I’ve got a couple of blogs to get up here of updates from last night’s game, last weeks game, and two tournaments that I’ve played in over the last couple of weeks. It’s been a lot of work in between all the poker.
Lets start with last night which saw the action start 7 handed, and found us with a newcomer that arrived late. After Amber left the table, Jack arrived and bought in for $100 chips. His stay was a good one as he went out in 4th on his first visit. There were a couple of really interesting hands last night.
First was a hand that I could not have initiated more emotion out of Andrew with. After a pre-flop raise of 12, 4 players took a flop of Ac-Jc-4h. Jordan checked the action to Tim who moved all in for his last 24. Andrew thought for a little while before making the call. I moved over the top all in, and Jordan folded. Andrew thought for a moment an folded his cards, and Tim showed a K high flush draw. I turned over A-8 os, and was ahead. Andrew erupted with frustration as he showed he’d folded A-9. The turn brought another J, and the river a case Q with no clubs and I took the big pot with two pair.
The second interesting hand came with Andrew moving all his chips in to call Jordan’s pre-flop raise. Jordan flipped pocket 4’s and Drew Jd-10d for a coin flip. The flop however made Jordan a giant favorite but gave Andrew some outs as it hit A-K-4, to give Jordan the leading set. The turn gave the board a 10, giving Andrew 4 outs, and wouldn’t you know, the Q spiked on the river to double Drew and put Jordan on the short stack. A lot of emotion on that hand.
Andrew left us shortly after that though having his chips whittled away after a few tough hands. He was out in 7th place. 6th and 5th place finishes went to the next big hand of the night where all the money went in pre-flop. Jordan pushed short stacked, and Tim moved over the top all in, and Robert made the call having both Tim and Jordan covered. When the cards were turned over Jordan held Ad-4d, Tim A-Q os, and Robert A-J os. The three of them took a flop of J-6-6, giving the best hand to Robert. The turn and River bricked out and Robert took a dominating chip lead of nearly 700 chips of the 1050 in play. (with all the re-buys that happened).
Jack then went out in 4th place, eliminated by Robert as well, leaving the action 3 handed with myself at around 200 chips, and Traci short stacked at around 40. Traci got all her chips in after about the 10th hand of 3 handed action holding A-K, and was called by Robert with A-10 pre flop. But despite being an underdog again, Robert flopped Broadway when the flop came out K-Q-J. Traci was way behind but got some more outs when another J with the turn. But the 6 on the river proved to be the undoing as Robert’s straight held up.
Heads up lasted a long while as Robert maintained about a 4 to 1 chip advantage. After about 20 hands, I was steadily increasing my chip stack so that Roberts advantage was whittled to almost even. With 515 chips to Roberts 535, I made a terrible bluff with Q-6 putting Robert on absolutely nothing. I couldn’t have been more wrong. He called with his top pair (Aces) and I was drawing dead after the turn. And that was it. It was a good pot because of the re-buys, and a really fun night of poker.
The week before was equally fun (so I here) as I had to skip out early. I was leaving for Las Vegas with my sister for her Birthday. It was a fun trip, and I’ll tell about that tournament after the pablosplace game. I know very little since I wasn’t here, but we were 7 handed with Tim, Amber, Robert, Traci, long time absentees Jen and Chris, and a newcomer Mark. I know that the action ended up with Traci heads up with Tim, and Tim taking the pot having hit quad 7’s playing the might Seven Deuce. He’s my hero.
In Las Vegas, I played on Saturday morning at the Excalibur Hotel at their daily tournament. It had a $35 entry fee, with no add-ons and no re-buys. It was a lousy tournament structure as everyone started with only $300 tournament chips. Add to that an extremely fast paced blind structure, and it was a shove fest, not a poker tournament. The first level was blinds of 5-10 and lasted 15 minutes. The second level saw blinds increase to 10-20, and also lasted 15 minutes. After the first two levels, the $5 chips were colored off, and the blinds jumped to $25-$50. The tourney started with 36 players, and was consolidated to two tables after the second level. I ended up out in 16th. I played only 3 hands, and won one of them. I made a small raise on the second level to $50 with pocket 7’s and the board came out Qd-7d-4d. I moved the rest of my chips in and got an immediate call by the one player who’d called my pre-flop raise. He turned over Ad-Qc and had me covered. The turn and river delivered no diamonds however, and I doubled to almost $600. That was short lived as I called a pre-flop all in with A-K to find myself in a race with Pocket 10’s. I didn’t improve and lost most of my stack. I finally went out with A-2 coming up on the big blind and lost to J-6. Harsh, but I was glad to be away from that tourney.
Finally, on Wednesday, I played at the no-limit Hold Em’ tourney at Hollywood Park. It’s a really cool tournament with a $30 buy in, and multiple re-buys and add-ons for the first hour. The re-buys structure allows a single re-buy of $500 chips for $10 if you have less than $1000 chips, a double re-buy for $1000 chips if you have fewer than $500 chips, and a triple re-buy for $30 if you’re down to the felt. You begin with $500 starting chips and have an option for an add on (up to $30) after the first break.
I lasted quite a long time with 126 entries at 12 tables. I lasted well past the first break and down to the 4 table consolidation going out in 36th place. I had an unfortunate run in the last few minutes losing my first pot calling an All-In bet with pocket Q’s. The other turned over the call with K-10 os. A King hit the turn and I didn’t catch up. I then lost a real tough one moving all in on board of 5-6-9 with pocket J’s. I got one caller after 6 players saw the flop, so it was good pot. The caller moaned as he turned over pocket 10’s to my J’s. But he got very excited as the board produced an 8 on the turn, and a 7 on the river. There was now a straight on the board, but his pocket 10’s gave him a better straight than the board and took most of my chips. I got my last 1800 in with A-9 pre-flop and got called by Aces. The board gave me some hope as it hit 10-J-Q giving me an open ended straight draw. But the turn and river bricked out and it was 36th for me.
That wraps up (in a novel) the most recent poker stuff. Next week looks to be good to go, and we should be at least 6 handed. Hopefully we can get a few more additions and make it a larger game.
On a side note, Jordan and I are flirting with the idea of playing a tournament tomorrow (Sunday), but I’m not sure where yet. I’ll have to check around to see what’s going on. In addition, we’re still contemplating the Wine Tasting and the Poker Tournament for my fast approaching 30th birthday. More on that later. Until next time, cheers, P
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