$55 tournament recap

There’s really not a whole lot to report, but I’ll try to put up a recap some time tomorrow. There were 36 people and I finished 6th, just after the bubble burst. I was very happy with my play and I made some very good reads tonight.

Here’s my long, rambling recap:

This tournament seemed to be less about particular hands and more about surviving and taking advantage of situations. That being said, there were a few significant hands:

This time, we started with 6K chips, the first level of blinds was 25/50 and we played 20-minute levels. As it turns out, the 6K starting point would be significant.

First hand of the tourney, I picked up KTo in late position. There were two or three limpers in front of me, so I limped right along. The pot was 275, and I think five of us saw the flop of KT5 rainbow. I felt very good about this flop since the only hand that really scared me was a set of fives. The BB bet out 100 (pretty small bet that made me think he was drawing or had a weak King and wanted to know where he stood), two people called and I bumped it to 500. The BB and one other player called, and I had position for the rest of the hand. The pot was now about 1875 and the turn was a Queen, but I was only moderately concerned. At this point, I’m thinking I’m against a King and some kind of draw. The Queen did fill a draw, but it would’ve been to a gutshot straight and I know both players in the hand well enough to know they probably wouldn’t try to draw to a gutshot against me (they’d know their implied odds were low and that they’re not seeing a cheap river card). Both opponents checked to me and I bet out 800 (in retrospect, this bet was a little small, but I was mildly concerned that KQ may’ve just outdrawn me and I wanted to leave myself some options if someone came over the top for a big raise) and only the BB called. Now, I put the BB on either KJ or QJ as both hands would explain the betting so far. Many opponents will make a little bet out of position on the flop with flush and open-ended straight draws, but they will also make that little bet with something like top-pair, medium kicker. Also, if he had QJ or KJ, I could see him calling my raise on the flop, so he could re-evaluate after the turn. Both hands would also explain a call on the turn since he would have a pair and an open-ended straight draw. The pot is now 3475 and the river was a 9, making the board KT5Q9. The two cards I did NOT want to see were a Nine or an Ace. The BB checked and I quickly checked behind and said something like, “Let’s see it.” He showed QJ and his straight took it down.*

So, after the first hand, I was down to about 4500 chips. The good news was that we started with 6K chips, so I had some room to operate and try to get back in it. Unfortunately, the next few hands I played didn’t help me too much. Twice, I flopped the nut flush draw (once with a gutshot straight-flush draw), I flopped an open-ended straight draw, top pair and a few of other good hands, but I didn’t win any of them. I found myself down to about 3750 near the end of the first level. I was also realizing that I had a calling station to my left, which was going to make it difficult for me to make many moves using position. He liked to cold-call raises and he liked to min-raise regardless of his position (he min-raised several times out of the blinds with mediocre hands). The up-side was that I felt I had a good read on him, so I thought I could outplay him after the flop.

I was hanging in there, picking up the occasional small pot when I picked up 44 in early-middle position. The blinds were 100/200 and I limped because the table hadn’t been raising a lot, but there had been a lot of calling, so I thought I might encourage several limpers behind me to increase my potential set value. My plan back-fired when the guy to my left min-raised it to 400. I wasn’t too thrilled about the raise, but at least it was a min-raise, so I could see a relatively cheap flop. Everyone else folded, so I was heads-up with 44 out of position against the min-raiser. The flop came down KJx with two clubs. I checked and he checked. Initially, I checked just because I hated that flop and I didn’t want to go putting chips into a pot against a calling station when I knew he’d call with all kinds of hands (gut-shot, flush draw, any pair, etc.). Basically, the chances of my bet causing him to fold were extremely low (in fact, he would be correct to call any bet with many of his drawing hands, although he couldn’t necessarily know that) and I was prepared to give up on the hand if he bet… but he didn’t, which made me think I was ahead. Before this hand, he had always bet and raised with hands like top-pair, but he’d called with call kinds of draws. I figured my 44 was good, so I was hoping to see a safe card on the turn. The turn was another King and a club, making the board KKJx with three clubs. I considered this a very good card since I knew he would’ve bet with top pair on the flop and I figured it very unlikely that he had two clubs in his hand. Sure enough, he did the ol’, “Let me check and see if I have a club in my hand” routine, which told me he wasn’t suited and did not have two clubs. I decided to bet out. I figured if he folded, that was a good result since there could be a lot of scary cards to hit the river, but I figured if he called, I was still ahead and could re-evaluate the river. Sure enough, he called (I bet about 500, which was close to half the pot). When he called, I put him on AQ with one club. That hand would explain all the betting in the hand and I’d seen him call bets with nothing more than a gutshot several times already. The river was a non-club blank, but I decided I couldn’t bet for value because even a crazy calling station isn’t going to call bets on the turn and river with air. I decided to check and call a reasonable bet if he took a shot at it. He checked behind and showed AQ (no club), so I took the pot. Not only did I get a few chips in this hand, but my confidence level increased significantly. I guess to more experienced players, putting this guy on AQ would’ve been no big deal, but it seemed like a very good read to me. Also, my read on the BB in the first hand had given me some confidence.

The rest of the night was pretty straightforward, short-stack poker. I made some moves, got lucky, (mostly) got unlucky and found myself at the final table. Once we hit the final table, my cards dried up. I eventually lost count, but I had Q2, Q3 and J2 something like seven or eight times before I busted. I got lucky to outdraw 88 with A6o (straight on the river), AJ with KQ, and I busted with KT vs. AJ.

This tournament was more about psychology than technique. I was short-stacked early and seemed to be missing every draw, but I kept telling myself that I had plenty of room to work and I just had to keep my head. I don’t think I made a bad decision for a significant number of chips, and I made some difficult (but good) laydowns and crucial times. I also made some very good moves to keep afloat, and I was reading hands very, very well. There were also a few hands that, had they gone my way, would’ve given me a legitimate shot at winning the tourney (specifically, I lost an all-in against a shorter-stack with AK vs. AQ, and at the final table, it seemed like the short-stack always doubled-up regardless of how big a dog he was).

So, I bought in for $55 and won $70. I also got some points in our “TOC” race, so I’m currently at number 11, and the top 10 get a seat to the TOC. Basically, if I make another final table in the next two events, I should get a seat at the TOC.

*Later, this same opponent lost a pile of chips when another player hit his open-ended straight draw on the river. What was interesting was how upset this guy was that the other dude had outdrawn him. The betting was very similar to the betting in our first hand, but he didn’t seem to think it was such a great play now that he was the one losing chips. After the hand, the guy to my right said, “Ouch. That was a big pot.” I replied, “Yeah, but that’s exactly how he got most of his chips, so I guess it goes both ways.” Oh, and there was one big difference in the two hands: I didn’t put any more chips in the pot after he’d outdrawn me, but he put quite a few chips in the pot when he paid off a value bet on the river.

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I am a Benevolent Leader (?)

I think this thing may be giving me too much credit in the “benevolence” department, but I guess that’s not really for me to decide. It is what it is:

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One too many mimosas?

I may’ve driven to work behind Drinky McDrunkerson this morning. The driver in front of me couldn’t seem to keep between the lines despite the unusually wide lanes here (everything is bigger in Texas!). He would center it up, then expertly glide his way over to the rumble strip, then ease back into the roadway. This went on for about 15 minutes before he swayed across the centerline, into the right lane and just decided to stay there for a while. He was kind enough to get off at my exit, then stop a “Yield to ramp” sign, although we were the ramp and there was no other traffic. To his credit, he did have out-of-state tags, but I’m pretty sure it’s customary to drive between the lines in most other states.

I also had the pleasure of driving behind an “over-braker” for a while. These are my favorite. They swoop in from another lane, barely sneaking in between me and the car ahead of me. Then, once they’ve filled that little gap, they hit the brakes because, uh oh!, they’re too close to the car in front of them. Once they’ve made a little space for themselves, they realize that, “Wait a second… the only reason I’m in this spot is that I cut that dude off because he was following by exactly a car length! What if someone else cuts me off? I better fill that gap in front of me!” So, they speed up until, uh oh!, they’re too close to the car in front of them. Rinse, repeat.

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From a tournament I played tonight.  There were about 25 people left of 1488 when this hand came up and crippled me… Fortunately, I was just tuning up in a $3 tourney, so I don’t feel like I lost thousands of dollars or anything.  Of course, I was shooting for the final table, but that apparently wasn’t meant to be (my luck on the final table bubble is generally pretty awful): 

PokerStars Game #5306181338: Tournament #26603616, $3.00+$0.30 Hold’em No Limit – Level XV (2000/4000) – 2006/06/19 – 23:04:57 (ET)
Table ‘26603616 138′ 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: porkhunt (96508 in chips)
Seat 2: TJ Burke (25656 in chips)
Seat 3: schoofinator (53743 in chips)
Seat 4: JoshNjuice (121776 in chips)
Seat 6: dhawkinsart (70393 in chips)
Seat 7: iemdavid (114922 in chips)
Seat 8: jerdog71 (49699 in chips)
porkhunt: posts the ante 200
TJ Burke: posts the ante 200
schoofinator: posts the ante 200
JoshNjuice: posts the ante 200
dhawkinsart: posts the ante 200
iemdavid: posts the ante 200
jerdog71: posts the ante 200
iemdavid: posts small blind 2000
jerdog71: posts big blind 4000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JoshNjuice [Qs Qc]
porkhunt: folds
TJ Burke: folds
schoofinator: raises 8000 to 12000
JoshNjuice: raises 38000 to 50000
dhawkinsart: calls 50000
iemdavid: folds
jerdog71: folds
schoofinator: raises 3543 to 53543 and is all-in
JoshNjuice: calls 3543
dhawkinsart: calls 3543
*** FLOP *** [2h Kc 8h]
JoshNjuice: bets 20000
dhawkinsart: calls 16650 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [2h Kc 8h] [7s]
iemdavid said, “huuuuuuuge pot”
iemdavid said, “Q!”
*** RIVER *** [2h Kc 8h 7s] [6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
JoshNjuice: shows [Qs Qc] (a pair of Queens)
dhawkinsart: shows [Kd Ad] (a pair of Kings)
dhawkinsart collected 33300 from side pot
schoofinator: shows [Kh Ac] (a pair of Kings)
schoofinator collected 84015 from main pot
dhawkinsart collected 84014 from main pot
JoshNjuice said, “awesome”
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 201329 Main pot 168029. Side pot 33300. | Rake 0
Board [2h Kc 8h 7s 6d]
Seat 1: porkhunt folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 2: TJ Burke folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: schoofinator showed [Kh Ac] and won (84015) with a pair of Kings
Seat 4: JoshNjuice showed [Qs Qc] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 6: dhawkinsart (button) showed [Kd Ad] and won (117314) with a pair of Kings
Seat 7: iemdavid (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: jerdog71 (big blind) folded before Flop

I was a 65% favorite before the flop.  More importantly, if I’d won this pot, I would’ve been the tournament chip leader and I would’ve had second place covered by 2:1.  In other words, I would’ve been in great shape to take a run at winning this tourney (and about $900).  Swell.

End rant… again.

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PokerStars $215 1M Guaranteed

I won a $39 satellite to the weekly Stars 1M, so I decided to play it this week.  Last time I played was about a month ago, when I won the same satellite.  Last month, I busted with AA vs. (QQ and 44).

Here’s the hand that finished me off today (well, I actually had T215 left after this hand, but that was barely enough to post the BB):

PokerStars Game #5293116572: Tournament #25836758, $200+$15 Hold’em No Limit – Level VI (100/200) – 2006/06/18 – 18:00:07 (ET)
Table ‘25836758 210′ 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: JoshNjuice (3390 in chips)
Seat 2: quantumshift (1690 in chips)
Seat 3: dr ket (8350 in chips)
Seat 4: sophieday (3725 in chips)
Seat 5: betmann (3175 in chips)
Seat 6: poguemahone1 (6042 in chips)
Seat 7: ELREYDEPOKER (2655 in chips)
Seat 8: malmignatu (5870 in chips)
Seat 9: substance (1645 in chips)
quantumshift: posts small blind 100
dr ket: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to JoshNjuice [As Ah]
sophieday: folds
betmann: calls 200
poguemahone1: folds
ELREYDEPOKER: folds
malmignatu: folds
substance: raises 600 to 800
JoshNjuice: raises 1200 to 2000
quantumshift: folds
dr ket: folds
betmann: raises 1175 to 3175 and is all-in
substance: calls 845 and is all-in
JoshNjuice: calls 1175
*** FLOP *** [Kd 9h Td]
*** TURN *** [Kd 9h Td] [Js]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 9h Td Js] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
betmann: shows [Qc Qd] (a straight, Nine to King)
JoshNjuice: shows [As Ah] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
betmann collected 3060 from side pot
substance: shows [Jh Ad] (two pair, Jacks and Nines)
betmann collected 5235 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8295 Main pot 5235. Side pot 3060. | Rake 0
Board [Kd 9h Td Js 9c]
Seat 1: JoshNjuice (button) showed [As Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces and Nines
Seat 2: quantumshift (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: dr ket (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: sophieday folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: betmann showed [Qc Qd] and won (8295) with a straight, Nine to King
Seat 6: poguemahone1 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: ELREYDEPOKER folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 8: malmignatu folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 9: substance showed [Jh Ad] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Nines

 Pre-flop, I was 76% to win.  After the flop, I was 73%.  I think this qualifies as a “bad beat”.

What was more frustrating was that I had been card dead the entire tournament, but had been making moves at the right times to stay afloat.  My stats reveal this pretty well:

During current Hold’em session you were dealt 107 hands and saw flop:
 - 2 out of 12 times while in big blind (16%)
 - 4 out of 12 times while in small blind (33%)
 - 9 out of 83 times in other positions (10%)
 - a total of 15 out of 107 (14%)
 Pots won at showdown – 0 of 3 (0%)
 Pots won without showdown – 15

One of those “showdowns” was the AA hand.  Another was my final hand where I moved in with 89o (I had one Big Blind remaining). 

End venting session.  “There’s always next time.”

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New basketball season begins 1-0

Well, the summer basketball league has begun again and most of the usual team is intact.  The previous season’s PPG leader isn’t playing, but we picked up another guy who has some Juco experience.  We started out playing pretty poorly and found ourselves down by 13 early in the second half.  Things started to turn when we finally began clamping down on defense and getting some stops.  We got some turnovers, began executing on offense and starting slowly closing the gap.  Down the stretch, we ran some good set plays, hit some big shots and tied it up to send the game to overtime.  In the two-minute overtime, we outscored them 2-1, all on freethrows.  I felt like we were definitely the superior team for about the last 15 minutes of the game.  It felt good to get the win.

The highlights for me were few.  I only had six points, all on 3-pointers.  The first was in the first half, and it was a nice, high shot over a very tall defender.  The second was pretty critical as it was late in the second half, when we were still down by six.  A player in the left corner passed me the ball and I began to dribble to the top of the key when they double-teamed me.  One defender was a little behind me (on my left) and the other was coming up on my right from the freethrow line.  I dribbled the ball to my right hand, crossed it over behind my back (away from the approaching defender on my right, as he was coming in very low for the steal) to my left hand, pulled up and drained the 3-pointer to bring us within 3.

Anyway, we’re off to a good start, but next week we play the team that beat us by one in the championship game.  It’s gonna’ be a tough game.

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$50 re-cap from tourney on June 3

• 1st hand is AKo, I raise, get one caller. Flop is rags, I bet he calls. He bets turn, I fold.
• 64o, limp in late position. Flop is K6x. All check to me, I bet, get one caller. Turn is blank, goes check check (I put my opponent on a stronger 6 than mine at this point). River is 4. He bets 3/4 pot, I call and win with two pair.
• AQo in SB. Two limpers, I raise to 5x BB, only button calls. Flop is K-high, I c-bet, he calls. Turn is a T, I check, he bets, I fold, he shows T8o (nothing on the flop… no draws or anything else). Button was a very, very loose calling station.
• TT UTG+1. UTG (loose calling station) calls, I raise to 4x BB, everyone folds to UTG who calls. Flop is King-high. UTG checks, I c-bet, he folds after much “thought”.
• I’m in SB with 95o, there are two limpers. Flop is T65 with two spades. I bet 1/3 the pot, two people call. Turn is 9 (not great, not awful). I bet 2/3 pot, BB min-raises me, everyone else folds, I call. River is a blank, we both check, he takes the hand with T6o for a bigger two pair.
• I’m BB with ATo. Everyone folds to SB who completes. Normally, I raise to try to win this right now (this same hand comes up later), but against a calling station, I’d rather see a flop. I check. Flop is three rags, we both check. Turn is a King. SB bets out for 1/2 pot. By now, I have a good read and a few tells on him. I watch his bet, watch his mannerisms, listen to him for a second and raise to 3.5x his bet. He thinks for a long time and folds AQo face up. Normally, I don’t bet against a calling station like this, but I knew he was bluffing and I’d seen him make laydowns when he had absolutely nothing on the turn.
• Nothing happens for a while and I get moved to another table.
• I fold about five hands and then get Q2s in BB. Everyone folds to SB who completes. I raise to 3x BB, he calls. Flop is JT6 rainbow. He checks, I c-bet 1/2 pot, he raises to a about 2.5x my bet. I “think” for a minute and fold. He shows 66 for a flopped set. Against this player, this play will win the pot (either pre- or post-flop) about 75% of the time.
• I get moved back to my original table. First hand, I get TT in MP1. I raise to 3x BB, both blinds call (this is for about 20% or so of my chips). Flop is A3x. Blinds check, I c-bet 1/2 pot, SB calls, BB raises to 2.5x my bet, I fold, SB folds. BB shows 33 for a flopped set (I have to assume was playing for implied odds against the calling station loose guy because I didn’t have enough chips for him to try to hit a set. SB showed A7o for a pair of Aces on the flop. I’m officially short-stacked.
• Next time I’m UTG (about 10 hands later), I get AA and move in for about 5x the BB. Everyone folds and I take the blinds. Sometimes, I’d get cute here and min-raise or limp, but with a couple guys still to act who I knew would call with Axs, two broadway (especially if suited) or any pair, I like the all-in.
• A couple orbits later, I get Q6s in the BB. Calling station limps, everyone else folds, I check my option. flop is J29 with two of my suit. I move in, he folds. I would’ve made the flush and doubled-up if he called. Oh well.
• Next time I’m in BB, my M is about 5, and I have T8s. After much ado, calling station min-raises, everyone folds to me. I make a big mistake and call. He obviously has a very big hand here (I put him on AA, KK, QQ) and I simply didn’t have enough chips to call even a min-raise here. I knew if I hit the flop hard, I’d double up for sure, but I still shouldn’t have called. Flop was AJx all hearts, he puts me all in out of turn and I fold.
• Next orbit, I’m in SB with 57o. Two players (calling station and button) limp, I complete (getting 7:1 even though I’m very short on chips) and BB moves in. Everyone else folds, I count it down and realize I’m getting 2.5:1 to call. I figured I had to call if I had two live cards. I decided that before I put my chips in, I should try to get a read on BB. He’d been playing VERY tight since I sat down and I knew he wasn’t just making a move. He had a hand and I had to figure out how strong he was. I decided that if I took a read that he had a bigger pocket pair than my 7, I’d fold. I looked at him and immediately knew he was very strong. I decided to keep my few chips and see if I could get them in before the next BB. I folded 57o face-up and he showed QQ. This is NOT normally a laydown I will make. The only reason I completed the SB instead of moving in was that I knew I’d get called by at least the calling station and I just didn’t like my hand that much. I was getting 7:1 before BB’s raise, but only 2.5:1 after BB’s raise and I put him on an overpair. I like the fold, but I know a lot of players would really hate it. It wasn’t an easy laydown.
• Next hand, I get 67o on the button, UTG limps, I move in (for less than 2x BB), BB calls and limper (calling station) calls. I miss the board, BB pairs Jacks on the river, I’m out.

All that took almost 3 hours and 8 levels of play. I was shocked at how much time had gone by. It just wasn’t my night. I also played a $40 buy-in tourney the next day, but I forgot to re-cap it. 

 

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I didn’t officially get the memo, but I’m pretty sure it’s National bring your kids to Chick-Fil-A and let them do whatever they please Day.  My frequent lunch stop is a Chick-Fil-A just down the street from my office.  Generally, the kids and parents congregate near the play area, which is conveniently located on the opposite end of the restaurant from where I sit.  The manager has explained to me that he tried to segregate the place to keep the kiddies from aggravating everyone else (yes, I know the manager guy and no, I don’t care how much of a loser I am).  Today, all the parents must’ve gotten together, given their kids copious amounts of caffeine and decided that the tables near the play area were off limits.  It all began innocently enough, but by the time I finished eating, there were about 4,200 kids sitting within three feet of me, and each of them was screaming, crying, jumping, banging, kicking or just generally being annoying.  Curiously, I could only count about three parents among the crowd, and all of them seemed more interested in just sitting there than keeping their kids away from my table.  Not surprisingly, it was very difficult to read my book, eat, and not want to smash a butterfly.   

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EDIT: I finished 304 of 2247 when my TT couldn’t outrun AKo.  I played well, but it just didn’t work out.

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Women’s College Softball will be big

I’m not kidding. I just turned on ESPN, which is currently showing College Softball, and immediately thought, “What are all these pretty girls doing on TV? Oh look, they’re playing softball! … … … Softball isn’t such a bad sport. Did she just make a diving catch?! … … … She’s cute.” They even do a bio for each player.

Reasons it will be big:

• There are pretty girls
• The pretty girls look very, very serious, which escalates the unintentional comedy factor and sometimes makes them even prettier
• It’s on during the off-season for football and basketball
• The sport gets significant TV time (because of the previous point)
• This seems like the kind of pseudo-cult thing that twenty-something and college guys love
• The game is slow enough that viewers can actually get to know each player
• It’s a lot like baseball, but not handicapped by the things that make women’s basketball so unwatchable

I’m going to open a Women’s College Softball merchandising company now. It would really help if someone made a mocumentary-type movie about Women’s College Softball (a la Dodgeball)… I’ll start working on that, too.

EDIT: There are even girls who get a running start before they swing, like Happy Gilmore hitting a golf ball! How did I miss this for so long?

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