Brantford $125 Deep Stack "Trip" Report
I know Brantford is nothing special, but I thought I'd write a trip report anyway seeing as it was my first live poker experience in years. TLDR at the bottom.
Arriving at the casino, I was already a little late (for some reason, everyone was driving 80km/h on the 403 and it took me forever to get there). I also had to get a players card before I could complete the registration for the tournament. The woman at the counter was very nice and allowed me to go start the tournament and she would bring me my card and my ID back to me.
The casino itself was better than I was expecting. It's not very big obviously, but they have a decent amount of table games and slot machines. The poker area is at the far back of the casino which is nice because it's away from all the slots noise.
The tournament structure for the deep stack was pretty good. There was a decent amount of play at the start which was good. My table seemed to have a few regs on it as they knew each other and the dealers seemed to know them. There was a middle aged Asian guy to my left who seemed fairly competent. To his left was a younger guy who liked to talk during his hands which made the table a bit more friendly. In one hand of his, he had just check/raised the Asian guy and was getting stared down. The young guy almost started laughing and pulled his hoodie back and was like "Are you looking at my pumping jugular? Does it mean that I have a hand or not?" He was a pretty solid player I think.
There was also an extremely tight older lady who literally would not put chips in the pot preflop without a premium hand, so she was easy to play against. On her left was an older guy who was on a crazy heater to start the tournament. He was betting/calling almost every hand and he kept hitting at least two pair every time. My first big hand was against him. He limps in early. One other caller. I'm in LP with KK and I raise it up. Only he calls. Flop comes JJ2 two hearts. He checks and I cbet. He just calls. Turn is a 5d and he checks again. I don't think he's slowplaying a J here but it's possible. I think it's more likely a flush draw so I bet the turn to make him pay to chase. He calls again. River is another 5 and he checks again. Now, I'm thinking that he missed his flush draw and I should value bet. However, there are two pairs on the board and this guy just can't miss a flop today. Also, if I bet, he's not calling anything with a busted flush anyway. The only real hand that I can beat that will call a river bet is QQ I think. Eventually I think that just showing down is better so I check. He flips over 8h5h for runner runner trips and scoops the pot. I felt like I lost the minimum but it still sucked.
Eventual table change put me directly to the left of the huge chip leader which was quite annoying because he was splashing chips around constantly. I actually had him to my right from then on as when we redrew for final table seats he was still on my direct right. There were no real hands of note before final table. I 3bet a couple people off of hands preflop and chipped up a little here and there. I forced chip leader to lay down a hand in a decent pot with an A high flop. He mumbled for a bit and questioned about my kicker strength before folding (this comes into play later). There were a bunch of short stacks on the other table, so I had the luxury of being able to wait them out a bit.
Eventually the bust outs come and we redraw for final table of 10 with 9 getting paid. Immediately everyone has already agreed that we will collect money for the bubble boy. $10 is decided on quickly. I was never asked and I did not agree to do so, but there's already $50 collected by the time the guy turns to me. I give $10 without a word.
There are a few decent players at final table, but there's also a few that are way too tight. Very early on though I lose a big pot to chip leader. IIRC, it was BvB. I had 66 which was the nuts vs chip leader's range. Flop is AJx. He checks and I cbet. He again mumbles about the strength of my kicker but this time he calls. I don't know why, but alarm bells were going off in my head. Turn is another A. He checks again and I check too. I think I'm fine here as I can easily be slowplaying with trip Aces not wanting to chase him away yet. River is a Q and he donks out pretty much enough to put me all in. I honestly felt like my sixes could be good here, but even if he hit the Q I'm done. I tank/fold and I'm left with a pretty short stack with escalating blinds.
I end up getting lucky when I push my short stack in on the button and get called from the BB. I flip over Th6h and he shows ATo. I get up to leave as I flop a 6 which holds.
A horrible hand takes place with 5 players left. One short stack pushed all in UTG. It's folded around to chip leader who hums and haws and then just calls. I'm in BB and look down at KK. I've already had KK busted twice today, so I figure I might as well try for a third. Chip leader is just huge at this point (he had a giant stack all day - he had more than 50% of the chips in play with 5 left I think). At this point I have a healthy stack size, but there's no way I'm just calling here. I decide to reraise all in to isolate the short stack. Chip leader (who takes his time on every hand to the point of annoyance), thinks for a bit and mucks. Short stack flips over 88 and I'm an 80% favorite to win a big pot. However, third time is not the charm as he rivers his 8 and I lose with KK for the third time. That pot would have made a big difference for me.
With four left, the stacks are crazy short. I literally have like 7BBs and I'm forced to call one short stack all in for like 2 BBs. Obviously, I lose that one. Another hand I'm on the button and push raise with Ts7s. BB pushes for a tiny bit more and I have to call. He's got an A and it holds so I'm crazy short now. My final hand I push with Ad5d and BB wakes up with AA. I blank out and bust in 4th for $800.
Overall, it was a great experience. The staff was very nice and friendly. The dealers seemed friendly and competent. I only witnessed one misdeal the whole tournament. The other players, for the most part, were friendly as well. Some of the table talk was entertaining. I obviously made a few mistakes being that I never play live. I made a bet with one chip but didn't declare it so it was made a call. I also tried to push all in but I made a string bet and had to take some chips back. I definitely enjoyed the experience though and I may force myself to go back again soon.
TLDR:
· my first trip to Brantford and first time playing live in years
· finished 4th for $800
Arriving at the casino, I was already a little late (for some reason, everyone was driving 80km/h on the 403 and it took me forever to get there). I also had to get a players card before I could complete the registration for the tournament. The woman at the counter was very nice and allowed me to go start the tournament and she would bring me my card and my ID back to me.
The casino itself was better than I was expecting. It's not very big obviously, but they have a decent amount of table games and slot machines. The poker area is at the far back of the casino which is nice because it's away from all the slots noise.
The tournament structure for the deep stack was pretty good. There was a decent amount of play at the start which was good. My table seemed to have a few regs on it as they knew each other and the dealers seemed to know them. There was a middle aged Asian guy to my left who seemed fairly competent. To his left was a younger guy who liked to talk during his hands which made the table a bit more friendly. In one hand of his, he had just check/raised the Asian guy and was getting stared down. The young guy almost started laughing and pulled his hoodie back and was like "Are you looking at my pumping jugular? Does it mean that I have a hand or not?" He was a pretty solid player I think.
There was also an extremely tight older lady who literally would not put chips in the pot preflop without a premium hand, so she was easy to play against. On her left was an older guy who was on a crazy heater to start the tournament. He was betting/calling almost every hand and he kept hitting at least two pair every time. My first big hand was against him. He limps in early. One other caller. I'm in LP with KK and I raise it up. Only he calls. Flop comes JJ2 two hearts. He checks and I cbet. He just calls. Turn is a 5d and he checks again. I don't think he's slowplaying a J here but it's possible. I think it's more likely a flush draw so I bet the turn to make him pay to chase. He calls again. River is another 5 and he checks again. Now, I'm thinking that he missed his flush draw and I should value bet. However, there are two pairs on the board and this guy just can't miss a flop today. Also, if I bet, he's not calling anything with a busted flush anyway. The only real hand that I can beat that will call a river bet is QQ I think. Eventually I think that just showing down is better so I check. He flips over 8h5h for runner runner trips and scoops the pot. I felt like I lost the minimum but it still sucked.
Eventual table change put me directly to the left of the huge chip leader which was quite annoying because he was splashing chips around constantly. I actually had him to my right from then on as when we redrew for final table seats he was still on my direct right. There were no real hands of note before final table. I 3bet a couple people off of hands preflop and chipped up a little here and there. I forced chip leader to lay down a hand in a decent pot with an A high flop. He mumbled for a bit and questioned about my kicker strength before folding (this comes into play later). There were a bunch of short stacks on the other table, so I had the luxury of being able to wait them out a bit.
Eventually the bust outs come and we redraw for final table of 10 with 9 getting paid. Immediately everyone has already agreed that we will collect money for the bubble boy. $10 is decided on quickly. I was never asked and I did not agree to do so, but there's already $50 collected by the time the guy turns to me. I give $10 without a word.
There are a few decent players at final table, but there's also a few that are way too tight. Very early on though I lose a big pot to chip leader. IIRC, it was BvB. I had 66 which was the nuts vs chip leader's range. Flop is AJx. He checks and I cbet. He again mumbles about the strength of my kicker but this time he calls. I don't know why, but alarm bells were going off in my head. Turn is another A. He checks again and I check too. I think I'm fine here as I can easily be slowplaying with trip Aces not wanting to chase him away yet. River is a Q and he donks out pretty much enough to put me all in. I honestly felt like my sixes could be good here, but even if he hit the Q I'm done. I tank/fold and I'm left with a pretty short stack with escalating blinds.
I end up getting lucky when I push my short stack in on the button and get called from the BB. I flip over Th6h and he shows ATo. I get up to leave as I flop a 6 which holds.
A horrible hand takes place with 5 players left. One short stack pushed all in UTG. It's folded around to chip leader who hums and haws and then just calls. I'm in BB and look down at KK. I've already had KK busted twice today, so I figure I might as well try for a third. Chip leader is just huge at this point (he had a giant stack all day - he had more than 50% of the chips in play with 5 left I think). At this point I have a healthy stack size, but there's no way I'm just calling here. I decide to reraise all in to isolate the short stack. Chip leader (who takes his time on every hand to the point of annoyance), thinks for a bit and mucks. Short stack flips over 88 and I'm an 80% favorite to win a big pot. However, third time is not the charm as he rivers his 8 and I lose with KK for the third time. That pot would have made a big difference for me.
With four left, the stacks are crazy short. I literally have like 7BBs and I'm forced to call one short stack all in for like 2 BBs. Obviously, I lose that one. Another hand I'm on the button and push raise with Ts7s. BB pushes for a tiny bit more and I have to call. He's got an A and it holds so I'm crazy short now. My final hand I push with Ad5d and BB wakes up with AA. I blank out and bust in 4th for $800.
Overall, it was a great experience. The staff was very nice and friendly. The dealers seemed friendly and competent. I only witnessed one misdeal the whole tournament. The other players, for the most part, were friendly as well. Some of the table talk was entertaining. I obviously made a few mistakes being that I never play live. I made a bet with one chip but didn't declare it so it was made a call. I also tried to push all in but I made a string bet and had to take some chips back. I definitely enjoyed the experience though and I may force myself to go back again soon.
TLDR:
· my first trip to Brantford and first time playing live in years
· finished 4th for $800
Comments
Nice finish.
Good read.
Prophet22
i may be wrong, but i think they sometimes run on sundays as well.