Winter Break Tourney

I dropped the buy-in to $20 in an effort to get More people and create a social atmosphere and it kind of worked as we got 9 people. Pay top 3, 10k stacks, M.E. structure...

I've never seen one of our deepstack tourneys fly by this quick but everyone was just playing sickly huge pots every hand. Two guys would get 11,000 out there on an A-2-8-9-Q board and then turn over 6-6 and K-Q. So I was content to just wait for the nuts and then double through someone who had 2nd pair. However, I was never dealt a hand early so I just chopped a small profit for the first hour until the antes kicked in. Don went out 9th with top two vs a flush, Brett got 8th with the Kd vs the Ad on a four-flushed board. Joe got 7th when he lost a race with AK to 77.

I start this hand with around 18k, I'm up from just grinding small pots in late position and one nice pot where I flatted Ah-8h on the button and it came Ad-Kh-6h and he bluffed into me for around 4000 with 7-7. So 7-handed, I raise the hijack to 800 at 25-150-300 with Ad-3d, the button flats and the BB defends.

Flop: (Pot: 2725)
Ac-8s-6s

BB leads into me for 1000. I know I'm usually ahead in this spot, as the board is fairly coordinated and he's leading a lot of 8's and flush/straight draws here, but our hand is so marginal that building a big pot here seems so unnecessary and overly-risky. Especially considering we still have a player behind us and the stacks aren't really that deep. If we were to make it 3000 and he flats, now there's almost 8800 in the pot with effective stacks of like 12k-14k. So I just flatted the 1000 and was disappointed when the button flatted behind me.

Turn: (Pot: 5725)
Ah

Gin. Now the BB checks, I'm fairly certain his range is basically any eight K-8 through 8-7 or some kind of draw. If he is drawing I don't want him to fold, just draw at the wrong price because I definitely want value for this hand. I'm not that worried about the button here because he's been flatting bets and raises all night with a huge range since he doesn't really know that much about poker. So I bet 2800, the button folded, and the BB now check-raises to 5800. He doesn't do this with any 8's or an draws, he just isn't capable of making that type of play. His worst hand here is going to be an Ace. It screams super-strength, but I guess I'm not good enough to fold. I thought there was maybe a chance he had a pair over 8's and had just flatted pre since he had done that a few times already trying to be tricky. I called the 3k more.

River: (Pot: 17,325)
9c

He now tiny-bets 2000 into me and with the pot odds and the fact that there's a small chance he's lost his mind with a spade draw or is blocker betting KK, QQ, JJ, TT, or 99 I call to see him table A-9. I think I should fold the turn, but my line wasn't that bad. I'm inclined to just call it a cooler... maybe I should be like Matusow and just always fold Ace-rag in late position pre, haha.

I built back up to around 20k just playing SNG poker when the blinds/antes started going up. Lost like 5k back when the same guy from the previous hand check-called 2 streets OOP with a gutter ball and got there on the river... only to check??? I checked it back with 2nd pair and giggled on the inside when he showed me his hand.

Then, Streeter went broke in a cooler on a K-Q-6 flop with AK vs KQ against a very active player. We were down to 5 at that point. Corey had yet to play a hand but that's not too far from normal.

Everyone had started drinking when the ante levels began, but Corey was downing them at a quicker rate than everyone else which lead to the biggest and coolest pot of the night.

Blinds: 100-400-800

Will and I fold. Button min-raises to 1600, Corey shoves for 1500 more (3100 total) from the SB and Chris, from my previous hands, flats from the BB. Gets back to the button and he flats the 1500 more.

Flop: (Pot: 9800)
J-8-4

Chris leads for 3000 into the dry side pot, Nick (the button) min-raises to 6000 and Chris flats.

Turn: (Pot: 9800) (Side Pot: 12,000)
Q

Chris checks, Nick shoves for 8000 and Chris calls.

Chris - AA, needs A, 8, 4.
Nick - QJ
Corey - 93os, he's still live with 4 outs to win almost 10k, lol.

River: 4c

Chris scoops both pots and knocks 'em both out to put us in the money. The hand took so long to play that we rolled to a new blind level.

First hand of 3 handed and 100-600-1200:

Chris folds his button, Will lifts up his hand and tanks. I look at my cards and see a beautiful AK. He finally lays the cards back down and then says, "All-in." I Hellmuth-call sans the chip mess making aspect. We count down stacks and he has me by 400 for like a 30k pot. He tables Q3os; Flop 3, Turn blank, River Q. I'm out 3rd for $40.

HU lasted 1 hand, Will had QJ vs Chris' Ah-9h on a Q-Jh-Th flop, turn blank, river 8h. Chris got there twice.

Spent the rest of the night watching the 'Boys get raped by the Ravens and drinking way too many beers with those who stayed after the tourney.

Went to Corey's again the next day to watch football and chill.

Overall fun weekend. Kinda sucks I lost that crucial 65-35, but whatever, the whole thing was meant to be a social event. That's why I dropped the buy-in and had a couple beers throughout play myself.

End of Semester Update

Well, after attending school at a ridiculously inconsistent rate for the past two years I've finished my first semester of college without a single absence. Subsequently, this enabled me to finish with a 3.75 and allowed me some assurance that when I apply myself, to anything in life, I have the ability to succeed greatly. I start back up on January 5th and am excited for several of my classes.

Aside from school, I played very little poker throughout the semester. Unfortunately, I just never had much time to sit down and play well structured sessions. I'd just play a couple SNGs here and there, but basically on such a relaxed basis that I became very much a recreational player. However, I'm honestly happy about this. I know that the limited amount of time I spent playing and following poker enabled me to focus better on school and everything that surrounded it.

Also, I've started running everyday. Now that it's too cold outside to swim on a daily basis, I've had to start running. I decided back in March that I wanted to get on a fairly strict workout schedule and I'm finally where I want to be in that area. Throughout the spring/summer I would just swim a bunch of laps, do some push-ups and sit-ups and call it a day. But, now that I've been running so much those final few pounds I wanted off are gone and I'm really starting to tone. I've lost 70lbs since February, and about 20lbs of that has come off during the fall/winter since I've been running. Additional to the running, I've started working out with my weights that were collecting dust. I do all my exercises everyday, eat healthy, and sleep well. I've have honestly never felt better than I do now in my entire life and I fucking love it!

Fantasy Football went bad this year, but there's so much variance in it (especially this year!) that I don't take it too seriously. I actually finished 10/10, sheeesh, lol. I guess there's always next year... at least I won the league last year. Uhh, other sports: The Jags had their worst season in years, but...

This past weekend my friend, Corey, and I were given tickets to the Jags/Packers game. Alex, who works with Corey's dad, is a season ticket holder but he and Corey's dad got better tickets for free. So we got the left over tickets, which actually turned out to be pretty good seats. The Jags got their first win since beating the winless Lions back in October, so that was great to watch. After the game we went back to Alex's apartment downtown and had a bunch beers while we watched the Ravens/Steelers game. Well, Corey didn't have any because he was the designated driver, lol. It's cool though Corey, they were kinda skunked anyway. ;)

My life long Gators are playing for the 2nd BCS Championship in 3 years. I'm really excited plus word is that OU will be missing Murray, which is like basically death to them. I'd love to be able to transfer down to Gainesville after 2 years, but I've got a few schools I really like.

Aside from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the highlight of my winter break is coming up this weekend on Saturday night. We'll be having our first poker tournament since July (we had a cash game in September). I'm looking forward to it, and hope to have a positive blog to report in a few days when I post how it went.