Yes, I've finally managed a cash in a live tournament ... my first for over three months!
By the same token, it was also very disappointing. The event in question was the 8 game at the latest joe Hachem Deep Stack Series at Crown. The disappointing part of it was that I was the chip leader going into the final table & stayed at or near the top of the chip count throughout the final table ... until it got down to three handed. Early in three handed play I continued to chip up & at one point I had over 300k in chips, compared with the 140k & 45k of my oppoents ... yes, I had a massive chip lead! I felt I was the best player remaining at the table & I felt I was playing well ... and yet I still managed to finish 3rd!
It all came apart in the triple draw & limit holdem rounds ... two big triple draw hands saw me make second-best hands & lose sizable pots ... and then another two limit holdem hands saw me go from big stack to short stack in about 15 hands! I eventually went out in the Omaha hi-lo round, after chopping a pot when I flopped a full house, only to have my oppoent catch running low cards to take the low ... and finally went out with a high-only hand QJJ8 against my opponent's A874 which made two pair with the A8 to scoop the pot & send me home.
In summary, it is good to finally get a live tournament cash after months of non-cashes ... but at the same time, its very disappointing to once again miss out on the trophy, particularly given the situation I was in when three-handed.
In other news, I've recorded a few segments for the next episode of the Donkcast, so expect to hear it soon!!
Showing posts with label 8-game. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 8-game. Show all posts
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
ANZPT 8 Game
In short, I simply didn't make hands!
I think during the whole tournament I managed to win one showdown (a 2-7 hand where I was all-in against 2 others) & split one pot (heads-up in Stud 8 where my opponent was all-in on 6th & the hand was already a chop).
I managed to stay afloat by picking up blinds & antes from time to time, however these hands rarely made it to the big bet rounds, so there was a limit to my gains.
While this was happening, I also managed to get involved in hands (marginal at best, but I simply did not have any big hands other than the Stud 8 hand that was chopped) where I simply missed draws & occasionally managed to make second best hands.
Of course in all of this, I still managed to outlast three others on the table (one cooler hand, one guy who was very active and seemingly looking to give his chips away who ran into a PLO beat & one other player who appeared to have a run similar to mine and just didn't make hands and kept missing draws) & finished around 30th out of the 40 starters.
The event itself turned into a triumph for the 'old guard', with the event being won by Leo Boxell ahead of David Gorr & Graeme Putt.
I think during the whole tournament I managed to win one showdown (a 2-7 hand where I was all-in against 2 others) & split one pot (heads-up in Stud 8 where my opponent was all-in on 6th & the hand was already a chop).
I managed to stay afloat by picking up blinds & antes from time to time, however these hands rarely made it to the big bet rounds, so there was a limit to my gains.
While this was happening, I also managed to get involved in hands (marginal at best, but I simply did not have any big hands other than the Stud 8 hand that was chopped) where I simply missed draws & occasionally managed to make second best hands.
Of course in all of this, I still managed to outlast three others on the table (one cooler hand, one guy who was very active and seemingly looking to give his chips away who ran into a PLO beat & one other player who appeared to have a run similar to mine and just didn't make hands and kept missing draws) & finished around 30th out of the 40 starters.
The event itself turned into a triumph for the 'old guard', with the event being won by Leo Boxell ahead of David Gorr & Graeme Putt.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Victorian Champs 8-Game, chess & cash games
The 8-game event should have been one of my better events, however it ended prematurely due to a few factors:
1. A poorly timed bluff in Razz. Although I had a pretty good idea of what my opponent's hand was, as well as the hand I was representing, it didn't stop my opponent from calling down ...
I had a board of A5T2 v 37J5 which saw me complete (one other player called as well as my opponent), bet 4th, only to be raised by the 37 & I 3-bet ... my opponent then called me down & had (as expected) a 7-low, obviously not giving me credit for the wheel or any better hand I thought I could credibaly represent, even saying 'do you have a 6?' before calling on 7th. Of course the fact that I had TTJ in the hole didn't help my cause ... but its simply a spot I should have avoided in this event. Fold 4th, wait for a better spot & move on ... rather than needlessly donking off 80% of my stack.
2. Getting too much respect & not adjusting my play accordingly. Over half the table knew who I was & knew I could play mixed games, with players even asking me if they played their hands correctly after the hand concluded. Of course it also meant that my raises (pre-flop or on 3rd street in stud) often got folds from hands that players would happily play against other opponents. The obvious adjustment to make is then to play more hands & take down more blinds & antes, but I didn't do this anywhere near as much as I should have, so found myself winning a few small pots, while leaving the bigger pots up to the cards ... which sometimes went my way, sometimes not.
3. Not playing enough hands. I'm really starting to reconsider my general philosophy for tournaments of late (a combination of recent results, as well as various videos/podcasts/forum threads on Deuces Cracked) & I really need to play lots of hands in an event like this in order to accumulate chips early.
There are a few reasons for this:
a. The weaker players tend to be the ones eliminated earliest, so I want to get as many of their chips as I can, rather than having to win them from better players (which may prove more difficult)
b. Although the structure looks good on the surface (10k stack & 30 minute levels), it plays much quicker given the extra time it takes to deal the stud & draw games, as well as the extra time that less experienced players take during non-holdem games as they try to figure out what hand they have (let alone worrying about what other people in the hand have - see the ill-timed Razz bluff as an example).
c. Its a (mostly) limit event, so I want to avoid being all-in during the tournament if at all possible. This is best achieved by having more chips than my opponents (or at least enough bets to cover a limit hand with plenty of action).
d. Chips early often means chips late ... and I generally enter tournaments with the intention of winning them (or at least cashing).
Ultimately I finshed around 32nd from the 48 starters the event attracted, which was very disappointing.
I also played a chess tournament on the weekend, the 'Best in the West' event at Yarraville. I managed 2 wins, 2 draws & a loss from the 5 games, which saw me finish tied for 6th out of 22 players. This sounds reasonable on the face of it, but when you consider that I was the 5th seed and was actually worse, if not losing, each of the four games I scored points in (the two wins & two draws), as well as the fact that I butchered a completely winning position in the game I lost, it made for a disappointing result. In some respects it was good to salvage points from such poor positions, but the fact that I found myself in them in the first place is the frustrating part about it.
Cash games have been going reasonably well over the last few days. There are times when I feel I am playing well, yet I still find myself in situations where I feel lost from time to time. If its any consolation, I feel that the last few days have been better than earlier in the week & some of the Deuces Cracked material (mentioned above) has really got me thinking about my game & my approach to it ... hopefully with a positive outcome!
In podcast news, I'm hoping to interview Tim Duckworth of Pokernews/Tilted Behaviour in the next week or so, with some other interview guests also being a possibility. Will see how I go on that front.
1. A poorly timed bluff in Razz. Although I had a pretty good idea of what my opponent's hand was, as well as the hand I was representing, it didn't stop my opponent from calling down ...
I had a board of A5T2 v 37J5 which saw me complete (one other player called as well as my opponent), bet 4th, only to be raised by the 37 & I 3-bet ... my opponent then called me down & had (as expected) a 7-low, obviously not giving me credit for the wheel or any better hand I thought I could credibaly represent, even saying 'do you have a 6?' before calling on 7th. Of course the fact that I had TTJ in the hole didn't help my cause ... but its simply a spot I should have avoided in this event. Fold 4th, wait for a better spot & move on ... rather than needlessly donking off 80% of my stack.
2. Getting too much respect & not adjusting my play accordingly. Over half the table knew who I was & knew I could play mixed games, with players even asking me if they played their hands correctly after the hand concluded. Of course it also meant that my raises (pre-flop or on 3rd street in stud) often got folds from hands that players would happily play against other opponents. The obvious adjustment to make is then to play more hands & take down more blinds & antes, but I didn't do this anywhere near as much as I should have, so found myself winning a few small pots, while leaving the bigger pots up to the cards ... which sometimes went my way, sometimes not.
3. Not playing enough hands. I'm really starting to reconsider my general philosophy for tournaments of late (a combination of recent results, as well as various videos/podcasts/forum threads on Deuces Cracked) & I really need to play lots of hands in an event like this in order to accumulate chips early.
There are a few reasons for this:
a. The weaker players tend to be the ones eliminated earliest, so I want to get as many of their chips as I can, rather than having to win them from better players (which may prove more difficult)
b. Although the structure looks good on the surface (10k stack & 30 minute levels), it plays much quicker given the extra time it takes to deal the stud & draw games, as well as the extra time that less experienced players take during non-holdem games as they try to figure out what hand they have (let alone worrying about what other people in the hand have - see the ill-timed Razz bluff as an example).
c. Its a (mostly) limit event, so I want to avoid being all-in during the tournament if at all possible. This is best achieved by having more chips than my opponents (or at least enough bets to cover a limit hand with plenty of action).
d. Chips early often means chips late ... and I generally enter tournaments with the intention of winning them (or at least cashing).
Ultimately I finshed around 32nd from the 48 starters the event attracted, which was very disappointing.
I also played a chess tournament on the weekend, the 'Best in the West' event at Yarraville. I managed 2 wins, 2 draws & a loss from the 5 games, which saw me finish tied for 6th out of 22 players. This sounds reasonable on the face of it, but when you consider that I was the 5th seed and was actually worse, if not losing, each of the four games I scored points in (the two wins & two draws), as well as the fact that I butchered a completely winning position in the game I lost, it made for a disappointing result. In some respects it was good to salvage points from such poor positions, but the fact that I found myself in them in the first place is the frustrating part about it.
Cash games have been going reasonably well over the last few days. There are times when I feel I am playing well, yet I still find myself in situations where I feel lost from time to time. If its any consolation, I feel that the last few days have been better than earlier in the week & some of the Deuces Cracked material (mentioned above) has really got me thinking about my game & my approach to it ... hopefully with a positive outcome!
In podcast news, I'm hoping to interview Tim Duckworth of Pokernews/Tilted Behaviour in the next week or so, with some other interview guests also being a possibility. Will see how I go on that front.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
LOOOONG day in tournaments for nothing ... and some bowling with the DC guys!
A long, long day in the 8-game tournament at Aria ... ultimately finishing with nothing. This 8-game tournament featured Badugi (rather than the usual 2-7 triple draw), along with NLHE, PLO & H.O.R.S.E. with the logic being that no-one needed to sit out in badugi, unlike 2-7. The field was small at 38, but with a 15k starting stack & 50 minute levels, it would be a long event. It took over 8 hours (well past midnight) to get down to two tables & with stacks reasonably deep, the pace slowed even more, with very few eliminations. At one point I was chip leader with 13 players left, having about 88k in chips when the average was 43k. Of course it was then when I managed to run poorly & find myself with strong second-best hands on multiple occasions. Unfortunately for me there were three big hands that I lost & I was out in 10th. The first was a razz hand where I had a 87 made, with a draw to a 75 & lost to my opponent's 75 (if I made my 75 I would have won the pot). I then lost a huge hand in O8, with AsKc8s8c & raised in late position, only to be called by the big blind, who was the other big stack at the table. The flop was KsTs2h & it wentcheck-bet-call. The turn brought the 4s & again check-bet-call. The river was a repeat 2 & my opponent checked to me again. My thinking was that there were a lot of hands that would check-call both the flop & turn that would also check-call the river (something like a weak flush with a missed low draw or a straight draw with a 2), so I bet again. My opponent then check-raised me! I was surprised, but decided to call, only for my opponent to turn over KKJ8 for top full house! I had (obviously mistakenly) thought that a hand like that (which makes sense for the check-call, check-call line) would probably lead the river, hoping to make an extra bet rather than risk missing a bet on the end. Of course I was wrong & I dropped a big chunk of my stack. Of course shortly afterwards I found myself in another big hand with the same opponent, this time with AAKJ. The flop was Q75 & we got the rest of the chips in on the flop & I was up against AJ73, which meant I was in decent shape, though there was a decent chance that the pot would be chopped (odds are 22-34 to scoop, with high hand being 65-34 in my favour, with the low being 0-63). Of course a repeat 7 came on the turn & I couldn't find the last A in the deck & was out in 10th place. What made it more disappointing was that this was the first time in over 6 hours that I had been all-in. The previous (and only) time I had been all-in in the tournament was in PLO when I was accused of slowrolling (though my opponent later apologised) when we got the money in on a Qc4c3h flop with my AcAdJd9c beating my opponent's 7654 when I made a flush on the turn (I thought for about 5-10 seconds after betting the flop & my oppoent raising to put me all-in before I called, which lead to the slowroll accusation). Of course with the top 5 being paid & my elimination coming just before 4am (the event started at 5pm), it was disappointing to have played well for over 10 hours, only to walk away with nothing.
The previous evening was the Deuces Cracked bowling night at the Gold Coast Casino. I played one game (scoring 117, which was poor for the lane I was in, but seemed like a decent score compared to other lanes ... a bit below what I would have liked, but its been a while since I've been bowling) before sitting down with Chuck Danielsson for an interview for my podcast. All-in-all a very enjoyable evening & I picked up a DC cap & duck while I was there. If there was any doubt as to whether I was part of a great community poker training site, the events at the WSOP have really confirmed that I made the right choice. Now I just need to find more time to improve my online game & make the most of the fantastic training videos Deuces Cracked have to offer.
Next on the agenda: UFC 116! Great card at the MGM!
The previous evening was the Deuces Cracked bowling night at the Gold Coast Casino. I played one game (scoring 117, which was poor for the lane I was in, but seemed like a decent score compared to other lanes ... a bit below what I would have liked, but its been a while since I've been bowling) before sitting down with Chuck Danielsson for an interview for my podcast. All-in-all a very enjoyable evening & I picked up a DC cap & duck while I was there. If there was any doubt as to whether I was part of a great community poker training site, the events at the WSOP have really confirmed that I made the right choice. Now I just need to find more time to improve my online game & make the most of the fantastic training videos Deuces Cracked have to offer.
Next on the agenda: UFC 116! Great card at the MGM!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
USA Day 23 & 24
Day 2 again ...
Made it through to day 2 of the $330 HORSE at the Orleans today. 125 started, with 62 making it through to day 2. A sick, sick structure with plenty of play & deep stacks meant that there weren't that many bustouts during the day & some of the players complained about the structure being too slow, lamenting that there were too many players left at the end of the day! Yes, poker players will complain about anything!
The day before I headed to the Rio to check out the WSOP. Things were still getting set up, but the tournament area is just huge! Saw quite a few pros playing in the $50k 8-game satellite, including Gavin Smith, Jason Mercier, Sorel Mizzi, Allen 'Chainsaw' Kessler, 'Chino' Rheem & others. I decided to play a satellite & managed to dust off my 2k stack in a $330 mega satellite when my JJ ran into 22 on a 432 flop. Of course I then decided to play a $125 Sit'n'go & managed to donk off my 1k stack when I ran AK into QQ. After these brief disappointments I left the Rio & ended up at Aria & played $1/3NL for a few hours until I managed to run into monster after monster after a good start.
Next on the agenda: Day 2 of the HORSE, Russell Peters & probably some events downtown.
Made it through to day 2 of the $330 HORSE at the Orleans today. 125 started, with 62 making it through to day 2. A sick, sick structure with plenty of play & deep stacks meant that there weren't that many bustouts during the day & some of the players complained about the structure being too slow, lamenting that there were too many players left at the end of the day! Yes, poker players will complain about anything!
The day before I headed to the Rio to check out the WSOP. Things were still getting set up, but the tournament area is just huge! Saw quite a few pros playing in the $50k 8-game satellite, including Gavin Smith, Jason Mercier, Sorel Mizzi, Allen 'Chainsaw' Kessler, 'Chino' Rheem & others. I decided to play a satellite & managed to dust off my 2k stack in a $330 mega satellite when my JJ ran into 22 on a 432 flop. Of course I then decided to play a $125 Sit'n'go & managed to donk off my 1k stack when I ran AK into QQ. After these brief disappointments I left the Rio & ended up at Aria & played $1/3NL for a few hours until I managed to run into monster after monster after a good start.
Next on the agenda: Day 2 of the HORSE, Russell Peters & probably some events downtown.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
USA Day 13
Another cash in an 8 game tournament!
Decided to fork out for the $1k 8 game tourney at Commerce today. The event ended up having 19 starters, including 'Miami' John Cernuto & David 'Chino' Rheem to name just two. I thought I played pretty well, doing my usual thing of trying to pick my spots, as well as finding some run good when needed. Also managed to stay out of the way of trouble hands & spots for the most part, even if it meant I may not have accumulated as quickly as I did. Maybe its just my risk-adverse nature that makes me want to avoid the 'gambling' spots.
Anyway I managed to make the final table & when we got down to 4-handed after eliminating the short stacks we started talking about deals. Personally I preferred the option of reducing the prize money for 1st & 2nd to crate a 4th place prize (the original payout was 1st-3rd with 4th being the money bubble), though one of the players was strongly against that. That player was talking about a chop based on chip count that ended the tournament (rather than playing it out). Of course this was all put on hold as one of the players got shorter & shorter ... but talks were resumed when the short stack managed to survive 2 or 3 all-ins & clawed his way back to close to average.
In the end I officlally took 2nd place, which saw me collect the main event seat & around $2700 in cash (yes, after the silly 7% 'out of state' tax withholding).
I guess that means I'll be playing the main event in a few days. Might also consider another tourney or two in between, but it definitely lifts my mood from the horrible run at Hollywood Park the previous day.
Next on the agenda: more poker ... and a main event later in the week!
Decided to fork out for the $1k 8 game tourney at Commerce today. The event ended up having 19 starters, including 'Miami' John Cernuto & David 'Chino' Rheem to name just two. I thought I played pretty well, doing my usual thing of trying to pick my spots, as well as finding some run good when needed. Also managed to stay out of the way of trouble hands & spots for the most part, even if it meant I may not have accumulated as quickly as I did. Maybe its just my risk-adverse nature that makes me want to avoid the 'gambling' spots.
Anyway I managed to make the final table & when we got down to 4-handed after eliminating the short stacks we started talking about deals. Personally I preferred the option of reducing the prize money for 1st & 2nd to crate a 4th place prize (the original payout was 1st-3rd with 4th being the money bubble), though one of the players was strongly against that. That player was talking about a chop based on chip count that ended the tournament (rather than playing it out). Of course this was all put on hold as one of the players got shorter & shorter ... but talks were resumed when the short stack managed to survive 2 or 3 all-ins & clawed his way back to close to average.
In the end I officlally took 2nd place, which saw me collect the main event seat & around $2700 in cash (yes, after the silly 7% 'out of state' tax withholding).
I guess that means I'll be playing the main event in a few days. Might also consider another tourney or two in between, but it definitely lifts my mood from the horrible run at Hollywood Park the previous day.
Next on the agenda: more poker ... and a main event later in the week!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
USA Day 11
Happy Birthday to me!
Yes, today was my birthday. After responding to many messages on Facebook, I made a brief stop at Walmart on the way to the evening's poker. Picked up some groceries & a DVD about Jam Master Jay (Run DMCs DJ who was killed in 2002) which looked interesting - full report to come when I get around to watching it. After the brief shopping trip, I headed off to Hollywood Park for some more of the usual cash game grind. This time I sat briefly in a $2/3 No limit Holden game while waiting for a seat in the mixed game. Here the buy-in is $100, which makes for a pretty short-stacked game. In the brief period I was at the table I didn't pick up anything of note & basically folded most hands, leaving with a slight deficit when I was called to the mixed game.
Of course I started off playing like an idiot & was quickly down a bit. 'Evil brain' was at work, with thoughts of 'of well, its only one more bet to see the flop'; 'I've got a gutshot, so I can take a card off on the flop' and the like. By the time my senses had returned & I started getting back some of these earlier losses, the game broke. Just what I wanted to happen! Of course I could go on the list for the main game (I was at the must move table, which was part of the reason for the game breaking - 2 players moved to the main game), but being third on the list would most likely mean a wait of at least an hour ... so I left.
Seeing as it was still early, I decided to head to Commerce to see if they had any middle-limit mixed games running (being Saturday night & all I figured this might be the most likely time). Of course there was nothing going that interested me as far as mixed games were concerned (the only games going were much bigger than I was comfortable playing), so I headed to the low-limit area to play some Omaha hi-lo. After playing for about half an hour, picking up very few playable hands (think I managed to split one or two pots in the time I was there), the game broke! This was getting ridiculous! I finished out the evening playing some limit holdem & again found a string of unplayable hands, with the occasional playable hand (say a suited ace) which invariably missed the flop by a mile, which saw my stack slowly dwindle. Of course the final insult was my final hand for the evening, when I only had 2 big blinds remaining. Of course I picked up my first premium hand for the night in QQ, so in went my remaining stack. Of course I was called by 4 others & we saw a flop of 246 with two spades. Checked around, so things were looking good. The turn brings the ugly offsuit king & there is a bet, which sees the others in the hand fold. This isn't a good sign & I announce that I might have 2 outs to win. Of course there is no queen on the river & my opponent in the hand turns over KQo for top pair & its time to head home for the night.
Next on the agenda: A visit to Fat Beats in Hollywood is in order & I'll probably stop off at Best Buy (the US equivalent of JB Hi-Fi) while I'm there. I'm thinking the 8 game tourney at Commerce on Monday is looking like a possibility ...
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
USA Day 7
3rd in the 8 game!!
FINALLY a cash in the USA! Played the 8 game event today (which rotated between Pot limit Omaha, No limit Holdem, 2-7 triple draw, limit holdem, limit Omaha hi-lo, Razz, Seven card stud & Seven card stud hi-lo every 6 hands) & finished 3rd in a field of 39 for just over $1500.
I felt I played well, picking good spots & making good value bets where needed. My starting table was good & I accumulated chips well, apart from a period of about 30 minutes where I played about 4 hands horribly & went from an above average stack to just below average. Managed to recover from this hiccup & stayed around average stack until the final table.
The final table saw a lot of action early, with Eskimo Clarke being very active early with another player on the table & these two traded a lot of pots. They both found themselves on the wrong end of Jeff (who I think ended up winning the event) & some miracle rivers, eventually being knocked out in the same hand (Eskimo Clarke had a shorter stack at the start of the hand, so finished 7th & missed out on the money altogether - something he was VERY unhappy about!). I managed to stay afloat & made a big call in stud hi-lo with (K9)KJQ8(K) against an opponent showing a board of 2345 when we were both short. Thankfully he had only had 2 pair & my trip kings scooped a sizable pot. Managed to knock out both the short stacks on back-to back no limit holdem hands when KT beat A9 & JT beat K9. This left both myself & Rusty (who finished in second I think) with fairly similar stacks (35k or thereabouts) against Jeff's 80k+.
Much of the three handed (for me at least) came down to two critical hands where I found myself on the wrong side of the nuts. The first was a 2-7 triple draw hand against Rusty. He had played fairly aggressively in 2-7 previously & often stood pat with a relatively weak hand (87, 97 or worse), so when I picked up 86532 on the first draw (after drawing 2) I bet out with confidence, only to have Rusty raise me (after he had also drawn 2). Knowing how he had played previously I called & we both stood pat on the remaining streets & I called bets from Rusty on each street to see him turn over 75432!!! This seriously dented my stack & made me the short stack by quite a margin. The final blow for me was a hand with Jeff when I was short & saw a flop in the BB with T852 with 2 clubs. The flop was 337 with 2 clubs which was checked around & when the Th hit on the turn I bet out, thinking my top pair might be good for high, with the low draw & club draw as re-draws if needed. Jeff then raised me & with less than 2 big bets remaining I committed my stack, only to see Jeff turn over TT73 for the uber-nuts! This still left me with the low draw, so any A2456 or 8 would see me take half the pot, but with the Q appearing on the river I was done. $1500 is a decent payday for a tourney with only 39 players, however once again its a case of close but no cigar for me in a major tournament series. Lets hope I can break through sometime later on this trip!
Next on the agenda: Cash game grinding & maybe some sightseeing
FINALLY a cash in the USA! Played the 8 game event today (which rotated between Pot limit Omaha, No limit Holdem, 2-7 triple draw, limit holdem, limit Omaha hi-lo, Razz, Seven card stud & Seven card stud hi-lo every 6 hands) & finished 3rd in a field of 39 for just over $1500.
I felt I played well, picking good spots & making good value bets where needed. My starting table was good & I accumulated chips well, apart from a period of about 30 minutes where I played about 4 hands horribly & went from an above average stack to just below average. Managed to recover from this hiccup & stayed around average stack until the final table.
The final table saw a lot of action early, with Eskimo Clarke being very active early with another player on the table & these two traded a lot of pots. They both found themselves on the wrong end of Jeff (who I think ended up winning the event) & some miracle rivers, eventually being knocked out in the same hand (Eskimo Clarke had a shorter stack at the start of the hand, so finished 7th & missed out on the money altogether - something he was VERY unhappy about!). I managed to stay afloat & made a big call in stud hi-lo with (K9)KJQ8(K) against an opponent showing a board of 2345 when we were both short. Thankfully he had only had 2 pair & my trip kings scooped a sizable pot. Managed to knock out both the short stacks on back-to back no limit holdem hands when KT beat A9 & JT beat K9. This left both myself & Rusty (who finished in second I think) with fairly similar stacks (35k or thereabouts) against Jeff's 80k+.
Much of the three handed (for me at least) came down to two critical hands where I found myself on the wrong side of the nuts. The first was a 2-7 triple draw hand against Rusty. He had played fairly aggressively in 2-7 previously & often stood pat with a relatively weak hand (87, 97 or worse), so when I picked up 86532 on the first draw (after drawing 2) I bet out with confidence, only to have Rusty raise me (after he had also drawn 2). Knowing how he had played previously I called & we both stood pat on the remaining streets & I called bets from Rusty on each street to see him turn over 75432!!! This seriously dented my stack & made me the short stack by quite a margin. The final blow for me was a hand with Jeff when I was short & saw a flop in the BB with T852 with 2 clubs. The flop was 337 with 2 clubs which was checked around & when the Th hit on the turn I bet out, thinking my top pair might be good for high, with the low draw & club draw as re-draws if needed. Jeff then raised me & with less than 2 big bets remaining I committed my stack, only to see Jeff turn over TT73 for the uber-nuts! This still left me with the low draw, so any A2456 or 8 would see me take half the pot, but with the Q appearing on the river I was done. $1500 is a decent payday for a tourney with only 39 players, however once again its a case of close but no cigar for me in a major tournament series. Lets hope I can break through sometime later on this trip!
Next on the agenda: Cash game grinding & maybe some sightseeing
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
USA Day 6
H.O.R.S.E. at the Commerce.
Played the HORSE tournament in the California State Poker Championships today. There was a total of 89 runners & I managed to finish 20th, which was a reasonable result, but still 2 tables short of the money (top 8 got paid), so somewhat disappointing. Very much a rollercoaster day. Got off to a reasonable start, then fell into a bit of a slump before the second break, but hit a purple patch shortly afterwards, going from a stack of around 4k to about 13k (4k starting stack).
Two big hands turned my tournament in the opposite direction - the first was a Razz hand where it was 3-ways to the river & I had 6542A to my opponents 6532A (the third player mucked their 7 on the river without calling) for a pot of about 10k! This was compounded shortly afterwards by a slowroll in Stud hi-lo. With my opponent's board showing A4A6 I had a pair of aces and 4 to a flush on 6th street (no low). I paired up on the river to have Aces & 9s. After I turned over my hand, my opponent turned over a 6, then a 4 ... and then paused for about 3-4 seconds ... before turning over his river card ... which was a 6 to give him the winning hand (sixes full of aces), which dropped my down to around 4k again. After making the final three tables (where everyone redrew for seats) with just 3.6k (and playing 800-1600) I managed to hit some hands & dodge some bullets to build it up to almost 10k by the time Omaha hi-lo had finished. Stud however was not kind to me & I dropped a large pot to another player which left my with only 600 in chips! I would survive another 3 all-ins before finally getting my money in badly in Razz with Q42 v 43A ... eventually drawing a pair of kings & another queen (yes, I did make a queen-low), only to be crushed by my opponent's 7-low.
The play varied greatly, with some decent players in the field, however there were still a large number of total fish playing, many of whom luckboxed their way to the final few tables. Either way I think it puts me in a good frame of mind for tomorrow's 8-game tournament (the first held at Commerce) as I suspect the 2-7 triple draw will be one of the worst played games in the mox by a long way & could be a great time to pick up some chips if things go my way.
Next on the agenda: crushing 8-game
Played the HORSE tournament in the California State Poker Championships today. There was a total of 89 runners & I managed to finish 20th, which was a reasonable result, but still 2 tables short of the money (top 8 got paid), so somewhat disappointing. Very much a rollercoaster day. Got off to a reasonable start, then fell into a bit of a slump before the second break, but hit a purple patch shortly afterwards, going from a stack of around 4k to about 13k (4k starting stack).
Two big hands turned my tournament in the opposite direction - the first was a Razz hand where it was 3-ways to the river & I had 6542A to my opponents 6532A (the third player mucked their 7 on the river without calling) for a pot of about 10k! This was compounded shortly afterwards by a slowroll in Stud hi-lo. With my opponent's board showing A4A6 I had a pair of aces and 4 to a flush on 6th street (no low). I paired up on the river to have Aces & 9s. After I turned over my hand, my opponent turned over a 6, then a 4 ... and then paused for about 3-4 seconds ... before turning over his river card ... which was a 6 to give him the winning hand (sixes full of aces), which dropped my down to around 4k again. After making the final three tables (where everyone redrew for seats) with just 3.6k (and playing 800-1600) I managed to hit some hands & dodge some bullets to build it up to almost 10k by the time Omaha hi-lo had finished. Stud however was not kind to me & I dropped a large pot to another player which left my with only 600 in chips! I would survive another 3 all-ins before finally getting my money in badly in Razz with Q42 v 43A ... eventually drawing a pair of kings & another queen (yes, I did make a queen-low), only to be crushed by my opponent's 7-low.
The play varied greatly, with some decent players in the field, however there were still a large number of total fish playing, many of whom luckboxed their way to the final few tables. Either way I think it puts me in a good frame of mind for tomorrow's 8-game tournament (the first held at Commerce) as I suspect the 2-7 triple draw will be one of the worst played games in the mox by a long way & could be a great time to pick up some chips if things go my way.
Next on the agenda: crushing 8-game
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