The Bat Cave

I will be doing a live blog of the $400 5th Sunday no limit hold’em event at Muckleshoot today. It’s a pretty sick one: $400 buy in and only $20 of that goes to the house. At least that’s what it says on PokerAtlas. It’s pretty hard to believe. If so though, that’s amazing.

More info on the Muck tourney later. First, a look at this past week:

Monday +$825 in 7.5 hours of 8/16 LHE

Tuesday OFF

Wednesday +$873 in 4 hours of 1/3 PLO and -$96 in 3 hours of 8/16 LHE

Thursday +$104 in 17 minutes of 4/8 LHE and -$120 in 5 hours of 8/16 LHE

Friday -$597 in 90 minutes of 8/16 LHE

Saturday OFF

The biggest takeaway here is that I played zero minutes of 15/30. Have we officially reached a point where 15/30 isn’t even a thing anymore? I’m going to have to wait until October to play in that game regularly again?

Friday was the worst. Obviously I had a miserable mini-session, but I walked in to the casino, saw that 15/30 wasn’t going to happen on a Friday night, and I just didn’t really want to be there. It’s easy to win when you’re tired or unengaged, but losing? That’s way tougher. Down three racks in 90 minutes, in a game I don’t even want to play, losing to KQ with A2 when I check-raise my opponent on the A74 rainbow flop? Yeah, I’m out of here.

I’m not opposed to powering through tough sessions – in fact, it can be a welcome challenge at times. I’ve turned four rack deficits into solid wins on multiple occasions. But I just didn’t want to play 8/16 on a Friday night. It’s depressing.

Not a bad week overall, but I am sad about the current state of poker in Lakewood. It was really nice not having to drive out to Fortune for half a year.

Muckleshoot tournament info: $400 buy in, unlimited re-entry for 2+ hours, 25k stacks with blinds starting at 100/100, and 30 minute levels.

I’ll be back with notable superstars in the field today, but one thing I know for sure is this:

TORMUND IS IN THE BUILDING.

10:16 PM: Field is pretty sparse to start. Flexxx commented on my post on Facebook saying something about Tulalip having a $300 buy in tournament with $10k added to the prize pool. That might explain the small crowd here at the moment, but with two hours to register there is plenty of room to grow.

Bill W is only notable here that I can see. I see lots of PNW tourney regs though.

10:40 PM: This shouldn’t even be a notable hand but it is just because of how ridiculous it is. There’s a post in the hijack and the button makes a standard 6x raise (lol) to 600. I defend with 98 of clubs and hijack also calls.

Flop is 943 with one club. We check to button and he bets 2k into 1900 (lol). It’s such a giant bet on a really dry board I actually laugh out loud and shake my head, but I do call and the hijack folds.

Turn is a queen and we both check.

River is a seven. I’m happy to show down here and I think I get more value by check-calling on this runout, so that’s my line. He bets 2500 and I call. I’m good.

10:48 PM: This is more familiar: player opens to 300, there’s a call, I call with AJ and five of us see the flop.

Board comes down J73 and it checks to me. I bet 800 into 1600 and only one player calls. It is worth noting that this player is the first cold caller of the raise, so he checked the flop after the PFR checked. Which means he was likely content to let the flop check around.

Turn pairs the jack. He checks to me and I bet 1300. It’s a small bet. I want him to stick around with a weak hand or do something stupid. He seems to take the latter route by check-raising me to 3100. I call obviously.

River is a ten and he leads out 5200. No need to raise here. I feel like I’m bluff catching almost always, so I never expect him to call if I raise and I will be shocked if has anything good here. I call.

He turns over 33 for a full house. Wow. Obviously a pretty bad cooler spot, made worse by the fact he checks the flop after the PFR checks and gives four opponents a chance to see a free turn. Why anyone would do that is beyond me – it just makes no sense.

But people playing in a way that makes no sense is something that makes total sense to me.

I just won a nice 3-bet pot with AK though so despite that -8k hand I actually have over 30k right now.

11:15 AM: One limper, button makes it 1200, I make it 3600 with QQ from the small blind, the limper calls (!!) and the button sails 75+ bigs in the middle. I was planning to call a jam when I 3-bet, so I tank briefly just because there’s a third player still in the pot and then I reshove. The limper starts tanking, long enough that I turn to Bill W on my direct left and give him a ‘wtf is happening right now’ look. He eventually folds.

Button shows AK. Well, this is a pretty unnecessary 170 big blind flip.

Board runs out 654… J…. A.

Just sick. Instead of 48k (240 bigs) I now have 8.2k. That’s still 41 bigs, but it’s almost 1/3 of the starting stack and that’s when I start looking at the tourney screen wondering how long re-entry is open for.

Speaking of re-entry… Tormund is on his second bullet. I don’t know the exact details but it involved a “seven deuce” and cards being rammed up bodily orifices you’d rather not have any company.

The poker gods just refuse to give the kids a break.

12:06 PM: Not playing tight with 20-30 bigs during the re-entry period, so when someone makes it 1200 after a limper I go ahead and defend the 4x raise with J8o. I’m looking to catch any reasonable piece and get it in here. Three of us see the flop.

Flop comes down T93 with two diamonds (I have 8 of diamonds). I don’t expect to have much fold equity here so I go ahead and let the PFR c-bet (2500), other guy folds, I jam 5700 and he starts tanking (lol). I love it. I’m probably against an ace high hand here, so all my pair outs are likely live here and, by golly, this guy might actually make a ridiculous lay down. He finally talks himself into calling by saying he thinks I’m on a draw (like I’d play a made hand differently?) and I turn a straight against his A2 of spades.

Back up to 12.4k. Kind of awkward. Two minutes before re-entry ends and my stack is now too big to punt or forfeit – but half the starting stack I could sit down with for another $400. I guess I’m rolling with this bullet.

Tormund heading to break with 37k. I also spotted Minh Cash in the field.

12:39 PM: Hijack opens to 1100 at 200/400/400 and cutoff and button both call. I’m in the small blind and before I even look at my cards I’m already thinking this would be a nice spot to squeeze. I do need a bit of a hand though because the button has proven to be loose and reckless. I look down at 88. I’d say that qualifies. I ship in 11.6k. The opener and cutoff fold and the button calls, as expected.

This time my 88 holds vs his 66 and I double up.

Someone flopped a set on me for the third time this tournament but then I won a couple of pots with a c-bet after that.

Currently sitting on 27.8k.

1:12 PM: Two limpers at 300/600/600 and I make it 2600 with 77. I get it through the rest of the field and the first limper, but the bad loose player takes a flop with me. No surprise there.

Flop is AAK. And here’s the beauty of having a massive range advantage: he checks to me and I bet 1100 into 7300 and he folds.

2:18 PM: I chipped down a bit when I defended A3 of spades and flopped an ace and a backdoor flush draw. I called two streets before getting a free showdown and losing to AT.

But then I opened AA under the gun, got a caller, and a big blind defend.

Flop was AT9 rainbow and with 7200ish in the pot, the big blind led out for 2800 and had about 7k back. I had about 17k myself. I don’t want to blow either of these guys off their hands, as I’m really only vulnerable to gutshots (and I think we can assume the blind doesn’t have one of those), so I just call and so does the other player.

The turn is a queen, which is one of the worst cards for me. It improves some straights and makes my hand more vulnerable. The blind jams for 7200 and I go ahead and reshove myself. The other guy folds and I have my opponent drawing dead with two pair.

I have 33k coming back to 1200 big blind. Tormund claims to have more chips than that, but can’t come up with a rough number.

3:00 PM: Open JJ to 2500 at 600/1200 and Bill W jams for a little less than 20k. Folds back to me and I have a pretty trivial call here, but I take a few seconds just to make sure. I put it in there and hold vs AQ.

Peaking at 52k. That’s about average now…

Look at this ridiculous stack at my table:

4x average is pretty massive at this stage of a tournament like this one.

3:16 PM: Defend T7cc. Flop is J97 with two diamonds and one club. I elect to check and he jams for 12k – a little more than pot.

Eh. I hate my line already. I should have just put him all in myself. I flopped well enough to contend for his stack size here, but I prefer having hands like AK, AQ, and KQ fold rather than forcing themselves to showdown.

I end up calling and he’s actually in really good shape with 88. He has me beat, he’s blocking two of my straight outs, and my two pair makes him a straight. Pretty gross. His hand holds up and while I’m pretty sure he would have called a donk-jam, I think I still prefer that line.

Anyways, I lose 15k on that one and I’m back down to 32k.

3:38 PM: Down to 36 players now. 12 cash. Minh Cash on my immediate right now with a Minh Cash kind of stack.

3:49 PM: Minh Cash doubles! He is now over 35k.

4:38 PM: Blinds keep going though me without winning any hands. Down to 12 bigs but it did look like Tormund got a big double.

5:05 PM: Coming back to 1500/3000 with exactly 10 bigs. Tormund coming back to 30+ bigs.

5:18 PM: Minh Cash is facing a button jam and a small blind jam holding AJ, for about 10 bigs effective, and… decides to call it off. He’s up against 99 and AK.

Jack of hearts in the window, followed by two small hearts. Minh Cash has the ace of hearts to boot. He holds and more than triples.

Very next hand, button is crippled and jams 4000. Minh Cash calls and I call Q9o. This a pretty standard spot to check down and never bluff. Board runs out AK2-4-J and Minh Cash says, “I can’t win,” so I table my hand and the button wins with 33. But I saw Minh Cash’s hand. He had 84. I’m like, “what’d you have?” because maybe my eyes deceived me, but he confirms the 84 and I’m like “dude.” So the button winds up quadrupling instead of busting.

I get a few jams through with KQ and A3, but I pick up the 77 and dude’s hands are shaking as he calls. Tormund said he wanted to sweat my all in, so I say, “Tormund, I’m all in with the worst hand” before the cards are turned over… because I already know.

Sure enough, he tables the TT and that holds and I bust out in 20th, eight spots shy of the money.

What a brutal stretch this is.

Tormund is well above average with 19 left now and that’s pretty cool because I have 30% of him.

No Tormund Shuffle today please. 🤞🏻

5:31 PM: Someone jams AT into Tormund’s KK and he busts that player to chip up over 200k. 18 players left now.

6:52 PM: They are down to 13 left and playing hand-for-hand. Tormund is at 210k with average stack at 182k.

I forgot to mention there were 95 total runners in this event. Also discovered that $20 entry fee wasn’t a real thing. PokerAtlas made it seem like they might only take $20 out, but the admin fee is $20, plus there’s $20 taken out for the dealers and $10 taken out for the Tournament of Champions. So they are actually taking out $50, not $20.

7:02 PM: Tormund is in the money! Our boy has dipped below average stack though.

7:29 PM: Tormund getting comfortable at the final table:

10th place pays $950.

Minh Cash is also in there, sitting with about average stack. Tormund has about ten bigs.

A brief interview: tormund-interview-1.m4a

7:54 PM: Ugh. Just saw Minh Cash get all the chips in on a JT8 flop vs 77 and the board runs out JT8-T-7. I can feel his pain from here. He has about 75k in front of him and the other player has over 250k now. Really, really gross. So brutal.

8:11 PM: A little redemption for Minh Cash when he jams KK and the same player calls it off with 88 and the kings hold.

I was going to update his new stack size but he was on the turn facing a jam from… Tormund. Minh Cash winded up folding.

8:22 PM: Sigh. Tormund runs KK into AA. We are on crumbs.

He’s all in for less in the big blind and triples with K8 of spades.

Next hand, it folds to him in the SB, he jams 37k and BB folds.

Back to 53k!

8:49 PM: Tormund jams < 2 bigs on button and his A2 loses to A9. He busts in 9th for $1050, giving me a tiny rebate on my buy in back.

Minh Cash is still in there with 8 left, but we are out. Good luck, Minh Cash!

I probably won’t play any poker until Thursday.

Tomorrow I’m going to the Mariners vs Astros with FanBoy on my birthday. My goal is to get a disabled Jose Altuve’s autograph because, let’s be real, he has nothing better to do.

Tuesday I’m having a movie marathon day. I’m going to start out with Teen Titans Go! to the Movies, then Uncle Drew, and finishing with Ant-Man and the Wasp. Not the most exciting lineup but it should be funny at least.

Wednesday we are having a Leak Day. That starts out with an early morning hike near the Lewis River by Mt. St. Helens. Not sure what the rest of the day will entail, but we will do whatever she wants.

So that leaves Thursday as my next play day and that probably means I’ll head to Fortune or maybe the Little Creek NL cash game.