HOME TOURNEY II

Donn invited me to play again with his friends from Epic. I feared that my luck the first time around may have put me off the list permanently, but it only took a month to forgive me that imprudence.

The first tourney was 9 man, 7 from the last game and two new guys. The buy-in was $40. We started with 2,000 units and the blinds at 25/50 with 12 minute intervals. You can get a lot of hands online in twelve minutes. Professional dealers can’t even go at that rate. So you can imagine the pressure to make hay during the sunny times in a home tourney.

Three hands in I found AQs in my paw. I made it $200 to go and got one caller, one of the new guys. The flop came Q74. I bet $400 and the caller raised me to $800. I had no idea how he played, but I figured him with a Q also. He probably had QT or QJ by my figuring. I couldn’t see him on two pair and I didn’t take him as a guy that would raise his set on the flop. I just called and checked the turn which paired the board. He checked also. Hummm. The river was a blank. The pot was $2000 and I had about $1000 left. I decided to go all-in make him decide what to do. I figured he might call off his weaker Q or maybe even an under pair. He hemmed and hawed which made me think that I made the right bet. He wanted to call and maybe I wad forcing him to make a mistake. The all-in might make him think I was trying to buy it. After some consideration he called and turned over KK. So it turned out that my bet was still right. He almost folded the best hand. For as aggressive as that game is, I couldn’t believe that he didn’t re-raise preflop or bet the turn. I think the pair really scared him for some reason.

He used his big stack to start playing aggressively and he had half the chips at the table at one point. I saw him make two really good plays on people that probably had him beat but couldn’t afford going broke by calling. His one trouble was that he didn’t change gears on scary flops and he wound up paying the price. He was finally knocked out by Donn on the bubble when he tried to play his Kx against Donn’s Ax. Donn wound up leaving the tournament after he got all his money in with the best hand only to lose on the river. AT v KJ. He wondered if he played it correctly, and I told him that you can never knocking yourself for getting all-in with the best hand.

I actually re-bought into this tournament $20 for 1000 chips. I even doubled that up a few hands later when I called down a flush draw and two over cards and hit the flush. After that I went downright dry. I was patient but the blinds were starting to eat me up. I stole the blinds twice, but had to go all in with A8 v TT. I hit another A8 and he hit his third T. At least I got knocked out by the guy who won the tournament. Or at least he chopped with the other guy heads up so the rest of us could play another tournament.

In the second tournament I was able to repay the favor by knocking him out early. He raised 4x in mid position and everyone folded to me on the big blind. I had KK and decided to cold call since I had heads up anyway and figured him for an A. I figured he’d probably continuation bet any flop, and my decision would be based on whether an ace hit. The flop came Q high and I checked. He surprised me by going all-in. It was an easy call and when I said the words he groaned and turned over AJ. I dodge an ace and found myself with a decent stack.

The key hand for me wasn’t one that I won, but two hands that I could have gone broke on, but played well enough to cause myself the least damage.

The first one had an aggressive player raising in late position, the next player called and I decided to just see a flop with TT. The flop came 744. The original raiser bet 100 chips into a 500 pot. The second player called. I decided to make it 500 to go. The original raiser went all-in. Now although this kind of move was standard play in this game even with a hand like AK, the other player called before me and I was able to get off the hand. He turned over K4, a very well-hidden hand considering his raise pre-flop raise. She had JJ which meant I was beat in two places.

The same aggressive player raised one off the button and I called with AK in the blind. The flop came AT6 with two clubs. I let him bet it down representing the flush draw. The flush card came on the turn and he tepidly bet it and I just called. I figured I would only win money if I let him bet what I thought was a weaker ace. The flush slowed him down and I got lucky again because he flopped a set of 6s. The key to the hand was that he was the one I doubled up against when I hit the flush in the first tourney. He wasn’t going to be burned twice.

I finally knocked him out in a similar situation when he raised in late position and I re-raised with AK. He went all-in and I had him covered. He turned over AQ. Now I don’t know why I played my earlier AK and TT more slowly against him except for that hunch feeling. The hunch told me I was in the lead this time and it worked out well.

When it was down to three of us, Cissy knocked out Donn. He finished third both times and last time had a first and a second. He’s really become a consistent player. He’s certainly improved immeasurably since we first started playing together 5 or 6 years ago. Back then he use to play for the showdown and now he uses his position well and has a keen instinct for when he is in the lead and he bets for value. This time he had the misfortune of having top pair against Cissy’s well-hidden pocket aces. It was just the way I knocked him out in December.

Cissy had me about 3-1 in chips after taking Donn out. I knew I didn’t have long, and I had to force the every advantage especially after I played KQ on the flop and she bet me all-in when the flop came blanks. I sensed an ace and she showed it after I folded. From there, I drew a pocket pair and she didn’t respond to my all-in. I drove her off a couple of pots to make my stack more respectable. A couple of hands later I had AQ in position. She raised and I cold called. The flop came babies and she went al-in. Something told me she had a weaker ace and I thought back about how she played against me when we were heads up last month and I decided to call. Sure enough, my AQ was good to her A6. Now I had the chip advantage. I had A5s on the next hand went all-in under the gun. She called with A3o. Now that almost always means a split pot and I said so immediately. Lucky for me the flop brought a 2 and a 4 making my 5 play against her 3. I took down $200 which made it a $100 profit after the buy ins.

I wonder if I get invited back now.

With Trish not feeling well and me needing her to work on the old house, I was able to use my moldy ticket for the Grand Prix today. I figured last night's showing would give me confidence to play well. I was happy enough with my play finishing in the 60s with over 200 players.

One hand in particular was evident of how I'm making good decisions. With the blinds $50-$100, under the gun called $100 and I had AKo in mid position. I decided to raise it up to $350 to see if I could get heads up. The original caller went all-in. He had $3500 compared to my $2500 and me at my weakest would have called. But I immediately recognized it as the limp in with AA trick and gladly folded. Just calling there and hitting a king would have ruined me. Spending the 350 could have saved my whole stack.

When my M was down under 10, I was able to steal the blinds twice with small pairs and weak aces, but I was eventually forced all-in with 77 and ran into JJ. Not a bad showing and the best results for the 4 GPs I've played.