Sunday morning I wake up. I feel it in my blood, I need to play a real tournament. It's been almost a month since. I check the wallet, get in the car and make my way to Golden West Casino.
I buy into the 2:15pm No-Limit Texas hold'em $45 tournament, while looking around the room I realize my table is chock full of some of the best players in town. Juan De La Cruz is to the left, Lavender next to him. Egads, I got my work cut out for me.
After a solid hour of playing very few hands, I'm down to 60% of my starting stack. Then I get dealt aces. Make it 4 BB on the button to go, three callers. If there's anything I hate about having aces, it's having more than two callers pre-flop. Flop comes Q-8-5, check check check to me, I make it 4 BB to go again, fold call, re-raise. Hmmm, looks like a set was hit, I fold my aces face up, table shits bricks.
Folding those aces was a huge asset to my table image because since it happened, people were staying away from my raises, and defiantly away from my all-ins. By the second break (2 hour mark) I had just about three times my original stack. A lot of this was due to being dealt AK about 3 times in one orbit.
Smooth sailing as the tables begin to break, now down to four, blinds fairly huge (1000-2000). I built my stack up to 32k with a lot of small ball poker. Table image can mean life of death in some games. As we inch closer to three tables left, I notice everybody has a decent sized stack in front of them and the field is getting rougher.
I decide to go full stone at this point. We broke it down to two tables, only 20 people left, 10 to final table. You weren't getting a single chip outta me unless you were a blind! I catch pocket jacks in BB, raise a person all in, they call and scoop it up to 40k. This is always my favorite part of the tournament, only nine places were getting paid, there were 18 of us left and everyone was sweating hard. But to me, this is ample opportunity to steal some blinds from large stacks who didn't want to play in their blinds, thank you!
One by one they drop and oddly enough to the same guy, at least my table. This gentleman was just calling everybody down and eliminating them, he had well over half the chips in play. I knew he was going to be at the final table, but I also felt he was going to be one of the first to be eliminated, he played too carelessly with a large stack.
So there we were, the last ten. One chip leading maniac, about 6 solid above-average players, a rooster, and a below average player.
What happened next was the craziest final table I have ever played..
Every hand dealt became and all-in. Except, the person who was short stacked in the all-in won, every time. We had 6 all-in's called and not a single person eliminated. What did that mean? The stacks were evening out.
After an hour and a half of balls-out poker, nobody was still eliminated! Then finally we lose a player to some weird A9o vs K10s showdown that gives the victory to the latter. Were in the money now, excellent. that's when I start making mistakes, I kept limping to just be raised all-in what seemed like six times in a row. Frustrated and down to only to two BB and a half, I push under the gun with AJo, no callers and scoop blinds. next hand, AJs again, all-in no callers scoop blinds. Next hand QQ, I move all-in and get called by the chip leader, he has A9. The board is blanks, and within three hands I go from short stack to chip leader (keep in mind the blinds were 5000-10000 with a 2000 ante). Two hands later, that same guy who doubled me up is now out in ninth place. I knew he was going to blow that big stack, also he was drunk.
Another half hour goes by, no eliminations. Then they came in a giant wave, a four way all in, largest stack winning. Down to four players left. I was still chip leader, I looked at the info screen, chop was $700. I ask everybody if they wanna chop since it was second place money for everybody, all but one say yes, he eyeballs my stack, looks at his and says, "Nah, lets play another blind." I knew what he was up to, he took me for a fool who will blow his chip lead four handed when the blinds were outrageous. What I did next made me proud, and him very very mad. I folded every hand without looking, over and over, while I watched him get raised out of his own blinds. He eventually figured this was going nowhere and decided to chop after 4 minutes into the new blind.
$700 a piece, now thats good stuff.
I went home to immediately setup my usual Sunday poker game. We had 6 players at $20 with a couple re-buys. After two hours it was down to me and Brittany. We played heads-up for two more hours (a record for me as far as heads-up) until I finally took it down. Damn 12 straight hours of poker made me $840.
Looks like im back, just in time too. My birthday is in 8 days, and it's being spent in Vegas....
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Nother ' Update
Well to be honest, I haven't played a casino tournament in a quite a while, I plan to when I'm not so busy, plus my birthday is approaching, which will be spent in vegas so expect a lot of blogs.
On the bright side I have won three straight league games at my house, but those games only consist of about 7-9.
On the bright side I have won three straight league games at my house, but those games only consist of about 7-9.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Update
Hello everybody! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, been really busy with work ect, a lot of new post are on their way, I promise! Thanks for reading. :)
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure Satellite
Golden West Casino
Buy-In: $175
Chips: 10k
Blinds: 30 Minutes
Now this is my kind of tournament! Deep stack, long blinds, and a hefty prize. There were 90 entrants, half of the field won their way into it, as did myself. Right before we hear "shuffle up and deal" they announce Humberto Brenes will be playing in todays tournament, and you get a free seat at the Venetian deep-stack tournament in February for eliminating him.
As far as my table appeared it was a lot of the local sharks, a couple decent players, two fairly bad players, and myself. Within the first hour I had some excellent reads on two players. One player in particular, seated at seat 4, had a tell that was a dead giveaway. He always held one hand over his cards with his fingers surrounding each corner, and the closer they were to the bet line, the weaker his hand was, the closer it was to his body, the stronger. I figured he did this unknowingly, kept his hand close to the bet line in order to quickly muck his garbage if one were to raise. By the third blind (hour and a half of playing) I was chip leader, especially after scooping a stack with quad aces.
I kept playing small ball poker from there, I did a good job of not risking too much of my stack in unnecessary hands. At about the 10th level, they break a table and sit a new player at seat 10. From the get go I had a bad feeling about him, he sat down with about as many chips as I had, and I noticed he was calling almost every hand to see a flop, "I have to take advantage of this" I thought. In the BB I am dealt AK, I raise he calls, flop misses me, he bets 10 BB, I fold. Next hand I get dealt AK once again, I make it 4 BB, and once again he calls, flop misses me, I take a stab at it and he re-raises I muck my hand face up (on accident).
At this point I am feeling annoyed, is he playing position on me? Am I playing too tight around him? So I figure next time I have okay hand, and position on him I planned to expose his constant bluffing. I get dealt A9 on the button. I raise 8 BB (knowing he was going to be the only one who called) which he did. Flop misses me 2 - 6 - 8 rainbow. He opens for 3 BB, I smell something funny here, I then re-raise him 10 BB. He takes about a minute to call, I know what to do now, I taste blood in the water. As the turn comes I don't even look at the card, I just stare at him, he looks worried as he checks it to me, I notice the turn is a 9, I'm in better shape now, I open for 5 BB just to confuse him even further, he calls, now I get nervous. "What in the world can he be holding?" I ponder. His betting pattern makes no sense, I come to the conclusion it must be a draw. River is a King and I shove , he then says "Aww crap!" and seems worried about the K on the river. He then says , "Well if you got me, you got me but I have to call" and turns over K2o. That's right, K2 off-suit. He risked his entire tournament life not only on a terrible hand, but bottom pair.
Of course I get heated and leave not wanting to make eye contact. I still can't believe I am getting eliminated from almost every tournament by amateurs with good luck.
Buy-In: $175
Chips: 10k
Blinds: 30 Minutes
Now this is my kind of tournament! Deep stack, long blinds, and a hefty prize. There were 90 entrants, half of the field won their way into it, as did myself. Right before we hear "shuffle up and deal" they announce Humberto Brenes will be playing in todays tournament, and you get a free seat at the Venetian deep-stack tournament in February for eliminating him.
As far as my table appeared it was a lot of the local sharks, a couple decent players, two fairly bad players, and myself. Within the first hour I had some excellent reads on two players. One player in particular, seated at seat 4, had a tell that was a dead giveaway. He always held one hand over his cards with his fingers surrounding each corner, and the closer they were to the bet line, the weaker his hand was, the closer it was to his body, the stronger. I figured he did this unknowingly, kept his hand close to the bet line in order to quickly muck his garbage if one were to raise. By the third blind (hour and a half of playing) I was chip leader, especially after scooping a stack with quad aces.
I kept playing small ball poker from there, I did a good job of not risking too much of my stack in unnecessary hands. At about the 10th level, they break a table and sit a new player at seat 10. From the get go I had a bad feeling about him, he sat down with about as many chips as I had, and I noticed he was calling almost every hand to see a flop, "I have to take advantage of this" I thought. In the BB I am dealt AK, I raise he calls, flop misses me, he bets 10 BB, I fold. Next hand I get dealt AK once again, I make it 4 BB, and once again he calls, flop misses me, I take a stab at it and he re-raises I muck my hand face up (on accident).
At this point I am feeling annoyed, is he playing position on me? Am I playing too tight around him? So I figure next time I have okay hand, and position on him I planned to expose his constant bluffing. I get dealt A9 on the button. I raise 8 BB (knowing he was going to be the only one who called) which he did. Flop misses me 2 - 6 - 8 rainbow. He opens for 3 BB, I smell something funny here, I then re-raise him 10 BB. He takes about a minute to call, I know what to do now, I taste blood in the water. As the turn comes I don't even look at the card, I just stare at him, he looks worried as he checks it to me, I notice the turn is a 9, I'm in better shape now, I open for 5 BB just to confuse him even further, he calls, now I get nervous. "What in the world can he be holding?" I ponder. His betting pattern makes no sense, I come to the conclusion it must be a draw. River is a King and I shove , he then says "Aww crap!" and seems worried about the K on the river. He then says , "Well if you got me, you got me but I have to call" and turns over K2o. That's right, K2 off-suit. He risked his entire tournament life not only on a terrible hand, but bottom pair.
Of course I get heated and leave not wanting to make eye contact. I still can't believe I am getting eliminated from almost every tournament by amateurs with good luck.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Today is the day!
Today Golden West Casino is hosting their Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure satellite at 2:15pm. The buy-in would of been $175, but I won my seat back in Oct. Win or lose I will blog my outcome.
Friday 2/17
Golden West Casino - Friday morning NL tournament
Buy-in: $25
Rebuys: $0
At the beginning of this particular tournament, I knew I had my work cut out for me. I recognized at least 3 players at my table I would consider top-tier. As hard as I tried to stay out of their pots, I couldn't help myself. One particular hand panned out quite interestingly: I'm on the button, the cutoff raises two BB, everybody folds and I call with Q-Js. Flop comes 3-9-Q. Cut-off opens for 2 BB, I re-raise him to 5 BB, he then says "I'm sick you re-raising me, how about this!" and re-raises to 10 BB. I quickly fold my hand face up in hopes he would show me what I then put him on. Sure enough he shows me his pocket 3's. What gave this away was his outburst, I had not been involved in a hand with this player yet, so his comment made no sense to me other than try to provoke a call from me.
I build a fairly decent stack well into the 7th level. Just a lot of small ball pot scooping. I wasn't sure when my table image went from tight to loose, but players began calling me down like madmen. Which I didn't mind at first, I wasn't in a lot of pots without the strongest hand. Unfortunately this opened the floodgates for me to receive a ton of bad beats. Three in fact, all within the same level, from three different players, and all bad calls on their parts. To sum it up, here's how my last hand went down: I look down at Q's UTG. Raises to 5 BB, which is called by two other players. The board is all blanks 4-9-8. I open for about 10 BB, a giant raise, only one calls. Turn is a 6. I shove all-in and the only player left calls. He turns over J7o. Yes you heard me correctly, Jack-Seven off-suit. The river is a 10 of hearts and I am eliminated by a borderline retard.
Buy-in: $25
Rebuys: $0
At the beginning of this particular tournament, I knew I had my work cut out for me. I recognized at least 3 players at my table I would consider top-tier. As hard as I tried to stay out of their pots, I couldn't help myself. One particular hand panned out quite interestingly: I'm on the button, the cutoff raises two BB, everybody folds and I call with Q-Js. Flop comes 3-9-Q. Cut-off opens for 2 BB, I re-raise him to 5 BB, he then says "I'm sick you re-raising me, how about this!" and re-raises to 10 BB. I quickly fold my hand face up in hopes he would show me what I then put him on. Sure enough he shows me his pocket 3's. What gave this away was his outburst, I had not been involved in a hand with this player yet, so his comment made no sense to me other than try to provoke a call from me.
I build a fairly decent stack well into the 7th level. Just a lot of small ball pot scooping. I wasn't sure when my table image went from tight to loose, but players began calling me down like madmen. Which I didn't mind at first, I wasn't in a lot of pots without the strongest hand. Unfortunately this opened the floodgates for me to receive a ton of bad beats. Three in fact, all within the same level, from three different players, and all bad calls on their parts. To sum it up, here's how my last hand went down: I look down at Q's UTG. Raises to 5 BB, which is called by two other players. The board is all blanks 4-9-8. I open for about 10 BB, a giant raise, only one calls. Turn is a 6. I shove all-in and the only player left calls. He turns over J7o. Yes you heard me correctly, Jack-Seven off-suit. The river is a 10 of hearts and I am eliminated by a borderline retard.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Alan Jackson wants me dead
Golden West Casino - Friday morning NL tournament
Buy-In: $25
Rebuys: $0
During the second level, a player at seat 1 just figured it was time to go home and began pushing all-in every hand without looking. The maniac takes out two players and quickly becomes chip lead. I look down at A2o on the button and shove, of course he calls with 64s. I hit two pair on the flop and quickly gain tourney chip lead.
I maintain this chip lead well into the 8th level, from there things begin to go wrong. Our table breaks, I arrive at the new table, at the cut-off with AJs. I raise, BB shoves and it's only 2k more to call (my stack was at 27k). She shows AK and doubles up through me. Next hand I get AJo, make the same raise, the same player shoves again. I really shouldn't of called but we were getting very close to final table at this point (20 players left). I call, she has AQ this time. All blanks and cripples my stack. The very next hand I get pockets nines with not much left and shove, everybody folds but her who snap calls me and turns aces over. Thus, it took her three hands to bust me.
Buy-In: $25
Rebuys: $0
During the second level, a player at seat 1 just figured it was time to go home and began pushing all-in every hand without looking. The maniac takes out two players and quickly becomes chip lead. I look down at A2o on the button and shove, of course he calls with 64s. I hit two pair on the flop and quickly gain tourney chip lead.
I maintain this chip lead well into the 8th level, from there things begin to go wrong. Our table breaks, I arrive at the new table, at the cut-off with AJs. I raise, BB shoves and it's only 2k more to call (my stack was at 27k). She shows AK and doubles up through me. Next hand I get AJo, make the same raise, the same player shoves again. I really shouldn't of called but we were getting very close to final table at this point (20 players left). I call, she has AQ this time. All blanks and cripples my stack. The very next hand I get pockets nines with not much left and shove, everybody folds but her who snap calls me and turns aces over. Thus, it took her three hands to bust me.
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