I've mainly stuck to SNGs and cash for the past few months and I've built enough up to where I'm gonna start playing more big MTTs. I started today in a 20k guaranteed on Stars. $10 for $3500+ would be nice...
I played really patient early on. Lost a small pot with A-K that I probably could of won pre-flop. Then chopped my way back to 1500. In the 50-100 level I flopped a straight with J-8 out of the BB against an early position limper's top pair and won a sizable pot to get up over 2500. Then...
Blinds 75-150:
UTG raises to 450 (pretty loose player, he just played a huge pot with 8-8 pre-flop vs Q-Q and sucked out to grab a massive amount of chips).
MP player calls, folds to me in the BB with A-K, in my opinion there's only one move here with the amount of money that is out there, and I make it - all in for about 2500. UTG insta-calls AND MP player calls. I'm dead right?
UTG - Ah-Qh
MP- Ac-Tc
No one pairs up or makes a flush and A-K holds for the 6000 pot.
A few hands later with the blinds at 100-200:
I raise in MP with As-Js to 500, Button min-raises to 1000 (he's been very active with min-raises preflop), I call 500 more (Looking back I hate the call here out of position, I can just dump it and find a better spot).
Flop: J-7-3 rainbow
I decide to check-raise here because he's short (mistake 2), and we get it in with him having K-K and I lose a big pot I shouldn't have played. So now I'm down to 1900 (under 10BBs).
Still 100-200 level:
Loose player min-raises in late position, I ship it with J-J from the BB, he folds.
--2 hands later--
Same player min-raises to 400, I ship it with A-K and he calls with Kd-Qd. He flops Jd-10d-x so I have to fade a ton of outs and I do so to double through to 5000.
Go card dead as the antes come into play around the bubble (grrrreat... [rolling eyes]). Didn't get to rob the squeakers too much. Got into the money with about 10BBs and started getting some hands to pick up all of the dead money. K-Js in LP, K-Q in LP, A-A UTG and won every pot before the flop. Built myself up to about 7000 going into 300-600 w/50 ante.
During that level I blinded down to about 5000 and made a standard play of moving in a very short stack from the SB with A-10, he woke up with 10-10 and doubled through me. I was down to 3000.
Went down to 2800, moved in from the button with K-5s, SB woke up with A-10 called and busted me. I doubled my investment but could care less, I played well, ran okay, and I know I'll hit one of these with time.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Live 6-Max Tournament at Deuce 9
There was a tournament planned for today, Saturday, but few people were available to come. It ended up being just 6 people, which isn't all that bad I guess. I love 6-max SNGs, this will be like one of those with a 100 times better structure.
I started out playing pretty solid/tight as I like to do when the blinds are so low. I don't see much need to get out of line early on when you're that deep in chips. I picked up a few hands that helped me to win a few decent size pots and I stole a few small pots here and there when I saw fit. The first real pot I played was:
Blinds 100-200
I'm on the button, with A-K off.
UTG (tight) folded, UTG+1 (loosest player at the table) limped for 200, MP1 folds, I make it 800 total, SB (tight) folds, BB (fairly solid) calls 800, UTG+1 folds.
Flop: (Pot: 1900)
K-Q-2, no suit.
He checked, I bet 1500, he called.
[I'm putting him on like K-J, K-T, J-T range of hands]
Turn: (Pot: 4900)
J, putting 2 spades out.
He checked, I wanted to bet here but he gave the impression that he was looking to check raise (just his personal demeanor) and that turn did hit a lot of hands I'm putting him on, so I checked behind hoping to keep the pot small in position with just one pair. If I bet and get check-raised all-in I can't really call and expect to be ahead of many hands.
River: (Pot: 4900)
4, rainbow board.
He checked, so now I obviously have to bet. I bet 2500 hoping it was K-T, he called with A-Q.
Final pot: 9900
That pot and few others really padded my stack up to over double the starting stack (of 10k) to around 22k and change. From there I just cruised while a couple people went out. Joe (from the A-K vs A-Q hand) ran into A-A and was out in 6th. Don (who had built up a nice stack close to mine) played a big pot against Kurt with A-J vs A-A which left him crippled, he then lost a semi-race 2 hands later with K-Qs vs A-J (against Kurt again) for the remainder of his chips and finished in 5th. Kurt busted in 4th to Will with Q-J vs A-Q on a Q-5-5 flop. The action was fast and furious until 3 handed and then everything sloooooooowed down, alot. We played 3-handed forever.
With the blinds at 400-800, I had about 18-19k when this hand went down:
Corey folded the button,
(Will had been limping a lot from every position, from his SB I had been punsihing him a lot with raises; something I usually don't do a lot of but his weakness was so vivid I knew I could pick up the dead money pre-flop)
Will limped in for 800.
I had Ac-Kc in the BB and made it 2k more to 2800 total. Bigger than my normal opening raise, but (A) he doesn't pay attention to that and (B) he actually looked like he had a real hand this time so I was obviously hoping he played back at me. He just called the 2k more
Flop: (Pot: 5600)
K-K-J, two spades. - BINGO!
He led out for 4000, I decided I didn't have enough to call without giving away the strength of my hand, but if I moved it I could have a huge range of hands (flush draw, straight draw, lower pair). I moved all-in for another 11k. He thought and thought forever which led me to believe he had like Q-J or J-T and was thinking of making some heroic call if he thought I was being a bully. He did call, with... honestly I'll give you 3 guesses as to what he had and you'll NEVER be right. Go ahead guess...
1
2
3
He had A-8 off suit. Haha. Like that's ever good against a nit like me.
Shockingly my hand held up against his monster Ace high. So now I had like 37k of the 60k in play - pretty insane.
Corey got low and made a lot of move ins to pick up the blinds a few rounds because nobody ever got a hand. He moved in with 2-2 and I called with A-9s and lost that race. He eventually got called by Will too, who had... Q-5 off. Corey had J-T and flopped a J. Then Corey and Will got it in again with T-T (Corey) vs 6-6 (Will). The flop had a 6 in the window, but was followed by a Ten. Will got low (like 12k) when...
Blinds 600-1200
Corey folded the button, Will min-raised to 2400 from the SB, I called 1200 more with Ac-7c.
Flop: (Pot: 4800)
7-4-3, two spades and a club.
He checked (for a first in a long while), I bet 4000, and he called leaving himself 4900 behind (I know - stupid).
Turn (Pot: 12,800)
2c, giving me top pair top kicker with the nut flush draw.
He checked, I put him all-in, he called with Kc-Qc.
6 outs with 1 pull from the deck and...
River: (Pot: 22,600) ALL-IN
Qs, Ugh! So bad...
All I could say was, "Wow, that was a nice flop for Kc-Qc... nice hand."
That dropped me down to like 20k. Nothing big happened during 800-1600 and then the blinds went up to 1k-2k with everyone having about 20k (10BBs) and it was move in poker time.
Eventually Corey limped the button with A-Q, Will raised from the SB, I folded T-5. Corey moved in and Will called with... J-6. He didn't pair and Corey and I were heads up and "in the money."
Heads up went back and forth just trading blinds for a while. The blinds went up to 1500-3000 with Corey having about a 2-1 chip lead after busting Will. We made a small deal since the blinds were so high (I only had like 6BBs) - Corey $80, Me $60, with $10 up top for whoever won the tournament.
On the final hand I had 29,500 and Corey had 30,500 with the blinds at 1500-3000:
I moved in with 5-5 from the SB, which I have no problems with given the stacks.
Corey called with K-J off and we were off to the races with him having two $500 chips left if he lost.
Flop: (Pot: 59,000) ALL-IN
Q-Q-T, great now he wins with any Ace, King, Jack, Ten, or Nine.
Turn: T
River: 9
He got there twice.
So Corey won, he ran well at the end which is kinda key in these SNG type tournaments. He played very well also, but maybe a little too tight late in the tourney in spots where if he hadn't picked up hands against other hands like he did (T-T vs 6-6, A-Q, etc) he most likely would have blinded down too low to win. But whatever, it worked so there must be a bit of logic to it.
I started out playing pretty solid/tight as I like to do when the blinds are so low. I don't see much need to get out of line early on when you're that deep in chips. I picked up a few hands that helped me to win a few decent size pots and I stole a few small pots here and there when I saw fit. The first real pot I played was:
Blinds 100-200
I'm on the button, with A-K off.
UTG (tight) folded, UTG+1 (loosest player at the table) limped for 200, MP1 folds, I make it 800 total, SB (tight) folds, BB (fairly solid) calls 800, UTG+1 folds.
Flop: (Pot: 1900)
K-Q-2, no suit.
He checked, I bet 1500, he called.
[I'm putting him on like K-J, K-T, J-T range of hands]
Turn: (Pot: 4900)
J, putting 2 spades out.
He checked, I wanted to bet here but he gave the impression that he was looking to check raise (just his personal demeanor) and that turn did hit a lot of hands I'm putting him on, so I checked behind hoping to keep the pot small in position with just one pair. If I bet and get check-raised all-in I can't really call and expect to be ahead of many hands.
River: (Pot: 4900)
4, rainbow board.
He checked, so now I obviously have to bet. I bet 2500 hoping it was K-T, he called with A-Q.
Final pot: 9900
That pot and few others really padded my stack up to over double the starting stack (of 10k) to around 22k and change. From there I just cruised while a couple people went out. Joe (from the A-K vs A-Q hand) ran into A-A and was out in 6th. Don (who had built up a nice stack close to mine) played a big pot against Kurt with A-J vs A-A which left him crippled, he then lost a semi-race 2 hands later with K-Qs vs A-J (against Kurt again) for the remainder of his chips and finished in 5th. Kurt busted in 4th to Will with Q-J vs A-Q on a Q-5-5 flop. The action was fast and furious until 3 handed and then everything sloooooooowed down, alot. We played 3-handed forever.
With the blinds at 400-800, I had about 18-19k when this hand went down:
Corey folded the button,
(Will had been limping a lot from every position, from his SB I had been punsihing him a lot with raises; something I usually don't do a lot of but his weakness was so vivid I knew I could pick up the dead money pre-flop)
Will limped in for 800.
I had Ac-Kc in the BB and made it 2k more to 2800 total. Bigger than my normal opening raise, but (A) he doesn't pay attention to that and (B) he actually looked like he had a real hand this time so I was obviously hoping he played back at me. He just called the 2k more
Flop: (Pot: 5600)
K-K-J, two spades. - BINGO!
He led out for 4000, I decided I didn't have enough to call without giving away the strength of my hand, but if I moved it I could have a huge range of hands (flush draw, straight draw, lower pair). I moved all-in for another 11k. He thought and thought forever which led me to believe he had like Q-J or J-T and was thinking of making some heroic call if he thought I was being a bully. He did call, with... honestly I'll give you 3 guesses as to what he had and you'll NEVER be right. Go ahead guess...
1
2
3
He had A-8 off suit. Haha. Like that's ever good against a nit like me.
Shockingly my hand held up against his monster Ace high. So now I had like 37k of the 60k in play - pretty insane.
Corey got low and made a lot of move ins to pick up the blinds a few rounds because nobody ever got a hand. He moved in with 2-2 and I called with A-9s and lost that race. He eventually got called by Will too, who had... Q-5 off. Corey had J-T and flopped a J. Then Corey and Will got it in again with T-T (Corey) vs 6-6 (Will). The flop had a 6 in the window, but was followed by a Ten. Will got low (like 12k) when...
Blinds 600-1200
Corey folded the button, Will min-raised to 2400 from the SB, I called 1200 more with Ac-7c.
Flop: (Pot: 4800)
7-4-3, two spades and a club.
He checked (for a first in a long while), I bet 4000, and he called leaving himself 4900 behind (I know - stupid).
Turn (Pot: 12,800)
2c, giving me top pair top kicker with the nut flush draw.
He checked, I put him all-in, he called with Kc-Qc.
6 outs with 1 pull from the deck and...
River: (Pot: 22,600) ALL-IN
Qs, Ugh! So bad...
All I could say was, "Wow, that was a nice flop for Kc-Qc... nice hand."
That dropped me down to like 20k. Nothing big happened during 800-1600 and then the blinds went up to 1k-2k with everyone having about 20k (10BBs) and it was move in poker time.
Eventually Corey limped the button with A-Q, Will raised from the SB, I folded T-5. Corey moved in and Will called with... J-6. He didn't pair and Corey and I were heads up and "in the money."
Heads up went back and forth just trading blinds for a while. The blinds went up to 1500-3000 with Corey having about a 2-1 chip lead after busting Will. We made a small deal since the blinds were so high (I only had like 6BBs) - Corey $80, Me $60, with $10 up top for whoever won the tournament.
On the final hand I had 29,500 and Corey had 30,500 with the blinds at 1500-3000:
I moved in with 5-5 from the SB, which I have no problems with given the stacks.
Corey called with K-J off and we were off to the races with him having two $500 chips left if he lost.
Flop: (Pot: 59,000) ALL-IN
Q-Q-T, great now he wins with any Ace, King, Jack, Ten, or Nine.
Turn: T
River: 9
He got there twice.
So Corey won, he ran well at the end which is kinda key in these SNG type tournaments. He played very well also, but maybe a little too tight late in the tourney in spots where if he hadn't picked up hands against other hands like he did (T-T vs 6-6, A-Q, etc) he most likely would have blinded down too low to win. But whatever, it worked so there must be a bit of logic to it.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Long time, no post
I haven't posted in a while for one reason - haven't played live in a while. Which is basically the only time I ever post on here. School has kept me from playing as much as I would like. The past few weeks I've been crushing the 45-SNGs on FTP when I get the chance to play, though.
Here's 2 wins just these past 2 weeks:
I wish I could get 'em bigger, but this is 'large' (not so in my opinion)
I wish I could get 'em bigger, but this is 'large' (not so in my opinion)[Yes, I do enjoy changing my avatar weekly...]
I don't keep much track of the 4ths and 3rds, but I did have one 2nd last week.
----------
I played live a few days ago. 4 handed NL cash - 25c/50c - with some friends.
I ended up down $5 (out of $50) after losing a big pot early and grinding myself back to near even. There were 2 exciting hands that happened the whole night - both all-ins both between the same 2 players.
Hand 1:
UTG (Corey's little brother who for some reason decided to play with us. He doesn't really do anything but open shove with marginal hands - AJ, KQ, KJ, QJ, small pairs) open shoves for $21, UTG+1 folds, I have Ah-Qh in the SB, BB jokingly folds out of turn.
I was ready to fold because calling here just doesn't seem right. I can fold and keep grinding away a profit (like I've been doing VERY well up to this point - up $10 without showing a hand). I was ready to fold when I decided I'd show him (even though I was 90% ready to fold) just to see if I get a reaction, then maybe I'll reconsider. I say, "It's not a tournament so I can show before I do anything..." I flipped over the A-Q of hearts and he then (without me saying anything) flipped over Ks-Qs and said, "Okay." He gave the initial impression that he thought I had called - which I then quickly did after seeing how far ahead I was. He was confused and said whatever run the board. I differred from running it twice obviously.
Flop:
10-9-2, rainbow
Turn:
J, "ugh."
River:
A, "nh..." [rolling eyes]
Hand 2:
The hand before Don raised UTG to $2, I folded, Corey folded, The Live One min-raised to $4, and Don moved in with J-J and picked up the pot. The Live One had K-10 I believe.
I had A-K off UTG and made it $2, Corey folded, The Live One min-raised to $4, Don folded, I thought if I shoved he might call with a lot of hands (he looked bored and ready to do something "exciting"), I shoved for like $35 and he beat me into the pot with an insta-call with... 5-5.
I chose to run this one twice as I didn't really wanna flip a coin for $70.
1st Flop: A-x-x Turn: x River: x
2nd Flop: 5-4-3 Turn: x River x
So we chopped it up and that was basically it for the night...
We should be having a tournament sometime soon. I can't wait.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
A Day on the Links...
We, Dino and I, had decided that after our morning orientation at school we would play 18 at Jax Beach Public Golf Club (only for one reason: the price. period). During the orientation Brett voices that he wants to come, which is totally cool, so we set our tee time for 12:00 and a group of 3. After we get done with our school shit, we go out for some breakfast, head over to my house to grab my bag and shoes, and fly to Jax Beach to make it in time to hit up the driving range.
We didn't get many balls because it was Satan-degrees-Fahrenheit and we didn't wanna get too tired before we even tee'd off. So we downed a single bucket between the 3 of us, when an older man gave us a whole bucket of range balls and said, "Here boys, its just too damn hot out today." Don't worry we didn't use them, we left them for whoever wanted them because it indeed was 'too damn hot out.' So its now 12:00 on the dot. We jump in our carts and head over to the tee box. The starter looks unhappy with us. Why? Well, apparently we are 5 minutes late!!! Oh my God, 5 minutes! ... So after I get the speech about how we should have been there at 12:00 and how because we were SO late he had to let the guys with the 12:37 tee time take our time. Okay, whatever... no big deal. We tee off after them and things are going okay.
I think I speak for anyone who has ever played the hellish yet additively amazing game that is golf when I say, Sometimes you get really fucking frustrated. What is a man to do when he's full of steam in a field of grass (not even nice grass, after all its a public course) with a large club. This directly translates over years and years of history... like a caveman with his big wooden club banging it on the ground when his prey outruns him. Soooo, yes, I did make divots on some fairways (and a green or two) with my iron/putter like a big greasy lumberjack. I wasn't the only one (I won't name names because I'm not like that). Really, honestly, who doesn't sometimes... ?
During this round, I nearly hit a man from the group in front of us with an amazing shot from my 3-Hybrid over a gorge. When we (Dino and I road together) got up to the ball I said, "Sorry about that." He responded, "Don't worry, I couldn't hit a bull in the ass with a snow shovel today if I tried... just one of those days." Funny saying... I think I'll use it.
So we get all the way through the course without any problems. All the way to our 17th hole. I'm on the green in 4 (Par 4) with a putt for bogey. Of course I lip it and have to tap in for dubs (double bogey). Its hot + I'm not playing my best = I take my putter and fucking axe that shit into the green sooooo hard. Alright stop right here and just picture this: A man out in the woods with a big axe and a log of wood beneath his feet, he swings the axe down over his head and crushes the log. Now paste that image onto me, on a green, with a putter... I mean hard, that putter was deep in the green. Hahaha.
So I turn to see the guys (3 middle aged men) behind us watching the entire charade. I make eye contact from 150 yards away with one of them. They all pile into they're carts and come flying over the bridge to the hole. During this time I know whats about to happen, so I start preparing in my mind (fake name, lies, etc.) The "leader" jumps out and walks up to our cart as Dino and I get into it (Brett is already up at the next hole waiting for us, btw he's parked slightly on the grass). I'll just give you the entire dialogue as that will be easier:
Prick 1: What's your name?!
Me: [quickly] Scott Peterson. (lie #1)
[Yes, the husband who murdered his pregnant wife and chopped her up]
He apparently doesn't hear me correctly and says:
Prick 1: Scott Peters?
[I didn't feel the need to correct him, as Scott Peters is a perfectly fine name]
Me: Yeah...
Prick 1: You're done for the day you guys head on in to the clubhouse. You've destroyed this golf course...
[Prick 2 starts calling the clubhouse]
Me: Destroyed? I put one divot in one green. (lie #2)
Prick 1: One? Does it look like I have *STUPID* written across my face [points to his forehead, at this point Dino is holding back laughter]. We've been watching you guys all day. I counted 4 [holding up 4 fingers] greens you've ruined.
Me: 4? Do you have a list?
Prick 1: W-w-well... Hole 4! You put 2 BIG divots in the green.
[This is actually not true. I par'd hole 4]
Me: Hole 4? I...
Prick 1: [sarcastically] You know what hole that is?
Me: Yeah, its the par 3 with th creek down the left side... they just finished the green so we don't have to play on temp-greens anymore (temp=temporary). I par'd that hole, I'd have no reason to be upset...
Prick 1: You're gonna pay for all this. You head on up to the clubhouse right now.
Prick 2: I'll follow 'em up there!
Prick 3: [to Brett] You know there's cart paths for a REASON!
Hahaha. I love Prick 3's contribution to the situation...
Me: Okay [at this point I've already got the plan 100% figured out]
The cart return/exit is obviously right next to the parking lot. All we have to do is park the carts, grab our shit, and haul ass to the car. I quickly tell this to Dino, who gets the message in only a few words, "We're getting the fuck out of here, grab your shit while you drive." So as Dino drives closely behind Brett I say to Brett, "Brett, collect all your shit while you drive, then park it, and haul ass to your car, we're leaving."
So we get to the cart rental return area. Park the carts, while the "manager" walks out and says, "I heard you were tearing up the course."
"No, I slammed my club on one hole I was out of line."
"Why'd you do that?"
"I don't know, pure frustration, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah, yeah well don't do it anymore or we're gonna have to ask you to leave."
"Oh I won't, I'm really sorry, I just lost my cool. This game will do that to ya."
"Okay, well good day."
He walked back inside. We grabbed our bags and ran to the car as one of the pricks was approaching the cart area.
On the drive away Brett realized he'd left his glasses in his cart, so he had to go back in and get them from the pro-shop.
I do feel that I was totally out of line, tough. I took it a little too far...
Fun day...
We didn't get many balls because it was Satan-degrees-Fahrenheit and we didn't wanna get too tired before we even tee'd off. So we downed a single bucket between the 3 of us, when an older man gave us a whole bucket of range balls and said, "Here boys, its just too damn hot out today." Don't worry we didn't use them, we left them for whoever wanted them because it indeed was 'too damn hot out.' So its now 12:00 on the dot. We jump in our carts and head over to the tee box. The starter looks unhappy with us. Why? Well, apparently we are 5 minutes late!!! Oh my God, 5 minutes! ... So after I get the speech about how we should have been there at 12:00 and how because we were SO late he had to let the guys with the 12:37 tee time take our time. Okay, whatever... no big deal. We tee off after them and things are going okay.
I think I speak for anyone who has ever played the hellish yet additively amazing game that is golf when I say, Sometimes you get really fucking frustrated. What is a man to do when he's full of steam in a field of grass (not even nice grass, after all its a public course) with a large club. This directly translates over years and years of history... like a caveman with his big wooden club banging it on the ground when his prey outruns him. Soooo, yes, I did make divots on some fairways (and a green or two) with my iron/putter like a big greasy lumberjack. I wasn't the only one (I won't name names because I'm not like that). Really, honestly, who doesn't sometimes... ?
During this round, I nearly hit a man from the group in front of us with an amazing shot from my 3-Hybrid over a gorge. When we (Dino and I road together) got up to the ball I said, "Sorry about that." He responded, "Don't worry, I couldn't hit a bull in the ass with a snow shovel today if I tried... just one of those days." Funny saying... I think I'll use it.
So we get all the way through the course without any problems. All the way to our 17th hole. I'm on the green in 4 (Par 4) with a putt for bogey. Of course I lip it and have to tap in for dubs (double bogey). Its hot + I'm not playing my best = I take my putter and fucking axe that shit into the green sooooo hard. Alright stop right here and just picture this: A man out in the woods with a big axe and a log of wood beneath his feet, he swings the axe down over his head and crushes the log. Now paste that image onto me, on a green, with a putter... I mean hard, that putter was deep in the green. Hahaha.
So I turn to see the guys (3 middle aged men) behind us watching the entire charade. I make eye contact from 150 yards away with one of them. They all pile into they're carts and come flying over the bridge to the hole. During this time I know whats about to happen, so I start preparing in my mind (fake name, lies, etc.) The "leader" jumps out and walks up to our cart as Dino and I get into it (Brett is already up at the next hole waiting for us, btw he's parked slightly on the grass). I'll just give you the entire dialogue as that will be easier:
Prick 1: What's your name?!
Me: [quickly] Scott Peterson. (lie #1)
[Yes, the husband who murdered his pregnant wife and chopped her up]
He apparently doesn't hear me correctly and says:
Prick 1: Scott Peters?
[I didn't feel the need to correct him, as Scott Peters is a perfectly fine name]
Me: Yeah...
Prick 1: You're done for the day you guys head on in to the clubhouse. You've destroyed this golf course...
[Prick 2 starts calling the clubhouse]
Me: Destroyed? I put one divot in one green. (lie #2)
Prick 1: One? Does it look like I have *STUPID* written across my face [points to his forehead, at this point Dino is holding back laughter]. We've been watching you guys all day. I counted 4 [holding up 4 fingers] greens you've ruined.
Me: 4? Do you have a list?
Prick 1: W-w-well... Hole 4! You put 2 BIG divots in the green.
[This is actually not true. I par'd hole 4]
Me: Hole 4? I...
Prick 1: [sarcastically] You know what hole that is?
Me: Yeah, its the par 3 with th creek down the left side... they just finished the green so we don't have to play on temp-greens anymore (temp=temporary). I par'd that hole, I'd have no reason to be upset...
Prick 1: You're gonna pay for all this. You head on up to the clubhouse right now.
Prick 2: I'll follow 'em up there!
Prick 3: [to Brett] You know there's cart paths for a REASON!
Hahaha. I love Prick 3's contribution to the situation...
Me: Okay [at this point I've already got the plan 100% figured out]
The cart return/exit is obviously right next to the parking lot. All we have to do is park the carts, grab our shit, and haul ass to the car. I quickly tell this to Dino, who gets the message in only a few words, "We're getting the fuck out of here, grab your shit while you drive." So as Dino drives closely behind Brett I say to Brett, "Brett, collect all your shit while you drive, then park it, and haul ass to your car, we're leaving."
So we get to the cart rental return area. Park the carts, while the "manager" walks out and says, "I heard you were tearing up the course."
"No, I slammed my club on one hole I was out of line."
"Why'd you do that?"
"I don't know, pure frustration, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah, yeah well don't do it anymore or we're gonna have to ask you to leave."
"Oh I won't, I'm really sorry, I just lost my cool. This game will do that to ya."
"Okay, well good day."
He walked back inside. We grabbed our bags and ran to the car as one of the pricks was approaching the cart area.
On the drive away Brett realized he'd left his glasses in his cart, so he had to go back in and get them from the pro-shop.
I do feel that I was totally out of line, tough. I took it a little too far...
Fun day...
Monday, July 16, 2007
Deuce 9 Poker Classic
Everything about this tournament appeared to be good. The turnout? Great - 12 people (two tables of six). The structure? Nice and slow - should provide a ton of play for the better players later in the tournament. The field? As a whole very soft - should not be difficult to get your hands on some chips early as long as the cards break even for you... Ahhh, that last part turned out to be just a LITTLE bit important for me this time around.
Last month, in the tounrament that I won, I didn't really run *that* good. The cards broke about even, basically when I had the best - I didn't lose... be it with the cards face down for a small pot or face up for an all-in showdown. And, obviously, that is always nice.
Set-up:
-12 People
-$25 buy-in
-10k starting chips (same structure as usual)
-Paying top 3
I have a fun statistic I'll share with you at the end, to avoid any spoilage in your reading experience... so here we go.
Right off the bat my table draw sucked. I draw a table with 4 (including myself) tough players and 2 weak players, while the other table is the inverse with 2 tough players and 4 weak players. Of those 4 tough players at my table, they're all pretty much nits - so it won't be easy to get a hold of a lot of chips at this table. While at the other table, they [the 2 good players] essentianally have 40k in chips that is pretty easy to obtain, while I only have 20k that is easy to get and there's 30k I really have to work for. This wasn't a shootout tourney, I'm just presenting an example of how more chips will be flying at their table than mine.
I don't recall very much happening, for me, during the 25-50 level at my table... besides occasionally limping and mostly folding. I noticed, in between mucking 6-3 off the 500 times I got it this level, that the 2 weak players at my table were playing MUCH worse than I thought they would be. I mean they were playing so bad that if I got any kind of a hand I had a really BIG chance of just doubling up to 20k in a spot where I would normally win a decent sized pot, but nothing too sizable.
Example: During the 25-50 level, 2 players managed to play a 7,000 chip pot on a K-10-9-8-9 board WITH 3 spades (most of it went in on the river) with Player 1 (who had gotten a little low early on) moving all-in on the river for 2500 into a 2000 chip pot and Player 2 calling 2500 (over 1/4 of his stack) with just K-Q off. Player 1 showed the same hand an they split... wow. Just... wow.
I could not get anything going during the first 2 levels and I dwindled down to about 8k (still plenty), stole a few small pots to get it back up to 9k when this hand happened.
Just a note- One of the bad players had been rasing almost every hand, the only 2 times he was re-raised were by Corey (who isn't doing so out of line) who obviously had a hand, but the bad player called anyway. Even if he was out of position, something he probably didn't even understand.
Blinds 75-150:
I'm UTG. I get Q-Q, first real hand of the tournament, I limp for 150 in hopes that he raises just as he has been so I can re-raise and try and trap him for a big pot. Everyone folds to him and he... just calls from the SB - UGH! One time, just raise as you have been! The BB checks. 3-way to a flop, atleast I'm in position.
Flop: (Pot: 450)
Q-4-3, two hearts.
I flop the nuts, top set. Our villian checks, the BB checks, and I make what looks like a typical stab that I usually make at a raggy flop like this. I bet 250. Villian folds, and BB calls 250.
Turn: (Pot: 950)
Kh
He bets out 600, it looks like he might have called on a flush draw and is now leading out but I don't have anyway of knowing that. I don't want to raise for 2 reasons:
Last month, in the tounrament that I won, I didn't really run *that* good. The cards broke about even, basically when I had the best - I didn't lose... be it with the cards face down for a small pot or face up for an all-in showdown. And, obviously, that is always nice.
Set-up:
-12 People
-$25 buy-in
-10k starting chips (same structure as usual)
-Paying top 3
I have a fun statistic I'll share with you at the end, to avoid any spoilage in your reading experience... so here we go.
Right off the bat my table draw sucked. I draw a table with 4 (including myself) tough players and 2 weak players, while the other table is the inverse with 2 tough players and 4 weak players. Of those 4 tough players at my table, they're all pretty much nits - so it won't be easy to get a hold of a lot of chips at this table. While at the other table, they [the 2 good players] essentianally have 40k in chips that is pretty easy to obtain, while I only have 20k that is easy to get and there's 30k I really have to work for. This wasn't a shootout tourney, I'm just presenting an example of how more chips will be flying at their table than mine.
I don't recall very much happening, for me, during the 25-50 level at my table... besides occasionally limping and mostly folding. I noticed, in between mucking 6-3 off the 500 times I got it this level, that the 2 weak players at my table were playing MUCH worse than I thought they would be. I mean they were playing so bad that if I got any kind of a hand I had a really BIG chance of just doubling up to 20k in a spot where I would normally win a decent sized pot, but nothing too sizable.
Example: During the 25-50 level, 2 players managed to play a 7,000 chip pot on a K-10-9-8-9 board WITH 3 spades (most of it went in on the river) with Player 1 (who had gotten a little low early on) moving all-in on the river for 2500 into a 2000 chip pot and Player 2 calling 2500 (over 1/4 of his stack) with just K-Q off. Player 1 showed the same hand an they split... wow. Just... wow.
I could not get anything going during the first 2 levels and I dwindled down to about 8k (still plenty), stole a few small pots to get it back up to 9k when this hand happened.
Just a note- One of the bad players had been rasing almost every hand, the only 2 times he was re-raised were by Corey (who isn't doing so out of line) who obviously had a hand, but the bad player called anyway. Even if he was out of position, something he probably didn't even understand.
Blinds 75-150:
I'm UTG. I get Q-Q, first real hand of the tournament, I limp for 150 in hopes that he raises just as he has been so I can re-raise and try and trap him for a big pot. Everyone folds to him and he... just calls from the SB - UGH! One time, just raise as you have been! The BB checks. 3-way to a flop, atleast I'm in position.
Flop: (Pot: 450)
Q-4-3, two hearts.
I flop the nuts, top set. Our villian checks, the BB checks, and I make what looks like a typical stab that I usually make at a raggy flop like this. I bet 250. Villian folds, and BB calls 250.
Turn: (Pot: 950)
Kh
He bets out 600, it looks like he might have called on a flush draw and is now leading out but I don't have anyway of knowing that. I don't want to raise for 2 reasons:
- If I raise, and then he re-raises, I'm in a tough spot. Against most players, if they put in the 3rd raise on the board - they have a flush. But this guy isn't very good, and is liable to re-raise me with a weak 2-pair here, like K-3. So to avoid getting into a guessing game with a BIG hand that would be really really tough to throw away if he moved in over the top I should just call
- The second reason is that by just calling I show no strength at all. So say if he does have the flush, and then the board pairs on the end with a 4c, he will most certainly bet to get paid off, and the I can raise almost any amount and he will call it because in his mind there's no way I could have a full house.
So I opted to just calling the 600.
River: 7h, putting four hearts on board.
He checked, I think betting here is stupid as I'm only getting called by something I can't beat, and this guy will likely call me with almost any heart based on the way he plays. I checked.
He showed J-2 with the Jh and won. He called the flop with J-2 high, I don't know why and he probably doesn't either. I dropped to about 6.5k+ after that.
Blinds 100-200:
I had won only a few pots and was slowly sliding downward, I was looking for any oppurtunity to get chips, even if that meant risking slow-playing big hands that could get cracked.
2 people limped in early position for 200. I was in the SB and called 100 more with A-A. Corey raised 500 more to 700 total from the BB, a play that Corey is only making with Q-Q, K-K, A-A, maybe A-K suited. The 2 limpers folded, and I re-raised 1200 more to 1900 total. He reluctantly called, a call he would only make with Q-Q or A-K, he's re-raising with K-K or A-A.
Flop: (Pot: 4200)
Q-5-2, rainbow.
I bet 2200, and he moved me all-in. He can really only have one hand here and that is Q-Q. He knows for a fact that I'm not limp-re-raising him without a HUGE hand pre-flop, so he would naturally be scared with Q-Q and just call pre-flop, as he did. When the flop comes and I lead, he can easily assess that I do indeed have K-K or A-A, so he isn't gonna bluff here with A-K knowing what I have aswell as the fact that I've become pot comitted. The only hand he can have is Q-Q. As tough of a fold as it is, it is actually a pretty standard laydown that I didn't take too much time to do after the whole table thought I was retarded because I mucked "Two Aces, Man!" Corey TOLD me he had Q-Q but didn't show. He never shows, though... so...
I lost another pot after that where I flopped top pair and bet it, the Player from the J-2 hand called with K-9 high with no draw and hit his 3-out King on the turn to win another pot from me.
I entered the final table with 3200 and blinds at 200-400.
I was BB first hand. UTG (chronic limper with shit), everyone folded to the SB (Mr. J-2) who completed (limps with shit aswell). I had K-4 suited. I regret it now for a lot of reasons, but at the time I saw UTG's 400, the SB's 400, and my 400 (BB) sitting out there. I thought that since niether one had raised, they were just limping with air once again, and they would fold to a 2800 chip raise all-in if they just had some suited connectors or something. So I moved in for 2800 more. UTG called. SB folded Deuces.
UTG - K-Q
Bad News. I didn't get lucky and was out.
In hindsight I really hate the play, only because of who were in the hand. If the two limpers had been like... Mike and Corey, I'm picking up that pot most of the time. But the two guys who were in having a much larger group of hands that they deem 'fitting' to call off big portions of their stacks. Don't get this wrong, I'm not saying his call with K-Q was wrong, it wasn't. I would've called there too. I'm saying that he is liable to call me with K-8 suited or A-2 or 3-3 there because that is just the way he plays. I don't think its right but its his style and I failed to realize that when I made the move-in...
Vincent "Mr. J-2" Marino cashed 3rd, and Mike and Don got heads-up with Don taking it down.
I won a little in the cash game afterwards, but not too much.
It was an okay day, I just never caught any breaks or got anything going. I still wonder what COULD have happened if I just check-fold the K-4, pay the SB the next hand, and then I have 6 hands in a row where I don't have to pay blinds and can wait for a hand with my 2600, double it to 5000+... who knows. It may not sound like it, but I am over it. I just wonder what I could've done with my chips seeing as I am without ANY doubt the best short-stack player in that room.
There's always next time I guess...
Saturday, July 7, 2007
MTT Homegame: Part 5
Before everything else:
I got two new hats from Lids, I really like them... that is all.
--Resume Blog--
The same set-up as the past... although, its been pretty much a rotating cast. Which has its pros and cons, I'm getting good tournament experiecne by not playing against the same people every time (much like tournaments I will be playing when I'm older) but this intern makes it a TAD bit tougher early on... but not much because of the softness of the field. If it was a tougher field it would be better training, but less profitable. And the main goal right now is building a bankroll, so I'll go with the profitability anyday, because when it comes down to it thats what poker is all about - making money. Thats why we keep score with it.
Before I get started I will say that I don't like the payout structure for this homegame. $100 buy-in, 18 people and they pay top 4. I really feel that thy should pay top 3, but its not my game so I let it go. Although, I did mention it to the host, he obviously just wants to make MORE people happy by paying an extra spot.
Anyway, here we go:
Did I tell you these players suck? Oh, well if you forgot.
First hand:
Donk min-raises to 60 UTG, a couple folds to MP Donkey who moves in for 1500!!! with A-K, gets called by player on his left with A-9, folds around to SB who calls 2 al-ins on the first hand with K-Q?!?!mA-K manages to hold on for the early TRIPLE UP! And we're all 2 places closer to the win...
Do these people care about $100 - obviously not!
Very next hand, the guy on my right bluffs off all of his stack excpet 200 with 3-2 vs. some crazy player with top pair. He went out shortly after, so we had already lost 3 players from my table this early on - WOW!
I spent most of time folding early on and watching these guys build HUGE pots with mid pair, or a flush draw, or top pair weak kicker... yeah, it was that juicy.
The great thing about these players is that they played their cards... and thats it! They didn't care that I was folding every hand. If I finally came in for a raise (obvisously a big hand - duh) and they had a 'good' hand (good in THEIR minds) they were ready to go off for a huge pot.
The bad thing is that I didn't get any big hands to do this with... so I sat there folding and folding and folding. My 7-3, 8-4, 5-2, 9-5 wave of hands just wouldn't stop. We lost another player during all this - 4 players! Jeeze.
I lost a small pot with 10's when the flop came King high, one of the few tight players bet, I mucked and he flashed K-Q to the table.
I had dwindled down to about 1000. Then...
With the blinds at 30-60, 6 handed at my table:
The CO raised to 180, the button called, the SB folded, and I made what I feel was kind of a loose call with Kh-9h from the BB for 120 more. I just felt that if I could flop a hand these guys would pay off BIG.
Flop: Ac-9s-4s
(Pot: 570)
I checked, CO checked, Button checked.
Turn: 9c
(Pot: 570)
Gin! No free cards with 2 flush draws on board. I bet 300, CO folded, Button called.
River: 7s
(Pot: 1,070)
I checked, he bet 400, it didn't add up. Unlikely he has the spade draw and checked the flop the way HE was playing (this was the AK-guy from the 1st hand of the tourney), so I called. He had A-Q off and I won a nice pot.
I picked up 2 decent pots with A-K after that where I raised, got called, missed the flop, continuation bet and picked it up.
I entered the final table with about 2,900 and 50-10 blinds so I was "okay", but it was obviously now a waiting game from early position (to pick up a hand) and a stealing game in late position (to pick up the blinds with minimum risk and maximum profitability).
With the blinds at 80-160 and 2,100 in chips:
It folded to the chip leader on the button who min-raised to 320 (an obvious AND poorly executed steal play, he's trying to steal the blinds cheaply... very cheaply... as cheaply as possible). SB folded and I woke up with A-K in the BB. This is obviously a standard re-raise vs. a weak button raise. I made it 1k total, leaving myself 1,100 behind. I did this because I wanted action from weaker hands. He just CALLED my re-raise. So now I'm super committed and will be mving in for the rest on almost any flop. The flop came Ten-high, I moved in and he thought FOREVER before finally folding.
I've got about 3,600 now. With 100-200 blinds:
Folds around to the button who limps, I complete from the SB with A-Q, BB checks.
Flop: Ad-Tc-7c
(Pot: 600)
Draw heavy board, no free cards. I bet 400, BB calls quickly. Button folds.
I put him on 9-8 so I thought, "NO JACK OR SIX!"
Turn: Jh
(Pot: 1400)
Yuck. I checked. He bet 1400 (the pot), I thought for a few seconds and folded it face up. I just couldn't make a case for calling such a big portion of my stack in a spot where I felt strongly that I was beat. So anyway I mucked face up and said, "9-8?" He kindly showed me 9-8 off and I felt a little better.
That left me with 3k, I built that up to 3.7k where I hovered for a while. I was just stealing pots in position due to the lack of any real action in my 'hand department'... but we were on the money bubble with 150-300 blinds. So basically anything can happen with these blinds and these stacks. The reason for the crap-shoot so early is that one Guy was sitting on all the chips at this point (Like 11k). So they weren't spread out as evenly as usual. One guy was folding every hand and only had about 1200 so not exactly the best strategy as he won't last very long doing this with 200-400 blinds. BUT he ends up squeeking into the money with 700 in chips.
So now we're in the money, and I've got about 6k with 200-400 blinds just from sharing the role of table thief with my new buddy Mr. Big Stack.
The chip leader, other mid-stack, and the tiny tiny stack play a Big multi-way all-in pot. The mid-stack doubles up to 10k, busting the short stack, and leaving the previous chip leader with about 10k.
With the blinds at 250-500 and only about 4500 in chips. The button folded, I had A-8 in the SB. This is a standard move in with only 9 BB's. Unfortunately, the BB woke up with 10-10 and I didn't hit an Ace. Out in 3rd...
Cashed for $360 in 3rd Place.
Making this my 4th cash out of 5 visits to this homegame - pretty incredible.
I have a 1st, 2nd, and two 3rd's.
I'm feeling really good about how I'm playing and confidence is so huge in this game.
I wil be playing in the Deuce 9 Poker Classic on July 14th, there should be 2 full tables much like this tournament - except it will have a really good structure, unlike this one. I'm going into that tournament with a lot of confidence so I feel really good about how I'll do. I will obviously blog about it afterwards, rain or shine.
I will also be golfing with some friends on Sunday, I may blog about that if its worthwhile to talk about.
I'm out...
I got two new hats from Lids, I really like them... that is all.
--Resume Blog--
The same set-up as the past... although, its been pretty much a rotating cast. Which has its pros and cons, I'm getting good tournament experiecne by not playing against the same people every time (much like tournaments I will be playing when I'm older) but this intern makes it a TAD bit tougher early on... but not much because of the softness of the field. If it was a tougher field it would be better training, but less profitable. And the main goal right now is building a bankroll, so I'll go with the profitability anyday, because when it comes down to it thats what poker is all about - making money. Thats why we keep score with it.
Before I get started I will say that I don't like the payout structure for this homegame. $100 buy-in, 18 people and they pay top 4. I really feel that thy should pay top 3, but its not my game so I let it go. Although, I did mention it to the host, he obviously just wants to make MORE people happy by paying an extra spot.
Anyway, here we go:
Did I tell you these players suck? Oh, well if you forgot.
First hand:
Donk min-raises to 60 UTG, a couple folds to MP Donkey who moves in for 1500!!! with A-K, gets called by player on his left with A-9, folds around to SB who calls 2 al-ins on the first hand with K-Q?!?!mA-K manages to hold on for the early TRIPLE UP! And we're all 2 places closer to the win...
Do these people care about $100 - obviously not!
Very next hand, the guy on my right bluffs off all of his stack excpet 200 with 3-2 vs. some crazy player with top pair. He went out shortly after, so we had already lost 3 players from my table this early on - WOW!
I spent most of time folding early on and watching these guys build HUGE pots with mid pair, or a flush draw, or top pair weak kicker... yeah, it was that juicy.
The great thing about these players is that they played their cards... and thats it! They didn't care that I was folding every hand. If I finally came in for a raise (obvisously a big hand - duh) and they had a 'good' hand (good in THEIR minds) they were ready to go off for a huge pot.
The bad thing is that I didn't get any big hands to do this with... so I sat there folding and folding and folding. My 7-3, 8-4, 5-2, 9-5 wave of hands just wouldn't stop. We lost another player during all this - 4 players! Jeeze.
I lost a small pot with 10's when the flop came King high, one of the few tight players bet, I mucked and he flashed K-Q to the table.
I had dwindled down to about 1000. Then...
With the blinds at 30-60, 6 handed at my table:
The CO raised to 180, the button called, the SB folded, and I made what I feel was kind of a loose call with Kh-9h from the BB for 120 more. I just felt that if I could flop a hand these guys would pay off BIG.
Flop: Ac-9s-4s
(Pot: 570)
I checked, CO checked, Button checked.
Turn: 9c
(Pot: 570)
Gin! No free cards with 2 flush draws on board. I bet 300, CO folded, Button called.
River: 7s
(Pot: 1,070)
I checked, he bet 400, it didn't add up. Unlikely he has the spade draw and checked the flop the way HE was playing (this was the AK-guy from the 1st hand of the tourney), so I called. He had A-Q off and I won a nice pot.
I picked up 2 decent pots with A-K after that where I raised, got called, missed the flop, continuation bet and picked it up.
I entered the final table with about 2,900 and 50-10 blinds so I was "okay", but it was obviously now a waiting game from early position (to pick up a hand) and a stealing game in late position (to pick up the blinds with minimum risk and maximum profitability).
With the blinds at 80-160 and 2,100 in chips:
It folded to the chip leader on the button who min-raised to 320 (an obvious AND poorly executed steal play, he's trying to steal the blinds cheaply... very cheaply... as cheaply as possible). SB folded and I woke up with A-K in the BB. This is obviously a standard re-raise vs. a weak button raise. I made it 1k total, leaving myself 1,100 behind. I did this because I wanted action from weaker hands. He just CALLED my re-raise. So now I'm super committed and will be mving in for the rest on almost any flop. The flop came Ten-high, I moved in and he thought FOREVER before finally folding.
I've got about 3,600 now. With 100-200 blinds:
Folds around to the button who limps, I complete from the SB with A-Q, BB checks.
Flop: Ad-Tc-7c
(Pot: 600)
Draw heavy board, no free cards. I bet 400, BB calls quickly. Button folds.
I put him on 9-8 so I thought, "NO JACK OR SIX!"
Turn: Jh
(Pot: 1400)
Yuck. I checked. He bet 1400 (the pot), I thought for a few seconds and folded it face up. I just couldn't make a case for calling such a big portion of my stack in a spot where I felt strongly that I was beat. So anyway I mucked face up and said, "9-8?" He kindly showed me 9-8 off and I felt a little better.
That left me with 3k, I built that up to 3.7k where I hovered for a while. I was just stealing pots in position due to the lack of any real action in my 'hand department'... but we were on the money bubble with 150-300 blinds. So basically anything can happen with these blinds and these stacks. The reason for the crap-shoot so early is that one Guy was sitting on all the chips at this point (Like 11k). So they weren't spread out as evenly as usual. One guy was folding every hand and only had about 1200 so not exactly the best strategy as he won't last very long doing this with 200-400 blinds. BUT he ends up squeeking into the money with 700 in chips.
So now we're in the money, and I've got about 6k with 200-400 blinds just from sharing the role of table thief with my new buddy Mr. Big Stack.
The chip leader, other mid-stack, and the tiny tiny stack play a Big multi-way all-in pot. The mid-stack doubles up to 10k, busting the short stack, and leaving the previous chip leader with about 10k.
With the blinds at 250-500 and only about 4500 in chips. The button folded, I had A-8 in the SB. This is a standard move in with only 9 BB's. Unfortunately, the BB woke up with 10-10 and I didn't hit an Ace. Out in 3rd...
Cashed for $360 in 3rd Place.
Making this my 4th cash out of 5 visits to this homegame - pretty incredible.
I have a 1st, 2nd, and two 3rd's.
I'm feeling really good about how I'm playing and confidence is so huge in this game.
I wil be playing in the Deuce 9 Poker Classic on July 14th, there should be 2 full tables much like this tournament - except it will have a really good structure, unlike this one. I'm going into that tournament with a lot of confidence so I feel really good about how I'll do. I will obviously blog about it afterwards, rain or shine.
I will also be golfing with some friends on Sunday, I may blog about that if its worthwhile to talk about.
I'm out...
Sunday, June 17, 2007
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)...
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)...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
