Momentum in Turbos

What is there to say about Turbos? They are the gambling side of tournament play, particularly in the latter stages when no one at the table has more than 10 or 15 big blinds.  Also, they are low buy in, so the payouts are not so good.  Played Monday at Tulalip cause decided it was important to get back on the horse that threw me.  There were 81 entries in the $25 event so it paid 8 spots.  Had a couple of amazing hands.  The first came in my big blind.  A short stack shoved, followed by another slightly bigger stack.  I had to call a few hundred but with great pot odds did so with my "Doyle Brunson" offsuit 10/2.   The board ran out with 4 spades (My 10 was a spade), giving me a straight and a flush, and wait....A jack high straight flush!!!  Two players down.  Getting to the final table, I was never in great shape but survived a couple of all ins including one with 6/9.  A player had shoved with A/5 who had survived earlier with 6/9 making a straight.  I flopped 2 9's and rivered a 6, which was just showing off.  Finally was eliminated in 6 th place which paid only $90, but a win is a win.

Tuesday, another turbo.  Better buy in $40, more chips, 4000 vs 2000 in Modays, 16 minute blinds, around 80 players.  Going deep, down to 14 players, went for the gold  vs. Just cashing.  A player I had beaten a couple of hands min raised under the gun.  He was raising very light, so I shoved a pretty big stack to isolate with my A/Q.  He called along with short stack big blind.  Raiser has 9/9, big blind 2/3. Flop is pretty good for me, J/10/x, giving me nut gutshot straight draw with 2 overs for 10 outs.  Turn is a 3, giving shorty 5 outs.  River is a 9 eliminating both of us in 14th and 13th place.  I literally could have folded to the money (paid 10), but where is the fun in that?  I am playing to win.    Overall think I am playing well and will eventually crush these games.

Anticipation

All week I have been anticipating the big ($230) end of month tournament at Tulalip.  I was the 96th entry an hour before starting time.  There were over 60 alternates after me, so big money.  The wheels started coming off early with my pocket queens folding on a scary flush/straight/ace high board.  Losing a couple more hands I made a big time laydown to the player to my immediate right.  He raised to $200 With blinds 25/50.  Looking at my pocket kings I re-raised to $800.  He then quickly 4 bet it to $6000.  I folded my kings face up and he then showed his pocket aces.  Several players praised my fold.  His hand was face up to me as I knew queens or jacks would not be in his range with this action.

A little later, I ran into trouble again with him.  A player raised to 275 and he flat called.  I had k/10 off, which I realize is not strong, but already in blind with other callers hoped for a great flop with one of my favorite hands.  The flop came down k/10/6 With 2 hearts.  I liked it, but bet right out due to flush draw.  The original raiser called the 800 bet, then my nemesis re-raised big.  I thought briefly (probably too briefly), putting him on either A/K, or even possibly A/A, and remotely 6/6.  I had these hands either drawing thin, or in the case of 6/6, had outs.  I shoved.  The other guy folded, villain paused briefly and called, turning over K/K.  Ouch.  Player down with no saving runner runner 10's.  I was either 2nd or 3rd player out.  Leaving dazed and confused was really upset.  Really bad luck combined with questionable play.

Another Losing Outing

After a 4 day winning streak, I have gone the other way.  Cutting back on cash games and focusing on tournaments seems like a cheaper way to go.  Wednesday, playing in a turbo, bubbled final table when I misjudged a player's all in.  He had min raised 2 under the gun and I was in big blind with 7/7.  The flop was 6/6/3, and I checked.  He shoved and I put him on A/J, A/Q or small pair.  Wrong.  He had 10/10. Oh well, best showing so far in this particular game, starting to figure out players.

Yesterday, played almost a freeroll, cost $5 due to my $20 coupon.  Played very well down to 20 players from 64 entries when I picked up Q/Q on the button with one limped.  Raising to 1200 with blinds at 200/400, one caller.  Flop was Q/x/x.  No real draws and bet 1200 when checked to me.  Call.  Turn brought J of hearts and player shoves and had me covered.  With no better hand possible i called.  He turns over 9/10 of hearts, giving him both flush and straight draws.  River is a heart which does not pair the board and i am done.  Play it different next time?  Don't think so.  He was dumb to call my flop bet, then lucky to get runner runner.

Played omaha for a couple hours losing 1 1/2 buy ins.  The high hands at our table were insane with quad aces, then quad kings, then quad aces again which were beaten by a flopped royal flush!!!  I was in that hand with an 8 high flush, but quickly folded.  Only "bright" spot was winning $45 on poker machine while waiting for my seat. 

Why I haven't been posting

So, this year has been rough on me so far.  Recovering from my heart event on January 12th, I quickly developed a nasty cold, but fortunately not the flu.  With it came a bad cough which somehow threw my back out.  Suffering for 4 days, finally went to the doctor.  Heat treatments daily and some heavy duty pain meds have eased my suffering, but still unable to play more than a couple of hours.  Staying away from most cash games, just going with low buy in turbo tournaments.  No luck there, yesterday lost most of stack with my 10/10 vs. 8/8, hitting a set on the river which made him a straight.  With 6 blinds, shoved in middle position with 10/J suited.  Called by K/K.  Player down despite flush and straight draws.

Speaking of which, getting damned tired of not hitting big draws while opponents hit long shots.  Wah!!!!

Good Outing but not maximized

Had a good outing a few days ago at Caribbean card room, but should have been a lot better.  One of my struggles in cash games is bet sizing and sometimes when not to bet!!!  An example was calling a raise with 7/7.  The flop came down 7/2/2 and the original bettor put out a 1/2 pot size bet.  I called.  The turn was a brick, he then checked.  I then bet 1/2 pot and he folded.  Fish off  the hook!!!  One could argue that perhaps he had an overpair and I protected my hand, but in all likelihood he had an ace/x hand that could have improved had I checked, then I could have gotten all of his stack.

This type of scenario seems to be what happens to me a lot.  I blow people out of the hand with strong bets rather than giving some rope so they can hang themselves.  I did end up with almost a 300 profit that day, so I was satisfied, but felt it could have been a lot more.

My winning streak since getting back on the tables was really great, 5 straight wins until yesterday.  That was a disaster with my strong made hands destroyed on the river time after time (board usually pairing to give opponent full house), while my sets could not find a pair on the river.  I recall one big pot that was particularly sick.  A player raised preflop (usually indicating an A/2 type of hand).  Tons of players called and I came along with middle and large suited connectors. The flop came down 5/6/8 with me having two pair (5/6).  With lots of players and a low made there was a ton of betting and raising.  Four of us saw the turn which brought 2 players betting and raising, 2 of us calling.  The river brought a bet and raise, and when the other player folded, so did I.  Turned out he had pocket 6's (set on flop) while the other two had A/2 and one with a small pair.  I was drawing dead, but with a large pot probably should have called on the river.  Just could not imagine that there was not a nut low plus nut straight out there given the action.  Lesson:  sometimes you just gotta throw those last bets in.

I hit one high hand with quad 3's which quickly got beaten by quad 6's. Did not get another hand up on the board but several made it on our table including quad aces, eights, and a full house or 2.  Heard from the floor that another bad beat was hit, this one for $56,000.  Table shares almost $3000.  He said it was straight flush over straight flush in a holdem game.

One other fun outing earlier this week.  While waiting for my seat looked at a table and saw a former salesman of mine from Redmond.  We had a short opportunity to chat, and while doing so, my racquetball/poker buddy came in.  We later sat at the same table with Bryan, another poker friend from the Tri-Cities.  It was a super marginal day, lost almost a hundred in a 3/6 limit game before winning it back in the 1/3/300 spread game.  Finished up precisely $7.