Tag Archives: poison pot

Home, Again

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I wasn’t sure how I was going to make my return to Portland poker after my unproductive stint in Las Vegas. I thought about the Thursday night game at the Encore Club, but skipped it, then was too busy early Saturday evening to make starting time for the weekly $10K there. By the time I was free, the first break would have already begun, and there was no way I could make it across town. So the 9pm $200 Freeroll at Portland Players Club it was.

Except that when I got there the door was locked and there was a sign saying they were closed for the evening. Yikes! I was on the loose, Encore wouldn’t have a game open for an hour, I was probably too late to make the 8pm at Aces. It just left the dreaded Final Table. So I high-tailed it out Glisan.

The Final Table $400 Guarantee NLHE (T4,000)

I got to Final Table just as Level 1 was ending and took a seat at the empty second table. I had to wait a couple of minutes for the first table to be split, and were started off five-handed.

Took the first hand I played (at 50/100), from SB with AX TX. There were three players to the flop, the highest card on the board by the turn was a 9, and I bet 100 to win the poison pot, so you know where this story’s going.

Fifteen minutes into my game, I got AX JX on BTN and open-raised to 300, getting called by SB. BB went all-in for 3,000. I had him covered by 75 and went all-in, and SB came along. They flipped over KX QX (SB) and AX TX (BB). I had the best hand, but I was statistically a hair behind the KX QX. The flop put out a wheel draw of 2X 3X 5X , but the turn was a king, sending my hopes into a tailspin. The river brought relief with a 4X, though, and BB and I chopped up the pot, with me getting an extra 75 for my trouble.

Five minutes later, on BB with AX JX and I called 550 from UTG1 (same guy who’d been BB in the split). UTG (who’d had the money in the pot when we chopped it) came along again. The flop was 2X 3X 4X and I mischievously shoved to open. UTG1 called with AX QX but the board double-paired and we split the pot again.

Ten minutes later, I wasn’t so lucky. I was all-in UTG1 with AX JX after losing a hand and the same player I’d been tangling with called with KX JX He pulled out a straight on the river and I broke the No Re-buy Rule.

I stopped keeping notes after that, wondering if I’d do any better paying more overt attention to what was going on, but it didn’t help. By the break I was down to a half starting stack again, and I lost most of my add-on in a single hand, so I was riding the short stack through to the final table (I did manage to outlast the guy I’d been tangling with).

Made a couple of crucial double-ups, but I was still under T10,000 after nearly three hours of play, with blinds at 1,500/3,000/300. I shoved UTG with A♥ Q♥ and got a quick call from UTG1, who’d been steadily accumulating chips all evening with sometimes marginal (but lucrative) calls. Her KX TX did it again, making Broadway and putting me out of the first tournament I’d played in ten days.

Two hours and twenty minutes (late arrival). Eighth of 21 players.

Final Table NLHE Shootout

I’m not normally a shootout player, but I was roped into this one and since I’d been knocked out of the tournament twice by hands that I had beat by 3:1 or 2:1, I viewed it as an opportunity to use up some more of that great luck. I never managed to get ahead far in the game, but I ended up just a few dollars down, and managed to qualify for the high hand bonus for the evening when my pocket tens matched up with a rivered ten to make the best full house possible on the board. So, up a little for the evening because of a fluke.

Blast From the Past

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Encore Club $1,500 Guarantee (T6,000 + T500 bonus)

First hand I called 175 with KX 3X and hit the bottom of the QX TX 3X flop. I put another 400 out for the JX turn but folded to a bet of 1,100 and probably missed a straight. At least I didn’t take the poison pot.

UTG with K♣ J♣ and I raised to 125, getting four calls. Opened with  300 on the KX JX 4X flop and took the hand.

Picked up A♥ J♦ in SB and called a raise to 375 from CO with 3-way action. The flop was Q♠ T♠ 6♠ and got checked around. A♣ on the turn and I bet 600, CO and BTN stayed in. I bet 1,000 with 4♦ on the river and took it down, but with the loss on the first hand I was only up to T8,350.

I raised to 150 with K♥ 8♠ stringing along several others, hitting top and bottom pair on the K♠ Q♠ 8X flop (it was a couple of very spadey hands). Nobody wanted to play when I bet.

I entered the hand with a negligible 7♣ 5♠ and checked three streets with two aces and three cards to a flush on the board with me having nothing stronger than a 5X on the river. Somehow, nobody else wanted it more than me. My bet on the river took the pot!

KX 9X and middle pair on a flop of TX 9X 5X won. Forty minutes in and I was up to T9,600.

Called 700 pre flop with QX 8X and got a KX QX 7X flop to pair, but folded to an all-in bet on the AX turn. The hand went to showdown; a QX on the river would have given me the winning set.

T8,375 at 50 minutes.

Won a nice pot with JX TX but lost a bigger pot of a couple thousand shortly thereafter with JX 9X. I made top pair on the nine-high flop but a river TX gave my opponent two pair.

Made a small raise with KX KX and was ready for fireworks after the AX KX 6X flop, but everyone folded when I bet the turn.

The loss with the jack had cut a chunk out of my stack, leaving me with just T6,650 at 75 minutes. 30 of 34 players were left.

I raised UTG with QX TX and got two calls to the QX JX 8X flop. The BB went all-in and I called, the third player opted out, and BB showed his own QX TX. We ended up chopping.

Called 1,175 with JX TX with 3 other players to the flop. It was 5X QX 5X and got checked around. A QX on the turn was also checked. The TX river card twitched my nerves and I shoved all-in for the first time in the game, taking down the hand.

Last hand before the break, I had K♠ 8♣ and raised to 800 from CO. Two players called, the flop was QX 7X 5X, and I folded to a SB bet. I went into the break with T8,635, nearly 2,000 below average, and got the T4,000 add-on.

Once the break was over, I went on a sort of mini-roll, taking three pots in a row without a showdown. UTG2 with AX 8X and an eight-high flop got me the first. UTG1 with a AX KX took the second when I bet on the river ace. QX QX UTG I raised pre-flop and got a couple callers, SB checked dark and I went all-in on the ten-high flop. Gotta love those dark checks.

In ten minutes, I’d picked up over 11,000 chips, putting me above average (14,923) and over 20,000.

Had a bit of a setback a couple minutes later with 4X 4X on BTN. I hit my hoped-for set on the turn, and re-raised over a raise of 3,000 from CO, but his KX KX made their own set on the river and I was cut back down to 13,200.

I laid low for about 15 minutes, then saw 7♦ 2♦ through to the flop in BB at 400/800. I bet 1,200 on the 9X 7X 3X flop but folded to a 3,300 raise.

On BTN with 10,400. Another premium hand: 8♠ 3♠. Average stack was 15,520.

Another 20 minutes and I was all-in with AX 7X  in BB to take the pot. Then I laid down an AX 5X to two all-ins ahead of me that would have won against 8X 8X. I’ve been tossing a lot more weak aces than I used to. Can’t say the results have been bad.

Two-and-a-half hours in and I was holding T12,200, with the average at 16,689 and 23 players left of the original 34.

Called a 1,200 bet holding 8X 3X from SB and got a flop of AX TX TX. Not much there. It got checked through, the turn was 8X and I bet 2,500 getting a single call. The river ace counterfeited anything I might have had and I folded.

My all-in with [kq] crushed an [ak] with a queen on the river and just about eliminated the other player, then I got AX KX, AX QX, and QX KX again in three consecutive hands, doing some severe damage around the table, building my stack up to T30,000, and helping to bring the number of players down to 18.

At the three-hour mark, we were down to 15 players. I had T28,000, a little above the 25,866 average.

On BTN with AX KX just after the hour and I was all-in over CO’s all-in with AX TX. The flop put a ten out and my heart sank, but there was a jack-high straight on the board by the river, and we chopped it.

Next CO and I raised 4,000 with 6♠ 7♠ to take the blinds. T32,000 at the second break.

Coming into the third session, I made two knockouts in a row raising to 4,500 with J♦ 9♦. One caller and we see a queen-high flop with a jack on it. He goes all-in and I call his KX 8X. He misses both the turn and river. Next, I called an all-in with AX 8X against TX 9X and won. My next hand I had QX 9X and tossed it pre-flop with a raise of 15,000 out there, but it would have won the way the cards played out.

UTG with Q♦ 9♦ and I raised to 4,500, got a caller, then BB went all-in for 20,500. I folded, SB called, and BB’s 7X 7X took the day. It would have taken a bigger chunk of my day, too. Trying to play more defensively these days; I might not have laid that down a month ago.

Three hours and thirty minutes in, T55,000, with the average at 35,275 and ten players left. We got to the final table five minutes later and I was placed in seat 1 on BTN.

My second hand, I raised to 8,000 with AX QX over an UTG2 call and took the blinds and the call.

When BB got around to me, I called a CO raise of 6,500 with 6♥ 3♥ and shoved all-in on the KX 6X 3X flop to win. I showed. Encore regular SH was sitting to my right, and on the next hand the flop is JX 6X 3X and he goes to showdown with 6X 3X against AX JX but the turn and river are both fours and he’s counterfeited.

The button’s dead and both blinds are short-stacked when I’m CO and action folds to me. I min-raise with KX 4X and get called by BB. The flop is KX QX TX and I put him all-in. Apparently, he thinks I’m just pushing him around. He calls and becomes the next player knocked out.

Got a little frisky in BB on the four-hour mark and called a raise to 11,000 with just 8♦ 9♥. The flop was all hearts but I didn’t have it in me to call the all-in of 50,000 to see if my nine would be good.

With QX 5X on my next BB, I called 6,500 against a big stack at the table and see a flop of QX 5X 7X. Did he raise with the computer hand? I would, but not likely. Maybe he’s got a pair of queens. He bets 5,000 and I raise to 12,000, then he shoves all-in. I call and he flips AX AX against my two pair, which fills up with a five on the turn. The river’s a blank and I’ve got another knockout.

On the next hand, I knock out the BB when I call from SB with AX 9X against his AX 7X.

Four hours and fifteen minutes into the match and I have T153,000. Average is 97,000.

Fifteen minutes later, I’ve lost some ground: 20,000 with KX QX and another 40,000 in a race with AX 9X versus 7X 7X. By 4:35 in the game, I’m back down to T82,000, well under average.

I called with QX 7X from SB and missed the flop, but bet 10,000 and got a call. Had to give up on the turn.

Gained a little ground back with 5X 5X and a raise to 18,000 from BTN, but my stack had dropped to T75,000 at 4:40.

In SB with 5X 7X, I called and the flop ran out a wonderful 4X 6X 8X. I checked, BTN bet 12,000, I raised to 25,000 and he called, which won me a very large pot. Almost immediately, however, I lost 60,000 on a hand where I held KX JX. Still, I was holding T142,000 nearing the end of the fifth hour.

With blinds at 4,000/8,000, I did my duty with KX QX and raised over a call to 25,000 to win the call and blinds, and hit the five-hour mark with exactly 150,000.

From here on out, notes get hard to take when things are short-handed. Suffice it to say that the final outcome was with me placing second after about five-and-a-half hours, for a nice cash in the newly-increased noontime guarantee game at Encore.

And as often happens when I cash, I forgot to take the damn photo.

Five-and-a-half hours. +646% ROI. 2nd of 29 players.

Comebacks and Failures

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Wildhorse Spring 2012 Poker Round Up 2012 Event #2 No Limit Hold’em (10,000 chips)

It took me a little bit to figure out where my table was Saturday, after blowing out of one satellite early and then getting $100 out of a 3-way chop in a second. I was on one of the tables up on the stage at one end of the main tournament room, once again well out of sight lines to any tournament clocks.

In the first twenty minutes, I was dealt 9X 9X UTG twice and raised only to encounter horrible flops and laid them down to post-flop action. Between that and other hands I entered—with reasonably playable cards—I was down 800 chips.

By forty-five minutes in, I’d managed to win a hand with A♣ T♣ and then lose some with the same hand. Then I lost more getting tricky with K♥ 3♥ and was down to 8,350.

If you get 7X 7X on BB, what do you get for the flop when you call a raise? [ ax jx 9x]. No. Down to 7,900 on the hour.

Thought I might make a little back with Q♠ 9♠ and two queens on the flop. Unfortunately, a jack on the board was the only other hight card, so I lost to QX TX instead of chopping.

I saw a flop of 5X 4♦ 2♦ with K♦ 5♦ and called an all-in who just had TX 4X. He binked a ten on the turn and I was down to just 3,000 chips just eighty minutes into the game.

Immediately, I went into cornered wolverine mode and when I managed to connect to a flop on the next hand, I shoved and made it up to 3,700. I had some regrets folding QX 9X and seeing the flop put out JX TX 8X a couple minutes later, but after losing the hand earlier, I was a little shy of what I’m calling “the mini-Butcher.”

Just before the first break, I was dealt QX QX on BB and shoved over a raise ahead of me. The raiser called and showed a suited ace, but lost the pot and I was left a little more breathing space with 6,700 chips.

One of the players from my table in Event #1 was seated on my immediate right at this table, and he was in bad shape. He shoved about fifteen minutes into the second session, and I called him with AX KX. His KX QX made a king-high straight on the flop, putting me in bad shape, but I caught a two-outer with a queen on the turn to make Broadway and zoom up to the stratospheric level of 8,250 chips.

Ten minutes later, I was back over the starting stack. About that time, another player from our table busted and another player mentioned that he was Tam Nguyen, the all-time money winner at the Wildhorse Poker Round-Up.

Two big pre-glop pots brewed up something good for me. I played K♣ J♣ and made two pair against [ax kx[ who just paired the king, then hit an ace on the flop with my own AX KX calling an all-in of 4,700 with another caller. Forty-five minutes after the break, I was up to 22,500 and over the chip average.

I raised three calls at 150/30/25 to 1,200 with 8X 8X on BTN, got a call, then bet again on the flop and took it down. Then I lost some chips but missed a bullet when the river of a hand where I had Q♠ T♠ and a flush draw slowed down the action and revealed my opponent had a king-high flush. I was still over 20,000.

As we were getting to fours hours in, I min-raised with KX KX and a short-stacked player shoved. I called him and beat his 9X 9X, putting me up to 24,800. Then I blew 6,000 and change calling with A♥ 8♦ after three diamonds showed on the flop. No more heats ever came. At 250 minutes, I was sitting on 21,575.

Then, when QX JX never went anywhere with a flop of AX KX JX, I was broken right back down below starting stack, to 9,975. Back to wolverine mode.

I waited until I picked up TX TX about 280 minutes in. There were pre-flop raises to 2,500 and I shoved, getting called by AX QX. That doubled me up to 20,650. Set-mining was getting costly, and I lost 2,400 in two hands calling wit 3X 3X and 6X 6X. Then I made the mistake of calling a 3,000 bet from BB with J♣ 8♣.

My own experience with over cards against TX TX fared about as well as my earlier opponents’ did. A short stack across the table shoved and I thought he had a low pair. I was right in that my Q♣ J♣ were both overs, but nothing came through for me and I was down to just 2,500 at the five hour mark. That was an M (or CSI, if you prefer) of 0.8.

The guy who’d doubled up against me and I went into a sort of war just before the dinner break. He shoved, and I called with AX 5X, making two pair against his 6X 6X, then I called his all-in with just T♣ 7♣. He showed AX KX, but not only did I pair the seven, but I made a straight by the river, which cut him back considerably.

The glow from a third comeback wasn’t to last long, though. At least, not much longer than the dinner break. About ten minutes into the session, I shipped with AX QX over a 5,000 raise by a player who’d been playing a lot of suited connectors, much to the detriment of other stacks at the table. This time, he had KX KX. I hit a QX, but never improved beyond that and was out.

Six hours and fifteen minutes. ~180th of 478 entries. $95,732 pot.

Wildhorse Spring 2012 Poker Round Up 2012 Event #3 No Limit Hold’em Shootout (10,000 chips)

I sat down at the table Sunday and tournament director K from The Final table was the dealer. While it’s always nice to see a familiar face, I have to point out that my track record in tournaments at TFT is not good. For whatever reason, my performance at other venues is far better. Not that I actually believe the dealers have anything to do with it, but if you were the kind of person who did take omens and portents seriously….

Once again, I tok the poison pot. In fact, I took the first two hands with ease. I lost some chips to post-flop bets, but I was holding my own ahead of the starting stack a quarter hour in when a woman who’d been at one of my tables in Event 1 was eliminated on a very loose all-in shove. I was sorry to see all her chips go across the table. To someone else.

I picked up a pot with JX JX, even with an ace on the flop, lost 500 with the Mutant Jack against AX QX with nothing on the board higher than a ten. Then I pushed with 8X 8X from late position nd won heads-up against the SB with J♦ 9♦ 6X on the flop. Half an hour in, I was at 10,450.

My first big mistake was calling a 3,000 post-flop raise with a Broadway draw needing a ten. Just after the first hour, I was down to 6,325.

I raised UTG with TX TX and got shoved on by a slightly larger stack in BTN. I called him and he flipped TX TX. Nobody flushed and we chopped the 300 chips in blinds.

I didn’t even bother to record what my last hand was. All I know is that it was before the break.

Eighty minutes. 228 entries.

Tomorrow’s the Limit Omaha Hi-Lo tournament. I hope I do better than I’ve been doing in cash games. In one this afternoon, I was down to 10% of my buy-in, then managed to get up to 160% in almost no time. I should have pushed back and taken my profit, but I almost felt like I owed it to stay in a while longer because I’d hardly been there for twenty minutes. I need to put those types of feelings aside, because I ended up felted after another near-bust, recovery, and bust. Like I told the players at the tournament, I’m a master of the short-stack comeback, but that’s not exactly something you want to have to be good at.

Falling Out of Orbit

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Wildhorse Spring 2012 Poker Round-Up Super Satellite #1 (4,000 chips)

Poker Mutant is sad. After promising myself that I was going to play this event very ABC, I managed to screw it up and go all-in before the first break.

I took the poison pot with a small raise right off the bat, then played mostly quality hands, managing to pick up some chips with an early AX AX then a set of fives and then losing some hands when I folded after uncooperative flops. I was skating down around 3,000 chips about an hour into the game when I was on BB with seven players in the hand and 6♣ 9♣. Two clubs and a six on the flop held me in through the river when I made my flush, and the number of people in the pot from the start made it big enough I was up over 5,000 by the time it was done.

I think I started getting a little squirrelly when I found myself calling a post-flop all-in from a shorter-stacked player that would have cost me about two-thirds my chips if I was wrong. I counted it out and pushed in the chips, he flipped over AX QX and so did I, so we split the few hundred chips in the pot from the blinds and earlier callers.

My last hand went wrong when I bet 1,200 post-flop with AX JX. The flop was AX 4X 5X. Two players got out of the way, but a player who’d been moved from a broken table just a few hands earlier put out enough ping 500 chips to put me all-in. I called, and he flipped over the AX QX, which held through the turn (4X) and river (2X). That was the last hand before the break.

Ninety minutes. 171 entries, 35 players receiving tickets to the Main Event.