Foxwoods Before the Storm

Posted on Friday, 26 August 2011 by Poker Mutant

On a business trip to Boston and I had a day to kill before Hurricane Irene hit New England. So I decided to head down to Foxwoods in Connecticut, which is running deep stack tournaments at 6pm every night. The WPT Poker Room at Foxwoods is advertised as the largest poker room on the East Coast, so I figured it could be a bit of an eye-opener for me, having played poker in a small tribal casino as my first casino experience just a few weeks back and the only other casino I’d been in being Spirit Mountain.

I got to Foxwoods with some time to kill before the tournament and went downstairs to where the cash action is. Lots and lots of cash action. There was a short wait for a seat at a $1/$2 No Limit Hold’em table; I got my WPT Poker Room card and some chips.

The games at Foxwoods were definitely not as soft as Spirit Mountain. I managed to lose my first stack with a made straight on the flop hoping that nobody had already made the bigger straight draw. Got it all back when I doubled my stack holding 5X 5X with KX KX on the board and the big stack thought I was completely bluffing. Then I managed to lose the whole thing, with my last hand being A♠ 7♠. The board gave me a pair of aces and wheel draw but KX 2X actually made the wheel. I went to get a late lunch.

When I was ready to face the music again, I happened into the start of a $1/$2 Pot LImit Omaha Hi-Lo game and signed up. This session went incredibly well. A three-card run in one hand turned into a straight that won me a double-up, and I caught another couple big hands, nearly quadrupling my buy-in. I actually threw down a hand with both Broadway and wheel draws after a turn bet from across the table that would have cost me about two-thirds of the profit (above the buy-in and the two stacks I’d lost in Hold’em) because I figured I needed to slow down for a second. As it turned out, the wheel came through and I probably could have added another couple stacks because I would have scooped the pot and both the other players were nearly all-in.

Success is fleeting, however. The tournament, a $15,000 guarantee with about 140 players didn’t last very long for me. I could only console myself with the fact that I wasn’t the first person out of the game. It was off to my hotel to get some sleep after that.

Back out to Foxwoods for the morning turbo. Took a bit of a hit after an OK start, but made it to the second table out of 50 entrants. Picked up AX KX in the big blind. After a big raise from a mid-position player and an all-in from button, if I got lucky, I might triple my stack. The raiser was largest stack, both were bigger than me. I called all-in, and the big stack called. The big stack also had AX KX, the button held AX AX which held up, taking me out in 15th. First place paid $917.

The morning bounty tournament was still in the first level, so I bought in there. I plugged along with about the starting stack as the average chip level went up, then took a hit that put a mark on my stack. By the time the blinds were up to 500/1000/150 I was down to about 7bb. I shoved with A♣ Q♣ and got called by someone who could afford the chips to race with TX TX (who I’d knocked out of the turbo game earlier). I placed 14th of 42. The prize pool was $5,149, with $1,803 going to first and just six players paid.

I’d lasted long enough that the early afternoon turbo was beyond it’s buy-in, so I got lunch and some goodies for friends back home, dragged things back to the car, then stepped downstairs to the cash games again.

I haven’t ever played much 7-Card Stud. My advice is, do not make your first live experience against a bunch of geezers at someplace like Foxwoods in a Fixed Limit $1/$5 game. I made a couple of blunders that marked me as a neophyte in the first couple of hands. Seriously, people were laughing. I managed to get a little bit of respect (and some chips) back with a sneaky move and a flush, but mostly the stack went down and down. The slower speed of the game did kill some time, though. I killed some more watching people play Sic Bo.

Finally, the $20,000 guarantee tournament. Our table started out laughably short-handed with just four players despite being set up for ten. People started to filter in as time went on. I pulled an iron out of the fire on one hand when a short-stacked player who had announced she was “on tilt” and I both seemed to have paired a KX on the flop. Hers was presumably better than my KX TX until the river when I called her all-in as the TX hit. My turn came later, when AX JX and an AX on the board ran into a set of 3X with two of them on the board after the turn. That knocked me down to about a quarter of the starting stack and I was out relatively soon, in 98th place of 140. The prize pool was more than $27,000, with fourteen places paid and more than $7,700 to first place.

Back to Portland.

Freeroll to Nowhere

Posted on Saturday, 13 August 2011 by Poker Mutant

Despite the fact that it’s supposedly now the top tourist destination in the state (and that’s a state where half a million people a year visit a bear-infested fish hatchery) I’d never been to the Spirit Mountain Casino in Grande Ronde since it opened fifteen years ago.

For one thing, I’m not much of a gambler. Despite the poker fixation, I have no interest in games of pure chance like roulette and slot machines, or card games where you have absolutely no control, like blackjack. I’ve built roulette and slot simulators, I’ve even worked with some of the people who design real electronic systems, and they just don’t interest me.

It’s a long drive down to the Mountain. Sure, it’s the closest real casino (sorry La Center, but “8 tables” doesn’t cut it) to Portland, but it’s more than half-way to the coast. Sixty-five miles by the shortest route, which takes you through the ugly traffic jam around Dundee; more than 80 miles if you go south on I5 to Salem and across.

And I’m not a cash game player. I really prefer tournament play, the bigger the field and the slower the blind structure the better. Without knowing more about the games at Spirit Mountain, there wasn’t any real draw for me.

But this weekend they are running their “Summer Showdown 2011,” a $440 buy-in tournament for 20,000 chips with $100 bounties. It was tempting with the money from the Champions game last week rattling around in my pocket. But it was too big a hunk. However, Friday they were running a $90 satellite tournament, and 20% of the field would get seats in the big game. Easy-peasy, right? I headed down there after getting some work done in the morning.

Spirit Mountain $1/$3 NLHE

Since I arrived more than an hour early (expecting more traffic on the I5 route than I ran into), I bought my tournament entry (getting a bonus of 500 chips) and then stood around a bit. Two tables of $3/$6 Limit Hold’em were running—not my game—but one of the hosts asked me if I wanted to join in a $1/$3 No Limit HE game that was starting up. I bought in for $100.

I picked up about $25 early on, then lost it a bit later after I had to lay down a straight draw to a re-raise. Then I got very lucky with a Q♥ 9♥ and a flop with two hearts on it. There was money from four players in the pot pre-flop, I pushed all-in when another heart showed on the turn and got called, hoping that the other guy didn’t have A♥ or K♥. As it was, he apparently didn’t even have a flush and I more than doubled up. A little after that I left the table for a bite to eat and cashed for $241. I’d just paid for my satellite buy-in and gas and then some.

30 minutes. ROI: 141%.

Spirit Mountain Summer Showdown 2011 Event 1 (4,600 chips)

It was supposedly an “event” but it was actually just a satellite to the big game on Saturday. The room filled up pretty quickly, a lot of the folks at table 12 where I was seated (table draw was from unlucky table 13) seemed to know each other and the dealer (with whom I discussed the relative “safeness” of the Encore and Aces; with her opinion being that she liked the neighborhood around Aces better—she’s the second person I’ve talked to whose car’s been broken into at Encore). Signing up over an hour early got me an extra 500 chip to go with my Coyote Club 100 bonus. I was feeling upbeat after my performance at the cash game, but I needn’t have bothered.

I lost a couple of smallish pots through the first half-hour of play. The levels were 30 minutes and we started at 25/50 but a couple of players busted out, with everyone looking their way in disdain. Just hold out, dudes! One in five gets through to the big game tomorrow! 20,000 in chips!

The last hand before the blinds went up, I was on the BB and drew 8♠ 4♠. There were five limps and the flop rolled out 8X 7X 4X. One of the mid-position players raised to 300, got a call, and I re-raised to 1,500 with my two pair, only to get a check/all-in from the first actor. Everyone folded out of the way and I made a stupid call. She showed 5X 6X for the flopped straight I hadn’t even seen. I was crushed and when the hand was over I had a single 25 chip which went into the small blind.

AX TX managed to quintuple me up, but a few hands later I was completely out.

So, a long drive to Grande Ronde on a sunny day, half-an-hour of good cash game play, and an incredibly stupid move in the first half-hour of a marathon tournament. Driving back to town I was kicking myself for the call but when I ran the numbers I saw that it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought it was. Oh, it was still bad—especially when my tournament life was on the line—but I had between a 27% and 30% chance of winning the hand, which was better than I thought it was on the drive back.

30 minutes. -100% ROI.

Spewing

Posted on Tuesday, 2 August 2011 by Poker Mutant

Encore Club Noon $700 Guarantee (5,500 chips, including bonus)

I don’t know what I was thinking here. I was in seat 6 and called a raise with Q♠ J♣ on a J♦ 6♦ 7♦ flop. The turn was another diamond and I was heads-up with one of the regulars I’ve played with in seat 6 who kept raising and I kept calling. I didn’t have a diamond, my hand didn’t improve, and if he had just a single diamond he was better than my jacks. I was all-in by after the river and he did have just one diamond: A♦.

I re-buy, even though I intended not to, and get AX 2X on the next hand. By the river, the board is 5X 7X QX 7X AX and I’ve been calling his bets again. I know he’s got an ace; the best I can hope for is a chop; there’s about a 25% chance he’s got a 7X, QX, KX, or AX, in which case I’m beat. I go all-in, hoping for the other 75%, but he shows down AX KX and I’m out after literally five hands.

15 minutes. -100% ROI (including buy-in and re-buy).

Encore Club Special Limit H.O.R.S.E Tournament (5,000 chips)

I’d been looking forward to one of these events ever since I’d first heard about them a little over a month ago. I thought it would be a good chance to stretch beyond Hold’em into other potential events, should I get the opportunity. Maybe not. There was the inevitable older guy at the table who played the confused card about the betting structures but who inexplicably was exceptionally good at Razz. I never even made it to ‘S’, as I ran into his three very low hole cards disguised by high up cards. I was the first player out.

70 minutes. First of eight players out. -100% ROI (including buy-in and add-on).

First of July

Posted on Saturday, 2 July 2011 by Poker Mutant

Aces Player’s Club $10K Guarantee (10,000 chips)

My club card was full, so I didn’t have to pay the door this evening. Got sat down at Table 4 Seat 2, so I had the first SB.

Got off to a decent beginning playing K♣ J♣ against one of the players on the far end. Hit two clubs on the flop and made a flush on the turn; was just a card away from a royal flush. Up to 11,800 chips by 0:15.

Seat 4 tried to represent a strong hand on my first BB when I was holding 9X 9X. Top card on the flop was TX and I kept playing back, calling several thousand in raises by the river. He couldn’t beat my pair and I was up to 15,725 by 0:25.

Called a raise to 525 with A♠ T♠, then folded after a re-raise and all-in behind me. The re-raiser had JX JX and the all-in was holding KX KX. A river KX just sealed that one; my hand never improved.

Holding A♦ 5♦, I called a raise of 500, then folded after an all-club flop was raised.

At 45 minutes I was still holding 14,000.

A late arrival to the table in Seat 1 was talking about a couple of wins he’s made a few weeks back and it turned out he was the giant stack at the Encore’s $10K who took me out with sixes. Apparently he’d also won the Aces $10K the night before that.

Playing QX TX I got a straight draw on the flop but had to push and bluff the Beast inSeat 1 and another player off the flop.

My 8♠ 9♠ made top two pair on a flop but a 7X on the turn made the straight for another player’s JX TX and I lost several thousand hoping for a full house.

A Mutant Jack A♠ J♠ made a straight on the turn, angering some of my fellow players.

By the first break (at one hour) I was at 9,500, having recouped slightly after the big loss. The 5K add-on took me up to 14,500.

Folded 1,000 with QX JX and a straight draw on the turn after getting priced out, then lost another 800 with AX TX when the board had a lot of full house possibilities but not for me.

As BB with KX 7X, I called a raise to 1,000 from the Beast, hit middle pair on the board, then raised 600 and got him to fold. He was knocked out by someone else shortly after that.

Gambled on 7♣ 8♣ on a KX KX 7X board and was beat on the river by a flush.

Went all-in with a bunch of limps ahead of me holding 5X 5X. Only caller on the final bet of 5,700 had AX 7X. Bombs fell all between his cards but my pair held up and I was up to 13,80 by 1:55 in the game.

Called a raise of 1,200 with JX TX and had to bail after the flop.

Went heads-up as SB v BB with a low pair on the board but BB made trip kings and I lost about 4,800.

Laid down KX TX on a flop with QX QX. Would have made a straight and won by the end of the board.

At 2:15, I was down to only 5,600 chips and got AX KX on the BB. I went all-in, a bigger stack called, and a smaller stack was in, too. The big stack had 8X 8X, the small stack had just 4X 5X but the board ran low, putting another 8X on the flop for the big stack and a straight to the 8X for the small stack.

160 minutes. Finished 48th of 70 players. -100%ROI (including buy-in and add-on).

Breakthroughs: Post 100; Money in $10K

Posted on Wednesday, 15 June 2011 by Poker Mutant

Encore Club $10,000 Guarantee (10,000 chips)

Once it was obvious I wasn’t winning the Player of the Year pool money for a WSOP buy-in this year, I decided to step up my tournament play to see if I could make it up that way. Of course, after Black Friday, that meant more live tournaments, and I got off to a great start with the freeroll I played in early May and the turbo a couple of nights later that gave me back to back first-place finishes. Needless to say, that record hasn’t been maintained through the past six weeks, but I have stayed at around a 25% cash average since the first of June. 6 cashes in 26 tournaments.

The last one is the most interesting (and frustrating) to me. DV and I entered Encore’s monthly $10K Guarantee with the agreement that we’d split any winnings, the same agreement we’d made before the Ace of Spades game a couple of weeks earlier.

My game got off to a great start. I was in seat 4 and picked up 8X 8X on the third hand of the match as SB. I’d lost a few chips on the earlier hands but still had about 9,500. The flop was 7X 6X 5X and I started betting heavily. The field narrowed to me and BB who stayed in. The turn 4X gave me my straight and I really pushed but there was a flush draw on the board, as well and BB re-raised. I shoved, he called, and he missed his flush but I got 9X for an even higher straight. He was seriously crippled by the fourth hand and I was over 19K.

The first of my big mistakes came shortly thereafter. I had 6♣ 8♣, two clubs showed on the flop, and I got into a bidding war with seat 7 that ended up with me having about 7,000 chips in by the river, which gave me a flush. Seat 7 turned up two pair and I flipped over 6♣ 8♠, which paired an 8X on the board but wasn’t a flush. I sucked up the loss of most of the gain I’d made just a few hands earlier and kicked myself for wearing contacts instead of my glasses.

I played AX JX and paired the JX high card on the flop but was beat by pocket KX KX and was down to 11K.

An all-diamond flop forced me to lay down 700 chips along with J♥ T♠. Likewise, I raised 800 on A♣ Q♣ and folded when the top cards on the flop were K♦ 7♦.

A♦ 2♦ gave me diamonds for a change and I made a set of deuces but four hearts on the board made a flush for someone and I was down to 8,000 chips.

The last hand before the first break put QX QX into my hands and I managed to practically double up by busting out a player. After buying the 7K add-on, I had 25,500.

This, of course, did not last long. I bet big with A♥ T♥ on a TX QX KX flop and another player came over the top, leaving me with 17K by the end of that hand. Then a pair of 9X 9X lost me 4,325 more when I called an all-in and their J♣ T♣ drew to a flush on the river. At the three hour mark my stack was back down to 11,875.

AX JX (not a Mutant Jack) took down the blinds for me when I opened with a raise to 2,500. Then I called a bb of 800 and folded to an all-in.

AX 5X is usually something I dislike playing but I saw a 5X TX 5X on the flop and bet erratically, which ended up making me 20K. The guy next to me said he had no idea what I had.

Then I was lucky enough to grab a pair of KX KX as BB and went all-in after a 5K raise from the CO. He called, showed AX QX and almost made a straight (though that was more difficult with two of the kings in my hand), and I was up to 40K. By break three that was 59,400.

Back in the thick of things, K♦ 4♦ hit two pair on the flop and ended up with two players all-in against me when another 4X showed on the river, knocking them both out. By 4 hours and 30 minutes in I had 76,500.

I called a raise to 2K with Q♣ T♣ but had to fold to two all-in bets, then lost another 6600 with A♣ 3♣ after a flop that utterly failed to connect.

My QX TX made two pair on the flop after I bet 5K pre-flop, and I called another player’s all-in. They showed four to a straight but beat me with a royal flush on the turn. That cost me about 30K and left me with 40,000 in chips at the 3 hours and fifty minutes mark.

I raised to 6K with another A♠ 5♠ and was re-raised. The re-raiser showed KX KX at showdown with another player. I would have made two pair on the board but a flush came and I would have lost anyway.

Five hours into the match, I was down to 22,000 chips, only 5K above the amount I’d received as a starting stack and add-on.

I managed to steal the blinds and antes with an all-in holding A♦ 9♦. At least I was big enough for the people at my table not to want to tangle with me all of the time.

Fifteen minutes later I was up to 24,500, with my ill-gotten blinds and antes.

I knocked out another player by calling an all-in with KX QX. They held KX 9X and stayed behind across the board. The Mutant Jack J♣ A♣ made two pair on the flop and earned me another 10K. Five hours and thirty minutes into the game, I’d made it back up to 45,500.

A Mutant Jack of hearts (A♥ J♥) and a bet of 12K got a call and then took the pot for me. Then I played a dangerous 3X 3X, hitting a set on the flop and won another pot. Took out a player when the Q♦ J♦ paired the queen. By six-and-a-quarter hours, my stack was finally over the chip average again, with 95,000.

Raising to 15K with KX QX, another player came over the top and I laid it down, which was good because the hand went to showdown and I would have lost to the AX AX. Playing another A♣ 5♣ (see above), I caught the flush and took in over 50K, which put me at 131,500 by six hours and forty-five minutes.

Laid down another KX QX and 8K on a call to an all-in. Some more proffers gone wrong cut me down again to 80K in just half an hour.

Pocket 8X 8X made quads for me, knocking out another player (who was holding AX JX) and getting my stack out of the doldrums. At the 8K/16K/2K level, a raise to 36K with AX 9X took down the blinds. The I used AX JX and knocked another player out. My stack was up to 220K just shy of eight hours into the tournament.

A call on my part with 3♥ 6♥ lost me my BB and another 11K calling an all-in. I lost an extra 10K as the SB at the 10K/20K?4K level calling to see the flop with Q♠ 9♠ and folding to a post-flop bet from BB after my hand missed.

AX 9X again and a 40K min-raise took down the blinds again.

I called a small all-in with J♥ 5♥. He flipped over 2X 2X. The odds calculators say that one’s a coin flip but if he’d had anything higher than a pair of 4X 4X I probably would have lost. I didn’t, though and another player was down.

My last hand was played at 20K/40K/4K. I was in seat 5 at the final table, with eight players remaining, on BB with about 200K behind. There were somewhere over 2.3 million chips in play at the table, but about half of them were in the hands of the player in seat 7. A couple players had between 300K and 400K and the rest of us were down to just three or four big blinds. UTG folded and the big stack as UTG1 opened with a raise to 600K. Action folded around to SB, who went all-in. I had a clubby Mutant Jack: A♣ J♣. I was all-in. The giant stack turned over 6X 6X, SB had me dominated with A♠ K♣. Both the ace hands were losers, though, as the pair held up across the board. Two clubs on the board left me just short of what would have been a nut flush. I went out in seventh or eighth place; since the payout for both was the same, they didn’t count the chips to see who’d been ahead.

If my back hadn’t been to the screen, I might have made the wiser choice to lay down and let the the endgame play out. We were just short of the big money in the tournament, players were going to have to make moves just to stay ahead of the voracious blinds, and I likely could have moved up the pay scale by letting the blinds wash over me. After another 20K for the small blind, I wouldn’t have had to deal with them for a few hands and there would have been time for someone else to bust out (which happened on the next hand).

Nine-and-a-half hours. Finished 7th/8th of 141 players. +210% ROI (including buy-in, add-on, tip).

The Big Play

Posted on Sunday, 22 May 2011 by Poker Mutant

Ace of Spades $10K Guarantee Satellite (1,000 chips)

I’d already bought in for the game but DV hadn’t arrived yet and I decided to play for his seat since they were trying to round up a couple of players for the last satellite. I didn’t keep track of the cards, but I took a chunk of the stack from the woman opposite me early on, then another couple of medium-sized chunks from around the table before. As the match dragged on past the big game’s starting time, the staff was anxious to get the tournament under way and they jumped the blinds up, which led to the quick elimination of several players, with most of the chips going to two guys at the other end of the table. Eventually, they got into a hand and I was heads-up with a significant chip disadvantage. We got moved to another table since the one we were at was needed for the $10K. I managed to get even or a little bit ahead in heads-up by some good cards and some bluffing, then the tournament was starting and since both the other player and I were already bought-in we just chopped the prize money. DV had to pay his own way in to the big game.

6 players, tied for first. +200% ROI.

Ace of Spades $10K Guarantee (7,000 chips)

Right off the bat there was an announced “dealer appreciation fee” of 10% of the buy-in, which got you an additional 2K in chips. It’s pretty hard to ignore a nearly 30% increase in the stack size for that price, but I felt it was a bit sleazy to not make it known up-front. I hope it’s not something that spreads to other venues.

I sat in seat 1 of table 2 the entire game.

I caught AX AX on my third hand and steadily increased my opening bets against seat 4 in SB. Checked on the river and SB bet 1K. I raised to 2K (we were still at 25/50 for blinds) and he called but the aces held and I was up to about 13K.

Pressing hard with A♣ K♣ won another several hundred shortly thereafter.

Had KX 5X on the BB and caught top pair on the flop. The board straightened out with KX 8X 7X 6X by the turn, and I hung on. 5X hit the river and I ended up takig down the pot from what was probably a stronger king.

Player 7♣ 9♣ and hit second pair on a flop with an AX. I made a good-sized raise and everyone went away.

Lost about 1K after raising with A♦ 7♦, but I was up to 17K at the 90-minute mark.

Playing QX QX with an AX on the flop cost me about 3K. I made up for it playing QX TX in a hand with five players in for 800 pre-flop. The first cards were KX JX 8X and I bet out 1,500, which got folds from everyone.

Lost a big hand with A♣ KX when my straight and flush draws didn’t make it and a full house did.

At two hours into the game I was down a bit, to 15,650, but made it to 22K by the second break.

I’d played 7X 7X and stayed in with a board of 3X AX 6X 3X. When 7X hit the river, a short stack in seat 8 went all-in and I called him, with my full house being best hand.

DV wasn’t doing so well, down to about 10bb. After this, no players were allowed to rebuy, I did the add-on for 50% of the buy-in and 7K in chips (not nearly as good a deal as the “dealer appreciation”).

Open-raised to 1,500 with AX QX and took the blinds on one hand, then lost 3,500 calling an open-raise by seat 4 (who had speedily recovered from our initial meeting) with KX JX when the flop went nowhere. KX JX lost me another K shortly thereafter, and perhaps I should have noticed a pattern here.

Blinds were up to 300/600, I raised to 1,500 with AX J♣ and got three calls. Everyone checked to the river and nobody got anything. Nobody else even had an ace.

AX 7X again cost me 1,500 after I opened and nothing hit on the flop.

My last hand was KX JX. A new player had been moved into seat 2 and taken out two from our table in a short span. I raised after getting top pair with a KX on the flop, he went all-in, I called and he showed AX KX, which held through the river.

DV actually laster a while longer than I did, but was still out well before the money.

4 hours. Placed around 50th in a field of 79. -100% ROI (-180% buy-in including door, dealer appreciation, and add-on).

Aces Players Club 1 Re-Buy (7,000 chips)

Took in 800 early on pairing my nine with 9X TX on the flop. Ditto with AX JX and jacks. Forty minutes in I was up to about 9,300.

4X 5X in the BB raised and checked down to the river won me 1K when my paired 4X was the best hand. By the first break I had crept up to 10,400.

A lucky pull with 8♣ T♣ on BB made me over 5K when I hit a pair of tens with a straight draw on the board as well. that severely hurt the player three seats to my right, but he came back with an all-in against my raise with 8X 8X. I called, he showed AX JX, another 8X came on the turn, and he never paired but the rest of the board made him a jack-high straight and he took back several thousand.

Only about 10,800 at the 160-minute mark.

I played KX QX strong but two seats to my left the big stack at the table went all-in after the flop JX TX 8X and I didn’t pull the trigger, losing over 6K. Busted out on the next hand when I called an all-in from the guy who’d busted my eights, and he showed AX QX against my AX JX. Both of us paired our non-ace cards, but that wasn’t good for me.

2.25 hours. Placed 16th or 17th in a field of 23. -100% ROI (-120% buy-in including door).

Omaha, Yo!

Posted on Thursday, 19 May 2011 by Poker Mutant