The Bat Cave

Okay, to add to my post from last night, the starting stacks for this tournament are 3500 and I confirmed that the levels are indeed 15 minutes long. So this gives you an M (starting stack / divided by cost of blinds each orbit) of 46 to start the tournament. Pretty fucking sick. I did discover one negative thing about the tournament. It’s a 12 round freezout… so after the last round, play stops and pay is determined by chip stacks. It’s a minor gripe though, since that’s three hours of play and I’ve heard that it rarely reaches that point.

Today’s tournament was pretty miserable and uneventful for me. By the time the blinds reached 75-150, I had entered one pot willingly and I don’t consider myself a tight player at all. My cards were that bad and I couldn’t find any positional situations to benefit from. I had won zero pots and my stack was only down to about 2700.

Key Hand #1 – the blinds have gone through me a few more times and are up to 100-200. My stack is about 2300. It folds to the cut off, a player that has been playing kind of snug, and he raises to 600. I look down at AQ on the button. I think simply calling with this hand is right most of the time, but if I do that here, I’m going to be left with 1700 and I’d be relying completely on hitting the flop. Even though the raiser hasn’t been splashing around, this is BY FAR the best hand I’ve seen all tournament, so I shove my chips in. He folds. Yay! Pot A almost an hour into the tournament.

Key Hand #2 – blinds are 100-200 and a tight, old man raises to 600 in early position. It folds to me on the button and I have AdKd and I have 3600. A little bit different than the last hand, since my opponent is noticeably tighter this time, he’s raising from early position (not the cut off), and my stack is 33% larger. Against this player, I felt it was best to take a flop before getting too excited about my hand… worst case scenario, I can use my positional advantage to see if I can outmaneuver him after the flop if he misses it or doesn’t seem to like the board. The small blind comes along for the ride and the big blind folds. The board comes KT3 with two hearts. SB checks, old man hesitates for a bit and decides to check, and it’s up to me. After calling his raise, I have 3000 left and there’s 2000 in the pot. I have top pair/top kicker, a flush draw is present, and any reasonable bet by me is going to be for a significant portion of my stack… since I’m never folding here, I decide that shoving, protecting my hand, and putting maximum pressure on my opponents is my best option. The SB folds, but the old man quickly calls and I’m not surprised when he turns over TT. The turn gives me a brief glimmer of hope when an Ace shows up, but the river blanks and I’m in the dead zone with 500 left.

Key Hand #3 – blinds are still 100-200 and it folds to me holding 22. I ship my 500 and the BB calls, as he should with any two cards, and flips over 53. I dodge his 6-outer and double up to 1100.

Key Hand #4 – I don’t get any good spots to get my chips in and I’m under the gun with J8o. Blinds are still 100-200 and I ask the dealer how much time is left in the round. If the next hand was likely going to cost me 400, I would’ve shoved here with any two cards while I still had enough chips that people can’t call me too loosely. She told me there was 2 minutes, 30 seconds left, and I decide the blinds will go through me before rising and I’ll still have 800 left when i get to the button. What I forgot to consider was that when I have that 800 on the button the blinds were going to be 200-400 and everyone except for a super tight idiot is going to call me from the big blind when I push. I should have shoved the J8, but I folded and I was sick when A6 won with a pair of 6s and a J hit the river. I would’ve either doubled up or picked up the blinds. Bad play, Mac.

Key Hand #5 – Now I’m in the big blind for 200 with 900 left behind. Someone from middle position min-raises, two people call, the small blind calls, and I hate the situation before I even look at my cards. I’m now getting 9 to 1 pot odds and even though maintaining chips is critical, I should probably call with a hand even as bad as 72 and ship it if I hit the board at all and hope I can pick up this nice pot. Also, even if my hand happens to be good, I don’t have enough chips behind to force anybody out of the pot and I’m going to have to hold up against four different hands. I look down at A8 and I could just get it over with and shove here… but I’m dead in the water if the flop comes super ugly, so I might as well preserve my last 700 and see what happens. The board comes 654 rainbow, the small blind checks, and I decide this isn’t a terrible flop for my hand and put my last 700 in. I’m sure I’m going to get called in at least one spot, but I should have at least 4 outs and my bet is enough that it should force out anyone that completely missed the board, which is kind of likely considering the flop. I only get one caller and it’s time to get lucky. He flips over one of the worst hands possible for my holding and shows 77. Great… two of my gutshot outs are gone, my 8s are dead, and I’m drawing to three aces and it wouldn’t surprise me if some of those just hit the muck. His hand holds and I’m done in about 25th place.

Pretty shitty showing overall as I didn’t get in a single favorable situation. This makes me 0 for 2 in this tournament and -$70 overall… not how I wanted to start my foray into this tournament when I’m short on money for the next few days. Boooooooooo!