Posts Tagged ‘no limit hold em’

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3/14/09 – Bremerton Lanes AM Poker Tournament

March 14, 2010

Wow. I haven’t been this annoyed in a live tournament for a while. I made note of all the pots I played. I’ll let the hands do the talking:

blinds 25-50, UTG raises to 200, one player calls, I look down at QQ. I sometimes like to play QQ conservatively preflop, but I sensed a bit of weakness here and decided to make it 875 to go. The UTG raiser called and the other player folded and we saw a Q54, two spade flop HU. He checks to me. Its hard to make money on this kind of board given his hand range (AK, AQ, small pair). I could give a free card here and see if he can catch up a bit on the turn, but I decide to bet 625 and hope he has AQ or TT and gives me a little action. If he has a set, the money will get in eventually no matter what I do. He folds though and I thought about how I could have played this flop differently for quite a while… Oh well, +1125 on the first hand of the tournament is just fine.

blinds 25-50, several people limp, and the button makes it 250 to go. I have 77 in the small blind and decide to call since I expect most of the limpers to come with me making it worth it to try and flop a set. They all do call and the flop comes 954. Not too bad of a flop for me, but I’m out of position against several players including one I suspect has an overpair, so I just check. One of the limpers bets 200 and the preflop raiser makes it 600 to go. I fold.

blinds 50-100, I raise in EP with AK to 250. One person calls me, next guy goes all-in for 900 and the SB shoves for 1825. Folds back to me. Folding seems wise.. but if I call and lose, I’ll have 2500 left which is plenty of chips to play with at this level, so I decide to gamble and try to build a big stack. They show QQ and JJ and I spike a King on the flop to build my stack up to 7700.

blinds 75-150, one tight-passive player limps UTG, folds to me OTB with 9s7s and I make it 425 to go. Small blind calls and the limper folds and we see a K83 flop HU. He checks to me and I check out his stack size. He has about 1300 left. Since I missed the flop completely, I decide to make a feeler bet of 350 and if he calls or raises, my following decisions will be easy. He folds though and I’m up over 8000 in chips.

blinds 75-150, a solid player UTG makes it 500 to go. I look down at QQ. I get a stack count from my opponent and he’s got about 3000 left, so I decide calling is best here. Someone floats behind me and we got 3-way action to a J93 flop. UTG shoves the rest of his stack in and I go in the tank. He just bet 3275 into a pot that has about 1700 in it. Before the flop, he asked me if I had Kings jokingly and then when I just called he said “wooo.. you scared me there.” I think he’s a pretty solid player and my instincts were strongly saying to fold here. I counted down my stack and I’d have over 4000 left if I call and lose. I felt a lot of strength from him and that he had a pretty good idea of what I had, plus his comments before the flop kind of indicated strength too. That being said, it seems like an easy fold in retrospect, but I decided to call just in case my read was wrong and because my stack would still be in solid shape if I lost. He showed Kings and wins the pot. Some people might think this is bad luck or a cooler, but I honestly think I should have and could have folded the hand. This is simply poor play on my part.

blinds 75-150 and I open to 450 with AK. One loose, bad player calls me OTB and we see a JJ2 flop HU. I decide to check the flop and see what he does, expecting him to check a large percentage of the time. He does check and the turn card comes with an ugly T. I decide to check again since a lot of hands he could have might call me now and I’m technically still drawing and I think he’ll check if I still have him beat. River is a 5 and I have no reason to bet for value or try to bluff him off the best hand here. I check and hope my hand is good. It’s not… he has A5 and scoops the pot. I was mad at myself after this one.

blinds 100-200 and here comes the most obnoxious hand I’ve been a participant of in a while. Two loose, bad players limp in and I look down at TT OTB. I decide to make a hefty raise to 1100 and I’m pretty shocked when both blinds call as well as both of the limpers. I’m really hoping for a ten on the flop or a board with undercards and I get my wish when it comes 985. The SB only has 100 left and puts it in. The BB makes it 1500 to go and appears all in. One of the limpers (my opponent from the last hand) puts in his remaining 2000, but looks weak. Back to me… I could fold here, but I really don’t feel like I’m beat at all, so I call. Then I’m annoyed when I discover the BB still has chips left when he puts in another 500 to call. He has another 500 behind and the extra 1000 was hiding in his palm. Thanks, man. Don’t worry, your stack size doesn’t affect anyone else’s decisions, you idiot. The turn comes a brutal 7 and the SB puts in his last 500. I call and we flip over our hands: K7 in the SB, QJ in the BB, and…. 96 from the limper. Are you kidding me? Calls a 5.5xBB raise preflop, puts in 2000 on the flop and spikes his fucking hand? Jesus. I do have an open-ended straight draw, but I come up short on the river and 96 scoops a 8500 pot and I get 1000 back. Now I’m pissed and down to 3100 chips when I should have a monster stack.

blinds raise to 200-400 and I fold my BB and SB and I’m down to 2500.

blinds 200-400 and folds to me OTB. I’d probably push with anything here, but A8 is like the nuts for me, so I shove and scoop the blinds.

blinds 200-400, two weaker players limp in and I look down at Ad5d with 3100. I push it all in since I need to pick up chips and expect to win the pot uncontested a large percentage of the time as long as no one behind me wakes up with a hand. Everyone behind me folds but the second limper surprisingly calls and shows me a gross-looking KJos. The way the tournament has gone so far, I’m 95% sure I’m going to lose the pot, but the flop comes favorable enough showing 843, keeping me in the lead, but the turn peels off a jack and I brick the river and get sent home.

I continue to run horribly in this tournament. I’m hoping that my luck can turn in the next couple weeks before I have to take a 3 month hiatus to finish my degree at The University Of Washington. I don’t want to take my break while I’m still in the red in a tournament I should be beating. Ugh.

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3-08-2010 Bremerton Lanes AM Poker Tournament

March 8, 2010

First off, I’d like to congratulate myself on my best showing in this tournament last week when I finished 2nd for $235. Today’s tournament was interesting to say the least. My stack was riding a rollercoaster throughout the duration.

Key Hands:

Blinds 25-50, 3 limpers in front of me. I limp OTB with As9s. Flop comes K43 with two spades. One of the blinds leads out for 150 and two people call. I pop it to 600 since no one has really shown strength. I get two folds, but the last caller stays with me. The turn is a blank and he check-calls 800. River is another blank and he checks to me again. I bet 800 and he calls and shows K9. Not really happy with my play on this hand. Not only did I dump off roughly 75% of my stack, but I didn’t read the situation very well. Throughout the hand, I put my opponent on a draw because of the way he was playing it. If that was the case, unless he caught a running pair, there’s no reason for me to bet the river, since Ace high is likely to be good. If he has a King and decided to call the turn, he’s never going to fold the river for the same amount as my turn bet. That’s just simple math and a bad play on my part. On the plus side, this player enters this tournament every day and this will be valuable information for the future. Unless he had some sort of dead read on me, his play here is super terrible. He was willing to play a huge pot for nearly all of his stack in the first level with top pair, weak kicker out of position. I stand by my flop play, but my turn and river play is pretty bad.

Blinds 50-100, a few people limp in, I have J3os in the BB and only 600 behind. Flop comes J54 and I just ship my remaining chips. I get a caller and figure I’m drawing to 3 outs but I’m ecstatic when he shows 99 and doubles me up.

Blinds 50-100, 1 limper, someone raises to 300, I have AQ and 1600 so I just ship it. The raiser calls me and shows KT and I hold and I’m roughly back to my starting stack.

After a few swings and misses my stack is down to somewhere around 2200. Blinds 100-200, two people limp in, the small blind calls and I look down at QQ in the BB. I could ship it here, but I’m willing to risk getting knocked out of the tournament for a little value, so I just pop it to 800. The first limper folds, but the button and SB both call. The flop comes beautifully with AQ9 and there’s no need to get coy since I figure someone has at least an Ace and I put my remaining 1200 in. I get called in both spots and my set holds vs AQ and JT and I triple up.

Blinds 100-200, a few limpers and I limp OTB with Ac9c. Flop comes J9x with a club. UTG bets 600, it folds to me, and I float the flop. The turn card is the Tc and he bets out 600 again. The bet size doesn’t scream strength and I strongly consider raising, but I think my current hand might have a shot of being good and I’d be sick if he re-raised all-in and I had to fold. The river is a 3h and he bets out 600 again, which is quite an annoying bet. Not only is he giving me great pot odds, but he’s shown relative weakness on the past two streets, which tempts me to raise once again. However, considering the last two bet sizes, I figure calling is best since my hand might actually be good. The way he played it, I feel like a 9 might actually be his most likely hand. He shows me QJ though (making a call likely if I did raise the turn) and scoops a third of my chips.

With the blinds at 200-400, it folds to the SB who completes and I check with 85. Board comes 974 and I take it down with a 700 bet. One person limps in the next hand, I call with A3os and the BB checks. Flop comes Axx and I check, BB checks and the limper bets 700. I go all-in figuring it’s unlikely for him to have an ace here. He folds and I’m back around 5000.

Blinds 300-600 and UTG doubles it to 1200 and it folds to me in SB with As7s. I check out his stack and he’s only got about 2000 left so I decide to take a flop with him. Flop comes 753 with one spade and I ship it and he folds.

Blinds 300-600 folds to me and I have about 10,600 now and make it 1500 to go with 8d7d. Folds to the SB who doubles it up to 3000. BB folds and this is a pretty wack situation for me. My hand is garbage and he’s made a raise that is begging for a call. On the other hand, I’m getting 3.4 to 1 to call and I have position and I’d still have around 7000 behind if the flop does me no justice… so I call. The board comes J87 and I’m ecstatic when he instantly ships it. He shows QQ and the turn comes a Jack and I’m out of the tournament. Ghey. 11th place, one off the final table.

Lastly, a sour note for those of you that have been following my poker posts. I recently cashed out all my money online and starting at the end of March, I won’t be playing poker at all for the next several months as I’ll be attending college to finish my degree at The University Of Washington and can’t afford to have any distractions. Sorry!

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Bad Poker Streak

February 23, 2010

Roughly a month after raving about how favorable the structure in the Bremerton Lanes daily tournament was to my playing style, I find myself in an unbelievable funk. First of all, I’ve cashed in the tournament 1 time in 11 tries. Ridiculous. At this point, a first place finish would barely have me in the green YTD. Secondly, I don’t think it’s ever taken me this many attempts to win any live tournament I’ve ever regularly played in. It’s starting to ware on me.

Yesterday was a disaster. I lost roughly 60% of my chips on the 3rd hand of the tournament and never really recovered. With the blinds at 25-50, I completed the small blind with 85d. The flop came T86, with one diamond and since it was only 4-way action, I decided to throw out a feeler bet of 125. I got called in two spots and decided I was done with the hand unless I improved on the turn. Fortunately the turn was a beautiful 8 and I lead out again for 250. The button raised me to 500, which is suspicious, but small enough that I’m not going to toss away a full house draw. River ended up blanking, I checked and the button bet 1200. Pretty easy fold… but for some reason I decided to call and he showed me a flopped straight with 97. As much complaining as I’ve done about my lack of success, it has been partly my fault and this call is a testament to that. In this situation the only hand I can expect to beat is a bluff. It’s very unlikely that my opponent would bet something for value that doesn’t have my three 8s, 5 kicker beat. My opponent here is generally over-aggressive and has a slightly crazy image in my mind, so that probably got him a call I wouldn’t have even considered against most other people.

After that hand, my stack dwelled in the range of 1000-1200 for several rounds. I finally lucked out a bit when I picked up AA and got someone to double me up on an 8-high flop with TT. After that, I lost an all-in with AQ vs AA and was right back to a micro-stack. After shoving 2-3 times without even looking at my cards or getting called, keeping myself afloat for a few orbits, I got looked up by KQ in a blind vs blind situation and my J9 didn’t spike.

Today started off well enough. I had about 7000 in chips by the 75-150 round and was playing very well. Then the downhill spiral started.

With the blinds at 75-150 still, three people limped in front of me and I looked down at QQ on the button. I raised it to 850 and was surprised when a tight female player called me from the small blind. The big blind and all the limpers folded and the flop came A65. The pot size is 2150 and I have about 6K… She checks to me… what do you do in this spot? When she called preflop, I narrowed her range down to about 5 hands: AK, AQ, AA, JJ, and TT. Since three of the hands I put her on have me beat, is betting a wise move? I think not. So I checked and she fired out 1000 on the turn and I folded. My current impression of this woman is that she plays pretty solid… but I haven’t exactly decided if she’s a nit or not. I did see her limp UTG with the blinds @ 50-100 and get it AI for $2K+ with 7s6s on a 65s3s flop… so she obviously has a little creativity and gamble in her game. The big question for me was… is she the kind of player to risk $1000 on the turn with Jacks or Tens assuming I didn’t care much for the Ace? If I thought the answer to that question was yes, I would have called the turn and put her to the test again on the river… but honestly I don’t know. As it was, I thought AK made up about 70% of her range, AQ about 10%, JJ/TT about 15% and AA about 5%. I’m ruling QQ out as a possibility since I have it myself (also making AQ less likely) and I don’t know many players that would smooth-call with KK preflop in that spot. Since I’m beat by what I estimate to be 85% of her range here, I think checking the flop and folding the turn is best…. but soooooooooooooo annoying!

The hand after that, I raised over a weak limper to 400 with Qc9c and saw a KQ9, two diamond flop HU. Perfect. He checks to me and I bet 750. He calls. Turn card is a Jack, basically killing my hand and my action. The river is an 8d and he shoves for like 1600 and I fold. At that point, there simply isn’t a single hand I can imagine him calling that flop with that doesn’t have me beat now. Regardless, I’m steaming and I walk away from the table for a good 7 minutes to calm down.

I think I had a few unsuccessful steal after that cause I was in the 2000-2500 chip range by the time the blinds were 200-400. I picked up a couple rounds of blinds to stay afloat and got a disgusting walk on my big blind when I was holding QQ. Finally, I got it in with 77 and got called in two spots which pretty much sealed my fate unless I spiked a set. The board came K high and they both checked all the way down and I had a brief glimmer of hope when the second caller flipped over AJ high, but then my other opponent showed QQ and I was showed the door for an early exit yet again.

My showing in this tournament over the past few months has been putrid… with one cash in eleven tries, I’m running at an ugly 11% In The Money rate, which is even worse than my MTT cash % in MUCH larger fields, let alone 3-4 tables. Something’s gotta give… and soon… cause my patience is waring thin.

To make matters worse, I had my first losing day in 2 weeks yesterday and just ran BRUTALLY bad during my hour of play after showing a profit all day long. So goes the swings…

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Poker 101: 101 Poker Tournaments In A Single Day

February 16, 2010

I’m not really sure what inspired me to do it, but one night, I was laying in bed and thought, I’m going to play 101 poker tournaments in a single day and blog about the experience. Why 101? Well, the real goal was 100 1-table online Sit & Go tournaments, but since I knew I was going to play a live event at Bremerton Lanes in the morning, 101 was the number… plus it’s like I’m taking you cats to school anyways, so it’s fitting. Ya dig?

My morning started off with a really uneventful showing in the Bremerton Lanes tournament. Maybe even my worst showing to date. I feel a little ashamed of my performance in that tournament so far. Considering how I raved about the structure and how it was much more tailored to my playing style and rewarding skill instead of luck, the fact that I’ve had one minor cash in eight appearances is below my standard. In a field that typically ranges between 30-40 people and usually pays the top 5, I really feel I should be cashing around 20-25% of the time, especially since I’m playing these people face-to-face… my advantage is that good and yet I have nothing to show for it. Thankfully, one big cash will have me at least even and possibly even showing a profit… but it needs to be soon. Today?

I can’t even really remember any hands from the tournament, but I do know I blew about half my stack early on a hand I felt embarrassed about… so yeah, not my best showing. Then I missed the board after calling a raise and lost a race as a small favorite to bust out. I’m not sure I even won a pot.

After that, I came home around 1 P.M. and began my mission to complete 100 online Sit & Go tournaments. In retrospect, I wish I would have done things a bit differently. I estimate that I have a bigger edge in the regular Sit & Goes, so I decided not to play turbo tournaments, even though I probably would’ve completed the task in half the time. Also, since I had to cash out a substantial portion of my bankroll last week I was playing with less money than I would prefer and went with a smaller buy in tournament and if I could maintain the same win rate, I wish I would’ve risked playing higher. I started off playing 12 tournaments at a time, but when I got short-handed, it became a hassle (since I only use one monitor), so I ended up playing 9 tournaments at a time the rest of the way. I took about a 45 minute break to get some food and completed my task around 2 A.M… well, sort of. For some ridiculous reason, Poker Stars stopped registering new No Limit Sit & Go tournaments after I was in my 95th tournament and majorly cock-blocked me. It’s pretty annoying to get that close and not really live up to my promise… but never-the-less, I pretty much did what I said I was going to do.

The results:

95 tournaments
39 cashes (41%)

19 1sts (20%)
12 2nds (12.6%)
8 3rds (8.4%)
7 4ths
14 5ths
17 6ths
9 7ths
6 8ths
4 9ths

Some notes about the results:

-I finished in the top 2 in nearly 33% of the tournaments.
-I won 61.3% of my heads up battles.
-I finished 1st more often than any other finish.
-I cashed 85% of the time I made the top 4, so my bubble play was pretty solid.
-All of my 9th place finishes were the result of some sort of horrible beat or sick cooler (i.e. KK vs AA early, set under set, etc.)
-I increased my bankroll by 31%.

Some notes about my strategy:

-I see a lot of flops in the early rounds of the tournaments. This not only means I play a lot of hands, but I also play some bigger hands much more conservatively. For instance, I’ll limp in with JJ and TT, sometimes after people have already limped in front of me. I’m also prone to simply calling with hands like QQ and AK if someone has raised in front of me. The reason I do this is because so many people are willing to ship all their chips in the first two rounds with hands like 88, AK, AJ, etc. and I think it’s stupid to risk going broke early on in a coin flip. I also like to limp in with unsuited AK and AQ in early position for the same reason. Simply put, I like to see the board before I get heavily invested in a pot, unless my hand is AA or KK. My ability to play much better than my opponents after the flop is too big of an advantage to give them the option of re-raising or shoving all-in preflop against me. With big suited cards, I like to raise the pot since I don’t really mind multi-way action.

-I respect position. I play pretty conservatively when I’m out of position and get called on the flop even with a hand like AK on an A high board. This rule isn’t set in stone as some situations require a bet on 4th street, but generally speaking, I like to keep the pot kind of small when I only have one pair, no matter how good it is. While this strategy might prevent me from acquiring some needed chips, it also keeps me from going broke early in a tournament with one pair hands. I also check behind on the turn sometimes, in position, with the same type of hands… or even on the flop…. for the same reason… but also to add a layer of deception to my game and make me harder to read. Most of the time, I’ll have a very clear idea of what’s going on by the time the river action hits.

-I start raising more hands when the blinds hit the 25-50 level as people tend to tighten up around this stage of the tournament.

-When the blinds hit 50-100 and beyond, I find that simply raising the minimum is enough to get people to fold mediocre hands. I have never adopted this strategy before, but in playing nearly 100 tournaments yesterday, I found it to be a very effective tactic. Of course, stack size alters this strategy and the less chips you have, the more reasonable it is to simply shove all of them in for either maximum fold equity or profit, whichever you prefer for your hand.

-Raising on the button 100% of the time in heads up play is probably the right move. I find that when someone does this to me, I find it very difficult to play against… so I started doing it myself. The reason? You make the pot bigger when you have position on your opponent and force them to do all the guessing. Eventually, they are going to have to start making plays at the pot in mediocre situations… or check-raising you with bottom pair or a draw or a bluff, just to stay afloat. If you get your opponent jamming the pot out of position with weak hands, you have pretty much won the war… just wait for the right moment. Either that, or they just fold, fold, fold and you win, win win. I really haven’t found a good way to counter this strategy when it’s used against me, so I might as well use it myself.

That’s all! I’ll never do that again and playing Sit & Goes for a living is not in my future. That shit is mind-numbingly boring. Now it’s off to Bremerton Lanes to finally take this bitch down. LET’S GO!!!!

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Good Online Poker Tournament Week

February 6, 2010

Just started trying to build up an online bankroll again a couple weeks ago and I’ve had a pretty good start. This past week I had these finishes:

-4th of 85 in NL Hold Em Tournament for 8 Buy-In profit
-2nd of 180 in NL Hold Em Tournament for 32BI profit.
-457th of 6230 in NL Hold Em Tournament for 2BI profit. I think this is only worth noting because it’s the equivalent of cashing in a WSOP main event sized field.
-4th of 88 in NL Omaha Hi-Lo Split Tournament for 9BI profit.
-6th of 360 in Pot Limit Omaha Tournament for 14BI profit.

I consider that a pretty great week… four final tables in fields of at least 85 entrants, 3 top 5 finishes, and cashes in three different forms of poker. Your boy’s got skills.

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1/29 Bremerton Lanes Tournament

January 29, 2010

Today, I started off on a roll. With starting stacks of 3500, I was up to 5000 and we were still in the first round.

Key Hand #1 – Blinds 25/50, one person limps and I raise to 225 with AK. One person behind me calls, the blinds fold, and the limper calls. 3-way action to a A64, two club flop. One check, I bet 375 and the person behind me calls, the first guy folds. Turn is a 4c. I could bet here to define my hand and really see where I’m at… I don’t have a club in my hand, so if it checks around and a fourth club hits the river, I’ll be pretty disgusted with myself. Of course, I could already be beat, and I didn’t sense a lot of strength from my opponent and I think he has an ace with a weaker kicker, and as long as that kicker isn’t a club, I’m in pretty good shape, so I decide to just check it. He bets 375. No need to raise here… I just call. River is an ugly Kc. I could bet to prevent a bluff, maybe even get him to fold a small/medium club. He’d probably pay it off in frustration if he turned a flush since I’m not going to bet enough to put a ton of pressure on him. We both check and I’m shocked when he turns over 66 for a full house. No idea what he was thinking, but I was very grateful to only lose 750 post-flop when I would’ve stacked off if he raised the flop. Instead of losing 75% of my chips, I lost the minimum and still had around 4000.

The next several blind levels were brutal to me. Not only was I not getting good hands, but my attempts to steal blinds and keep my stack in good shape proved futile. I had two people to my left that were loose and defended constantly. I never hit the board with my hands and any time I made a continuation bet, I got called or raised. After a while, it became clear that I was going to have to play hands with value… and those weren’t coming often, so my stack was dwindling.

Key Hand #2 – with the blinds at 200-400, I was in the big blind with KdQd and 1700 behind. It folds to the button who raises to 800. SB folds and I consider my options. I decide that calling is out of the question and ship it. He calls with AK and I spike a Queen to double up. I am now freerolling in the tournament.

Key Hand #3 – blinds are still 200-400… the tables just combined and a new player I’m unfamiliar with raises to 1000 with 3000 behind. It folds to me in LP and I have 77 and I have 4800 total. My opponent is an old man and I usually consider most old men a nit until proven otherwise…. which means, I’m probably never going to get him to fold if I shove and I’m probably only a slight favorite against the bottom of his range. I think folding here is wise, although it’s close… I still have 6 orbits left and I just think I can find a better spot. Doubling up is critical at this point, but I think I’m an underdog against his range. I fold.

Key Hand #4 – blinds are 400-800… we are short-handed, I have 5400 and it folds to me. I shove it with KT and get called by JJ. I spike a King and double up to 12000. Maybe luck is on my side today.

Key Hand #5 – blinds are 400-800, we are still short-handed… I have about 12000 still and open to 2400 with AQ. Someone shoves behind me for 3700 and I make the easy call. He shows AA and his hand holds. I’m down to 8300.

Key Hand #6 – I’ve been managing to keep my stack in good shape and I’m up to around 13000. blinds are now 500-1000 and I have 6d5d in the BB. It folds to the button who shoves for 4500. SB folds and it’s 3500 to me. I do some quick odds… it’s going to cost me 3500 more to try and win a 6500 pot. If I call and lose, I’ll still have around 9000, which is something I can work with. Getting 1.8 to 1 in a likely 40-60, I decide to try and knock him out. Unfortunately he shows TT and even though I flop a flush draw, his hand holds.

Key Hand #7 – I make it to the final table for the 3rd day in a row. Unfortunately, my stack is weak at 9500. I didn’t draw a good seat position, so I’m UTG+1, and the blinds are 500-1000. I fold my first hand, a J6, and then I pick up KT UTG the next hand. I’m aware of the time left in the round and the blinds are going to go up to 1000-2000 the next hand, so my relative stack size is much worse than it looks. If I fold, I’m going to have 3000 going through me the next two hands, assuming I lose both of them, and I’ll have 6500 on the button, which is a pretty easy amount to call from the big blind with 2000 invested already. I decide to shove it while I still have some fold equity from my opponents and it folds all the way to the big blind who calls with AK. No 3-outer for me, as his trip Kings, Ace kicker scoops the pot and he has me covered. FML! I can’t close this thing out!

5 tournaments, 3 final tables, 1 cash, -$125 overall

I’m playing in a deep stack tournament on Sunday and if I don’t cash in that, I’ll have to cut my tournament playing down next week.

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01/28 Bremerton Lanes Tournament

January 28, 2010

I didn’t feel like keeping any notes today, so I don’t have a whole lot of hands to talk about. I splashed around and played pretty loose (and kind of bad, honestly) for the first three rounds and I had lost 2/3 of my stack early.

Key Hand #1 – I can’t recall the blind levels or my exact stack size… but I think it was 100-200 and I raised it to 600 with JJ. Folds to the button who shoves for about 2000 total. I call and my hand holds against 77 and I win my first decent sized pot.

After that hand, I managed to win enough blinds to keep myself right around an M of 5 all the way to the final table. At the final table, I pushed all in 4-5 times and never got called and managed to make it to the top 5.

Key Hand #2 – with the blinds at 1000-2000, I have Ad6d in the BB and 9000 behind. The chip leader makes a raise to 7000 from the cut off and it folds to me. I’m probably ahead of his opening range here (knowing the player well) and my stack dictates a shove so I get it in. He calls and shows KsJs. The flop comes T42, with two spades, the turn is a Q, and somehow I dodge one of his 20 outs on the river and double up to 23000.

Key Hand #3 – with the blinds at 1000-2000, it folds to the SB who only has 5000 left and gets it in. I toss another 3000 in without even looking and am ecstatic when I flip over a beautiful-looking AK. He shows QJ and it looks over when the flop comes AJ6, but then the board comes running Jacks and he scoops the pot with quads. This actually was my tournament-defining hand because if I hold, I would’ve had over 30,000 in chips, which would’ve been the chip lead, and we would have been down to four. Most importantly, this next hand would’ve never happened.

Key Hand #4 – with the blinds at 1000-2000, it folds to the button (the player I could have knocked out last hand) who shoves for 11000. I have Ah6h and I know he’s getting it in with a wide range here, so I call. Unfortunately, the big blind shoves for enough to put me all-in… and I now have half my chips in the pot and I’m getting ridiculously good odds. Folding is out of the question, even though the situation looks grim. Fortunately, neither of them has an Ace as they show KK and 99. I miss my 3-outer and bust out in 5th, which was good for $50 and a profit of $15. Yay!

That gives me one cash in four tries, two final tables, and a net “profit” of -$90. LOL.

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1/27 – Bremerton Lanes Tournament

January 28, 2010

Okay, not that I have a big problem with recall, but in the interest of making the details of each hand very easy to remember, I brought a notepad with me yesterday so I could jot down the stack sizes and blind levels of the key hands I played… and I was extremely surprised at how poorly this was received at my table. I don’t think there was one person I played with that wasn’t bothered by this. I got several “I didn’t realize we were being tested” and “there’s a test later” and “should I read your notes before I act?” comments. Part of me wanted to explain what I was doing and that it wasn’t personal, but ultimately, I decided it was best to just smile and raise my eyebrows since anything that is throwing my opponent’s off their game is good for me. Also, I usually throw people some rope and let them know if they made a good lay down or not, but I’ve decided that no one has any business being entitled to what I’m doing… well, unless they want to read my blog every day and that’s okay with me! I was able to splash around a lot more today and I got involved in a lot of pots.

Key Hand #1 – (25/50) – I raise UTG to 150 with 8c7c – Pretty aggressive play being in horrible position… but honestly, I don’t mind playing a hand like this in that spot in No Limit, especially when I have the betting lead. Two people call. Flop comes down 732, one club. I can definitely think of worse spots. I bet out $375, one fold, and one quick raise to $1200. I strongly consider shipping it since I’m having a hard time thinking of hands that have me beat… but then I start thinking about my opponent and decide that he’s never bluffing here… and he’d probably even make this move with A7. Plus, do I really wanna ship my stack with top pair, weak kicker in the first round? Not what I had in mind when I raised the pot in the first place.

Key Hand #2 – (25/50) – 3 people limp, I call with JdTd in the small blind, BB taps. T36 flop, two hearts. Not really sure why, but I decide to check my top pair and it checks around. I bet out $275 on a 2 turn… and the same guy from last hand raises to $750. I shake my head, kind of irritated, but fold. He shows 54 for the nut straight.

Key Hand #3 – (25/50) – 2 people limp, I make it 225 to go from LP with Kd4d, obviously trying to make up for some of the ground I’ve lost. One of the limpers calls and I have position HU to a 987 flop with two diamonds. He checks, I bet $350 and he calls. Turn is a 4. He checks again, I decide he has a draw… probably a straight draw… or a weakish pair… and bet $800. I only have $1100 behind after my bet, so it’s pretty clear I’m never folding here. He mucks and I pick up my first decent pot.

Key Hand #4 – (50/100) – I call a raise to 300 on the button with AcJc. Flop comes down 877, with one club and we are HU. He bets 300 and I call… not based on the strength of my hand, but simply to see what he does on the turn and if I can take the pot away from him. The turn is a Qh, putting two to a flush on board. He bets 300 again and I decide that he’s not too excited about his hand and pop it to 875. He tanks for a bit, looks like he’s going to throw it away, and then shoves on me. I fold.

Key Hand #5 – (50/100) – two people limp, I call with 6c5c in late position, both blinds are in. Flop comes Q94 with two clubs. It checks to me and even though I have position, everyone has shown weakness, and I have a flush draw, I check since a Q9 combo on the flop is going to be in the range of a lot of hands and I think I’m usually getting called here. The turn is a 2, no club, and it checks to my right (same guy from last hand) and he bets 300. I have 1900 in all, and I consider calling, but I decide that I don’t really wanna call for 15% of my stack when I don’t think I’m going to get paid off if I hit my flush draw. Instead, I decide that with my stack size and the situation at hand, shoving it all in is best, as it strongly increases my chances of winning the pot right now. I do just that and this time the guy looks like he might call, but folds instead. Sweet! Even though I really want a fold there, getting called isn’t the worst thing in the world since I do have 10 outs.

Key Hand #6 – (75/150) – I have Qh8h in the SB and we have 3-way action to the flop. The board comes QT4 with three spades. No need to protect my hand here. Anyone with a big spade or a flush is at least going to call me, might even raise me, and I’ll have no idea where I’m at. Might as well try to take a card off and see what happens. Another 4 hits the turn and I could define my hand here, but I decide the situation hasn’t changed much, and it checks around again. Q on the river and it’s up to me with my full house. There’s 450 in the pot and I settle on 500. Since I figure no one has much, I might as well make as much as possible just in case someone wants to look me up. The BB calls and I scoop a pretty good pot for such little action.

Key Hand #7 – (100/200) – UTG limps, small blind raises to 1100 and I look down at AA in the BB. I ship my stack and SB calls with JJ. My hand holds and I’m up to 7100 in chips and an M of 19. Awesome.

Key Hand #8 – (200/400) – Folds to me and I raise to 1100 with KhTh. BB says “why do you have to raise when I got a decent hand?” and finally calls. Board comes AJx. He has 2500 total. This would be my first big mistake of the tournament. He checks to me and I bet 1400. He shoves it and I call and miss my straight. Bad play by me. No need for me to bet the flop here. Any bet by me is going to commit me to the pot with his stack size and he’s never going to fold an ace here. My best option was to check behind on the flop, try to hit my gutshot for free, or re-evaluate how much he likes his hand on the turn. In reality, I think he would’ve lead into me on the turn and I could’ve folded, saving 2500… but instead, I did the stupid thing, and now my big stack is a medium stack.

Key Hand #9 – (200/400) – Button raises to 1200 with 2100 behind. I have AhTh in the BB and put him all in. He calls with A9 and I win with a full house. Back up to 8300.

Key Hand #10 – (200/400) – Some of the details of this hand might be fuzzy since I didn’t leave any notes. The guy I beat in the pot was to my right and was steaming so bad after the hand that I didn’t want to needle him too much further. I have 97 in the BB and there were a few limpers. The board comes 863 with two hearts. It checks all the way around. Turn is 4s and the guy to my right bets 1200. I have a heart and spade in my hand, we both have pretty deep stacks, and there’s tons of cards that could come on the river that could win me the pot… not just my straight outs. I call. Everyone else folds and the 5s hits, making me a straight. He bets out 1200 again and I raise him to 3300. He goes into insta-tilt. Finally folds… and doesn’t let this hand go the rest of the tournament. He’s constantly asking me about it and I never give him the slightest bit of info. Later, when he busts, he tells me “You better be here next time.” LOL!

Key Hand #11 – (300/600) – UTG raises to 1700. I have AA in LP and decide that he has enough behind that he’ll fold a weaker hand if I re-raise him here, so I just call. The blinds fold and we see a T32, two spade flop. He immediately ships for 4200 and I call. He shows KsJs, I turn a set, and he misses the river. I’m up to over 20,000 now.

Key Hand #12 – (400/800) UTG limps, I limp with KQ, SB folds, BB checks. Board comes J83 and it checks to me. No one has show strength, but the limp is kind of confusing me, the BB is a good player, and I’m in obvious steal position… so I just check. An ace hits the turn and the BB bets 1200. Limper folds and I call. Yeah, I have a gutshot here, but that’s not why I called. I figured the BB would raise preflop with a good ace, there’s a heart draw on the board, and I just feel like 90% of the time, he’s going to check the river and I can win with a bluff. 6h hits the river and he does check. I bet 2700 and he folds.

Key Hand #13 – (500-1000) I made it to the final table with the chip lead and I’m feeling pretty great about my play so far. 1 person limps, I have KJ on the button, the SB makes it 3000 to go, BB folds, limper folds and it’s up to me. The SB is a solid player, but I’m getting 4 to 1 to call and I have position on him, so I easily make the call. The board comes J high and he bets 4000. I don’t even hesitate to ship it all in and he quickly calls and shows KK. Ugh. I’d rather see Aces here… I don’t hit my two outer and my stack has been devastated down to 3500. This hand was eating at me all day yesterday and it’s unbelievably how poorly I played it. I just didn’t stop to think about what was going on. Yes, I was getting great odds preflop so I think calling there is correct. My flop play is what kills me. When he leads out for 4000, that doesn’t say a whole lot.. but the fact that he raised to a mere 3000 preflop when two people already limped tells the whole story. If his hand was vulnerable, he would’ve made it 6000-7000 to go in an effort to win the pot right there, but he clearly wanted action on his big pair. If that wasn’t enough information to fold for 4000 on the flop despite making top pair, I always had the option of just calling and seeing how much he liked his hand on the turn. When he ships it on a non-Ace turn, I think I can safely fold there and still have 15000 in chips. Needless to say, I misplayed the hand badly and it probably cost me a tournament I could have won.

Key Hand #14 – (1000-2000) I have 6000 total and 98 in the small blind… we’re close to the money bubble, so I could fold here, have 5000 left, and still have a full orbit to find a better spot…but I’m kind of tilted now and decide to just ship it even though I know I’m getting called 100% of the time by the big stack. On the other hand, I need to double up more than I need to preserve chips, so it’s probably worth the gamble… and I might even have the best hand! He shows T8 though and I’m dominated and his hand holds. GG me!

Ugh… I felt I played spectacularly the whole tournament, with the exception of two hands, but unfortunately, the last mistake cost me 80% of my chips when I was holding a big stack. Great tournament + One Huge Blunder = No Money.

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Poker Is So Annoying Sometimes

August 5, 2009

I just endured one of my more obnoxious tournaments in quite some time. I usually play the morning tournament at Chips Casino on my days off and because of the structure, I play a pretty fast and loose game in the early stages. Since the blinds double every 11 minutes, I like to play a lot of pots early to try to build a big stack so I can handle the huge blinds in the end game, so I’m usually one of the first people out or I finish in the top 3. After splashing around a little bit and making a couple moves that didn’t pan out, I found myself with half my stack gone after a couple orbits. I was down to $325 with blinds at $25-$50 when I picked up AK under the gun and shoved it. I get called by AJ and finally win my first pot.. but my stack is still pretty puny. With blinds at 50-100, someone opens to $300 and I shove with 99 and get called by AT and double up again. Now I got a playable stack. However, I dwindle a little bit and only have $1200 in chips when I make the final table. Blinds are 50-100 and this is when things start to get obnoxious. I pick up a pot and have about $1500 when this hand happens. I have 5h3h in the big blind and one person limps, who we will call Dumb Hick, the small blind calls and I check. The flop comes 733, which is beautiful, but it’s unlikely I’ll make any money here. If more people were in the pot or maybe if a flush draw was present, I’d usually just go ahead and lead out and hope I get some action, but I decide to check. It checks around and the turn card is an Ace. Perfect. I check again, almost sure that Dumb Hick is going to bet. He bets $200 and the small blind calls, which was a little surprising. I could shove it here, but I’m unlikely to get called and I want to make a little money on the hand so I make it $650 to go. I get called in both places… good result, although I’m starting to wonder if the small blind is underplaying a better 3 than I have. Obviously the river is another ace and I end up check-folding to Dumb Hick, who shows AJ after I table my 3 in annoyance. Then Dumb Hick has the nerve to say “I knew where you were at,” gesturing towards me. Oh really? You knew I had a 3 and you decided to call me with two outs and one card to go anyways? You’re a fucking genius. I didn’t say that, but I was sure thinking it. Anyways, the hand crippled me again and I was down to $650 instead of having $2850 (and maybe $3500 if the Dumb Hick calls an all-in on the river). Blinds go up to 100-200 after that and now I’m pretty much going to go all in any time it folds to me. I do this once and don’t get a call, so I’m up to $950 when it folds to me again and I shove again without looking. Dumb Hick calls me and shows As8s. I flip over my first card and it’s a ten of hearts… flip over the second card it’s a beautiful ace of hearts. I have him crushed. The flop comes ATQ, with one spade. Awesome. Turn card is a 7 of spades obviously… can’t just win a hand without having to sweat a little bit. The river is a Q and I have to settle for a split pot. Fuck my life! Now I’m at $1050 and I have to fold because people enter the pot before me and I don’t pick up a hand. Finally, I’m under the gun and shove as soon as the first card is dealt to me. I don’t even care if people know I’m not looking at this point. Amazingly, it folds around to the big blind and he decides to call me with… 9h8h. Brilliant. I flip over my first card: 9 of spades. Oh oh… this is either going to be really good or really bad for me. Second card: King. Sweet! I hold and double up. I end up folding both my blinds and have about $1800 when I pick up AdKd on the button. Dumb Hick raises enough to put me all in and I eagerly toss in all my chips when it folds around to me. He shows King-Ten and I have him dominated for the third time. The flop comes T86, with two diamonds. Great… the moron outflopped me, but at least I got a flush draw and 3 outs to an ace. Not horrible. The turn card is a Q, giving me another four outs, for 15 total, but the river is a king giving him two pair and I’m broke. Then Dumb Hick reaches his hand out as I’m about to walk away and I really don’t want to shake it… in fact, I feel like puking on him instead.. but I reluctantly shake his hand and then walk out of the building steaming. Seriously though… it’s bad enough to lose three big hands when you have your opponent dominated, but when it’s the same guy every time, that shit is tough to stomach. I wanted to punch him, honestly. I hate poker right now.

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Back to Back Wins!

June 23, 2009

So I won the morning poker tournament at Chips Casino yesterday. Well, sort of won it. The guy I was playing heads up wanted to chop, but when I hesitated for a few seconds he offered me $175 to his $125, which I immediately accepted. Today, I went to defend my crown and succeeded. Amazingly, no deals were discussed. No money back for third place, no chopping heads up… it was beautiful. Finally, I’m having some luck go my way at this tournament. I usually take brutal beats or get involved in unlucky situations when the money bubble approaches, but the last couple of days, I’ve been running extremely hot. For instance, yesterday on the money bubble, I opened 2.5x the big blind with KsTs and got one caller in the blinds. The flop came KdTd5d… which is an okay flop for my hand. I feel pretty safe with it, but lots of things could go wrong fast. Since the blinds were somewhat large at this point and any reasonable continuation bet might have married me to the pot, I decided to check behind my opponent and take a card off… and it was a beauty.. the Tc, giving me a full house and nothing to worry about. My opponent bet $200 into me and I decided just to call since I didn’t think he was all that strong. The river was a blank and he bet a weakish $200 again and I shoved on him. He called me instantly and showed AdJd for a flopped nut flush. Definitely wasn’t expecting that. Sorry for ya!

Hands of note from today:

I limp in LP with 6d4d and the flop comes T64. One of the limpers bets $50 and I decide to make it $225 to go. He immediately shoves on me for about $600ish. Not much to worry about here. I’d be pretty unlucky to run into 66 or 44 since half of those cards are already accounted for. Although I see some people limp in with TT, I didn’t think that was an option either… and T6 and T4 are pretty absurd holdings, so I insta-call and he tables JT and I hold.

I have K7os in the big blind with blinds at 50-100 and check it with 4 people in the pot. Checks to me on a flop of 743, with two clubs. I fire out $300 and get one caller. He’s not the type of person that plays small cards when the blinds get large, so I put him on a flush draw and shove it all in when a 6 hits on the turn. He instantly calls off about $1300 and I’m already heading towards the exit door before he flips over his hand. Then I see that he’s tabling an AJ with no draw and I’m like “what the fuck?” Then he proceeds to berate me for my play and acts like I’m the one that was making the mistake and he CAUGHT me. “I knew you didn’t have it.” Yeah, I don’t have the straight, but I got a 7, you fucking dummy. Then I get comments like “yeah, I started with the AJ and he sucked out on me with the K7.” Yeah, man, should’ve just chucked my cards in the muck from the big blind instead of seeing a free flop. My bad yo. Then I had to watch in horror as a 5 peeled off on the river and put a straight on the board, making it a split pot. Pretty frustrating, but funny nonetheless.

I open with KQ to 250 with blinds at 50-100… someone shoves on me for 600 and I make the easy call. He shows QQ and heads for the exit when the board comes AJxxT. Goodbye!

Blinds at 200-400… a loose, passive player limps UTG and I have A7 on the button and hesitate for a while before deciding that I need to ship it with my stack size. The small blind only has 300 left and calls, but the big blind and limper fold. The SB shows JJ, but the flop comes 77x and I hold.

5 people left, blinds @ 200-400, I open with KJ UTG to 1000 with 2500 in my stack. Folds to my buddy in the SB, who ships it for 2600. I don’t want to make the call cause I know I’m beat, maybe even dominated, but I got 40% of my stack in the pot already, the blinds are going to eat up another $600 in the next two hands, and I’m getting 2.5 pot odds, all of which make folding a pretty stupid option. I call, he shows TT and the flop comes Kxx, all diamonds, giving me the lead, but him a flush draw. I hold and now I got a nice size stack.

My buddy gets his $100 leftover up to $900 when he shoves it all in in front of me, I look down at my first card and it’s an ace, so I know I’m calling already, but then I look at the 2nd card and see another ace and make it 2000 to go. The BB goes all-in and my aces hold against Q2 and Ts9s.

Now we are three handed and usually someone will ask for money back in this spot.. but I probably would’ve disagreed since he only had about 1500 and the blinds were at 200-400… it just wouldn’t make much sense. I shove on him and he calls me dominated and I hold.

HU now. We have roughly even chip stacks and I have him slightly covered. I’m shocked that he doesn’t ask for a chop, but I’m glad that he doesn’t… cause I’d always rather play it out and take my chances. First hand HU, I pick up AT and make it 1500 to go. He hesitates for a bit and finally says “alright, let’s do this” and ships it in the middle. I instacall and cry a little inside when he shows AK. The flop comes 933, the turn is a 5, and I’m calling for a 9 or a 5 for a split, but instead a beautiful ten rolls off on the river and I take down my second straight first place.

+$130 yesterday, +$145 today = +$275 last two days

Looking to make it three in a row at 6pm tonight.

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