The fickle KQ: good, bad, and almost bad

On Saturday, I placed 14th out of 97 players in a freeroll, just 4 places out of the money. 10th place would have paid $20. KQ let me down again. Ah well.

A bunch of friends came over for poker, and in spite of being down $15 early, I ended up ahead $17 for the night. Four out of five times, Shrek isn't going to have that K that he's representing, and I'll successfully get his all-in. I also got to see Bill turn a 10¢ chip-and-a-chair into $2.50. KQ won 2-out-of-3 times for me. Saturday was a good day.

Sunday, I made the mistake of playing online (25¢/50¢) in the middle of the day, with all the distractions that it entails. I found myself trying to scare people off with my two overcards, which almost never works, and the overcards almost never hit. Down $16.15. It was a bad day.

Monday night, I played online again, and dropped down $10 over the course of about two hours. A series of brutal hands did me in:

1) In the big blind, I'm dealt Q6o. The board comes AQ6/4/T. I lose $2 to a KJ rivered straight.

2) Two hands later, on the button, I get 99. The board comes A48/5/8. The other player isn't playing like they had the A. They had TT instead, and take $1.75 from me.

3) The next hand, I get 88. The board comes 53K/5/6. I fold on the turn, because I've put the other guy on a 5. Nope -- but he had JJ. Down another 75¢.

4) The next hand, I get AJo. The board comes J9A/Q/T. I'm expecting the other guy to show his K straight, but no, he's got 65, but I've only started with $1.90, and can't get value for my cards.

I rebuy for another $10, and although I realize I've been getting some bad and semi-bad beats, I think I could also make do with playing two simultaneous tables. That'll keep away the temptation to play A6o.

About an hour later, I'm still about even on both tables, and the run of good cards finally shows up. The best hand had me raising like a madman on the turn and river, when my KQ hit a 8JT/9/9 board (a K high straight), against two other players with queens. +$11.50 on one hand, but down $1.90 overall for the night.