Another Final Table but no Money

Friday nights are always challenging to me. The Legion has so many good players and so many donks. One guy fancies himself a pro (well two including me) playing online and talking about his success. When I used sharkscope to find out how he really did I was amazed at the amount of his losses....in excess of $16,000. Wow.

Last night he was getting lucky in various ways. Best example was reraising all-in a big preflop raise. Turns out he had AK offsuit and the original raiser had AA. The flop ran runners to give both players a wheel, but also a diamond flush for him. Second example was playing 2/3 suited against a raise and flopping 2/2/6 snapping a big pair. His downfall was limping with AA and getting snapped by 4/7 offsuit in the BB on a 4/7/x flop. The reason he limped was that he was trying to trap a super donk who was running over the table with his luck.

At no time during the tournament did I have more that maybe 200 more than starting chips of 2200, so it is a minor miracle making the FT. There were several spots that I should have shoved as a short stack for key double or triple ups, but I waited too long. Final hand: trapper donk in BB with A/7 (400/800 blinds), me UTG with 8/8, other donk calls my all-in of 1000 with his K/J offsuit, donk 1 shoves another 1200, donk 2 calls. Flop has a king and we are both gone, me bubble plus 1, him bubble boy.

Bad beat 'o the Day

Hey kids, how about this for a bad beat. I flop quad 7's and lose to a straight flush.

Oregon Coast Poker Championship

The first day of the tournament was yesterday and I tried the Omaha hi/lo for a $120 buy in. There were 60 players and I placed 18th. In my long history of tournaments I set a personal best for most all-ins. The start of the day looked like it was going to be my lucky day. I won the first 3 pots, and would have won the first 5 if I had played them. As they say, the deck was just running over me.

Later I cooled off as the blinds got larger and lost a couple of big pots with rivered hands. Example: flopped trip 10's with an ace kicker, player stayed with two pair 6/3 and hit his 3 on the river for a boat. My worst hit was a flop of 7/7/9 and checks around. The jack on the turn gave me the nut straight with my 8/10. I bet, one caller. The river, another jack, giving me the straight plus trip jacks. I bet, am raised for all my chips and I say, "I can't beat your full house, I fold". He says, "I don't have a full house" as he turns over the flopped quad 7's. Good fold, Phil.

Anyway, I kept going all in and getting half the pot which kept me alive, but not healthy with usually only 2-3 big blinds. The elderly lady next to me turned into a luck box, snapping me several times or stealing 1/2 the pot with "inferior" starting hands when she was all in. Example: I had A/2/6/6, she had A/3/5/6. The flop: A/A/3.

I must have gone in 12 plus times, surviving as they say, all but one. On my final hand, the old lady got me with a rivered boat. I had in excess of 12 outs with any 9 or Q giving me the nut straight or small card not an ace or 2 giving me the nut low. Quick omaha test: What did I hold in this hand?

Oh No, Dealing at Legion

My worst nights at the Legion are usually when I walk in and Sandy asks me to deal. My answer is always the same, "If you can't get anyone else". There is a small group who actually like it, but most of us agree that it really throws off your game (imagine Donny playing and dealing). I always seem to give myself awful cards to boot and really get zero reads on the other players being distracted.

Last night I dealt. There were a group of friends playing together on my table and they fancied themselves quite the pros. One player in particular was good, I saw him being very deliberate, setting traps, and getting very lucky. An example: I was playing a suited 9/10 of spades when the flop came 10/10/J with 2 diamonds. Very nice flop for me. The young gun bets into me, I flat call with another player in the hand. He also calls. The turn is a blank and young gun bets a little bigger (300) I raise to 900, the other player folds and he calls. The river is the 2 diamonds. He checks, I check behind and he shows the flush. Clever and nice try. Later, he flops trip 4's with another player having the 4-flush. When the other player raises him all in he calls and the flush misses. Reversed situations, luck.

I snap one of his friends who was making lots of plays like reraising early position bettors, betting big on the button, and had accumulated quite a few chips. Being short stacked due to his buddies draw out I raise in late position with 4/4 with him limping and another guy calling my raise he reraises enough to almost put me all in...as I remember I made it 250 and he reraised to 900. The other limper folds and the flop is small with a 3. I have only 60 behind which I shove, he calls and shows 2/2. I sweat the 2 outer and more than double up. The folder says that he gave up on his 3/3 which would have flopped the set. Unusual three hands with pocket 2's, 3's and 4's. I did have the best hand preflop.

I again make the final table short stacked and survive till the bubble. The table decided to pay bubble boy his buy in back and I shove a couple of times after that finally losing to a raise from 10/10 calling with my A/Q and seeing a 9 high flop. Had enough chips behind to probably induce his fold if any overcards had flopped, but another player said that he had folded A/Q so I was drawing pretty thin. Shortly after I got knocked out a huge 3 way all in happened and the big stack knocked out two. If I had folded my AQ preflop I would have taken 4th place money, $127.

The tip money is split among the dealers 50/30/20% with my table 2 getting the 30 I "won" $14. The young gun came in second and failed to leave a tip with his $260 win.

Thursday the Oregon Coast Poker Championships begin. Planning to play in the Omaha game on Thursday.

Forget On Line Poker at Airport

Tried to play in a small buy in tournament at the airport when I had a couple of hours to kill. Kept losing connectivity in the middle of hands, plus it was a turbo tournament so blinds were really fast. After reconnecting decided that only move was all in if I played a hand. In the big blind, the flop was king high, I had K3 suited, all in, call by KQ.....out.

Good Day at The Office

Played at the Gila River Casino in Chandler yesterday. They were offering 3/6 and 4/8 kill games with a 2/100 opening later in the afternoon. They had "splash pot" promotions until 2:00 with $50 added preflop to every table every hour. I only got involved in one and had a chance to win it with my 2 pair but was won with a straight.



After 2:00 the "aces cracked" promotion started with a minimum of $50 and $50 added for every hour you had logged that day. I pointed out to the dealer that in order to win it (after she explained the rules...minimum $20 pot, etc.) you need to be dealt aces which never happened to me yesterday.



It was a passive table with some very bad players who would pay you off on the scary boards...example: me check raising a pair of kings with my flush on the turn and him paying me off on the river as well. I took the normal bad beat draw outs and drew out a few myself. Ended with a $105.00 profit for around 5 hours of play.



Poker Joke

Why are there no poker games in heaven? No Dealers.

Second Best Possible Poker Hand in very low limit Omaha

Had this hand yesterday against a frequently raising donk.

King high straight flush on the river. Nice hand, nice call of my all-in bet.

Leaving for Arizona

Catching the plane for (hopefully) sunny Arizona in a few hours. This is my annual mom & sister visit. Last year it rained a record amount which was not nice since I am usually leaving that kind of weather on the beach. It was a very wet drive to Seattle yesterday but traffic was kind...the only weather related delay was in Seaside in the spot that always floods the highway....5 m.p.h. for a couple of blocks.

I hope to visit the Harrah's Ak Chin casino while there. They had some low limit games that were emminently beatable, though I didn't get 'er done last time.

How to tell if you are a donkey

Yesterday was probably my worst ever day online. 7 tournaments and one small cash. Knocked out by every donkey call imaginable. Here is how you can tell if you are a donkey:

Do you call all in bets with any two suited cards? Donkey
Do you call big preflop bets with any ace? Donkey
Do you call turn and river bets with bottom pair? Donkey
Do you go all in with garbage? Donkey
Do you raise out of position with garbage? Donkey

More to come.

Donk Vs. Donk

Played in three turbo micro buy in tournaments this morning and was the first out in all of them.

Tournament 1: Flopped two pair with my 6/7 on a 6/7/9 flop with 2 hearts. Bet to protect my hand and am raised. I reraise to define his holdings, he calls. Turn is a heart. I lead out bet big and he calls. River another heart (no hearts for me), I shove, he calls and shows JH, 3 clubs. Donk.

Tournament 2: I lose a few chips playing 6/8 suited and bet with my two pair flop 6/8/2, call, call. Turn is another 2, small bet, another caller, I call. River, blank: small bet, call, call. Pocket jacks wins with 2 pair. My last hand: A5 suited, Bet, raised, I call, reraise, reraise all in, we both call. Our hands: QQ/AJ/A5. Flop is J/J/Q. Drawing dead to running aces. AJ and I are both out.

Tournament 3: Playing pocket 7's I flop top set meaning a low draw is there plus possible straight and flush draw. I bet, get called multiple places. Turn brings in the flush and another straight possibility. With multiple bets and raises I am behind but with full house possiblities I call. River fails to pair the board and I am out, guy scoops with baby flush and nut low.

When Does Winning Feel Like Losing?

The monthly big tournament was held at the American Legion today. The buy-in was $100 and I entered with high hopes having cashed in my last 3 tournaments. My luck ran pretty sour until the first break 2 hours in, I won only 2 pots with the second one a pretty good one. I just hung in and finally got some decent hands to push with and made the final table. We agreed on $110 for the bubble boy when we were down to 6 players and I was probably 5th in chips, so good deal for me.

I began catching some great cards and moved into 3rd place. Then the following two hands happened. With blinds at 2,000/4,000 I raised to 10,000 from the cutoff with A/8 suited. The big blind a very average player defended with 8/9 offsuit and 9,000 behind. I had 16,000 behind. The flop came 10 high with a 6 and when he checked, I bet 9,000 to put him all in. He called with the gutshot and a dominated hand and the river brought his 9!

Now I am the short stack at the table and when the big blind hits me I have Q/10 offsuit. The table folds to the small blind, a very loose poor player who was chip leader at the start of the final table and is now in 4th place. He just completes the blind and I check my option not having enough to get him to fold. The flop comes great for my hand: K/Q/J, giving me second pair plus an open ended straight draw.

Being the crappy player that he is, he bets into me and I insta call saying, "if you have a king ya got me". He says, "no", and turns over 8/5 offsuit. Awesome! The turn is an 8 and the river, unbelievably, is another 8, knocking me out in 5th place. Unreal two hands. As I leave, stunned, after two bad beats, I hear them discuss doing a 4 way chop for $600 each. And that folks is when winning feels like losing.

Good Karma at the Legion

Friday night American Legion tournament. On the short drive there I was thinking of my neighbor who is recovering from two broken ankles. She cancelled her insurance a month before because she could not afford it. They are in a bad way financially as she lost her job almost a year ago. I made the decision to donate any winnings that night to them.

I ran very bad early on, utilizing my "fast tournament" strategy of early aggression for chip accumulation I was down to 1/2 my starting chips (thank you QQ...running into K/10 and flopped two pair). I hung in there and got to the final table out of the 38 starting players. Short stacked as usual I pushed hard with position or cards and got some key double ups. I snapped the aggressive chip leader who raised my big blind with his 8/9 suited with my Q/J offsuit reraise all in. When we were down to 5 players I proposed a chop, but the chip leader said "I have to pay my rent". I commented that I was playing for my neighbor who had been injured.

We eliminated another player, I took the chip lead and the rent payer was the short stack. I proposed another chop and everyone agreed. We each got $349, and the renter even kicked in $13 for my neighbor. Sweet. There is another tournament on Sunday and am thinking of doing the same thing, my own private fundraiser.

Oooh, the humanity!

This was of course not a disaster on par with the Hindenburg, yet this week was a really disastrous cash game outing for me. Lost big in every game I played, including Wed. nite Omaha. The only saving grace was two good cashes in the tournaments (2nd place & 4 way chop chop).

An interesting hand came up in the Omaha game. I was playing my favorite pocket pair 88 and the flop came: A/9/8 giving me bottom set. It was raised and capped preflop so when an early position player bet, I raised to isolate. With several callers the turn was a 5. Again, bet, raise and one caller. I am suspecting a bigger set but hey, in for a penny, in for a pound. The river is another 5 pairing the board giving me the boat. It is bet, I just call, and the other player raises!!! We cap the river and the first player turns over pocket aces for the big full house, I turn over my baby full house (but should be noted it is not an underfull), and the last player (Marco) slow rolls.......quad 5's. I was not as upset as the aces and neither of us could understand his chase, other than having a low draw which was counterfeited.

I am struggling to figure out how to beat this 2-20 spread. It is just such an ugly game in many ways....more expensive than a 4/8, just as loose as a bad 3/6, and unable to protect your premium hands like in a no limit game. Two good examples from this week: One hand with AA, I raise too little ($8) and get tons of callers, including 5/7 offsuit who flops a straight. Second example: KK under the gun, raise bigger ($12), everyone folds, wasted premium hand. Maybe I am just unlucky getting hands that beat me calling and getting no one with a good hand that wants to play back at me.

I am thinking that bet sizing is a key and maybe I can come up with a better strategy on that. Am thinking: late position if a lot of limpers, I bet $20 with premium hands (AA, KK, QQ), in early position with those hands I bet around $12. to push out marginal hands. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

How to Beat Quads

Something fairly unusual happened in the tournament today. I was chip leader at the table and when a fairly short stack pushed and another player called I also called with my pocket 5's. The other player and I were fairly deep stacked and when the flop came JJ10 we both checked. The turn was another 10, check check. The river was a 5.

Now, here is a situation that I am confident the other live player does not have a jack or 10, but before I can do anything (I am last to act), the all-in player says, "send it, quads!" and turns over his hand. The dealer calls for the floor who rules that his hand is dead. I decide to go ahead and check my full house and the other player reveals a suited ace. The dealer shoves the pot to me. I felt a little bad for the player with quads, but he effectively killed my action on the river. The other player probably would have called my bet figuring two pair with ace kicker would chop.

I pretty much ruled the table from then on, even after losing a big pot with a small blind steal attempt gone wrong. I raised with 7/10 offsuit when all players folded to me, the big blind defended with 5/3 suited?????? Claiming it was his "favorite hand" and flopped the four flush. I hit my 10 and put him all in, which he called incorrectly not getting near the odds for his draw. He of course rivered the flush. He was one of the 3 players who ended up chopping at the end with me.

Not a Bad Hand

This hand came up tonight in a single table SNG. I was chip leader for the entire tournament until 3 handed. Ended up in second place. This guy raised a lot and decided to call with my suited connectors. He was in a little trouble with his straight draw as I had a made hand and lots of spade outs. Hitting the straight flush was just icing on the cake.

Very Ugly Flop for Me & Good Flop

The first screen is a good but not great flop against the tournament leader with my set of 10's. Turn and river two pair plus nut flush draw for him sealed his doom. Hello new tournament leader, me.

Playing in a single table SNG I raised in early position with AK and was called by pocket 3's. I could not get away from the hand and was the first player eliminated.

Interesting Hand, Happy New Year

The following is a hand described by TJ Cloutier in Cardplayer magazine. He has played an awful lot of poker so for him to find this unusual makes it special.

"The board came QD/10D/7D. Four players were in this pot. One player had a set of queens, the second one had a set of tens, the third man had a set of sevens, and the fourth player flopped the nut flush!

The worst player of the four had the tens and dropped out on the flop. All the rest of the money got in three ways on the flop. At the river, the board showed the Qd/10d/7d/5h/5/d. Queens full won the pot. Now, here was a scenario where you would love to have the nut flush, because your opponents basically were dead to a queen, a ten, a seven, or a running pair. If the board paired one of the flop cards, someone would make quads, but you're such a favorite with the nut flush. It the tens had stayed in the pot, he would have run second in the hand, the sevens would have run third, and the nut flush would have been fourth. What a hand!"