Where Sam doesn't play anymore ...Rick's Cafe Americain

My first tournament, a $10+1 limit Texas hold ‘em SNG didn’t go so well.  I played stupid early, recovered middle and got chewed up by the rapidly advancing blinds late.  I busted out in 5th on a suck-out, but I put myself in a short-stack position and I didn’t even ask for the hand history because I didn’t want to relive it.

I took a few days off, but got back on the horse today.  I did it even though I think the levels come much too fast.  10 hands at each level, regardless of time, means that before you blink the blinds are 150/300—and you only start with 800 chips!  Still, I wanted to redeem myself, so I decided to play another limit tournament.  Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

I had folded all the way through level 1 when I found myself in the SB with Q♣7♣.  MP raises and gets two callers including the button.  I call, as does the BB.  As Pauly?s mother always says, ?You have to defend your blinds.?

The flop is T♣-8♣-3♣. Its hard to tell if I have the best flush, but I like what I see so far. I check, the BB bets, everyone else calls and I check-raise. Two folds, but the cutoff and button call.  The turn is K♣.  Sure, the A♣ is still out there, but there is one less card that can beat me and I’m going to see the hand to the river.  (After last week’s game at the Blue Parrot, Ferrari would be wary of one of the players hitting the flush on the turn holding A♣x, but I can’t worry about that.) I bet, button calls.  The river is a blank, so I bet out again and the button calls again.

K♣ was a perfect turn for me.  The button (siouxdonym) didn?t have an offsuit Ac, he had an offsuit Jc.  He played two overcards to the flop with an inside straight draw even though there was a flush on the board and I check-raised the flop.  I think I can see why people love playing on Party.  My KQ ♣ flush beats his KJ ♣ flush for +270 with blinds at 10/15, a pretty nice level one haul.

Easy come, easy go.  I lost half of it back to siouxdonym on the next hand. I raised with 99 on the button and he called out of the cut off.  He check called me all the way even though he hit top pair on the flop (tens) with a K kicker. If I had his hand I probably would have thrown a raise at me for value, especially since the turn brought him a flush draw, but he may have been wary of my preflop raise. Still, the way the blinds chew you up in these SNGs you can’t afford to lose many hands.

I then lost a hand that I should have played aggressively.  This is a persistent hole in my game, made more striking because I can see my mistakes as I am making them.  Holding QdTd in the SB, I call a preflop raise because there are 5 players in the pot.  Flop comes Th-8d-7d.  Top pair, decent kicker, flush draw.  I bet, preflop raiser raises again and four people including me see the turn. 9s.  Now there is a straight on the board, so I check to the raiser who bets again.  Obviously I should have folded or raised; instead I only called. The river paired the 8 on the board bit the raiser has no fear and bets again after my likely too-anxious check.  With both a straight and a full house as possibilities, this was a golden opportunity to bet or check raise. A real chance to fuck with a preflop raiser that is likely sitting on a high pair or AK. Why raise preflop if you have the kind of middling cards that would be helped by this flop? Instead I wimp out, check-call and lose to the dead man?s hand when he turns over bullets.  I should have been able to make him fold his aces with that board, but I just couldn’t pull the trigger. Ugh.

My efforts to keep myself afloat by stealing blinds was barely working.  I was down to T355 when the blinds went to 100/200 - and I was stuck in the SB with 74o.  I completed to 200 with the intention of pushing all-in after the flop - regardless of the flop - and hoping for a fold.  My stack was so small that I couldn’t afford to wait around for a playable hand. Fortunately the player mucked when I bet the flop of Q-Q-2 and I picked up the BB; back up to T555.

By then we were down to five players and I was the short stack at T555. The blinds had jumped to 150/300 and I caught the luckiest possible break.  I was dealt 42o in the BB and pushed all-in against the SB, who had limped in.  I really only wanted to force a fold (and defend my stack from the encroaching blinds), but SB called and flipped over QTo.  I flopped two pair, though, and doubled up against the second smallest stack at the table. (And promptly apologized for winning with such garbage.) That hand should have been the death knell but was instead the start of the comeback.

Over the next five hands I got Big Slick twice, but had almost nothing to show for it.  The first time I raised preflop and the table folded to the raise.  Picking up the blinds was nice, but small beer - particularly in light of my meager stack.  The second time I got AK I was in the BB. The table folded to me again without my even putting in a raise, netting me the even smaller beer of just the SB. Total profit for two Big Slicks? T450. Yech.

After a bizarre hand had the big stack knock out two players at once to get us heads-up, I actually just got lucky.  I four-bet the pot pre-flop with A7o. It was essentially a race, since ch49er was playing QTs.  I went all-in when the flop came Q-5-2 but got lucky enough to spike an A on the turn.

ch49er is passive head?s-up, so it was easy to steal pre-flop and build up the advantage I gained from the lucky A. Still, it took another suck-out to put him away.
I had an almost 3:1 chip advantage when I was dealt A7o again.  He four-bet the pot pre-flop.  And after the flop (J-9-5 rainbow), I essentially forced him to put himself all-in with a raise.  He couldn?t have minded though, not when I showed my A7 to his AK.  But again, I got lucky and spiked a 7 on the river to win the tournament.

The tournament was just the right combination of lucky and good. Even the hands I sucked out on I don?t feel particularly guilty about.  I was trying to play aggressive into better hands, as opposed to passively catching cards after stupid calls. I just don?t think it is nearly as horrible to catch cards when being aggressive. All that really happens is that your hand becomes what you were pretending it was all along ? tough shit to the player who saw through the bluff.

Flush with cash after my SNG victory ($39 profit), I sat down at a $25 max buy-in PL Omaha/8 ring game.

I sat down at a $25 buy-in .25/.50 PL Omaha/8 table.  The first thing I will say about ring games on Party (and probably at all of ths sites): The goddamn rake eats up the profit from the blinds if you end up splitting the pot hi/lo.  Essentially, it ends up being necessary to win the big hands - a lot of small wins won’t overcome the rake. Also, I like the celebratory cannon fire when I win a big pot.  It makes me feel like someone cares.

I got the big cannon fire on one of my first hands of Party Omaha/8.  I was dealt J♦Q♦J♠7♠.  The flop gave me top set, but put two ♥ on the board.  To keep out the flush draws I bet the pot, but I still got two callers.  The turn was a blank. I underbet the pot, and got only one caller.  The river was a T, filling my house and I went all-in only to have everyone fold. Up $27; cannon fire and confetti!).

I play clustered hands in Omaha/8 - particularly if I think I can get value.  So I was pretty happy when I was dealt J-T-9-7 and 6 people saw the flop after a preflop raise to ~$2.50. The flop was 9-6-K with two of a suit I didn?t have. With an open-ended straight draw (either a Q or an 8) I was fortunate to be able to call cheap.  The turn paired the 9 from the flop.  With ~$15 in the pot, the $5 bet from Singman69 is a significant underbet so I called (one other caller, motivation unknown, also called).  The river was an 8, giving me the nut straight, but there was still a potential FH on the board, so I just flat called when he underbet the pot again ($15 into a $30 pot) on the river.  He had nothing; the river paired his eight and gave him nines up. My stack was up to $83. (More cannons.)

I dropped $10 when I flopped the sucker straight (holding 3-4-5-7, the flop was 6-7-8) and I lost to a BB that got to see a cheap flop with A-4-9-T. I got nailed in both directions because he had the straight on the high side and his A4 beat my 34 for low.

Interlude:  How is this for a Party Poker moment: I watched a woman bet a hand on the turn until she had ten cents left.  She apparently didn’t know enough about pot odds because she folded to a bet on the river with $20 in the pot, holding on to that last dime.

In my final hand of the day, I caught a straight to the A on the turn and bet the pot to chase out flush draws. It worked.

I finished the session +35 and finished the day +75.

I think, as Rick has been known to say, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.