Shorthanded: HULA

HULA is a Heads-up league that is being played out by posters on twoplustwo.com. I don't remember the exact details, but I believe there are 10 teams of 5 players each. Each week, two teams are matched up and the captains decide who plays who. I thought it was fun so I decided to participate. Unfortunately, it hasn't been much fun in my first three matches - I lost all of them! Ugh. Losing is not fun at all. I don't think I played poorly - but at the same time, I'm not egotistical enough to say it was all bad luck. I will just have to let the record stand for itself, because saying anything else will only seem like whining. Here is a short summary on each of the matches. There are regular postings about the matchups in the General Texas Hold'em Forum at twoplustwo.com

Week 1:
Tosh defeats King Yao
We played for a long time, about an hour and a half. Even after that amount of time, we were still even so we decided to double the stakes. After that, I was quickly dispatched in 10 minutes or so. Tosh played well. I think I played well too. Two players have to be equally matched - in skill and luck - in order to play that long heads-up. Unfortunately for me, I came up with the short stick. Tosh is located in England.

Week 2:
Grisgra defeats King Yao
I was in L.A. when I played this match. Interestingly, Grisgra lives only a few miles from my Boston home. He was able to defeat me in 20 minutes or so. I started strong by winning a few pots and taking a lead, but after that it was downhill all the way.

Week 3:
All1n defeats King Yao
All1n is located in Australia. Three losses, one to a local, two to people from completely separates part of the globe. All1n defeated me fairly quickly too, about 15 minutes. Not fun for me at all.

All in all, I don't think I played poorly, I can't recall too many hands where I said to myself afterwards "boy, I should have known not to play that way". Of course, that doesn't mean that I didn't make mistakes. It's often tough to find your own mistakes. So all I can say is that I'll have to try again and keep playing. In the end, the record has to speak for itself, right?