$1 NLHE
SECOND HAND. Dealt AA (utg+1). Utg bets 4xBB. I re-raise to 9xBB. All fold back to UTG who calls. Flop is 567 rainbow. He checks. I bet ½ pot and he RAISES. I decide he must have a pocket pair (99-KK) and put him all in. He calls with 56o for two pair. He bet 4xBB with 56o Utg?! And the calls the re-raise (with no other calls for odds) and hits the PERFECT FLOP. I will tell you all right now, I will probably fall for this every time. How could you NOT? Finished 2099 out of 2140? How did I beat 40 people by making it to the SECOND HAND?!
$1 limit Omaha (I know I wanted to win a NLHE first, but this was the only $1 tourney open for an hour!) 540 players only. Pays 54.
AAT8 rainbow UtG. I accidentally fold it. Although it's NOT a very good hand I lament its fold.
I fold to a pre-flop raise with JJ23 three suited.
Double suited aces! In the SB. I check a rainbow flop with nothing. A bet and raise force my fold. A set took it. (This will be the only real starting hand I get in the entire tournament.)
Players continue to play garbage hands. 9943? Meanwhile I play 7889 and have to let it go on the flop. End level 1 and I have not seen a turn.
I take a chance (limp) with QQ89 3 suited (very loose). I miss the flop by about 8 miles.
7884 in the BB and Utg raises. I might as well call with 5 others. I flop a set of 8's, but not a good flop. A third diamond comes on the turn and I am done with the hand after a bet and a raise. The board pairs the river and I would have had a boat to beat the made nut flush. At least I saw a turn card. But how do you call 2 bets there with a longshot 9 outer? Seriously, am I SUPPOSED to chase in Omaha with a weak set hoping the board pairs on the river? Is that good play? Did I screw up? Isn't that the same as flush chasing in Hole 'em?
I am folding all danglers to a pre-flop raise. In each case, it proves to be correct. But still, I am not playing hands. Yet another 9982 hand takes a pot.
Level 3 and I have yet to showdown a hand.
NLHE starts table 1 starts.
Dealt TT in SB and call a raise from the button. But the flop has a King and he puts a pot size bet. I fold like a girl. Should have played back pre-flop? In the first rotation? Nope, I feel comfortable in level 1 with "set, overpair or dump".
Omaha : called a raise with AA63 rainbow, hoping to flop a set. Nothing close. No draw, no nothing.
Omaha : I finally play a suited ace and make a straight which holds up and I win my first hand!! It actually takes me to Avg!
O: I have an upstairs wrap and a flush draw and MISS ALL OF IT to lose to trips. ARGH. Back to start stack size and I am below avg. I was probably the favorite on this hand on the flop.
O: I fold the second nut flush draw on the turn vs. two opponents. The flush did not come and I would have lost to a higher 2 pair.
NLHE table 2 starts
Table 2 :limp with A8s and FLOP a flush. Yet, someone inexplicably continues to bet into me. He even calls my re-raise on the river. Um, thanks?
Table 1 is very loose with pre-flop raises. I call with KT and flop an open draw. I lose to AA when the turn and river are blanks.
Table 2 dealt KK : I get the flush draw all in on the turn and the river is a blank. Did I actually put him on the flush? Nope, just did not put him on a set because of the betting.
O: JJT9 and I flop a wrap. I have to bet as I am low on chips. In the confusion? I misread my hand as made and it was not. I am out. 334th. Very disappointed. How do you get past card death in Omaha?
Table 1 : I run a continuation bet with a missed flop and get a call from what I assume is middle pair. I am forced off on the turn. I am critically low on chips.
Table 1 : I decide to take my 88 all-in when 3 or 4 players limp and get TWO callers?! J9s hit a pair and I am out 809th of 2141. Very bad. But how can I blame myself for that play? I would do it again. Sure it's possible to run into limping aces. I could also die of a falling safe. It's up to table 2 now…
But wait! I found a $1 table 3…
Table 3 : AKo raises but get checked raised on a missed flop. Done. Do the exact same thing next hand with AJo and the same limper and take the money back when this time he check-folds.
Table 3 : 3 callers of a 5xBB bet with AKo? What do you do when you miss that flop? Who calls that? At least 2 other Ax hands, that's what. Where the X is less than 9?! AM I crazy here?
Table 2 : I call a 3xBB raise with JTsuited from the SB. The flop is JJ3 and someone goes all in. I CALL. He turns over J3?! For a boat. The river pairs the 3 and we split! His miracle flop and my miraculous rise from the near dead.
A few hands later I run a bluff against this guy when a board fails to produce a 3rd flush card. He folds. I had King high.
Table 2 : I try to push AJo from early position. After 2 callers the SB goes all-in. I am done. What was the monster all-in? 22. He lost to a pair of threes. LOL. (I don't recall an Ace or a Jack falling)
Table 3: now the loosest table in the west. I raise 5xBB from the button with AK and get 4 callers?! And again, the flop is TT8. Action is fast and I have to fold. I have FEW chips left now.
Table 2 and I have QQ in the BB. I get 2 limpers who limp-call the 5xBB raise. The flop is T8rag with 2 clubs, so I bet ¾ pot and end the hand right here. Too much? I don't expect they would chase anyway, but if they did, it would be Ax so I over-bet. In retrospect, as we all know, the better bet here would be slightly less than ½ the pot.
Table 2: J3o calls me down to the river with bottom pair?! I even fired the second barrel on the turn! That hurt. How can he get a read on me, I am watching football?! Not so much a read as reckless me thinks.
Table 3 : flop TP with JT. But my raise gets re-raised. I have no chips left so I call and see KT. I knew what I was going to see, like freaking Nostradamus, but I was pot committed on the flop bet. I finish 558th. This one was such a crap shoot.
Table 2 (the only table left) : A short stack is on the button and its folded around to him. He goes all in, which is about 20% of my stack. I call AJo. He has KTo and misses everything. He must have felt desperate.
The next hand, its folded to me on the button with KQs. I raise 3x and the BB calls. The flop has a K and when he checks, I bet. He folds.
I bluff again. I have KQ and raise 3xBB. The BB calls. I bet the flop after his check and he calls. Repeat on turn. So when the Ace comes on the river, I make a BIG bet. He folds. I ran a risky bluff here, but I assumed that his flop and turn calls were indications of middle or bottom pair. He would see the Ace as being beaten, plus (and this is key), the pot was small enough to let go. I liked my play here.
AGAIN with KQo and I raise from EP 3xBB. K with 2 diamonds flop. ½ pot bet takes it down.
I pick up a pot when 64 in the BB hits bottom pair and it holds up. I had bet for value with the flush redraw on the flop and turn so it was a decent pot. Why was he calling in a tournament, with a SMALL pot, with overcards? I would not have called his river re-raise if an Ace fell.
Escaped from TP when the river was a king (overcard) and the player overbet it. Or did he? The other guy paid it off. Dufus.
BREAK (end level 4) 430 left out of 1240. Avg is 4325 and I have 7170. pays 135 places. I feel good about this.
Call a min raise with KJo in the BB and flop 2 pair. The big stack starts betting into me and I am calling. When I bet big on the turn, he calls! I get skeptical and/or greedy and check the river to see if he will try to bluff me off. But he checks also. I win a big pot, and 2/3rds of his stack. He starts tilting with risky bets. But his AT wins a race with 88 and he is back in action… He doubles up again with TT and I curse myself for letting him get away. He now has more chips than I do. How do they do it?
We clash again, but this time I dump my AJ on the flop of QQ9 when he fires the second barrel even though he was underbetting the pot. I just don't want to tangle with him right now with a bluff. My Q is about 1.9 right now.
My big stack "pal" takes a big hand (from some other poor shlub) when his JJ holds up. He keeps getting big hands. I got 93o. He is far ahead of me when 10 minutes ago, I took almost his entire stack. Volatility is an amazing thing to behold.
I watch QQ, JJ and AA get all in pre-flop. A King and Queen on the flop makes the AA curse (QQ has a set), but it's the runner-runner T9 straight for the JJ to triple up that makes it all laughable. The JJ player is our new table chip leader. Funny, but this guy is going to place now because he got his money in with the FAR worst of it and outdrew not ONE but TWO better hands. Me, I would have escaped the JJ trap here.
My "buddy" (nemesis) wins a big hand with Q5s. Can I be any more sarcastic? My Q is now like 1.3
The two giant stacks (the JJ guy and my "pal") start re-raising my 3xBB raises with all-in bets I can not call with AJo. What to do? Not play AJ I guess. My Q is 1.2 and I settle down a bit. I will have to narrow my starting hands from EP with BOTH of these large stacks on my right. It's a little late in the tournament to be playing AJ from EP anyways.
I reluctantly fold the J of clubs on a 4 flush board with a Q on it. Two other players both had me beat with the Ace and the King. I had TP on the flop and was ahead when I bet it. But the 4th club came on the turn and I had the worst of it. Now, my Q is .8 and it sucks.
I miss an opportunity to call an all-in short stack for only 4xBB with J8o from the button. The BB makes the call. I would have hit 2 pair.
I get pushed off of a missed flop with AQo. I had made the 3xBB raise from MP and the player on my left calls. When the flop misses me, I normally would fire out. But something did not sit right. I checked. When he bet, I folded. I am now in trouble…
BREAK 2 - 155 players left. 20 spots to the money.
I win a small hand with 9T from the BB. I think I flopped TP.
This time I fold AJo in the SB to a raise. Getting smarter, eh?
144 left, 9 to the money.
Fold, fold, 142 left.
Someone's KK knocks out another player's TP. 141 left. I don't know how he did not see this coming.
I fold T9o from EP. The BB gets a walk. I regret nothing, but that is tight.
I call from UtG with 88. This was poor play, but I was willing to fold on a big raise. Normally, this would be a 3xBB raise from Utg because otherwise you are asked for the raise this late. I was surprised when it did not come. If it was 5xBB total or less to go, I intended to call it and hope for a good plop. The flop comes AAx. I check down vs. this big stack and I win. How does he let me get away with that? He limped with garbage. Had I raised, he may never have even called. I fold my BB when I miss the flop to his post flop bet the very next hand based on this information.
I get TT with 136 players left and call a raise. Flop AKQ. I fold to his continuation bet. Someone else calls. Good luck with that.
We are 1 out of the money and the tables go hand to hand. The smallest stack is currently all-in or something because it's listed as zero. When the wait is over, not 1 but 4 players bust out and I make the money for the first time ever. I did it. I cracked this stoopid glass ceiling lotto tournament. I feel little elation though, sort of like bad sex.
No more money until 99th, so its time to play hard. As I type this I get QQ. I am going all in… I get called by KK!. He hits a boat and I finish 130th. Isn't that the way? If the QQ runs into AK instead, and wins the race, I may make 99. Better luck next time?
So, I finish my two day adventure having spent about $9 bucks to win $2.48, but it was worth it.
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