23 And Counting!
How do you want me to paint the picture? 4 consecutive 2nd place finishes if you include the Tournament Of Champions and 3 consecutive cashes. The 2nd player to hit $2k and top money winner in our home game… or 23 straight tournaments played without a win.
It happened again last night in our home game. I survived a near disastrous hand where I got called on my all-in when I had AsQs and my opponent had 76. It looked grim when the flop came 764 with one spade. A little hope came on the turn when a 2nd spade came but my opponent had 2 of my outs dead, leaving me just 7 outs… and then a fifth spade hit!
Now, with 2 of us remaining, it looked like I finally got a bead on Drew and started mounting a slight comeback. At 85k to 55k, I had AJ and set up a trap hoping he’d raise from the big blind. When he did, I pushed and he called, slightly ahead with 6-6. The flop brought an Ace and the turn a blank, putting me well ahead. As I started planning my strategy to finish him off and end this ridiculous streak of cashing but not winning, the river was a 6. I didn’t even get upset… I just went numb. Granted, I cashed again and I feel like everytime I play there I am likely to finish in the money, I just can’t get the cards to fall the way I need them to.
I haven’t won there since May ‘06 and in that time I’ve cashed 8 times. 8 cashes in 23 tournaments is not a bad clip… but this not winning thing is really starting to bug me especially in 3 of the 5 heads up situations I’ve been in I’ve either lost coin flips or outplayed my opponent but gotten sucked out. At some point, I’ll break through here but I guess I’ll have to settle for just being the winningest player dollar-wise! 
