Weekend Exploits

Buckle in, my 3 readers, cuz this one is gonna be a doozie. I put in some poker hours over the weekend, and I have much to report.

First, I played a couple different sittings on Friday. Typically, this would've been enough for an oddysey of its own, but now its just a blip on the radar of my poker weekend.

I played some in the morning. With my referral bonus graciously cleared by Jorgen with perfect timing, I was ready to do some serious bankroll building. I played three $5.50 MTTs, two of which weren't worth talking about, and the other that I found myself in the top 20 in. I did take my ugliest beat of the day in one of these. I was up early thanks to taking out a couple of players when my pocket 9s held up, and feeling pretty good about how things were going early in this tourney. I made an admittedly marginal limp with a suited Q in late position, but was thrilled to see the flop come QQJ. There was a bet, I called, got raised, third player folded, and I re-raised all-in. The original raiser insta-called and showed pocket J. Ouch. I needed the board to pair. And it did. With a J on the turn. I proceeded to take a couple more bad beats, wave buh bye, and that was the end of the whole "feeling good" thing.

I was also mixing in some $5.50 and $2.20 SNGs w/my MTTs, and things were just about as mediocre there. I was losing races, losing when I was ahead preflop, and even when I'd flop something, I'd get drawn out on, so the morning didn't go well. I also don't think I was playing as well as I'm capable, which, of course, is frustrating. I did manage to get off the $5.50 schneid with a cash or two, but by the end of my morning session, I was down almost $30. So I took a break, ate lunch, washed my truck, worked out, and got back at it.

I only had a couple hours before my Friday night would kick off, so I played in a $5.50 and a $2.20 in each hour. Things improved drastically, both in the way I was playing and the way I was running, and at the end of my afternoon session I had made back just over half of what I lost that morning. It was a good way to end Friday.

Saturday morning I had a chance to play in a $2.20 SNG in the midst of getting ready to tailgate for the ISU game, and a satisfying win there got me back to just over $59 from the $65 I started at Friday morning. Now the question becomes, does this whole experience stop here in the wake of the gambling legislation passing, or will I get a chance to continue to make progress??

I guess only time will tell. But I've still got some serious headway to make, so I'd like to be able to continue.

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Fast forward to Sunday, where I think I mentioned I'd be heading out to Prairie Meadows to play in their $60 buy-in tourney, and maybe get in a little 3/6 action if I had the chance. Well, I got out there just before 10, with tournament signup at 11 and the tourney at 12, so I sat right into a 3/6 table with $100.

Not too many hands in I pick up AA in middle position and raise it up. I get some callers, and we see a flop. A bunch of blank junk. I bet, and everyone stays with me. The turn brings paired black suits on the board. Don't do this to me. I bet, everyone calls. Red card, please? No such luck. Ace of spades. We check it down, and I'll be damned if I didn't take a $50+ pot.

After that, I didn't see a whole lot and was getting back to my original buy-in when I picked up 67 of spades and limped. The flop brought a 5 and an 8 and not much else, and I check. A guy who won't let a flop go w/o betting it bets, another guy calls, I raise, and get two calls. The turn brings a 4 and I'm in business. I bet and get two calls. The river is meaningless, and I bet again. The first guy folds, and the other one thinks about it for a long time before calling and showing down pocket 5s. Another big pot comes my way.

I won one other little pot in the whole hour and a half I played, and that was it. But that was enough. After definitely seeing a few too many flops in the last 1/2 hour, I walked away toward the brunch buffet $23 richer and/or 1/3 of the way to my tourney buy-in.

So a half hour later the tournament started. Now, I'm gonna try not to get all lame here, but I had a lot riding on this, psychologically. I came to play, and I would be disappointed with anything other than a top 20 finish. The ideal ending was a top 3 finish, which would proptly be turned into plane tickets to a weekend in Vegas. I wanted it to happen, and I was DETERMINED that it would. It wasn't just fun for me. You guys know I'm on a mission as of late, and not pissing this tournament down my leg was a main objective ever since I decided I was playing in it.

I won a couple of smallish pots early and was off and running in the right direction. Then came a hand I really liked. I picked up 10s in late position and limped. The flop came A-high, and it checked all the way around. The turn wasn't exciting, and it checked around to the small blind who put in about a 2/3 pot bet. It folded around to me, but something smelled fishy to me, and I called. The river was equally as junky, but it didn't stop her from firing again. I called her down, and she didn't have a thing. My read was right on, and I knew right then that I was firing on all cylinders. You could say that I played the hand weakly, but I think I got the best value out of it possible. The one mistake is giving her a free river card, but she might have folded to a raise on the turn and I wouldn't have gotten her river bet. And besides, even if an over card comes it doesn't mean she beats me. The only thing she's got going for her is that she called in the small which might give her credit for at least a face card or two suited cards, but I didn't believe for a second she had anything. She didn't sell it at all.

So I was off and running after that. I continued to play good hands and scoop up some chips, and then the pivotal hand of the first hour came up. In the big blind, I look down and find AQ. The blinds were 75/150 at this point, and I make it 600 to go, after having around half the table limp. It folded around to a guy in late position, who pushed all-in for around 2500 or so. When it got back to me, I had a few different thoughts in my head. First, this guy hadn't impressed me to this point, second, his buddy had busted not long ago, and third and most importantly, he limped and then pushed. This means he was either slow playing a monster or had decided to make his stand with an ace or small pocket pair. I just didn't really think he had the slow play in him, so I went ahead and made the call, and he showed me his A 10. I held up, and that was pretty much the story of my first hour. Starting with 2k, I now had 7k, with the average stack just under 3500.

When we went to the first break, for some reason I knew the 2nd hour was going to be a struggle, so I had to stay mentally tough and not give away everything I had worked for. I hoped that wasn't to be the case, but boy was it...

For the first 20-30 minutes I didn't see a thing. Then came the hand that could've been. I believe I was in the small blind. It folded around to a guy who pushed all-in for $2500 or so. I look down and saw 66, thought about it and made the call, and then to complicate things, the guy on my left pushed all-in over the top. He had me covered. I had the first guy on ace-face, but at this point, I hope you'll agree, I had to put at least one of them on a better pocket pair. Obviously the guy's all-in over the top was to isolate himself with the all-in, which is meant to indicate a LOT of strength. But even if they're both ace-face, I'm still drawing against the remaining two aces, and now 6 other over cards. I'm really not a fan of small pocket pairs at this point, so I folded...and the flop came 3-6-6. I threw up in my mouth a little bit. The original pusher had AK, and the guy on my left had AJ, and the AK survived and tripled up.

So that hand left me with under 5k, and things were starting to look grim. Another 20-30 minutes of folding, and all my 2nd hour action came in the last 10 minutes. I believe I'm in the small blind again, or possibly late position, but anyway, the guy on my right makes a smallish raise, and I look down and find QQ, and push the rest of what I have. After it comes back around, he can't call fast enough, and shows me KK. Well...at least I had a good first hour. I can build on that for next time.

The flop comes x 10 9. Turn's a K. And the river? Why not be a J?? Ok, then!

Next hand, I pick up AQ, push again, and scoop a couple limpers and blinds. And the hand after that I pick up 55, limp in late position, check a flop, turn checks to me, I bet, and take it down. I think there was one more hand, and that was the end of the 2nd hour. My chipstack? 7k.

Granted, 7k is not what it was at the end of the first hour, but after that 2nd hour, I'm just happy to have 7 times the BB to push with. Things were still looking pretty grim, though, with 16 or more players to go until the FT.

Between the beginning of the third hour and the bubble I don't remember a whole lot. I remember pushing a couple times and scooping, but I don't think I ever limped, and I don't think I ever doubled up, and apparently at this point I had established enough of a table image of showing down strong hands, that people really respected my raises, which was nice. But, next thing I know we're down to two tables, then we're on the bubble, and then the bubble bursts when an A 10 couldn't beat JJ at my table. I wasn't even the shortest stack, but I had managed to nurse my 10k to the f'n final table. How about that??

At the final table it was more of the same. My goal was to get to 5th, and then get busy, because that's when the money started getting pretty real. So I sat back and let others get busy, and my only move was all-in with nothing worse than K-high. I was folding JQ, most of my low aces, and even KQ once to an all-in and call. I was surprised at how many people were willing to be active. I understand that you have to accumulate chips, but as long as you've got a couple big blinds, that's two trips around the table that other short stacks can't survive.

Anyway, here's my feelings on the final table. The hardest part was getting there, once I was there, I felt like I was one of the top 3 players. Maybe top 2. There was an old codger that had been at my tables for quite a while and he had some game, and there was another kid who seemed like he knew what he was doing. We got going, and I actually pushed with a couple of ace hands, but never got called, so I was scooping and my blinds were free for several orbits, and I was even making a little money! Meanwhile, people just continued to call the blinds, get themselves pot-committed, and lose. The young decent player became a non-factor after his open-ended straight flush draw lost to the nut flush draw, and the two worst players at the table on the shortest stacks remained with 6 left. One guy had been all-in in the blind so much since we combined to two tables he should've been LONG gone, but kept getting lucky, and the other guy kept getting himself in as a dog and sucking out. So I was feeling pretty good about a top 4 finish at this point. The dagger in the heart came with me UTG, and these two were in the blinds. Blindey McCantlose was in the small, and Captain Suckout was in the big with only about 3k behind. Blinds had recently gone up to 5k and 10k, and I had strategically kept enough to get through the blinds and still be alive for an orbit, giving these guys more hands to bust. I look down and find A5o. I had folded hands like this at the FT thus far, but with my apparent table image that I had established, and figuring the bigger stacks wouldn't be interested in tangoing, I pushed my 22k with my eyes on dumb and dumber. The serial luckbox folded in the small, but the suckout king muttered something about pot committment and put his last 3k in. Like suckout artists do, he said "Nice hand. You've got me beat", and rolled 6 8. And like suckout artists do, he proceeded to river a pair and cripple me. I was all-in in the big blind next hand w/Q3 vs his Ace, and the flop came AAQ. Rad.

So I busted in 6th, one spot short of my final table goal, but right in the neighborhood of my ultimate goal. The payout for 6th wasn't fantastic, but I made $140 plus the $20 I made in the cash game, and walked out of the casino $160 richer.

I found it was typical of what you hear of final table performances. I had one great hour, one disgusting hour, and had to make one giant suckout to get there. Otherwise I got my money in with the best of it every single time, and like I said, without trying, I established a table image of a player that you need something strong to call with, which I think helped a lot when we were inside of 30 players. I also couldn't have had the success I have as of late without this article. I used to be the guy that would call the big blind all the way to the bubble, but have found that when you get inside of 7 big blinds, you have much more success and a much better opportunity at turning things around by just picking your all-in hand and going. Meanwhile, I'm watching people with short stacks calling the big blind and pot committing themselves leaving, while I'm scooping blinds. When you've got 5-7 times the BB, bigger stacks have to make a committment to call you, and they generally won't do that without a great hand. This move seemed to be baffling to several people as we were inside of 30 and especially at the final table, who felt forced to fold, disgusted with themselves. I either never had to show down, or showed down and won, which makes it even harder for anyone to call me. And finally, I was amazed at how easy the FT was to navigate. Getting there was definitely the hard part, but once I was there I felt completely in control of the situation. Once we got going, I couldn't understand how some of these people had gotten there, given their willingness to put themselves at a disadvantage and give away chips. I came into that table in no better than 9th place, and were it not for things not going my way, I cruise to a top 4 finish with little or no effort. My ONLY question on the day is whether or not it was a good idea to abandon my FT plan. If I fold my A5 there, maybe one of the bigger stacks calls and takes the BB out. Maybe nobody calls and my plan goes forward, hoping for the best. I know that leaving others enough rope to hang themselves but not leaving myself much of a nest egg is pretty weak, but right there I'd rather jump up another couple of pay levels and leave the rest to luck. Weak is what I know, and so far at the final table it had been serving me just fine. I'd be happy to hear opinions.

So I came to play, and I played my heart out. I can't imagine playing any better, but I'm not gonna go and say luck wasn't involved. The first hour my cards were on fire, but I'd like to take credit for being prepared and getting myself through the 2nd hour by keeping a level head and making good decisions (of course the giant suckout didn't hurt, but regardless, its the right play for me there). After that, it was a combination of solid play and well-timed hands that got me to the money.

Needless to say, I'm extremely happy with my progress over the course of the last 3 months, and my success at the tables on Sunday was a great milestone in what I hope is a still in-progress journey.