Stars rebuy tourney report.
As some of you may have read, I was starting to get a little down on myself about my tournament finishes lately. No final table appearances, no money finishes, for quite some time now. :banghead: I'm happy to report that I placed 2nd in the $10 + 1 rebuy last night, for $3890 USD. Actually, we made a four-way deal. We were all about even in chips (I was lowest, but not by much) and the four-way split gave us each, essentially, second-place money.
I'll probably use this to buy my way into various WCOOP events.
The money's not a huge deal... it's the morale-boost that meant the most to me. After so many out-of-the-money finishes, I was starting to wonder about my game... Scotty's post about how I may be putting too much pressure on myself, combined with going out to see a good movie last night (Spiderman 2), had me in a very good state of mind for poker when I sat down to play the 10:15 last night.
I should have placed 10th. No doubt. And I think someone was trying to cheat in the late stages of the final table, but I'll get to that stuff. I'll try to make this blissfully short. Blissfully short by my standards isn't very short, but I will try to leave out 'straightforward' hands--ie: hands where someone moved in with JJ and I called with KK and won a big pot. Or say I had AK and someone moved in on me with 77 and I won the coin flip. If my stack has gone way up between hand postings, you can assume that something like that happened. Any feedback is appreciated, even if only for one or two hands; I played some well, and some I really butchered.
Level 2, 15/30, 2715 in chips.
I'm LP with AKo. Folded to me and I make it 150. Button calls, BB raises 365 more and is all-in. Do I flat-call, or raise to knock the button out? I choose to raise another 365, the button folded, and I beat BB's Q9o.
Level 3, 25/50, 3240 in chips.
SB with Ac8c. Someone raises the minimum, 2 players call, plus both blinds including me. 500 in the pot.
Flop: 3s Jd 8h. I bet 300. Preflop raiser raises 300. Folded to me and I call.
Turn: Qs. I check, he bets all-in for 800. 800 to call into a 2500 pot, and I folded.
Level 3, 25/50, 2540 in chips.
I'm in the cut-off with AcQh. The world calls to me. I consider raising, but don't. Bad flop for me, and I fold to a 200 bet.
Level 4, 50/100, 5130 in chips.
I’m MP with JdKh. One EP caller, I call, LP calls, blinds complete and knuckle. 5 of us see the flop…
Flop: 7c Ts Qs. Checked to me, I bet 300, only LP calls.
Turn: Jh. I bet 400, LP calls.
River: Tc. I bet 500, LP folds.
Level 5, 75/150, 8230 in chips.
I’m MP with JJ. EP calls, I raise to 600, button calls, EP folds. Heads-up.
Flop: 7c 3h 6h. With 1575 in the pot, I bet 2100 and take it down.
Level 5, 75/150, 8980 in chips.
I’m on the button with AhTd. I know I’ve posted about how much I hate ATo in the past, and I partly hate the way I played it here. 2 callers to me, I call, blinds complete and check. 5 of us to the flop.
Flop: 9h Qc Ac. SB bets 559 and is all-in. Folded to me, I give it some thought, and call.
***Because of the strange amount, and I guess my general idiocy, I thought that this bet put him all-in, when in fact his stack was a tiny bit smaller than mine. If I’d known this, I may have folded the flop.***
Turn: Kd. SB bets 1150, much to my surprise. Hmmm. I’m in it now. And 1150 into an approx. 1850 pot? A weird little 559 bet on the flop? Now I’m thinking he was just trying to buy it, and he’s in over his head. I thought for a hell of a long time, and finally made my decision, and called.
River: 7h. SB bets 6528 all-in, and I call in a heartbeat. (I’d already decided he was bluffing.) He had Th4c, absolutely nothing, and I win a nice pot.
***I wasn’t in this particular hand, but it’s worth mentioning. The board is 3d Jh Qh 6d. Player ‘A’ moves in for 14K, and player ‘B’ calls short for 10K. ‘A’ has Q9o, ‘B’ has Ah7h, and called his entire stack on a flush draw with one card to come. Of course, he hit his flush.***
Level 6, 100/200, 17317 in chips.
I’m SB with AdTh. One EP caller, I call and BB is sitting out. Heads-up.
Flop: 3s Js 4c. Check check.
Turn: As. I check, EP bets the minimum, I raise the minimum, EP calls.
River: 8s, putting 4 spades on the board. I bet 600 into what was obviously a big spade draw, EP raises 2400, and I fold.
The very next hand, I decide to continue playing poorly.
I’m on the button with 6h8h. Folded to me and I just call. SB folds, BB checks. Heads-up.
Flop: 4c 8c Kh. BB checks, I bet 400, BB raises 400, I call.
Turn: 2s. BB bets 1000, I call 1000. For some reason, I honestly think my hand is good.
River: 8s. BB bets 1200, I raise enough to put him all-in (1450), and he calls.
He shows Kd3h, and my trip 8’s are good. I apologize, telling him I wasn’t chasing and that I honestly thought I had the best hand… no response.
Level 6, 100/200, 20,542 in chips.
I’m on the button with AhJh. MP (shortstack with 2735) raises 400 to 600, and only I call. Heads-up.
Flop: Jc 9h Kh. MP bets 800, I put him all-in, he calls with Js6s and MHIG.
Level 6, 100/200, 23,577 in chips.
I’m in MP with Qs9d. However, 2 players to my left are sitting out, so I am really the cut-off. Folded to me and I raise 600 to 800. The button and SB both call.
Flop: 3s 3h 7d. SB checks, I bet 1600 and take it down.
Level 8, 200/400 A25, 24,427 in chips.
I’m MP with 9cTc. One EP caller, I call, SB completes and BB checks. 4 of us.
Flop: As 9h 8c. Checked to me, I bet 2000 (a bit more than the pot) and take it down.
Level 9, 300/600 A50, 29,780 in chips.
This is brainless, but amusing. EP calls, I raise 1200 from MP with AA, LP raises 6242 more and is all in, folded back to me, and I of course call. He had Js8d and MHIG.
Level 9, 300/600 A50, 38,522 in chips.
I’m on the button with KsKc. Folded to me and I raise 1200 to 1800. Only SB, who has an equal stack, calls.
Flop: 9c As Js. SB bets 2400.
***I had a note for SB. Apparently, although I had no memory of this, I’d played a PL game with him before, because my note was: “f***ing idiot calls my pot-sized max bet preflop with 22 hits a set and kills my QQâ€.***
I raise 3000, and SB calls.
Turn: Qs. Check check.
River: 5s, giving me the nuts. SB checks, I bet an enticing 6600 into a 15,450 pot and SB folds.
Level 10, 400/800 A50, 45,672 in chips.
Don Carlito shows up to wish me luck, and catches this hand, which was a big one.
I’m BB with TsTh. 3 callers to the cutoff, who raises 3200 to 4000. I call, as do EP and MP. 4 of us in.
Flop: Tc 6h 5c. I check, EP bets 3200, MP folds, cutoff raises to 10,400, I move in for 31K more, EP folds, and the cutoff—who has me just barely covered—calls.
He has JJ, no help for him, and my trip tens are good.
As Tim Robbins said in his letter to Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption, "If you've gone this far, maybe you're willing to go a little further". Part 2 of 2 follows....
Regards,
all_aces
I'll probably use this to buy my way into various WCOOP events.
The money's not a huge deal... it's the morale-boost that meant the most to me. After so many out-of-the-money finishes, I was starting to wonder about my game... Scotty's post about how I may be putting too much pressure on myself, combined with going out to see a good movie last night (Spiderman 2), had me in a very good state of mind for poker when I sat down to play the 10:15 last night.
I should have placed 10th. No doubt. And I think someone was trying to cheat in the late stages of the final table, but I'll get to that stuff. I'll try to make this blissfully short. Blissfully short by my standards isn't very short, but I will try to leave out 'straightforward' hands--ie: hands where someone moved in with JJ and I called with KK and won a big pot. Or say I had AK and someone moved in on me with 77 and I won the coin flip. If my stack has gone way up between hand postings, you can assume that something like that happened. Any feedback is appreciated, even if only for one or two hands; I played some well, and some I really butchered.
Level 2, 15/30, 2715 in chips.
I'm LP with AKo. Folded to me and I make it 150. Button calls, BB raises 365 more and is all-in. Do I flat-call, or raise to knock the button out? I choose to raise another 365, the button folded, and I beat BB's Q9o.
Level 3, 25/50, 3240 in chips.
SB with Ac8c. Someone raises the minimum, 2 players call, plus both blinds including me. 500 in the pot.
Flop: 3s Jd 8h. I bet 300. Preflop raiser raises 300. Folded to me and I call.
Turn: Qs. I check, he bets all-in for 800. 800 to call into a 2500 pot, and I folded.
Level 3, 25/50, 2540 in chips.
I'm in the cut-off with AcQh. The world calls to me. I consider raising, but don't. Bad flop for me, and I fold to a 200 bet.
Level 4, 50/100, 5130 in chips.
I’m MP with JdKh. One EP caller, I call, LP calls, blinds complete and knuckle. 5 of us see the flop…
Flop: 7c Ts Qs. Checked to me, I bet 300, only LP calls.
Turn: Jh. I bet 400, LP calls.
River: Tc. I bet 500, LP folds.
Level 5, 75/150, 8230 in chips.
I’m MP with JJ. EP calls, I raise to 600, button calls, EP folds. Heads-up.
Flop: 7c 3h 6h. With 1575 in the pot, I bet 2100 and take it down.
Level 5, 75/150, 8980 in chips.
I’m on the button with AhTd. I know I’ve posted about how much I hate ATo in the past, and I partly hate the way I played it here. 2 callers to me, I call, blinds complete and check. 5 of us to the flop.
Flop: 9h Qc Ac. SB bets 559 and is all-in. Folded to me, I give it some thought, and call.
***Because of the strange amount, and I guess my general idiocy, I thought that this bet put him all-in, when in fact his stack was a tiny bit smaller than mine. If I’d known this, I may have folded the flop.***
Turn: Kd. SB bets 1150, much to my surprise. Hmmm. I’m in it now. And 1150 into an approx. 1850 pot? A weird little 559 bet on the flop? Now I’m thinking he was just trying to buy it, and he’s in over his head. I thought for a hell of a long time, and finally made my decision, and called.
River: 7h. SB bets 6528 all-in, and I call in a heartbeat. (I’d already decided he was bluffing.) He had Th4c, absolutely nothing, and I win a nice pot.
***I wasn’t in this particular hand, but it’s worth mentioning. The board is 3d Jh Qh 6d. Player ‘A’ moves in for 14K, and player ‘B’ calls short for 10K. ‘A’ has Q9o, ‘B’ has Ah7h, and called his entire stack on a flush draw with one card to come. Of course, he hit his flush.***
Level 6, 100/200, 17317 in chips.
I’m SB with AdTh. One EP caller, I call and BB is sitting out. Heads-up.
Flop: 3s Js 4c. Check check.
Turn: As. I check, EP bets the minimum, I raise the minimum, EP calls.
River: 8s, putting 4 spades on the board. I bet 600 into what was obviously a big spade draw, EP raises 2400, and I fold.
The very next hand, I decide to continue playing poorly.
I’m on the button with 6h8h. Folded to me and I just call. SB folds, BB checks. Heads-up.
Flop: 4c 8c Kh. BB checks, I bet 400, BB raises 400, I call.
Turn: 2s. BB bets 1000, I call 1000. For some reason, I honestly think my hand is good.
River: 8s. BB bets 1200, I raise enough to put him all-in (1450), and he calls.
He shows Kd3h, and my trip 8’s are good. I apologize, telling him I wasn’t chasing and that I honestly thought I had the best hand… no response.
Level 6, 100/200, 20,542 in chips.
I’m on the button with AhJh. MP (shortstack with 2735) raises 400 to 600, and only I call. Heads-up.
Flop: Jc 9h Kh. MP bets 800, I put him all-in, he calls with Js6s and MHIG.
Level 6, 100/200, 23,577 in chips.
I’m in MP with Qs9d. However, 2 players to my left are sitting out, so I am really the cut-off. Folded to me and I raise 600 to 800. The button and SB both call.
Flop: 3s 3h 7d. SB checks, I bet 1600 and take it down.
Level 8, 200/400 A25, 24,427 in chips.
I’m MP with 9cTc. One EP caller, I call, SB completes and BB checks. 4 of us.
Flop: As 9h 8c. Checked to me, I bet 2000 (a bit more than the pot) and take it down.
Level 9, 300/600 A50, 29,780 in chips.
This is brainless, but amusing. EP calls, I raise 1200 from MP with AA, LP raises 6242 more and is all in, folded back to me, and I of course call. He had Js8d and MHIG.
Level 9, 300/600 A50, 38,522 in chips.
I’m on the button with KsKc. Folded to me and I raise 1200 to 1800. Only SB, who has an equal stack, calls.
Flop: 9c As Js. SB bets 2400.
***I had a note for SB. Apparently, although I had no memory of this, I’d played a PL game with him before, because my note was: “f***ing idiot calls my pot-sized max bet preflop with 22 hits a set and kills my QQâ€.***
I raise 3000, and SB calls.
Turn: Qs. Check check.
River: 5s, giving me the nuts. SB checks, I bet an enticing 6600 into a 15,450 pot and SB folds.
Level 10, 400/800 A50, 45,672 in chips.
Don Carlito shows up to wish me luck, and catches this hand, which was a big one.
I’m BB with TsTh. 3 callers to the cutoff, who raises 3200 to 4000. I call, as do EP and MP. 4 of us in.
Flop: Tc 6h 5c. I check, EP bets 3200, MP folds, cutoff raises to 10,400, I move in for 31K more, EP folds, and the cutoff—who has me just barely covered—calls.
He has JJ, no help for him, and my trip tens are good.
As Tim Robbins said in his letter to Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption, "If you've gone this far, maybe you're willing to go a little further". Part 2 of 2 follows....
Regards,
all_aces
Comments
hehe
ScottyZ
Regards,
all_aces
In all seriousness, for how much I enjoy reading your, and everyone's, hand histories/tourney reports, I'm glad to hear that you were/are interested in reading mine too. I did want to take my time a little in selecting hands and writing some of my own comments to go with the hands, plus it actually took me a little bit of time to even get around to starting posting.
Now, onto the fun part... actually reading your report. :cool:
ScottyZ
I raise 3000, and SB calls."
What were you thinking by raising? Did you not figure him for an Ace? Was it because of your NOTE on him? Or were you going to fold if he reraised you?
A lot of players will bet into a pre-flop raiser when an ace--a classic scare card--comes on the flop. The thinking is, it looks like the caller could have an ace, because they called a raise. If the preflop raiser has a pocket pair, he will sometimes lay it down.
A lot of players will bet into the preflop raiser without having an ace. Basically, what they're doing is betting that you don't have an ace. I thought that was what this guy was doing, but since he called my raise on the flop, I may have been wrong. I honestly wasn't expecting him to call my flop raise, and when he did, I went into check and fold mode until I backed into the nut flush. The raise wasn't so I could get a free card for trips or a backdoor flush, though... it was to get my opponent to fold, and when he didn't, I figured I was wrong about his hand.
If he had re-raised me I think I would have folded.
As for the note lol, that didn't really influence my play against him much. All it told me was that he wasn't an 'ABC' player, which made me think that he'd be capable of betting into that flop without an ace.
Cheers,
all_aces
Atta way. Tournaments by their very nature are going to be *very* streaky. I think I was reading something by either Daniel N or Phil H (or whoever) that was talking about how people can get too carried away by a big win, and tend to forget about all of the buy-ins they have gradually lost leading up to that win. That's just human nature. But the point here is you're going to have a *lot* of out of the money (or small money) finishes for each big finish.
I'll bet if you look at your own tournament record over the past few months carefully and objectively, you'd see that you're having a fantastically good run at tournaments. Certainly nothing to be discouraged about. However, you've shown a great deal of "meta-skill" here in recognizing the fact that you were discouraged and taking a bit of a break to regroup. Nice play.
I like raising to shut out the button cold caller at this point.
Level 3, 25/50, 3240 in chips.
I don't think I'd bet the flop into this many players. You can pick a better spot for a bluff, or a better hand for a value bet. Don't try to do both at once, and hang your head in shame if the word "semi-bluff" just came into your mind.
Ummm... don't we keep making fun of KJo?
I'm not sure about the purpose of that river bet. To slow your opponent down if he has a Q? To prevent a big river bluff from your opponent? He calls with a worse hand?
I think I'd check the river. I think you're either losing, or your opponent is on spades.
Any kind of style and/or hand read on your opponent here that made you bet 500 on the river?
Level 5, 75/150, 8980 in chips.
Certainly very poorly played by your opponent here, simply because he was bluffing *and* induced a call from you since you thought he was all-in.
I've seen this a few times before. At PokerStars, betting 499 puts a *big* stack of chips out there, whereas 500 is one purple. A bet which looks bigger than it really is (e.g. 559), can have more of a psychological effect as a large bet. The irony here is that the opposite ended up happening. You were *less* intimidated by the non-round bet, since you thought it was all-in.
Interesting way of writing this is the tourney report too, following your thinking at the time exactly.
Typical. Another "Who played it worse?" hand.
You can maybe get away with playing ATo once, but again!?! Fold this cheese pre-flop.
You're maybe getting into short-handed mode a little too strongly here, thinking back to your PokerRoom 25-50 stomping grounds. Betting out on the flop and calling the small raise seem sensible, but I don't think you can call the 1000 on the turn. Your opponent, unless insanely agressive, is betting like he can beat your pair of 8's, and your backdoor draws have not materialized.
Nicely played. YOIOD. (since we are in strange acronym mode, or SAM)
A basic, but very important play here, following through on the steal on a rag flop. Equally important is recognizing the spots where you *don't* want to follow through and bet again.
Don't tell anyone, but I would often go for a check-raise re-steal here if I was defending the blind on this kind of flop (but more likely if it was only heads-up).
Level 9, 300/600 A50, 38,522 in chips.
Very nice check on the turn. It's straight out of Sklansky TPFAP, but I see a *lot* of players botch playing the nut draw with one card to come in last position.
And I don't think someone is *that* much of an idiot for calling a pre-flop raise in PL with 22. I'll bet his realized implied odds ended up justifying the call.
ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
See you in Zihuatanejo!
ScottyZ
I am currently hanging my head in shame.
You nailed it with your second guess. I *hated* the idea of checking and calling in this spot. If I check, he might get the big bright idea to bluff big on a missed draw, and I might be inclined to fold. If I bet, I can fold to a raise without really thinking twice about it, and I can prevent my opponent from trying to make a rather ABC bluff, that just might have worked.
I bet 500 because I thought it was enough to prevent a bluff raise, but not so much that I'd be in terrible shape if I had to fold.
But... I was in the small blind! And it wasn't raised! And it was soooooted. (OK, it wasn't sooooooted, I was just rhyming off my standard list of excuses...) Excuses aside, I totally butchered this hand on the turn. Check and fold the turn, or bet out. No point in check-raising the minimum. Ugh.
When I was playing the limit tournament in Regina, and we were down to about 20 players or so, a guy at my table said to me out of nowhere: "You play a lot of shorthanded poker, don't you." I don't think I'll ever be able to shake certain habits. One of them is that if I really believe I have the best hand, I won't fold. Seems simple enough, but I'm wrong sometimes.... :redface: You're absolutely right though, I should have folded the turn.
I sat here for a while, and I can't figure it out. Please help.
Yeah, when I got two callers I was in "Ooops I gotta check and fold the flop" mode, but then the flop looked like it didn't help any of us, and since I'd established the lead preflop...
Don't tell anyone, but if you go for a check-raise re-steal in this type of situation on Saturday I will move in for a re-re-steal. And as we both know, calling an all-in bet doesn't count as a re-re-re-steal, so don't even think about it.
Yep. It's the classic 'don't bet in LP if you would hate a check-raise' school of thought, and it's saved/made me money a number of times.
I guess you're right. I paid him off like a slot machine. Damn you. Oh well, the note stands.
If that's *really* the name of the place they ended up at, you are going to be referred to as 'IMDB' from this point forward.
Regards,
all_aces
YOIOD = Your Opponent Is On Drugs
Well, it was on TV just a few days ago, so that's really why I remembered it, but I had to look it up on Google to get the spelling right.
Oh, hang on a minute now. If I'm up against *you*, I'm simply going to check and call for value with AA on every street. :cool:
ScottyZ