[how could i have escaped this?]

Well that situation sucked and the ace just sscrewed you harder, nevertheless you didnt play it perfect. Your flaw is in the minimum bet. That tells you nothing, he could be calling minimum bet with bottem pair, mid pair, top pair, backdoor flush draw, straight draw (yes even 34), over cards, etc etc. You gotta bet harder for information, if you had bet say 800 you'd know a lot more and if he just smooth calls a big bet like that alarms should be going off in your head

Maybe. My feeling in the min bet was that I expected him to raise me if he had something, but maybe that was not the right tactic to take...Ray

[how could i have escaped this?]

Playing in a no limit holdem tournament today. 491 players, we were down to top 75 or so. I had a $5600 or so chip stack which was slightly over average, but was dominated by the chip leader at my table who had $26000, mainly gotten by getting dealt pocket Kings three times in an hour. I am in mid/late position and have A-8 suited. I call the big blind of $300 to see a flop. Late position is the Big stack, he calls, big blind calls. Flop is 5-8-2 rainbow. I have no flush but I do have top pair top kicker so I bet the min bet $300 since its checked to me by the big blind. Big Stack calls, Blind folds.Turn is a 10. I now am out of position and an over card just hit, but I don't see the big stack with a 10, I figure him on AQ or something. I bet the min $600, still trying to get a feel. He calls.Turn is an Ace. There is no flush on the board, there is a straight if he kept 3-4, but I don't see that, so I decide it's time to take a chunk of his stack with my two pair and I bet $2000. He rereaises me all in. I put him on the ace, figuring he's happy he hit the ace and now he can scare me back out after (by his reckoning) I just tried to buy the pot. I call, and he flips over pokcet 8's, so I lose to a set of 8's with my Aces and Eights.So, what did I do wrong here? As a fairly new player, I just don't see a big problem with the way I handled the hand and tried to read him. I'm definately looking for some good constructive critcism here. How do I catch someone slow playing me like this?Ray

["never saw that before" stories]

So, I'm still pretty new to playing overall, but recently came across a couple things I never saw before and thought you guys would get a kick out of.1) In a 100 person tourney, I'm down to about 30 people left, and have pocket aces in mid position. I raise it up, and the guy right after me goes all in immediately. He is not short stacked so he's either bluffing, or thinks he has a monster. Everyone else folds to me and I have him outstacked by just a little bit, and I call, wanting to know what monster hand he has that could possibly beat my pocket aces.It turns out he has .... Pocket Aces as well. Right next to each other, we both had pocket aces. No flush hit the board so we split the pot, but funny times.2) In Omaha Hi Low I recently got dealt my worst all time hand. My Four Card hand was 9c9h9d9s. Yes, Four Nines. It looked really pretty for about a half a second until I realized how horrible it was. Instant Fold.3) Not a never seen that before, but good beat story to balance out all the bad beat ones. At a Single Table Tourney, I started off hand one with Pocket Aces. The guy two before me raises. I reraise, and suddenly he goes all in, and the rest of the players have fled after the raise reraise. I call, figuring my Aces half to hold up, and he flips over pocket jacks which never hit a set. I love starting a tournament with twice as many chips as the rest of the players. =PJust some fun sotres for everyone..Ray

[highs and lows]

Nothing recharges me more than just going to hang out with my friends. It can be to play Poker, to go drinking, to shoot some hoops, to play some computer games, it doesn't really matter. Nothing fixes the lows so quickly as hanging out with someone who you really want to hang out with. Daniel obviously has Lori for that somewhat, but I have to admit I have yet to see a Journal that says "I was playing xbox WITH SOMEONE." Maybe its time to have a couple boy's nights out that aren't poker related, since that is what he does full time.. *SHRUG*Ray