Victory, Sweet Victory

After definitely not cashing in the quarterly $100 tournament, I was bummed but had at least broken even with my tip money.  So, playing online yesterday got all the luck that was missing on Sunday.  Placed 13th in $25 Guaranteed prize pool after very late registration.  The .50 buy-in paid off to the tune of $1.04.  While in the midst of this one, had signed up for a later one, and for a while playing both simultaneously.  After busting in the first one, concentrated on the second.  Here is the result:

My bankroll is now up over $40, so planning on playing some bigger buy-in tournaments soon.

Luck Runs Out

Thinking about Friday's tournament today I have decided that I really got lucky multiple times.  The first piece of luck was calling 7/7's shove with my AK.  I was lucky to outdraw him and catch an ace. Had him covered so not at risk.  Later, I lost a big chunk of my chips with AQ vs. KK.  Thinking later about it, unfortunately I was motivated by the person I was calling as really felt he is not as good as his opinion of himself.  I should have paused a moment, checked his chip count and probably folded. He had way more chips than I thought.  He had been cocky earlier, hitting a full house against trips but had lost a lot of the chips.

I ended up extremely short stacked just prior to a break to consolidate tables, and folded my 4/7 of spades which would have won a volume pot.  My re-draw seat worked out o.k. and was able to accumulate enough chips to make the final table.  One player (Ray, our resident pro) was first out on a cooler, his KK vs. AA.  I had only one blind but tripled up with my 7/7 vs. 4/4 on a 7/4/x/8/8 board. My main pot was smaller than the side as someone else had trips, so the 4/4 did well.

One more triple up, again with only one blind, with K/10 on a great flop of J/Q/A.  So, lucky multiple times.  Our resident calling station in the meantime was crushing the table.  He absolutely could not miss, calling big raises and taking it down with weak hands.  He was my only caller with a 2.5 blind shove with my 4/4.  He had A/5 and flopped 2 pair.  The flop was this:  A/5/x, there were two hearts. He had no hearts, mine was the 4.  The turn brought the two of hearts to give me lots of outs, including a straight flush with the 3 hearts:

2-4's
4-3's
8-hearts  (the ace did not count since that would give him a full house)
Total:  14 outs

Naturally, the river card was the ace of hearts, giving me a flush and him the full house.  It pays to be lucky.  Down in 8th place, paying 5 places with 28 players.  At least I did not bubble.  Oh yes, the player I mentioned earlier with his KK did not make the final table.

Oregon Aces, Re-Thinking my Position

When I first began regular live tournament play I had a "secret" pre-flop raising hand.  There were conditions that had to be met.  First, I had to be the first to enter the pot.  Second, the cards had to be off-suit.  Third, they had to be 2/3.  Call it my bluff hand if you will, but it worked out very well for me on several occasions.  The reason I liked the hand is because it is so well hidden when you hit big.  I first saw an Asian guy play it that way in a cash game at Spirit Mountain casino.  He flopped a wheel and won a giant pot with big aces paying him off.  It of course has failed me miserably at times as well, like once when I flopped two pair and was counterfeited on later streets.

So, this morning playing in a SNG online, I lost half my chips to 2/3 when he called my pot size bet then hit two pair on the turn.  My final hand in the tournament was also against 2/3.  I limped in late position with K/9 of clubs.  The board was 4/5 clubs/X.  The flop was checked or min bet.  The turn was a blank and I bet out pot size.  The 2/3 of clubs shoved, I called.  The river?  The 6 of clubs, what else?  Straight flush takes it down.

So, anyway, for those of you who read my blog and play against me, BEWARE!!!!!  The Oregon aces may be in play!!!!!  Side note:  many in Oregon have not heard this widely used Washington poker term.

FT CURSE BROKEN?

My consecutive streak of 5 final tables and two bubbles with no cashes has at last been broken.  Last night at Wheeler was able to eke out a 4th place finish for $110.  We were on the bubble and I had a very bad feeling particularly when the short stack shoved and was called in two spots.  Rather than check it down a new player bet into the dry pot, the other player said, "Really?" and folded AJ.  He tabled A/3, the all-in player tabled A/9 and won the hand with his kicker as no one had a pair.  Crap! Later, the same player called my AQ shove with AJ of hearts and rivered a flush.  The short stack went out just before me, and I was in the money.  Whew!  If my AQ had held I would have been 2nd in chips..........  

Additional Resolutions

1.  Take more time for decisions, particularly going all-in.
2.  Defend blinds more.
3.  Don't overcall shoves.
4.  Be more aggressive on the button.

Doo Dah

Off to the races this morning.  Sometimes I just love the players in the low limit turbo play money SNG's.  I lost almost 1/2 my chips with 8/8 called by 9/x unconnected unsuited garbage.  Naturally he hit a 9.  Limping in with Q/10, I was delighted to see a flop of 8/9/J with 2 spades (I had no spades). One of the early limpers open shoved.  Hmmm, I call with the nuts.  One other player called and we see the first shove is J/5 (no spades).  The other player I think had an 8.  Both players had me covered.

Now, here comes the turn, another Jack.  O.K.  Now the river, case Jack for quads. Unfreakingbelievable. Goin' to run all night, goin' to run all day.  I'll bet my mon-ey on the bob-tail nag, somebod-y bet on the bay.

New Week's Resolutions

Hey, it's never too late to make resolutions is it?  Despite being in July, I have been thinking about some good poker resolutions.  Like all of them, they are probably designed to be broken, but I am only human (not cyborg like Arnold).  So, here goes.

1.  I hereby resolve to limp less and raise more (except when trapping, see #2)

2.  I resolve to trap more.  This means that I will not blow people off hands when I flop monsters, nor will I raise out of position with vulnerable middle pairs (up to and including jacks).

3.  Going along with the raising out of position idea, I will resolve not to blow people out of the hand by overbetting huge with small pairs....besides that is one huge tell.

4.  I resolve to commit my chips earlier rather than reach the final table short stacked.  I would rather go home early with no money than go home late with no money.

5.  See more flops early, particularly in multiway limps and late position.

Update on my resolutions thru Friday tournament.

I did really well in gambling before the final table, reaching it with approximately 7,000 in chips.  Not one of the big stacks, but a workable one.

I did see more flops, but made a huge mistake from the big blind on a mult-way limp.  The small blind who characteristically (know your players!!!) plays very passively put in a min-raise.  I folded due to his tightness and passivity with 2 or 3 players behind me.  He had raised with AK suited and the board was checked to the river.  I had folded J/4.  There was a J and a 4 on the flop, with another jack on the turn.  Yikes!

I did well by just calling a small pre-flop raise from a hyper-aggressive young player with my pocket 9's.  I flopped a set on a very dry board (think maybe a queen, and small card rainbow).  I filled up on the turn with another queen, everyone checking the flop and turn.  On the river, as last action, I put in a small bet, all folded unfortunately and my 9's full of queens went on the high hand board for a round (ultimately knocked off by Q/9 full, then quad 6's, then quad 7's).  I thought I played fine, just could not get the young gun to fire some rounds. Side note:  He busted out shortly afterward by open shoving with AJ and called by AK. (Jr. down)

My final hand on the FT with 7 players remaining (paying 6, not the bubble boy), I was completely and utterly card dead the entire time.  Down to 3400 with blinds @ 500/1000 in the small blind, one limper to me so I shove with the best hand I had seen so far, Q/J. The big blind quickly folded and the limper called with.....AK!  Explaining a bit, the limper is a pretty passive player and will lay down a hand against aggression most of the time.  He had also open/shoved a fairly small stack a couple of times and had chipped up with no callers.  He had a medium stack now that would have been pretty crippled if he lost.  The door card was a jack, but followed by a king.  I missed my outs and bubbled out yet again.  Thinking long and hard about my play, would have preferred to shove earlier, but really no cards or opportunities as there had been multiple shoves before me with 2 bustouts.  There was a lot of aggression on the FT from the monster stack and really could not find a spot.  I was frankly surprised to see the AK as I expected something more like a small or medium pair.  With his stack would think a shove would have been better than a limp/call.  I do not think he was trapping, but if so worked out well for him.  If he had raised or shoved my hand would have been an easy fold.