Deuce 9 Summer Poker Open

Finally! The Deuce 9 is (pretty much) back to the way it used to be. A minimum of a full table STT (single table tournament) with a shot at a decent occasional MTT (multi-table tournament).

9 people showed up (which is good, GREAT considering the recent attendance problems), $25 buy-in, top 3 get payed, 10k starting chips with 20 minute levels and a blind schedule that closely resembled that of the WSOP Main Event's (a link to that schedule is posted in a past post titled January Tourney that was posted (duh!) in January...

As I had planned going in to the tournament, things (for me) went slow early on. I was very critical on myself that I would NOT bluff off a bunch of chips when you just don't need to. The blinds start out at 25-50 and you have 200 BBs with your 10k starting chips. You don't need to be stealing tons of pots until later... there's just NO equity in going crazy by firing 3 bullets at a pot to pick up, what, 300 in chips... which is like dirt when you consider how big the pots will be later on that are actually worth stealing.

So I limped a bit, folded a lot, and raised rarely just trying to get a feel for how the table was going to be playing, which in my opinion was pretty good for guys who play casually a couple times a month. So at a table like this there was no reason to get out of line, just play ABC... well, ABC kinda limits me to a nitty style, so lets go with playing ABCDE style, hahaha.

I turned a small profit (like 1k-1.5k) in the first level, which is very good.

With the blinds at 50-100 I played a pot in which I feel I played a hand VERY poorly and felt sick about it afterwards.

It was folded to me in the CO (cut-off, 1 off the button) and I limped in with A-T (T = Ten). The button folded, Corey limped from the SB and Tommy checked the BB.

Flop: (Pot: 300)
A-Q-7

Corey checked, Tommy bet 200, I called, Corey folded.

Turn: (Pot: 700)
6

Tommy bet 600, I called.

River: (Pot: 1900)
K

Tommy bet 1000, I felt like he had either the nuts or a weaker Ace (like A-8 was the one hand that I put him on), I made a crying call, and he showed Q-7, I mucked. Next hand...

Still in the 50-100 level:

I limp in MP (middle position) for 100 with 9-9. No raises, and we saw a 4 way flop.

Flop: (Pot: 400)
J-9-4

The SB (Danny) bet 200, I min-raised to 400 only becuase I had very little respect for his game and thought he was a fish who would call a min-raise with a weak hand... he called. Lol. But seriously, I speak the absolute truth here, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, at this point in time I tought very little of his game (after the tourney I think he played alright, and he's an okay player in general). So anyway, he called the 200 more.

Turn: (Pot: 1200)
2

Danny checks, I bet 800, he calls.

River: (Pot: 2800)
4

Danny checks, I bet 2000, he calls with A-J and loses. Next hand...


During the 75-150 level:

It folds to me in late position (I was 2 off the button) and I just limped in for 150 with K-K. Corey limped in on the button, Tommy completed the SB, and Don checked the BB.

Okay, not what I was hoping for, but whatever, play the hand...

Flop: (Pot: 600)
J-9-8, two spades

Gross! Thats the nastiest flop I could see. Tommy bets 300, I just call to keep the pot small, all others fold.

Turn: (Pot: 1200)
8

Tommy bets 500, I call just trying to get to the showdown as cheaply as possible.

River: (Pot: 2200)
8

Tommy bets 500, I made it 1500 total because I was 100% sure he had a Jack. He called with J-T.

So now, I'm actually starting to build a stack here. It feels good to just grind, grind, grind and see the outcome be successful. Much better feeling than playing some huge coin flip for a big stack.

Don't recall too much from the next 3 levels, kinda went card dead and just stole occasionally (or randomly picked up a hand [BTW Don, that hand where you thought I was using my image to 'make a play' I had A-K... so you were a little off] when I needed to steal blinds) in order to keep my stack afloat over 10k. Somewhere during these levels Brendon decided to donk off 10k in chips with 10's before the flop, hahaha. Sawyer had K-K and basically busted him. He got bad beated for his last 800 chips vs. Don. (A-J vs. Ah-3h, Don went heart-heart to bust him). Also, right before this hand Don went broke to Sawyer on a Q-J-5 flop, Don went all-in for A LOT with K-Q and Sawyer called A LOT with K-T (an open-ender!!!???)... Turn = Ace. So gross, so now Sawyer had a shit load of chips.

During the 300-600 level:
(What I feel was the most important pot for me of the night, its what sticks out when I think of the tournament as a whole.)

Sawyer limps UTG, I raise to 1500 with Ad-Jd (d = diamond), Corey calls on the button (kinda scary), Danny (who was really short stacked, I mean like 2 BBs) went all-in from the BB for 2.6k total.

Sawyer called 2k more, I had to call 1.1k to win like 7k so I called, and Corey called 1.1k more as well. 4 ways to a flop with one guy all-in.

Flop: (Pot: 10,700)
7d-5d-2s

Sawyer checks, I check, Corey checks.

Turn: (Pot: 10,700)
Qd

Sawyer bets 1500 into a DRY side pot, I smooth call with the nuts, Corey folds Ac-Kc face up.

River: (Pot: 10,700) (Side Pot: 3000)
Jh

Sawyer bets 2500, I raise to 5500, he calls with A-Q and loses. Danny is out.

That was a BIG pot for me. Before that pot I was in the grind-zone and was constantly floating in between 12k and 18k. Now, I was comfortably sitting on over 30k. 50 BBs at the time, which is a lot that late in a STT.

Corey busted Will in 5th, and then shortly after busted Kurt in 4th to grab the chip lead, but not by too much. We were now in the money, Sawyer, Corey, and myself.

Blinds 500-1000:

We traded blinds for a few hands. Then...

Corey limped for 1k on the button, Sawyer raised to 4.5k from the SB, I woke up with K-K and thought if I just moved in Sawyer would call me with a zillion different hands that I had crushed. I shoved all-in over the top, Corey folded, and Sawyer insta-called. He had J-J. Cooler for him. God given gift for me. The flop had a Jack in it... but a King too (A-K-J). He missed the miracle, and I was heads-up with Corey with a slight chip lead. We each had about 40-50 BBs so we had A LOT of chips to play with, which was nice.

At the beginning of heads-up play, I don't know what the fuck was going on! It seemed like either he was getting hit by the deck or totally outplaying me, because I couldn't win a pot. If I bet, he raised. If I raised, he re-raised. It was sick. Thank God the stacks were deep enough, otherwise I might have been busted really fast. I got my head straight and calmed my crazy brain down and then everything just started flowing. I won a big pot with K-K, where he flopped a Jack and did all the betting for me.

Then he started playing very aggressive again, and that style of play combined with my total card drought at the time left him with about 3-1 chip lead on me and the blinds going up to 1k-2k wasn't that good either, as there was not much room for error (ie. bad calls, etc.) anymore.

With the blinds at 1k-2k and me only having 24k:

I limped in with A-4 from the SB, he checked to a flop.

Flop: (Pot: 4000)
A-9-6

Corey bet 3k, I made it 10k total, he moved all-in. I didn't want to call but I had put so much in already, plus I felt like he had 1 of 3 hands:

1) 9-6, I'm in pretty bad shape not much else to say.

2) 8-7, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make this play.

3) A-5, Even though its technically ahead, I split the pot against A-5 about 70% of the time, so...

Like I said, I'm so pot comitted I had to call, I didn't like it but I did. Fortunately he showed 8-7 and he bricked out. Now we're back to even in chips.

I made a few good reads here and there (call downs with mid-pair, etc.) that were right and before I knew it I had exaclty 70k to Corey's exactly 20k.

With the blinds at 1k-2k and the above chip counts:

I got 7-7 in the SB and moved Corey all-in, he called fast with A-8, and we had a race for all the marbles... well, all of his marbles.

The flop was gross... Q-9-5 all diamonds, Corey had a diamond so now he's got a bunch of outs. Any Ace, 8, or diamond.

Turn - 4c
River - 9h

I win.

I really enjoyed the entire tournament and can't wait until the next one... although the next time we play will probably be a cash game (I wonder how many people will play in that? I hope a bunch like that one we had last summer)...