A late game on the Westside seemed like a nice way to relax at the end of the day. The first hour started off quite well. A player two seats to my right was heads down over his chips and shoving late into the hand what seemed like a little too frequently. I picked up AX 8X and we played cautiously, with me catching third pair on the turn. He made a big bet on the river and I called with my eights, which were better than anything he had. That seemed to put a stop to the endless raising.
Got really lucky and picked up AX AX in late position, just watching people put money in, re-raised it well but not too much and was pleasantly surprised when there was an all-in to my left that let me push. The aces held up, I forced a re-buy, and things were looking good.
A couple of missed opportunities. Even with the chips I had I was loath to call some large bets with 3X 3X in my hand but was really wishing I had when a 3X dropped on the river, with that set beating the two pair that won the hand. A 6X 9X I dropped pre-flop would have made a TX.
Another player fell victim to my play while I was speculating with 3♦ 5♦. I had the flush by the turn, he didn’t seem to believe me, and the diamonds double-crossed him.
I was one of the bigger stacks at the table toward the end of the hour when I got KX KX. I was in seat #4 and the guy in seat #1 had been playing seriously and aggressively but he was well behind me. We were all-in before the river and the best he had was a gutshot straight draw to 8, but he made it and my kings were taken to the cleaners for 7,600.
Going into the break, I had 12,700 chips. I would have had about 30K if I’d won that last hand. From here on, it was harder going and almost all downhill, doing things like raising to 1,200 with AX TX only to have to fold when other stacks went all-in.
Got knocked down to 8,700 when I called a small stack all-in. We were heads-up but his KX KX held up against my AX 9X. I picked up blinds and calls with a suited AX KX all-in raise.
My big regret of the night? Laying down a 4X 5X pre-flop from the big blind at 400/800 with just a 1,000 raise on top. There were five callers, the flop was AX 5X 4X, and many thousands of chips went in before the river when another 5X was down. My full house would have been best. I can remember before tossing the cards thinking: “If only they were suited….”
Just 8,300 by the second break. Seat #6 had 40,500. My notes from the Tournament Director screen showed there were 14 of 33 players still in play. There were 10 re-buys, and the total pot was $1,075, paying 5 places.
I was out before consolidation to the final table, in 11th or 12th place. I had TX TX and re-raised all-in but got called by seat #1 who had enough chips he wouldn’t notice a loss. He showed very low connectors but managed to pull a 6X-high straight.
D and I had discussed playing in some of the $40 satellites to the Mizrachi/Levy $340 tournament this weekend, but my schedule just wasn’t working out for it.
In other news, @pokermutant is now followed on Twitter by Portland-based online player Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt and I’ve got copies ordered of his Don’t Listen To Phil Hellmuth: Correcting The 50 Worst Pieces Of Poker Advice You’ve Ever Heard and Treat Your Poker Like A Business (although I’m rather hoping my poker playing is more successful than the various business ventures I’ve been involved in).