Sometimes I write these incredible comeback stories because they are so fun. That doesn’t mean it happens often. I could play 100 tournaments and lose due to playing this particular way. But that one time that things work out, well, that is when I write about it.
The other day I was in a PLO tournament. The monkeys were raising every pot, every betting round so mostly I just sat around folding.
It seems like in low buy-in events, lots of participants either want to get a huge stack or go home fast. Most of them go out and then head elsewhere while one monkey at each table reaps the rewards by pushing a poor hand that gets there.
So I tend to be the little mouse in the corner with the puny chips. Yet somehow they never even notice, and keep calling even after a check-raise or re-raise. That way I can double up just to keep in the game.
Level after level went by. Here I sat with very few chips. Rarely raising pre-flop, almost always folding. Just treading water enough to keep from being eliminated.
Eventually we got to the final table. Everyone else with towers of chips. Me with a dwindling little stack, hardly more than the initial amount of chips we started with.
Once again, as the monkeys spewed, I picked my spots and chipped up just enough to stay in the hunt. The other players fell very fast, unable to adjust to a different style of play and having no idea about the strength of their hands either pre or post flop. For the most part, I just kept out of their flinging poo.
Eventually, the lead monkey eliminated everyone else, as I sat there patiently.
When we got HU, he had about 23k and I had 2k.
Suddenly I came alive and that sweet, old, timid rock unleashed her inner maniac. At first, he was used to me only raising and betting the pot when I had monster hands. So failing to notice that I play a whole different game heads up, he didn’t adjust and kept folding.
By the time he finally realized that things had changed, I was up to about 6k in steals. He started playing back at me, hard, but forgot that post flop I was only staying in hands that had a very good chance of winning at showdown. So he kept chipping me up with his one pair versus my two pair. His two pair versus my trips, etc.
Eventually I got the chip lead. And then I somewhat eased off the throttle, yet once again he couldn’t readjust and kept pushing hard with hands that had virtually no chance of winning.
And then I had him down to his last 3k and he simply refused to play anymore.
That has only happened to me once before, in a tournament with a senior citizen who couldn’t take the stress of my hyper aggressiveness.
I was shocked and didn’t say a thing.
He was so shaken up that I didn’t see him again for many days. He didn’t play at all. Hopefully he learned something from the experience, but somehow I doubt that.
So there is my comeback story. It rarely happens, but it’s fun to write about when it does. If there is something to be learned, it is that players who refuse to adjust can’t win–and I am definitely the epitome of a player who has learned that the hard way!
FeliciaLee Poker 