Of 238 total. I just lasted longer than the guy who wrote the book...
Deeb made a last longer bet with some Texan for the buy-in amount. And when I say Texan I mean huge hat and a belt buckle that could kill a man. The guy had shown up even later than Deeb and was two tables away. Apparently he showed up gambling because he had tripled up already. When Deeb found this out he wanted to re-cut the deal, and he did - 5 to 4 odds, 5k payout. Williamson took 20% of Deeb's action. The Texan was out about an hour later.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Robert Williamson
He was in the 3 seat most of the time I was there but busted before me. Right before the second break I raised UTG with 23679 and he called from the BB and drew 3. I seriously considered standing pat against a 3 card draw but I had a draw to the #2 and if I rapped pat I thought 1) I'd get little value out of the hand, 2) I risked getting outplayed on later streets, and 3) if he did catch up I would be in a bad spot. Breaking the 9 now was better than after the second draw when he raps pat. Plus, I was a huge favorite to at least improve to an 8.
I drew one and bet ahead of course. He called and drew two and I drew one again. He checked and I checked behind - he rapped pat! I laughed out loud when he did - he was going for the check-raise and missed a bet. I drew one and he bet out 400. I caught an 8 and said "I have to call you" and it was good.
One thing about pros in this game is they make thin value bets. He was trying to check raise me with a 9 after the second draw which I find a stretch. But, he's the pro.
I drew one and bet ahead of course. He called and drew two and I drew one again. He checked and I checked behind - he rapped pat! I laughed out loud when he did - he was going for the check-raise and missed a bet. I drew one and he bet out 400. I caught an 8 and said "I have to call you" and it was good.
One thing about pros in this game is they make thin value bets. He was trying to check raise me with a 9 after the second draw which I find a stretch. But, he's the pro.
5700 at second break
Not great progress. Blinds going up fast. You know that old SNL skit where the fan is like groveling to someone like Joe Montana and he's like "you remember, that time, you threw that game-winning pass in the Super Bowl?!"
Uh, yeah.
"That was AWESOME!"
Well, the guy to my right is THAT guy and he's just peppering Deeb with moronic shit. And telling him stories about other poker players - like Deeb gives a shit. Deeb took it mostly in stride but I don't know how because it drove me nuts.
Early on in the tourney Deeb made a joke about entering tournaments for the 10 dollar off voucher at restaurants they give you with each entry. I said I'll give you mine if you autograph your entry card for me. The funny thing was I didn't even have mine because I registered yesterday. He personalized it and gave it to me. Freddy skipped pretty much all of level 1 and then was on my immediate left the entire time I was in the tourney.
Uh, yeah.
"That was AWESOME!"
Well, the guy to my right is THAT guy and he's just peppering Deeb with moronic shit. And telling him stories about other poker players - like Deeb gives a shit. Deeb took it mostly in stride but I don't know how because it drove me nuts.
Early on in the tourney Deeb made a joke about entering tournaments for the 10 dollar off voucher at restaurants they give you with each entry. I said I'll give you mine if you autograph your entry card for me. The funny thing was I didn't even have mine because I registered yesterday. He personalized it and gave it to me. Freddy skipped pretty much all of level 1 and then was on my immediate left the entire time I was in the tourney.
5925 at first break
Played 2 pots with Freddy Deeb and won both. He signed his entry card and gave it to me. Robert Wiliamson is at my table as well.
"This is crazy, this is crazy"
As I ponder that I'm about to play in a 2500 buy-in event for a sick lowball game against what's likely to be a shit-ton of pros I keep picturing Chevy Chase in Vacation as he stands at the edge of the pool about to jump in with Christy Brinkley. Well, it is crazy, but he was looking to get lucky and so am I.
Table 2 - Levels 6 thru 8
I was still pretty short. When antes came in at 400/800 there was 2200 in the pot every hand. I moved in from the small blind with a suited Q5 against my new buddy Adam in the BB. Here's where not being a dick bag is beneficial. If we were near the money or my chips were any threat, any one at that table would take me down. But, when you're not seen as a threat people are more likely to lay down marginal situations if they like you. Sounds obvious but most people don't seem to care about such things. Getting 2-to-1 he folded with 85 in a spot that's usually a napkin-call. I showed him I actually had him dominated because I felt he knew I was in napkin-AI mode in spots where everyone has folded given the blinds and antes. More a Hansen approach than Negreanu but a necessary weapon.
There was something about AQ at this table. In a hand I wasn't in a Hellmuth wannabe pondered a raise and call in front of him. This guy had a jacket with "Team Berry" or something, patch on the side, hat and sunglasses with the MP3 built in. It was like a parody of a parody. He took two minutes and had me and Adam convinced he had aces or kings. He pushed with AQ got called and sucked out. In another spot he laid down queens face up in the face of too much action - after an appropriate delay of course. I hated this guy at the table because time was my enemy.
Adam made a sick call on him that exemplifies the problem of people over-betting in bluffs and semi-bluffs. He checked his BB after Adam completed the SB and they went heads-up. The flop was 9 high with 2 clubs, Adam checked and Philmath moved in. It was a massive over-bet. It was 7x the pot. Adam called with Ace-high (AT). Philmath had 68c for a gut-shot straight flush draw. An awesome draw to be sure but why bet so much? Adam admitted later that had he bet less - say 70% of the pot, he would have laid it down. Betting so much got him action. Even if he did get a smaller bet called he's in position and very likely to see the river for free if he doesn't like the turn. Going nuts with a SF draw is fine but not in a tournament when someone has you covered. The table's only dickpie missed his draw fortunately.
My next AI was pretty standard - I opened with tens, the 4 seat moved in and I called. He had AQ and missed and I doubled up.
I laid down an ace in a situation that had Andy and Eric questioning my sanity. I had A9 and figured I'd move in but before it came to me there were 2 AIs in front. The second AI was really a call because he had the original raiser and me covered but it sounded more ominous - like he had a big hand. I laid it down face up. My thinking was while A high is a standard move-in hand short-stacked, and I needed to triple up, I likely was dominated with one live card. In this situation I think 9T is a better hand to call-off my money with three-way (mmmmm, three way...).
The original raiser had jacks and the caller had the popular AQ. Now, as it happened the board came all diamonds and a diamond on the turn - meaning my poor dominated 9 would have made a flush. Still, I think that was the right laydown. My ace was no good against the caller and my "live" card wasn't so live against the jacks. The jacks held up and that guy thought my decision to fold was brilliant!
About three hands later I woke up with queens, moved in for about 6k, and got called by, wait for, AQ by the same guy I raced my tens with. The case queen came on the flop and he was drawing to runner-runner ace with the ace of hearts dead - the guy behind the caller flashed it when he folded. The board paired twice giving me two boats and the pot. At my high I was just over 20k - nothing to write home about.
Obviously I was going to have to press a marginal situation - or two - at some point. We were at Level 8 which was 800/1600 with a 200 ante and I had about 12k. A new player to the table opened in early position and I moved in with sixes. I thought this was an easy call - he was getting 2-to-1 - but he actually pondered it a while. I told him this table would be very mad at him if he took me out and told everyone to run over him if he did. I actually started to think he may fold. When he called and showed his cards I knew why-he had opened with K9 diamonds. That's the right call given the odds of course. About half the table started chanting "let's go Mike!" which was cool. None of us wanted to leave this table. The flop came two diamonds and with two overs and a flush draw I started packing up. The K came on the river and the new guy gave me the standard "sorry. Not necessary of course - a race is a race.
I said my goodbyes and shook some hands and made plans to run into Adam and Eric at Rio. Adam has a friend at my same table - table 1, bitches - at the TDL WSOP event and I plan to say "Andy? Andy Hood! What an honor to meet you!" as if I know him from The Gutshot in London where he plays cash games. It should be pretty funny.
I went a whole tourney with no bad beat stories. I don't know if that means I didn't play correctly, I got lucky a lot, or if I just have a realistic view of poker. I'd like to think it's the last one.
There was something about AQ at this table. In a hand I wasn't in a Hellmuth wannabe pondered a raise and call in front of him. This guy had a jacket with "Team Berry" or something, patch on the side, hat and sunglasses with the MP3 built in. It was like a parody of a parody. He took two minutes and had me and Adam convinced he had aces or kings. He pushed with AQ got called and sucked out. In another spot he laid down queens face up in the face of too much action - after an appropriate delay of course. I hated this guy at the table because time was my enemy.
Adam made a sick call on him that exemplifies the problem of people over-betting in bluffs and semi-bluffs. He checked his BB after Adam completed the SB and they went heads-up. The flop was 9 high with 2 clubs, Adam checked and Philmath moved in. It was a massive over-bet. It was 7x the pot. Adam called with Ace-high (AT). Philmath had 68c for a gut-shot straight flush draw. An awesome draw to be sure but why bet so much? Adam admitted later that had he bet less - say 70% of the pot, he would have laid it down. Betting so much got him action. Even if he did get a smaller bet called he's in position and very likely to see the river for free if he doesn't like the turn. Going nuts with a SF draw is fine but not in a tournament when someone has you covered. The table's only dickpie missed his draw fortunately.
My next AI was pretty standard - I opened with tens, the 4 seat moved in and I called. He had AQ and missed and I doubled up.
I laid down an ace in a situation that had Andy and Eric questioning my sanity. I had A9 and figured I'd move in but before it came to me there were 2 AIs in front. The second AI was really a call because he had the original raiser and me covered but it sounded more ominous - like he had a big hand. I laid it down face up. My thinking was while A high is a standard move-in hand short-stacked, and I needed to triple up, I likely was dominated with one live card. In this situation I think 9T is a better hand to call-off my money with three-way (mmmmm, three way...).
The original raiser had jacks and the caller had the popular AQ. Now, as it happened the board came all diamonds and a diamond on the turn - meaning my poor dominated 9 would have made a flush. Still, I think that was the right laydown. My ace was no good against the caller and my "live" card wasn't so live against the jacks. The jacks held up and that guy thought my decision to fold was brilliant!
About three hands later I woke up with queens, moved in for about 6k, and got called by, wait for, AQ by the same guy I raced my tens with. The case queen came on the flop and he was drawing to runner-runner ace with the ace of hearts dead - the guy behind the caller flashed it when he folded. The board paired twice giving me two boats and the pot. At my high I was just over 20k - nothing to write home about.
Obviously I was going to have to press a marginal situation - or two - at some point. We were at Level 8 which was 800/1600 with a 200 ante and I had about 12k. A new player to the table opened in early position and I moved in with sixes. I thought this was an easy call - he was getting 2-to-1 - but he actually pondered it a while. I told him this table would be very mad at him if he took me out and told everyone to run over him if he did. I actually started to think he may fold. When he called and showed his cards I knew why-he had opened with K9 diamonds. That's the right call given the odds of course. About half the table started chanting "let's go Mike!" which was cool. None of us wanted to leave this table. The flop came two diamonds and with two overs and a flush draw I started packing up. The K came on the river and the new guy gave me the standard "sorry. Not necessary of course - a race is a race.
I said my goodbyes and shook some hands and made plans to run into Adam and Eric at Rio. Adam has a friend at my same table - table 1, bitches - at the TDL WSOP event and I plan to say "Andy? Andy Hood! What an honor to meet you!" as if I know him from The Gutshot in London where he plays cash games. It should be pretty funny.
I went a whole tourney with no bad beat stories. I don't know if that means I didn't play correctly, I got lucky a lot, or if I just have a realistic view of poker. I'd like to think it's the last one.
Table 2 - Levels 3 thru 5
When my table 31 broke I wound up at table 55 and it was playing very differently. Whereas my first table was pretty passive pre-flop with some raises below 3x BB and few pre-flop re-raises, practically every pot here was being raised and for a lot. With just over 6k in chips a standard raise was almost 10% of my chips so I had to be careful.
But what's worse, they regularly were raising above average. At 100/200 the raises were coming at 7, 8, and 9. So not only was it more than 10% but any re-raise on my part has to be for all of it. A standard RR would be 2500 to 3k (depending on initial raise, limpers, etc.) So half my chips or close to it. I soon realized limping was practically impossible and the only real defense was snapping someone off with a hand - if I could get one of course.
My first all-in of the day came at 300/600 - and it was accidental. It's a positive attribute that I went that long without being at risk. I tried to limp with A6d because the table had settled some and seen some flops. But, instead of throwing in a 5 and a 1 I threw in a 1k and 100, which made it a raise. I made a big deal about asking if I had to raise trying the reverse-move of ah shucks I didn't mean to raise with my aces. Quiet guy in the 2 seat didn't believe me and moved in. Folded to me I had 15% to 20% of my chips in the pot I decided to gamble and wound up against AQ. I was in bad shape until I flopped the nuts and he was drawing dead.
Insult to his injury, Adam to my left noticed the pot didn't look right. We stopped the dealer and reconstructed it and figured out he shorted me the blinds - 900. He got it back from the change he gave the guy with the dominating hand and had just been sucked out on. Eric (6 seat) mentioned if he had protested I would have been screwed because the pot had been disbursed. Don't know if that's right but rings true.
But what's worse, they regularly were raising above average. At 100/200 the raises were coming at 7, 8, and 9. So not only was it more than 10% but any re-raise on my part has to be for all of it. A standard RR would be 2500 to 3k (depending on initial raise, limpers, etc.) So half my chips or close to it. I soon realized limping was practically impossible and the only real defense was snapping someone off with a hand - if I could get one of course.
My first all-in of the day came at 300/600 - and it was accidental. It's a positive attribute that I went that long without being at risk. I tried to limp with A6d because the table had settled some and seen some flops. But, instead of throwing in a 5 and a 1 I threw in a 1k and 100, which made it a raise. I made a big deal about asking if I had to raise trying the reverse-move of ah shucks I didn't mean to raise with my aces. Quiet guy in the 2 seat didn't believe me and moved in. Folded to me I had 15% to 20% of my chips in the pot I decided to gamble and wound up against AQ. I was in bad shape until I flopped the nuts and he was drawing dead.
Insult to his injury, Adam to my left noticed the pot didn't look right. We stopped the dealer and reconstructed it and figured out he shorted me the blinds - 900. He got it back from the change he gave the guy with the dominating hand and had just been sucked out on. Eric (6 seat) mentioned if he had protested I would have been screwed because the pot had been disbursed. Don't know if that's right but rings true.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
One tourney, no cashes
I got in pretty early and registered for tomorrow. Since a 1500 hold'em started at noon there were no cash games. When I saw the dregs there I thought I should have done HE in the WSOP but if I did well I couldn't play tomorrow.
I went over to Caesar's and made it with 30 minutes to spare for today's mega stack - 340 for 12500 chips, 50 minute levels, 25/50 starting blinds.
I tried out the new small ball strategy and it was working pretty well. I was value betting in the right spots and bluffing well. I even had a few people raising the same 2-1/2x the BB I was raising. One thing I learned today-small ball depends on remaining fairly successful. Really if you are below 50 BB's you can't use it optimally.
I misplayed 2 AK hands at my first table. The first time I took the passive approach too far, didn't bet the turn when I picked up the nut flush draw with 3 hearts on board, and wound up checking it down to a cut-off raiser who had 2-6 and hit trips on the river (he was chicken shit not value betting that - like I checked a flush twice).
The next time I opened and made a continuation bet which is pretty standard, but I got called in two spots. Board was 45A rainbow. Turns was nine and second diamond, I checked, next guy bet 3k and the old guy behind him moved in for half that. I convinced myself my kicker was better and I called. River was Jd and we checked it down. Old guy hit a flush, other guy had 45 of spades for two pair.
I love him playing that there although he was the first to call my pre-flop raise not last or close to it. Still, a suited 45 is a great deep stack hand and I don't begrudge him. What you don't want to play is AK out of position - when lots of money goes in on the turn it's rarely the best hand. I knew better and dumped chips anyway which was disappointing.
My best hand at that first table was J9 of clubs. I called a small raise in position and the flop was 8 of clubs, 7 of spades, 2x. The initial raiser checked as did the next guy and I thought about betting but checked. Turn was the MOST perfect card - 10 clubs. So now I have the nut straight and open-end straight flush draw. I hoped to go to war. At 50/100 blinds the pot was already about 1400 so I bet 1k. Initial raiser called. River paired the 10 and he checked. There was a time when I might have been spooked by the paired board but I felt pretty sure that he did not have a set and boat up, and my hand was bet. He called a 1200 value bet with AK high!
I had 6400 at the first break, hust about half starting stack, not good. We were an outer table and it broke early in level 3. I was sad I had worked so hard to profile these guys and then I was getting moved, but the next table was pretty fun. It got to the point where they were chearing my name when I was all-in, but more on that later.
I went over to Caesar's and made it with 30 minutes to spare for today's mega stack - 340 for 12500 chips, 50 minute levels, 25/50 starting blinds.
I tried out the new small ball strategy and it was working pretty well. I was value betting in the right spots and bluffing well. I even had a few people raising the same 2-1/2x the BB I was raising. One thing I learned today-small ball depends on remaining fairly successful. Really if you are below 50 BB's you can't use it optimally.
I misplayed 2 AK hands at my first table. The first time I took the passive approach too far, didn't bet the turn when I picked up the nut flush draw with 3 hearts on board, and wound up checking it down to a cut-off raiser who had 2-6 and hit trips on the river (he was chicken shit not value betting that - like I checked a flush twice).
The next time I opened and made a continuation bet which is pretty standard, but I got called in two spots. Board was 45A rainbow. Turns was nine and second diamond, I checked, next guy bet 3k and the old guy behind him moved in for half that. I convinced myself my kicker was better and I called. River was Jd and we checked it down. Old guy hit a flush, other guy had 45 of spades for two pair.
I love him playing that there although he was the first to call my pre-flop raise not last or close to it. Still, a suited 45 is a great deep stack hand and I don't begrudge him. What you don't want to play is AK out of position - when lots of money goes in on the turn it's rarely the best hand. I knew better and dumped chips anyway which was disappointing.
My best hand at that first table was J9 of clubs. I called a small raise in position and the flop was 8 of clubs, 7 of spades, 2x. The initial raiser checked as did the next guy and I thought about betting but checked. Turn was the MOST perfect card - 10 clubs. So now I have the nut straight and open-end straight flush draw. I hoped to go to war. At 50/100 blinds the pot was already about 1400 so I bet 1k. Initial raiser called. River paired the 10 and he checked. There was a time when I might have been spooked by the paired board but I felt pretty sure that he did not have a set and boat up, and my hand was bet. He called a 1200 value bet with AK high!
I had 6400 at the first break, hust about half starting stack, not good. We were an outer table and it broke early in level 3. I was sad I had worked so hard to profile these guys and then I was getting moved, but the next table was pretty fun. It got to the point where they were chearing my name when I was all-in, but more on that later.
Vegas Baby!
In the limo on the way to the hotel - a limo and no checked bags is the only way to do it. Plan is to register for the tourney for tomorrow and maybe find a cash game for a few hours until I check in.
Rough Start
Michael overslept and I didn't wake him while getting ready or rush him - mistake. We left about 5:15 for a 6 am flight and I got to the airport with just less than the 30 minutes to flight.
I wasn't able to check in on-line so I had to go to the counter which was packed for the next flight. Some angel in line asked me if I was on the 6 am flight - I guess he saw the "oh shit" look on my face.
The guy at the counter was giving me crap already while checking a couple in, and there was a woman there on the ATL flight with a boarding pass but needing to check a bag, and he didn't care that I couldn't check in on-line. And that's when I met the dickpie.
He started in with "oh are you just moving over here? Are there two lines?" Now, I'm sympathetic to an extent. I hate when people show up late and burn time I could be spending in the Crown Room. Oh you overslept so just inconvenience the rest of us. But in my defense I had no bags to check, and I would have had a boarding pass already if delta.com had worked.
But wait, there's more. What about the lady with the bag to check who had moved up in front of everyone? Well, dickpie was playing Big Angry Black Man and she happened to be black. Racist? Yeah, I think he was.
Now, what I wanted to tell him is look, Mr. Two-Flights-a-Year, if this were a real airport and there was a Medallion line like there should be, I'd be skipping riff-raff like you anyway. But this is partly Delta's fault and partly mine so I smile and apologize and assure him I didn't mean to inconvenience everyone.
Then he says it's not his problem and he has a live animal (in a little carry on - in my mind it's a Paris Hilton chihuahua because the juxtaposition would be priceless) and he's not letting me skip. I say please even though I know it's not up to him. When the Delta guy says 6 am people have priority (yep, that's how it works when you show up late) I again apologize only to hear the witty retort "don't say anything else to me."
What are you, 6? Did an adult just say that? In my mind I'm thinking, or else what? There's something else implied there and I really want to continue this line of dialogue, but I'm not checked in and still subject to the whim of the guy at the desk. The lady with the bag to check let's me go first - I reasoned with her that at least she had a boarding pass!
The desk guy told me I couldn't check in on-line because I have a common name. You know, because I've changed it since I started flying Delta 13 years ago and since becoming Platinum. Wtf? Anyway, I rushed to the gate committing dickpie's face to memory. They hadn't even started boarding yet so I got there in time to be the second guy on the plane, so suckit BABM.
50 minutes until wheels up to Vegas...
I wasn't able to check in on-line so I had to go to the counter which was packed for the next flight. Some angel in line asked me if I was on the 6 am flight - I guess he saw the "oh shit" look on my face.
The guy at the counter was giving me crap already while checking a couple in, and there was a woman there on the ATL flight with a boarding pass but needing to check a bag, and he didn't care that I couldn't check in on-line. And that's when I met the dickpie.
He started in with "oh are you just moving over here? Are there two lines?" Now, I'm sympathetic to an extent. I hate when people show up late and burn time I could be spending in the Crown Room. Oh you overslept so just inconvenience the rest of us. But in my defense I had no bags to check, and I would have had a boarding pass already if delta.com had worked.
But wait, there's more. What about the lady with the bag to check who had moved up in front of everyone? Well, dickpie was playing Big Angry Black Man and she happened to be black. Racist? Yeah, I think he was.
Now, what I wanted to tell him is look, Mr. Two-Flights-a-Year, if this were a real airport and there was a Medallion line like there should be, I'd be skipping riff-raff like you anyway. But this is partly Delta's fault and partly mine so I smile and apologize and assure him I didn't mean to inconvenience everyone.
Then he says it's not his problem and he has a live animal (in a little carry on - in my mind it's a Paris Hilton chihuahua because the juxtaposition would be priceless) and he's not letting me skip. I say please even though I know it's not up to him. When the Delta guy says 6 am people have priority (yep, that's how it works when you show up late) I again apologize only to hear the witty retort "don't say anything else to me."
What are you, 6? Did an adult just say that? In my mind I'm thinking, or else what? There's something else implied there and I really want to continue this line of dialogue, but I'm not checked in and still subject to the whim of the guy at the desk. The lady with the bag to check let's me go first - I reasoned with her that at least she had a boarding pass!
The desk guy told me I couldn't check in on-line because I have a common name. You know, because I've changed it since I started flying Delta 13 years ago and since becoming Platinum. Wtf? Anyway, I rushed to the gate committing dickpie's face to memory. They hadn't even started boarding yet so I got there in time to be the second guy on the plane, so suckit BABM.
50 minutes until wheels up to Vegas...
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Dickbag of the year award?
From PLO with rebuys again:
Some drama on the very last hand of the night, folks.
Daniel Makowsky limped from under the gun, Nikolay Evdakov raised pot to 7,200, Sorel Mizzi called from the big blind, and Makowsky called as well.
The flop came
. Mizzi bet pot, Makowsky raised all in, and Evdakov folded. Immediately, Evdakov called the clock on Mizzi, a response of sorts to some of the earlier bickering about stalling. Mizzi complained that he had a legitimate decision to make, but the clock was enforced nonetheless.
Mizzi made the call, showing
for a set of jacks. Makowsky showed 
-- he'd flopped a king-high straight.
The turn was the
and the river the , and Mizzi was eliminated. Makowsky is now up to 397,500, and may well be the chip leader heading into Day 2.
Some drama on the very last hand of the night, folks.
Daniel Makowsky limped from under the gun, Nikolay Evdakov raised pot to 7,200, Sorel Mizzi called from the big blind, and Makowsky called as well.
The flop came
. Mizzi bet pot, Makowsky raised all in, and Evdakov folded. Immediately, Evdakov called the clock on Mizzi, a response of sorts to some of the earlier bickering about stalling. Mizzi complained that he had a legitimate decision to make, but the clock was enforced nonetheless.Mizzi made the call, showing
for a set of jacks. Makowsky showed -- he'd flopped a king-high straight.The turn was the
and the river the , and Mizzi was eliminated. Makowsky is now up to 397,500, and may well be the chip leader heading into Day 2.
'Cos you don't have much left
PLO with Rebuys, Event 34
On a flop of
, a player in the small blind bet pot, Kevin O'Donnell reraised pot, a late position player called with his remaining chips, and the small blind called as well, also putting in the last of his chips.
The SB showed
, O'Donnell showed 
, and the late position player showed 
.
The turn was the
and the river the . O'Donnell had made runner-runner flush to knock out both players.
"How can you repop there?" asked one of O'Donnell as he got up to leave. "'Cos you don't have much left," came the reply.
He's up to 176,000.
On a flop of
, a player in the small blind bet pot, Kevin O'Donnell reraised pot, a late position player called with his remaining chips, and the small blind called as well, also putting in the last of his chips.The SB showed
, O'Donnell showed , and the late position player showed .The turn was the
and the river the . O'Donnell had made runner-runner flush to knock out both players."How can you repop there?" asked one of O'Donnell as he got up to leave. "'Cos you don't have much left," came the reply.
He's up to 176,000.
2 Days to Go
I am at that pre-Vegas trip point where I can hardly think of anything else but poker. I actually haven’t had a trip like this ever – on my own where it’s nothing but cards. Even last year during the WSOP Jill was there, and even though she plays the good wife and encourages me to play as much as possible, it’s just not the same. In March it’s much more basketball than poker.
I picked up two books in the last week. I think I have to final table something one day just to pay for all the books I’ve bought over the years. Hansen’s book is a very interesting idea for a poker book – it describes every hand he was in on his way to winning the Aussie Millions – but it’s not as great as the concept. For one thing he’s less than precise in what he was thinking at times (e.g., “I guess I thought that…”). Really the book boils down to be aggressive with position, steal as much as possible, and back-off if you get too much action with junk hands. No one really needs a book to know how Hansen plays and much of it recounts him raising with junk and winning the blinds and antes. There are some monster calls and big hands and I don’t regret getting it, but it could have been better in the hands of another.
Negreanu’s new book finally came out this week and of course I got it the day it was released. I’m playing the 2-7 TDL even in the WSOP this year and the only reason I even play that stupid game is because he wrote the chapter in SS2. If he had written about Crazy Pineapple or Gary’s Asshole I’d probably be looking for those events. Anyway, in the tradition of Super System he got several collaborators on certain subjects (I like Todd Brunson but his chapter on high stakes cash games is more of a curiosity than of practical use, to me anyway).
Negreanu’s section, which is a substantial part of the book, is on his small ball strategy in tournament play. It couldn’t be more different from Hansen’s approach which only proves that poker approaches are like batting stances – to each his own. I think the most groundbreaking thing about it is how weak it looks. It’s basically weak-loose/loose-passive in the majority of situations, and that’s pre-and-post-flop! Everyone knows Daniel raises about 2-1/2x the big blind pre-flop with a broad range of hands, but what surprised me is how passive he suggests playing post-flop.
The rationale in a lot of cases to not taking an aggressive approach on the flop can mostly be summarized as “if you’re behind you’re way behind, and if you’re ahead you’re way ahead.” He prefers to let more cards come off to “gain information” rather than through betting, especially since his hand may improve, and the “information” from flop-betting is flawed. He also prefers to let people way behind bluff off their money or catch-up a little, and risking two outs or five outs to lose doesn’t bother him. A lot of it too comes down to controlling the size of the pot, a key NL concept that he uses to small-ball advantage. I’m definitely going to try this out in some of the deep stack tournaments I’ll be doing next week.
I picked up two books in the last week. I think I have to final table something one day just to pay for all the books I’ve bought over the years. Hansen’s book is a very interesting idea for a poker book – it describes every hand he was in on his way to winning the Aussie Millions – but it’s not as great as the concept. For one thing he’s less than precise in what he was thinking at times (e.g., “I guess I thought that…”). Really the book boils down to be aggressive with position, steal as much as possible, and back-off if you get too much action with junk hands. No one really needs a book to know how Hansen plays and much of it recounts him raising with junk and winning the blinds and antes. There are some monster calls and big hands and I don’t regret getting it, but it could have been better in the hands of another.
Negreanu’s new book finally came out this week and of course I got it the day it was released. I’m playing the 2-7 TDL even in the WSOP this year and the only reason I even play that stupid game is because he wrote the chapter in SS2. If he had written about Crazy Pineapple or Gary’s Asshole I’d probably be looking for those events. Anyway, in the tradition of Super System he got several collaborators on certain subjects (I like Todd Brunson but his chapter on high stakes cash games is more of a curiosity than of practical use, to me anyway).
Negreanu’s section, which is a substantial part of the book, is on his small ball strategy in tournament play. It couldn’t be more different from Hansen’s approach which only proves that poker approaches are like batting stances – to each his own. I think the most groundbreaking thing about it is how weak it looks. It’s basically weak-loose/loose-passive in the majority of situations, and that’s pre-and-post-flop! Everyone knows Daniel raises about 2-1/2x the big blind pre-flop with a broad range of hands, but what surprised me is how passive he suggests playing post-flop.
The rationale in a lot of cases to not taking an aggressive approach on the flop can mostly be summarized as “if you’re behind you’re way behind, and if you’re ahead you’re way ahead.” He prefers to let more cards come off to “gain information” rather than through betting, especially since his hand may improve, and the “information” from flop-betting is flawed. He also prefers to let people way behind bluff off their money or catch-up a little, and risking two outs or five outs to lose doesn’t bother him. A lot of it too comes down to controlling the size of the pot, a key NL concept that he uses to small-ball advantage. I’m definitely going to try this out in some of the deep stack tournaments I’ll be doing next week.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Test, and live game tune-up...
Well my first game back to live cash games was a bumpy one down 200 but it was a short-handed game so a lotta fun. I think I played at least half the hands dealt - not a real formula for cash game success but a good way to get back into the flow. It would have been worse had I not hit out with AJ vs. an MIS's AK shove right before the game broke up.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Season 4 TOC Re-cap
First, let it be known the Lee won the Kill Trophy for 2008, and it wasn’t even close. During one of the later tourneys Baklava screwed up the eliminations scoring and cheated Lee of two kills and it was never fixed because it didn’t matter.
Second, congratulations to Lee and Phil. I'm going to update the blog but no one really reads it anymore so I want to mention a few things. In short, after a GPT season that was The Year of the Woman, this year was The Year of the Pinko (which, if you think about it, is not that different). Lee won two of eight events this year and ran over the TOC table. I think he literally was never lsower than starting stack - 100 or so. In his tour de force he knocked out every player except me (Phil took care of that choir).
Hank won his third Player of the Year award in four seasons but Phil had the best average finish among anyone playing more than one tournament (Sweet won his only entry in PLO and More Dave finished third in his only event). Phil came on late to cash in all of the final four events (third in razz, runner-up in 5CD/KCL and PLO, and the champion of HORSE) and finished runner up to Lee in the TOC.
Lee began his ToC triumph with 5500 chips, second behind Hank against a field of seven (Jim couldn’t make the tournament). After I predicted that Tim would be first out and Hank said someone would be out before the end of the first level, Lee took care of the dirty work. Tim had been raising a lot of hands and made a stiff re-raise after Lee called my initial (junk) raise from the blind. Lee flat called and they took a flop of all clubs. Lee let Tim bet and then raised him, and then called his AI. Lee tabled A8c for the nuts and left Tim with runner-runner outs – maybe – which he missed. As usual, Tim was gracious in defeat and a really good sport about being called with a suited ace by a player out-of-position.
And then there were six. The next person to tangle with Lee was Sweet, who got all-in holding kings against Lee’s AKo. Lee had enough chips to survive a showdown, Sweet did not. Sweet looked to be in pretty good shape – until the flop brought three diamonds. As you could guess, Lee’s ace was a diamond and he went from a worse than 2-to-1 dog 43/57 dog. Sweet held the king of diamonds but everyone at the table fully expected Lee to hit at that point, and that’s exactly what happened when at ace came on the turn. Sweet didn’t hit the case on the river and then there were five.
While still in level two Bak raised five-handed and I called with 9s7s looking to get tricky. Lee called out of the blind and checked the flop dark, which was KxQs4x. It was checked around and the turn put another spade on the board. Lee checked and Bak bet 225, I called, and Lee announced raise. Before I could even muck Bak was all-in, which made my insta-fold a nano-insta-fold. Lee’s top-two was pretty predictable at that point, but what did Bak raise to 125 with pre-flop? AKs? How about Ks4s. He flopped top and bottom and turned the second-nut flush draw, but he missed and was out. Then there were four.
This is the last hand I’m going to know anything about because it didn’t end well for me. I was around 2500 chips and called Phil’s UTG raise from the button with pocket-fives. There’s a website with that name so it has to be good. Flop was almost just what I was looking for, J65 with two hearts. Phil checked and I overbet the pot with 600. Phil immediately announced raise, and I had a sick feeling. I wasn’t at all sure I was winning with bottom set then. I said “you better check my stack before you say how much” and just to be sick he bet 1200 when I held 1800 chips. Then I felt really sick. Given how low the blinds were 1800 chips was enough to do battle with, but there was a huge stack at the table and I would be short-stack by a wide margin, and for fuck’s sake I did have a set. Ultimately what got me was the two hearts – I couldn’t shake the notion that he could have a big flush draw like AK or AQ which is actually beating a flopped pair of jacks as the cards lie. I made a crying-all-in which he of course called and he had exactly what it felt like – top set of jacks. There’s only one person in the GPT who hits one-outers and it ain’t me, so then there were three.
I watched some of the three way but my mind was mostly on getting over-setted to go out of the last ToC ever and how I could have gotten away from that hand. Lee and Phil were confident that there would be a liberal on the wall. Either way, with me bubbling Hank is now the only person to cash in all four ToCs, winning two, finishing runner-up to me in year one, and third this year. Heads-up did not take long with Lee’s chip stack.
I almost disabled comments for this post but I did wait several days to write a summary which means I may have messed some things up, so flame away.
Oh, one more thing – I am going to e-mail updates from the WSOP that will get posted directly to this blog. I am playing in Event 40, 2-7 TDL which thankfully has no re-buys this year. I haven’t decided whether to play stud/8 because there are so many deep stack hold’em tournaments going on while I’m there. Last year I took my stakes for things I planned to play. This year, after the Sunday’s tourney I’m just putting my bankroll wherever it leads me with no plan other than Caesar’s mega-stack NLHE on Tuesday.
I’ll see you at heads-up, bitches.
Second, congratulations to Lee and Phil. I'm going to update the blog but no one really reads it anymore so I want to mention a few things. In short, after a GPT season that was The Year of the Woman, this year was The Year of the Pinko (which, if you think about it, is not that different). Lee won two of eight events this year and ran over the TOC table. I think he literally was never lsower than starting stack - 100 or so. In his tour de force he knocked out every player except me (Phil took care of that choir).
Hank won his third Player of the Year award in four seasons but Phil had the best average finish among anyone playing more than one tournament (Sweet won his only entry in PLO and More Dave finished third in his only event). Phil came on late to cash in all of the final four events (third in razz, runner-up in 5CD/KCL and PLO, and the champion of HORSE) and finished runner up to Lee in the TOC.
Lee began his ToC triumph with 5500 chips, second behind Hank against a field of seven (Jim couldn’t make the tournament). After I predicted that Tim would be first out and Hank said someone would be out before the end of the first level, Lee took care of the dirty work. Tim had been raising a lot of hands and made a stiff re-raise after Lee called my initial (junk) raise from the blind. Lee flat called and they took a flop of all clubs. Lee let Tim bet and then raised him, and then called his AI. Lee tabled A8c for the nuts and left Tim with runner-runner outs – maybe – which he missed. As usual, Tim was gracious in defeat and a really good sport about being called with a suited ace by a player out-of-position.
And then there were six. The next person to tangle with Lee was Sweet, who got all-in holding kings against Lee’s AKo. Lee had enough chips to survive a showdown, Sweet did not. Sweet looked to be in pretty good shape – until the flop brought three diamonds. As you could guess, Lee’s ace was a diamond and he went from a worse than 2-to-1 dog 43/57 dog. Sweet held the king of diamonds but everyone at the table fully expected Lee to hit at that point, and that’s exactly what happened when at ace came on the turn. Sweet didn’t hit the case on the river and then there were five.
While still in level two Bak raised five-handed and I called with 9s7s looking to get tricky. Lee called out of the blind and checked the flop dark, which was KxQs4x. It was checked around and the turn put another spade on the board. Lee checked and Bak bet 225, I called, and Lee announced raise. Before I could even muck Bak was all-in, which made my insta-fold a nano-insta-fold. Lee’s top-two was pretty predictable at that point, but what did Bak raise to 125 with pre-flop? AKs? How about Ks4s. He flopped top and bottom and turned the second-nut flush draw, but he missed and was out. Then there were four.
This is the last hand I’m going to know anything about because it didn’t end well for me. I was around 2500 chips and called Phil’s UTG raise from the button with pocket-fives. There’s a website with that name so it has to be good. Flop was almost just what I was looking for, J65 with two hearts. Phil checked and I overbet the pot with 600. Phil immediately announced raise, and I had a sick feeling. I wasn’t at all sure I was winning with bottom set then. I said “you better check my stack before you say how much” and just to be sick he bet 1200 when I held 1800 chips. Then I felt really sick. Given how low the blinds were 1800 chips was enough to do battle with, but there was a huge stack at the table and I would be short-stack by a wide margin, and for fuck’s sake I did have a set. Ultimately what got me was the two hearts – I couldn’t shake the notion that he could have a big flush draw like AK or AQ which is actually beating a flopped pair of jacks as the cards lie. I made a crying-all-in which he of course called and he had exactly what it felt like – top set of jacks. There’s only one person in the GPT who hits one-outers and it ain’t me, so then there were three.
I watched some of the three way but my mind was mostly on getting over-setted to go out of the last ToC ever and how I could have gotten away from that hand. Lee and Phil were confident that there would be a liberal on the wall. Either way, with me bubbling Hank is now the only person to cash in all four ToCs, winning two, finishing runner-up to me in year one, and third this year. Heads-up did not take long with Lee’s chip stack.
I almost disabled comments for this post but I did wait several days to write a summary which means I may have messed some things up, so flame away.
Oh, one more thing – I am going to e-mail updates from the WSOP that will get posted directly to this blog. I am playing in Event 40, 2-7 TDL which thankfully has no re-buys this year. I haven’t decided whether to play stud/8 because there are so many deep stack hold’em tournaments going on while I’m there. Last year I took my stakes for things I planned to play. This year, after the Sunday’s tourney I’m just putting my bankroll wherever it leads me with no plan other than Caesar’s mega-stack NLHE on Tuesday.
I’ll see you at heads-up, bitches.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Monday, June 02, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)