Poker League Season 10 game #1 results

Fairly decent start to Season 10 of Poker League.  There are 10 of us this season(11 with Craig, if he plays, he missed game 1).  We lost Steve and Ashley on the account of them planning a wedding and they just bought a house, etc...  I know, excuses, excuses... ;-)  We were unable to add anyone this season, a few prospects flaked out, but maybe next season.  I think it's pretty awesome we've been able to keep a strong core of players the last many seasons and it's also really interesting that everyone has a really good read on everyone else based on so much playing time with each other.

Prior to my description of game 1, I'll state that Chris and I make a bet every season against each other.  Last season was based on most wins and I'm pretty sure it's always been based on most wins.  I also don't remember that I've ever lost this bet?(Chris can correct me if I'm wrong)  We have tied before, and in those cases we both technically "lose"  This season Chris asked me if we could change it up to some other stat.  I have kept an unhealthy amount of stats over the seasons and I'll tell you that other than finale winnings, I don't think Chris has beaten me ever in any stat that would matter.  He decided to go with most KOs.  I told him that was probably the worst bet to make, however, I also understand that from his point of view, he probably would still have a chance to overtake me up until the final game of the season, whereas, most wins bet could be over prior to the last or 2nd to last game.  I will also let you know that in the last 2 seasons, I've knocked out avg of 20 per season to Chris' 10 per season, so I'm pretty favored, but we'll see...The loser has to wear a costume of the winner's choosing.  I have a really good idea for my costume I'll be picking for Chris so I hope luck and skill shine on me again this season!

Game 1, we started off pretty quickly at our table.  Jaime was the bounty(we're making it public knowledge prior to the start of the game who the bounty is)  it was a 5-6 vote for knowing.  I didn't care either way, I think it's not going to effect much unless/until it's me.  Everyone seems to try to make plays and gun after me a lot more than anyone else anyway.  Jaime played a few larger pots against her hubby and Chivers and wasn't on the winning end for the most part.  Shae called a little too much and found herself short when I looked down at 10sJs and raised up her blind.  We're 5 handed, She called, Jaime called.  Flop was 4-9-K with 2 clubs.  Both checked, I bet out thinking I might just win outright or at least get one off her hand and figure out how to proceed from there.  Shae called, Jaime folded.  Shae always calls quickly, so I figured she had a pair or had at least something, 9 or some small pair probably, so a 10 or J would be good and 8 or Q give me another chance to bet.  Turn was an 8h, Shae checked and I thought I should check as well figuring to get a river call on most cards in this situation.  River was a 7s and Shae announces "all-in"  I did a quick double-check to make sure I didn't misread the board as Shae doesn't go all in unless she has something, meaning there's no bluff there ever.  I made sure nothing beat me and called.  She flipped over 8s for a set and I flipped over my straight and she was the first out. 

Chris vs Fred most KOs bet: Fred 1, Chris 0

Soon after, I raised with Queens, Chivers called and a flop of Kh,Qh,8h, he bet, I raised, he shoved and I called and he flipped over AhKc vs my set of Qs.  He couldn't get a heart and I even hit Quad Qs on the river to get another KO

Chris vs Fred most KOs bet: Fred 2, Chris 0

Sean wittled himself down to about 4-5 bets and shoved all-in on a Q-high flop when myself and Heck both held QJoffsuit and we weren't sure how to decide who gets the KO chip.  I guess this never happened before.  We decided on a high card flip and I grabbed a 10 vs Heck's 5 and won the KO

Chris vs Fred most KOs bet: Fred 3, Chris 0

Sometime later, with Jon, Heck, Chris and myself left in the game, I knocked out Jon.  I believe he was pretty forced to go all-in with 3 bets and I had a better than average hand so I knocked out Jon

Chris vs Fred most KOs bet: Fred 4, Chris 0

2 hands sum up my top 3 finish.  1 hand with Heck, the other with Chris.

Heck:  I limped with 5s and Heck min-raised, I called.  flop was Kh-4s-2h.  We both check.  turn is a 10s and I bet out, Heck thinks for a while and calls.  River is a Ks and I bet out what I hoped to look somewhere between a bluff and value bet and Heck thought for quite a while before slightly-above doubling my bet.  I really wanted to call, and I thought I probably should've called, but it felt like one of those times Heck hit some rediculous backdoor flush and I'd just feel stupid after calling.  I folded and Heck told me later he had A-high...bleh...
That hand really chopped out my legs and I was really grasping to get back in the game.  Then this hand I limped with K-2suited.  Chris min-raised, which I think was Heck and Chris' strategy against me, which in this case was working because I was card-dead horribly...hence my defend with K-2 suited...  Flop is J-J-2.  Chris checks, I bet out and he raises me all-in.  Chris wouldn't do this with nothing, and I think to him even A-high would be nothing...I kept telling myself.  And I think if it weren't for the hand with Heck and the recent card-dead-ness I would've felt less run over and could've folded as I wanted to, however, I called reluctantly, hoping I'd catch him doing this with a weaker 2, which was more probable than an Ace, but probably the absolute low-end of Chris' range here and he flipped over Qs and I got no help, I think a Q actually hit the turn...

Chris vs Fred most KOs bet: Fred 4, Chris 1

Chris didn't win, but I did give him 1 KO that I shouldn't have...

Congratulations to Heck for the first win of season 10!

I'll post up the official results as soon as Chris sends the results and the game log to me!

The Kids and I have been sick since Sunday(cold), but I'm getting better so I'm pretty sure I'm playing tonight at the Rivers PPO 5K guarantee. Jon said he was going to come down as well, wich us luck!! 

November is the month for Poker!!

Poker League Season 10 is starting, first game is 11/23/13, not sure who's hosting as of yet, but it should be a great season.  10 is a great number for me to finally get my name on the Trophy, right?  Also in November, The Rivers casino is hosting another Pittsburgh Poker Open, Winter Series from November 21st to December 2nd.  I'll be playing in at least 2 tournaments.  My early prospects are Events #2, #8, #10, and/or #13 with the possibility of playing in a 55+7+3 satellite for the Main.  All of these are normal NLHE, except Event 10 is a 6-max.  It would be really awesome to cash in one of these, even more awesome to cash enough that I could buy-in to the Main Event.  Events #2, #8 and #13 have a 5K guarantee, which is nice, but I also want to test out my 6-max ability in Event #10, however it's on a Monday night with no guarantee, so I'll have to gauge how much popularity the other tournaments are bringing in to see if no guarantee would be worth it. 

Also November had the WSOP Champion be crowned, Congratulations to Ryan Riess, who defeated Jay Farber Heads up last Tuesday night.  He's actually who I picked to win the entire thing based on ESPN's November 9 photo.  I actually thought he looked like what I envisioned the 2013 Winner to look like.  And I actually thought, after reading one of ESPNs articles last week that Riess was actually Newhouse.  When I got home Monday night and started watching the coverage, I first saw the list of who was still in and who was knocked out and saw Newhouse 1st out and I was like, crap, I was way wrong...until I saw the actual table and Newhouse was actually Riess.  After watching 4 hours of the footage prior to passing out on the couch I thought I made a good pick, Riess played really well, picking spots, building his stack, letting others make moves against each other and striking when opportunity knocked.

Once Riess got stacks even after the hand he held Jacks I figured there was no easy way Farber would be able to overtake Riess.  I believe Reiss took the lead for a few, then Farber, then Riess whittled him down to 77K vs 113K.  Then arguably, the hand of the night happened: Riess opened to 2.5M, Farber calls, flop is 7c-3s-3 rainbow.  Farber checks, Riess bets out 3M, Farber calls.  2c on the turn and Riess bets out 5M, to which Farber raises to 13M, after some thought, Riess calls.  At this point I really thought with stacks the way they are and the pot the size it is, 38M, Farber either has to give up or make a huge bet.  I also thought it would be tough for Riess to get away from most hands he'd have played this way, too.  9s hits the river and Farber bets out 24M, leaving him with, I think something like 30M+ behind.  I thought that it's a tough call, but it appeared to me that Riess, unless he was hoping to make a similar play on a checked river and had nothing, he'd find it hard to fold.  I also felt like a had a really nice read on Farber and he looked really weak to me, very similar to a couple hands he was weak with the night before.  Farber played his hand like he had a 3 or a boat or nothing.  I suppose it would be easy for me to say I'd be able to call in Riess' shoes, but something just seemed funny and I like to think I could've made that call(though you can't raise there, ever.).  Riess thought for 6+ minutes and folded, he must have thought something smelled funny, too, but didn't want to fall too far behind in case he was wrong and there's merit in that, too. 
Farber had 5-6 for 6-high and Riess had Q-7 for a pair of 7s, top pair until the river 9.

Riess was able to come back from that and retake the chip lead, whittled Farber down a lot faster, and had a few better hands while Farber ended up having a few 2nd best hands when Farber shoved with Q-5 and Riess woke up with AK to make the easy 15BB shove call and become the next WSOP Champion.  It was pretty awesome to see how much it meant to him to win, he teared up.  I believe he'll be a good champion/ambassador for the game in the next year!

Update(11/11/13)
Poker League is on November 23rd and looks like it'll be hosted at Chivers place.  Excited to see his place, he just bought it in the last year I think.

Excited to get the next group of tournaments I'm playing under way!!  Be they Poker League or Rivers PPO Winter Series.