Bristol St. presents -- "Merry Xmas Maddness"!
The 2004 Bristol Street Merry Xmas Maddness
No-Limit Hold'em Tournament
Thursday, Dec 30th at 7pm.
No-Limit Hold'em Tournament
Thursday, Dec 30th at 7pm.
The Xmas season is all about gift giving (and getting!) and beating those mad rushes to get the best gifts while the clock ticks down to Christmas Eve. The Bristol Street Merry Xmas Maddness tournment contains all the best (and worst) aspects of the season and should make for that tournament that's... very interesting. (Please note, to celebrate the coming New Year, this tournament is a little less serious that some of the others) The details....
$5 Entry for 1,000 chips.
Unl. rebuys in the first 4 levels; $5 for 1,000 (you must bust out to rebuy!)
One add-on available at the end of Level 4. $5 for an extra 2,000 chips.
And... a Bag 'o Presents available at every table!!
Unl. rebuys in the first 4 levels; $5 for 1,000 (you must bust out to rebuy!)
One add-on available at the end of Level 4. $5 for an extra 2,000 chips.
And... a Bag 'o Presents available at every table!!
Payout: 1st: 45%, 2nd: 25%, 3rd: 15%, 4th: 10%, 5th: 5%
Maximum number of Players: 24 - 3 tables of eight (Please RSVP)
Maximum number of Players: 24 - 3 tables of eight (Please RSVP)
At the beginning of the tournament, each table recieves one "Bag 'o Presents". If you play a hand down to the river and one of your hole cards is the "2 of Hearts". You get to pull one present (at random) from the Bag 'o Presents. Each Bag will contain the following...
One green 25 chip
Two black 100 chips
Four purple 500 chips
Two yellow 1,000 chips
Two "Special" White chip
Two "Special" Blue chip
Two "Special" Red chip
Two "Special" Pink chip
The "Special" Chips.
White - "Merry Christmas!" - The player pulling this chip may exchange it for one free re-buy or add-on.
Blue - "Secret Santa!" - The player pulling this chip is feeling especially generous and will be moving All-In blind on the very next hand
Red - "Gift Exchange!" - The player pulling this chip, exchanges all their chips with the all the chips of the player to thier left.
Pink - "Don't open your Presents Early!" - If this chip is pulled before the first break, you get a green 25 chip from the bank. If it's pulled after the first break, you get three yellow chips (3,000)
Special rules for the "Bag 'o Presents"
1. You do not need to win the hand at showdown in order to claim a present. (But you do have to show your cards!) Your hand needs to either be still in play after the final round of betting, or All-In with at least one caller.
2. If you bust out (but win a present), the present you've drawn is appiled after you re-buy. If you choose not to re-buy, the present is discarded. If it's after the rebuy period and you bust out. You are still in the game with only the chip you pull from the bag. (We'll call it a "Last Minute Xmas Gift")
3. If you pull a present that's already been coloured up... the present is discarded. Tough luck! Feel free to shout, "Bah, Humbug!"
4. The white, red and blue chips will be removed from the bag during the first break. For each one removed a yellow chip (1,000) will be put back in.
5. If a table collapses and there are still presents on it, the presents are discarded. We will randomly determine the tables to be broken down, players will re-draw seats as each table collapse.
Blind Schedule (20 minute levels) Approx time for tournament: 4-5 hours
Level 1: 25-25
Level 2: 25-50
Level 3: 50-75
Level 4: 50-100
(BREAK: Race off the green 25 chips. Complete add-ons. Clean up the Bag 'O Presents)
Level 5: 100-200
Level 6: 200-300
Level 7: 200-400
Level 8: 300-600
(BREAK 10 minutes)
Level 9: 400-800
Level 10: 600-1,200
Level 11: 800-1,600
(BREAK: Race off the black 100 chips)
Level 12: 1,000-2,000
Level 13: 1,500-3,000 **estimated end of tournament
Level 14: 2,000-4,000
Level 15: 3,000-6,000
Level 16: 4,000-8,000
Level 17: 6,000-12,000
Level 18: 8,000-16,000
Level 19: 10,000-20,000
(Note: breaks after 100 race off will be on an as-needed basis)
Tournament Strategy.
With higher than normal starting blinds, your goal should be to double or triple through early. I'm keeping the cost of tournament and the rebuys low to help encourage lots of rebuys and to keep the attitude a fun one! Once the first break is done and the bag of presents are exhausted, play will obviously get more serious, but I really wanted to have a fun, crazy tournament to end the year. (So, if wild loose play with lots of bad suck-outs will greatly annoy you... you may want to skip this one.) With the requirement of needed to showdown the "2 of hearts", going for a present is a risky proposition! The payoff may be really good... or really bad.
So, what's the ultimate strategy......? HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please RSVP your spot, please send me a message. If there's a question you have, or if you discover a rules inconsistancy, please let me know! I wasn't able to post this on the site when I first announced this, so a good chunk of seats are already full.
Rob.
Comments
1. Rob L
2. Peter A.
3. Adam S.
4. Steve S.
5. Lisa H.
6. Ralf W.
7. Jeff S.
8. Jason C.
9. Piera C.
10. Mark B.
11. Mario
12. Dave
13. Matt L
14. David B. S.
15. Paul R.
16. Easy.
17. Kyle T.
18. Iron
19. Garro
20. pkrfce
21. magithighs
22. Hork42
23. David B.
24. Shopsey
Waiting List:
1. Jeff P.
2. Chugs
3. solive5509
4. pokerpimp1
5. pokerpimp2
6. pokerpimp3
7. pokerpimp4
This sounds like a riot.
Garro, I can meet you at Winston Churchill/401 if you want a ride. That's almost Toronto...
So, we may be starting a little after the proposed starting time. If they are late, we'll sit around and play fun hands or start up a quick cash game in the meantime.
pokerpimp
No-Limit Hold'em Tournament
Your chances just got a lot better, Ryan "deuce" and myself are unable to make it. Sorry Rob, I just tooka new job and I have to work on the 29th and 30th now. Good luck everone!
stp
Been on vacation, so I haven't gotten online to this in a bit. I've cleaned up stuff and here's where we stand...
I've taken stpboy and Ryan off the list. I did have one person point out that they sent me an email awhile ago and I forgot to put him on, so that one's all my fault. This puts Jeff P., first on the waiting list, with Chugs second.
I have one friend on the list that is doubtful in coming, so I'm guessing that at least one person will be moved in. Chugs is probably a 50/50 bet and the rest on the list are looking doubtful. I should know about my friend soon, and I'll keep everyone up to date once I know!
Hope everyone had a great Xmas!
Keep your eyes on the more for more tournaments announced in the New Year!
I was trying to arrange a couple weeks back to give him a ride but that fell through. Do you have a confirmation from him? I wouldn't mind a chance to play chugs again.
Bwahhhahahahahahaha
Yes I am coming with Iron (turns out he lives a scant 16 or so blocks away from me, here in TO).
I can wait to sit down and slugg it out with "all yous guys" in person.
Sorry, Chugs.
Looks like Danny Niegro is still ducking me...
i won't be online, i'm thinking of taking my chances and showing up ... but i would still like to talk to him.
mainly cause i can't pass up on a chance of wnning a huge pot from pkrfce9 with the 2 of hearts
I must say i've been to two of your tournies Zithal and they're always well run. The bag of suprises was a great twist, and wow did it help and kill me at different times.
i will say one thing, i don't often play against female poker players ... and i say this in the nicest way possible ... i don't want to
I can already see myself having to carefully clarify what i've written. All i'm saying is guys be very afraid cause on average i think the ladies get this poker thing more than we do.
I'm not taking anything away from the rest of the players (all us Y chromosoners), who were also all quite exemplary.
The only woman I played with (...) all night was Amanda. She was a very sly player, usually slowplaying the big hands and catching a number of players. She took my stack early on when she 'sucked' out on a flush against my paired ace with massive kicker. Thank God for rebuys.
She was playing very well up to the final table. Then the wheels fell off. I'm not sure what changed. Maybe the gin kicked in? More likely she ran into a wall named 'LOU'. I was able to steal a few of her blinds. I believe I had the sad task of 'busting' her out. I certainly enjoyed her presence at the table.
I'll post more thoughts on the tourney in a separate note.
good game all. Nice hosting as always Zithal. I think your decks are rigged though... KQo is supposed to beat KK all the time!
hork.
First, my apologies for this tome. I'm trying to get it all out before the remaining details disappear. My memory for this is poor. Might have something to do with all the driving and 2 hours of sleep. Forgive me if I'm off on some of the details. Maybe I should start taking detailed notes? Is it ok to do that at the table?
Have you ever been running, get slightly off balance and feel like you are falling for what seems like an eternity? That's the way I felt for most of the tourney! For the vast majority of the time, I had poor cards. Amanda took my stack early on by sucking out a flush against my paired ace. I returned the favour shortly thereafter by sucking out on my own flush against another player. We had a huge number of rebuys at our table! I would guess at least double the number of the next highest table. I blame Shopsy and those damn 2h's.
The middle part of the tourney is a blur. I might have played 2 hands. I ended the rebuy period with exactly the same chips I started with.
I was one of the short stacks at the final table and didn't have much better luck getting good cards. People spoke fearfully of Lou and when he sat down with a huge stack, I figured I'd be lucky to make it to the money. I had to content myself at the end with stealing blinds every round or so to stay alive. My raises seemed to be getting an awful lot of respect. I guess I busted 2 or 3 people out. The few times I was called, I had the advantage and held on. I think I got lucky once and hit a flush to survive.
I held KK at a very opportune time and they held up against a QJ that nearly sucked out a straight. I smooth-called his pre-flop raise (with 300 in chips left after the call - why didn't I just push them in???) and was heads-up against the BB. As I recall the flop was a bit uncomfortable for me but he didn't get any help with his straight draw. I think this hand busted him out.
Another hand: Lou called my BB with Qc4c. The flop came with a club and a 4. Check-check. Then another club. I think Lou bet 3 or 4 BB. The way he was playing, he could have been betting on nothing. I thought my 4's were probably good so I smooth called. The river was a club. I checked, hoping to nail him. (Like you can 'nail' a guy with 10-20x your stack!) He read me perfectly and checked the hand down. Damn! He claims the 4's would not have been enough to take it but I'm not so sure.
I got to heads-up with Lou. He must have had at least 10x my stack. I thought the blinds were done incorrectly here. The BB was forced to act first after the flop, which I thought put me at a huge disadvantage. Can someone post how the blinds and button work heads-up?
The final hand, I had 22. I called the BB. Lou was nice enough not to push me out. The flop came 9 high with 2 suits, I believe. I felt I had to push it now or never. I pushed in my measly 26k. Lou wanted to know if I had 2pr. Then I found out why he was nice enough to not raise me out earlier - he flipped over AA! I ended up having a straight draw but it didn't pan out. Good night, Irene.
Here are some other random thoughts on the night. I am looking for feedback.
Distractions.
What do you do when a woman is sitting at your table in a sexy outfit?
Behaviour.
One guy tossed his cards when Lou sucked out on a straight and busted him out. Does anyone find this unacceptable? I think it was 'in good fun' to a degree but my main concern was that one of the cards ended up on the floor and could have been damaged or missed. I don't know how the guy who got hit with one of the cards felt.
There was a bit of swearing and sexually suggestive talk at the table. I am certainly one of the hugely guilty parties here. I'm not sure how people feel about this, especially with a 'lady' present. Since she was the main culprit, I don't feel too bad. I hope I didn't offend anyone. I'm new to live tourneys so I need to learn what is acceptable.
Aggressiveness.
I was only mildly aggressive during the rebuy period and went broke once or twice. After the rebuy, I was pretty conservative and didn't have ANY cards worth going broke on. I resisted the urge to steal here and I ended up at the final table with one of the shortest stacks against a couple of 'sky scrapers'. Just by looking at the stacks, I thought I could make it to the bubble. With a couple of good breaks and some others making mistakes, I could take home some money!
I had to pick it up a bit to survive now. Luckily, the few times I got called on my pre-flop all-ins, I had good hands that held up. My cards were weak, generally. Was everyone else in the same boat or were people getting decent cards?
I noted that Lou, Mr. Big Stack himself, did not call any of my pre-flop all-in bets. More of that shortly. Lou was kind enough to take out the second biggest stack. It seemed like the two of us took turns chipping away at the others stacks. The hands I wasn't in, Lou raised and was rarely called. The hands I was in, it was generally all-in pre-flop or smooth call with the intention of pushing on any 'bad' looking flop. I guess I took out 2 or 3 players and Lou dealt with the rest.
I felt I was not nearly aggressive enough - certainly after the rebuys and before the final table. Lou was like Germany in the late '30s. What do I need to do to 'up' my game? Also, were people reading me when I had the goods? Or were they just afraid to double me up? I guess pulling the hood over my face had some kind of impact.
Lou's reads.
Lou seemed to have an uncanny knack of knowing when people had a good hand. Tell me how, Lou. Tell me! Tell me! I'm guessing you have many years of experience over me. (I've been playing less than a year.) How could you tell when Amanda was slow playing you and then at other times put in a huge bet against her and get her to fold? Why didn't you call any of my all-in pre-flop raises? Was it because you had lousy cards, could tell I had good cards or you just didn't want to risk doubling me up?
I'd appreciated feedback from any participants. What were my tells? What mistakes did I make? How can I improve? Also, any important hands I missed, I'd love to hear about.
I'll post more later when I get a chance.
I thought everyone played well and I'm really, really happy that the Santa's bag (new meaning now after seeing Zithal's card protector) didn't have the switch with the player to your left after the rebuy.
I must say the biggest tells were the previous actions. So, pkrfce, you didn't steal blinds on 57 when you had the chance earlier. Actually you had two opportunities. So, when you raised me all-in, I was kinda sure you didn't have 57. Just another reason not to show cards.
I loved playing with the women. The cool part is most men underestimate the women. So, when I don't I have a big edge. That and I was getting inside Amanda's head. I gotta use every thing at my disposal.
I didn't mind Peter throwing his cards. I know him from work, so it was cool to bust him with a crappy hand. I did rub it in a bit later too.
My favourite hands were my T6 suited and AK. Usually they're my nemisis. I'll post more later. Remember the wine for the host!
Cheers
Magi
Based on my chip count and the blinds at the final table, I was lucky to survive to the money. I picked up the aggressiveness slightly and luckily had the goods the few times I was called. Mind you, you didn't know ALL the cards I was raising you with. LOL. I mean there must have been 7 or 8 all-ins you didn't call. I'm glad I was able to cultivate that image, at least. Maybe that is something I can use to my advantage?
There's a hole here wide enough to drive a truck through but my mind is out of the gutter. Now.
I was asking this more from the perspective of, would people be pissed at me if I threw my cards? I think it is really situational. If you hadn't known him, I guess you might take offense. Also being told that you SUCK (with capitals) might have also upset you. But with a buddy, it's all in good fun. If he had thrown the cards at me, who knows??? Gotta be careful in that testosterone-laden environment.
I can't wait to read more. I believe there is much I can learn. You really played well from what I saw. You seemed to know exactly when to bet and when to lay off. I'm trying to recall if you ever got caught throwing good money after bad. When someone plays that well, that consistently, it's pretty hard to say it's just luck.
Here's what I do know:
1/ Magi
2/ Me :biggrin:
3/4/5/ blur - Chugs was in there. He said something about making his gas money. I'm guessing 3rd. Amanda was likely 4th. Maybe the lucky 'stiff' beside Amanda? (email me for photos...) Or was he bubble boy? No, he ended up with a bucket of change! So I guess he was 5th. You were right around there too. And Pete (Mr 'YOU SUCK LOU') was pretty close.
I think there were only 7 at the table. Sheesh! You'd think I'd been drinking all night. Maybe they put something in the Diet Coke with Lime?
Mind you i think i showed almost all my cards, so Magi maybe that's why i didn't win
Yep. I really don't mind saying what I have the day after. The key to not showing is that people make up what you have and you can use that to your advantage. We were talking about it before the tournament when I was mentioning the "mighty carnacs" at the woodbridge tournament who would put me on hands that were nowhere near what I was holding. Smile and nod. I always like to be like a hooker, only show if there's dough and if there's no dough I'll tell you what you want to hear.
I really don't think this was a problem with your stack size. You did the right thing. I was just letting you know why I didn't call you. I knew you had good hands and I was looking for more than just a coin flip. On the second hand I stole your blind, it was with KK. I was really hoping you would push in with a pair or something like AK or KQs.
I'm betting that you had nothing less than KQs (based on slansky hand rankings) or pocket pairs <99. I'll buy you a beer if you did -- and I'll take your word for it. You really need to drink more!
If I didn't know Pete, I would have likely taken offense. Well, not really. I enjoy annoying players and if I can get them that upset, I know it's a job well done. If I was in a different setting and Pete looked like he could cause me physical harm, I would have a different perspective. For now, I have great ammo for the next time! Like, "Pete how come you keep losing to people who SUCK!" Ah, there's tons of ammo there.
Cheers
Magi