Turning Stone Tourney report.
Finished the $200 buy in tourney yesterday at turning stone. 515 people started and I didn't fair well. Starting chip stacks were 3,000 and 25 50 blinds. The table I was at seemed to have a few players that knew each other, they were asking how they did at foxwoods etc. Sounded like they went casino to casino playing tourneys. The guy to my right was saying he was having a bad year as he had only cashed 50K so far as opposed to last year when he was over 100K at this point. Table was playing very tight, very few flops were seen. 2 to my right was a lag raising every pot and taking the blinds. I had crap cards for the first 2 levels and rarely got involved. At this point I decided to lag it up a bit and see what happens. Big mistake I did steal a few blinds but over all, I managed to turn my 2750 stack into 1250 really quick by running into some large hands. Raising A 10 into the blinds from the CO and running into K's is not a good thing on an A K 10 flop. The blinds were now 50-100 and I needed help as I had just over 10 big blinds left. The lag 2 to my right raised my blinds to 500 when folded to him. He had shown some good hands but was raising in 100% of these situations. I look down and see AJ suited. I push my 1250 into the pot and he insta calls. He flips over AK off and I'm dominated. I flop a J and my hand holds up and I now double up. The table now seems to tighten up against me since it looks like I'm willing to gamble for my stack.
I manage to build it up to 3400 before the first break. People were falling fast as there were only 392 left at the first break 90 minutes in. The next hour I just manage to keep my stack at around 3500. By this point there is now 290 left in the tourney. The blinds are now 100/200 A25. The lag earlier had dwindled his chip stack to about 2k when he pushes on the button. I look down and see kings and call. He flips over A 10 and says you bad beat me earlier my turn. Flop was 10 2 5 rainbow, then Q then the dreaded 10 comes on the river. Now short chipped I need to make a move. 2 hands later folded to me on the button I have pocket 22's. I push. Big Blind calls with :ah :ks. The same suits as my 2's. :3h :4h :5h giving me a straight flush draw and him the nut flush. Turn is :8h giving him the nut flush but I have redraws, but the river gives the :8s so I'm done. I wasn't happy with my finish but I did out last Mr I only cashed 50K this year. It was a good experience in my first large casino tourney.
The play here in the cash games is crazy. My tourney entry was almost paid for by cash games and my super satellite entry was paid for by cash games. But the swings can be wild when 3 to 5 people will chase anything to the river. The poker room is very well run and they spread lots of different games limit nl stud omaha The poker room has about 33 or so tables in it. The tourney started with 36 tables in the ball room upstairs and 14 tables in the poker room being used. At the point I went out they were bringing the poker room tables upstairs. When you moved tables they were enforcing all chips being moved in a rack. Even if you had 2 chips it must be racked or your DQ. You couldn't carry them in your hands. When they moved the tables upstairs you counted your chips bagged them signed it and gave it to the dealer. He/she carried them upstairs then.
First prize was approximately 27K and they were paying out the top 50. The dealers here are excellent. Some will get you around 30 hands per half hour in the cash games. I found they pace a little slower in the tourney but not much. The cash games you cannot request a deck change. The deck is changed with every dealer change. The casino/hotel property is not licenced so no alcohol can be bought here. You can bring your own in and pour it into a glass and that's fine. The rake on the low limit games is very high. $1 on the flop with $1 per $10 for a 2/4 or 4/8 game. A $30 pot gets raked $4, which is the max. Chopping the blinds is almost mandatory. In 4/8 just calling gives you a 8 pot which is raked $1. In the 2/4 game calling the blinds gives you a $4 pot which is raked $1. I didn't play the 6 12 game but I believe the struture is the same.
I did manage to hit a straight flush in one cash game but everyone folded to me on the river (even using both cards in my hand), which was a first here. Very few hands got won without a showdown. The 1-5 spread stud was a good game but I got nailed on one hand when I had a 5 card nut flush in my hand and my opponent had 10 10 5 up. We got into a raising war since he needed exactly 10 10 5 5 or 10 5 at this point to be ahead. I thought he had 3 10's and was drawing to the boat. 6th street brought me a straight flush draw and he eventually ended up all in (I had him way outchipped and my attempt was to push him all in). He did have the 55 for the boat and I never got my straight flush. He then left the table giving me no chance to get my chips back. I had several hands where I had 4 suited cards to start but couldn't seem to find #5 even with none of them being shown as out.
The biggest thing here is the lack of explainations. For example when you play it's your job to get your diamond card swiped in and out to rate your play. Where they assign you your table isn't where they swipe your card. I was also extremely disappointed that they confirmed me the poker rate then have refused to give it to me for my entire stay. I"ve fought with them 3 times now and have managed to get them to agree to it so far for 2 of my 3 nights. The last fight will come this morning when I check out. The communication between the gaming side and the hotel side is very poor. No one seems to know the answer as to why I was confirmed one rate on the phone but then they are charging me a much higher rate once I'm here. Even Dave the Floor supervisor in the poker room went to bat for me and their first concession was to give it to me for one night after my fight with them went no where. I did get it for one other night after I took my receipts for the tourney's I ented to the hotel desk and bitched about what I was paying in tourney fees for them not to give me the poker rate.
The resort here is huge and if you don't force yourself to go outside you just don't. The country harvest buffet is huge and very reasonable. The other minor annoyance is they charge you to use the fitness facilities. $15/day/person. You would think that a place that charges over $200 a night standard rate wouldn't nickel and dime you like that.
That's all for now I'm off to play some more poker.
I manage to build it up to 3400 before the first break. People were falling fast as there were only 392 left at the first break 90 minutes in. The next hour I just manage to keep my stack at around 3500. By this point there is now 290 left in the tourney. The blinds are now 100/200 A25. The lag earlier had dwindled his chip stack to about 2k when he pushes on the button. I look down and see kings and call. He flips over A 10 and says you bad beat me earlier my turn. Flop was 10 2 5 rainbow, then Q then the dreaded 10 comes on the river. Now short chipped I need to make a move. 2 hands later folded to me on the button I have pocket 22's. I push. Big Blind calls with :ah :ks. The same suits as my 2's. :3h :4h :5h giving me a straight flush draw and him the nut flush. Turn is :8h giving him the nut flush but I have redraws, but the river gives the :8s so I'm done. I wasn't happy with my finish but I did out last Mr I only cashed 50K this year. It was a good experience in my first large casino tourney.
The play here in the cash games is crazy. My tourney entry was almost paid for by cash games and my super satellite entry was paid for by cash games. But the swings can be wild when 3 to 5 people will chase anything to the river. The poker room is very well run and they spread lots of different games limit nl stud omaha The poker room has about 33 or so tables in it. The tourney started with 36 tables in the ball room upstairs and 14 tables in the poker room being used. At the point I went out they were bringing the poker room tables upstairs. When you moved tables they were enforcing all chips being moved in a rack. Even if you had 2 chips it must be racked or your DQ. You couldn't carry them in your hands. When they moved the tables upstairs you counted your chips bagged them signed it and gave it to the dealer. He/she carried them upstairs then.
First prize was approximately 27K and they were paying out the top 50. The dealers here are excellent. Some will get you around 30 hands per half hour in the cash games. I found they pace a little slower in the tourney but not much. The cash games you cannot request a deck change. The deck is changed with every dealer change. The casino/hotel property is not licenced so no alcohol can be bought here. You can bring your own in and pour it into a glass and that's fine. The rake on the low limit games is very high. $1 on the flop with $1 per $10 for a 2/4 or 4/8 game. A $30 pot gets raked $4, which is the max. Chopping the blinds is almost mandatory. In 4/8 just calling gives you a 8 pot which is raked $1. In the 2/4 game calling the blinds gives you a $4 pot which is raked $1. I didn't play the 6 12 game but I believe the struture is the same.
I did manage to hit a straight flush in one cash game but everyone folded to me on the river (even using both cards in my hand), which was a first here. Very few hands got won without a showdown. The 1-5 spread stud was a good game but I got nailed on one hand when I had a 5 card nut flush in my hand and my opponent had 10 10 5 up. We got into a raising war since he needed exactly 10 10 5 5 or 10 5 at this point to be ahead. I thought he had 3 10's and was drawing to the boat. 6th street brought me a straight flush draw and he eventually ended up all in (I had him way outchipped and my attempt was to push him all in). He did have the 55 for the boat and I never got my straight flush. He then left the table giving me no chance to get my chips back. I had several hands where I had 4 suited cards to start but couldn't seem to find #5 even with none of them being shown as out.
The biggest thing here is the lack of explainations. For example when you play it's your job to get your diamond card swiped in and out to rate your play. Where they assign you your table isn't where they swipe your card. I was also extremely disappointed that they confirmed me the poker rate then have refused to give it to me for my entire stay. I"ve fought with them 3 times now and have managed to get them to agree to it so far for 2 of my 3 nights. The last fight will come this morning when I check out. The communication between the gaming side and the hotel side is very poor. No one seems to know the answer as to why I was confirmed one rate on the phone but then they are charging me a much higher rate once I'm here. Even Dave the Floor supervisor in the poker room went to bat for me and their first concession was to give it to me for one night after my fight with them went no where. I did get it for one other night after I took my receipts for the tourney's I ented to the hotel desk and bitched about what I was paying in tourney fees for them not to give me the poker rate.
The resort here is huge and if you don't force yourself to go outside you just don't. The country harvest buffet is huge and very reasonable. The other minor annoyance is they charge you to use the fitness facilities. $15/day/person. You would think that a place that charges over $200 a night standard rate wouldn't nickel and dime you like that.
That's all for now I'm off to play some more poker.
Comments
Did you drive down?
It's too bad your straight flush didn't come....that would have been a nice hand to remember!