Seven short days until we hit the bright lights and 24/7 excitement of Lost Wages.
Most recent WSOP News has Phil Ivey winning his 6th Bracelet. It was at No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball (Single Draw). The idea being to get the lowest hand that isn't a str8, flush or pair. That being said the stone cold nuts is 7 5 4 3 2. There were 147 entries in this $2,500 event and Ivey won $96,361. That number pales in comparison to the most likely $10 Million plus he won in bracelet Prop bets. Amongst others he and Daniel Negreanu have a standing $200,000 bracelet bet. Loser pays winner, only if they were both entered in the same event.
Cha-Ching Phil!!!
http://www.pokerroad.com/video/the-life-of-ivey/posts/final-table-of-the-2-7-no-limit
Friday, June 5, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Ocho
8 more days until we're in Vegas. I'm not sure we can get much more exctied than we already are. Although each day brings us that much closer to being there.
I sure hope we see a final table full of these hats in the Amazon Room, the evening of Monday, June 15th. Go POO!!!!!!!!
I've just finished reading the rules and can let y'all know the following.
- The RIO will make you fill out a tax form if you win in excees of $5,000 more net of buy-in. So when we all cash for $6,500 we all have to fill out those troublesome forms.
- At a televised final table there can be no more than 3 players with the same Logos on their apparel. This could be a huge problem if they decide to televise the Final Table of our event and there are 9 of us at it with our caps and shirts on.
- Your card capper must be no larger than 2 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch in depth. You may have no food or drinks on the table, except for one capped bottle of water.
- All chips must be visible at all times. Don't put them in your pocket, or you will lose them.
- When they move you from one table to another, you can be placed in the big blind, the small blind or on the button. The only place you can't be moved to is in between the button and the small blind.
- A dealer cannot kill a winning hand that was turned up and was obviously the winning hand. Players are encouraged to assist in reading tabled hands if it appears an error is going to be made.
- Dealers will not count the pot for you. They will spread the pot if you ask them to.
- Cell phones must be on silent mode. if you use your cell phone you must move away from the table or risk penalty.
- Ipods and MP3 players are allowed at the tables until you reach the money. Once in the money no electronic devices are allowed. Also, and Blackberries, Iphones, Treos, or other devices that can be used to access the internet are prohibited, even if being used as an MP3 player.
For some strange reason I keep hearing Carly Simon singing "Anticipation" in the background.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Nine
Nine days until we are on our way to Sin City.
The excitement builds.
Event #2 ends today. That is the $1,000 Buy-in Event that they've called the Stimulus Package. Some are calling it the Donkulus Tournament. That's what you get when you combine 6,000 donkeys and a stimulus, reduced buy-in tournament. "Get your WSOP Bracelet...33% off". If this one is a Donkulus Tournament what the heck do we call free poker tournaments? I'll take any suggestions under advisement. I'm partial to a combination of Free and Donkey which works out to be Freekey Tournaments. But I digress. Back to the matter at hand. The picture on this post is of a table they had to set up in the hallway by Buzio's Restaraunt. They had to fill every nook and cranny to accomodate the crowd.
The question of the day is how many players will there be in Event #28. They usually schedule these $1,500 Buy-In Tournaments to start on Saturday so that they get more players who are planning vacations involved. That being said the very first $1,500 Buy-in No Limit Hold'em Event of the 2009 WOSP, Event #7, started yesterday. There were 2,791 players to start, and they played 10 blind levels and are down to 338. It will be a short trip to the money today, when players return to the felt at 2 PM PDT as 297 will get paid.
Hellmuth didn't make it to the dinner break. Either did Freddy Deeb, Jesus, John Juanda, Justin Bonomo, Jean Robert Bellande (of Survivor fame) or Vanessa Russo. Hopefully all of the One-Outers make it to dinner.
The excitement builds.
Event #2 ends today. That is the $1,000 Buy-in Event that they've called the Stimulus Package. Some are calling it the Donkulus Tournament. That's what you get when you combine 6,000 donkeys and a stimulus, reduced buy-in tournament. "Get your WSOP Bracelet...33% off". If this one is a Donkulus Tournament what the heck do we call free poker tournaments? I'll take any suggestions under advisement. I'm partial to a combination of Free and Donkey which works out to be Freekey Tournaments. But I digress. Back to the matter at hand. The picture on this post is of a table they had to set up in the hallway by Buzio's Restaraunt. They had to fill every nook and cranny to accomodate the crowd.
The question of the day is how many players will there be in Event #28. They usually schedule these $1,500 Buy-In Tournaments to start on Saturday so that they get more players who are planning vacations involved. That being said the very first $1,500 Buy-in No Limit Hold'em Event of the 2009 WOSP, Event #7, started yesterday. There were 2,791 players to start, and they played 10 blind levels and are down to 338. It will be a short trip to the money today, when players return to the felt at 2 PM PDT as 297 will get paid.
Hellmuth didn't make it to the dinner break. Either did Freddy Deeb, Jesus, John Juanda, Justin Bonomo, Jean Robert Bellande (of Survivor fame) or Vanessa Russo. Hopefully all of the One-Outers make it to dinner.
For those of you who have been wondering all these years which came first...the chicken or the egg...I provide you with the answer:
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
T - Minus 10 days and Counting
Well here we are with just 10 days before we head to Vegas for the WSOP. The excitement is building each day. I fear we may have missed one of the highlights of the entire Series when we weren't in the RIO yesterday, to witness a crowd gathering outside the Business Center. It seems Amarillo Slim was back and had played in the Champions Invitational Tournament on Sunday. He had pretty much been an outcast in the poker community the last several years based on accusations of pedophilia. Doyle Brunson, has st0od behind his old Texas Road Gambler friend and maintained in all the years they had traveled the circuit together he had never seen Slim do anything that would suggest those allegations were factual. He now has been welcomed back with open arms, and perhaps the highlight of the 40th WSOP was captured on film.
Allegedly there was anywhere from $2,000 to $50,000 bet on this scooter race. And that's just what Slim and Doyle had on it. There was supposedly a lot of prop action in the crowd including several people taking Slim and giving Doyle 4 seconds. The results were Slim in 50.28 seconds, and Doyle in 55 second flat. Just shows you the oddsmakers know how to handicap these things.
Watch Doyle Brunson vs Amarillo Slim Scooter Race at the 2009 WSOP on RawVegas.tv
Allegedly there was anywhere from $2,000 to $50,000 bet on this scooter race. And that's just what Slim and Doyle had on it. There was supposedly a lot of prop action in the crowd including several people taking Slim and giving Doyle 4 seconds. The results were Slim in 50.28 seconds, and Doyle in 55 second flat. Just shows you the oddsmakers know how to handicap these things.
Watch Doyle Brunson vs Amarillo Slim Scooter Race at the 2009 WSOP on RawVegas.tv
Monday, June 1, 2009
Crusade to Poker Mecca
Well, it has been ages since I've posted here. That's changing now. We're coming up to a very exciting time. Our dear friends Evil Debbie and Cupcake have ventured out to Vegas the past two years to play in one of the WSOP $1,500 Buy-In No Limit Hold'em Bracelet Events. The time has come for us to join them in this trek. As a matter of fact, it's not just Merlotgirl and I joining them, but a plethora of friends are going on this adventure. 13 in all. A baker's dozen. I'm not sure how many of us are playing in Event #28, but it's looking like at least 10. Maybe all 13. Hopefully the Final Table will be full of us sporting those very fancy Plano One-Outer Poker Shirts. They'll be all the rage!!
The roll call of brave souls venturing on this odyssey are as follows:
- Evil Debbie
- Cupcake
- RJonTilt
- EndZoneDance
- Buck Nekkid
- Counting Girl
- Nanuck
- Pinky
- Kim (we really need to get nicknames for Kim and Gary)
- Gary H.
- Cast Iron Butterfly
- Merlotgirl
- Shamrock
The event starts at Noon PDT on Saturday, June 13th. Members of the team will be arriving throughout the week preceding the event. Some arriving as early as Wednesday the 10th. Others, such as Kim, Gary, Buck, Counting Girl, Merlotgirl and myself arriving a scant 24 hours before the cards are in the air.
In a similar event last year (Event #27) there were 2,706 starters. In the 10th hour of play they broke the bubble (top 270) and finished the day at 224 players. Day 2 they played down to the final 2 tables. The eventual winner was Vitaly Lunkin. He pocketed $628,417 for his efforts. Yesterday, that very same Vitaly Lunkin won his 2nd WSOP Bracelet by beating 200 other players in the largest buy-in ($40,000) No Limit Hold'em event ever sponsored by the WSOP. (The $50,000 HORSE is a mixed/limit game).
This past Saturday we had a little warm-up tournament at our house for this event. We started with 4,500 in chips and played 60 minute blinds for the first 4 blind levels. Due to space restrictions we limited participation to 25 players, rather than 2,706. Nevertheless, the tournament progressed about the same as Event 27 did. We ended up paying the top 5. And had to reduce the blind levels to 45 minutes for levels 6-8. And then to 30 minutes for the remaining levels. In Event 27 last year the bubble burst in Level 10. At the warm-up on Saturday the bubble burst in the same level, when Ms. America got all her chips in and lost. Soon after that Kevin McD. took 5th. We played another blind level or 2 with chips just moving around the table. Leo could barely see over his huge stack. The other 4 players decided to concede victory to Leo, and chop 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
Results
- 1st - Leo $490
- 2nd - Counting Girl $230
- 2nd - Evil Debbie $230
- 2nd - Gumba $230
- 5th - Kevin McD. $ 70
The long structure, and ante's after level 4 were something a lot of us had never experienced and it was a lot of fun to see everyone play much, much tighter than in the normal turbo, or super turbo games we've become used to. It is a totally different game.
I'm announcing right now that if Merlotgirl or I win this thing and bring home some WSOP bling, drinks are on us at Varsity Club. The tournament will be a terriffic experience and spending several days in Vegas with a great group of friends will be an annual pilgrimage we'll be looking to expand upon next year.
Follow the progress of the Plano One-Outers misadventures in Vegas right here!! I'll be trying to update daily from Sin City, and I'll be relying on our team of reporters to provide information for all of those inquiring minds who just need to know.
Viva Las Vegas!!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Vegas 2008 Part II
Merlotgirl and I flew off to Vegas for Thanksgiving week. We left Saturday morning and flew back Thanksgiving morning. We had a great trip as usual. We left town a little lighter in the wallet this time then the last time, but there were still numerous highlights. I’ll try and recall them here.
Stayed at the Golden Nugget again and played cash games at the following casinos:
Golden Nugget
Binions (new room…very, very nice)
Planet Hollywood
Bellagio
Merlotgirl Chopped a Deep Stack Tournament at Binions. $125 buy in, start with t8,000, 30 minute blinds. It got down to 3 handed with one player having Merlotgirl and the other player covered 3 times over. Merlotgirl and the other short stack agreed to chop 2nd and 3rd place, but still play on to try and beat the big stack. She ended up with a $600 + cash, as her AT was beat by the big stacks A3, when he spiked a 3 on the turn.
Golden Nugget – “The Grand Fall Poker Classic Ladies Event”
Merlotgirl enters this event. $200 + $30 buy-in. It’s a LIPS event, and has a number of well known lady players. As it turns out she sits at a table with 2007 WSOP Ladies Event winner, Sally Boyer. When Merlotgirl points her out to me, I tell her I was playing a $1/$2 NL cash game at the Nugget and was sitting directly to her right. She was a very good player. Sally was a very quiet, almost shy woman, but very gracious. She had put a bounty on her own head, offering to pay the buy-in for the person who beat her. After playing with Ms. Boyer for several hours Sally tells Merlotgirl she’s a very good player and should play in bigger events. Not a bad compliment coming from a bracelet winner.
Sometime after “The First Lady of Poker” Linda Johnson busts out, tables are rebalanced and “Ms. Poker”, Susie Isaacs sits at Merlotgirls table. So there is my wife playing at the same table with the 2007 WSOP Ladies Event Champion ($262,000 plus prize), and Ms. Poker, 2 time bracelet winner of the WSOP Ladies Event (1996 & 1997) and 10th place finisher in the 1998 WSOP Main Event. Merlotgirl beat Susie in a hand and Susie wanted to see Merlotgirls hand. Merlotgirl politely declined and mucked her hand. Susie did not like that. Score one for Merlotgirl. While Merlotgirl eventually busted out after playing great poker for the day, it was a tremendous boost to her confidence to play with such fine players for 6 hours or so. She can play with these players.
“Super Tuesday” – Well Tuesday was going to be a great day for us. We start by ordering room service, which is fantastic. Then we take a cab to Caesars where Merlotgirl has a day at the spa planned, before we go to see Bette Midler Tuesday night. I drop her off and stop by Bellagio for a quick session of $4 / $8 limit. Win a little bit and wander over to Planet Hollywood for a tournament. It would be a lot easier for Merlotgirl to recount her day at the spa then for me to lay it out here, but I’ll try. She got there early and spent an hour or so in the mineral baths. She didn’t think she’d be able to last too long in the really hot one, but her attendant said it would be ok. So she sits in the corner, and the attendant turns a knob and cooling rain falls on Merlotgirls head. Nice. I also know there was some room with heated marble seating that was very cold and had snow falling on her head. Then she had a 75 massage with a Hawaiian Masseuse named Gina. Highly recommended by Merlotgirl. Let’s not forget about the “Tea Sommelier” who made her a couple of cups of nice tea. Upon completion of the massage came the shower, in one of those shower rooms where multiple shower heads hit you form various angles. Merlotgirl enjoyed this day at the spa immensely.
She then wandered over to Planet Hollywood, where I was at the final table of the tournament. When we got down to 4 players we agreed to chop it 4 ways. $413 each for an $80 buy in tournament.
We now have just enough time to head to Todd English’s “Olives” a lovely restaurant with a patio overlooking the Bellagio Fountains. We dined out there and watched the show. It was fantastic!!!!!
On to the Colosseum at Caesar’s to see Bette. She put on an incredible performance. Her rendition of “When a Man Loves a Woman” brought the house down. We highly recommend seeing her show. Simply fabulous.
We capped the night off by heading over to Bellagio to play $4 / $8 Limit for a few hours. We didn’t see anyone playing in Bobby’s Room. I suppose the big game has moved on to the Venetian. As we were leaving we took a look over in the higher stakes area and there was a table playing $150 / $300 No Limit. I didn’t recognize anyone.
We played well and bubbled out of several other tournaments. As usual we had a terrific time, and can’t wait until our next venture back to “sin city”.
Stayed at the Golden Nugget again and played cash games at the following casinos:
Golden Nugget
Binions (new room…very, very nice)
Planet Hollywood
Bellagio
Merlotgirl Chopped a Deep Stack Tournament at Binions. $125 buy in, start with t8,000, 30 minute blinds. It got down to 3 handed with one player having Merlotgirl and the other player covered 3 times over. Merlotgirl and the other short stack agreed to chop 2nd and 3rd place, but still play on to try and beat the big stack. She ended up with a $600 + cash, as her AT was beat by the big stacks A3, when he spiked a 3 on the turn.
Golden Nugget – “The Grand Fall Poker Classic Ladies Event”
Merlotgirl enters this event. $200 + $30 buy-in. It’s a LIPS event, and has a number of well known lady players. As it turns out she sits at a table with 2007 WSOP Ladies Event winner, Sally Boyer. When Merlotgirl points her out to me, I tell her I was playing a $1/$2 NL cash game at the Nugget and was sitting directly to her right. She was a very good player. Sally was a very quiet, almost shy woman, but very gracious. She had put a bounty on her own head, offering to pay the buy-in for the person who beat her. After playing with Ms. Boyer for several hours Sally tells Merlotgirl she’s a very good player and should play in bigger events. Not a bad compliment coming from a bracelet winner.
Sometime after “The First Lady of Poker” Linda Johnson busts out, tables are rebalanced and “Ms. Poker”, Susie Isaacs sits at Merlotgirls table. So there is my wife playing at the same table with the 2007 WSOP Ladies Event Champion ($262,000 plus prize), and Ms. Poker, 2 time bracelet winner of the WSOP Ladies Event (1996 & 1997) and 10th place finisher in the 1998 WSOP Main Event. Merlotgirl beat Susie in a hand and Susie wanted to see Merlotgirls hand. Merlotgirl politely declined and mucked her hand. Susie did not like that. Score one for Merlotgirl. While Merlotgirl eventually busted out after playing great poker for the day, it was a tremendous boost to her confidence to play with such fine players for 6 hours or so. She can play with these players.
“Super Tuesday” – Well Tuesday was going to be a great day for us. We start by ordering room service, which is fantastic. Then we take a cab to Caesars where Merlotgirl has a day at the spa planned, before we go to see Bette Midler Tuesday night. I drop her off and stop by Bellagio for a quick session of $4 / $8 limit. Win a little bit and wander over to Planet Hollywood for a tournament. It would be a lot easier for Merlotgirl to recount her day at the spa then for me to lay it out here, but I’ll try. She got there early and spent an hour or so in the mineral baths. She didn’t think she’d be able to last too long in the really hot one, but her attendant said it would be ok. So she sits in the corner, and the attendant turns a knob and cooling rain falls on Merlotgirls head. Nice. I also know there was some room with heated marble seating that was very cold and had snow falling on her head. Then she had a 75 massage with a Hawaiian Masseuse named Gina. Highly recommended by Merlotgirl. Let’s not forget about the “Tea Sommelier” who made her a couple of cups of nice tea. Upon completion of the massage came the shower, in one of those shower rooms where multiple shower heads hit you form various angles. Merlotgirl enjoyed this day at the spa immensely.
She then wandered over to Planet Hollywood, where I was at the final table of the tournament. When we got down to 4 players we agreed to chop it 4 ways. $413 each for an $80 buy in tournament.
We now have just enough time to head to Todd English’s “Olives” a lovely restaurant with a patio overlooking the Bellagio Fountains. We dined out there and watched the show. It was fantastic!!!!!
On to the Colosseum at Caesar’s to see Bette. She put on an incredible performance. Her rendition of “When a Man Loves a Woman” brought the house down. We highly recommend seeing her show. Simply fabulous.
We capped the night off by heading over to Bellagio to play $4 / $8 Limit for a few hours. We didn’t see anyone playing in Bobby’s Room. I suppose the big game has moved on to the Venetian. As we were leaving we took a look over in the higher stakes area and there was a table playing $150 / $300 No Limit. I didn’t recognize anyone.
We played well and bubbled out of several other tournaments. As usual we had a terrific time, and can’t wait until our next venture back to “sin city”.
Monday, November 10, 2008
I had just come back Thursday, from a weeklong business trip, where I put in a lot of overtime. The Monthly Deep Stack Tournament at Choctaw Casino was Saturday morning at 11:00 am so Merlotgirl and I decided we should give it another shot. We really loved the structure the last time we played it, and while we didn’t cash last time (she got close, and she probably would have won it this time if not for a couple coolers she ran into), thought that we’d be back to play it as often as we could. So we arrive at the casino a half hour before start time and pay our $300 + $30 each. For us that’s the largest buy-in tournament we’ve ever bought into, but we love the format so much, we think it’s worth it.
You start with t8,000. Blinds go up every 30 minutes (going to 40 minute blinds at Final Table), there are no antes and the structure is as follows:
25 / 25
25 / 50
50 / 100
75 / 150
(10 Minute Break and race off t25’s)
100 / 200
200 / 400
300 / 600
400 / 800
(10 Minute Break and race off t100’s)
500 / 1,000
1,000 / 2,000
1,500 / 3,000
2,000 / 4,000
10 minute Break and Race off t500’s)
3,000 / 6,000
42 players started for a total prize pool of $12,600. Paying out 5 players. 1st - Approx. $5,000 down to Approx. $1,000 for 5th.
Merlotgirl and I are both well rested and feeling good about how we’ve been playing lately. We wish each other good luck and take our seats at different tables. I really like my seat at the first table I’m at. Seat 7. The 2 most aggressive players at my table are in seats 4 and 5. Solid player in Seat 8. Rock in Seat 9.
Ten minutes into the game we have our first big hand. I’m SB with AhKh. UTG+1 (seat 1) makes it t150. Seat 4 calls. I debate re-raising, and decide to just see a flop. 5 6 8 rainbow (1 heart). I check. Seat 1 makes it t200. Seat 4 makes it t700. I fold. Seat 1 calls. Turn brings another heart, the T. Seat 1 bets out again, and Seat 4 pushes all in…Seat 1 calls. They table their cards. Seat 1 had flopped a set of 6’s. Seat 4 had flopped the nut str8 with a 7 and 9. The board did not pair on the river, (although there was a heart which would have given me the nuts, but there was no way I could have stayed in the hand.) “Seat open Table 14”
Next hand of note is when I wake up with JJ in early position. Blinds are 25 / 50 I raise to t200. Get called by Seat 8 and Seat 1. Flop comes A Q 7. What to do? I c bet here about 80% of the time, (and should have this time), but decide to just check it. When seat 8 and Seat 1 both check behind I have no idea where I am, and am pretty much lost. I should have bet. Although if they both call, which they may have, I still don’t know where I am. Tough spot. I feel like I played this hand poorly. Turn brings a blank. I check again. (Second mistake on this hand). Seat 8 bets t350. Seat 1 and I fold. At this point I figure, even if I'm ahead, which is 50/50 at best, I still have plenty of chips left and can get them in when I'm more certain. Seat 8 shows pocket 9’s. I was outplayed this hand. Luckily I go card dead for about 40 minutes. Not finding a hand I’d like to play. Allowing me to fold, and recover from my poor play. But watching the action at the table. Big stack in Seat 4 gets in another big hand. He and Seat 7 get all Seat 7’s chips in preflop on 4 bet action. Seat 4 has KK. Seat 7 AA. I Mucked K9. Seat 4 hits his 1-outer on the river to send Seat 7 out of the tournament (not very happily)
I’m down to about t4,000 in chips about halfway through the 3rd blind level when this hand occurs. I’ve got 7h8h in my BB. Seat 2 makes it t300. I’m the only caller. Flop comes up 5h6hTc. I flop an open ended str8 flush draw. Check the flop. He bets t450. I call. Turn is 2h. I check again. He bets t600…and I raise to t1500. He thinks for a bit and mucks his AA face up. Whew. I finally win a hand. I’m being very patient as Seat 4 or 5 is raising on my blinds (and whenever it’s limped to them in MP) almost every orbit. I know if I catch the right opportunity I’ll get all those blinds back. About 10 minutes before the first break I have QQ in the BB. Seat 4 raises to t450. I reraise to t1200. He calls. Ragged flop, no Broadway cards. I bet out t2,000 he folds.
I’m at t9,300 at the first break. I’m feeling pretty good that I’ve recovered from my poor play on the JJ hand, and have more chips than I started with. I’m probably right around average stack at this point. Seat 4 and 5 are still aggressively stealing blinds, and I’ve had the opportunity to watch them clash a couple times and neither of them has had particularly great hands. I will continue to wait for that opportunity to trap with a monster. This happens about 15 minutes into the t100 / t200 blind level. I’ve got 55 in my BB. Seat 4 makes it t500. I think for a bit, and call. The door card on the flop is a 5….wwooohoooooo. followed by a 4 and a 3. Top set for me. I check. Seat 4 overbets the pot betting t1,600. I’ve got about t8,000 left and don’t want to chase him out, but get max value on this one. So I raise enough that I think he has to call. I make it t4,000. He asks how much more I have behind and I show him t4,000. He re-raises to put me all in. I insta call. And he flips over A4. With a 9 on the turn he’s drawing dead to a deuce…and misses on the river. Cha ching!!!!!!! Double up. I’ve got about t18,000 now and well above average chip stack.
Now I start to steal a blind here and there. Not abusing it like Seat 4 and 5 had been doing. Sometimes raising in the hijack, cutoff or on the button. Sometimes limping in late middle position, with everyone folding behind me and then betting out on a board that’s checked to me with an A, K or Q on it, regardless of what I have. My image to this point had been that I was a rock. I don’t believe I’d lost a showdown yet. I took another chunk out of Seat 4’s stack when he raised my BB when I had AA. I re-raised. He called. I bet out on the flop. He called again. When I bet on the turn he folded and I showed my AA. Hoping that my advertising would let him know that when I play back at you…I’ve got it. That put a stop to his indiscriminate blind stealing as I was now the big stack at the table.
Then the worst thing that could possibly happen to me, happens. Someone busts out of a neighboring table and we have to rebalance. I get moved. I had worked pretty hard to build my table image to where it was and now I’m gone. Oh well. We’re down to 21 players. 3 tables of 7 each. I’ve got about t25,000 and am well above the average stack of t16,000. Although I’m certainly not the biggest stack at my new table. I am now in Seat 5. Bigger stacks then I are in Seat 3, Seat 7, Seat 8 and Seat 9. Some of these players I know form playing with in the past. Seat 3 is a good, aggressive player with a lot of gamble in him. Seat 8 I had played with many times at AHL venues around town. Good, solid player. Biggest stack at the table. Seat 7 was an older gentleman I had not seen before, and Seat 9 was an older woman I had not seen before.
As luck would have it I go card dead again at the new table. This allows me to fold a lot and watch the table. What I find out in the next 15 minutes is that Seat 7 has a whole lot of gamble in him. He calls a players all in of an additional t4,000 with 4c7c. Pot odds certainly didn’t dictate a call here. But he hits a 7 and wins the hand as AK is no good. Seat open Table 15. Seat 3 (who’s play I respect) gets damaged by Seat 9, who I now have a pretty good read on (and I’ll use it to great advantage a couple of times later on). I have Ks Js in my BB and Seat 3 makes a standard raise. Flop comes J 6 4. I check he bets it, I call, and player in Seat 7 calls. K on the turn. I check my 2 pair. Seat 3 bets it again. I Raise it 3 times his bet. Seat 7 folds. Seat 3 calls me. Blank on the river. I bet. Seat 3 folds. He missed his flush draw. I’ve watched Seat 9 (the older woman) raise in early position with any 2 Broadway cards. KT – Raise. KJ – Raise. QT – Raise. She lost a big hand and then pushed all in UTG with KT, hitting 2 tens and quadrupling up. She wasn’t tricky. If she raised, she would throw out a continuation bet. If she missed the flop it was the same bet as her PF bet. If she hit it, it was a little less than pot sized. I’m in the BB with 22. She raises, everyone else folds. I call. Flop comes 3 8 7. She throws out a bet the same size as her preflop bet. I call. 3 on the turn. She throws out the same bet. I raise her 2 and a half times her bet. She folds.
Seat 3 busts out. Seat 7 busts out. Seat 2 busts out. We are on the bubble for final table. 10 players left when the following hand happens. Seat 8 who was chip leader when I sat down at the table raises PF, Seat 1 calls. Flop comes 2 5 9. Seat 8 pushes. Seat 1 thinks for a bit and tells him, “I think I have you. I put you on AK, AQ, AJ…something like that. And he calls with 77. Seat 8 says nice call as he turns over A5. For a pair of 5’s. Blank on the turn. Miracle 5 on the river. Seat 1 had him covered by a bit, but someone busts out at the other table and we are at the Final Table.
At final table now. We ask how much if we chop it 9 ways. It’s $1,400 each if we chop it evenly. This was right about what 4th place would get. 8 of the 9 players said they’d chop. One gentleman wanted to play it out. Grrrrrr. We did manage to convince him that we should take $1,600 out of the prize pool and pay 6th through 9th $400 each. So we play on.
Final table. Seat 1 is good young player who had lost the previous hand with his 77. He’s short stacked. Seat 2 older woman, who I have a good read on and is 2nd largest stack. Seat 3 is the player who just beat the 77’s. He is now biggest stack again. Seat 4 is the 2nd shortest stack. Seat 5 another relatively short stack. Seat 6 another good AHL player who is relatively short stacked. Seat 7 is the older gentleman who did not want to chop (I hope we bust him out early). He’s got a healthy stack. Seat 8 is an average stacked, good player. Seat 9 is me with about an average stack of t35,000.
I tighten up and hope the short stacks bust out. We lose the 2 shortest stacks pretty quickly. 7 left I’ve still got my t35,000 and am about the 4th biggest stack at the table. Then the biggest hand of the tournament for me occurs. Blinds are 2,000 – 4,000 and I’ve got Ad 4d in the BB. Seat 2 (older woman I have a read on) raises to 11,000 preflop. Everyone folds to me and I call. Flop comes 4 Q 7 rainbow. I check. She checks. Hmmmmm. She always c-bets. She’s afraid I hit the Q. I decide I’m calling this hand down with bottom pair, unless a K, J or T appears on the board. Turn is a blank. She fires t15,000 at it. At this point Merlotgirl who had gone to play 1 /2 No Limit and won her tournament Buy-In back, had cashed in and sat at a 4/8 limit table. She looked over at the Final Table, with me sitting there pondering my move, as I am taking my time and rethinking things. (She later told me …”you had that …I just don’t believe you…it just doesn’t make sense…I’ve got you beat look”.) She came over to watch the hand play out. This is roughly half my remaining stack. I decide it’s more likely that she has AJ, AT, KJ, KT than anything else. I’m almost certain bottom pair is ahead right now. River comes another blank. And she fires another T15,000 at it. I have t16,000 left and call her extremely light with bottom pair. She announces K high and turns over KJ. I show my A4 with bottom pair. Merlotgirl couldn’t believe I called her down as light as I did, and went to cash out at the 4/8 table knowing I was playing my A game.
Now I’m very healthy. Probably the 2nd largest stack with t86,000. 6th place busts out shortly after that hand, so we’re all in the money. Payout looks something like this (give or take a few $$$ on 3rd – 5th):
1st $4,540
2nd $2,640
3rd $1,700
4th $1,200
5th $ 900
Now would be a great time to go on a rush…and I do. A new dealer sits in the box, Kiki, and proceeds to tell me she had just been dealing to my wife, and had been pretty good to her. She told Merlotgirl she’d be nice to me too. And she was. I win the first three hands she deals as I have Q9 in my BB and see a flop of 9 9 J. Big stack bets. I Call. T on the Turn. He bets…I raise 3 times his bet. He calls. Blank on the river. I bet…he folds his Top pair, with a flush draw. Then I turn 2 pair with 84 in my SB. Followed by winning with a standard raise PF with AA. After the second hand I announce “I’m on a rush” Dealer says “rushing here”. After the AA hand I say…”still on a rush” Dealer says…”still rushing here”. T-5 offsuit on the next hand allows me to announce "rush over". Which the dealer also announces.
After our earlier discussion of chopping at final table when the older gent didn’t want to, there was no talk of chopping. I would have been fine chopping it at any point. Although I did want justice to be served and have the guy who didn’t want to chop, get less than the amount he would have gotten had we chopped. And he did. He busted out in 4th and got $200 less than if we had chopped. Big stack had taken out the 4th and 5th place finishers and now had a huge stack. He took out the player to my right to bring it to heads up. He had me in chips roughly 4 to 1. We asked what the prizes were and he offered a chop of $4,200 for him and $3,000 for me, which was generous looking at the stacks. At that point I just figured for the sake of $400 more lets just play it out to the end. Heads up play lasted about 10 or 12 hands and he got rid of me pretty quickly as I went card dead again. He played a great game, and after 6 hours of play I was happy to cash in for $2,640 in my best tournament result ever, I leave a $240 tip for the dealers.
It was particularly gratifying after coming back from my terribly misplayed JJ hand very early on, to play as well as I’ve ever played.. I felt like I played pretty solid poker after that. The Deep Stack format allows you to make a mistake or two along the way, and still be able to recover. It is such a different pace from AHL games that must be finished in 3 hours that you really need to consciously make an adjustment, and become much more patient. After 6 + hours of play we were only at t3,000 – 6,000 blinds. It’s a great experience and we’ll be sure to play again.
If memory serves me AHL Players took 1st, snd and 5th in this tournament. A pretty good advertisement for the league.
You start with t8,000. Blinds go up every 30 minutes (going to 40 minute blinds at Final Table), there are no antes and the structure is as follows:
25 / 25
25 / 50
50 / 100
75 / 150
(10 Minute Break and race off t25’s)
100 / 200
200 / 400
300 / 600
400 / 800
(10 Minute Break and race off t100’s)
500 / 1,000
1,000 / 2,000
1,500 / 3,000
2,000 / 4,000
10 minute Break and Race off t500’s)
3,000 / 6,000
42 players started for a total prize pool of $12,600. Paying out 5 players. 1st - Approx. $5,000 down to Approx. $1,000 for 5th.
Merlotgirl and I are both well rested and feeling good about how we’ve been playing lately. We wish each other good luck and take our seats at different tables. I really like my seat at the first table I’m at. Seat 7. The 2 most aggressive players at my table are in seats 4 and 5. Solid player in Seat 8. Rock in Seat 9.
Ten minutes into the game we have our first big hand. I’m SB with AhKh. UTG+1 (seat 1) makes it t150. Seat 4 calls. I debate re-raising, and decide to just see a flop. 5 6 8 rainbow (1 heart). I check. Seat 1 makes it t200. Seat 4 makes it t700. I fold. Seat 1 calls. Turn brings another heart, the T. Seat 1 bets out again, and Seat 4 pushes all in…Seat 1 calls. They table their cards. Seat 1 had flopped a set of 6’s. Seat 4 had flopped the nut str8 with a 7 and 9. The board did not pair on the river, (although there was a heart which would have given me the nuts, but there was no way I could have stayed in the hand.) “Seat open Table 14”
Next hand of note is when I wake up with JJ in early position. Blinds are 25 / 50 I raise to t200. Get called by Seat 8 and Seat 1. Flop comes A Q 7. What to do? I c bet here about 80% of the time, (and should have this time), but decide to just check it. When seat 8 and Seat 1 both check behind I have no idea where I am, and am pretty much lost. I should have bet. Although if they both call, which they may have, I still don’t know where I am. Tough spot. I feel like I played this hand poorly. Turn brings a blank. I check again. (Second mistake on this hand). Seat 8 bets t350. Seat 1 and I fold. At this point I figure, even if I'm ahead, which is 50/50 at best, I still have plenty of chips left and can get them in when I'm more certain. Seat 8 shows pocket 9’s. I was outplayed this hand. Luckily I go card dead for about 40 minutes. Not finding a hand I’d like to play. Allowing me to fold, and recover from my poor play. But watching the action at the table. Big stack in Seat 4 gets in another big hand. He and Seat 7 get all Seat 7’s chips in preflop on 4 bet action. Seat 4 has KK. Seat 7 AA. I Mucked K9. Seat 4 hits his 1-outer on the river to send Seat 7 out of the tournament (not very happily)
I’m down to about t4,000 in chips about halfway through the 3rd blind level when this hand occurs. I’ve got 7h8h in my BB. Seat 2 makes it t300. I’m the only caller. Flop comes up 5h6hTc. I flop an open ended str8 flush draw. Check the flop. He bets t450. I call. Turn is 2h. I check again. He bets t600…and I raise to t1500. He thinks for a bit and mucks his AA face up. Whew. I finally win a hand. I’m being very patient as Seat 4 or 5 is raising on my blinds (and whenever it’s limped to them in MP) almost every orbit. I know if I catch the right opportunity I’ll get all those blinds back. About 10 minutes before the first break I have QQ in the BB. Seat 4 raises to t450. I reraise to t1200. He calls. Ragged flop, no Broadway cards. I bet out t2,000 he folds.
I’m at t9,300 at the first break. I’m feeling pretty good that I’ve recovered from my poor play on the JJ hand, and have more chips than I started with. I’m probably right around average stack at this point. Seat 4 and 5 are still aggressively stealing blinds, and I’ve had the opportunity to watch them clash a couple times and neither of them has had particularly great hands. I will continue to wait for that opportunity to trap with a monster. This happens about 15 minutes into the t100 / t200 blind level. I’ve got 55 in my BB. Seat 4 makes it t500. I think for a bit, and call. The door card on the flop is a 5….wwooohoooooo. followed by a 4 and a 3. Top set for me. I check. Seat 4 overbets the pot betting t1,600. I’ve got about t8,000 left and don’t want to chase him out, but get max value on this one. So I raise enough that I think he has to call. I make it t4,000. He asks how much more I have behind and I show him t4,000. He re-raises to put me all in. I insta call. And he flips over A4. With a 9 on the turn he’s drawing dead to a deuce…and misses on the river. Cha ching!!!!!!! Double up. I’ve got about t18,000 now and well above average chip stack.
Now I start to steal a blind here and there. Not abusing it like Seat 4 and 5 had been doing. Sometimes raising in the hijack, cutoff or on the button. Sometimes limping in late middle position, with everyone folding behind me and then betting out on a board that’s checked to me with an A, K or Q on it, regardless of what I have. My image to this point had been that I was a rock. I don’t believe I’d lost a showdown yet. I took another chunk out of Seat 4’s stack when he raised my BB when I had AA. I re-raised. He called. I bet out on the flop. He called again. When I bet on the turn he folded and I showed my AA. Hoping that my advertising would let him know that when I play back at you…I’ve got it. That put a stop to his indiscriminate blind stealing as I was now the big stack at the table.
Then the worst thing that could possibly happen to me, happens. Someone busts out of a neighboring table and we have to rebalance. I get moved. I had worked pretty hard to build my table image to where it was and now I’m gone. Oh well. We’re down to 21 players. 3 tables of 7 each. I’ve got about t25,000 and am well above the average stack of t16,000. Although I’m certainly not the biggest stack at my new table. I am now in Seat 5. Bigger stacks then I are in Seat 3, Seat 7, Seat 8 and Seat 9. Some of these players I know form playing with in the past. Seat 3 is a good, aggressive player with a lot of gamble in him. Seat 8 I had played with many times at AHL venues around town. Good, solid player. Biggest stack at the table. Seat 7 was an older gentleman I had not seen before, and Seat 9 was an older woman I had not seen before.
As luck would have it I go card dead again at the new table. This allows me to fold a lot and watch the table. What I find out in the next 15 minutes is that Seat 7 has a whole lot of gamble in him. He calls a players all in of an additional t4,000 with 4c7c. Pot odds certainly didn’t dictate a call here. But he hits a 7 and wins the hand as AK is no good. Seat open Table 15. Seat 3 (who’s play I respect) gets damaged by Seat 9, who I now have a pretty good read on (and I’ll use it to great advantage a couple of times later on). I have Ks Js in my BB and Seat 3 makes a standard raise. Flop comes J 6 4. I check he bets it, I call, and player in Seat 7 calls. K on the turn. I check my 2 pair. Seat 3 bets it again. I Raise it 3 times his bet. Seat 7 folds. Seat 3 calls me. Blank on the river. I bet. Seat 3 folds. He missed his flush draw. I’ve watched Seat 9 (the older woman) raise in early position with any 2 Broadway cards. KT – Raise. KJ – Raise. QT – Raise. She lost a big hand and then pushed all in UTG with KT, hitting 2 tens and quadrupling up. She wasn’t tricky. If she raised, she would throw out a continuation bet. If she missed the flop it was the same bet as her PF bet. If she hit it, it was a little less than pot sized. I’m in the BB with 22. She raises, everyone else folds. I call. Flop comes 3 8 7. She throws out a bet the same size as her preflop bet. I call. 3 on the turn. She throws out the same bet. I raise her 2 and a half times her bet. She folds.
Seat 3 busts out. Seat 7 busts out. Seat 2 busts out. We are on the bubble for final table. 10 players left when the following hand happens. Seat 8 who was chip leader when I sat down at the table raises PF, Seat 1 calls. Flop comes 2 5 9. Seat 8 pushes. Seat 1 thinks for a bit and tells him, “I think I have you. I put you on AK, AQ, AJ…something like that. And he calls with 77. Seat 8 says nice call as he turns over A5. For a pair of 5’s. Blank on the turn. Miracle 5 on the river. Seat 1 had him covered by a bit, but someone busts out at the other table and we are at the Final Table.
At final table now. We ask how much if we chop it 9 ways. It’s $1,400 each if we chop it evenly. This was right about what 4th place would get. 8 of the 9 players said they’d chop. One gentleman wanted to play it out. Grrrrrr. We did manage to convince him that we should take $1,600 out of the prize pool and pay 6th through 9th $400 each. So we play on.
Final table. Seat 1 is good young player who had lost the previous hand with his 77. He’s short stacked. Seat 2 older woman, who I have a good read on and is 2nd largest stack. Seat 3 is the player who just beat the 77’s. He is now biggest stack again. Seat 4 is the 2nd shortest stack. Seat 5 another relatively short stack. Seat 6 another good AHL player who is relatively short stacked. Seat 7 is the older gentleman who did not want to chop (I hope we bust him out early). He’s got a healthy stack. Seat 8 is an average stacked, good player. Seat 9 is me with about an average stack of t35,000.
I tighten up and hope the short stacks bust out. We lose the 2 shortest stacks pretty quickly. 7 left I’ve still got my t35,000 and am about the 4th biggest stack at the table. Then the biggest hand of the tournament for me occurs. Blinds are 2,000 – 4,000 and I’ve got Ad 4d in the BB. Seat 2 (older woman I have a read on) raises to 11,000 preflop. Everyone folds to me and I call. Flop comes 4 Q 7 rainbow. I check. She checks. Hmmmmm. She always c-bets. She’s afraid I hit the Q. I decide I’m calling this hand down with bottom pair, unless a K, J or T appears on the board. Turn is a blank. She fires t15,000 at it. At this point Merlotgirl who had gone to play 1 /2 No Limit and won her tournament Buy-In back, had cashed in and sat at a 4/8 limit table. She looked over at the Final Table, with me sitting there pondering my move, as I am taking my time and rethinking things. (She later told me …”you had that …I just don’t believe you…it just doesn’t make sense…I’ve got you beat look”.) She came over to watch the hand play out. This is roughly half my remaining stack. I decide it’s more likely that she has AJ, AT, KJ, KT than anything else. I’m almost certain bottom pair is ahead right now. River comes another blank. And she fires another T15,000 at it. I have t16,000 left and call her extremely light with bottom pair. She announces K high and turns over KJ. I show my A4 with bottom pair. Merlotgirl couldn’t believe I called her down as light as I did, and went to cash out at the 4/8 table knowing I was playing my A game.
Now I’m very healthy. Probably the 2nd largest stack with t86,000. 6th place busts out shortly after that hand, so we’re all in the money. Payout looks something like this (give or take a few $$$ on 3rd – 5th):
1st $4,540
2nd $2,640
3rd $1,700
4th $1,200
5th $ 900
Now would be a great time to go on a rush…and I do. A new dealer sits in the box, Kiki, and proceeds to tell me she had just been dealing to my wife, and had been pretty good to her. She told Merlotgirl she’d be nice to me too. And she was. I win the first three hands she deals as I have Q9 in my BB and see a flop of 9 9 J. Big stack bets. I Call. T on the Turn. He bets…I raise 3 times his bet. He calls. Blank on the river. I bet…he folds his Top pair, with a flush draw. Then I turn 2 pair with 84 in my SB. Followed by winning with a standard raise PF with AA. After the second hand I announce “I’m on a rush” Dealer says “rushing here”. After the AA hand I say…”still on a rush” Dealer says…”still rushing here”. T-5 offsuit on the next hand allows me to announce "rush over". Which the dealer also announces.
After our earlier discussion of chopping at final table when the older gent didn’t want to, there was no talk of chopping. I would have been fine chopping it at any point. Although I did want justice to be served and have the guy who didn’t want to chop, get less than the amount he would have gotten had we chopped. And he did. He busted out in 4th and got $200 less than if we had chopped. Big stack had taken out the 4th and 5th place finishers and now had a huge stack. He took out the player to my right to bring it to heads up. He had me in chips roughly 4 to 1. We asked what the prizes were and he offered a chop of $4,200 for him and $3,000 for me, which was generous looking at the stacks. At that point I just figured for the sake of $400 more lets just play it out to the end. Heads up play lasted about 10 or 12 hands and he got rid of me pretty quickly as I went card dead again. He played a great game, and after 6 hours of play I was happy to cash in for $2,640 in my best tournament result ever, I leave a $240 tip for the dealers.
It was particularly gratifying after coming back from my terribly misplayed JJ hand very early on, to play as well as I’ve ever played.. I felt like I played pretty solid poker after that. The Deep Stack format allows you to make a mistake or two along the way, and still be able to recover. It is such a different pace from AHL games that must be finished in 3 hours that you really need to consciously make an adjustment, and become much more patient. After 6 + hours of play we were only at t3,000 – 6,000 blinds. It’s a great experience and we’ll be sure to play again.
If memory serves me AHL Players took 1st, snd and 5th in this tournament. A pretty good advertisement for the league.
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