Aces Players Club Noon $1,500 Guarantee (5,000 chips)
I had another engagement on Saturday evening, so I decided to take another crack at the Aces $10K, so I started off the day at their noon game, which always seems busy. Nothing spectacular happened, I didn’t rebuy, I made it to the break and added-on, but I didn’t make it far beyond there.
Ninety-five minutes. -100% ROI. 30th of 41 players.
Aces Players Club Friday $10K Guarantee (10,000 chips)
It’s not my first choice: despite the higher buy-in, the overall pots are smaller due to smaller fields. I made a couple of big mistakes. One was letting myself get bluffed off a large early pot with one player all-in and two of us calling when I was holding [kx tx] with the king paired and a jack draw to Broadway. There was a flush possibility on the board, an ace, and I folded to a raise to 3,600 on the turn. The winner at showdown had just [kx 5x] for a pair of kings. Near the end of my time in the tournament, I raised from BTN with [ax qx], then folded to a bet on the king and rags flop, only to see an ace and queen on the turn and river. I still haven’t even come close to cashing in the Aces $10K.
Two hours and fifteen minutes. -100% ROI. 35th of 59 players.
My Monday night home tournament got cancelled, so I took the opportunity to spend the evening at Encore, excited for a chance to finally play the PLO game at 7pm. I had some time to wait, though, and I thought I’d be dropping into the 4pm guarantee close to the end of the first level only to find out that I was just the second person to sign up. Within a few more minutes, some more players had been corralled and we got underway, with the guy on my right announcing that his plan was to take everyone out before the break.
I apparently was doing my level best to help him out, because I busted and during the second level (although not to him). With another two hours to go before the PLO game, I rebought. That got me to the break—barely—but even with the add-on I was out by 6pm. I went around the corner to get some Thai food.
90 minutes. -100% ROI. 10th of 11 players.
Encore Club Pot Limit Omaha $200 Added Freeroll (5,000 chips)
There’s something about the volatility of a four-card hand that is incredibly attractive to me about PLO but which seems to being out the crazy in some other players. I don’t think they play any crazier than I do, but they certainly act crazier, and the volume of the club Monday night certainly seemed higher than even the nights when every table is filled for the Main Events. I busted out here when my queen-high straight was beaten by a king-high, then rebought and managed to make it (barely) to the final table. My big regret here was getting shoved another king-high straight to a potential flush, I would have chopped a large pot. Instead, I ended up starting the 1,000/2,000 round after the second break with all of 9,000 chips (in the big blind, no less) or about 3% of the chips on the final table. Amazingly enough, I wasn’t the shortest stack, but I didn’t last long.
Two hours and thirty minutes. -100% ROI. 8th of 34 players.
Encore Club Shootout (30 big blinds)
I was actually out the door but the night was (relatively) early and I went back inside when I realized the 10pm game was just a few minutes off. Then I noticed a Shootout table in the back that wasn’t full and bought in. Missed opportunities was the name of the game here. I reluctantly tossed a [7h 2h] from SB pre-flop only to see three hearts roll out on the flop. The action was furious between three players, with a pot of at least 40bb built up, and a straight won. On another hand a [tx 8x] I considered after a period of card coma would have made a winning full house on the river in a large pot.
My stack had been down as far as 23bb at one point but I’d chipped up to about 40bb just before the end of time when I got [ax kx] and raised. A three-way all-in ensued, with the small stack’s pair of queens improving to a set to take down the main pot. My ace paired, beating the largest stack’s pocket kings, awarding me the 1bb side pot, which I gave to the dealer as a tip.
50 minutes. -97% ROI (not including tip).
Encore Club $500 Guarantee (5,000 chips)
Broke my rule about not buying in past the first level again (heck, I’d already broken my “no rebuys” rule—twice—earlier in the day). All I remember here is that my better ace was beaten by the ace of spades and four spades on the board for a flush just before the end of rebuy/add-on break. The table tried to rope me into a rebuy but I called it quits for the night.
I completed my post-Vegas trifecta of the clubs I regularly play with the trip to Aces last night. After my quick bust in the freezeout, I sat and chatted with JB (one of the dealers) and waited for the turbo.
There was a fair amount of aggression at our table, with a guy in seat 5 who said he mostly played cash games (I was in 1), a loose player in seat 9 with a tendency to go all-in at the drop of a raise, a decent player on my immediate left and a kid in seat 3 who was playing very tight but strong.
It took a while for me to find some equilibrium. I was down to just a couple thousand chips at one point. I called one of the LAG’s all-ins with [as 9s] and I was ahead of his [kx jx] with all the low cards on the board, but a deuce on the river put a straight on the board and my potential double-up turned into a chop of the blinds. I kept building but was behind the chip average a lot of the way.
Once we consolidated to the final table, I had to step on the gas to stay ahead of the turbo blinds. I thought I’d be helped by the [kd kx] I got UTG, and raised to 1,600 at 200/400 (about a quarter of my stack) getting several callers. Then the flop hit with [5d ad 5x] and I figured I was screwed. I made a continuation bet and got a single caller who I figured must have an ace. Then another diamond hit on the turn and I pushed. The pot was large, I had the nut flush draw, and we were still five players from the money. That got a fold and I showed the kings, which got a couple of groans from around the table. It chipped my stack up nicely.
The LAG guy kept up his all-in raises and there were a couple of times I was tempted to call, but I held off and slowly the field dwindled down to five. There was talk of paying the bubble but the cash player wasn’t familiar with the concept and while everyone else was for it, it never got unanimous assent.
I saw a flop with [kx 7x] from the BB. The cards were [8x 6x 5x] and after a raise from the cash guy—and everyone else folding—I was all-in with my open-ended straight draw. I had about 16,000 chips left (at one point I’d been up to 30,000) and got called. He had top pair and it held through to the river. The dealer congratulated me on my $60 win and I pointed out that I was the bubble, for which he abjectly apologized. It was sort of funny and I didn’t mind. The bubble payment would have just brought my median cash ROI down.
Schedules are tightening up. Prague’s going to require some really lucky hits in the next couple of weeks. This week’s tournament action didn’t get off to such a fine start.
Portland Players Club $250 Guarantee (2,000 chips)
Managed to double up with a Mutant Jack (spades) flush early on, but made a mistake with [kx 3x]. I had top pair and drawing possibilities to a low straight, but two other kings were in play, both with better kickers (surprise!) and they called by 4200 chip all-in, with the best of them hitting her queen on the turn.
I got off to a very hot start, with some semi-strong holdings that encouraged me via Kill Everyone to a lot of three-betting. I managed to take down five of the first seven hands with only one showdown. I had [7x 7x] and was heads-up with a player in the blinds Several over cards appeared on the board and we essentially walked it to the river, when he showed [ax 6x] which had paired the lower card but I had him beat. Then again, I broke off one hand where I’d flop-paired [kx] after [ax] showed on the turn and another where [2x 2x] was up against a pair of queens showing, so I was only up to 12,925 at the end of the first orbit despite having won a majority of the hands.
I sat quetly after that rush and waited for my opportunities. [ac js] won a big pot for me when it made two pair on the turn and then a spade flush on the river. Fifty minutes into the game I was up to 15,625.
I was saved from a huge loss with [qx qx] when I pushed back on a 1,600 re-raise pre-flop with a 3,200 four-bet and was called. [ax kx] on the flop reined me in and I showed my queens when I folded. The guy in seat 10 flipped over [kx kx] and said something about “thanks for the chips.”
I got it back and more almost immediately. I picked up [jx 8x] and paired the jack on a queen-high flop. He three-barreled it and tried to push me off the hand, but my pair of jacks ended up costing him 6,000 chips.
Then I got my own comeuppance trying to get tricky with [ac 7c]. I only hit middle pair on the flop and a flush beat me. Seventy-five minutes in: 14,600 chips.
Just before the first break, a hand had one of the players in the tank for a couple of minutes before folding as the clock ticked down to less than a minute. A couple of the players headed off to get pizza or get in line for the bathrooms. I wasn’t expecting much, but I was in CO and when I looked at my cards I had [kx kx]. I raised and ended up heads-up with SB. The flop was jack-high, SB bet, I raised all-in and he called, to show [ax ax]. The board gave me no solace and his aces held up, leaving me with only 925 chips (my profit from the first orbit of the button).
I was still in, although extremely short-stacked even with the 8,000 chip add-on. Early on, I doubled with [ax kx] v [kx kx] when an ace hit on the flop. at 2:22 into the game, I had 17,800 chips.
[qs 4s] gave me a moment of deliberation from BTN before tossing it. When the hand played out, I would have hit a flush and beat the single pair that took a large pot.
Blinds were up to 300/600/75 when I called a raise of 1,800 from BTN with [as 9s]. I hit top pair on the flop and pushed after a raise to win the hand. Then I lost several thousand playing with [kx tx] v [9x 9x] which made a set on the flop. At 2:50 I was back down to 14,000.
A push with [8x 8x] on an ace-high all-diamond flop took down another hand, then I picked up blinds and antes at 400/800/100 with a raise and [9x 9x] from HJ. Up to 16,125 at 3:10, then 19,000 at 3:30.
All-in from middle position with [kx tx] took blinds and antes again at 1,000/2,000/300, but four hours and forty minutes into the game I was still at 18,700 chips, below the amount of the starting stack and add-on.
I pushed on a 6,000 re-raise with an all-in holding [ax 5x] in BB and managed to suck in some more chips, then I got extremely lucky with [tx tx] when I pushed pre-flop from BTN and doubled through SB’s [8x 8x]. We both made sets on the flop, but I stayed ahead. That catapulted me to nearly chip average, with 53,000 chips at 4:50.
Sliding back down, I called an all-in of 13,600 with [6x 6x]. He had [ax kx] and I almost got free, but he hit Broadway on the river. At 5:10 I was back down to 41,000. There were fifty of the original 154 players left.
Another river did me bad when I called another small (11,600) all-in with [kx jx]. We both paired out top card on the flop, then I paired the jack on the turn. Then the river gave him another four.
Right after that, I shoved on a 9,000 raise with [kx tx] and after some thought, the player gave it up. With that, I managed to get back up to 40,000 by 5:25, with 44 players remaining.
I doubled again by hitting my ace with [ax 9x] v [kx jx]. and fifteen minutes later was sitting on 69,800 chips, which sounds great, but with only 38 players left after the start of break 3, was only 90% of the chip average. With blinds at 3,000/6,000/500, each orbit was costing 13,500. Not a good time to go card dead, but that’s what I did. I was down to 45,500 at 6:15 and there were 29 players left, with eleven spots to go before the money.
The BB hit me at 4,000/8,000/500 and I had [jd 9d]. Not exactly something you’d write the Internet about, but the best thing I’d seen for a while. BTN raised to 24,000 and I went all-in for a total of 36,000, knowing the best I could expect were two live cards. He had [ax qx], he was the favorite as I expected, but it was still only 3:2. I almost made a straight with the series of mid-level cards that flopped, but his ace took the day.
Six-and-a-half hours. -100%ROI. Finished 26th of 154 players.
Portland Players Club Road to Pendleton $1,500 Guarantee (7,000 chips)
Both my regular Monday night games were off this week, so I took the hint from the SMS messages I kept getting and headed over to PPC for an 11am game. I’d started my tally of live games with a couple of wins in early May at PPC, but their summer schedule wasn’t in sync with my habits and I hadn’t been in for a bit. Somehow, I managed to hit the final table with a big chip lead, and while I was probably 2:1 over the guy who made it to heads-up with me I suggested an even chop since the amount of money was only $200 total. After a re-buy, add-on, and tip, that left me more than enough to enter the evening’s guarantee tournament. On top of the prize money, PPC was adding a $200 buy-in to the Wildhorse Fall Poker Round-Up for the first-place winner and a $100
I picked up a 1,000 early-registration bonus chip then played absolutely no hands through level 1. On my first turn as BB in level 2, I was dealt [4x 4x]. A raise was made to 475 pre-flop with several callers and a [4x] hit on the flop. I checked and by the time action got around to me again there were two all-ins, I called, and both of them were on draws. [qh th] won the hand with a flush on the turn. I re-bought.
Small blind with my new stack and I had [kx kx], a considerably better pair. I bet it on the flop heads-up and took a small pot.
Played [ax qx] and cautiously walked to the river against another hand who showed just [kx]-high when we got there. At the end of the second level, I was holding 9,450 chips. Above the starting stack but not the sum total of chips I’d received during the tournament by a piece.
Controversy ensued when I called an all-in with [jh th] and knocked out a player with [ax kx]. I gave my opinion on the relative strengths of JTs, but there was a some snorting and hooting.
My luck with flushes proved itself again when I dropped 4,000 chips on [kc 4c] with two more clubs on the flop and I didn’t get there. My stack was up to 10,925 at the 55-minute mark.
The last hand before the second break, I had [jx 9x] and the flop was [kx tx tx]. All I needed was a [qx] but I got better. Thankfully, I stuck to the hand, because both the turn and river were [9x 9x]. I called a big raise and the guy asked me if I’d had the [tx]. I said: “No, but I have the [9x].” That didn’t set well. The win and a 5,000 chip add-on gave me 22.600 with 47 of the 49 original players left.
Raised with [ax jx] to 625 but whiffed the [9x tx 3x] flop. I bet another 1,600 but two callers followed me down and with a [3x] on the turn I check-folded to a bet. Then I blew more than 3,000 chips trying to play the [tx 2x] “Brunson” hand. I made top pair on the flop [7s ts 9c] but [jc] on the turn killed the action for me.
Another [5x 5x] from CO took the blinds and the single caller ahead of me. I was at 18,100 with twenty minutes left in the second hour.
I nearly made the wheel with [ax 4x] on a board of [qx 2x 3x 6x 2x], but the [3s 5s] of J—one of the dealers at PPC—made his pair. My own spades shortly thereafter ([4s 8s]) had to fold to a re-raise of 1,600 from 400. I pushed 5,000 after a raise to 1,000 with blinds at 200/400; I did not record the hand I did not play. Even that got me only to 16,100 at the two-hour mark.
Took the blinds again with a 2,300 raise and [ad 9d], then I just about doubled by knocking out a player. I held [kh 2h] and made bottom pair on the flop. He shoved post-flop with [ah th]. I took a little time to call and he never made a pair. It was kind of fun, because he’d been one of the whiniest about my [jx tx] call.
Didn’t even get to count my chips before a hand came up with [jx jx]. I shoved all-in from late position, the guy on my left called immediately and flipped over [kx kx]. What else was he going to do? That cost me 5,475, and even with the knockout, I’d only made it to 17,775 by 2:15 into the tournament.
There were 34 players left when the second break started.
Missed a Broadway draw for 4,500 and 5,000 on a miserable misguided attempt to do something with [6x 2x]. Half-an-hour later another 11,000 had been whittled off.
I went out in style with [jc tc] I pushed pre-flop and got called by [qs js].
Final Table Sunday $5,000 Guarantee (10,000 chips)
Started off the tournament with a 1,000 chip early registration bonus. I was in seat 7 at the sixth table; seat 2 had a woman who started pushing from the first hand. Within the first orbit, she’d already lost most of her stack to one player, then busted on the hand before the button got to me. After a rebuy, she made a big raise from UTG1, action folded to me, and I called with [ad kd]. The flop was [ax 3x 4x], she shoved even before all her new chips got to the table, I called, and she flipped [qx qx] against my aces. The turn and river were low and with only one rebuy, she was out.
I promptly set about sharing the wealth with my tablemates, losing over 3,000 with [jx jx] against [8x 8x] when my opponent hit a ten-high straight. I’d have had the better straight if an [8x] had shown up, but the chances were restricted. [8x]s were my downfall on the next hand as well, with a couple thousand following [ks 8s] v [2s 3s] down the hole on a flop of [2x 2x 8x]. Although I’d had more than 20,000 after the knockout, I was back down to 14,350 at fifty minutes.
The slide continued with speculation on a [qx tx] hand and a [ax kx 8x 7x 6x] board. [jx] or [9x] would have made me a happy man. 12,600 chips at eighty minutes. I coasted into the first break, bought the 8,000 chip add-on, and started the second segment of the tournament with 20,100 chips.
I folded [kx tx] after a pre-flop call of 1,100 in the SB. [kx kx] was the winner of the hand, so that was probably a good idea. [6x 6x] did manage to win me a small pot.
With the blinds at 100/200, I raised to 500 with [ax 9x], getting two calles. Then BB went all-in for more than 14,000 and I folded. We all folded.
[jx jx] picked the wrong time to shove, i.e. when I had [ax ax]. I managed to double up and was back in positive territory with 35,000 chips two-and-a-half hours into the match.
By the time of my next major action, the blinds had moved up to 300/600. I raised to 2,000 with [9x 9x], getting a single call and then a re-raise to 6,000. I called, and the previous caller came along. Top card on the flop was [qx] but there was also another [9x]. I opened all-in and since my stack was now large enough to do some serious damage, the other two folded. At the second break, I was holding 48,300 chips, about 5% of the total in play. There were 39 of the original 56 players remaining.
I moved to table 1 shortly after the break ended and took some time to get my footing, losing consecutive hands with [4x 4x] on the BB and [kx qx] on SB. At three hours and twenty minutes, I was down to 41,400.
Then I got fancy with [5h 6h]. There wasn’t much on the flop apart from a lone heart, but I stayed with the hand, and another heart showed on the turn. There was a bet of 2,500 and two calls. I re-raised to 7,500 and got calls. The river gave me a king-high flush—but hardly the best king-high flush—and it was checked through. There was nothing better than two pair behind me.
On my next SB, I lived dangerously with [7d 2d]. I made middle pair on a [kx]-high flop and bet 2,000, hoping to scare someone away but got two callers. The turn was a [6x] and I had to call another 5,000 to see the showdown but my sevens were good. In less than half an hour I’d gained over 30,000 chips, making it to 73,200.
From there, I called a 9,500 chip all-in with [Ks Js] but folded after a bet from another caller with only one spade on the flop. Running spades with the [as] on the river would have given me the nut flush and a major win.
The player on my left had been whining about calls—particularly my calls—ever since I’d gotten to the table. I put him all-in with [6x 6x] and he called with [ax qx]. Three [kx] on the board made me a full house and took him out. Because of the previous loss, though, I was still only at 75,400 when we’d been playing for four hours.
Speculating with [6s 7s] cost me after my flush draw caught [7x] on the river. I called a heads-up bet of 2,000 and thought I’d won from the comment by the player on my right but he was slow-rolling me with [kc 7c]. My stack was down to 68,400 at break 2 with 21 players left.
Once action started up again it was downhill to the end. I lost more than 10,000 chips with [ad 6d] and didn’t hit anything. A pair of [qx]s took the hand.
I hit top pair with [ax 8x] from the BB and bet 5,000 against SB for a win, but was down to 46,600 at 4:50 into the game.
Pushing with [8x 8x] from BB, I was nearly felted in a three-way all-in against [kx qx] and [qx jx]. [kx qx] double-paired on the flop and did not look back. I lost 42,200 chips but managed to double up on the next hand with [ad qd] when I hit [ax] on the flop. Fifteen minutes later I’d managed to move back up from the basement to an even 34,000.
The last hand of the match for me was a shove with a premuium pair: [tx tx]. Unfortunately, the guy to my left was more premium: [jx jx]. Didn’t quite make the final table.
Five hours and twenty minutes. -100% ROI. Placed 13th of 56.
Encore Club $3,000 Tournament of Champions (8,000 chips)
Walked into Encore about 8pm thinking I’d be buying into a game running alternately to the monthly TOC. Apparently, if you show up on the first Saturday and they’ve still got space, you can freeroll for the $20 entry fee. I had a full players card and got on for just $10. The August TOC was my last big win; it’s been a couple of lean months.
Blinds were already 75/150, and the first hour was unpromising. I had to lay down [kx kx] from BB after an [ax] showed up on the flop when. I managed to pick off a bunch of raises and calls with [8x 8x] and an all-in and even luckboxed into a flush holding a [5d]. But the 5,000 chip add-on at the break got me just back to the starting stack.
Managed to double up after our table broke, then lost a good chunk in a split pot holding [tx tx] v [ax kx] and [ax jx] when the shortest stack matched their [jx] on the flop. Shortly after, the no-longer-shortest stack took me out. I’d raised with [ks jc], the board was [kx 7x 4x] and I went all-in. NLSS called, flipped [kh 7h], the last [kx] came on the turn, and without a [jx] at the river I was out.
Aces Players Club Back-to-School Special (12,000 chips)
DV and I both played this game, in which the house added $1,000 to the pot for first prize just to make it extra juicy. I ended up at table 1, seat 8, and spent the afternoon next to R, the gent who beat me out of a first-place finish in a freezeout a few months back. DV ended up out in the hinterlands.
My first move of any sort was as BB with [ax 9x]. By the turn, there were two kings on the board and when a bet of 400 opened, I folded.
On SB with [8d 9d], I caught top pair on the flop with my nine. The [kc] on the turn, two clubs on the flop and a bet of 400 from the same guy (seat 1) as the hand before and I folded.
Shortly thereafter, I picked up [as ks] and raised to 350, getting four callers. The king paired on a pretty dry flop, I bet 1,000 and took the pot. Twenty-five minutes into the game, I was 625 chips ahead of starting stack.
Three players were in for 350 when I picked up [ax ax] as BB. I raised pre-flop to 2,000 and only one stayed in. The flop was jack-high, I bet another 2,000 and my opponent folded. R told me he folded jacks to my raise. That put me up to 15,225 by the 35 minute mark.
Called 225 with [kd jd] and whiffed the board, then folded to a river bet, then blew another 300 playing [ax 2x] (althought that wasn’t my worst play in this tournament with that hand). I lost about 1,000 chips over twenty minutes.
Dumped another 750 chips raising to 350 with [ax tx]. I had a wheel draw on the turn but missed. Just after an hour of play I was back down to 13,400.
Set-mining with [6x 6x] as SB is dangerous work! Don’t call 600 pre-flop with it. It isn’t worth it. [8x 8x] as BTN, on the other hand, proved profitable when I re-raised to 1,100, made my set on the flop, then won with a 2,200 opening bet post-flop. Twenty minutes after the hour I was up to 13,975.
With [as qc] I raised to 2,000 pre-flop, getting two callers. There were two spades on the jack-high flop and I opened for 1,300. I was min-raised, then action came to a halt when the player to my right went all-in for more than 14,000. I thought about it briefly and laid down my hand; everyone else did so as well. The winner showed [jx jx] for top set and took in a big pot. I, on the other hand, was down to 10,400 at the beginning of the first break, so I almost doubled my stack by buying the 8,000 chip add-on.
Set-mining with [7x 7x] is dangerous work (see above). 1,500 chips worth of dangerous. Speculating with [kc 6c] is 500 dangerous. From 20,000 chips (12,000 starting stack plus 8,000 add-on) at the two hour mark, I was down to 16,300.
Things looked up a bit when I called 1,200 holding [ac 6c] and the flop was all clubs. Heads-up after the flop, I bet 1,200 after my opponent checked and took the pot. At two-and-a-half hours I held 17,400 chips.
R remarked that I wasn’t holding onto many hands, which is when I coined the title for this post. Then I lost 2,400 with [jx tx], which is usually a good performer for me.
Last hand of the game was a highly speculative [as 2c]. The flop made me straight possibilities: [qc 4x 3c]. The only other player in the hand was pushing hard, and I pushed back, eventually going all-in. Then the turn improved me to a flush draw: [9c]. Then I connected to my flush with [4c] on the river. Unfortunately, what the other guy was connecting to with that card was a more powerful full house because he had [qx qx] in his pocket. R said he thought I was getting frustrated. I don’t know. I didn’t feel frustrated, I just thought I had an opportunity with that hand to do something before my stack got so small from blind attrition that I’d always get called. If my opponent had a pair instead of a set, he might not have called the all-in.
DV lasted a couple hours longer than I did. I swung back by the club to see if there was anything I could get him about an hour after the last I’d heard from him, but he was out by then. R was there but wasn’t in the tournament any more.
Three hours. Placed seventy-first of 93 entries. Fourteen places paid, with $15,000 in the prize pool.
Played three tournaments yesterday(ish), which brings my total since 1 May to 98, including both live and online games.
Aces Players Club $10K Guarantee (10,000 chips)
I haven’t cashed in this tournament over six attempts. But at least I usually make it to the add-on break so that I can donate another $50 to the prize pool. Not last night. I picked up [kx kx] as BB and hit a set on the flop. I was so busy hoping for the board to pair on the river that when a mid-position player who’d been calling my raises shoved, I snap-called and was easily beat by the Broadway straight I missed seeing. I just said “Not tonight” when the dealer asked me if I wanted to rebuy, but what I was thinking on my way out the door was “Not after a stupid call like that.”
Twenty minutes. Didn’t even bother to check the entries or my position but I think I was first out among about 45 players although some likely showed up after I was KOd. -100% ROI.
Encore Club $3,000 Guarantee (10,000 chips)
I thought of variations on the theme of what I should have said as I drove across town to the Encore. I still had enough in my pocket for a buy-in in their Friday night 8pm freezeout, and I even managed to get a spot in their parking lot.
Sometime about three months ago I stopped keeping notes on my live games. It seemed distracting, I wasn’t always finding time to post the results here (I’ve got several games from June and July I never got around to), and I felt I wasn’t able to concentrate on my game as much. On the other hand, I was cashing more often while I was keeping notes, so I decided to do it again for this game. Did it make a difference?
Early on I lost 1,300 chips with [qh jd]. I needed a [9x] for a queen-high straight but folded on the turn bet and the other two players still in the hand chopped my contribution, as they were both holding [ax tx] and made a pair of tens.
Hit a pair of queens with [qx 9x] and took a small pot, then tossed [jx tx] post-flop which would have made a jack-high straight on the turn. By 15 minutes into the game I was down to 8,600 chips.
[jc 7c] lost me 250 when I folded after an unpromising flop. I pushed 1,200 into the pot holding [9x 9x] in position after a limper who called but [ax] on the flop and a bet from the limper made me throw it and he showed his [ax]. Down to 7,575 at 33 minutes.
Called a raise to 425 with [qx 8c] but tossed it after another ungood flop. Three-quarters of an hour in, I was down to 6,950.
Finally, my flushing strategy worked with [ts 8s]. I hit on the turn and pulled in enough to bring me back up over starting level, to 11,825.
Overbet [ax tx] and lost 1,200 when I didn’t connect by the river heads-up and my opponent bet another 1,200. At the first break I was holding just over the starting stack: 10,125 chips; just a little below average with only one player out.
I went card-dead for quite a while and slipped slowly to 9,100 after the return to play, then shoved from BB with [jx jx] (the strong hand of the night) and was called by [ax qx] (which was consistently losing last night). The woman who called me had me covered by only about 600 chips and the loss was crippling. On the other hand, I was up to 17,800 by the two-hour mark.
I called an all-in with [ah 8h] and was outmatched by [ad 9d] but the board gave me a low straight and I knocked out a player, taking me up to 23,200 at 2:15 into the game. By break two that had increased to 25,800.
With the blinds at 400/800/100 after the chip-up, I raised to 2,000 with [qx jx] from UTG and managed to take the blinds down. With [kh 5h], I raised from BTN to 2,400. There weren’t any hearts on the flop and BB won the pot hitting jacks over nines right off the bat.
A player with [9x 9x] went all-in with 14,000 and I called with [kx kx], which held up. A little more than three hours into the game, I was up to 33,800. I promptly slammed down again calling an all-in from a 5,000 chip short stack with [jx tx]. They tripled up.
Clubs failed me again with [ac 5c] on BB. There weren’t any black cards on the board by the turn when another player bet out and I folded, losing 1,600 chips. Twenty minutes after being at neatly 34K I was down to 24,600. Another twenty minutes had me cut down to 20,600, just under the average stack.
Two kings on the board by the turn forced me to fold [ax 8x] and forfeit 1,600 more chips. The slide continued, down to 18,800 at the third break.
Four hours into the game and it was an even 14,000. I took the blinds and antes with [kd tyd] but a pre-flop all-in with [qx tx] got called by a big stack with [ax jx]. I had an up-and-down straight draw from the flop, but nothing else materialized and I was gone.
Five hours. Finished eleventh of 44 entries. Six places paid, with $4,400 in the prize pool.
Carbon Poker $150 Guaranteed Pot Limit HO (2,000 chips)
What better to cleanse the palate of five hours of play, only to bust out short of the money, than some mixed-game online action? I joined the game with only four other players at one of two tables, playing Pot Limit Hold’em. I lost a couple of early pots, laid down a [kd js] after missing the flop that would have cleaned up on the fifth hand, then finally turned [ac 8c] into enough to get me back up over starting stack on hand 8.
The very next hand, I paired my ace in [ah 7s] on the flop to win a small pot, then lost a little back. We lost a player on hand 10, then the tables consolidated on hand 14. The sixteenth hand was the beginning of our switch to Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo.
Hand 21 was a turning point. I picked up [ks 9h 3h 2d]. Seemingly not a particularly good hand, but with low possibilities if there’s an ace on the board. I raised to 90 (from 15/30) UTG, was re-raised by UTG3 to 315, and called after BTN called. The [7h jd kh] flop gave me a heart draw and top pair; I bet the pot: 990. UTG3 went all-in and I was all-in to call. He had [7s as kd ah] for two pair as it stood; we were 40/60 with me on the short end. But I made the flush on the [5h] turn and his only hope was to catch[7c], [7d], or [kc] on the river. I went from 2,295 to 4,920 and a more than 1,000 chip lead.
I didn’t win anything through the next round of PLHE, actually managing to lose the 1,000 margin I’d had. By the start of hand 40 I was down to 3,285. That hand, I got [3d 4d ah 7c] in SB and called the 60 chips of the big blind. The [qd th 3h] flop gave me a gut-shot Broadway draw; I had a backdoor nut flush. I checked it and BB checked. [kc] on the turn gave me the nuts: Broadway. I checked, BB bet 225, I pot-raised to 1,425 and he called. A pointless [7c] showed on the river. I checked, BB tossed in his remaining 515 chips and I called. He just had kings and threes. He was KOd, I was up to 5,945.
Hitting trip nines on the next hand (the last of that round of Omaha) put me over 6,000 chips. [as qs] on hand 47 dragged in another nearly 4,000 chips. At nearly 8,500 chips, my nearest competitor was 2K below me. I lost a bit on a few hands, but a split high pot ([2d 2s kd kc] on the board and two of us with aces) on hand 54 (PLHE) got me up to 8,088.
My nearest competitor and I went head-to-head in hand 56 (PLO8) with me taking the low and earning a couple hundred in early bets and calls.
The next hand, I picked up [6c 6d kd ac] in HJ at 75/150. Action folded to me, I raised to 450 and got called by BTN and SB. The flop of [9s 5d 2c] missed me completely and got checked all around. [2s] on the turn didn’t do me any good, either, but when SB checked to me I bet 750 and both the others folded. I was up to 9,288 and I was invincible with a nearly 3,000 chip lead.
I lost 825 speculating with one of those unrecommended hand that I nevertheless enjoy in PLO8: [9c tc 7d 8h]. SO good if you manage to hit a bunch of mid-range cards on the flop for a straight, not so good when it’s [5h 5c jd] and someone bets 1,330. I folded and watched nothing that would have improved my hand show up.
I speculated with a couple of more hands, dropping down to just over 6,000 chips by hand 63. Then I picked up [5d 2s ah 7d] and everything went to hell. A player starting with just under 5,000 raised to 425 from UTG1, and I re-raised to 850 for some reason. SB folded, BB called, then UTG1 raised to 3,475. My hand wasn’t strong—even if a low came along I could be easily counterfeited— but I called anyway. The [kd ks 8d] on the flop gave me nothing, but I still called an all-in bet of 1,450. My opponent flipped over [as ad 6h 4s] for a pretty good two pair. The [kh] on the turn sealed my fate. With no possibility of a low and a full house in his hand, I was drawing dead for a pot of 10,775 chips. I started the first hand of a round of PLHE with just 1,101.
My last hand (at 100/200), I potted pre-flop from UTG to 700 with [jh ts]. BTN re-raised to 1,200, then BB pushed to 4,400. I called with my remaining 401 chips and BTN folded. BB flipped over [ks ah]. He had over cards and both my suits, but I still had about a 35% chance. That dwindled to 22% when we both paired on the [td 9s ac] flop. Neither the turn or river cards improved my lot, and my implosion was complete. Top to bottom in five hands.
67 minutes. 67 hands. Finished seventh of 10 players. Three places paid; $190 prize pool.
Two hours and fifteen minutes. -100% ROI. 35th of 59 players.
