Nurse Holiday's Long Overdue VEGAAS TRIP REPORT - part 4
Day 3 - back to the Aladdin for breaky and a $35 tourney. More my speed I tell myself. Get away from sharks and plunder the minnows I tell myself. Loosen up I tell myself. Make a move or two early, build a decent stack and play like you can I tell myself. Can't wait all day for Aces, I tell myself. This is partypoker $5 SNG speed - and format - ram and push and double up against some hump early and you are off to the races, I tell myself.
3rd hand - get KJ suited in LP. UTG puts in a min raise, folded to me, I triple the bet. Folded to UTG and he calls. Flop comes with King rag rag none my suit. UTG checks to me, I bet he calls. Turn is another rag, UTG bets out. WTF does he have?? WTF was that? He has a king, but what kicker? 2 pair? AK? It is the third hand...I have no read. I have TP decent kicker. I call. He bets river but by this point we both know we are playing for all our chips - I think he had 200 left before the river, I had 150...it all goes in. He has KQ and I am done. 3rd hand. Nice work I tell myself. Well done. Stop taking advice from idiots, I tell myself. I'm pretty sure I didn't listen.
So I steam around the slot machine area just outside the poker room for all of 3 minutes to clear my head. Now what should I do? I know!! I'lll RE-BUY (precious nugget of info I gleaned earlier in the week must have been a SIGN! Re-buy and good things will happen!) So the ink on my obit was not even close to dry when I re-appeared at the sign-in booth and laid out another $40. I'm IN!
They whisk me off to my new seat assignment and ask me if I knew about their breakfast spread???????!!!!!!!! LOFL. I politely indicate that I'm aware of my options in that regard and I take my seat. As I sit, it is obvious I have happened in at a very humourous time. Not sure what has transpired, but there is much laughter and rejoicing at the table. To make a long story short, it turns out that just prior to my arrival, there had been quite a hand transpire. It seems that the gentle old fellow to my left had just rivered a gutshot to take down a large pot against a player wtih a large pocket pair who had made a large PF raise, chasing out all but the chaser (doesn't that follow?). Upon seeing his PP get cracked by the gutshot, the offended player rose from his seat and not-so-politely instructed the dealer to "blind-me-off. I f()cking quit. You can't play these f()cking things. You may as well just f()cking blind me off." And off he did stomp....leaving over $500 in chips on the table. I could only hope to outlast this mysterious, anonymous donor. ANd take his chips slowly but surely. He did not return.
Well, like a broken record, there is not much to report on the hand front. And it wasn't from lack of preparation - I had a trusty notepad and pencil at the ready. But once again nothing of interest came my way, not even a sultry-looking KJ suited with which to commit hari-kari. My table breaks and I get moved....righti into the seat that buddy # 2 had just been busted out of. Not a good omen. After about one or one and a hafl orbits, I have still played nothing but I have seen that the big stack will play most hands. Not neccessarily aggressively, but he wants to be INVOLVED. He plays crap. Note to self...you must be able to win a showdown if he is in the hand, and it will be for all your chips (I was shortstacked with around 1150 and blinds were 100/200). A little later, the blinds are now 200/400 and I have 1000. Nothing comes my way....nothing. Still waiting. But as hands are being played I'm strategizing. Good thing I read Sklansky's tournament book week before. Studied up on when to move all in when blinds are getting ominously large....studied that section a few times. Now what had he said??? I can't recall....something about never pass up a bad bet only to make a worse bet later. Or always passs up a good bet to make a better one next Tuesday. I don't remember exactly, but I think it applies to my current situation. The blind will be on me in 2 hands. What to do.....well UTG I get 10 3 offsuit and must fold it. I will pay the 400 in the BB and see what I get. Anyone disagree with this?
So I pay the 400 in the BB and I now have 600 in chips. I don't even look at it - I want to see the action first. Folded to Mr. BigStack who needs to play every hand. He raises to 800. It is folded to the SB who calls. Now it is 400 to me. 2000 in the pot. 400 to me. 5 to 1 odds vs. 2 players. Wow, this looks like moving day. Now or never. Better have a look see though, just to satisfy my curiosity. QUESTION - before looking at your hole cards, do they even matter? Are there ANY hands that you will not play in this situation or is it an AUTO CALL (or push all-in for 200 more)??? Think about it and post your responses or at least make a mental note of your answer.
I take a peak, giddy at what I might find. And low and behold, I see 2 3 offsuit staring back at me. 2 3 offsuit. For (basically) all my chips, with a chance to triple up. Or I can pass and take door # 2 in the small blind. What say ye? I struggled with this one for some time (not eons, but it wasn't automatic - maybe it should have been). I will post the results in a few days.
3rd hand - get KJ suited in LP. UTG puts in a min raise, folded to me, I triple the bet. Folded to UTG and he calls. Flop comes with King rag rag none my suit. UTG checks to me, I bet he calls. Turn is another rag, UTG bets out. WTF does he have?? WTF was that? He has a king, but what kicker? 2 pair? AK? It is the third hand...I have no read. I have TP decent kicker. I call. He bets river but by this point we both know we are playing for all our chips - I think he had 200 left before the river, I had 150...it all goes in. He has KQ and I am done. 3rd hand. Nice work I tell myself. Well done. Stop taking advice from idiots, I tell myself. I'm pretty sure I didn't listen.
So I steam around the slot machine area just outside the poker room for all of 3 minutes to clear my head. Now what should I do? I know!! I'lll RE-BUY (precious nugget of info I gleaned earlier in the week must have been a SIGN! Re-buy and good things will happen!) So the ink on my obit was not even close to dry when I re-appeared at the sign-in booth and laid out another $40. I'm IN!
They whisk me off to my new seat assignment and ask me if I knew about their breakfast spread???????!!!!!!!! LOFL. I politely indicate that I'm aware of my options in that regard and I take my seat. As I sit, it is obvious I have happened in at a very humourous time. Not sure what has transpired, but there is much laughter and rejoicing at the table. To make a long story short, it turns out that just prior to my arrival, there had been quite a hand transpire. It seems that the gentle old fellow to my left had just rivered a gutshot to take down a large pot against a player wtih a large pocket pair who had made a large PF raise, chasing out all but the chaser (doesn't that follow?). Upon seeing his PP get cracked by the gutshot, the offended player rose from his seat and not-so-politely instructed the dealer to "blind-me-off. I f()cking quit. You can't play these f()cking things. You may as well just f()cking blind me off." And off he did stomp....leaving over $500 in chips on the table. I could only hope to outlast this mysterious, anonymous donor. ANd take his chips slowly but surely. He did not return.
Well, like a broken record, there is not much to report on the hand front. And it wasn't from lack of preparation - I had a trusty notepad and pencil at the ready. But once again nothing of interest came my way, not even a sultry-looking KJ suited with which to commit hari-kari. My table breaks and I get moved....righti into the seat that buddy # 2 had just been busted out of. Not a good omen. After about one or one and a hafl orbits, I have still played nothing but I have seen that the big stack will play most hands. Not neccessarily aggressively, but he wants to be INVOLVED. He plays crap. Note to self...you must be able to win a showdown if he is in the hand, and it will be for all your chips (I was shortstacked with around 1150 and blinds were 100/200). A little later, the blinds are now 200/400 and I have 1000. Nothing comes my way....nothing. Still waiting. But as hands are being played I'm strategizing. Good thing I read Sklansky's tournament book week before. Studied up on when to move all in when blinds are getting ominously large....studied that section a few times. Now what had he said??? I can't recall....something about never pass up a bad bet only to make a worse bet later. Or always passs up a good bet to make a better one next Tuesday. I don't remember exactly, but I think it applies to my current situation. The blind will be on me in 2 hands. What to do.....well UTG I get 10 3 offsuit and must fold it. I will pay the 400 in the BB and see what I get. Anyone disagree with this?
So I pay the 400 in the BB and I now have 600 in chips. I don't even look at it - I want to see the action first. Folded to Mr. BigStack who needs to play every hand. He raises to 800. It is folded to the SB who calls. Now it is 400 to me. 2000 in the pot. 400 to me. 5 to 1 odds vs. 2 players. Wow, this looks like moving day. Now or never. Better have a look see though, just to satisfy my curiosity. QUESTION - before looking at your hole cards, do they even matter? Are there ANY hands that you will not play in this situation or is it an AUTO CALL (or push all-in for 200 more)??? Think about it and post your responses or at least make a mental note of your answer.
I take a peak, giddy at what I might find. And low and behold, I see 2 3 offsuit staring back at me. 2 3 offsuit. For (basically) all my chips, with a chance to triple up. Or I can pass and take door # 2 in the small blind. What say ye? I struggled with this one for some time (not eons, but it wasn't automatic - maybe it should have been). I will post the results in a few days.