Wasted Luck...let's hope not

There are two ways to look at the tournament we played last night at a friends house. It was a 16 man freezeout with a bunch of my regular poker buddies and a few guys I had played with a couple of times each with. I ended up finishing second to one of the more interesting finishes I have ever seen (more on that in a minute), but probably should have been out before the $$. To use a phrase I like, I was pulling cards out of my ass like there was no tomorrow. I got caught in semi-bluffs twice, once with 78 unsuited and once with 56 suited. On the 78 suited we were down to 8 players and I raised from the SB from 1k to 4.5k. The BB moved all in for another 3k and I was basically forced to call, getting roughly 4 to 1 on the call. He turned over AK of hearts and it looked as though I would be trying to play with about 8k in chips left. Lo and behold the flop comes and gives me an open ended straight draw which I catch on the river after an A on the turn. Boom...lucky spot number 1 (or maybe 2 at that point).

The next critical luck hand was when we were down to 4 players. I limped for 3k with 56 of diamonds from under the gun and the button and SB fold. Robby is in the BB with about a 2 to 1 (or just under 2 to 1) chip lead on me. He raises 12k and I immediately move all in for another 14.5k. He goes into the tank for a bit and then makes the call. I say "Nice call, you got me" as I turn over my cards and he flips over A6 of clubs. I need to catch one of 3 5's left in the deck, which is excatly what happens on the flop and when nothing else of note comes on the turn or river I double up and cripple Rob.

I also hit another miracle straight or two in between those two hands which leads me to the title of this post. Am I wasting my luck on this warmup tourney or (hopefully) beginning what will be a period of the cards running particularily well for me...guess we'll have to wait and see. Could be neither of course, but it has set just the tiniest worry in my peabrain.

Now to the action packed, unbelievable final hand. With 3 players left, I am in the SB for 3k and a 600 ante. I have about 70k in chips and the BB has about 75k in chips. The short stack is on the button and moves all in for 25k or so. I sense he is putting his $ in with a weak Ace or a middle pair. I look down at AK suited and move all-in, attempting to isolate him. The BB gets ready to muck his cards and then says, "Come on Aces...I'd love to call here". He then peaks at his first card along with the busted player who is dealing...both of their eyes light up. He then slowly looks at his 2nd card and jumps screaming, "I Call!!!", at the same time flipping over his pocket Aces. The button groans and flips over K5 off. The flop comes XX5 and I quickly realize I am now officially drawing dead. No other cards of note come off and Brandon (The BB) takes down the pot and the tournament. As I look at the cards I realize that situation played out as well as it could have for me, as I finished in 2nd instead of having my stack chopped roughly in half and in all probability finishing in 3rd....go figure.