European in middle position with about $400 in front of him also called.

The flop came KJT with two hearts, so I flopped the stones. John checked, Too led out for $20, the European called, I called, and John called.

Turn came the 9 of diamonds, putting a four card straight out there. Too led out for $60, the European pushed for $370 (with a bare queen), and I insta-pushed over the top for $800.

Too goes into the tank. She thinks about it for so long that by the time she calls I am pretty much putting her on what she has, a queen for the second-nuts along with a flush draw. A ridiculous call, but one I would expect her to make at least half the time.

River is the nine of hearts and I throw my danish clear out of the poker room and into a row of slot machines. I take a walk for a half hour asking myself why I run so fucking bad and why I had to lose that pot instead of having $2K on the table.

By the time I get back, though, I'm not really mad. I'm more in a sort of spaced out zone where I don't care about the money anymore. I sit down and put on my ipod and ask if the cocktail waitress came by with the drinks yet. I'm told she did not. She comes by fifteen minutes later and doesn't have my drink.

She asks if anyone wants anything.

"Yeah, I ordered a coffee with cream about two thousand dollars ago."

So that was that, and by the way Too lost everything she had on the table over the next 10 hours or so, plus several rebuys. She lost a huge chunk of it to John in a $2K+ pot where the hands never went to showdown. During that same session I actually busted her twice after she busted me, but for nothing close to the amount that was at stake during our first hand.