Freeroll madness at Dino's - 1/21/08

Been struggling with my live poker tournament game the last couple of weeks, but went again to Dino's after missing last week's game to try to get back on the schnide. Points would be nice, a win nicer...but we won't get too greedy here.

24 players to start, and not much other than limp-in with garbage, fold after missing the flop for the first 2 levels for me, then I get 6-3 off in the BB. Hit a straight on the turn, Donald hits nut flush on river, but doesn't raise me after I check-raise him on the river - down to 1300 chips.

25/50 level, and I see 77 raise to 150 UTG, and Donald, on the button, calls me - blinds fold, and flop comes Q-Q-7. I check to Donald, he bets 50, I call. Check-call on turn when a 6 comes out, then a duece on the river doesn't scare me, so when Donald bets 100, I put him on some kind of pair, not necessarily a pocket pair, however. I then check-raise him to 400, figuring out it was a value, then Donald quickly calls...I flip over my hand, he flips over Q-7! No raise with the nuts???

Now, don't get me wrong here, Donald is one of the nicest guys you can play with, even if you have to constantly remind him to put his blind in, turn a card over, etc...but the guy's poker skill-set is not terribly great here. Any other player, and I go broke, without a doubt. Ahhhh, nothing like flopping a boat and later find out you were drawing dead afterwards!

Down to 810 chips and not hitting the 100/200 level, I jam on the button with KQ, John calls me with AQ (@#$@%!), but a King on the flop saves my ass, and now we're up to 1800 or so in chips. First suckout of the night...

Take down some blinds during remainder of orbit, then chop a pot at 200/400 level with Scott with my whopping J-2 against his J-9 on an A-A-K-10-4 board, but that's not what was interesting about the hand. What was interesting was the conversation afterwards - because I called the bet pretty much in the dark.

Here's how the action happened - Scott pushed all-in with his last 510 chips, and folded around to me in the SB. John in the BB already mucked his cards (he also will much after the flop if it totally misses him, even if no bet is required to be called) before I made my decision, meaning I didn't have to consider anything more than John's chips that were already in the pot. So 1110 in the pot, and only 310 for me to call...pretty much an easy call, pot-odds wise (and I said as much), and I was just hoping for 2 live cards. Chopped pot was a lucky thing for me, but I still made 1/2 of John's blind in profit.

Donald, John, and Pat (uber-tight player...but pleasant to play with) we're amazed that I would make that call there, but Scott didn't have a problem with it, and Jennifer (another player who's pretty decent, but has one very noticeable tell in regards to betting that I picked up on) said that my play was right. I explained to John that if I had folded, it would cost him 110 chips into a pot of 1110, and getting 10-1 on your money means that you call with any 2 cards, no ifs, ands or buts about it - hell, call without looking!

After Pat busts out, we condense to 2 tables, and PJ moves over to my right. 3 hands in, and with 2500 chips or so left, PJ raises UTG to 1200. I wake up with K-K, and pop it up all-in...folds around, PJ puts me on an A-8 or A-9 type hand, after a couple of minutes he figures that he's a 3-2 dog. Even after I tell him that he has only 3 outs (me putting him on an Ace-something hand), he thinks he's in a race, calls with K-J, which makes me happy to flip over K-K. Jack on flop gives him one of 3 outs, but no jack on turn or river, and now we're up to about 5000 or so.

Couple of hands later I get J-8 in the BB, PJ calls, I check, and Flop of J-8-4 comes out (2 hearts) - PJ bets out 1500, I come over the top of him, and he shows K-10 while insta-folding...then asks why I didn't slow-play that hand (flush and straight draw? No thanks!), since I could have busted him. Doubt it, but you never know - no slow-playing at this point in the game!

Scott busts out Donald, and we move to final table of 10. 3rd hand in, I limp in UTG with A-10, my friend Harry, some guy that Steve knows (who's name I can't remember...I'll call him SoulPatch Guy (Stevo will laugh at me over this one), calls, and John (now to my right checks. 10-8-4 comes out, and I bet 1600, happy to take it down right there. Harry calls his last 1500 off, SoulPatch Guy folds, and John calls his last 1600 off...and we see Harry with K-J, John with 2-2, and so far, so good. No help for either player, and I get my first 2 knockouts of the night.

Nothing much for the rest of the orbit, although I took down a couple of blinds with PFRs, and then we get down to 7 when Gary is eliminated. Up to about 9800 chips after posting BB at 400/800 level, and I get the wonderful J-6 off...free flop! Flop of J-K-J hits, and I'm pretty darn happy to hear the words "All-In" from Scott (directly to my right - last season's champ), but I make an insta-call that I should have slowed down on, since SoulPatch Guy was still in the hand. After thinking about it for a minute, he flashes a King, and when the case King fails to hit, Scott is out in 6th.

Took down the blinds again, then pick off my next victim, Vic, to bounce him in 6th. Blinds just raised to 500/1000, and I raised UTG to 3000 with A-2 (playing some big-stack poker at this time), then Vic shoves his last 4300 in. SoulPatch Guy debates for a minute here, lays his hand down, and even though I know I'm behind, too much money in the pot to not play, so I chuckle, say, "Scott, you watching this?" (A-2 is his favorite hand), and call. Sure enough, I'm behind to an A-Q...but a duece hits on flop, and I almost do a Jerry Yang impersonation yell at the table (but think better of it), no help on turn or river and Vic is gone.

SoulPatch Guy takes out Ronald in 5th, and we're down to 4. It's me, PJ, Jennifer, and SoulPatch Guy fighting it out for the title, but I have a nice healthy stack of about 17,000 at this point. Next hand I take the blinds down with K-10, and then in the next hand came the hand that basically decided the tournament. I get K-K UTG, do my standard 3x BB raise, PJ folds, Jennifer thinks for a minute, then calls, and SoulPatch Guy looks like he wants to repop it up, but just calls. Flop of 3-5-3, and this is where it gets interesting!

Jennifer immediately shoves her last 4500 in the pot, and I think this was a pre-planned move on her part no matter what hit...sort of a mini-Stop-N-Go, if you will. SoulPatch Guy then announces he's all-in, and counts out his chips a couple of times, showing 6750 total - during the time, the only thing I'm trying to figure out is if anyone would have just called with A-A or 5-5 here (I totally ruled out the 3), and after SoulPatch Guy finishes counting his chips, I immediately announce "call", and the hands revealed are beautiful:

Jennifer: A-10
SoulPatch Guy: 8-8
Me: K-K

5 on turn, meaning blank on river, and now I have about a 8-1 chip advantage. PJ congratulates me on the win (even though we're heads-up), I remind him anything can happen, and he just replied, "I'm more than happy to take 2nd".

HU takes just one hand to get over. I raise with A-3 on the button to 3K, then PJ shoves his last 4500 in, easy call for me, and he has Q-J. Ace on flop puts me further ahead, 10 on turn gives him a straight draw, but no king on the river, and just like that, the tournament is over! No fancy picture this time, although the chip piles were staggering compared to last time I took it down.

Got me my $50 gift certificate, and I'm baaaaaaack!!!!

No game next week, so it'll be 2 weeks...can't wait to play again!