Saturday afternoon at 5:00 features an $85 Bounty Tournament at Cherokee Casino. I had never played in it before but, the family being out of town, I drove over to give it a whirl. The bounty was $25 a head, so I figured I could at least lessen the cost of my admission by killing a player or two. We began with 4000 in chips and 25/25 blinds on 20 minute levels. There were 35 players on 4 tables.
My first hour was SLOW. I won a couple hands and scored some good chips and then continuation bluffed to the river on an AK that didn't hit. I got called down with a pair of 10s. Ooops. At the break, I was pretty short stacked already and the blinds were going to 150/300 with a 25 ante. I needed to double up and soon. That's when I met Tim.
Tim is a very nice guy from Rogers, obviously plays a lot and is a very solid player. He moved from another table to the seat beside me. It's become a running joke. Every tournament I play in at Cherokee I wind up in either seat 1 or 10. I was in seat 1. He took seat 2. We chatted and he told me about all of the comps he was getting at the casino. He told me that, while he doesn't play all that often, when he does play he will usually swing $8000-$10,000 through an evening, mostly at the roulette wheel. Wow. My bankroll doesn't look anything like that. $85 buy-in was big for me.
When he came over, I was down to about 1200 chips. Not good at all. He started telling me to be patient. I knew he was right. And I was patient. I looked down on a pair of queens under the gun and raised all-in. He said "Guess you found your spot" and folded. I got two callers. Boom...I tripled up. Not 5 hands later, I tripled again. Suddenly, I was at 11,000 chips and back in the game.
About that time, we went to one table. They passed out seat cards in random order. I got...yeah...seat 1. Tim moved over to about seat 6 and the guy with enough chips to build a house moved in to my left. Great.
We went down to 8, then down to 7. Note, I haven't mentioned anything about any bounties for me yet. I hadn't had any. I was in the top 7 of 35, and I hadn't knocked anyone out yet. Like I said before I drove over to the casino, "Well, bounty doesn't really fit my style of play (tight-aggressive small ball), but it'll be fun." It was fun.
I was on the button with blinds of 400/800 and 100 ante. There was some serious dead money in the pot now (1900 to start). Things limped around to me, with 3 or 4 limpers. I looked down at pocket aces (!), I raised to 2400 to go. Everybody folded to Tim. He raised all in for about 15,000 (he had me covered). I insta-called him, beating him to the pot with my chips. Heads up, aces against... As soon as I called, Tim said "Aw SHIT! I was sure you were making a button move!" I tabled my aces, and he tossed over his Q2 suited. Q2 suited? Really?
I stood up, thinking "A double up puts me very close to the chip lead" since the guy to my left, who had the lead, had bled off some chips since we went to one table. Tim said "No, no, I'm good. Two live cards. I just need at least 2 cards, maybe three, to pull this out." We all laughed. Flop came...10, 4, Q. Damn. Too close for me so far. Turn...a fucking 2. I said, very loudly (and I'm not a loud person) "You have GOT to be... (withholding the "F" word) kidding me!!!" The river was no help and there I was, busted to a Q2. Aces are just no good.
Tim took the chip lead and went on to win the tournament. He bought me a conciliatory drink. Like I said, he is a super nice guy. If I wasn't going to win the tournament, I'm glad he did.
As I was about to leave (seeing no cash games that looked lucrative), a new table opened up. It looked like it might have some promise. So I sat down with $100 bucks. How I got there is another story, but I left a couple hours later having won back my $85 entry fees plus a little. I left for the drive home happy. I survived to fight another day.
Rock on!
Showing posts with label aces. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aces. Show all posts
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Laying Down Aces
Can YOU do it? I thought I could. I can do it online where anonymity prevents me from being red-cheeked when the other guy is actually bluffing me off my monster.
Here's the situation. I was on a stack of about $200, having bought in for $100. About an hour and a half of play, I picked up pocket Aces out of position in a $1/$2 NLHE live game. I raised preflop to $15. I've slow-played Aces way too many times and been burned that I just don't do it much anymore. Most people folded. I got two calls in position. The flop was Q-9-6. Not a bad flop. I was hoping that that Queen hit someone's hand. I bet $30. One of my callers folded, and one older man at the end of the table called. The turn was another 6. Recognizing the fact that the board had paired, and nothing had hit my Aces yet, I bet out again, hoping to flush out trip 6s if they existed. I bet $50. I got called. Shit. Did he really play X-6 down there in middle position? He had seemed like a tighter player than that, although I had caught him bluffing several hands earlier.
The river was another 9. Two pair on the board. Not good at all. I checked just to see what he would do. I kind of expected a check in return. He bet $100 at me. So, let's review. He called a bet of 7x the BB pre-flop, a bet of $30 (about 2/3 of the pot) on the flop, a $50 bet (a little more than half the pot) on the turn, and now he was betting $100 AT me. My head was telling me "FULL HOUSE", "GET OUT", "LAY THEM DOWN!" But what could he have to be making his previous plays? Was he bluffing again? Really? Was he really calling bets all along with 2nd or 3rd pair? I was chained to my Aces. I couldn't justify laying them down in most situations. I deliberated for a long time. I counted out my chips, seeing that I would be down to about $40 if I called and lost. But REALLY? Would he have played like that? I called. He showed me 9-5 suited!! A full house on the river!
So, I made a bad play. Deep down, I knew he had the full house. I couldn't believe that he had played whatever cards he had that made the full house, but I knew he had it. But he had made at least 3 bad plays, if not more, and then been paid-off for it. God, I love this game. As I shoved my chips to the dealer, I said "Good hand, sir." I always like to encourage bad play by bad players when they beat me. Sort of a "Please keep playing like that, because I know, over the long haul, I'll get my money back plus a lot of yours."
Later.
Here's the situation. I was on a stack of about $200, having bought in for $100. About an hour and a half of play, I picked up pocket Aces out of position in a $1/$2 NLHE live game. I raised preflop to $15. I've slow-played Aces way too many times and been burned that I just don't do it much anymore. Most people folded. I got two calls in position. The flop was Q-9-6. Not a bad flop. I was hoping that that Queen hit someone's hand. I bet $30. One of my callers folded, and one older man at the end of the table called. The turn was another 6. Recognizing the fact that the board had paired, and nothing had hit my Aces yet, I bet out again, hoping to flush out trip 6s if they existed. I bet $50. I got called. Shit. Did he really play X-6 down there in middle position? He had seemed like a tighter player than that, although I had caught him bluffing several hands earlier.
The river was another 9. Two pair on the board. Not good at all. I checked just to see what he would do. I kind of expected a check in return. He bet $100 at me. So, let's review. He called a bet of 7x the BB pre-flop, a bet of $30 (about 2/3 of the pot) on the flop, a $50 bet (a little more than half the pot) on the turn, and now he was betting $100 AT me. My head was telling me "FULL HOUSE", "GET OUT", "LAY THEM DOWN!" But what could he have to be making his previous plays? Was he bluffing again? Really? Was he really calling bets all along with 2nd or 3rd pair? I was chained to my Aces. I couldn't justify laying them down in most situations. I deliberated for a long time. I counted out my chips, seeing that I would be down to about $40 if I called and lost. But REALLY? Would he have played like that? I called. He showed me 9-5 suited!! A full house on the river!
So, I made a bad play. Deep down, I knew he had the full house. I couldn't believe that he had played whatever cards he had that made the full house, but I knew he had it. But he had made at least 3 bad plays, if not more, and then been paid-off for it. God, I love this game. As I shoved my chips to the dealer, I said "Good hand, sir." I always like to encourage bad play by bad players when they beat me. Sort of a "Please keep playing like that, because I know, over the long haul, I'll get my money back plus a lot of yours."
Later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)