The run continues

My tournament woe goes on. This evening I entered another £20 Crypto tourney. 154 runners and I did some good ducking and diving early on. I wasn't getting any hands but managed to keep somewhere near the average chip count by raising limpers a couple of times and then bluffing the flop. As we got down to three tables I managed to make some progress when, in consecutive hands, I reraised someone when I had KK (and took the pot there), raised with AK and took the blinds and antes, and raised with 44, which held up against the BB's all-in with A6. Three hands later, a check-raise bluff on a raggy flop punished a continuation bet and everything was looking quite healthy. A raise with J9, followed by another flop bluff, had me in good stead as we approached the bubble...

I had AQ UTG. We're at 400/800 with antes of 100, so there's 1900 in the pot before we start. I raise to 2400 (about a quarter of my stack). The BB calls (the only stack at the table bigger than me). The flop is T84 rainbow. He checks, and I have just over the pot left, so I stick it in to take it. Mateyboy has flopped a set with 44. Initially I hadn't realised we were at 21 left, but remembered as soon as he called, then had a little chuckle to myself as I realised what I'd done. I will break this losing run sometime.

This afternoon I finally managed to get down to the Sportsman for their £30 freezeout. 23 entrants and, by george, was the general standard poor. Unfortunately I got no cards early on, and wasn't in the mood to bluff it all off to some calling stations. I lost a good chunk when I raised with AT and got a caller in the BB (calling station). The flop was Ace-high, she checked and I bet, which she called. The turn was a Q, and she immediately went all-in. Even though I'd seen little of her play, this seemed unusually aggressive and, after a think, I folded. The turn hadn't completed any draws, so I think I was beaten.

After the break, we were down to two tables. I was moved two places to the right of someone who was calling everything pre-flop and liked to bluff afterwards. I was very shortstacked and raised with AT. He called (like he always did) and the next guy immediately went all-in. I knew I was in trouble, and I was - he had AJ. However, muppet then proceeded to call this second all-in with 53! Of course, the flop came down 33K, and a 5 on the turn sealed our fate. It was quite funny to see possibly the worst player I have ever seen at a poker table with so many chips. Even guys who were playing their first ever game seemed to play better than he did. One example was raising with 84 off suit, which found one caller. He then bet out on a KQ8 flop, which was called. He then bet all-in when a Q came on the flop - the way he did it screamed 'the world's most obvious bluff'. However, the other guy was playing his first game and called with his JT straight draw!

There's little you can do against these sorts of players except get cards and get lucky. I think you also have to make bigger bets than usual to get them to fold anything and, invariably, if they call you've committed a lot of chips and will be shortstacked. Despite all this I think I will definitely go down there again as there was a very friendly atmosphere and there wasn't the 'Gutshot crush'.