The Recovery Act

Encore Club (5,000 chips)

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 [3d 5d]. 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).