Got into the club in time to qualify for the bonus 500 chip and started off on the black tables because of a leak behind the usual tables due to a torrential rainstorm. Table friendliness was driven by L—a bartender at Boss Hawg’s, “Home of the Hawgarita”—who was buying shots for the anyone who wanted one. Though I typically don’t drink while I’m playing (and probably shouldn’t have here), I accepted and tossed in some of my money from the weekend win. Chipped up nicely when my flush draw beat out a set of deuces and I got the first cocktail just as I was moved to another table. “Another shot!” was the phrase of the day.
I managed to stay well ahead of the chip average for quite a while, with over 40,000 chips while we were still at two tables. I lost a little ground calling smaller all-ins with my stack, but managed to push people off a couple of raises as well, including one BB I played with [7h 2h], going all-in after two hearts hit the flop.
L was at the final table and I put in for a couple of drink rounds myself, which may have led to the call I made that kept me from the real money. We were at 1,500/3,000 with just five players and I was BTN with [kh 9h] when I raised to 9,000 (a little less than a quarter of my stack) and got re-raised all-in by one of the tighter players from BB. I called him, he showed [jx jx] and I whiffed the board completely (he caught another jack on flop), which left me with one thin 1,000 chip. The player to my immediate left had been down to 1,500 in the previous level and was up over 40,000, but you did have to wonder if it could happen at the same table twice in a half-hour.
I tossed several hands until I was UTG (which wasn’t long), then tossed my chip in with what I had: [qx 4x]. Amazingly enough, I quadded up when a queen hit on the turn and I took the main pot, but I was all-in as BB on the next hand and didn’t make it any further.
Got deeper than I should have considering I hardly ever drink. Back to whatever passes for diet soda next time, I think.
Got into in from late position with [kx qx] on a [jx tx 7x] flop. Pre-flop there are three of us in for 625 each. Post-flop, SB leads out with a bet of 1,400, gets a call, and I re-raise to 3,400 with the open-ended straight draw. SB pushes all-in for less than I have left, seat nine goes all-in with enough to cover me, and I call. It’s my draw against two sets: SB has [jx jx], the other caller has [tx tx]. I’m actually in better shape to win it all than the tens (it’s 27%/69%/4%, but no ace or nine shows, the jacks triple up, and the tens take the rest of my chips. At least I saved myself the cost of an add-on tonight.
Fifty-five minutes. -100% ROI. 59th of 61 players.
I’ve had this Gold Card player bonus for ages but never seemed to find one of the tournaments where I could use the thing. Then, the other day, I got an email notification and voila! there I was.
The event was an unlimited re-buy format, with an add-on. I had exactly one Gold Card, I wasn’t in a position to do either, so I didn’t exactly have high expectations. Then again, my opening had was UTG1 with [qd as] and I re-raised UTG’s raise of 40 to 80 (starting blinds were 10/20). SB and UTG called, the [jd 2h ts] flop gave me a Broadway draw and not much else. UTG bet the pot for 260 and I called, with SB following along. [kh] made my straight on the turn and I bet the pot—now 1,040 chips—after action was checked to me. Both of the others folded, and I was up 700 chips for the second hand.
I won another few hundred chips over the next hands, then got [ah qs] again as UTG. I raised to 80, got a re-raise to 140 from CO, three-bet to 400 after everyone else cleared out, then got called. The flop was [5c 2h 6d] and I bet another 400 to open, getting a call. [9c] on the river was not the card I wanted to see, I checked, CO went in for 815 with just 385 behind, and I had to fold, leaving me with just a tad more than the starting stack.
I slid all the way down to 1,705 over the next hands. Then, for some reason, I called a UTG raise to 60 (at 15/30) in BTN with just [8s qd]. Both blinds got out of the way and we were heads-up. I made middle pair on the [5h ac 8h] flop but it didn’t look promising. UTG bet just 30 (with a stack of 5,300), though so I decided to give the impression of strength by raising to 255. He called. So much for the impression.
Then again, the [qc] on the turn actually gave me a decent hand. UTG checked, I put out 675—about half my stack—and he called. The last card was [kd], putting an end to any flushes but making possible any number of better hands from standard starting ranges. I pushed after the check with my two pair, nonetheless and, UTG folded. It wasn’t a double-up but it made a big difference.
I got out of danger territory five hands later with [jh ks] as SB. I’d lost about 400 chips in the intervening hands, blinds were 25/50. UTG1 (the player I’d just taken 1,000 chips off of) called. CO called. I raised to 175, pushing out BB. UTG1 and CO called. The flop hit me hard: [th ad qh]. I had the best straight, but I checked the flop and everyone else was cautious, as well. [2d] on the turn put a backdoor flush out of my reach (which turned out to be a good thing) but opened the possibility of two flush draws making it. I opened with a bet of 288, got called by UTG1, and forced CO to fold. I wasn’t particularly happy about the [2s] on the river pairing the board, but I pushed all-in with 1,827. That was more than half the stack of UTG1, but he called and showed [ah 7s]. My straight was good.
Another great opportunity hit five hands after that. I was BB with [4h 4d]. UTG1 raised to 100. BTN and I called. The flop was [4c 4s kh]. I checked it, UTG1 checked it, BTN put out a tentative bet of 50. I bet half the port for 263, UTG1 called, and BTN went away. [5h] on the turn and I still had four of a kind. I checked and let UTG1 take the lead with a bet of 451. I put more than half my stack in as a raise: 2,254. He pushed for 3,927, a bit less than half my chips. I called and he showed [ks kd]. A great hand—and a winner if he could catch the last king on the river—but behind me for the moment. The last card was [jc], and I was up to 9,270 at just over 15 minutes into the game.
I diled for more than half an hour, ranging between 9,000 and 13,000 chips as the blind levels crept up to 200/400/40. By my next significant hand, I had just 9,003 chips at a five-handed table with one player just under 4,000 and three others ranging from 20,500 to 31,600. I was dealt [qh ah] on BTN. UTG (with 29,000 chips) called the big blind, CO (the largest stack) raised to 2,000, and I pushed all-in. SB (the smallest of the big stacks) folded, BB (the short stack) called, and UTG called. The big stack abandoned his 2,000 raise. Everyone flipped and BB showed [kd 2s], with UTG displaying [7s 7d]. I was more likely than either of the others to win but I was still on the wrong side of the coin flip. The [3h jh 2c] flop put me in positive territory—at least as far as stats go—and my win was sealed with [8h] on the turn. The win put me at 24,326 chips.
I didn’t have to wait as long for another bump, although it wasn’t nearly as large, either. Blinds were up to 400/800/75, I was BTN with [kd qd] and third in chips at the table. UTG (with a couple thousand fewer chips than my 28,000) raised to 2,400. The two big stacks folded. I called, SB folded, and the short stack (with just over 5,500) called. The [ts 9h 9c] flop didn’t exactly hit me, but I did have an inside straight draw. Everyone checked. The turn [qs] gave me top pair and a decent kicker (plus my draw), and when BB pushed and UTG folded, I had to call the extra 3,150. BB showed the same pair, suited but with a bad kicker: [qc 3c]. The [ks] on the river sealed the elimination and put me up 8,725 chips.
It was about ten minutes later that I broke the 40,000 barrier. Blinds were 500/1000/100, I was BTN with [qs qc] and just over 30,000.SB and UTG1 were under 10,000, UTG had 40,000, CO was about 35,000, and BB was lording it over the table with almost 100,000. UTG folded, the short stack in UTG1 called, CO folded, and I raised to 5,000. SB pushed for 10,180, BB and UTG1 folded, and I called, to see [kh ad]. The flop was against me, with [ks ts 4h], but the turn resurrected flipped the odds with [qd]. Just a [9h] on the river and I was up to 42,816.
Twelve hands later, the other short stack and a couple other players had come and gone. The big stack two positions to my left was sitting on 141,000 chips. Immediately to my left was a stack of 75,000. There were two of us in the 40,000-45000 range and two more between 20,000 and 25,000. Blinds were up to 600/1,200/120. I was BTN again, with [ah 9h]. UTG folded and UTG1 put 4,920—about a quarter of his stack—into play, with only 720 in the pot. CO folded and I called; the blinds folded. The flop was [3h qs 8s] and the small stack pushed with 15,816. With the big stacks out of the way, I didn’t feel bad about calling and saw he had a [9s jd]. I was ahead, but he did have a potential straight draw as well as a backdoor flush draw. The turn, though, was [2c] and the river was [ks], so neither possibility quite made it and I was over 65,000.
That success didn’t last long. Just two hands later I raised UTG to 5,000 with [9s 9c]. Everyone got out of the way except for BB, the other short stack with 25,000 who pushed all-in. I called and was running against [kc ah]. The board ran out [kd js 8d 5h 6d] and I was back below where I’d been two hands before.
Three hands in a row just six hands later put me into major contention. Blinds were 800/1,600/150. BTN had 34,000 chips, SB had 64,000, BB was the player who’d knocked me down, with 55,000. I was UTG with 34,000 (yes, I’d lost even more chips). UTG1 was over 92,000 and the big stack was CO at 138,000. I got dealt [ac ad] and just called, with UTG1, BTN, SB following along. BB checked his option. The flop was [2s 6d 8h] and SB bet 4,450. BB folded and I pushed for a total of 31,861. Everyone folded and I took a pot of 11,600.
My next hand as BB was [ac kh]. Action folded to BTN who bet 4,050. SB folded. BTN had me out-chipped by nearly 10,000. I pushed again and he called with [jh qd]. Nearly 92,000 in the pot and the flop was [5s ks 6c]. I won it with a [2h] on the turn but the river [ad] wasn’t bad to see. I was a second at the table by a small amount.
[as td] came to me next as SB. The stack I’d just broken down went all-in with 12,442 chips. I went all-in rather than just calling, hoping that BB who I just barely had covered wouldn’t call. He folded and I was up against [9d th]. The [js qh ad] flop opened up the possibility of a chop, but no [kx] appeared and I eliminated the player to put me over 106,000.
Four hands later (1,000/2,000/200) I was BB again (we were still five-handed). There hadn’t been a lot of chip movement, I was around 103,000, the big stack had 134,000, the guy between us had 87,000, and there were two stacks of 42,000 and 50,000. My cards were [ts td]. UTG called, then action folded around to me and I raised to 10,000. UTG called. The flop was [5h kh 3d] and I raised the stakes with a 20,000 bet. UTG called again. The turn was [2s]. I checked, UTG bet 31,000. I was reasonably sure he didn’t have a [kx] and unless he’d bet 10,000 pre-flop with [5x 3x], I was reasonably sure I was ahead, so I called. The river was a [qs]. I checked again and UTG went all-in. There was more than 150,000 in the pot—61,000 of it was mine—I called and he flipped [5c 6c] for a bluff gone seriously wrong.
With 192,000 chips, I was the tournament leader.
I managed to hold onto the lead for about thirty hands, despite a slowly decreasing stack. Most of the other players near the top were experiencing the same phenomena. The player to my right went on a streak just as we hit the two hour mark, overtaking me by winning a 61,000 chip pot in one hand, then scoring a knockout against another similarly-sized stack that had just arrived at the table six hands later which put him over 310,000.
Blinds were 2,500/5,000/500 and we were five-handed again. I had 145,000 chips as UTG1, a new player had just moved onto my left with 45,000. The other three players had all been at the table for a while, with BTN holding 131,000, BB 115,000, and UTG still just over 300,000 (SB was dead). My hand was [7d ad] and when the big stack folded I min-raised to 10,000. The only caller was BB. The flop was [kd kc ah], BB checked and I checked behind. [2h] on the turn, BB checked, I bet 22,500, and BB re-raised to 45,000. This is where I made my mistake. Of course he had the [kx]; I went all-in, he called and showed [ks jc]. I got two pair with the river [7c] but that didn’t beat a set of kings. I lost 115,000 chips and was down to about 30,500, short stack on the table now with a stack of over 230,000 ahead of the 300,000 stack.
I was UTG on the next hand with [js ad]. Not a Mutant jack, but okay for a short-stack hand. I went all-in and got a call from the biggest stack in BB with [9s 4s]. He hit top pair on the flop: [9h 7s 5c] and it looked like it was curtains, but the turn was [ac] and the river made me two pair with [jc]. I was back up to 65,000.
[2h 3h] on BB the next hand didn’t look quite as like likely to win, but I got a walk and won 4,500 chips in antes and the small blind.
I was still on a stack of only 14bb. The next hand as SB, I got [ac 8d]. The big stack (still with 270,000 chips) raised to 15,000 from BTN after UTG and CO folded. I pushed with just under 69,000, BB folded, and the big stack called with [jc ts]. Both of us missed the [2c 9c 6d] flop. The [7h] on the turn gave him a possible gut-shot straight draw, but mine was open-ended. Nothing came through, though, except for a board pair, with [7d] for the river, and suddenly I was back up over 145,000.
A few hands later, I got [as kc] as BB. UTG—with a stack just a little smaller than mine—opened with a min-raise (at 2,500/5,000/500)—and action folded to me. I pushed, BB folded, and I snagged another 14,500 chips.
My SB on the next hand was [5c 7c]. UTG and CO called, I called, and BB let it ride. Only the largest stack sat the hand out. The flop was [2h 5d 8s] and I was assuming middle pair 0n that board was at least a contender. I opened with a feeler of 5,000, only UTG—the short stack at the table with about 30,000—called. [qc] on the turn and I continued pressing with another 5,000 bet. He called again. The river gave me [7d]. It was as good as it was going to get with this hand and I bet the pot, for 42,500. With only 20,000 left, UTG folded and I was up to 185,000.
Getting tricky with bad cards can become a bad habit, though. My next BB was at 3,000/6,000/600 and I was dealt [2h 5c]. Action folded to the big stack—now down to only 200,000—and he raised to 12,000. Like a fool, I followed along, hitting the bottom end of the [9h 8h 2c] flop. SB bet 18,400 and I called, only to see [ks] on the turn. We both checked. The [qh] on the river gave him the opening to push all-in and I had to fold, losing 31,000 on a hand that should have been thrown away.
I took another hit trying to play [2d as]. I four-flushed by the turn but with the lowest possible diamond flush. By two hours and fifteen minutes into the match, I was back down to 122,000.
Three of us saw the flop after a min-raise to 12,000 with me in SB holding [js 9h]. I had an inside straight draw on the [6h kc qs] flop and opened with 12,000. One player called. [kd] on the turn didn’t do me any good, but I opened with another 12,000 and got a fold with my bluff to win 39,000 chips.
A min-bet from BTN with [ks 8s] took down the blinds and antes on the next hand and moved me back up to 177,000 chips.
I called with a similar [8c kd] on the next hand as CO. SB called and BB checked. The [ad 6h 8s] board wasn’t ideal for me, but I did have a piece and position. BB (short stack at the table with 75,000 at the beginning of the hand) bet 8,000 and I re-raised to 30,400. SB folded and BB gave it up. I was over 200,000.
Four hands later, I was already back under 180,000 (with blinds at 4,000/8,000/800) when I got [qd kc] as SB. I was second in chips at the table, with the former big stack still bigger at 190,000+. There were three stacks of about 140,000 to 150,000 and one just over 50,000. UTG raised to 20,400 and action folded to me. I called; BB called. 66,000 in the pot and the flop was [qh 2d 4c]. I pushed 158,000 chips into the middle (or, rather, pushed a button) and the others folded. I didn’t want to see any more cards on that hand.
With 223,000 chips, I was about 30,000 ahead of anyone else at the table. I wasn’t the tournament chip lead, but I was in the top ranks again, and the field had narrowed considerably from the original 564 entries. I hadn’t rebought or added on (I’d seen one player rebuy six or seven times after repeatedly going all-in on every hand). I’d managed to almost immediately come back from a devastating loss of nearly 80% of my chips, an ability I rather pride myself on (I once managed to build from 55 chips to more than 30,000 after losing 99.5% of my chips [ax qx] v. [ax kx]). But pride goeth before a fall (or a devastating chip loss) as they say.
That loss came at the 5,000/10,000/1,000 level, after about two hours and twenty-five minutes of play. I was big stack at the table, with 196,000 chips, after the guy who’d just taken a pot of 20,000 to move ahead of me had been moved for table balancing. I got [2h 2c] as BB, action folded to SB (with the second-largest stack) who went all-in and I called with just 17,680 behind. He flipped [ac 4c] and we were in a true 50%-50% coin flip for a pot worth 360,000. The flop of [6h 3c 3d] gave me a 4:3 advantage, then the flush possibilities of a [7c] turn drew us even again. He didn’t get the flush, though. He got a [5d] for the river straight.
I dropped down to 11,680 after giving up my SB on the next hand with [qd 9c], but I pushed from BTN with [3c ad] and got two callers, which tripled me up after SB pushed BB out with an all-in bet on the turn when he made a pair of nines, only to lose to my ace pairing on the river (the three paired on the flop). Still, I had less than 4bb in a six-handed game. My last hand, I shipped with a weak king, was called by a less-weak king, and lost when his kicker paired on the flop.
147 minutes. 215 hands. 22nd of 564 entrants. infinite ROI, won 0.5% of prize pool.
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.
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 [kc jc] 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 [as ts], 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 [ad 5d], 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 [8s 9s] 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 [as js] 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 [7c 8c] 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).
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 [6c 8c], 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 [6c 8s], 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 [jh ts]. Likewise, I raised 800 on [ac qc] and folded when the top cards on the flop were [kd 7d].
[ad 2d] 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 [ah th] 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 [jc tc] 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, [kd 4d] 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 [qc tc] but had to fold to two all-in bets, then lost another 6600 with [ac 3c] 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 [as 5s] 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 [ad 9d]. 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 [jc ac] 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 ([ah jh]) 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 [qd jd] 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 [ac 5c] (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 [3h 6h] 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 [qs 9s] 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 [jh 5h]. 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: [ac jc]. I was all-in. The giant stack turned over [6x 6x], SB had me dominated with [as kc]. 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).
This was probably the most “interesting” game I’ve played lately, but not because of the cards. The field was small, about 20 players and I was at the middle table in seat 1. Seat 5 had a burly guy named B who everyone knew and who had amassed a big stack of chips by a couple of hours into play. S was a woman seated down at seat 7. Seat 9 was a hyperkinetic kid I’d run into earlier in the day in another tournament who I could imagine calling himself a “baller” and who kept up a steady stream of patter meant to burnish his image as a man in the know.
Blinds were climbing, I picked up [9x 9x] in early position and three-bet with about half my stack after an all-in from seat 9. Action folded to B who moved all-in with more than enough to cover me. When it got back around to me I called and B triumphantly flipped over [jx jx]. Unfortunately for him, a [9x] came on the flop and I doubled up with my set, carving a big chunk out of B’s stack. “You weren’t supposed to call me!” he bellowed. “Not with nines!” His friend S joined in the affirmation that it was a donk call. I half-jokingly mentioned that I was pot-committed and they proceeded to tell me I shouldn’t throw around terms I didn’t understand. Just to defuse the situation, I said that I’d meant it jokingly, but since when does having half your stack exposed not make you pot-committed? Then they started in on how far behind I was. I said I wasn’t that far behind, and they didn’t like that answer at all, claiming that I was a 4:1 dog.
Of course, that’s the truth if you look at the numbers in an absolute sense. At the time he went all-in, B didn’t know what I had. I didn’t know what he had when I called. He could have been trying to bluff me off and take my raise with a drawing hand. If I’d had [kx kx], I would have made the same bet, but he didn’t know that. Where the conventional wisdom is wrong, though is that in terms of relative strength, with three players in the hand (as we were) [jx jx] loses 39% of the time. [9x 9x] loses 45% of the time. The relative differential between the two is quite small.
At the next break the hyperkinetic kid came up to me to offer words of advice about how B & S were big-shot players and I shouldn’t get them riled up disputing odds and poker terminology. That was sort of irritating.
B didn’t have a lot of chips left after that hand and was out before the final table. S and the HKK were there, with S seated next to me in seat 6 and HKK down at 3. I wasn’t keeping notes on this game but blinds were rising up and I picked up [7x 7x] in middle position. I made a large raise after a not-particularly-great flop, putting me heads-up with HKK who called and then bet in the dark. A [7x] came on the turn and I went all-in. HKK called and lost to my set. I mentioned in passing that the bet in the dark schtick wasn’t necessarily a great idea and he went ballistic, saying I shouldn’t be telling him what to do. When I pointed out that he’d been “offering” me advice earlier it just seemed to irritate him further but I just didn’t really care.
4 hours. Finished 5th of 21 players. -9% ROI (including buy-in, add-on, tip).
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 [ac kc] 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 [7c 9c] 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 [ad 7d], 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 [ac 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 jc] 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 [8c tc] 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).
Four hours. -50% ROI. Fifth of 28 players.
