Looking to improve my 2nd place finish from last week, I get assigned to a table with (from my left) Andy, Nicole, Wendy, Dan, and Fred. Well, at least we had 4 out of 6 strong players at the table...go big or go home.
Start out winning a nice pot early when I hit my flush on the river - Dan reluctantly pays me off on the river with his 2 pair, then curses himself for not pushing me off my draws. Chipped down back to 2000, but then won 1200 when I jammed post-flop with QQ on a 7-9-4 board again some lady who I had never played with (Nicole was moved to another table early).
Lost a big pot back to Dan, then doubled up through Andy when I hit a set of 10s on the flop, and his 9-9 paid me off on the river when he assumed I missed a draw. Not sure why he felt like giving me 3000 chips here, but whatever.
Knocked out Wendy when my A-K made the nut boat on the river versus her A-4. Fred called pre-flop with 9-9, and wished he had put me all-in pre-flop. I told him that it was a good thing he didn't, because I was willing to race with him...I had put him on 8s through 10s based on how long he took to call my UTG raise.
Moved to another table (3 tables left), and played very aggressive pre-flop, and keeping myself out of trouble for a couple of levels until we hit the final table. Had about 10K at this point, much more than I usually have.
Nothing playable for the first few hands, then picked up 4 pots in a row (including a knockout of Nicole), and we get down to the final 6, with me having about half the chips.
At this point, I'm pretty much open-raising every hand I'm entering, and while I double a couple of shorties up with questionable calls (including 9-6 off against AA one hand), I figured I was stealing enough pots pre-and post-flop to make it pay for itself. Knocked both Cheryl and Slow Joe out in 4th and 5th (respectively) when my 10s made quads, while dodging a straight flush draw, in the process.
Doubled up a new lady first hand while 3-handed with A-Q versus her 8-8 - not winning a race seemed to be my thing here. Dan eventually knocked new girl out to get us to HU, and at this point it's about 3-1, Dan's advantage.
In a hand that I'll discuss in next post, double up on a 3-spade with AA (called pre-flop...hoping Dan would raise to induce action) when Dan hit middle pair post-flop. A few minutes of discussion outside with Dan and a couple of other players on why that play was made the way it was (Dan understood the logic and agreed...the other 3, ahhhh, not so much).
Critical hand of the tourney was a couple of hands later, when Dan comes over the top of my initial raise to go all-in, only to find my A-J dominating his A-7. Horrible flop for me gives Dan a flush draw...and while the Jack on the turn gave him less outs, his flush hits for him on river, and I'm down to 1 BB here.
Double up next hand, but my J-10 is no match for his K-J the very next hand, and Dan gets a win that was a long time coming. Another gift cert to the bar doesn't suck too bad, however.
Playing at a real high level right now in this game, and it's nice to hear other players tell you the same thing, as well.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
2 poker tourneys
Played again on Sunday in chartiy in a $40 semi-deep stack tourney. Pretty much a "bleh" kind of tournament, as far as action goes, but I did at least get my $40 back thanks to small chop when we got down from 30 to 8 people (effectively allowing 3 players to make more than buy-in). Whatever...did the best I could to finish 6th in this thing, but the donkeys couldn't be dodged this night, so I'll take my 3 hours of play for no profit or loss and chalk one up for experience.
Monday night at Dino's I had a good week, finally. Last 3 weeks, I've been watching my chip stack get into short-stack territory fairly early. At least I was getting money in with a dominating position, but couldn't dodge 3-outers on turn or river...but what can ya do? Can't fault the guys for calling 40% or more of their stack with marginal (at best) hand, since that's what we want to have happen...sometimes the poker gods do not work out.
I guess I elaborated on the first point for a reason...got off to a fast start by winning 800 or so on the first 2 hands after solid post-flop and turn bets, then by the end of the second level (50/100) I got my first bustout of the night. K-J in the big blind, and we see a 5-way pot to the flop. K-J-3 hits, but with 2 spades...and I will be happy to take a pot here, or possibly bust someone if the opportunity occurs. Jovan (SB) bets out 400, and I decide to come over the top with a bet to 1300 - with 2 draws out there, need to price people out here. Trish snap-calls the bet, and with her being a tight player, I immediately wonder if I've run into trips here. Jovan eventually pushes his last 800 in, and 2 of us go to turn. Admittedly a misread and misplay by me after turn and river for 1) checking turn, and 2) too small a value bet on river...Trish flips over AA, and KJ cracks it, but rues not getting a 2nd bustout for it. Stack is at 8500 at this point.
Next level I river a 4th heart on the board to knock Andy out, and we're over 10K 3 levels in...big stack poker, potential here.
Sadly for me, my attempts at bullying mean nothing, as I quickly double up 2 short-to-medium stacks in flips where I was ahead...no biggie, at the time. After that, steal a few blinds, play things a little tighter (being fairly card dead for an hour will do that, too), and cruise to the final table with about 7K in chips.
Watch a few shorties bust themselves out, and we get a final table that seemingly drags on forever. Eventually, John (infrequent player who was on my left entire night) goes on a knockout run to get us down to 3, then wins a flip versus Harry to get us to HU. Down about 7-1 at HU, I get one double-up to get to about 3-1. The next hand, shove K-J into his 7-8...7 on river gives the victory to John. Shortstack to winner, well done - and certainly some luck on his side.
13 pts for the season - looking for the magic 40 or so for the finale.
Monday night at Dino's I had a good week, finally. Last 3 weeks, I've been watching my chip stack get into short-stack territory fairly early. At least I was getting money in with a dominating position, but couldn't dodge 3-outers on turn or river...but what can ya do? Can't fault the guys for calling 40% or more of their stack with marginal (at best) hand, since that's what we want to have happen...sometimes the poker gods do not work out.
I guess I elaborated on the first point for a reason...got off to a fast start by winning 800 or so on the first 2 hands after solid post-flop and turn bets, then by the end of the second level (50/100) I got my first bustout of the night. K-J in the big blind, and we see a 5-way pot to the flop. K-J-3 hits, but with 2 spades...and I will be happy to take a pot here, or possibly bust someone if the opportunity occurs. Jovan (SB) bets out 400, and I decide to come over the top with a bet to 1300 - with 2 draws out there, need to price people out here. Trish snap-calls the bet, and with her being a tight player, I immediately wonder if I've run into trips here. Jovan eventually pushes his last 800 in, and 2 of us go to turn. Admittedly a misread and misplay by me after turn and river for 1) checking turn, and 2) too small a value bet on river...Trish flips over AA, and KJ cracks it, but rues not getting a 2nd bustout for it. Stack is at 8500 at this point.
Next level I river a 4th heart on the board to knock Andy out, and we're over 10K 3 levels in...big stack poker, potential here.
Sadly for me, my attempts at bullying mean nothing, as I quickly double up 2 short-to-medium stacks in flips where I was ahead...no biggie, at the time. After that, steal a few blinds, play things a little tighter (being fairly card dead for an hour will do that, too), and cruise to the final table with about 7K in chips.
Watch a few shorties bust themselves out, and we get a final table that seemingly drags on forever. Eventually, John (infrequent player who was on my left entire night) goes on a knockout run to get us down to 3, then wins a flip versus Harry to get us to HU. Down about 7-1 at HU, I get one double-up to get to about 3-1. The next hand, shove K-J into his 7-8...7 on river gives the victory to John. Shortstack to winner, well done - and certainly some luck on his side.
13 pts for the season - looking for the magic 40 or so for the finale.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Hitting it big at charity poker, once again!
With the wife and kids occupied outside of the house for the evening, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to play some charity poker. Four Aces Poker Room inside of Continental Lanes in Roseville (13 & Gratiot intersection) was a great choice for me, on this particular evening. I played in the 9pm $35 NLHE freezeout tourney, and a great deep-stack structure made this tourney a must-play again for me. 20K chips (12K for $25, 8K more for $10) to start, and blind levels are such that you can get a lot of play in the first 1.5 - 2 hours. Dealers are quick, friendly, and the room has a great feel to it.
Anyways, enough of the free testimonials...so how'd I do? First level I was initial raiser in only one hand, which saw A-J losing on a 8-9-10-A-10 board to the SB holding 10-9. Saw a few cheap flops, whiffed badly, and folded. During this time, while people were complaining about being "card dead", I was making mental notes of the players at the table. Based on what I saw, few tight players, 4 bluffers...a couple of loose-passive players (yes!)...yup, I liked this table.
First big pot of the night for me was off some younger, chunky kid (CK) who I had played before a couple of times at other poker rooms. CK raised in MP a standard raise, and on the button I saw 9-9...decided to just call, and see what happens. 8-7-6 flop hit, and I check-called his c-bet...rather than check-raise him here. If the turn is a good one, a bet will be forthcoming. 2 on the turn seemed innocent enough, and this time I bet out 2/3 of the pot. CK thought for a minute, and just called. 7 on river paired board, but I was sure that he was holding A-10 or KQ-type hand here, so I bet out what I thought was a value bet of about half the pot (1500). CK then bumped up to 6K, and gave me pause for thought...but then I remembered him doing this twice to me in the past with snow (and getting caught), and confidently re-raised him up to 12K, which got a quick fold from CK.
Flopped a Q-high straight the very next hand, and got paid off by 2 players on the river(!), and now stack was about 35K...feeling very good about things at this point. Big hand occured at start of 3rd level, and I got a very important lesson in Michigan Charity Game Law, at the same time. Blinds at 100/200, and UTG raised to 800. UTG was a bluffer post-flop, but had raised with solid hands before. As UTG+1, I look down see the beautiful pocket aces - this will be an interesting pot. I raised to 2500, solely to keep the loose riff-raff (the ones that will call any raise with any two cards) out of the hand. Cutoff raises to 6500, and I am thinking that someone got unlucky to have QQ or KK here...UTG folds after thinking for a minute, and after pausing for a couple of seconds announce all-in, which is followed by a quick call...with the dealer yelling "WHOA WHOA...!" as both of us flip our cards over (AA vs KK).
Apparantly, in cash and tournament games only 3 raises are allowed per round in a no-limit game....so the last action I could do was call his last bet, and we see a flop. Rag flop hits, I shove all-in, and guy with KK folds. KK guy is pretty happy, all things considered...while I am kinda pissed at the State. Government fukkin' up things again!
Give away some chips (about 15K) when I'm forced to fold on river after missing a couple of monster draws, but gain 25K soon after when bust a player with A-J on a 10-10-8-A-9 board, with player trying to semi-bluff with 8-3 here. Guy is mystified that I had an ace, but after he left the player on left said, "Why was he surprised? You've shown nothing but solid hands the entire night.", which was correct.
Right before the break I bust the same guy on my left, who jammed UTG with K-Q, but ran into my A-K in BB. A couple of hands later I SPFR with 10-10, but was re-raised by female player who had played few hands...I put her on a bigger pair, and was proven right when she showed A-A after I folded 10-10 faceup. I think this read helps me pick up a few blinds later on in the evening.
After first break, blinds are 500/1000, and we get a period of card-deadedness for a while, although I manage to pick up a few of the blinds in this period. At 2K/4K level, I get JJ UTG, and raise to 12K, and am called by UTG+1. The next player, who's only shown solid cards since he was moved to our table, pushes all-in, and while he doesn't have me covered, he would have me covered...makes this a tougher call with 18 players to go. I go in the tank for a couple of minutes, try to decide if he has A-K or big pair, and ultimately I much my Jacks. I was not happy to see A-K and A-J flipped over - a chance to bust 2 players gone. Only real bad read I would have all night, as it turned out.
Last hand before 2nd break, and I bust out KK-guy to get us to our final table. 3K/6K blinds, and I'm in BB with 6-5. KK min-raises to 12K, and SB goes in for his last 6K. I figure I am getting 4-1 here, so I'll see a flop with a measely 6-5. 6-6-5 is a dream flop, and after I check flop KK goes all-in for last 15K (more on this at end of paragraph) with A-Q or A-J, which is followed by my insta-call...off we go to break! I get in a nice discussion with the guy who pushed my off of J-J, and he was wondering if that was really the right play with that hand. A discussion of "squeeze plays", odds, position, and other matters took place while burning one outside - clearly, dude was one of the more solid players in the room. KK guy asked us if he misplayed his hand, and 2 of us said he should have just jammed preflop, since I wasn't calling off chips with 6-5 in that spot.
I go to final table with about 100K in chips, which is just above chip average (about 90K). I chip up to 160K with a big blind special and couple of blind steals, then at 7-handed my hand of the night takes place. At 10K/20K On the button, I watch the solid player from earlier go all-in for last 70K, with player on my right (who will make a loose-call with A-rag) calling. I look down and see A-K, and I am certain I am not folding here...and after pausing a few seconds, push all my chips in the middle. Folds to homeboy on my right, who thinks that I have small pair, and calls off all by 40K of his chips with A-6. Board hits nobody, but A-K beats K-Q and A-6, and we get down to 6, and me with almost half the chips in play. 2 players bust out shortly after (but not by me, unfortunately), and we're down to 4.
Lady on left gets busted by BB, and we're 3 handed. A series of blind steals take place for the next level, and 2 minutes before blinds are 20K/40K, 3 of us agree to chop up and take $290 each. 4.5 hours of play, and we're going home happy tonight!
Anyways, enough of the free testimonials...so how'd I do? First level I was initial raiser in only one hand, which saw A-J losing on a 8-9-10-A-10 board to the SB holding 10-9. Saw a few cheap flops, whiffed badly, and folded. During this time, while people were complaining about being "card dead", I was making mental notes of the players at the table. Based on what I saw, few tight players, 4 bluffers...a couple of loose-passive players (yes!)...yup, I liked this table.
First big pot of the night for me was off some younger, chunky kid (CK) who I had played before a couple of times at other poker rooms. CK raised in MP a standard raise, and on the button I saw 9-9...decided to just call, and see what happens. 8-7-6 flop hit, and I check-called his c-bet...rather than check-raise him here. If the turn is a good one, a bet will be forthcoming. 2 on the turn seemed innocent enough, and this time I bet out 2/3 of the pot. CK thought for a minute, and just called. 7 on river paired board, but I was sure that he was holding A-10 or KQ-type hand here, so I bet out what I thought was a value bet of about half the pot (1500). CK then bumped up to 6K, and gave me pause for thought...but then I remembered him doing this twice to me in the past with snow (and getting caught), and confidently re-raised him up to 12K, which got a quick fold from CK.
Flopped a Q-high straight the very next hand, and got paid off by 2 players on the river(!), and now stack was about 35K...feeling very good about things at this point. Big hand occured at start of 3rd level, and I got a very important lesson in Michigan Charity Game Law, at the same time. Blinds at 100/200, and UTG raised to 800. UTG was a bluffer post-flop, but had raised with solid hands before. As UTG+1, I look down see the beautiful pocket aces - this will be an interesting pot. I raised to 2500, solely to keep the loose riff-raff (the ones that will call any raise with any two cards) out of the hand. Cutoff raises to 6500, and I am thinking that someone got unlucky to have QQ or KK here...UTG folds after thinking for a minute, and after pausing for a couple of seconds announce all-in, which is followed by a quick call...with the dealer yelling "WHOA WHOA...!" as both of us flip our cards over (AA vs KK).
Apparantly, in cash and tournament games only 3 raises are allowed per round in a no-limit game....so the last action I could do was call his last bet, and we see a flop. Rag flop hits, I shove all-in, and guy with KK folds. KK guy is pretty happy, all things considered...while I am kinda pissed at the State. Government fukkin' up things again!
Give away some chips (about 15K) when I'm forced to fold on river after missing a couple of monster draws, but gain 25K soon after when bust a player with A-J on a 10-10-8-A-9 board, with player trying to semi-bluff with 8-3 here. Guy is mystified that I had an ace, but after he left the player on left said, "Why was he surprised? You've shown nothing but solid hands the entire night.", which was correct.
Right before the break I bust the same guy on my left, who jammed UTG with K-Q, but ran into my A-K in BB. A couple of hands later I SPFR with 10-10, but was re-raised by female player who had played few hands...I put her on a bigger pair, and was proven right when she showed A-A after I folded 10-10 faceup. I think this read helps me pick up a few blinds later on in the evening.
After first break, blinds are 500/1000, and we get a period of card-deadedness for a while, although I manage to pick up a few of the blinds in this period. At 2K/4K level, I get JJ UTG, and raise to 12K, and am called by UTG+1. The next player, who's only shown solid cards since he was moved to our table, pushes all-in, and while he doesn't have me covered, he would have me covered...makes this a tougher call with 18 players to go. I go in the tank for a couple of minutes, try to decide if he has A-K or big pair, and ultimately I much my Jacks. I was not happy to see A-K and A-J flipped over - a chance to bust 2 players gone. Only real bad read I would have all night, as it turned out.
Last hand before 2nd break, and I bust out KK-guy to get us to our final table. 3K/6K blinds, and I'm in BB with 6-5. KK min-raises to 12K, and SB goes in for his last 6K. I figure I am getting 4-1 here, so I'll see a flop with a measely 6-5. 6-6-5 is a dream flop, and after I check flop KK goes all-in for last 15K (more on this at end of paragraph) with A-Q or A-J, which is followed by my insta-call...off we go to break! I get in a nice discussion with the guy who pushed my off of J-J, and he was wondering if that was really the right play with that hand. A discussion of "squeeze plays", odds, position, and other matters took place while burning one outside - clearly, dude was one of the more solid players in the room. KK guy asked us if he misplayed his hand, and 2 of us said he should have just jammed preflop, since I wasn't calling off chips with 6-5 in that spot.
I go to final table with about 100K in chips, which is just above chip average (about 90K). I chip up to 160K with a big blind special and couple of blind steals, then at 7-handed my hand of the night takes place. At 10K/20K On the button, I watch the solid player from earlier go all-in for last 70K, with player on my right (who will make a loose-call with A-rag) calling. I look down and see A-K, and I am certain I am not folding here...and after pausing a few seconds, push all my chips in the middle. Folds to homeboy on my right, who thinks that I have small pair, and calls off all by 40K of his chips with A-6. Board hits nobody, but A-K beats K-Q and A-6, and we get down to 6, and me with almost half the chips in play. 2 players bust out shortly after (but not by me, unfortunately), and we're down to 4.
Lady on left gets busted by BB, and we're 3 handed. A series of blind steals take place for the next level, and 2 minutes before blinds are 20K/40K, 3 of us agree to chop up and take $290 each. 4.5 hours of play, and we're going home happy tonight!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
