The Bat Cave

Cards will be in the air at noon. $160 gets you a 12k starting stack, with blinds starting at 25/50 and 30 minute levels. They are guaranteeing a $15,000 prize pool, so they need 94 entrants to avoid an overlay and this event has no re-entry. Looks like 100 have already registered though.

Twinkie drove down here with me, so he’s playing this event today. I’m sure there will be a couple others I recognize.

I was welcomed by a sore throat this morning so looks like I’m developing a cold just in time for me to kick off this series.

👍🏻

I will be posting stack updates here and maybe some hands here and there if they are interesting enough.

Leggo.

12:02 PM: First hand is notable because on a final board of Q6294 and four hearts on the board, a player check-raises the river with a naked two pair. Uh. He got scooped. I’m honestly not sure if he did it on purpose or not. TBD…

12:16 PM: Solomon Grundy sighting!

Oh man. Guy on my right is a motormouth. He hasn’t stopped talking for 20 straight minutes and he keeps looking at me for interaction. He’s a nice, happy dude just trying to have fun playing the great game of poker, but… I can’t handle all that.

Headphones going in.

Just saw QQxx vs 88xx on Q98Q8 and the river only went two bets. What in the world?

And now that I have my headphones in dude on my right is touching me when he’s talking.

Please make it stop.

12:32 PM: This is brutal. This guy literally just introduced himself, mentioned my headphones and basically said, as politely and non-passive aggressively as possible, that he “talks a lot” and that my headphones aren’t going to save me.

12:45 PM: And now he found a commonality. He asked where I’m from and I said Bremerton and then he asked me about Chips Casino, which is basically where I started my path toward playing poker full-time. Then he mentions Palace in Lakewood and that he helped run it in 2012, and that Big Daddy used to work for him, and that he’s responsible for getting Freddie’s closed and starting High Hands in Pierce County.

So now we actually have something to talk about.

Wonderful.

Gosh dammit.

12:53 PM: Things have been going well so far, so I have little to complain about, but here’s my first annoying runout:

I raise a bunch of limpers with A42x with a suited ace (haven’t looked at my last card) on the button and bet the Q87ss flop when I flop the nut flush draw and nut low draw with backup. I get three callers on the flop.

The turn is a jack and I decide to keep firing because I don’t think I’m likely to get check-raised and I don’t mind continuing to build the pot with my draw. Plus, I might have a pair! I only get one caller now.

River is an offsuit king and I can tell he’s prepared to call the river, so I look down hoping to see a ten, as any one pair hand is probably too weak to value bet here, but I have a 7 and check back.

He wins with KK96ss.

Looks like a pretty good flop for his hand, yeah? How about no?

1:14 PM: Radio Mike just messaged me saying he hopes the guy on my right and I both make deep runs to the final table “connected at the hip like Siamese twins.”

What a jerk.

1:31 PM: First Break:

Dark Knight 12.2k

Twinkie 12.275k

1:53 PM: Here’s a spot that I think should be standard but I’m sure a lot of people routinely botch:

There are some limpers and I check Q977 in the big blind.

Flop is 762 with two clubs. I have top set. The small blind checks, I check, and it checks around.

The turn is the 8 of clubs. The small blind bets and I fold.

Good riddance.

2:05 PM: Guy on my right is embarrassing me now. There’s a discussion going on with the dealer about poker players being optimistic.

Dealer: Of course poker players are optimistic; you all think you are going to win this tournament.

Guy on my right: None of us think we are going to win this tournament.

Guy on my right: You know who’s going to win this tournament? This guy (points to me). He’s the best player at this table and I could tell that after 45 seconds.

Me: Uhhh….

Guy on my right: I’ll tell you this much: I’d swap 10% of me for 5% of you (and he has more chips). That’s how confident I am about that.

Me: Uhm.

I mean, that’s nice of him and all, but it is embarrassing. I don’t want that kind of attention and it’s a little disrespectful to the other players at the table.

3:18 PM: No super interesting hands these last three levels but I suppose it was slightly profitable for me.

Stacks at second break:

Dark Knight 14.5k

Twinkie 15.9k

Solomon Grundy 7.5k

Also, there has been a Flexxx sighting, I don’t know his stack size.

3:28 PM: Cool thing about playing in Lincoln City is that this is what your breaks can look like:

3:48 PM: What the hell is going on here?

Two limps, I complete with K652 double suited from the small, big blind checks.

Flop is K63 all hearts, I check, the other blind bets, and the limpers both call. My hand looks like it has potential, but all of it is super marginal and the pot is pretty small, so I fold.

Turn pairs the 6 and now I’m wishing I had my hand back. The big blind still bets, which is kind of weird, there’s a call and the next player raises. Now the big blind 3-bets, the middle player calls, and the other guy is all in for just under three big bets.

I have no clue what’s going on.

River is a queen and it goes bet and call.

Before the big blind turns over his hand, I say, “wow, I had K6 here.”

Big blind rolls 33xx, next guy rolls Q6xx, and the last guy has KKxx.

Holy shit! What a sick connection. And how credible does my hand sound after everyone shows? Lol.

4:14 PM: Open cutoff with AKJT double suited, hoping to just steal the blinds. The small blind calls and the big blind 3-bets, leaving himself with one small bet behind. No sense in 4-betting it since the small is clearly not folding, so I call and then the small blind 4-bets! Well, this got ugly real fast. Now the big is all in and I’ve been stair-stepped into a 4-bet pot with a hand that is barely worth one bet. I call again.

Flop is 533 with two clubs. Small blind leads out, the big is already all in and neither of my suits are clubs, so I just fold?

Sigh.

The small blind ends up showing 6432 which is a little weird and the big blind was on a total punt with KQJ4. Turn is a 6 and that ends the hand but it does cost me 2400 in chips in rather bizarre fashion.

4:21 PM: Mercy! My table broke and I no longer have the chatterbox on my direct right. I can now listen to music in peace and mind my own business.

I do have Flexxx at my new table though.

4:43 PM: 3-bets four ways before the flop and I have A862 with a suited ace and I get a pretty good flop for the situation with the board coming J86 rainbow, giving me the but low draw, bottom two, and the backdoor nut flush draw. The big blind donks, the original PFR folds, I raise, the small blind calls two bets cold, and the big flats.

Turn is a queen and they both check to me. I have less than two big bets left and I’m not sure I have the best high hand here, so I check back.

River comes a fucking ace. So now my low is nonexistent, plus clubs backdoored (not my suit). The small blind leads out, the big folds, and it feels like a pretty easy fold, but I start looking at the size of the pot and reluctantly toss out the call. He has A632 and my high is good.

Sigh. Seems like a good result but I lost half the pot on the river.

Then a series of suited A2xx and A34x hands got scooped and I was left with crumbs.

I make it 1600 from the small after one limp with AAQT, leaving myself with 75 behind. The big blind and limper both call.

The flop is an absolutely beautiful AJJ but the limper goes runner runner for a low with QJ32 and I have to settle for half of the main pot.

That leaves me with 2500 on third break and I will be coming back to a stack of 2.5 big blinds on the button.

5:11 PM:

Dark Knight 2500

Twinkie 24.8k

Flexxx 30k+

Solomon Grundy 15k

I will be all in sometime this next orbit.

5:45 PM: And I’m out. My all in gets scooped because someone had to limp the J532 from middle position and got the A33 flop.

Looks like 152 entered and I managed to bust in the first 33% so pretty good read from that dude calling my shot to win the tournament.

My health is less than 80% and likely to get worse, so I’m going to head back to my AirBnB and watch the World Series (and probably fall asleep) for a little bit. Maybe I’ll go play some live later if I’m feeling better.

Twinkie is still in with 21.4k. I’ll post his status if he sends me updates.

Solomon Grundy busted just before me and Flexxx was healthy at my table when I left.

6:50 PM: Twinkie sitting on 38k at dinner Break with less than 80 players left.