Seneca Shootout Trip Report
Decided on getting to Seneca for the 10am shootout with a friend so after picking him up in Woodbridge around 730am we jumped onto the 407 and off we went. That is until we hit a traffic jam at just before Derry rd. Apparently there was a serious accident that shutdown Eastbound and Westbound traffic on the 407 as air ambulances were brought in. Once we detoured around that it was clear sailing and we arrived at Seneca around 930am and registered.
It didn't seem as there were many players and by the time 10am hit and the 1st Shootout started we had only 3 tables. The Shootout format is basically you must finish Top 3 at your table to advance to the 4pm Final. Players start with 3000 in chips and 20 minute blinds. About an hour and a bit it becomes push/fold poker.
Now onto the shootout. Unfortunately it was a pretty bad start for me early which put me in a hole. With blinds at 25/50 UTG makes it 200 to go and its folded around to me in the SB and I look down at AK of spades, I considered re-popping it but didn't think it was a good play out of position so decided to flat call and see a flop. The flop comes down 5 6 K rainbow which looks good for me so I bet 350 and he quickly min-raises which I call. The obvious thought that hits me here as it would most is he has ACES or a SET, the turn brings a 9 and I check and he checks behind (can't figure that one out) the River brings an 8 and puts a 4 card straight out there. Here I figured I had a few choices, I could represent the straight (although a good player figures out unless I was betting and calling the flop minraise with K10 that I was bluffing) or that if my original read that he may have aces was right I put out a blocker bet which he probably just calls, the 3rd option which I figured was the worst was to check and either fold to a huge bet or call a smaller one if he value bets the river. I decided on the blocker bet and he just called and showed 2 Aces.
After that hand I was basically crippled to around half my original stack and didn't get any real playable hands til we hit the 100/200 level. 2 hands into this level I picked up A2 of spades on the button and with 1 limper I decided to push hoping to pick up 500 there but the small blind picked up 99 and moved allin getting the limper to fold. The flop came down 3 6 8 then a 4 on the turn and the miracle 5 on the river for the wheel striaght. Alive and back to almost my original stack I was able to steal some blinds and take down some pots to get me to about 4800 as we lost players. When we got down to 4 handed things tightened up which allowed me to steal from the button almost at will, but with blinds at 300/600 we were basically coinflipping as the shortstacks kept pushing. Finally the player to my left pushed with K10 and the chipleader called with 44 and flopped quads and we were done.
*Sidenote.. my buddy qualified on his table.
After that we decided to head back over the border to have lunch on the Canadian side before heading back for the 4pm Finals.
It didn't seem as there were many players and by the time 10am hit and the 1st Shootout started we had only 3 tables. The Shootout format is basically you must finish Top 3 at your table to advance to the 4pm Final. Players start with 3000 in chips and 20 minute blinds. About an hour and a bit it becomes push/fold poker.
Now onto the shootout. Unfortunately it was a pretty bad start for me early which put me in a hole. With blinds at 25/50 UTG makes it 200 to go and its folded around to me in the SB and I look down at AK of spades, I considered re-popping it but didn't think it was a good play out of position so decided to flat call and see a flop. The flop comes down 5 6 K rainbow which looks good for me so I bet 350 and he quickly min-raises which I call. The obvious thought that hits me here as it would most is he has ACES or a SET, the turn brings a 9 and I check and he checks behind (can't figure that one out) the River brings an 8 and puts a 4 card straight out there. Here I figured I had a few choices, I could represent the straight (although a good player figures out unless I was betting and calling the flop minraise with K10 that I was bluffing) or that if my original read that he may have aces was right I put out a blocker bet which he probably just calls, the 3rd option which I figured was the worst was to check and either fold to a huge bet or call a smaller one if he value bets the river. I decided on the blocker bet and he just called and showed 2 Aces.
After that hand I was basically crippled to around half my original stack and didn't get any real playable hands til we hit the 100/200 level. 2 hands into this level I picked up A2 of spades on the button and with 1 limper I decided to push hoping to pick up 500 there but the small blind picked up 99 and moved allin getting the limper to fold. The flop came down 3 6 8 then a 4 on the turn and the miracle 5 on the river for the wheel striaght. Alive and back to almost my original stack I was able to steal some blinds and take down some pots to get me to about 4800 as we lost players. When we got down to 4 handed things tightened up which allowed me to steal from the button almost at will, but with blinds at 300/600 we were basically coinflipping as the shortstacks kept pushing. Finally the player to my left pushed with K10 and the chipleader called with 44 and flopped quads and we were done.
*Sidenote.. my buddy qualified on his table.
After that we decided to head back over the border to have lunch on the Canadian side before heading back for the 4pm Finals.
Comments
The 1pm Shootout was low as well as there were only 3 tables which meant the 4pm final would be contested with only 18 players in the mix. We started with 5000 in chips and still 20 minute blinds although they inserted a 75/150 level this time and Antes start with the second 100/200 level. My table had 3 players I knew (my friend was on the other table) which I figured was good as I might get alittle more respect from them at the very least. Anyways onto the hands.
Hand 1 25/50 Level
UTG makes it 175 to go and I repop from the cutoff to 425 with AK heart and he calls, the flop comes down 4 9 10 with 2 hearts and he checks, I bet 575 and he folds.
Hand 2 25/50 Level
MP I raise it to 175 with 99 and BB calls, the flop is K 8 7, he checks I bet 250 and he thinks and calls, turn is 3 he checks again and I bet 625 and he folds.
Hand 3 50/100 Level
I raise from the cutoff with KQ to 325 and BB calls and flop comes down K J 2 he checks and I bet 475 and he calls, the turn is another J and he checks again and I check behind the river is 4 and he bets out 600 (which screams VALUE BET to me) I know I am tabling the losing hand but make the call and he tables 33 for a boat.
After hovering around my starting stack I dwindled down to about 4100 without many playable hands, at this point a player at the table started making it 800 to go every hand then would bet out the flop for 1500 (he did the same thing like 6 hands in a row taking down blinds and Antes and any called bets) I decided this was the guy I would try and double through and got lucky the next hand.
Hand 4 150/300 Level
That aggressive player limps from midposition and I have A3 of spades on the button just call hoping to catch something I can push with if he bets the pot again, the small blind completes and BB checks and I hit lightning in a bottle as the flop is K 10 8 of spades, the small and big blind check and he makes it 1200 to go. With 3800 I tank for a minute and decide to flatcall giving him a rope to hang himself, the SB and BB both fold and the turn is the 3 of Spades which I figure is bad for me but he snapbets 4000 I quickly call my last approx 2600ish in chips and table my nutflush, the player was about to muck but the player in seat 2 (Mitch) asked to see his cards and the dealer flipped them to show J10 offsuit.
Hand 5 200/400 75 Ante
We are 5 handed at our table at this point with 11 players left. I pick up AK diamonds UTG and make it 1425 to go and the button calls, the flop is A 6 5, I bet 1700 he tanks and folds.
FINAL TABLE
Top 6 pay, my friend is still alive although short stacked. I have slightly above the average stack with 10800.
We lose a player the 2nd hand in then another 3 hands later.
Hand 6 300/600 100 Ante
I raise to 1525 with AQ from the cutoff and Button calls, the flop is J 9 3 I check and he moves allin for 5K, I fold and he tables KJ.
Pretty much card dead from this point forward with no significant hands and tried to maintain my stack by stealing blinds from the CO and Button. We lost player #8 and my buddy got hit a card rush doubling up back to back hands with AA and 10 10. I was down to around 4000 in chips after getting reraised preflop and folding KQ when we finally lost the 7th player. UTG pushed allin UTG for 4800 and the lady (chipleader) UTG+1 instacalled and everyone folded. He tabled A10 and she had JJ and the board bricked out putting us in the money.
Hand 7 300/600 100 Ante
Right after the bustout hand I picked up 33 and decided to push into the chipleader and she called with A7, the flop came down K 9 10 all clubs and she had the Ace of clubs giving her a shitload of outs, the turn was the Q of clubs and that was it for me, out in 6th for $346. My buddy hung on and once 4 handed a player pushed with 99 for his last 3800, my friend pushed his last 4100 in and the chipleader called with KK and they were both gone after the board came down something like J 10 3 4 5, he finished in 3rd for 806 dollars and that was it.
All in all the format is somewhat decent but if I had known we'd only have 60 total players I probably wouldn't have made the trip, at least with 100 players the prize pool would be decent enough that an in the money finish would be good.
SIDENOTE...
At 7pm the $400 WSOP tournament started, and at about 730pm I noticed BLONDEFISH make his Phil Hellmuth like appearance and finally take his seat... hopefully he did well.
Nice report. Thanks for taking the time. That 3 of spades is indeed bad for you because the deck is apparently fouled.
LOL... it was a low spade card. I am still half baked from all the driving and little sleep.
i was supposed to meet yama at 8am in oakville to carpool down. of course i missed the news about the problem on the 407 so was a bit late and we decided we'd each head down on our own. (he never showed up...). in spite of that i made it there by 9:15.
i was at table 3 in the 10am tourney. (i know we met once before - at turning stone - but i didn't recognize you. a couple other forumers were there - was it sandro and jenn? i'm not so good on names. so shoot me.)
it seeemed to be well run. fast dealers, starting on time, blah, blah, blah. the structure is set up to be over in less than 2 hours so there's a lot more luck than skill necessary to move up. that is a nice way of saying i didn't have much luck. it seemed like a bingofest after about 40 minutes. i'd say the level of play was generally poor but in my brief tournament life it looked like there were 2 or 3 decent players at my table.
i could have tried again in the 1pm tourney but it didn't seem worth the bother. so i played cash games instead. they had 1 2/5nl table going and a few 1/2nl tables. put my name on the 2/5 and sat at the 1/2. after about 4 or 5 hours i finally got called for the 2/5 after a whopping $40 profit at 1/2. i played 2/5 for 6 or 7 hours and made about 2k. prob not a lot less than what the winner of the tourney took down. and no friggin witholding taxes.
i doubled up when an aggrodonk decided to bluff OOP on a paired and flushed board with just top pair. i had slowplayed (badly) a weak FH and another opponent actually laid down trips with a poor kicker. (took a bunch off of howard, the poor bastard, on a couple big hands, too.) then i stacked one guy for 600+ when he couldn't let go of an overpair. that pretty much sums up the day. he then immediately got called to spin the wheel of cash and won 500 so he was in a good mood and continued his donking ways. lol @ ameritards.
i shall return.