Haven't posted in a while, but the length of last night's game gave me plenty of time to think about certain hands (repeatedly) while waiting for the tourney to end, so I thought I'd post the ones which stand out to me. Obviously, this means a few more bad beats than wins, since I've got a selective memory as good as the next guy
First: thanks Rob for hosting, and I love this format. This opened up so many more ways to play then a normal game, and the multiple weeks also helped a bit to offset bad luck on a given night (although not entirely ). I'd lvoe to do this again (after the bender is run again )!
Second: Props to Nik for battling so hard to win this thing. A little luck was required (as with all tournaments), but you played great last night (despite the hands I mention below ), and your patience paid off. Congrats!
The doomswitch was much more spectacular with Pinhead. For me, it didn't seem to want to kill me so much as torture me.
I started the tourney tied for short-stack with 14,000.
First level with blinds 25/25, I limp from UTG with 34s (it was pretty ), RangerMike limps late, Shtebs (SB) and Grail (BB) both check. Flop is 257 giving me an OESD, checked around to Ranger who bets 100. Shtebs check-raises to 375, BB folds, and I decide to call. My reasoning for my donky call is a strong suspicion that Shtebs has a set, and that my junk hand might be fairly well disguised and could win a big pot. Turn is the A, Shtebs bets 700, I raise to 3200, and Shtebs calls. River is dealt, Steve checks, and I look down to see another 2. I check and Shtebs shows his rivered boat. I donk around a bit for the next couple levels and get myself back close to starting, and hit first break with 14,200.
Level 6 with blinds at 100/200(25), I pick up AJs in MP. I raise to 650, Nik flat calls from button, Kinkao calls from SB, and for some crazy reason Pinhead folds his blind. Flop is KKJ and checked to me, but I noticed something from Nik that made me think he had a K. I check and he checks, Q on the turn and it's checked around again. River is a brick, checked around to Nik who bets 600. I call since I wanted to see his kicker which turned out to be a J for the boat. 3 outs and he hit 2 of them. Level ends and I hit second break with 14,000.
I grind up to about 20k, and then I pick up 77 and get it all in against a big A (AQ I think) and manage to hold (they blanked, and I turned quads) and I'm at around 34k. Level 8 with blinds at 200/400(50), a limper, then Kingkao limps from CO, Grail calls from SB, and I check A4o from BB. Flop is AJ4 with 2 spades (I have none). I think Kingkao might try to steal it since it's just the blinds, so I check and he bets 1200, Grail folds, and I pop it to 4000. Turn is another spade, and I check thinking he just got there, and he checks as well. River is a fourth spade and it goes check check, and I flip my cards over and say that I just have 2 pair. He says "you win" and shows his limped kings, one of which happens to be a spade. Nothing major over the next level, and I get to third break with around 27,800.
Trevor somehow managed to fold after putting in half his stack on the AsQs7d flop in a blind battle, showing the case A to my top set. Pretty sick given our history.
I think Brad and my big hand was during level 11. I had won a few small pots to get to around 35k, and with both Steve's eliminated, I was sitting directly to Brad's left (meaning we got to play a log of blind battles). As Brad mentioned he had been totally quiet for a couple hours but had recently started winning quite a few pots, and had probably increased his stack by around 20k to about 55k in the last couple levels, while I'm at around 30k. So with the blinds at 500/1000(100), Brad made it 2700 to go. From the BB I look down at A8o, and just flat call since I know I have the best hand and I know Brad will c-bet the turn, so I'll wait till then and pick up a bigger pot. Flop is dealt, Brad bets 3800, and I think for a minute and then announce raise and make it 14,400 to go. Brad thinks for a minute and then says he's all-in. Watching him something feels really wrong, and I think he's hit the flop pretty good, so I guess I have to fold. However, first I look down at the flop since I actually ignored it till now (since everything prior to the all-in was "expected" in my vision of how this hand would go), and I see ace-face-rag. I actually have top pair, so even if Brad hit I should normally have him beat here. However, something just felt wrong, and my post-flop read tells me I'm beat, although I can't understand why. After a couple minutes, I finally announce fold, and told Brad that this was either my best or worst play of the night, and show the Ace (since I knew he probably wouldn't believe I folded it if I didn't show it ). Later he tells me had AA and flopped top set, which I believe, so my pre-flop read was horridly off, but something post-flop saved my tourney. As Brad mentioned, we have a pretty colourful history, so knowing what Brad's capable of made this hard.
However, even if it is a "sick fold", I still just put half my chips in the pot and then folded. I also was second-guessing my decision, since Brad and I didn't chat about we actually had until later (after he busted). Oh well, on with the game. Last hand before level 12 ends I notice that I have 14,000 which was my starting stack. I mention how funny it would be if I don't play the last hand and have my exact starting stack after 6 hours of play. However, I pick up an Ace and push, picking up the blinds and get to fourth break with 17,000.
Shortly after break, in the 800/1600(200) level, Brad's doomswitch goes off, he ships all his chips to Dave, and then busts shortly afterwards. The table then agrees to a partial chop which will give 5th place $100. Finally having Brad off my blind, being really short on chips, and thinking that with the chop and KingMob's massive chip lead that I have nothing to lose, I go hyper-aggressive and win/steal about half the pots for the next few orbits. Somebody commented that I had won quite a few chips since break and I responded a few, and Brad said "yeah, just a few - you're over 40k". I counted up my stack and he was correct - without paying attention to my stack I had somehow grown it by quite a lot, and within a couple more orbits I had grabbed the chip-lead by a thin margin. Unforuntately, this didn't last long. I picked up KQo and raised to 4500, 800over pushed for around 17 more, and I called thinking he had a weak ace and I had odds. Wrong again - he was bluffing with Q5, but he managed to hit one of his 3 outs again, and I've lost half my stack. Kingkao busted shortly after this and we were down to four players. Down to around 25k, I pick up 88 and raise to 4500, only to have KingMob (who has me covered) push over top of me. Pretty sure I'm beat I fold, down 20% of my stack.
Level goes up to 1000/2000(300), and with only 10 BB left, pushbot time. I push or fold for a few orbits, hovering around the 20k mark. Final hand for me, Mole raises to 7k from the button, I look down in BB to see KK and push, and he says "crap" and then calls with A5o. Ace comes, and home I go in fourth.
Thanks Zithal for holding the tourney. Appreciate all the work that you went through. Sorry I left abruptly, didn't realize I busted out at 2:50am and I didn't want to get a parking ticket. lol.
A bit sad I busted out in what seems like 2 hands in a row, sort of a similar situation as Pinhead. Disappointing.
I pretty much was card-dead for most of the night. Had a few playable hands and either missed the flop entirely or was pushed off them by a pre-flop raise.
Lost a bunch of chips in a couple of hands (sorry I can't remember exact details as well as Trevor!):
I raised from the cutoff with A3 just hoping to steal the blinds (any ace looked like gold to me at this time!), Shtebs (who was playing a lot of hands at that time) called from the SB. Flop came AKx, I think there was a bet and call. Turn paired the "x" (I don't remember the exact card) and my kicker was now irrelevant as long as he had a weaker ace than AK or an underpair (but I thought he had an ace of some sort). Unfortunately he did have AK and I paid off his river bet thinking we might be chopping. I don't think it was a bad call given the information I had but obviously it cost me a bunch of chips.
Then there was the A3KQ3 board when I had KQ. Made 2 pair on the turn only to be counterfeited on the river to King Mob's Ax making aces and 3s. That one stung a bit because I inflated the pot on the turn thinking I had the best hand (which I did at the time!) and then got nailed on the river. I should have trusted my instinct and folded instead of calling Dave's river bet - that was definitely an error on my part that cost me about 2000 chips.
Later I called a King Mob raise with 44 in the SB. Flop came 922, I checked, he bet, I raised (thinking he might just have overcards), he re-raised (probably over 5K in the pot). I struggled with it but folded and Dave showed a 2...don't know what his other card was.
Funny hand: we had been talking about J9 (Brad's fave hand) and I got J9 in middle position and raised. Hellmuth's Mole called in the BB and the flop came AKx. He checked, I made a continuation bet and won the pot. He folded his J9 saying "I guess J9 isn't so great after all". Privately I thought "hey it isn't so bad!!".
My only significant winning hand: I was in the SB and got KK. There was a raise, call, and re-raise (Nik) in front of me for about 2100. My stack was maybe 12K so I pushed. Nik tanked and eventually folded QQ (well done Nik!). Still this was a nice hand for me as I gained over 3K in chips without seeing a flop.
Finally I was so shortstacked at the 300-600 a75 level I was forced to push with AQ in middle position. Nik had QQ and had me covered and I didn't hit my 3-outer so that was it for me!!
Thanks Rob for a great set of tournaments! Looking forward to next year, I hope you can run more events in 2010.
I picked up KQo and raised to 4500, 800over pushed for around 17 more, and I called thinking he had a weak ace and I had odds. Wrong again - he was bluffing with Q5, but he managed to hit one of his 3 outs again, .
Good post Beanie....but the hand above I open shoved. You were the BB. I had 12500 more than the BB...Doesn't take away from the fact that I still hit the 3 outer though!!
Can't remember what poster, I think its Hellmuth's Mole, I was up against, but I get funniest hand of the night.
With blinds pretty big, I was in MP with pocket Ks. I like limping, seeing if I have a chance to extract some chips and there was not a lot of times when I limp and I get re-raised because I think a lot of the table felt when I did, I had a strong hand, which is right more often than not.
Flop comes out A, x, x. Really I was just focusing on the A. It gets checked all around. Turn comes out a 4. I check and Mole makes it 1500. I knew he put me on a really strong hand and last hand the whole table thought I had the broadway straight, but I was actually bluffing into Pinhead. So my table image is pretty solid and I felt like he had a weak A I could move him off of, so I raised to 4000. He called. So river came something and at this point I was pretty disinterested in the hand. Luckily, it went check, check on the river.
I say I got nothing, just a pair of Ks. Turn over the cards, and what do you know, there are 4 spades out there and I got a flush... Mole has A4 for 2 pair.
So much for paying attention. I'm pretty lucky that happened to me, it pretty much woke me up for the rest of the night. LOL.
Comments
First: thanks Rob for hosting, and I love this format. This opened up so many more ways to play then a normal game, and the multiple weeks also helped a bit to offset bad luck on a given night (although not entirely
Second: Props to Nik for battling so hard to win this thing. A little luck was required (as with all tournaments), but you played great last night (despite the hands I mention below
The doomswitch was much more spectacular with Pinhead. For me, it didn't seem to want to kill me so much as torture me.
I started the tourney tied for short-stack with 14,000.
First level with blinds 25/25, I limp from UTG with 34s (it was pretty
Level 6 with blinds at 100/200(25), I pick up AJs in MP. I raise to 650, Nik flat calls from button, Kinkao calls from SB, and for some crazy reason Pinhead folds his blind. Flop is KKJ and checked to me, but I noticed something from Nik that made me think he had a K. I check and he checks, Q on the turn and it's checked around again. River is a brick, checked around to Nik who bets 600. I call since I wanted to see his kicker which turned out to be a J for the boat. 3 outs and he hit 2 of them. Level ends and I hit second break with 14,000.
I grind up to about 20k, and then I pick up 77 and get it all in against a big A (AQ I think) and manage to hold (they blanked, and I turned quads) and I'm at around 34k. Level 8 with blinds at 200/400(50), a limper, then Kingkao limps from CO, Grail calls from SB, and I check A4o from BB. Flop is AJ4 with 2 spades (I have none). I think Kingkao might try to steal it since it's just the blinds, so I check and he bets 1200, Grail folds, and I pop it to 4000. Turn is another spade, and I check thinking he just got there, and he checks as well. River is a fourth spade and it goes check check, and I flip my cards over and say that I just have 2 pair. He says "you win" and shows his limped kings, one of which happens to be a spade. Nothing major over the next level, and I get to third break with around 27,800.
I think Brad and my big hand was during level 11. I had won a few small pots to get to around 35k, and with both Steve's eliminated, I was sitting directly to Brad's left (meaning we got to play a log of blind battles). As Brad mentioned he had been totally quiet for a couple hours but had recently started winning quite a few pots, and had probably increased his stack by around 20k to about 55k in the last couple levels, while I'm at around 30k. So with the blinds at 500/1000(100), Brad made it 2700 to go. From the BB I look down at A8o, and just flat call since I know I have the best hand and I know Brad will c-bet the turn, so I'll wait till then and pick up a bigger pot. Flop is dealt, Brad bets 3800, and I think for a minute and then announce raise and make it 14,400 to go. Brad thinks for a minute and then says he's all-in. Watching him something feels really wrong, and I think he's hit the flop pretty good, so I guess I have to fold. However, first I look down at the flop since I actually ignored it till now (since everything prior to the all-in was "expected" in my vision of how this hand would go), and I see ace-face-rag. I actually have top pair, so even if Brad hit I should normally have him beat here. However, something just felt wrong, and my post-flop read tells me I'm beat, although I can't understand why. After a couple minutes, I finally announce fold, and told Brad that this was either my best or worst play of the night, and show the Ace (since I knew he probably wouldn't believe I folded it if I didn't show it
However, even if it is a "sick fold", I still just put half my chips in the pot and then folded. I also was second-guessing my decision, since Brad and I didn't chat about we actually had until later (after he busted). Oh well, on with the game. Last hand before level 12 ends I notice that I have 14,000 which was my starting stack. I mention how funny it would be if I don't play the last hand and have my exact starting stack after 6 hours of play. However, I pick up an Ace and push, picking up the blinds and get to fourth break with 17,000.
Shortly after break, in the 800/1600(200) level, Brad's doomswitch goes off, he ships all his chips to Dave, and then busts shortly afterwards. The table then agrees to a partial chop which will give 5th place $100. Finally having Brad off my blind, being really short on chips, and thinking that with the chop and KingMob's massive chip lead that I have nothing to lose, I go hyper-aggressive and win/steal about half the pots for the next few orbits. Somebody commented that I had won quite a few chips since break and I responded a few, and Brad said "yeah, just a few - you're over 40k". I counted up my stack and he was correct - without paying attention to my stack I had somehow grown it by quite a lot, and within a couple more orbits I had grabbed the chip-lead by a thin margin. Unforuntately, this didn't last long. I picked up KQo and raised to 4500, 800over pushed for around 17 more, and I called thinking he had a weak ace and I had odds. Wrong again - he was bluffing with Q5, but he managed to hit one of his 3 outs again, and I've lost half my stack. Kingkao busted shortly after this and we were down to four players. Down to around 25k, I pick up 88 and raise to 4500, only to have KingMob (who has me covered) push over top of me. Pretty sure I'm beat I fold, down 20% of my stack.
Level goes up to 1000/2000(300), and with only 10 BB left, pushbot time. I push or fold for a few orbits, hovering around the 20k mark. Final hand for me, Mole raises to 7k from the button, I look down in BB to see KK and push, and he says "crap" and then calls with A5o. Ace comes, and home I go in fourth.
A bit sad I busted out in what seems like 2 hands in a row, sort of a similar situation as Pinhead. Disappointing.
Also, I think I left my jacket at your place.
Lost a bunch of chips in a couple of hands (sorry I can't remember exact details as well as Trevor!):
I raised from the cutoff with A3 just hoping to steal the blinds (any ace looked like gold to me at this time!), Shtebs (who was playing a lot of hands at that time) called from the SB. Flop came AKx, I think there was a bet and call. Turn paired the "x" (I don't remember the exact card) and my kicker was now irrelevant as long as he had a weaker ace than AK or an underpair (but I thought he had an ace of some sort). Unfortunately he did have AK and I paid off his river bet thinking we might be chopping. I don't think it was a bad call given the information I had but obviously it cost me a bunch of chips.
Then there was the A3KQ3 board when I had KQ. Made 2 pair on the turn only to be counterfeited on the river to King Mob's Ax making aces and 3s. That one stung a bit because I inflated the pot on the turn thinking I had the best hand (which I did at the time!) and then got nailed on the river. I should have trusted my instinct and folded instead of calling Dave's river bet - that was definitely an error on my part that cost me about 2000 chips.
Later I called a King Mob raise with 44 in the SB. Flop came 922, I checked, he bet, I raised (thinking he might just have overcards), he re-raised (probably over 5K in the pot). I struggled with it but folded and Dave showed a 2...don't know what his other card was.
Funny hand: we had been talking about J9 (Brad's fave hand) and I got J9 in middle position and raised. Hellmuth's Mole called in the BB and the flop came AKx. He checked, I made a continuation bet and won the pot. He folded his J9 saying "I guess J9 isn't so great after all". Privately I thought "hey it isn't so bad!!".
My only significant winning hand: I was in the SB and got KK. There was a raise, call, and re-raise (Nik) in front of me for about 2100. My stack was maybe 12K so I pushed. Nik tanked and eventually folded QQ (well done Nik!). Still this was a nice hand for me as I gained over 3K in chips without seeing a flop.
Finally I was so shortstacked at the 300-600 a75 level I was forced to push with AQ in middle position. Nik had QQ and had me covered and I didn't hit my 3-outer so that was it for me!!
Thanks Rob for a great set of tournaments! Looking forward to next year, I hope you can run more events in 2010.
Ranger
Good post Beanie....but the hand above I open shoved. You were the BB. I had 12500 more than the BB...Doesn't take away from the fact that I still hit the 3 outer though!!
With blinds pretty big, I was in MP with pocket Ks. I like limping, seeing if I have a chance to extract some chips and there was not a lot of times when I limp and I get re-raised because I think a lot of the table felt when I did, I had a strong hand, which is right more often than not.
Flop comes out A, x, x. Really I was just focusing on the A. It gets checked all around. Turn comes out a 4. I check and Mole makes it 1500. I knew he put me on a really strong hand and last hand the whole table thought I had the broadway straight, but I was actually bluffing into Pinhead. So my table image is pretty solid and I felt like he had a weak A I could move him off of, so I raised to 4000. He called. So river came something and at this point I was pretty disinterested in the hand. Luckily, it went check, check on the river.
I say I got nothing, just a pair of Ks. Turn over the cards, and what do you know, there are 4 spades out there and I got a flush... Mole has A4 for 2 pair.
So much for paying attention. I'm pretty lucky that happened to me, it pretty much woke me up for the rest of the night. LOL.
That was Beanie (Trevor), not me.