The Poker Mutant will be retiring (mostly) from poker on 1 January. This is the latest installment in his thrilling countdown to the End of Times.
Dropped into the Wednesday Final Table $1K GTD NLHE Bounty just as the last level before break was about to start. Saigon Vic gulped up two bounties in the first two hands I was there, then I got one after a seemingly-discombobulated player sat down in one of the vacant seats, limped his AxKx in a multi-way pot, then shoved on a Jx7x9x flop when I’d called from the button with 7♥5♥. Nothing else went my way, though and I busted shoving A♥7♥ with 15bb from the cutoff into the button’s nines. The K♣K♠Q♣ flop gave me some outs, but it was over.
As the day draws to a close, I got in another Ignition Casino $4K GTD NLHE Turbo. Made the money then open-shoved 8bb with K♥J♥, and got called by two players, including the big stack with 11bb and 8♠8♣, and another player with K♠T♠. The big stack flopped a full house and I min-cashed, before another player with half a big bind got knocked out.
The Poker Mutantwill be retiring (mostly) from poker on 1 January. This is the latest installment in his thrilling countdown to the End of Times.
The Ignition Casino Golden Spade Poker Open series is wrapping up this week, and there was a 3-Seat GTD satellite this evening to Event #111 $30K GTD NLHE 6-Max Turbo. I went out in 9th place after AxKx lost to AxTx, watching election day coverage. Late-regged a $500 GTD Omaha Hi-Lo game at the first break and busted in 25th place with 12 paying.
Last game for the day was a $1K PLO Turbo. Regged 45 minutes in, played for about an hour, got unlucky after getting all in ahead twice (at least, as much as you’re ever ahead in PLO) against the same player, doubling him up the first time and getting knocked out the second. 30th place with 15 paying.
The Poker Mutantwill be retiring (mostly) from poker on 1 January. This is the latest installment in his thrilling countdown to the End of Times.
Had some trouble connecting to Ignition Casino early in the evening, so I ran a few MTT simulations at Advanced Poker Training. About 9:30, I got into the $4K GTD NLHE Turbo and it looks like I’m about to make the money. Finished 13th out of 469.
The Poker Mutantwill be retiring (mostly) from poker on 1 January. This is the third installment in his thrilling countdown to the End of Times.
Played an Ignition $4K GTD NLHE 6-Max and ran into kicker problems.
Three $2 NLHE Jackpot Sit-n-Gos, the last of which was a $10 payout and I won that one.
Flopped a set of fives in a multiway pot in the nightly $4K NLHE Turbo and was the fourth all in. Biggest stack with a flush draw made it on the river and knocked the other three of us out.
The Poker Mutantwill be retiring from poker—not unlike Fedor Holz or Vanessa Selbst—on 1 January. This is the second installment in his thrilling countdown to the End of Times.
Got in a morning Igniton Poker $2 NLHE Jackpot Sit-n-Go and binked another 5x payout. Got nines in on a queen-high board and managed to get beat by a player with QxJx, but I turned the tables when he made a loose call, I doubled up twice, knocked him out, then took the win.
Ran two more $2 Jackpots after dinner. In the first ($4 payout), the other two players got into it in the first two hands, and we lost the first player on hand three. I was behind in chips on the last hand with T♣9♥ and called a raise, turned top pair, then shoved but lost to 2♠9♦ as he’d flopped the deuce..
Jumped into another one right away and it was another $10 payout. I got lucky with A♣A♥ on the second hand against a pair of sizes, then ground the other player down in 10 more hands.
Did another couple while watching Chris Wallace laugh his creepy Penguin laugh on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Lost one. Won one.
Late-regged an Ignition $500 GTD O8 Turbo just before the first break, folded until I won one hand, got moved to another table, hit two pair then folded on the river with a counterfeited low and an obvious bet from a player who hit trips, and went out a little later 60th of 79.
Lost three more jackpot Sit-N-Gos, including a $10 payout. Busted out of that on the first hand calling against jacks with an ace, then got HU in another and had him on the run until he doubled up with ace-king against my ace-queen.
Last one of the night I was up 2:1 then back to even after getting KxQx in against queens with both a king and queen on the flop, then having my double-up thwarted when my turned trips lost to a flush on the river.
The Poker Mutantwill be retiring from poker—not unlike Fedor Holz or Vanessa Selbst—on 1 January. This is the first installment in his thrilling countdown to the End of Times.
Got a cash bonus from Ignition Casino and played one of their $2 Jackpot Sit-n-Gos on a break at work. Got the 5x multiplier that paid $10 to the winner of the three-person tournament, and I knocked out the first player, but I got unlucky in a 70/30 situation during heads up and didn’t get the prize.
Friday night’s tournament at Final Table was a $10K instead of $20K because of the Wildhorse series, but it had a good turnout. I did well despite not having much in the way of premium hands. My best pair was tens (I did make quads) but I busted a table short of the money, after flopping an open-ended straight draw in a multiway call of a short stack all-in. I made my straight on the river, but Casey Ring hit top pair on 7x4x4x, and bet enough to put me all in to call. The 7x turn knocked me out.
The last couple days of the Chinook Winds Fall Coast Classic were extra-disappointing, mostly because I didn’t cash, but also because it was the last trip I have planned before I hang up my card caps.
Event #14 $100K GTD NLHE 6-Max got off to a bad start, as I flopped a set of queens early but got caught by a turned Broadway. Another pair of queens went bad and I was down nearly 20K from the 500K starting stack in the second 50-minute level. I managed to claw my way back to starting stack, but the decision to play back against an aggressor who was consistently attacking my blinds cost me my tournament when I called from the big blind with 3x5x, flopped bottom two pair, re-raised his continuation, then led out on the turn. With almost half my stack in good, the river paired the wrong card on the board and my two pair was counterfeit. I shoved, and he eventually called with an over pair, knocking me out.
Player went all in for 6K. Big stack calls. I bet 20K from BB w KK. K was exposed in deal. Big stack eventually folds. Shortie has TT. Board runs out AQJ9x. “Third kings of the day!”#FallCoastClassicPokerTournament@ChinookWinds Final Event $200K GTD NLHE
The next day’s Final Event $200K GTD NLHE went better at first. In addition to three pairs of kings in just over four hours, a late registrant sat on my right picked up kings in the small blind when I had aces in the big blind, and ended up all in for a full starting stack preflop. By dinner break, the end of registration, and the addon, I had more than three times the starting stack.
A gentleman named Don (think the Lone Biker of the Apocalypse from Raising Arizona if he’d retired and gone to live in Palm Springs) held sway over the table, with a couple of Portland regs chipping away at my stack until I was down to about average over the next ninety minutes. Then—like a dream—it was all gone in a hand where I put 60bb in with top-top on the turn against an over-pair shove. Busted by a pair of nines two days in a row. A bit bittersweet, because Chinook Winds has been where I’ve had the most recorded cashes, and I’m not going to be playing there again in the foreseeable future.
Tonight is the first event: the one-and-only super satellite for Saturday’s High Roller in Pendleton. No commentary here, just a link to the schedule and structures.
#PNWPokerLeaderboard
Results from Chinook haven’t posted yet, so news for PNW players is a little slim, but Mercer Island’s David Oppenheim picked up a couple nice scores in the past few weeks, with 3rd place finishes in the Muckleshoot Fall Classic Event #5and at Run It Up Reno Mini Main Event. They’re his two largest recorded cashes, by a significant margin.
Oregon’s Landon Moore grabbed 15th in the Venetian $500K GTD Championship in mid-October, an event headlined by Steve Sung and Joseph Cheong. It’s Moore’s second recorded cash.
James Romero cashed 7th in another big tournament, the 113-entry WSOP Europe Event #8 1M NLHE High Roller.
The Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza IV runs through 25 November (Thanksgiving is the 22nd this year). The big event of the series is the $1,600 buyin $400K GTD Main Event starting 16 November.
Just west of Edmonton, Alberta, River CreeKing of the Felt Deepstack Championship resort starts Saturday, with seven events including PLO, NLHE/PLO/Crazy Pineapple/Limit Omaha Mix, and 2 “Limited” Holdem events! Their C$1,100 Main Event gets you 125,000 chips!
The 20th Annual Lucky Chances Casino Gold Rushstarts next Friday south of San Francisco, with 3 events, guaranteeing $50K, $20K, and $100K to the first-place finisher of each.
North of Sacramento, WPTDeepstacks Thunder Valleyalso gets under way a week from Friday, with 20 events, including small-guarantee HORSE< PLO, and O8 tournaments, and three tentpole NLHE events of $100K, $250K, and $500K guaranteed.
Two weeks from Friday, the WSOPC Las Vegas opens at Planet Hollywood, with a $400 buyin $200K GTD tournament. 1,700 The Main Event starts 24 November (the Saturday after Thanksgiving) and features a $500K guarantee.
The only good thing for me about Monday was that I didn’t make it to the add-on break in Event #5 $75K GTD NLHE. With the same structure as the previous day’s event but no re-entry, there was a bit of an overlay on this tournament.
I sat down between Max Young, who’d been in on a chop the day before and Ryan Stoker, so I knew I wasn’t going to be allowed to get too out of line. I managed to maintain around starting stack for a few hours, then as my stack crept under the 25bb level I picked up queens, put in a raise over a couple of limpers, and got called by one from the old(er) man at the other end of the table. Ace on the flop, I c-bet, he calls, and we check it down. He has AxTx. Standard, but I’ve lost 8bb and it doesn’t get any better from there. A short stack UTG goes all in and I call with A♠9♠, she has deuces and hits a set on the flop. I’m down to 2.5bb and shove on the next hand w Qx3x. It miraculously folds to the BB, the woman who had the deuces, and she calls with a little embarassment perhaps, with 7x2x, again catching a deuce on the flop.
Event #6 10-Seat GTD NLHE Satellite went okay for a couple of hours, then not!
First cash of the series for me was a roller coaster with a fast start.
In the Event #7 $25K GTD NLHE Seniors I started picking up chips early, getting up to 60K from the 12K start before the first break.
The early success didn’t last, however, and I slipped down below 30K over the course of the next three levels. Then it was back upward, to 100K. By dinner break, I was back down under where I’d been at the first break.
I was over average throughout the tournament, but that didn’t mean much as we were closing in on the money. By the time we hit the bubble, the average stack was less than 10bb.
The end for came as a bit of a surprise for me. Tom, one of the regulars in Portland, had recently come to the table, and took out a player with a pair of convenient aces. On the very next hand, I was on the button with pocket jacks. A player in early position raised to 4.5bb and Tom called from his table-dominating stack. I had about 13bb and I shoved, only to find out that Tom had queens. The flop gave Tom a set and me an open-ended straight draw (the other player had sevens) but there was no relief and I busted in 32nd place for slightly less than a min-cash.
Wednesday was the Event #9 $15K GTD Omaha Hi-Lo, the only fixed-limit game on the schedule. I lasted just over six hours after a bad start and recovery, only to have two old ladies beat me up and take my chips.
I got kicked out early enough that I was able to late-register the evening’s Event #10 5-Seat GTD NLHE Satellite to Friday’s $1,075 buy-in 6-Max tournament.
Within an hour, I was up to 40K from the 7.5K starting stack, after opening up my game a little bit. I knew from all of my play in the Ignition Casino Thousandaire Makera about where I needed to be to cur the jets and glide into winning one of the vouchers, and even though I didn’t have a huge stack by the time we were down to twelve players (with six vouchers to be awarded and $300 to seventh place) I could tell that so long as I didn’t muck it up that I’d probably get there.
There was one enormous stack at the final table and all of us little remoras swimming around hoping not to be the ones who were eaten. Everyone got hats(!) even though we weren’t all in the money. Not sure what they’d have done if there had been more than 10 vouchers awarded!
All I needed was to not have any of the small stacks double up ahead of my own stack, and eventually the blinds would grind them into oblivion. When a couple of them doubled up, pushing me down the chip counts, I’d shove and take the blinds. Since I was doing that so rarely, I didn’t get a challenge. By the time the “mystery envelope” of $301 was awarded to Gail Hand for 7th place, the average stack was 2.5bb.
Dave Long and I headed down into central Lincoln City to celebrate at the Old Oregon Tavern, which was done to the hilt for Halloween, complete with ghosts that raised and lowered as the entry doors closed and opened. Plus, they had a nifty Batman 66 pinball machine. If someone wins an extra $8K this weekend, this is on my Christmas list.
I’d been hoping to play Thursday’s Event #11 $50K GTD NLHE Big Bounty, but after a couple of emergency dips into the bankroll last month, I didn’t have the cash reserves. So it was Event #12 $25K GTD Big O. At least for an hour. I lost a hand with the second nuts to Prime, then got it all in against another player with the second best set. Did. Not. Rebuy.
Hopped across to the 60s Cafe & Diner up the hill from the casino where I had some non-doctor-approved lunch, and Dave and I tried out their Boozy Shakes. I cannot recommend enough the Chocolate Fudge Bourbon Delight.
Not so much me winning, but still a lot of winning.
Dave Long` (above) and I made it to Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City, Oregon an hour or so ahead of Saturday’s Event #1 $150K GTD NLHE. The tournament was a re-entry, and I had to do that just before the first break. In the first hour, the player on my left had lost pretty much every pot he’d been in, and when he 3-bet me and action folded back around, I could have called, but instead I shoved with my Q♦Q♣ and he called for less with KxK♣. The flop was all low spades, then Q♠ on the turn. Nether of us had a spade, and the only card that could give him a win was the non-spade king. Which came. I still had 35bb; we were only in level 2, but I almost immediately lost half of that and the dwindling continued through to literally the last hand of the break when I busted.
I’d expected to hit the bank to get my cash for the week before the tournament started, but the Lincoln City branch of US Bank was Monday—Friday only, and I borrowed $200 of my buddy Brad Press to re-enter because I’d maxed the ATM card already. I got back in and sat down after break. Ten minutes in, I get AxAx in early position and raise, getting about 5 callers. The flop was Ax6x5♠ and I make a c-bet of about the same as pre-flop, get a call from the BB, and when K♠ hits on the river and BB shoved, I kind of though he might have AxKx but no, it was 6♠7♠ for the open-ended straight and flush, the latter of which got there on the river. So, down to 10bb 10 minutes after the re-entry.
I doubled up against the player who’d broken my set with AxTx v TxTx but was back down to 10bb half an hour later, then out after about three hours total.
I played Event #2 10-Seat GTD NLHE Final Event Satellite, just one entry and the add-on, but didn’t make it even half-way through the field.
Day 2 of the $150K GTD got under way at 11am on Sunday, with 54 players coming back and everyone in the money.
Sunday’s Event #3 $75K GTD NLHE got off to a good start for me, but it started even better for Jacki Burkhardt, this year’s PNW Poker Golden Girl, when she got news via Twitter that she’d won a PokerStars Platinum Pass via the #mypokerstory contest run by writer/poker player Maria Konnikova (and judged by Helen Ellis, Jen Shahade, Matt Salsberg, and Melanie Weisner). Jacki’s heading off to The Bahamas in January to play in a $25K buyin tournament. Plus she cashed the $150K before she bought into the $75K.
I made the second break of the $75K with about triple the starting stack. Over two hours I paid blinds, folded raises to reraises, and laid hands down after unpleasant flops until I was under 30bb after just about five hours.
Then I picked up AxKx, flopped a king, and managed to get three streets of action (including an all-in on the river) from JxJx. Two hours later, I was UTG with 8♣3♣ and less than 10bb when they table balanced the BB and I was it! A middle-position player min-raised, I made the call more out of cussedness than anything else, and I picked up a gut-shot with potential back-door flush on 9x7x5♣, so I shoved and got called by A♦7♦ and was out after the river.
More exciting poker today!
Special shoutout to Darrel Dier (a vet of the days when Deepstacks Poker Tour was here) who’s going to be returning to the tsunami zone this weekend after winning a main event at Stones Gambling Hall.
Darrel D. @DarrelDier takes down the Stones Fall Classic Main Event for $27,494
There was one enormous stack at the final table and all of us little remoras swimming around hoping not to be the ones who were eaten. Everyone got hats(!) even though we weren’t all in the money. Not sure what they’d have done if there had been more than 10 vouchers awarded!
