NO FOR BELLAGIO

This was the first tourney I have played where the buy-in was more than $100. It started as a $6 sattelite I won last June. On Wednesday I used the ticket for the Stage 2 $42 and got a ticket there as well. So tonight I entered the $420 version.

I started on the big blind and I laid low for the first 10+ hands. There was good aggressive play from the beginning with people raising $100 to wipe out the chasers although the blinds were small. Twelve minutes in the first real family pot saw me with (44) on the button. But sitting on my left was a guy who made the final table of PROFESSIONAL FOR A YEAR. With all that money out there he raised it to $115 which suggests some strength from the small blind. With one other caller I decided to take a flop.

{884} – I must be living right.

Pro bets $225 and the preflop caller raises to $450. Could I be up against 87 like Dude was in the WSOP? I decide to cold call and hope The Pro gets aggressive. He calls too.

The turn is a {6} and Pro checks to raiser who bets $500. He has $425 left and I decide to raise him all-in and make The Pro chase. The Pro folds and the bettor calls and turns over [JJ]. I dodge the river and now have $4600.

On the very next hand I get (JJ) and raise to $100 and get a caller.

The flop is {QdJcAc}. The Jacks are luckier for me.

He checks and I decide to bet $125 hoping that his AK or AQ will re-raise but he just calls.

The turn is a {2d}. He checks and with two flush draws I bet $350 and he calls again.

The river is {2h}. Why couldn’t it have been the 2c? He must have been suited because he checked and folded to my $800 bet. Chance has $5200.

I lay low for a while. 25 minutes into the tourney I’m on the big blind with (Q3o). The Pro raised to $60 under the gun and another guy calls. It’s only $30 to me and I have this gut feeling.

The flop is {QdQc2c}. I check as do the others.

The Turn is a {4s}. I decide to make the fake probe bet $100. The Pro raises to $250. I pause for a moment like I’m ready to muck and then call.

The river is a {3c} for my full house but also a flush board. I check figuring the only way I make money is if he bets. He bets $550. I raise him to $1500 putting him all-in. He thinks and decides to fold. He must have had AQ or an overpair. I now have $6200.

11th of 88 at the first break with $6,555

The Pro was knocked out by another guy 14 minutes into the second hour. Now I could breathe. That same guy was down to $350 before the break and it grew to $3600 after beating The Pro.

Not long after I get (JJ). With blinds $75-150, under the gun raises to $300 and the guy two to my right (new to our table) re-raises to $1000. Now I’m caught in the middle. I can’t call and risk 1/7 of my stack when another re-raise could await me. I figure one of these guys has something better than JJ or at least a draw to something better. I lay it down hoping to see these guys go to the wire. Unfortunately, the first raiser lays his down too.

With the blinds moving to $100-200, and everyone noticing their M, under the gun guy goes all-in with about $1100. I’m in the small blind with (AdJd) and I call. He has [66]. I flop the flush draw but can’t improve and lose $1000.

The guy whose raise got me off the Jacks earlier keeps taking a stab at my blinds. I have nothing to go up against him with. The third time he tries it I’m in the small blind with (KTs) and re-raise his $1000 to $3000. I get him to lay it down all right, but unfortunately for me the big blind calls on the short stack with his [AK]. I wind up losing the hand I spent so much time creating.

The same loose goose raises $1000 again about 10 minutes later and I call with (77). The flop comes {69T}. The turn is another {T} and the river is a {K}. I figure him for a weak ace and I call him all the way down. He checks the river and I go all-in with my last $3000 into a $7000 pot. He waits and waits and waits so long I think he’s going to fold automatically. I can’t even see the moving time color and then I see "call" and he exposes his [J9o] and beats me with third pair.

The King on the end was perfect. It was just the kind of scare card he should have folded to. If he hadn’t seen me make that play on him earlier with KT, I think I would have had the pot. He was the quintessential chip bully who folds when you play back. I had position and I think I made the right play. It was certainly the only way I would have won that pot. Against a better player, I probably would have folded the 77 to $1000 preflop, but with the blinds at $150 and $300 and my stack around 7000, I thought I could make a comfortable amount out of his aggressiveness.

Looking back, a raise on the flop was the proper play. If he had stuck around I could have checked it down drawing the gutshot for free. Or a $1500 bet on the end may have looked enough like a value bet to chase him. Who knows?

Anyway, I finished 61 of 127 and I’m not unhappy considering the caliber of player I was up against, the fact that I don’t even play many tournaments, haven’t been playing much hold‘em lately, and it only cost me $6.