Fallsview Step Q Trip report
(Cliff notes on the bottom as always)
Well after qualifying for the 1240 last week I had not planned on playing the 1240 this weekend as I was busy with other things but the g/f had to go get her hair done in the afternoon so I asked if I could have 3 hours to go play the tournament….and off I went (I was 20 minutes from Fallsview so it was no big deal…her weekend house is great to crash and go play with the quick drive)
So I got to fallsview at about 11:45 and I was told the registration would start at 12:00. So I stood around with what looked to be a mob of poker players (the 1240s only run on Saturday so I assumed they all wanted to get in early) I registered and got into the second game.
Here are some things to note:
30 people waiting list at 12:05pm the first satellite didn’t start till 12:45pm. The second one I entered started at 1:30pm. Why is there such a long lag time I have no clue. If you say they start at 12:00 and you have 10 people ready to go, fire it up otherwise don’t advertise sign up for 12.
Also to my surprise people sign up for the 1240 not realizing that you require either 1240.00 or a voucher worth 1240.00 . To my shock we had a guy sit down at my table refusing to pay 1240 because he was told he was going to get 3000 chips. WTF….honestly can the supervisors please run these more efficiently. This is the third satellite I have played this year and they are run horribly. How hard is it to collect vouchers or money and fill out the seat card. GEEZ
Anyways enough ranting on to my trip report:
So we all settle in and I choose seat 3. First time I have sat on the opposite side of the table so I will see how that holds up for me.
Seat 1: Middle aged guy who bought in straight
Seat 2: 10/20 regular who bought in straight
Seat 3: Me
Seat 4: Middle aged guy who had a voucher
Seat 5: Kid who had a voucher
Seat 6: 10/20 Player who had a voucher
Seat 7: Older gentleman who had a voucher
Seat 8: Older gentleman who had a voucher
Seat 9: Middle aged gentleman who had a voucher
Seat 10: This big guy from Montreal who had a voucher (made it known to everyone how many times he has played and how bad a run it has been for him – smoking gun note there….it continues to run bad for him….lol)
So from this line up I clearly identify that we aren’t in Kansas anymore and I need to bring my A game….especially with this being winner take all. But like any poker player I still believe I am the best one at the table until I see otherwise (I have always gone in to any tournament with that mentality just to psyche myself up instead of playing scared….do it once, it helps
)
And we are off…..blinds at 25/50
First hand I am on the button and I look down at KK. Are you kidding me I have a decision to make on the first hand.
1. I am on the button so any raise looks like a steal.
2. People are not going to give me the respect I need early on because they figure I am probably some young aggressive internet kid
3. I don’t want to go broke the first hand but that’s life.
Before I have a chance to think of my raise amount, mid position raises it up to 150 and late position calls. So at this point I have the opportunity to re-open the betting or just call and try to trap. My initial gut told me to re-pop to 700 and shut down the pot right there but I decided against my gut (always a poor choice I know from numerous experience) and I just call to try and trap. Well here is the flop:
K 10 4 rainbow
Bingo…I flop huge but on a drawy board. Original raiser checks, late position bets out 300 and I just call. I figure at this point if he is betting out I put him maybe on a pair or A10. The turn brings a 7 and he bets out 300 again. So I call (this is great I am thinking to myself, he doesn’t realize I am holding a monster). River A. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. Now this fills up a lot of hands including a straight. But my first instinct is this player wouldn’t be betting on the straight to come in the first hand of a tourney and hoping to hit. So I figure this filled his A10 and I am going to get some value. Although the way I played my KK looks like I was chasing so I may in fact shut down the action, either way I will be happy with the result.
Now the villain bets 600 into the pot. I re-raise to 1200 and he flips over his cards and says “straight” . I sink into my chair and realize I just made a ton of mistakes. But wait he did not call. He exposed his cards before placing in the chips so right away I call the floor over and ask for a ruling.
Fallsview original ruling is that any exposed cards are a dead and if the action has not been completed. In this case I min raised him and we did not hear call or chips placed into the middle. Well the dealer ships the pot to the villain anyways. After a few minutes of arguing requesting my chips back I am told that the dealer’s decision is final. I give the dealer a death stare as he realizes he shouldn’t have moved the pot until the floor was over the table and the appeal was finalized.
So now I am left with less than half my stack after my first hand. The villain did state that he didn’t hear my raise and would have pushed all in anyways. I did announce RAISE and I did put in chips. Oh well…..it was my mistake for playing the hand poorly anyways so I guess I shouldn’t berate Fallsview for not upholding their rules.
So now I sat back and watched as people shipped chips to each other calling for flushes with 69 suited playing J5 and turning 2 pair…..it was quite the interesting battle. My next hand I decide to play is A8D. I raise to 150 and get the same villain again who limp calls.
Flop comes Q107….he checks to me and I check. Turn is an 8 of clubs (now there is a club draw and a straight draw out there). He checks and I fire out 300 and he just calls. At this point I figure I have the best hand as he should have either check raised me or fired out the turn due to the draw type board. River is a 4C and it fills the draws every which way. He checks to me and I value check my 8 and he mucks. (I love value checking the best hand…lol…honestly I was so dejected that I figured if I did fire out 600 he would shove on me and I would have to fold…so I was happy to take my little pot and get up to about 1700)
Another orbit goes by and once again aggressive betting and stealing is happening which is nice to see because for the most part the hands are becoming transparent based on the betting (I originally thought it was going to be tricky based on the way hand 1 was played out but it turns out that was just an anomaly)
In my last hand I pick up AQD and I call the 50 and the button decides to raise it to 275. I call and the flop comes KQ8 with 2 hearts (great another spectacular board for me to try to win a pot)…I decide to check to see what mr. 275 was going to do. At this point I put him on a pocket pair and if he leads out he has a K the majority of times because of the heart draw. He checks as well. At this point I put him on 99-JJ because he had flopped a set earlier and bet it out. Turn is a 2H. I check again for pot control to ensure I don’t get re-raised at this point. He fires out 300 and I quickly call. Now I have identified that he has a pair with 1 heart. What sucks for me is I don’t know if it a big pair or a small pair. The river is the AH I quickly shove all in to represent the flush and I am quickly called by JJ with the J of hearts.
GG me. I officially blew off my first 1240 of the year with a horrible showing. Back to the drawing board.
Cliff notes:
1.I suck
2. I misplayed 2 out of 3 hands
3. I’ll see you back at the 460s next Friday
Well after qualifying for the 1240 last week I had not planned on playing the 1240 this weekend as I was busy with other things but the g/f had to go get her hair done in the afternoon so I asked if I could have 3 hours to go play the tournament….and off I went (I was 20 minutes from Fallsview so it was no big deal…her weekend house is great to crash and go play with the quick drive)
So I got to fallsview at about 11:45 and I was told the registration would start at 12:00. So I stood around with what looked to be a mob of poker players (the 1240s only run on Saturday so I assumed they all wanted to get in early) I registered and got into the second game.
Here are some things to note:
30 people waiting list at 12:05pm the first satellite didn’t start till 12:45pm. The second one I entered started at 1:30pm. Why is there such a long lag time I have no clue. If you say they start at 12:00 and you have 10 people ready to go, fire it up otherwise don’t advertise sign up for 12.
Also to my surprise people sign up for the 1240 not realizing that you require either 1240.00 or a voucher worth 1240.00 . To my shock we had a guy sit down at my table refusing to pay 1240 because he was told he was going to get 3000 chips. WTF….honestly can the supervisors please run these more efficiently. This is the third satellite I have played this year and they are run horribly. How hard is it to collect vouchers or money and fill out the seat card. GEEZ
Anyways enough ranting on to my trip report:
So we all settle in and I choose seat 3. First time I have sat on the opposite side of the table so I will see how that holds up for me.
Seat 1: Middle aged guy who bought in straight
Seat 2: 10/20 regular who bought in straight
Seat 3: Me
Seat 4: Middle aged guy who had a voucher
Seat 5: Kid who had a voucher
Seat 6: 10/20 Player who had a voucher
Seat 7: Older gentleman who had a voucher
Seat 8: Older gentleman who had a voucher
Seat 9: Middle aged gentleman who had a voucher
Seat 10: This big guy from Montreal who had a voucher (made it known to everyone how many times he has played and how bad a run it has been for him – smoking gun note there….it continues to run bad for him….lol)
So from this line up I clearly identify that we aren’t in Kansas anymore and I need to bring my A game….especially with this being winner take all. But like any poker player I still believe I am the best one at the table until I see otherwise (I have always gone in to any tournament with that mentality just to psyche myself up instead of playing scared….do it once, it helps
)And we are off…..blinds at 25/50
First hand I am on the button and I look down at KK. Are you kidding me I have a decision to make on the first hand.
1. I am on the button so any raise looks like a steal.
2. People are not going to give me the respect I need early on because they figure I am probably some young aggressive internet kid
3. I don’t want to go broke the first hand but that’s life.
Before I have a chance to think of my raise amount, mid position raises it up to 150 and late position calls. So at this point I have the opportunity to re-open the betting or just call and try to trap. My initial gut told me to re-pop to 700 and shut down the pot right there but I decided against my gut (always a poor choice I know from numerous experience) and I just call to try and trap. Well here is the flop:
K 10 4 rainbow
Bingo…I flop huge but on a drawy board. Original raiser checks, late position bets out 300 and I just call. I figure at this point if he is betting out I put him maybe on a pair or A10. The turn brings a 7 and he bets out 300 again. So I call (this is great I am thinking to myself, he doesn’t realize I am holding a monster). River A. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. Now this fills up a lot of hands including a straight. But my first instinct is this player wouldn’t be betting on the straight to come in the first hand of a tourney and hoping to hit. So I figure this filled his A10 and I am going to get some value. Although the way I played my KK looks like I was chasing so I may in fact shut down the action, either way I will be happy with the result.
Now the villain bets 600 into the pot. I re-raise to 1200 and he flips over his cards and says “straight” . I sink into my chair and realize I just made a ton of mistakes. But wait he did not call. He exposed his cards before placing in the chips so right away I call the floor over and ask for a ruling.
Fallsview original ruling is that any exposed cards are a dead and if the action has not been completed. In this case I min raised him and we did not hear call or chips placed into the middle. Well the dealer ships the pot to the villain anyways. After a few minutes of arguing requesting my chips back I am told that the dealer’s decision is final. I give the dealer a death stare as he realizes he shouldn’t have moved the pot until the floor was over the table and the appeal was finalized.
So now I am left with less than half my stack after my first hand. The villain did state that he didn’t hear my raise and would have pushed all in anyways. I did announce RAISE and I did put in chips. Oh well…..it was my mistake for playing the hand poorly anyways so I guess I shouldn’t berate Fallsview for not upholding their rules.
So now I sat back and watched as people shipped chips to each other calling for flushes with 69 suited playing J5 and turning 2 pair…..it was quite the interesting battle. My next hand I decide to play is A8D. I raise to 150 and get the same villain again who limp calls.
Flop comes Q107….he checks to me and I check. Turn is an 8 of clubs (now there is a club draw and a straight draw out there). He checks and I fire out 300 and he just calls. At this point I figure I have the best hand as he should have either check raised me or fired out the turn due to the draw type board. River is a 4C and it fills the draws every which way. He checks to me and I value check my 8 and he mucks. (I love value checking the best hand…lol…honestly I was so dejected that I figured if I did fire out 600 he would shove on me and I would have to fold…so I was happy to take my little pot and get up to about 1700)
Another orbit goes by and once again aggressive betting and stealing is happening which is nice to see because for the most part the hands are becoming transparent based on the betting (I originally thought it was going to be tricky based on the way hand 1 was played out but it turns out that was just an anomaly)
In my last hand I pick up AQD and I call the 50 and the button decides to raise it to 275. I call and the flop comes KQ8 with 2 hearts (great another spectacular board for me to try to win a pot)…I decide to check to see what mr. 275 was going to do. At this point I put him on a pocket pair and if he leads out he has a K the majority of times because of the heart draw. He checks as well. At this point I put him on 99-JJ because he had flopped a set earlier and bet it out. Turn is a 2H. I check again for pot control to ensure I don’t get re-raised at this point. He fires out 300 and I quickly call. Now I have identified that he has a pair with 1 heart. What sucks for me is I don’t know if it a big pair or a small pair. The river is the AH I quickly shove all in to represent the flush and I am quickly called by JJ with the J of hearts.
GG me. I officially blew off my first 1240 of the year with a horrible showing. Back to the drawing board.
Cliff notes:
1.I suck
2. I misplayed 2 out of 3 hands
3. I’ll see you back at the 460s next Friday
Comments
Due to the overly long waiting times, many of the $1240 and $460 players gave up and my name was eventually called for the third satellite. A better system would be to tell every player that wants to register by noon to show a Step Q voucher. Instead of wasting time and paying $1,240 cash at the table, a player has lots of time to buy the transferable voucher, e.g., pay $1,240 at the cashier. The first 10 players to show a voucher can be handed a seat ticket and they can already sit down at the first satellite table at noon. As soon as that satellite is started, the tournament supervisor can sit the next 10 players with a voucher at the second satellite table.
A third table should be scheduled that is only for $460 satellites. Each $460 satellite will produce three $1,240 voucher winners that will help seed the $1,240 satellites. Since Zithal or I weren't consulted on the proper structure for the new Step 2 satellite this year,
If it will be at least as busy as last Saturday, a fourth table should be scheduled so that a third $1,240 satellite can start much earlier than the 4:50 PM start of my satellite. By the time my first satellite ended at 8:15 PM, almost all of the 40+ players that had been waiting since noon to play a $460 satellite were gone. I went from the bottom of the list to getting to play the first $460 satellite of the day, but we still had to wait for ten players, and cards did not fly until 9:30 PM!
While my personal experience of playing three satellites on Saturday was fine, I could see why there were dozens of frustrated players. Fallsview needs to minimize customer frustration and maximize the number of satellites as there seems to be a record low of main event entries with only four weekends left to go before October 10.
Don't forget the epic fail at angle shooting.
Mark
DIAFG plz.
LOL I was just following the rules......not my fault people at a 1240 satellite still make rookie mistakes by not announcing their intentions or paying attention to the action at hand....
Rookie mistake? I swear to god.. The villan can't win. He's either going ot be bitched at for making the dealer restate every single action that occurs at the table (Did he fold? Did he call? How much did he call?) OR the villan works to keep the game moving and makes a mistake to which you want to jump all over and angle-shoot.
So ya really... DIAGF.
No, you were beat, and tried a last ditch effort to steal the pot... This is the point where you're telling the truth...
Everything in the proceeding two paragraphs are you trying to save face or convince yourself you didn't just play KK the worst possible way ever. The "rule" that you're referencing is there to prevent people from trying to leverage another opponent, what could he possibly be trying to leverage with the NUTS?!?!
Your reasoning is faulty in the same way that 13cards has often been - he is ignoring the SPIRIT of the rules in favour of the literal interpretation. This is never a good idea.....
Hrm.. now having said that, I can see why you thought it would work at FV... still doesn't make it right.
Mark
Spirit of the rules...I love that one. Let me go rob a bank and hopefully the spirit of the rules don't get me arrested. Next time the floor supervisor reads out the rules to the tourney I will let him know that "real poker players" only like the spirit of the rules and they should be applied when it is fit to do so and not when someone makes an incorrect play by accident.
I will not comment on anything further and I appologize for posting a trip report for members to read. Seems as though everytime I have posted something on this board there are a few members who take it upon themselves to play Andy Rooney and rip apart any comments/reports/hands histories.
As for the other comments by BBZ anytime you want to play HU4ROLLZ let me know so I can build the camp fire with your $$$$
Not meaning to take it out on you blackmagicz, I'm just sick of the "me first" mentality..... nobody thinks about doing the RIGHT thing vs. what's right for them.
btw... exactly what "spirit" makes bank robbery okay?
Mark
No offence taken. Once again the rule was clearly spelt out. I have been playing for 10 years now so I think I have a good ear and would not interpret a rule. In all honesty I know if I had been in the situation where I had made that mistake and been awarded a pot I know every player on the that table would have done the exact same thing.
For whatever type of angle shooting it is, unfair or fair, people are playing to win and would take any edge necessary. It didn't work out in my favor anyways so really it is irrelevant, it was just something I was pointing out in my trip report.
I'm pretty sure thats the definition of angle-shooting. You are poker scum. It's ok, just stop trying to make us believe you are anything more than that.
I think the age old saying if you have nothing good to say don't say anything at all applies to 95% of your posts.
Go back under the bridge Troll. Thanks.
And my offer to play for rolls still stands. Maybe that will shut you up. Then I can treat pokerforum.ca to a freeroll tournament with the money I took from you.
Can you throw in some t-shirts as well? I love t-shirts.