Almost "Making It"...?

So I played in the satellite to make it into the 550 month-end.  I had to re-enter early($30), however I was playing really well and when we got to top 4(30 players, 48 entries, they paid 3, 2 get entry to $550) I realized these guys were playing way too timidly.  I was able to pick spots to shove while we were all short-stacked and finally the guy to my left went all-in and I had pocket Aces for the first time(Actually 1st time I had anything JJ+ all day)  The rockets held up and a short time later the other 2 stacks tangled and one KOd the other.

I was pretty excited to play in a tournament of this "stature?"  I don't have $550 or anywhere near that lying around to play in a poker tournament(yet...) so I couldn't wait to see what level my competition might be playing at.  I was actually surprised the first couple levels to see everyone playing very ABC and fairly timid.

Blinds in this tournament were 40 minutes(HEAVEN!!), you start with 25K and I put in $5 for another 5K, started with 30K. There were 60 players, I was at table 3, seat 9, Sitting to my left(10) was a guy that had a Brooklyn-esque accent, little guy, and he was talking to who I’d generalize as internet kid gone semi-pro(in Pittsburgh) due to Black Friday about games in AC and how they were both at Borgata, they also talked about playing in the 10/20 that Rivers sometimes has… As soon as I sat down, Brooklyn says, “So, you won the satellite, huh, congratulations!” At first I was like, thanks…now I’ll look like fresh meat to these guys…but it may have worked in my favor as I was able to get respect for my 3bets/4bets and a few(including Brooklyn)times tried to run me over light.

I didn’t really need to force action or anything, it would eventually come if I had the patience to wait for it.So I folded a lot in that first level and a half, watched everyone else, .I 3-bet AQ once and was able to c-bet it down.One other time with A-Q I 3bet in the BB, and had 2 callers, one of which was Internet Kid IK.The flop was K-brick-brick and we all checked, so I was going to bet most turns and it was a K, so my thought was that since we all checked, any pair is going to call a turn bet here, so I’ll bet the river.Unfortunately it was a K and I felt that anyone with a pair is going to still think their hand is probably good (they’re not going to put me on a K…basically) so I checked hoping A-high could still be best.Internet Kid had 3s… In hindsight, if I bet, 1^st caller might call with Ace high and IK has to fold, however, 1^st caller might fold and I lose a bet, too…oh well, it was a small pot, so no biggie I suppose… I was also able to read one guys soul by calling him down with A-high on a pretty dry board.  Hero calls feel good, but I try not to let them get me in trouble...

One hand in particular Brooklyn tried to bully me. I had As-10s in the big blind, I believe we’re at 100-200, I had about 36K, Brooklyn(25K) limped under the gun. A few others limped and I don’t like playing my mid-ace out of position so I raised it up to 425 hoping to take it down. Brooklyn calls, all else fold(I know, right…?Players folding…?) Flop is not too shabby, 9-J-Q rainbow. I think this flop is nice, it possibly hit my opponent’s range well and I’m open ended. I thought I should be able to call a raise so I bet out 750, he raised me to 2200. I called, turn was an 8d, completing my draw, putting 2 diamonds out there. Based on his raise prior I felt like if he’s got a one pair hand he’ll check here as well, 2 pair hand he might bet and/or either way I felt it would be the only way to get value on the river, so I check, he bets out 5K, I thought about raising but I figured I wouldn’t get anything more from him unless he bets the river so I called. River was another 8. I was pretty ok with this card and thought for sure he’d bet any of his bluffs and maybe his 2 pair hands and I probably wouldn’t get a call from anything I was beating…. I wasn’t worried about any sets-turned-boats as I don’t think he’d limp in early position with 9s, Js or Qs, that would seem like a bad idea as the table wasn’t all that raise-happy preflop. I checked and he bet out 9K, I called instantly and he mucked, nice! Then he was somehow livid at my apparent calling of his flop raise with “only a gut-shot…?” That took about ¾ of Brooklyn’s stack and someone else finished him off for me.(seat 10 was no luck for anyone throughout the day there)

Some-time later I tried to pick on a guy who seemed to get a little too raise-happy.  He was in the hijack position with Supercop sunglasses and I was in the BB(68K).  He opened to 1200 and had about 8K behind(I took a lot of his stack earlier as well).  1 caller in the Internet kid and he was playing really tight so I figured him for a middle pair-type hand, to just call like that.  I looked down at A-3h and decided I could probably take this down, or at least put the 1^st player’s tournament life on the line, so I raised it up to 3600.  Unfortunately, Supercop shoved all in for 6K more, Internet Kid folded and I felt like folding, however if I can put supercops range on some 10s,Js,Qs,Ks as well as Aces that have me crushed, I’m not sure calling isn’t an “ok” option.  So I called and he flipped over AK, the board was particularly non-action oriented and I lost pretty quickly.  I’m not sure if that was a mistake or not, but I didn’t really put this guy on wide ranges much afterward.

One hand I made possibly a mistake, I think, on was we’re at 500-1000 blinds, I’m sitting at 65K still.  I look down at Jacks, so I open raise it up to 2600 in mid position.  Player at seat 1(I’m at seat 9) calls, as well as BB.  Flop is K-9-4 rainbow.  BB checks, I’m kind of hoping to take it down at this point and I bet out 3300, seat 1 calls, BB folds.  Turn is a 6, putting 2 spades out there.  I bet out 5K and this guy calls.  The river is a blank and I bet out 6500.  The crazy part is that this guy raises me to 15K and I really can't figure out what he's got that would call the whole way down and only now raise me...AK or nothing... I don't know, maybe it makes sense but it had me fooled at the time so I called and he flipped over KQ.  At this point I realized this guy couldn't be thinking on a high level unless he thought I could fold Aces there... The next hand a guy I'd characterize as Faraz Jaka's possible cousin tried to take advantage of this guy's strange play, except he also tried 3-barrel-bluffing him, which only knocked himself out, bluffing 5s into this guys 10s...he just called the whole way down, almost oblivious to the board...I never got another chance to play against this guy.

So now I'm down to about 45K, 500-1000, 20 players left, and utg(guy recently sat down with 80-100K in chips and said to IK that he'd recently gotten 3rd at HPT) raises to 2500, I reraise to 6K with AKoff.  Folds around to HPT and he asks me how much I got left.  I open my arms to show him my stack and he says "All-in"  I wasn't sure I actually heard him right, a guy at the table behind us was talking loudly about a hand so I asked "You're all in?"  and I got a nod.  He had a weakness about him, I double-checked my cards and I didn't think he'd play Aces this way, it seemed a tad too aggressive with his stack compared to mine, so I called.  He said good call and flipped over K-10suited and I felt like I was in a great spot to double up...until the dealer put out 9-J-Q...HPT said sorry and I told everyone good luck and marched a tired me out the door and back home.  I played from 9am to about 5:30pm and I was surprised at how tired I was...  I hate thinking about the coulda/woulda/shoulda, but when I saw the K-10 I really felt like I was going to make a big splash in my bankroll that day...well, I'll just have to wait...

Poker League Season 9 is over!

--disclaimer: I took waay too long to publish this...sorry...

Well, I worked really hard this season, entered the finale as the chip leader by a large margin, and failed to even cash...

If you've ever sat down and played against a player who just couldn't lose to you than you'll know what happened to me when I played against Ashley.  I started off promising, as chip/points leader I get to pick my table and seat after everyone else.  I naturally picked to have supreme position on Chris.  This is a generally good strategy usually since I would put Chris as a top tier player in our game, but bonus points because I won our season bet of most wins.  Chris would have to make specific statements I created instead of the usual call/fold/raise/all-in/check action words.  If he screws up he has to drink 3.  We also bet on how many times he'd screw up and I even let him set the line, (at 5?) and I knew he'd definately screw it up more than that so I took the over(and eventually won that bet)  Well, I was sitting at the table with the most chips, to the left of one of the best players and also whom I'd get to laugh at every hand: Example: "Fold" equated to him saying "Fred is my poker god" etc...  I also picked Craig to be first out and won that peice of the bet when I think he got a little bit unlucky with flopping a flush vs the nut flush.  I only picked Craig to be first out because I knew with his stack, he was the only one willing early on to risk it for more profit.  So he'd either be out early or be a contender early.  He was at the other table, with most of the players that started with lesser chips and after his elimination (or maybe the next...) there needed to be a rebalancing.  Of course the poker gods can't give me too much satisfaction and the program sent me to fill in Craig's old seat.  Strategically, I was fine with this, with my stack I should be able to just about run over the other shorter stacks.  Unfortunately, I suffered a few set-backs, a couple suck-outs and a few other stacks moved up to my level.  Jon and Heck got their stacks up to over 30K and I had about 45K so I tried to bully them a little and for the most part it worked.  My problems started while trying to eliminate the short-stack in Ashley.  It seemed no matter what the cards were, she hit when she was behind, I didn't get there when I was drawing, etc...  Then I made a huge bluff-gone-horribly-wrong against Jon when I raised preflop with A-3c offsuit. John called and the flop was all clubs, K-high.  He checked, I bet he called.  Turn was a brick and so I continued my betting and he called.  The river bricked as well and he checked, I bet out and he shoved for not much more.  I couldn't even call with Ace high and I know/knew he had something, just not as strong as a flopped flush until he shoved... So I cut myself in half, maybe more that hand and John jumped up to probably the chip leader at the table.  I couldn't beat Ashley in a hand so it was back to the grind of trying to take everyone else's (John and Heck's) chips, slowly but surely.  They were playing a lot of hands, at least Heck was....  Jon kind of went into "coast to the final table mode" I was able to get myself back into a decent size when we got to the final table, however, I ran into some bad luck, doubled a few short-stack players up and then when it was my turn, it wasn't meant to be.  My AK lost to a middle pair to cripple me and 3-4suited shove against 5 limpers lost(after hitting a 4) to A-7.

I'm satisfied with winning (almost) the most money this season.... by far the most during the regular season.  I'll probably get my name on the trophy someday, but that's really not the "complete" goal, right?  It's probably my lot in life to be "that guy" who hasn't gotten "there" yet....(pitty party's over!)  If Chris ever gets me the game log for the finale I'll probably remember a few hands, at least the ones that knocked people out and the order of which they went out.  I can say that Jon ended up winning the trophy again.  That actually hurts a lot more than it should, he's won 3 of the last 6 or something crazy...  I wish I didn't try my 3 barrel bluff on him when he flopped that flush, he was basically on a huge downswing up to that point....  ah well, I did get him to fold Queens against my Jacks earlier, though, live by the sword, die by the sword, I guess...  To another season next fall!!  Please get here quickly!

Poker League Season 9 Game 7 Results!

So, another regular season of Poker League is in the books and I fell a little short of my desired 80 points with my most recent 2nd place.  I'm actually pretty happy with my season, though.  Poker is about making money and nobody did that as well as I have, or even close this season.  I won $65 this game($50 profit) to add to my $450 for the rest of the season.  I've played 7 games with at least 10 players each game and I've gotten top 3 all but one(paid).  Week 3 my A-8 failed to beat out an all-in call with QJsuited that knocked me out early.  This past game, I was never really in a spot to win the game from about 4-5 players on, though I figured the longer I survived the better chance I had.  I suppose anytime I can get heads up I have a decent chance to win it.  I don't think I was prepared for the large blinds at the time and made a few small mistakes that with such small stacks compared to the blinds, end up magnified.  All in all, I made a few good folds, a few nice plays in some good spots, but the top 5 was really all about survival this game.  I think the top 4 lasted the longest a money-bubble has all season but I'll have to analyze the game first to determine the truth in that.  Here are the final standings.  Unfortunately Ashley made final table and got 6 points and while it doesn't look like she boosted herself all that much from 8000 to 8500, she really hurt everyone else's stacks in the process.  Prior to her 6 points I could've had over 50K with my points and everyone else's stacks suffered, too.  So while it might look like she only gained 500 chips for 6 points, she really kept the gap between her and the other players a lot smaller than they would've been.






Here are the final standings for Poker League Season 9:

Player	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Bonus	Drop Total	Chip Total
Fred	14	14	3	11	12	14	12	1	78	39,000
Jaime	8	11	5	9	9	11	8	2	58	29,000
Chris	2	7	12	14	8	9	7	1	58	29,000
Chivers	10	9	10	8	6	12	4		55	27,500
Jake	9	10	6	5	4	10	14		54	27,000
Jon	7	6	8	6	14	5	9		50	25,000
Sean	0	2	11	10	10	6	11		50	25,000
Shae	5	1	14	12	5	8	3	2	49	24,500
Terri	11	4	9	7	0	7	10		48	24,000
Heck	3	12	4	3	11	4	2	1	38	19,000
Craig	12	8	1	4	7	0	5		37	18,500
Ashley	4	5	2	0	0	0	6		17	8,500
Steve	6	3	7	0	0	0	0		16	8,000

Poker League Season 9 Week 6 Results!

Here are the results of game 6.

Player	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Total Points	Dropped Total
Fred	14	14	3	11	12	14	69	66
Jaime	8	11	5	9	9	11	55	50
Chris	2	7	12	14	8	9	52	50
Chivers	10	9	10	8	6	12	55	49
Shae	5	1	14	12	5	8	47	46
Jon	7	6	8	6	14	5	46	41
Jake	9	10	6	5	4	10	44	40
Sean	0	2	11	10	10	6	39	39
Terri	11	4	9	7	0	7	38	38
Heck	3	12	4	3	11	4	38	35
Craig	12	8	1	4	7	0	32	32
Steve	6	3	7	0	0	0	16	16
Ashley	4	5	2	0	0	0	11	11

My 3rd win of the season, 5th cash.

Game 7 is this weekend, followed by the finale next weekend!

Wish me luck!

Poker League Season 5 Game 6 Recap

We had 3 players missing so 10 total this week.  Heck was player #5 at our table but was going to be 30 minutes late.  Chivers must have taken a few tips from my short-handed strategy and was preflop raising and postflop raising like a bat outta hell.  I only assume he was getting smacked by the deck but by the time I wanted to do something about it I had folded myself down to about 5700, starting with 8K at 25-50.  Finally, after 2 levels, Heck showed up mid-way into 100-200 no antes, level 3.  2 orbits or so go by and Heck "continues" his pre-to-showing-up tight nature, playing 2 hands but making Chivers pay him off, building his stack back to a slightly above healthy almost starting stack.  I was also able to put together a string of hands to put me to just below starting stack
Heck's 3rd hand of the night went like this:
So we're at 100-200 with 25 ante, 5-handed(10 players, 5+5) and I'm(7500K stack) under the gun and I look down at AKoff so I raise it up to 550, folds around to Heck in the BB(next to me) and he makes it 1100.  I 4-bet it to 2500 and Heck calls.  Flop comes out A-8-4 rainbow and Heck bets 3500, I shove and he insta-calls, flipping over A-Q, no help for him and he was crippled to about 1000 in chips.  I was sitting on a nice stack of 15K now, Chivers back to about 9K, Chris at about 7K+ and Jaime down to about 5500 and Heck at 1100.  The next hand I thought for sure Heck would shove anything hoping to take my BB but he only called, I raised with K-10 and he folded. Next hand he went all-in and Jaime and I both called, her in the BB, me in the SB.  I had K-6off and the flop came A-5-3, I checked, Jaime bet 1500 and I folded, she flipped over Q-9 and Heck had J-8 or something insignificant that never improved and he was first out.  Now we play with 2 tables up until top 8 so we're immediately hand for hand, which I think lasted for probably close to an hour(it was longer, but we took a super long pizza break).  Looking around at my table it appeared to me that Jaime would probably be the final table bubble as she was sitting around 20 BBs with the rest of us at least double that.  I attempted to bleed her a little bit but she played more aggressively than I was comfortable with and I just ended up increasing her stack and in turn dropping my stack from 15K to about 11K.  About this time, Jon at the other table was the final table bubble soon after the pizza break.

Final Table:
At the head of the table(not necessarily seat 1...)was Chivers with me to his left, then Terri, Shae, Jaime, Sean, Jake and Chris to Chivers' immediate right. 

Jake had a pretty large stack and Shae was probably in 2nd place.  I had dispersed a lot of my above average stack from Heck to Jaime in the last couple hands prior to the final table.  I pretty much sat out of the final table until after a few KOs.  I believe Terri was the first one KOd.  She was pretty card-dead from what I witnessed.  She was just about forced to go all-in with less than a blind, K-2 suited and a small prayer.(Update: Sean was first at the FT knocked out, then Terri soon after)

I was actually getting a little low and was able to 3 and 4-bet shove a few preflop pots to take them down.  This added up after a little while and I found myself a decent sized stack after a few more KOs.  By the time we got to top 4 I had amassed a top 2 stack and was able to take a large chunk from Jake and he was knocked out soon after.  Jaime didn't last very long at top 3 and Chivers and I had massive stacks comparable to the blinds going into heads up.  Our battle lasted over an hour, which should break the record as longest heads-up battle of the season but in the end my AK was able to hold up against his K-10 and I accomplished my 3rd win of the season.

So with game 6 in the books, I've accomplished 3 wins, 5 cashes, not necessarily Greg Raymor-on-HPT-escue, but not too shabby eh?  It should be good enough for player of the year honors :-) and we still have 1 game before the finale left this weekend!