Windsor/Point Edward trip report
What a disastrous weekend. And the worst part is, I made MISTAKES that resulted in me missing the money in both of these tournaments... ugly ugly ugly.
WINDSOR $500 + $50 NLHE, approx. 50 players, top 5 places pay. 5K starting chips.
If you've never been to the poker room at Casino Windsor, you should check it out. It's a very nice room, separated from the noise and bustle of the main casino floor. Also, two of the employees (Wayne and Tyler) were extremely helpful. The blind structure was a little quick, but not terrible by any means. It was typical of what you'd expect from a single day casino tournament.
My table was wild. There was a player eliminated on the first hand, with 4 or 5 players seeing the flop for 600 each. Playing 25/25 blinds. The flop came ten high, and 2 players went all-in. One was holding QQ and the other was holding KK, no help for the QQ guy and that was that. I mention this hand for this reason: I was in a big hand with a guy who was in that hand, and he said he folded pocket jacks. Not the world's most amazing laydown, considering the preflop action, and then the action on a ten-high flop, but still... I decided that he must be at least a reasonable player.
The first major hand I played was against this guy. Blinds 25/50, I still had my starting stack of about 5K, and my opponent had 4700 or so. I was in MP with KhTh. Two limpers to me, I limped, one more LP limper, and the blinds completed and checked. 6 of us to the flop: Td 5c 3d. The blinds checked, an EP limper bet 500 (the guy who had JJ on the first hand of the tournament), folded to me, I made it 1500, and it was folded to EP, who called.
The turn was the 5h, pairing the board. EP checked, I bet 1000, and EP moved in for a raise of about 2200 more--essentially the rest of my stack.Â
Here's where I feel the mistake was made. I thought for quite some time, but about the wrong things. I was thinking: "Can I fold this hand? How many chips will I have left relative to the blinds? He did fold JJ on a ten high flop in that first hand..." etc. What I SHOULD have been thinking about (in addition to those things) was this:
He just called preflop. He COULD have limped with AA or KK, but probably not.
He bet 500 at the ten-high flop, and then called my raise of 1000 more. This means he is not holding a single 5 or a 3. He has a ten, a flush draw, a high pocket pair, or a set of threes. I can rule out quads and a set of tens, because both are unlikely although not impossible. So, he has a ten, a flush draw, a high pocket pair, or a set of threes which is now a full house.
Flush draw: I don't think he'd call 1000 more on the flop with a flush draw. And even if he did, he wouldn't check-raise all-in on the turn with a flush draw. My stupid bet of 1000 on the turn is almost small enough for him to just call with a flush draw. Plus, the board paired, which might make him abandon his flush draw altogether. He probably does not have a flush draw.
High pocket pair: Unlikely. He probably wouldn't just call my flop raise with a high pocket pair in case I was raising my own flush draw. And he certainly wouldn't check the turn, because if I was on a flush draw, I'd probably check behind and take the free card.
A set of threes (now a full house on the turn): Possible.
A pair of tens (now two pair on the turn): Possible. If that's the case we're playing the battle of the kickers, and mine is pretty good.
Eventually, I folded, leaving me with about 2500 chips. I was worried about him having AT. I could see him limping with this hand.
The real problem was my bet of 1000 on the turn. It looked like I was leaving enough chips behind so I could fold if I was raised, so it was a nice all-in check raise from my opponent. Many hands later, I caught his eye and said: "I made a very big laydown for you sir." He said: "You had a ten?" I said yes. He then told me what he had. I will write it in white in case you'd like to comment on this hand from an unbiased point of view... I would certainly appreciate feedback on this one.
He said: "Ten what?" I said "king", and he said "I had queen-ten". Ugh. If I'd thought the hand through a little more, I probably would have been able to narrow him down to something like QT.
So with about 2500 chips, I was in some trouble. Two hands that I can remember at the 50/100 level:
Folded to me in MP and I raise to 300 with 66. I get a caller in LP and the BB calls as well. Flop: AK4. BB checks, I bet 700, and both of my opponents fold.
A million callers to me in SB with 93o. I put in the extra 50. Flop Qd2h2d. Checked around. Turn Jc. I bet 400 and get 2 callers. I put them both on draws. River 4c. I bet 700 and take it down.
100/200 level.
I'd lost a couple of small pots and was sitting at around 2800 or so. EP limped, I raised to 600 with AA. Folded to BB, who agonized for a while and said: "Man I really want to see a flop with this hand". Finally he called. EP called as well.
Flop: KJ7 rainbow. Checked to me and I moved in. BB agonized for a while and said to EP: "are you going to call him if I fold?". Before the words: "FLOOR" were out of my mouth, he said "just kidding, just kidding". Finally he called. EP folded. BB had KK for a flopped set of kings, and that was all for me.
I went to a nearby hotel and booked a couple of rooms for me and Mike. Mike was still in the tournament, so I watched a movie: Aeon Flux. I don't recommend it. I like sci-fi movies, but this one seemed to be all about fight scenes and special effects. Not for me.
I then wandered back to the casino and cheered on Mike as he went to take 4th place. Way to go! This was a nice $2500 score, and I had 10% of him, so the day wasn't a TOTAL bust for me. That was Mike's biggest tournament win to date, so we went out to a couple of bars that night to celebrate. Windsor has a healthy nightlife scene.
POINT EDWARD  $500 + $50 NLHE, 80 players, final 10 make the money and advance to play the following day against 20 other finalists from the previous 2 qualifying days. 5K starting chips.
The tournament area here was unfortunately right on the gaming floor, next to slot machines and their incessant noise. They are planning to build a separate poker room within the next year.
Before I get to the details of this tournament, I should mention that the easiest way to get from Windsor to Sarnia is through the USA. That is, if you don't have any problems at the border, which we did. Mike and I both had proper ID (passports, birth certificates) but were detained nonetheless. We answered all of the guy's questions at the booth, and figured we'd sail on through the US to Sarnia. Nope... he slapped an orange sticker on my windshield and told us to drive to the inspection station. After about 15 minutes of walking from desk to desk while they inspected my car, answering the same questions over and over again, we were finally admitted into the USA. The border people were very unpleasant, but I guess it's not their job to be pleasant. At least they didn't take a knife to the seats of my new car or stick anything up my ass. As a matter of fact, they didn't bother searching us at all... just the car. We could have had anything in our pockets. I'm not sure what they were looking for or why we were detained.... I thought it was best to just get the hell out of there instead of asking questions. Neither of us had more than 10K in cash or currency on us and they didn't bother to search us to verify that fact... neither of us have any kind of a criminal record, either. I'm really not sure what the problem was.
The drive through the States between Windsor and Sarnia is the kind of drive you want to be done with ASAP. I've never felt so homesick for Canada before, and I was less than a kilometer away from it at all times, driving alongside the border. Before long we were at the Canadian border and a nice guy asked us like two questions, and off we went.
My seat draw at Point Edward was interesting. To my left was the tightest player at the table, and to my right was the most aggressive. I won a small pot early when it was folded to the aggressive guy on the button, who raised. I re-raised from the SB with AK and he called. The flop missed me, I bet, and he folded.
With the blinds at 25/50 (level 1) a couple of people limped to me in MP (including the aggressive guy) and I raised to 300 with AA. BB called, and the aggressive guy called.Â
Flop: Qd Jc 5s. Checked to me, I bet 600, BB folded, and the aggressive guy raised to 1300. I called.
Turn: 7d. My opponent bet 1K and I called.
River: 3h. My opponent bet 1K and I called.
He showed 57o for a turned 2 pair. I misplayed this hand, obviously. I post the details here so you can hopefully learn from mistakes like these. My loss is your gain. Why didn't I re-raise the flop? I'll tell you why... I've been eliminated from SOOOOOOO many tournaments holding big pocket pairs and losing to a player holding QJ or QT or KJ or KT and flopping two pair with it. This type of thinking is wrong though. Current hands don't care about how past hands have gone or what's happened in them. If I put my opponent on a hand that beats me, I should have have folded the flop to his check-raise. If I put my opponent on a hand that I can beat, I should have re-raised the flop. After being bounced from so many tournaments holding big pocket pairs, I was gunshy to say the least, and that's not the way to play good poker.
After that hand I had about 2100 left in my stack. I had won a couple of small pots before the hand, things were going well, and then I was crippled. Ugh. Felt just like the day before.
Oh, and after that hand, my opponent with 57 tapped the table in front of me and said: "Nice hand sir". I hadn't shown my aces, and to my knowledge I hadn't won the hand, so why was he saying "Nice hand" to ME? I didn't get it. And then I noticed that after every hand he won, he would say to his opponent "Nice hand", whether the cards were shown or not. Is it just me, or is this not rude? I don't know. The kids these days, I have no idea what they're trying to say anymore.
Shortly after the AA vs 57 hand, I picked up KK in LP. Folded to the aggressive guy who raised. I re-raised. Folded back to him, he moved in, and I called. He had AK vs my KK.
The flop came with an ace.
The turn gave me the only king left in the deck, and I doubled up to something approximating my original starting stack. The guy to my right couldn't believe how unlucky he was to lose to a one-outer.Â
Quite a bit of time went by, the first break came and went, the blinds went up and up. Mike was still in the tournament as well. I don't remember many hands, but I remember these ones:
At 150/300 I open-raised to 900 from MP holding KJo. A shortstacked LP player went all-in, and it was folded back to me. I could tell that it was an easy call for me, and asked the dealer how many more chips I had to put in. While the dealer was counting the all-in player's stack, the guy to my right (who was now a MASSIVE chip leader at our table) was saying: "It's a call, look, it's an automatic call, any two, pot odds, you have to call, you can't fold, it's a call". I stopped counting out the extra chips, turned to him and said: "Take it easy. I know it's a call. But right now, I'm trying to determine how many more of these chips I have to take from my stack and put into the pot. OK?" <silence> And I called, he had JJ, I hit a king on the turn, and eliminated him.
Later on I took a flop in a raised pot with AK against two opponents, bet at a king-high flop, and took it down. I also took some stabs at flops that missed me and had to fold.
My stack was at around 6K at the 300/600 level when the following hand occured. There were about 45 players remaining. I open-raised to 1200 from EP holding TT. Why did I just DOUBLE the blinds holding TT? Fatigue and sloppiness... I thought the blinds were still at 200/400.
The button and the BB called. The flop came AQ8 rainbow. BB checked, and I bet 2000. The button (BIG stack) raised it to 4000. The BB (BIG stack) re-raised all-in. I folded. The button called with AQ. The BB had A8 and was eliminated. In retrospect, if I had raised it to 1800 or 2000 like I should have at 300/600, the BB might not have seen that flop. So, my mistake cost him his tournament. But there was another mistake I made in this hand, one that I have been kicking myself for ever since. When your stack is at 10XBB, you can't afford to bet over 3 BB's at an AQx flop holding TT vs. 2 opponents who called a preflop raise. That is bad poker. With a bigger stack, you can make this play. With 10XBB, you check and fold the flop. Ugh. Ugh.
Ugh.
After picking up garbage and folding my blinds for a round or two, I was left with 1800 (exactly 3XBB) in MP. Folded to the guy to the aggressive guy to my right, who raised all-in to about 3000 or so. I forgot to mention, he went from having about 25K in chips to having 3K in chips after tilting off his entire stack in the space of about 4 hands or so. I called all-in with 55, and the BB called as well.
Me: 55
Aggressive dude: Qc9c
BB: JdKs
Flop: Jc 5c 4h
Turn: 7c
River: brick.
I flopped a set, but the board didn't pair, and IGHN. The aggressive guy took it down with his flush, but busted out soon after. Mike busted out soon after as well, so we played some cash games for a while. I won about $300 playing $20/$40 LHE, so that day wasn't a total bust for me, either. We drove home that night through a terrible snowstorm, and that was that.
All in all, I'd say I made some mistakes that cost me both of these tournaments. Back to the drawing board: analyze and learn, analyze and learn.Â
I met some really nice people, particlarly David and Peter in Point Edward, so that was cool. I saw some familiar faces. It seems like a lot of people are watching Poker Night Live which is great, so I had a number of people introduce themselves to me. I just wish I had played better... oh well. Best of luck to Lou and to others who made it to today in Point Edward, and fire at will re: these hands.
WINDSOR $500 + $50 NLHE, approx. 50 players, top 5 places pay. 5K starting chips.
If you've never been to the poker room at Casino Windsor, you should check it out. It's a very nice room, separated from the noise and bustle of the main casino floor. Also, two of the employees (Wayne and Tyler) were extremely helpful. The blind structure was a little quick, but not terrible by any means. It was typical of what you'd expect from a single day casino tournament.
My table was wild. There was a player eliminated on the first hand, with 4 or 5 players seeing the flop for 600 each. Playing 25/25 blinds. The flop came ten high, and 2 players went all-in. One was holding QQ and the other was holding KK, no help for the QQ guy and that was that. I mention this hand for this reason: I was in a big hand with a guy who was in that hand, and he said he folded pocket jacks. Not the world's most amazing laydown, considering the preflop action, and then the action on a ten-high flop, but still... I decided that he must be at least a reasonable player.
The first major hand I played was against this guy. Blinds 25/50, I still had my starting stack of about 5K, and my opponent had 4700 or so. I was in MP with KhTh. Two limpers to me, I limped, one more LP limper, and the blinds completed and checked. 6 of us to the flop: Td 5c 3d. The blinds checked, an EP limper bet 500 (the guy who had JJ on the first hand of the tournament), folded to me, I made it 1500, and it was folded to EP, who called.
The turn was the 5h, pairing the board. EP checked, I bet 1000, and EP moved in for a raise of about 2200 more--essentially the rest of my stack.Â
Here's where I feel the mistake was made. I thought for quite some time, but about the wrong things. I was thinking: "Can I fold this hand? How many chips will I have left relative to the blinds? He did fold JJ on a ten high flop in that first hand..." etc. What I SHOULD have been thinking about (in addition to those things) was this:
He just called preflop. He COULD have limped with AA or KK, but probably not.
He bet 500 at the ten-high flop, and then called my raise of 1000 more. This means he is not holding a single 5 or a 3. He has a ten, a flush draw, a high pocket pair, or a set of threes. I can rule out quads and a set of tens, because both are unlikely although not impossible. So, he has a ten, a flush draw, a high pocket pair, or a set of threes which is now a full house.
Flush draw: I don't think he'd call 1000 more on the flop with a flush draw. And even if he did, he wouldn't check-raise all-in on the turn with a flush draw. My stupid bet of 1000 on the turn is almost small enough for him to just call with a flush draw. Plus, the board paired, which might make him abandon his flush draw altogether. He probably does not have a flush draw.
High pocket pair: Unlikely. He probably wouldn't just call my flop raise with a high pocket pair in case I was raising my own flush draw. And he certainly wouldn't check the turn, because if I was on a flush draw, I'd probably check behind and take the free card.
A set of threes (now a full house on the turn): Possible.
A pair of tens (now two pair on the turn): Possible. If that's the case we're playing the battle of the kickers, and mine is pretty good.
Eventually, I folded, leaving me with about 2500 chips. I was worried about him having AT. I could see him limping with this hand.
The real problem was my bet of 1000 on the turn. It looked like I was leaving enough chips behind so I could fold if I was raised, so it was a nice all-in check raise from my opponent. Many hands later, I caught his eye and said: "I made a very big laydown for you sir." He said: "You had a ten?" I said yes. He then told me what he had. I will write it in white in case you'd like to comment on this hand from an unbiased point of view... I would certainly appreciate feedback on this one.
He said: "Ten what?" I said "king", and he said "I had queen-ten". Ugh. If I'd thought the hand through a little more, I probably would have been able to narrow him down to something like QT.
So with about 2500 chips, I was in some trouble. Two hands that I can remember at the 50/100 level:
Folded to me in MP and I raise to 300 with 66. I get a caller in LP and the BB calls as well. Flop: AK4. BB checks, I bet 700, and both of my opponents fold.
A million callers to me in SB with 93o. I put in the extra 50. Flop Qd2h2d. Checked around. Turn Jc. I bet 400 and get 2 callers. I put them both on draws. River 4c. I bet 700 and take it down.
100/200 level.
I'd lost a couple of small pots and was sitting at around 2800 or so. EP limped, I raised to 600 with AA. Folded to BB, who agonized for a while and said: "Man I really want to see a flop with this hand". Finally he called. EP called as well.
Flop: KJ7 rainbow. Checked to me and I moved in. BB agonized for a while and said to EP: "are you going to call him if I fold?". Before the words: "FLOOR" were out of my mouth, he said "just kidding, just kidding". Finally he called. EP folded. BB had KK for a flopped set of kings, and that was all for me.
I went to a nearby hotel and booked a couple of rooms for me and Mike. Mike was still in the tournament, so I watched a movie: Aeon Flux. I don't recommend it. I like sci-fi movies, but this one seemed to be all about fight scenes and special effects. Not for me.
I then wandered back to the casino and cheered on Mike as he went to take 4th place. Way to go! This was a nice $2500 score, and I had 10% of him, so the day wasn't a TOTAL bust for me. That was Mike's biggest tournament win to date, so we went out to a couple of bars that night to celebrate. Windsor has a healthy nightlife scene.
POINT EDWARD  $500 + $50 NLHE, 80 players, final 10 make the money and advance to play the following day against 20 other finalists from the previous 2 qualifying days. 5K starting chips.
The tournament area here was unfortunately right on the gaming floor, next to slot machines and their incessant noise. They are planning to build a separate poker room within the next year.
Before I get to the details of this tournament, I should mention that the easiest way to get from Windsor to Sarnia is through the USA. That is, if you don't have any problems at the border, which we did. Mike and I both had proper ID (passports, birth certificates) but were detained nonetheless. We answered all of the guy's questions at the booth, and figured we'd sail on through the US to Sarnia. Nope... he slapped an orange sticker on my windshield and told us to drive to the inspection station. After about 15 minutes of walking from desk to desk while they inspected my car, answering the same questions over and over again, we were finally admitted into the USA. The border people were very unpleasant, but I guess it's not their job to be pleasant. At least they didn't take a knife to the seats of my new car or stick anything up my ass. As a matter of fact, they didn't bother searching us at all... just the car. We could have had anything in our pockets. I'm not sure what they were looking for or why we were detained.... I thought it was best to just get the hell out of there instead of asking questions. Neither of us had more than 10K in cash or currency on us and they didn't bother to search us to verify that fact... neither of us have any kind of a criminal record, either. I'm really not sure what the problem was.
The drive through the States between Windsor and Sarnia is the kind of drive you want to be done with ASAP. I've never felt so homesick for Canada before, and I was less than a kilometer away from it at all times, driving alongside the border. Before long we were at the Canadian border and a nice guy asked us like two questions, and off we went.
My seat draw at Point Edward was interesting. To my left was the tightest player at the table, and to my right was the most aggressive. I won a small pot early when it was folded to the aggressive guy on the button, who raised. I re-raised from the SB with AK and he called. The flop missed me, I bet, and he folded.
With the blinds at 25/50 (level 1) a couple of people limped to me in MP (including the aggressive guy) and I raised to 300 with AA. BB called, and the aggressive guy called.Â
Flop: Qd Jc 5s. Checked to me, I bet 600, BB folded, and the aggressive guy raised to 1300. I called.
Turn: 7d. My opponent bet 1K and I called.
River: 3h. My opponent bet 1K and I called.
He showed 57o for a turned 2 pair. I misplayed this hand, obviously. I post the details here so you can hopefully learn from mistakes like these. My loss is your gain. Why didn't I re-raise the flop? I'll tell you why... I've been eliminated from SOOOOOOO many tournaments holding big pocket pairs and losing to a player holding QJ or QT or KJ or KT and flopping two pair with it. This type of thinking is wrong though. Current hands don't care about how past hands have gone or what's happened in them. If I put my opponent on a hand that beats me, I should have have folded the flop to his check-raise. If I put my opponent on a hand that I can beat, I should have re-raised the flop. After being bounced from so many tournaments holding big pocket pairs, I was gunshy to say the least, and that's not the way to play good poker.
After that hand I had about 2100 left in my stack. I had won a couple of small pots before the hand, things were going well, and then I was crippled. Ugh. Felt just like the day before.
Oh, and after that hand, my opponent with 57 tapped the table in front of me and said: "Nice hand sir". I hadn't shown my aces, and to my knowledge I hadn't won the hand, so why was he saying "Nice hand" to ME? I didn't get it. And then I noticed that after every hand he won, he would say to his opponent "Nice hand", whether the cards were shown or not. Is it just me, or is this not rude? I don't know. The kids these days, I have no idea what they're trying to say anymore.
Shortly after the AA vs 57 hand, I picked up KK in LP. Folded to the aggressive guy who raised. I re-raised. Folded back to him, he moved in, and I called. He had AK vs my KK.
The flop came with an ace.
The turn gave me the only king left in the deck, and I doubled up to something approximating my original starting stack. The guy to my right couldn't believe how unlucky he was to lose to a one-outer.Â
Quite a bit of time went by, the first break came and went, the blinds went up and up. Mike was still in the tournament as well. I don't remember many hands, but I remember these ones:
At 150/300 I open-raised to 900 from MP holding KJo. A shortstacked LP player went all-in, and it was folded back to me. I could tell that it was an easy call for me, and asked the dealer how many more chips I had to put in. While the dealer was counting the all-in player's stack, the guy to my right (who was now a MASSIVE chip leader at our table) was saying: "It's a call, look, it's an automatic call, any two, pot odds, you have to call, you can't fold, it's a call". I stopped counting out the extra chips, turned to him and said: "Take it easy. I know it's a call. But right now, I'm trying to determine how many more of these chips I have to take from my stack and put into the pot. OK?" <silence> And I called, he had JJ, I hit a king on the turn, and eliminated him.
Later on I took a flop in a raised pot with AK against two opponents, bet at a king-high flop, and took it down. I also took some stabs at flops that missed me and had to fold.
My stack was at around 6K at the 300/600 level when the following hand occured. There were about 45 players remaining. I open-raised to 1200 from EP holding TT. Why did I just DOUBLE the blinds holding TT? Fatigue and sloppiness... I thought the blinds were still at 200/400.
The button and the BB called. The flop came AQ8 rainbow. BB checked, and I bet 2000. The button (BIG stack) raised it to 4000. The BB (BIG stack) re-raised all-in. I folded. The button called with AQ. The BB had A8 and was eliminated. In retrospect, if I had raised it to 1800 or 2000 like I should have at 300/600, the BB might not have seen that flop. So, my mistake cost him his tournament. But there was another mistake I made in this hand, one that I have been kicking myself for ever since. When your stack is at 10XBB, you can't afford to bet over 3 BB's at an AQx flop holding TT vs. 2 opponents who called a preflop raise. That is bad poker. With a bigger stack, you can make this play. With 10XBB, you check and fold the flop. Ugh. Ugh.
Ugh.
After picking up garbage and folding my blinds for a round or two, I was left with 1800 (exactly 3XBB) in MP. Folded to the guy to the aggressive guy to my right, who raised all-in to about 3000 or so. I forgot to mention, he went from having about 25K in chips to having 3K in chips after tilting off his entire stack in the space of about 4 hands or so. I called all-in with 55, and the BB called as well.
Me: 55
Aggressive dude: Qc9c
BB: JdKs
Flop: Jc 5c 4h
Turn: 7c
River: brick.
I flopped a set, but the board didn't pair, and IGHN. The aggressive guy took it down with his flush, but busted out soon after. Mike busted out soon after as well, so we played some cash games for a while. I won about $300 playing $20/$40 LHE, so that day wasn't a total bust for me, either. We drove home that night through a terrible snowstorm, and that was that.
All in all, I'd say I made some mistakes that cost me both of these tournaments. Back to the drawing board: analyze and learn, analyze and learn.Â
I met some really nice people, particlarly David and Peter in Point Edward, so that was cool. I saw some familiar faces. It seems like a lot of people are watching Poker Night Live which is great, so I had a number of people introduce themselves to me. I just wish I had played better... oh well. Best of luck to Lou and to others who made it to today in Point Edward, and fire at will re: these hands.
Comments
Great report by the way.
Also funny, I busted in early in a live tournament yesterday holding KK against a guy with 58 who turned two pair as well.
Ridiculous really, but "that's poker"
Hearing people say "that's poker" has become about as annoying as hearing people remind you that "it's not the heat, it's the humidity"
Cheers
Too bad I wasn't able to make it through to today, it would have been great to meet you! I actually liked Point Edward's casino, though... I'm sure I'll be back. Thanks for checking out the report. It's important for me to write this stuff down, otherwise I feel like I'm not really learning as well as I could be. Also, the shame of posting these mistakes in a public forum acts as a strong deterrent against ever making them again.Â
Ass clown. There is no shortage of these it seems.
Nice report Devin. It is a good reminder/lesson of what we need to be thinking about while at the table.
Sounds like you lost the meta-game. Personally, when I'm at a tournament I'm a nice guy but it's information warfare for me. I try not to say things like "I made a big laydown" or show a big laydown. I would joke with the guy and say "man I figured you were on a draw and I didn't want to let go of my dueces. And, everyone who watches the show knows you love dueces. I'm trying to get into my opponents heads and get them off their game. Not like Matasow, but I do like his meta-game. Actually, I love his meta-game. But I think this is more of a personal choice.
Also, I never, ever believe anything anyone tells me. With marginal hands like KT, I'm not looking to take a big pot with a pair. I'd be more inclined to call down or fold if it becomes expensive. I really don't want to build a big pot here.
FWIW, I think you played the aces well considering your opponent. That's the trouble playing with the early field, is the hand ranges are so extreme and they really can't put you on a hand, except one that they beat. That's why they call so much. I like the call down strategy. Early, I'm looking to minimize my variance. Again, I think this is a style thing. Now, if the guy pushed in at the river it becomes a difficult decision. But he's an aggressive guy and will blow off his chips if you let him bet. And, he's not going anywhere. Why not take a nice size pot and/or leave yourself in a spot where you're still a contender.
Just some thoughts.
Cheers
Magi
Nice report
I’m the A8 guy and I now realize I should have never been in my bust out handÂ
Let me correct how the hand played out first: You bet 2x big blind. The button and the BB(me) called. The flop came AQ8 rainbow. BB(me) checked, and you bet 2000. The button (BIG stack – I didn’t realize he had so many chips) raised all in. The BB(me) (BIG stack) calls and busts out
I would have folded to a standard raise for sure but couldn’t pass on A8s getting 6:1. I might have folded to your min bet if my A8 wasn’t suited (knowing im way behind in the hand) and thinking that im about to be on the button with Mr Tight, Mr Tilt and a Shortish Stack to my left.  I was looking for the flush, hit my 2 pair instead and it cost me the tourney….oh well...lesson learned. The one thing I regret is I didn’t stop to think. I called the all in so fast that you would think I had nutz especially after I just told my brother at break “there is this crazy guy(button) who pushed the nut set on the flop and chased everyone away and then showed his handâ€.
Still…amazingly the storey ended well for me. My brother made the final 30 and was a short stack going in with like 20k. He was short stack all day. Pushing to steal the blinds just to stay above the 10x bb rule. Finally just before the final table he pushes with AK and finally gets looked up by A8 (timing is everything) and it holds up. He doubled up twice early at the final table with a nice call for his tourney life with JJ on a Q97 board (big stack put him all in on a flush draw) and with 10’s vs 99’s where his hand held up again. Before I knew it, he was heads-up with a 2:1 chip lead for the 25k. He dominated heads up increasing his lead to 4:1 but slow played a few made hands letting buddy get lucky and river a straight to double up TWICE!. Then he made a move pushing T6 which was called by A2. A2 holds up, my bro gets 2nd, I get my cut.
See you at the next one
Luc
ps - Cool forum…I didn’t realize there was one so close to home.
I was rooting for your brother to bust as that would have brought us down to the final table. Nothing against your brother! There were two diamonds and the A8 guy had two diamonds.
Did the young guy in seat 10 take the tournament? I believe he works with your brother.
Cheers
Magi
The young guy (Marcel) got 3rd. He made a brutal call to cut his chip lead in half. Then took a bad beat from the guy who finished 1st. They had about the same in chips and got it all in preflop Q8 vs AQ. Buddy hits the 8. Should have been Marcel and my bro heads-up.
I was hoping Marcel would hold it together and take it. I liked the guy -- you're bro as aslo good guy. Just as a short stack, I'm looking at him like chum -- not a good guy
I'm dying to know who won.  Seat number or name? Was it the Tricky Tough Greek Guy or Bob the nice Old guy who's looser than heck and says he can't see his cards, or was it his Bearded Loose Sugar Daddy?
Cheers
Magi
Ya.. Marcel is a good guy. Â I was cheering for him all day too. Â I told them both at the start of the day that i expect them to be final two (funny how it almost happened).
The winner was Bearded biker looking guy (smiled a lot) (seat 3 at the final table) (At the second last table I think he was in one of the middle seats across from dealer)(he also finshed as points leader for the week. Â That's all i know.
Which one were you?
I was the guy happier than a pig in poop when there was a three way all-in at the final table until the huge underdog took the pot. Then I was the very pissed off guy in the striped red shirt/jeans sitting to left of nice hair cut red hair guy. I was in seat 6 on the final table.
Cheers
Magi
haha...all you had to say was striped red shirt. That was crazy beat though...You'll be happy to hear he went out a few hands later to Marcel with another stupid move giving Marcel a monster stack.Â