A lot can happen in a few days.
I'll start with a list:
UFC 116 at MGM Grand (I'll put up a separate post about this), but the short summary is that it was the best UFC card ever in my opinion!
2+2 party at Aria (yes, another post about this too)
HORSE Tournament at the Bellagio
4th of July in Las Vegas
Cash games at O'Sheas, El Cortez & Aria
I guess poker is a good place to start ... I played a session of $9/18 mixed at Aria following UFC 116. This time the mix was a fairly standard Omaha8, Stud8, Razz & 2-7 Triple Draw. I played OK & finished with a small profit, so was happy with that.
Following the 2+2 party I went to O'Sheas & played some $1/2NL. Things were going reasonably well until I found myself in a huge hand with another player ... and quite a sweat to boot!
There was a player at the table with a pretty big stack ($400+) who had been raising a lot & playing a lot of hands. I had been playing fairly snug & had only shown down premium hands & was sitting with around $250 in front of me. There were also a few players who would play any two cards (this was late night at O'Sheas), so it was an interesting mix of players. Anyway, to the big hand itself. The loose guy with the big stack in in the small blind & I am UTG & have JJ (diamonds & clubs - suits are somewhat important later in the hand). The way the table has been playing I hate raising, getting 4+ callers & being stuck in a multi-way hand out of position with jacks. Obviously folding is not an option, so I decided to limp & see what the rest of the table did before making a real decision about my hand. I was raised to $6 by UTG+2, who seemed to be playing reasonably solid poker (and also seemed to be a regular in the game by his interaction with the dealers), which was called in 4 spots, including the loose guy with chips. With so much out there I thought that this would be a good time for the old limp-raise play, as it is likely to do two things: thin the field & represent a big hand (potentially a bigger hand than I actually have). Anyway, with this in mind I made it $30 to go. Part 1 of the plan succeeded, as the only callers were the initial raiser & the loose guy with the stack. The flop was a reasonable one for my hand - 9d8h3d - though obviously with the draws (both diamonds & straight draws) my hand is definitely vulnerable. I lead at the pot for $55 & was called by the initial raiser & the loose guy folded. So far so good, though the way I played the hand meant that it was difficult to put the caller on a narrow range of hands. He could have a pair (possibly good, possibly bad), a set (bad), a straight draw (possibly good, possibly bad), a flush draw (again bad or good), overcards (good for the moment) ... or complete air! On the flip side, my hand was fairly well defined. I either had a big pair or overcards (with possibly a flush draw), with an outside chance of having a set. In one way it is good that I have the lead in the hand, but it makes it tough given the hand ranges that each of us have. Anyway, the turn was the 7c, meaning the board was now 9873 with a diamond draw. The turn was definitely decision time. After a few seconds I decided to move all-in for my remaining $155.
The scenarios were as follows in my head (from best to worst):
* He folds & I win the pot uncontested
* He calls & I have him crushed & win
* He calls & I am in front, dodge his outs & win
* He calls & I am crushed, but spike a card to win
* He calls & I am in front but he hits ... I go back to hotel to sleep
* He calls & I am crushed & lose ... and go back to the hotel to sleep
He thought for a long time about his decision & said he had a big hand he couldn't fold ... and clarified it as a big draw. Given the way the hand had played out I thought that meant he had ATdd, meaning he had overcards & a flush draw on the flop & picked up a straight draw on the turn. However he did keep in insisting that I had aces or kings, so overcards don't seem so valuable if that is the case. As it turned out, he eventually called & showed 8d6d for a flopped pair & flush draw & picked up a straight draw on the turn. The fact that I had JJ meant I took away some of his outs (a ten was no good as I would make a higher straight) & I also had a diamond in my hand ... however I was relieved to see a black 3 on the river to have scenario number 3 play out & collect a $500 pot. I stayed for a little longer, but nothing much eventful happened & I left about $300 to the good.
I also decided to venture downtown to el Cortez & played in their $1-3-6 game (I still don't know exactly how it is supposed to be structured, but there was a $1 blind - yes, just one blind - and it seemed as though you could raise by anything up to $3 on any street, with the river betting being $6 (although sometimes people bet $3). Perhaps it was a spread limit game? Anyway, I played for a few hours & left with a small profit (yes, old 'nits' are horrible players as well - one of the lessons I learned from the $5/10 game at Crown). Why go to El Cortez I hear you ask? Well it is the hidden (well not any more) agenda of this trip ... to collect $1 chips (and play poker) in as many Las Vegas poker rooms as possible. After my previous trip earlier in the year, as well as the current time I am spending in Las Vegas, I have now played in almost all the poker rooms on the Strip & in the Downtown Las Vegas area. The only one to elude my so far is the Riviera, which seems to have at most 1 cash table running & players who simply rebuy when they bust, making waiting too long to endure! More on the quest as the stay continues ... I have just over a week left!
I also decided (foolishly in hindsight) to play the HORSE tournament at the Bellagio. One of the players at my table was John Joannou, winner of the HORSE event at this year's Aussie Millions. Also in the field were Allen Kessler, Yuval Bronstein, Thor Hansen & others. The reason why it was foolish to play is that I managed to run the worst I have ever run (with the exception of a mixed stud tournament at Crown where I didn't win a hand for the entire tournament) in a mixed event. I rarely picked up hands & when I did, they found a way to get run down. The best example of this was an Omaha hi-lo hand where I had raised in early position with AK62 double suited, only to be called by 4 players (as seems to be standard in split-pot games early in an event like this) to see a flop of J22, which I bet & get 2 callers. I again bet the 8 on the turn, only to be raised & call, then check-call the river 9, only for my opponent to show Q852 rainbow! I was a decent event, but I didn't stick around afterwards, in spite of the view of the Bellagio fountains from the balcony of the Fontana Lounge (where the tournament was held).
Showing posts with label HORSE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HORSE. Show all posts
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
New Logo! Oh ... and some poker
The Donkcast now has a logo! Many thanks go to a former student of mine, Diarmaid Murray, who decided to spend some time with photoshop ... and the results are at the top of the page! Hope you like it.
I should also give a plug for Diarmaid's blog while I'm singing his praises http://anydaytuesday.wordpress.com/
In other news I played the 1pm deepstack tournament at the Rio today, ran horribly and busted early (yes, I was out before the first break). Of course I ran TT into AA on a 7-high board; rivered trips into a rivered flush; AK into AK to chop; and finally lost a race when my TT could not hold up against the might that is AK.
With that over I decided to head to the WSOP shop & picked up some gear (a hoodie, t-shirt, cap & magnet) before heading to the cash tables. I began with some limit holdem. Of course I continued the trend from the tournament, with players finding ways to beat whatever hand I had. Of course it would feel much worse because they would raise & bet with their draws, which inevitably got there on the river ... yet when I tried the same I simply got called down & missed, tabling the 'queen-high, I missed' or similar on the end, only to see the pot being shipped elsewhere.
I thought it was a good thing to be called for my HORSE table, however a combination of having similar things happen there, combined with some poor play on my part meant that I left the Rio tired & with a lighter wallet than I had arrived with. Of course mentally I keep telling myself to avoid problem spots, yet somehow I still keep finding myself in them after not following my own advice. T865 with a suit in Omaha hi-lo ... yes its been raised in front of me, but there are two callers & I'm in the big blind ... so rather than making the simple play & folding the hand like I should, I find the evil voice putting thoughts like 'well I am getting 7-to-1'; 'what if I flop a straight & it holds'; 'a ten-high flush might scoop a big pot' and the like, so I play the hand, wind up with some kind of dodgy draw (or even worse a dodgy combo draw), which either misses, or worse still, gets there & is no good ... and the chips I work hard for at other times seem to disappear twice as fast! Such is the dilemma of the poker player ...
**Correction** In yesterday's blog I said that I went to the Gamblers Book Shop, when in fact I went to the Gamblers General Store ... yes the first place does exist (and I might make a trip there some day), but it wasn't the place I went to.
Next on the agenda: Something relaxing (considering the Titanic Artifacts exhibition at the Luxor) or another bookshop trip, with some poker mixed in before another Deuces Cracked meet-up, this time at O'Sheas
I should also give a plug for Diarmaid's blog while I'm singing his praises http://anydaytuesday.wordpress.com/
In other news I played the 1pm deepstack tournament at the Rio today, ran horribly and busted early (yes, I was out before the first break). Of course I ran TT into AA on a 7-high board; rivered trips into a rivered flush; AK into AK to chop; and finally lost a race when my TT could not hold up against the might that is AK.
With that over I decided to head to the WSOP shop & picked up some gear (a hoodie, t-shirt, cap & magnet) before heading to the cash tables. I began with some limit holdem. Of course I continued the trend from the tournament, with players finding ways to beat whatever hand I had. Of course it would feel much worse because they would raise & bet with their draws, which inevitably got there on the river ... yet when I tried the same I simply got called down & missed, tabling the 'queen-high, I missed' or similar on the end, only to see the pot being shipped elsewhere.
I thought it was a good thing to be called for my HORSE table, however a combination of having similar things happen there, combined with some poor play on my part meant that I left the Rio tired & with a lighter wallet than I had arrived with. Of course mentally I keep telling myself to avoid problem spots, yet somehow I still keep finding myself in them after not following my own advice. T865 with a suit in Omaha hi-lo ... yes its been raised in front of me, but there are two callers & I'm in the big blind ... so rather than making the simple play & folding the hand like I should, I find the evil voice putting thoughts like 'well I am getting 7-to-1'; 'what if I flop a straight & it holds'; 'a ten-high flush might scoop a big pot' and the like, so I play the hand, wind up with some kind of dodgy draw (or even worse a dodgy combo draw), which either misses, or worse still, gets there & is no good ... and the chips I work hard for at other times seem to disappear twice as fast! Such is the dilemma of the poker player ...
**Correction** In yesterday's blog I said that I went to the Gamblers Book Shop, when in fact I went to the Gamblers General Store ... yes the first place does exist (and I might make a trip there some day), but it wasn't the place I went to.
Next on the agenda: Something relaxing (considering the Titanic Artifacts exhibition at the Luxor) or another bookshop trip, with some poker mixed in before another Deuces Cracked meet-up, this time at O'Sheas
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Back on the HORSE
Played another HORSE tournament, this time at the Golden Nugget. Had a table that was good in some ways & bad in others. Good because many players were horrible; bad because of the attitude, things done at the table & time taken to play out hands.
Personally, I didn't get much going & busted just before the dinner break, largely due to a big Stud8 hand where one of my opponents couldn't fold & caught up on 6th or 7th street. There is a short stack (showing a 7) at the table who completes after a limper (showing an A). There is a caller (showing an 8) & I raise (showing a J, with AA in the hole). The limper called, the short stack moves all in for half a bet more (1500 total playing 600/1200), the caller asks if I have the option to raise & folds when he is told that I can, so I re-raise & the limp/caller calls again. To make a long story short, my board ends up (AA)JK9T(5), with the short stack eventually making a 7-high straight (which scooped the main pot) & the other player in the hand (who called bets on every street except 7th) finished with a board of A29Q & showed AKT in the hole, to win the side with aces with KQ kickers! Yes, he called me down & caught his magic card on 6th or 7th ... which of course left me crippled.
To make matters worse, he'd taken quite a bit of time to call on each street (yes, even calling the re-raise on 3rd!) ... and then proceeded to call the clock on another player in the very next hand when he took more than 5 seconds to think about a decision on 5th street! And people thought Tiffany Michelle was bad for calling the clock in the Main Event a few years back ...
Of course to complete the day, I managed to get all-in pre-flop in holdem with Q9o & saw a final board of 4QQ9T, with one player betting all the way & being called down to the river ... only to see him turn over Q9 as well (so I only got half of the main pot!) & then finally went out with 56 suited, which flopped a straight & flush draw, but missed everything & I was playing the board by the river!
After that wonderful performance I headed to the Rio to see if they had any mixed games going. I put my name on a few lists, then went to have a look at the tournaments that were running. When I returned to the cash game area it was only a short wait before I got a seat in a $10/20 Omaha8 game & proceeded to run horribly before being called for $10/20 HORSE. I topped up my stack at the HORSE table & when it finally got going (lots of people walked past while there were three of us at the table waiting for players to start ... they checked the mix, looked at the table & walked off, often never to return) I managed to make up for both the earlier Omaha8 session, as well as re-couping my buy-in from the afternoon's tournament at the Golden Nugget. All-in-all, not a bad day.
Next on the agenda: Catching up with Theos Rippis, a mate of mine from my chess days in Sydney who I have not seen for years, who arrived yesterday ... and more poker!
Personally, I didn't get much going & busted just before the dinner break, largely due to a big Stud8 hand where one of my opponents couldn't fold & caught up on 6th or 7th street. There is a short stack (showing a 7) at the table who completes after a limper (showing an A). There is a caller (showing an 8) & I raise (showing a J, with AA in the hole). The limper called, the short stack moves all in for half a bet more (1500 total playing 600/1200), the caller asks if I have the option to raise & folds when he is told that I can, so I re-raise & the limp/caller calls again. To make a long story short, my board ends up (AA)JK9T(5), with the short stack eventually making a 7-high straight (which scooped the main pot) & the other player in the hand (who called bets on every street except 7th) finished with a board of A29Q & showed AKT in the hole, to win the side with aces with KQ kickers! Yes, he called me down & caught his magic card on 6th or 7th ... which of course left me crippled.
To make matters worse, he'd taken quite a bit of time to call on each street (yes, even calling the re-raise on 3rd!) ... and then proceeded to call the clock on another player in the very next hand when he took more than 5 seconds to think about a decision on 5th street! And people thought Tiffany Michelle was bad for calling the clock in the Main Event a few years back ...
Of course to complete the day, I managed to get all-in pre-flop in holdem with Q9o & saw a final board of 4QQ9T, with one player betting all the way & being called down to the river ... only to see him turn over Q9 as well (so I only got half of the main pot!) & then finally went out with 56 suited, which flopped a straight & flush draw, but missed everything & I was playing the board by the river!
After that wonderful performance I headed to the Rio to see if they had any mixed games going. I put my name on a few lists, then went to have a look at the tournaments that were running. When I returned to the cash game area it was only a short wait before I got a seat in a $10/20 Omaha8 game & proceeded to run horribly before being called for $10/20 HORSE. I topped up my stack at the HORSE table & when it finally got going (lots of people walked past while there were three of us at the table waiting for players to start ... they checked the mix, looked at the table & walked off, often never to return) I managed to make up for both the earlier Omaha8 session, as well as re-couping my buy-in from the afternoon's tournament at the Golden Nugget. All-in-all, not a bad day.
Next on the agenda: Catching up with Theos Rippis, a mate of mine from my chess days in Sydney who I have not seen for years, who arrived yesterday ... and more poker!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
23rd in the H.O.R.S.E. at the World Series!
Yes, I managed to run good in a tournament for once! Not a bad tournament to find the run good in either ... the $1500 HORSE at the WSOP. 827 players entered & I managed to finish in 23rd place, taking home a little over $5200 (after the IRS/US Treasury took their cut) for my three days (well two days & about 20 minutes) at the tables.
I got off to a decent start, building my 4500 starting stack to 5500 by the first break & dropped slightly to 4800 at the dinner break. Post-dinner was horrible for me & I sunk to just 900 at the final break for the day & was pretty much ready to write the tournament off completely. I had a quick chat with Chuck & Joe of http://deucescracked.com who were at a table in the Poker Kitchen & told them of my plight - I almost told them to hold the seat for me because I would be back soon ... but didn't.
The first critical hand for me was the first back from the break. I have only 900 left & we're playing 400/800 Razz. Thankfully I have a 3 as my door card & there is only one other card below a 9 showing (one player has an ace). I look down & see 22 in the hole ... not exactly the A2 or A4 I was hoping for, but with only one other low card I decided that this was the hand ... make or break time! I complete the bet to 400 & the ace calls. Fourth street sees me catch a 6 & the ace catches a 9. I have the lead & bet my last 400 (though I don't make any indication that it is my last chips, nor do I announce that I am all-in) & my opponent insta-folds! Double-up for me! Of course I managed to go on a massive run & built my stack up to a high point of around 13k before losing a few pots just before the end of play to finish at 8900 for the day.
Day two saw me get off to a good start, with my initial table (with Jason Mercier) being the first to break. The second table was good for me, before moving again, where I settled in, stuck between Yuval Bronstein (on my right) & Brandon Cantu (on my left). I managed to keep my stack around the 20k mark for most of the day before winning a big (30k+) pot against Bronstein in Razz, where my 75 improved to a 65 on 7th street to beat out his 75 that he made on 7th street. That got me near the 50k mark, where I stayed for much of the middle part of the day. I picked up a few big pots later in the day which took me over the 100k mark & I was doing great until my table broke.
At the next table (where I remained for the rest of the day) I started well enough, but made a few mistakes (the biggest was thinking I was playing Stud8 when we were still on Stud Hi & I called down an opponent thinking I was drawing to a 6-low, only to make a pair of kings on the river & pay him off in a 15k+ pot) & lost some big hands (the biggest being a 3-way holdem hand where I had top 2 pair & was called down by a player who had flopped a flush draw & made it on the river, with the other player also staying in the hand until the river, for a 50k+ pot) before I found myself at critical hand #2.
By this stage I was getting short on chips (around 30k) & the limits were now 4k/8k. I was BB in the holdem round when it was folded to the button who raised. I called with J9o & saw a flop of AT9, giving me bottom pair. Although it was not an ideal flop, I did have a pair & the button would likely bet the flop trying to represent the ace. As expected, I checked, the button bet & I check-raised (the button was also very short & I only just had him covered), only for the button to respond with a 3-bet. Thinking positively (or perhaps over-optimistically), I surmised that although I was most likely behind now, there were a number of good turn cards that could come for me (I had the Jc to go with the 9c & Tc on the flop to give me a three-card straight flush draw), so I decided to call & see what came on the turn ... BINK! 9 on the turn! I bet both the turn & river (and was called down) & showed my winning J9o, much to the disgust of my opponent, who said he had AJ & I had caught a 2-outer. I guess you just have to run well to make it deep in these things after all!
Anyway, Al Barbieri (who went on to finish 2nd) joined the table late in the day & he managed to run like God (or at least a very fast Kenyan) & collected a large portion of chips on the table, making whatever hand he needed to to win the pot ... including a few from me & I was left with 52,500 at the end of the day.
Day 3 saw a tough table (though with only 3 tables, all were tough). I was seated between Robert Mizrachi (to my right) & defending champ James Van Alstyne (to my left), with overnight chip leader & eventual winner Konstantin Puchkov sitting to his left. The day started with Holdem & I didn't make it out of the round. With levels of 6k/12k I didn't have much room to move & had to find a way to get chips & get chips quickly! First hand of the day sees me pick up A6cc UTG+1 & I decide to raise, only to be 3-bet by Van Alstyne. I decide to call & see the flop before deciding if this is going to be the hand or not & see a not-so-friendly flop of KQ4 & I check-fold to Van Alstyne's bet. When I was BB it folded around to Robert Mizrachi, who raised. I looked down at KQo & 3-bet, knowing I was not folding, regardless of the flop. Thankfully the flop was KJ6 & what was left of my stack found its way into the middle, with Mizrachi tabling J8o for middle pair. He missed & I even managed to hit a queen on the river to make sure of the double-up & I was back to 50k. I then got involved in another hand when in the small blind! A late-position player raised & I looked down at A9ss & made it 3 bets. The raiser called & I bet both the flop & turn before check-calling on the river on a board of 742J3, to be shown 87 for flopped top pair ... and I was back to being the short stack once again! My final hand came when it was folded to me in the cutoff & I looked down at Q8 of diamonds. This would be it ... I raised & the big stack in the small blind asked how much I had behind (which is either a really bad or really good question to hear, depending on the response) & proceeded to re-raise (not the response I was looking for). I re-raised all-in & found out I was in horrible shape against his AQ of clubs. Of course the flop made my predicament worse, falling KQ7 with 2 clubs, meaning I had only 2 outs to survive. I missed my 8 & my opponent found the final nail on the river with a club & I left to get my payout in 23rd place.
Of course the taxman got a decent chunk of my prizemoney (why Australia & America don't have a tax treaty to avoid this situation is beyond me!), but I left with a little over $5200 for my efforts, which was quite a change from the day 1 bustout I was expecting!
Afterwards I went to Aria to play some $1/3NL (in the absence of any mixed or limit games running) & managed to find an awkward spot to lose my stack. I had $107 to start the hand & looked down at AA UTG & raised to $10 ... standard so far. Of course it then proceeded call, fold, call, call, call, etc around the table & there were 8 people to the flop!! Now I have some idea of how Barry Greenstein felt on High Stakes Poker! Anyway, the flop came down 9s8s5c ... not an ideal flop for aces (though I did have the ace of spades) when facing 7 opponents. My dilemma was made worse by the small blind, who lead out for $20, which the big blind called. What to do in this spot? I was really unsure & eventually decided to just call the $20. Everyone else at the table folded & we went to the turn to see the Jc. Again not an ideal card, but it was checked to me, so I put my remaining $77 in the middle ... and the SB went into the tank ... and eventually called. This then got the BB thinking ... but he eventually called as well! Looks like it was either a triple-up or bustout for me ... and then the river 9h appeared. Both players checked, so I was hopeful. The small blind turned over T5ss for bottom pair & a missed straight & flush draws. The BB turned over T9o, for three 9s (flopped top pair & missed straight draw), which was more than enough to beat out my aces up ... oh well ...
Tim Duckworth, from http://pokernews.com & http://www.tiltedbehaviour.com/ had dropped by earlier in the evening & asked about mixed games in Las Vegas & said he was going to try to get a $4/8 HORSE game going (if not already) at the Venetian. After the disappointment of having my aces cracked ... and a meal at Subway ... I headed for the Venetian & joined the HORSE game after a shortish wait & took a seat next to Tim. Also in the game was Heath Chick & some other PokerNews people & after roughly 6 hours at the table, the game broke, with a tick in the small win column for me.
Today I played a tournament at Caesars Palace ... a 'Turbo Double Stack' event, where you started with 30k in chips, with 20 minute levels. I started well, but eventually picked some bad spots to bet & raise before the blinds became enormous. Of course I was crippled when my 76 was run down on a 997 flop where the money got all-in, with my opponents J8o finding an 8 on the turn. I then took my final stand with AJo, only to run into A8 suited, who flopped top pair before I bricked out, to finish in around 100th place out of the 178 or so starters they had for the event. Although it wasn't horrible, I doubt I'll be back there for tournaments while I'm in town.
Next on the agenda: More cash games & some laundry ... oh fun!
I got off to a decent start, building my 4500 starting stack to 5500 by the first break & dropped slightly to 4800 at the dinner break. Post-dinner was horrible for me & I sunk to just 900 at the final break for the day & was pretty much ready to write the tournament off completely. I had a quick chat with Chuck & Joe of http://deucescracked.com who were at a table in the Poker Kitchen & told them of my plight - I almost told them to hold the seat for me because I would be back soon ... but didn't.
The first critical hand for me was the first back from the break. I have only 900 left & we're playing 400/800 Razz. Thankfully I have a 3 as my door card & there is only one other card below a 9 showing (one player has an ace). I look down & see 22 in the hole ... not exactly the A2 or A4 I was hoping for, but with only one other low card I decided that this was the hand ... make or break time! I complete the bet to 400 & the ace calls. Fourth street sees me catch a 6 & the ace catches a 9. I have the lead & bet my last 400 (though I don't make any indication that it is my last chips, nor do I announce that I am all-in) & my opponent insta-folds! Double-up for me! Of course I managed to go on a massive run & built my stack up to a high point of around 13k before losing a few pots just before the end of play to finish at 8900 for the day.
Day two saw me get off to a good start, with my initial table (with Jason Mercier) being the first to break. The second table was good for me, before moving again, where I settled in, stuck between Yuval Bronstein (on my right) & Brandon Cantu (on my left). I managed to keep my stack around the 20k mark for most of the day before winning a big (30k+) pot against Bronstein in Razz, where my 75 improved to a 65 on 7th street to beat out his 75 that he made on 7th street. That got me near the 50k mark, where I stayed for much of the middle part of the day. I picked up a few big pots later in the day which took me over the 100k mark & I was doing great until my table broke.
At the next table (where I remained for the rest of the day) I started well enough, but made a few mistakes (the biggest was thinking I was playing Stud8 when we were still on Stud Hi & I called down an opponent thinking I was drawing to a 6-low, only to make a pair of kings on the river & pay him off in a 15k+ pot) & lost some big hands (the biggest being a 3-way holdem hand where I had top 2 pair & was called down by a player who had flopped a flush draw & made it on the river, with the other player also staying in the hand until the river, for a 50k+ pot) before I found myself at critical hand #2.
By this stage I was getting short on chips (around 30k) & the limits were now 4k/8k. I was BB in the holdem round when it was folded to the button who raised. I called with J9o & saw a flop of AT9, giving me bottom pair. Although it was not an ideal flop, I did have a pair & the button would likely bet the flop trying to represent the ace. As expected, I checked, the button bet & I check-raised (the button was also very short & I only just had him covered), only for the button to respond with a 3-bet. Thinking positively (or perhaps over-optimistically), I surmised that although I was most likely behind now, there were a number of good turn cards that could come for me (I had the Jc to go with the 9c & Tc on the flop to give me a three-card straight flush draw), so I decided to call & see what came on the turn ... BINK! 9 on the turn! I bet both the turn & river (and was called down) & showed my winning J9o, much to the disgust of my opponent, who said he had AJ & I had caught a 2-outer. I guess you just have to run well to make it deep in these things after all!
Anyway, Al Barbieri (who went on to finish 2nd) joined the table late in the day & he managed to run like God (or at least a very fast Kenyan) & collected a large portion of chips on the table, making whatever hand he needed to to win the pot ... including a few from me & I was left with 52,500 at the end of the day.
Day 3 saw a tough table (though with only 3 tables, all were tough). I was seated between Robert Mizrachi (to my right) & defending champ James Van Alstyne (to my left), with overnight chip leader & eventual winner Konstantin Puchkov sitting to his left. The day started with Holdem & I didn't make it out of the round. With levels of 6k/12k I didn't have much room to move & had to find a way to get chips & get chips quickly! First hand of the day sees me pick up A6cc UTG+1 & I decide to raise, only to be 3-bet by Van Alstyne. I decide to call & see the flop before deciding if this is going to be the hand or not & see a not-so-friendly flop of KQ4 & I check-fold to Van Alstyne's bet. When I was BB it folded around to Robert Mizrachi, who raised. I looked down at KQo & 3-bet, knowing I was not folding, regardless of the flop. Thankfully the flop was KJ6 & what was left of my stack found its way into the middle, with Mizrachi tabling J8o for middle pair. He missed & I even managed to hit a queen on the river to make sure of the double-up & I was back to 50k. I then got involved in another hand when in the small blind! A late-position player raised & I looked down at A9ss & made it 3 bets. The raiser called & I bet both the flop & turn before check-calling on the river on a board of 742J3, to be shown 87 for flopped top pair ... and I was back to being the short stack once again! My final hand came when it was folded to me in the cutoff & I looked down at Q8 of diamonds. This would be it ... I raised & the big stack in the small blind asked how much I had behind (which is either a really bad or really good question to hear, depending on the response) & proceeded to re-raise (not the response I was looking for). I re-raised all-in & found out I was in horrible shape against his AQ of clubs. Of course the flop made my predicament worse, falling KQ7 with 2 clubs, meaning I had only 2 outs to survive. I missed my 8 & my opponent found the final nail on the river with a club & I left to get my payout in 23rd place.
Of course the taxman got a decent chunk of my prizemoney (why Australia & America don't have a tax treaty to avoid this situation is beyond me!), but I left with a little over $5200 for my efforts, which was quite a change from the day 1 bustout I was expecting!
Afterwards I went to Aria to play some $1/3NL (in the absence of any mixed or limit games running) & managed to find an awkward spot to lose my stack. I had $107 to start the hand & looked down at AA UTG & raised to $10 ... standard so far. Of course it then proceeded call, fold, call, call, call, etc around the table & there were 8 people to the flop!! Now I have some idea of how Barry Greenstein felt on High Stakes Poker! Anyway, the flop came down 9s8s5c ... not an ideal flop for aces (though I did have the ace of spades) when facing 7 opponents. My dilemma was made worse by the small blind, who lead out for $20, which the big blind called. What to do in this spot? I was really unsure & eventually decided to just call the $20. Everyone else at the table folded & we went to the turn to see the Jc. Again not an ideal card, but it was checked to me, so I put my remaining $77 in the middle ... and the SB went into the tank ... and eventually called. This then got the BB thinking ... but he eventually called as well! Looks like it was either a triple-up or bustout for me ... and then the river 9h appeared. Both players checked, so I was hopeful. The small blind turned over T5ss for bottom pair & a missed straight & flush draws. The BB turned over T9o, for three 9s (flopped top pair & missed straight draw), which was more than enough to beat out my aces up ... oh well ...
Tim Duckworth, from http://pokernews.com & http://www.tiltedbehaviour.com/ had dropped by earlier in the evening & asked about mixed games in Las Vegas & said he was going to try to get a $4/8 HORSE game going (if not already) at the Venetian. After the disappointment of having my aces cracked ... and a meal at Subway ... I headed for the Venetian & joined the HORSE game after a shortish wait & took a seat next to Tim. Also in the game was Heath Chick & some other PokerNews people & after roughly 6 hours at the table, the game broke, with a tick in the small win column for me.
Today I played a tournament at Caesars Palace ... a 'Turbo Double Stack' event, where you started with 30k in chips, with 20 minute levels. I started well, but eventually picked some bad spots to bet & raise before the blinds became enormous. Of course I was crippled when my 76 was run down on a 997 flop where the money got all-in, with my opponents J8o finding an 8 on the turn. I then took my final stand with AJo, only to run into A8 suited, who flopped top pair before I bricked out, to finish in around 100th place out of the 178 or so starters they had for the event. Although it wasn't horrible, I doubt I'll be back there for tournaments while I'm in town.
Next on the agenda: More cash games & some laundry ... oh fun!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Episode 4 Online!
Episode 4 from Las Vegas is now online.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YUGAY0UN
Some things included in this episode are news updates on the Melbourne Champs & early WSOP events; strategy section about a bluff I pulled in the HORSE event at the Venetian; TV Sickness looking at a hand from the $100k event at the Aussie Millions.
In other news from Vegas (expect a long post tonight) I'm down to the final 24 in the $1500 HORSE (event 31). Feel free to follow my progress on Pokernews. Hopefully I'll have a long day, but I'm starting the day as a short stack.
http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2010-wsop/event-31/
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YUGAY0UN
Some things included in this episode are news updates on the Melbourne Champs & early WSOP events; strategy section about a bluff I pulled in the HORSE event at the Venetian; TV Sickness looking at a hand from the $100k event at the Aussie Millions.
In other news from Vegas (expect a long post tonight) I'm down to the final 24 in the $1500 HORSE (event 31). Feel free to follow my progress on Pokernews. Hopefully I'll have a long day, but I'm starting the day as a short stack.
http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2010-wsop/event-31/
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Running bad, folding aces & making a profit
Decided to go to the Rio today to play the $200 1pm daily deepstack event they have there. It looks like it has a pretty decent structure, 30 minute levels, 15k start stack & the fields are growing by the day. There were 431 today, with the top 45 being paid. Of course I did my usual trick in tournaments & ran horribly. I ran top pair into aces, top pair (as pre-flop raiser) into top two pair & eventually got my money in pre-flop with KJ suited against 67o. The flop came down KQ2 rainbow, which you would think was a safe flop, but of course my opponent found running 6s to send me out. Standard!
I then went to the cash section & played some $1/3NL (the $10/20 mixed game that I would have preferred was not running). Things were going well, until of course I ran JJ into AA. The player with AA had limp-called pre-flop & check-raised the 952 flop, bet the T turn & checked the Q river ... and of course check-called my river bet! This meant I had to start over again (with half the stack) & it went well for the most part. There was one hand where I made what some people might consider to be a big fold ... 2 limpers in front of my & I raise to $12 in the hijack with AA. I get called by the big blind only. We are both about $450 or so deep (150BBs). Flop comes 976 rainbow & she leads for $20. I raise to $45 & she 3-bets it to $105 total. She seemed to be playing reasonably solid without getting out of line much at all, so I simply dumped the hand, figuring I was probably behind ... and even if I wasn't there weren't too many turn cards that I would be overjoyed with (with the possible exception of an Ace, though even then I'm still behind T* for the flopped straight). Eventually I left with a little over 100BBs in profit, so not a bad day at the 'office', in spite of the horrible tournament run continuing.
Next on the agenda: Back to the Rio ... cash games & possibly a satellite for the HORSE
I then went to the cash section & played some $1/3NL (the $10/20 mixed game that I would have preferred was not running). Things were going well, until of course I ran JJ into AA. The player with AA had limp-called pre-flop & check-raised the 952 flop, bet the T turn & checked the Q river ... and of course check-called my river bet! This meant I had to start over again (with half the stack) & it went well for the most part. There was one hand where I made what some people might consider to be a big fold ... 2 limpers in front of my & I raise to $12 in the hijack with AA. I get called by the big blind only. We are both about $450 or so deep (150BBs). Flop comes 976 rainbow & she leads for $20. I raise to $45 & she 3-bets it to $105 total. She seemed to be playing reasonably solid without getting out of line much at all, so I simply dumped the hand, figuring I was probably behind ... and even if I wasn't there weren't too many turn cards that I would be overjoyed with (with the possible exception of an Ace, though even then I'm still behind T* for the flopped straight). Eventually I left with a little over 100BBs in profit, so not a bad day at the 'office', in spite of the horrible tournament run continuing.
Next on the agenda: Back to the Rio ... cash games & possibly a satellite for the HORSE
Friday, June 11, 2010
More tournament bustouts & some mixed games
Two tournaments, two non-cashes ... standard.
In the last few days (yes, the wonderful internet connection I have here is so bad that I can't get online consistently to update this blog!) I've played HORSE tournaments at the Golden Nugget & the Venetian. Finished out of the money in both, roughly 35th out of 108 at the Golden Nugget & 130th out of 172 at the Venetian. As seems to be standard with these events, the structure started great, but eventually turned into a complete crapshoot & that was the time when I ran & played badly, so left before the money. The highlight for me of both these events was a bluff I pulled off during the Razz at the Venetian, betting the river with three kings & winning the pot.
I've also managed to put together another episode of the Donkcast, and talk about the Razz hand in it, as well as news from both the Melbourne Champs & World Series and look at a hand from the $100k challenge at the Aussie Millions ... however it requires a decent internet connection to be uploaded ... hopefully one day ...
I also played some cash games after busting from both events. After the Golden Nugget event I decided to stop in at some casinos at the north end of the strip & play some poker. I played some $1/2 no limit at both the Stratosphere & Sahara, and some early morning $3/6 limit at Circus Circus before the game broke & I headed home. Although not overly profitable, I did make a little bit of money from the evening & added some chips for my collection. After the Venetian event I sat in a $4/8 HORSE game there, which eventually became ORSE after about half the table left during the holdem round, so the table agreed to drop holdem from the mix. Got off to a good start & was up over a full buy-in, managed to play some hands badly (plus the table became a lot tougher as the fish busted or left & players who had some idea began to take seats in the game) & at one point was back to my initial buy-in before rallying to leave with a decent profit, doubling my buy-in. Mixed games definitely look like a good place to make some money here & with some of the tournament structures being horrible, its looking like a much more attractive proposition, at least from a financial perspective.
Next on the agenda: Deuces Cracked home game at Aria & hopefully some interviews for the Donkcast
In the last few days (yes, the wonderful internet connection I have here is so bad that I can't get online consistently to update this blog!) I've played HORSE tournaments at the Golden Nugget & the Venetian. Finished out of the money in both, roughly 35th out of 108 at the Golden Nugget & 130th out of 172 at the Venetian. As seems to be standard with these events, the structure started great, but eventually turned into a complete crapshoot & that was the time when I ran & played badly, so left before the money. The highlight for me of both these events was a bluff I pulled off during the Razz at the Venetian, betting the river with three kings & winning the pot.
I've also managed to put together another episode of the Donkcast, and talk about the Razz hand in it, as well as news from both the Melbourne Champs & World Series and look at a hand from the $100k challenge at the Aussie Millions ... however it requires a decent internet connection to be uploaded ... hopefully one day ...
I also played some cash games after busting from both events. After the Golden Nugget event I decided to stop in at some casinos at the north end of the strip & play some poker. I played some $1/2 no limit at both the Stratosphere & Sahara, and some early morning $3/6 limit at Circus Circus before the game broke & I headed home. Although not overly profitable, I did make a little bit of money from the evening & added some chips for my collection. After the Venetian event I sat in a $4/8 HORSE game there, which eventually became ORSE after about half the table left during the holdem round, so the table agreed to drop holdem from the mix. Got off to a good start & was up over a full buy-in, managed to play some hands badly (plus the table became a lot tougher as the fish busted or left & players who had some idea began to take seats in the game) & at one point was back to my initial buy-in before rallying to leave with a decent profit, doubling my buy-in. Mixed games definitely look like a good place to make some money here & with some of the tournament structures being horrible, its looking like a much more attractive proposition, at least from a financial perspective.
Next on the agenda: Deuces Cracked home game at Aria & hopefully some interviews for the Donkcast
Saturday, June 5, 2010
USA - Binions
Another tourney, another bustout!
Today I went to Binions, 'the home of poker', to play the HORSE event in the Binions Poker Classic. The tournament had 120 starters & I finished in 72nd place, but that's simply the facts.
The structure of the event was appalling. Although the starting stack was 20,000, starting with levels of 100/200 & increasing every 30 minutes meant that you really needed to build quickly or face elimination. This was compounded in a way by the format of playing one game per level, with the holdem getting many more hands than any of the other games. The brink of elimination started for me in level 6 (just 3 hours into the event) when I was all-in on the turn in holdem against one opponent. Of course by this time we were already playing 800/1600 & my top pair held to double up. I picked up some hands & ran well & amazingly by the end of the level I was back to my original 20,000 starting stack! Talk about a wild ride! Anyway I managed to slowly dwindle down to be 14000 at the dinner break (after 9 levels) & returned to be playing Stud8 at the 3000/6000 level! Of course I was the bring-in & rather than completing the bet, I simply brought it in for the minimum, meaning that my (45)3 was facing 4 opponents for 4th street. After 4th it was heads-up & I was all-in on 5th, with my 34549 being up against my opponents T7656. I picked up a 9 on 6th to take the lead, but his river T killed my hand & send me out of the tournament.
I have since made sure to check the structures before playing in events. I *may* be back for the $500 HORSE Championship later in the month (which has a similar structure but 40 minute levels, with games changing every 20 minutes), but doubt I will play any other events at Binions.
I'm still going to be downtown in the coming days, but across the street, playing at the Golden Nugget, which seems to have a similar structure, but with 40 minute levels I hope it won't be quite as brutal.
In other news, it looks like I have at least one guest lined up for the Donkcast ... Chuck 'Danzasmack' Danielsson who is an instructor at Deuces Cracked will be on sometime in the not-too-distant future. Caught up with him at the Rio the other night & mentioned the podcast & he's keen to be on, so I'll test my abilities an an interviewer!
Next on the agenda: Stud hi-lo at the Golden Nugget
Today I went to Binions, 'the home of poker', to play the HORSE event in the Binions Poker Classic. The tournament had 120 starters & I finished in 72nd place, but that's simply the facts.
The structure of the event was appalling. Although the starting stack was 20,000, starting with levels of 100/200 & increasing every 30 minutes meant that you really needed to build quickly or face elimination. This was compounded in a way by the format of playing one game per level, with the holdem getting many more hands than any of the other games. The brink of elimination started for me in level 6 (just 3 hours into the event) when I was all-in on the turn in holdem against one opponent. Of course by this time we were already playing 800/1600 & my top pair held to double up. I picked up some hands & ran well & amazingly by the end of the level I was back to my original 20,000 starting stack! Talk about a wild ride! Anyway I managed to slowly dwindle down to be 14000 at the dinner break (after 9 levels) & returned to be playing Stud8 at the 3000/6000 level! Of course I was the bring-in & rather than completing the bet, I simply brought it in for the minimum, meaning that my (45)3 was facing 4 opponents for 4th street. After 4th it was heads-up & I was all-in on 5th, with my 34549 being up against my opponents T7656. I picked up a 9 on 6th to take the lead, but his river T killed my hand & send me out of the tournament.
I have since made sure to check the structures before playing in events. I *may* be back for the $500 HORSE Championship later in the month (which has a similar structure but 40 minute levels, with games changing every 20 minutes), but doubt I will play any other events at Binions.
I'm still going to be downtown in the coming days, but across the street, playing at the Golden Nugget, which seems to have a similar structure, but with 40 minute levels I hope it won't be quite as brutal.
In other news, it looks like I have at least one guest lined up for the Donkcast ... Chuck 'Danzasmack' Danielsson who is an instructor at Deuces Cracked will be on sometime in the not-too-distant future. Caught up with him at the Rio the other night & mentioned the podcast & he's keen to be on, so I'll test my abilities an an interviewer!
Next on the agenda: Stud hi-lo at the Golden Nugget
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.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
USA Day 22
In the money!
Officially 4th in the Omaha hi-lo at the Orleans, though the final 5 players made a deal, which saw me take home just over $4k. Not a bad start to my summer in Vegas! There were a few crazy moments, but I stayed out of the way of the action for the most part, though I did get bluffed out of a big hand when we were still at 2 tables. I picked up QQ52 (with two diamonds) in the SB & raised when it was folded to me. The BB (who had been playing fairly loose) called. The flop was JTT with two diamonds. I bet & the BB raised! I decided to call with my overpair & diamond draw, figuring that I might be in front, but even if I wasn't that I still had outs to improve (unless of course I had walked into a flopped full house). Of course the turn didn't help matter, bringing an offsuit ace, with the BB betting again & I called again. The river was another jack, for a final board of JTTAJ with no flush. I checked & my opponent bet (which put him all-in). The hands I could beat were bluffs & bluffs only. Any A, J or T has me crushed, KQ beats me (though unlikely when I have QQ myself) & the fact that he raised the flop & continued to bet when the ace came on the turn (a card I could conceivably hold when raising pre-flop) made me think I was beaten & I folded before too much damage could be done to my stack (it left me with about 130k with blinds at 10k/20k & levels of 20k/40k). Once the deal was made, he mentioned that that was the key hand for his tournament, and that he thought I knew I made a bad fold as soon as the hand was over.
After the tourney I headed over to the Hard Rock to get a ticket for Russell Peters' show later in the week, as well as to chek out the poker room over there. Got a decent seat for the Russell Peters show, but the poker room was dead, with only one $1/2NL table running. I picked up a cap & a magnet from the gift shop & headed back to the strip. Decided to hop on a ridiculously overcrowded Deuce to Downtown to check out Binions & the Golden Nugget, where I'll be playing some tourneys in the coming days & weeks. Both poker rooms were quiet & I was getting tired, so didn't hang around for too long before heading back to my hotel, where I seem to have now finally resolved the booking issues of the first few days.
Next on the agenda: Cash games tomorrow (Aria the likely location) & HORSE at the Orleans on Friday
Officially 4th in the Omaha hi-lo at the Orleans, though the final 5 players made a deal, which saw me take home just over $4k. Not a bad start to my summer in Vegas! There were a few crazy moments, but I stayed out of the way of the action for the most part, though I did get bluffed out of a big hand when we were still at 2 tables. I picked up QQ52 (with two diamonds) in the SB & raised when it was folded to me. The BB (who had been playing fairly loose) called. The flop was JTT with two diamonds. I bet & the BB raised! I decided to call with my overpair & diamond draw, figuring that I might be in front, but even if I wasn't that I still had outs to improve (unless of course I had walked into a flopped full house). Of course the turn didn't help matter, bringing an offsuit ace, with the BB betting again & I called again. The river was another jack, for a final board of JTTAJ with no flush. I checked & my opponent bet (which put him all-in). The hands I could beat were bluffs & bluffs only. Any A, J or T has me crushed, KQ beats me (though unlikely when I have QQ myself) & the fact that he raised the flop & continued to bet when the ace came on the turn (a card I could conceivably hold when raising pre-flop) made me think I was beaten & I folded before too much damage could be done to my stack (it left me with about 130k with blinds at 10k/20k & levels of 20k/40k). Once the deal was made, he mentioned that that was the key hand for his tournament, and that he thought I knew I made a bad fold as soon as the hand was over.
After the tourney I headed over to the Hard Rock to get a ticket for Russell Peters' show later in the week, as well as to chek out the poker room over there. Got a decent seat for the Russell Peters show, but the poker room was dead, with only one $1/2NL table running. I picked up a cap & a magnet from the gift shop & headed back to the strip. Decided to hop on a ridiculously overcrowded Deuce to Downtown to check out Binions & the Golden Nugget, where I'll be playing some tourneys in the coming days & weeks. Both poker rooms were quiet & I was getting tired, so didn't hang around for too long before heading back to my hotel, where I seem to have now finally resolved the booking issues of the first few days.
Next on the agenda: Cash games tomorrow (Aria the likely location) & HORSE at the Orleans on Friday
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)