I haven’t had a long poker post in a while. I’ve made a final table or two, and mentioned it in passing, but hadn’t done really well in a tournament for a while. I’ve been playing in several and doing ok – cashing in some, but hadn’t come home with any big wins.
I could post about the $10 tourney I played in where I was about 30th of 60 left when I busted with AK vs QJ — this guy called off a third of his stack with QJ and got lucky! Or, I could talk about the tourney yesterday when I was deep in the field to get rivered with KK vs 99 when my opponent spiked a 9 on the river, or later when I busted in the same tourney with AK vs K10 when the 10 came on the river! But bad beat stories aren’t that interesting and everyone that has played poker has heard them before – and experienced them.
So, onto the good stuff…
Today I played in the $5 tourney on Full Tilt and did pretty well. Ok — I won. Out of 233 entrants I took down 1st for just over $300. Not bad! 
For non-poker types you can probably stop reading here, but I’ll post some of the intersting hands below.
I’d been playing in the tourney for about an hour and a half and had just over 3K in chips. With the blinds at 120/240 and antes of 25 I needed to make a move soon, so I raised to 1000 with 
and got one caller. The flop was 
giving me no pair. I was first to act here and only had 2K left – about the amount left in the pot. Poker is about decisions. Namely, trying to make your opponents have tough decisions while you have easy ones. So, I moved in with my ace-high. If my opponent doesn’t have a pair he has to fold. Otherwise I win the pot. He called with 
– the nut-flush draw, but another spade didn’t come and my ace-high held up.
Two hours in and I was up to almost 16K in chips, with the blinds at 200/400, antes 50. I had gotten AK about 12 times in about as many hands – and it was working for me. Either an ace or king was coming on the flop, or everyone was folding when I led out with a continuation bet. This hand I’m in the big blind with AK’s ugly step-sister: 
. I raise the SB to 1500 when he just calls. He reraises all-in, just over 5K. It’s just under 4K for me to call here and I don’t know how I can get away from this hand. Of course, I am a huge dog to AK, AA, KK, or QQ, and a slight underdog to another pair, but many players would make that move with AJ, A10 – even KQ or something like that if he thought that I was trying to steal.
He turns over 
. Great! Until the flop is 
and the turn a 
to seal the win for him.
Meanwhile, the player to my right (who acts just before me) has been raising my blinds every single time he is in the cutoff, button, or small blind. And I never have anything that I can reraise with. I make a mental note that I am going to move in the next time he does that if I have any kind of hand.
So, the time comes when brontz (remember that name) raises to 1800 (blinds 300/600) and I have 
I move in for the rest of my stack – just over 6K – and he folds and runs away like a little girl! I said (in the chat window), “brontz — I have soooo been waiting to do that to you nothing personal. you have just raised my blinds every damn time ”
From there I built up my stack bit by bit, got lucky with AK vs QQ and doubled up, and had about 22K when the short stack moved in for just under 3K. I had 
and would have certainly folded this hand if the all-in had been 10K or more, but it was from the short stack, so I moved all-in to isolate. That is, to get everyone else to fold so that I could be heads-up with this player. Unfortunately he turned over . However, when you have a much larger stack than another player you can take a chance to get rid of him. In this case it worked as the jack came on the river and he busted out. Up to over 28K.
Then I played a hand really poorly. I called a 3200 raise with pocket sixes. That is ok in my mind, but the flop came 
. I checked and the other player bet 1600 – the minimum bet. The pot was about 10K, so I called thinking my sixes might be good. Same thing on the turn, then on the river. He turns over the ace at the end and I had just called off a third of my chips! What was I thinking? Of course, you have no idea how many players make a minimum bet like that when they have absolutely nothing. Anyway, I was down to 20K.
I get my 10K back when I come over the top of a raise with my 
and the other player folds. Then I drag a huge pot on a big bluff! I had 
and raised to 5K (I only had 27K left). I got one caller who had me outchipped with his stack of 40K. However, at this point we are all in the money and everyone is trying to move up and make the final table, where the big money is. So, you have to keep that in mind!
So, I wasn’t too excited when the flop came 
– I have no pair and no draw. I check here thinking that I will probably have to fold if he bets, but he checks behind me. The turn is the 
and I check again. This time he bets – 6400 into a 12K or so pot. This bet seemed really odd to me based on what I thought he might be playing. He called a 5000 raise, so he had to be on a pair or a large ace, perhaps two face cards. He didn’t bet the flop either. I can’t just raise here as I only have 22K left. I want to put him at a decision, not me, and if I raise to 12K he will most likely just move-in. So, why not just move in myself with my ace high? That’s exactly what I do and he lightning-folds!
I didn’t play too many more hands before I got to the final table, with a stack of almost 50K – third in chips out of the nine players. My plan was to wait to big hands and to try to go up against the shorter stacks – waiting to battle the larger stacks until later. 9th place in this tournament is only $40, so there is a big different between that and first!
A few hands into the final table the small stack (with about 9K) moves-in and I have 
– a perfect time to try to bust someone, while not risking too many of my chips. I move all-in (50K) to isolate and he turns up 
. An ace hits, as does a queen, but no king, and he is gone – one down, seven to go!
I played a tight game, staying away from big pots and folding most hands as I am not getting great cards. As I do this, four more players bust out and I am still 3rd in chips with 5 players left. The chip leader had been raising my blinds almost every time (not brontz from earlier, although he was one of the 5 players left). So, when Michelle0313 raised to 9K (blinds 3K/6K) from the SB, I called with 
in the BB.
The flop came 
giving me not a whole lot of anything. But I had already decided that I was going to bet out on the flop to try to take down the pot. She called. The turn was a 
and I made my top pair so I bet out 15K – she again just called. Now I am wondering what she could possibly have. The river was a 
, putting a spade flush out there. I’m first to act and I only have 20K left in chips. The pot is about 75K. If I check here she is without a doubt going to put me all-in. I figure if she has the flush she has it, but let’s find out. Pushing here is much better than checking and then calling her all-in, so I push in the final 20K of my chips. She folds.
Later she commented that she had pocket jacks on that hand. If so (and poker players sometimes lie about their hands – reprehensible, I know!), she played it very poorly. She should have reraised on the flop another 20K or so and I would have had to fold. She definitely should have reraised with the spade draw out there. Calling on the turn is probably a mistake as well. If I am drawing to my flush she should put me all-in and make me “pay” to draw to it. But, she doesn’t, and I drag a huge pot.
I have 75K when I raise to 10K with 
and Michelle0313 calls from the big blind. The flop is 
and she checks. I have middle pair with my pocket sixes, so if she doesn’t have a king I am ahead right now. So, I bet out 12K. She raises to 24K and I call. The turn is a 
, putting three clubs on the board. She checks again – a “sign of weakness” as my friend John correctly says! – so, I move in for my remaining 40K. I think that my pair might be good here, plus I have the draw to the flush if she does call and has me beat. She was also playing very timidly and losing another 40K would have put a nice dent in her stack. So, she folded. Now I was up to 105K and 2nd in chips, but only by 1K.
Now I start being a little more aggressive as I have some chips. I raise to 15K with 
and Michelle0313 calls. The flop of 
doesn’t help me, but I bet out another 15K and she folds. I then raise to 15K with 
and our friend brontz calls. The flop is 
and I check since I don’t have a club. The turn is a 
giving me a pair, but I don’t want to get trapped here, so I check. He checks behind me and we both check the 
on the river and I take down the pot. He had . Now I am chip leader.
I had been “pinning” (a text message type of service for BlackBerry users) my friend John that I was at the final table, while he was telling me about the goings on of his officiating meeting in Atlanta. I was keeping him updated, saying that I had the chip leaded scared and had taken a bunch of her chips and was about to take the rest.
Michelle0313 was in the SB and called, so I checked from the BB with 
. The flop was 
, giving me bottom pair and a flush draw. She actually bet out this time – for 12K. With my strong draw, I raised to 35K, fully prepared to call the all-in. But, she just called. The turn was a 
, making my flush. Now she moved in! Of course, she could have had me here with a higher flush draw, but I couldn’t reraise and then hit my hand not to call here, so I called. She showed 
for middle pair with no outs – I had the hand locked up and took the rest of her chips. Now I had over 200K to the other players’ 125K and 22K and was gonna work hard for that first place money!
The last three were me, brontz (the player that earlier on in the tourney kept trying to steal my blinds), and ikillpeople – great screen name, huh? brontz kept putting him all in everytime he was in the big blind and it was really ticking him off, so he started talking a lot of trash. I was definitely ready to bust him when he moved all-in and I looked down at 
, so I quickly called. He had 
but a 
on the flop assured his demise!
I had 232K vs my opponents 117K when he called from the SB and I checked with 
. The flop brought 
so I bet out 13.5K into the 15K pot with top pair. He called. The turn was a 
and I bet out 20K. He called again. The river brought 
– a card that I really did not want to see. I had made two pair, but there was now three diamonds out there. I probably should have bet something here, but instead I checked. He immediately moved all-in for 50K more. I sat and thought about the hand for a few seconds (you actually don’t have that much time online!). He just called all my bets – just like if he was drawing to the flush. Did he really hit it?
Finally, just when time was about to expire, I decided to fold. I figured that by folding I would still have 192K to his 157K and would be in good shape. If I called and he had the flush I would be down in chips and he would take over the lead. When I folded he showed 
– a stinkin’ pair of threes!! I could have won it right there! But, I decided that I would still take this guy down. At this point, the difference between 1st and 2nd is about $100, so basically you are playing a $100 heads-up contest!
We got to about even in chips after I reraised him with 
on a 
flop. He moved in and I decided not to lose the tournament with a pair of fives, so I folded. He kept raising my blinds every time (just like earlier!), so I had to finally take a stand with 
. The flop of 
came and I bet 25K with middle pair. He quickly raised to 75K. I can’t call here, so it is fold or move-in. I chose the latter and he folded to my all-in bet.
A few hands later I called with 
and he raised to 26K, He had been raising every hand though, so I was planning on moving in if I hit any pair or any flush draw. The flop of 
brought neither, but he checked to me. The pot was about 50K and he only had 60K left. So, I move in. If he has it, he has it, but I would still be in the lead. Instead, he folds.
The next hand – I have 290K to his 60K and I move all-in with 
just trying to steal his blinds and put pressure on him - besides, any ace in heads-up play is a pretty strong hand. He calls with and I figure that I have some more work cut out for me. The flop comes 
and the turn 
. So I am yelling for a 5 (to give me a straight) or a 4 to make my two pair. The 
hits on the river and I take down the pot and the tournament!!! Woohoo!!!
Poker is so much more fun when you win!
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Before going to Hawaii, Carrie and I did a little