Ugarte's Poker Grovel #42, or Party Party!It’s been a while since I’ve written because I’ve been lazy. There should be a better reason but there isn’t. I also feel a little sheepish writing this entry in the shadow of the stunning performance Rick put on at the 10/20 tables and JCatz from the A.M. tournament’s even more impressive haul from placing 18th in the the $2500+100 No Limit event at the Borgata after qualifying by satellite earlier this month.
I two tabled it last night on Party and came out ahead. I don’t know why that sounds like a major accomplishment, but it does feel good to split concentration without really losing focus. Especially under these circumstances.
Join me for some two-table blogging action.
I got home late after Rosh Hashana, and decided to sweat Pauly for a little while. Instead I instead ended up participating in a blogger’s convention at a .50/1 Limit table. (And don’t think I’m not annoyed that Pauly beat me to print with the exact same phrase. The cast at the table included Iggy, Al Can’t Hang from Dead Money, Otis from Up For Poker and Helixx from stfu. Until I read Pauly’s short recap, I didn’t know that HDouble from Cards Speak was in the house as well. (Pauly, Iggy and HDouble all play on Party under pseudonyms different from their nom de blog.) It was a seriously crazy session. I don’t know if these guys play rammerjammer at 10/20, but they sure do at .50/1. I never really adjusted. Somehow I escaped unscathed if a bit humbled. There are other recaps by Al and Helixx.
On my first three hands at the table I got playable hole cards that I had to fold on the flop. All the folding prompted Iggy to type “BONUS CODE UGARTES” in the chat. I took that to mean that I was just giving money away to the table. Funny and accurate - if a touch cruel. $3 down in seconds; time to tighten up.
Meanwhile, I signed up for a two-table $5+1 limit tournament. Yes, I thought it was NL when I signed up. Limit SNGs take forever; I wouldn’t play a two tables limit tourney on purpose. New plan: chill during the early levels and focus on PokerBlogCon 2004.
Of course, because I decided to tighten up at PBC, I was mostly focused on folding. BigWalt07 declared me dead after I folded an entire orbit at the loosest table in creation. Iggy checked for signs of life by poking me with a stick in the chat. Frankly, I’d rather he actually poked me with a hot stick than raise my big blind every time, but guess which one he did.
I finally got into a hand by playing A♥T♥. There was a heart on the king high flop, but with four people in the pot the implied odds to draw to the flush more than justified putting in $1 to see the turn. I caught running hearts for the nut flush and scooped $19. Helixx had aces and would have taken the hand easily if there weren’t so many callers. I don’t know what Pauly had (he claims a pocket pair), but this calling station hand was not his finest moment.
I then returned to my previously scheduled strategy of folding and limp-folding.
Meanwhile, I was barely playing in the tournament. It was almost halfway through Level 2 before I even played past the flop. AA will do that. I bet and raised my bullets all the way and caught a four flush on the river. I didn’t even need the last club; my aces would have held up. It was clear that this was a pretty fishy table; TPNK was enough for some of these guys to call the tightest player at the table on every card. I felt good about my chances.
The early chip leader was weak. His name is DGVol1, so make a note. At Level 5 (100/200), a bit below average stack, I was dealt A8o and decided to raise it up. I’m glad I did, because I got to witness the weakest play I’ve ever seen. I capped the betting strictly because the guy was weak. The flop was, for a capped hand, all bricks. He bet, I raised, he called. The turn was another brick. Again he bet, again I raised. By now I had put T1000 into the pot and I only had T90 behind my latest raise. He still had over T2600 ... but he folded! That stupid play gave me almost T2000 and a comfortable chip position.
Back to the PBC. Al Can’t Hang had become “Al Can’t Limp” and he was raising preflop on over 75% of the hands. The nadir for me came when I called Al’s preflop raise with A2s, flopped (and then chased) a gutshot draw with my weak ace and lost when Al turned over 43o for two pair, saying “Don’t hate me.” For the record: I hate him.
HDouble checked in late, swinging his dick and buying in for $1000. Not one to be outcocked, Iggy quickly loaded up to $1100.
Hand of the night: A7o in MP (as mentioned by Pauly). I called a preflop raise along with four others. The flop was A-6-6. I raised to represent either a solid A or a 6 but still got three callers. When the turn was a Q I felt comfortable that I was going to chop the pot; I didn’t put anyone else on AA, AK, AQ or a 6. That plan was foiled when a 9 fell on the river and BigWalt07 paired his kicker. Very disappointing. Pauly called it a loose call in the chat, but I think with the board paired, a Q on the turn, a multiway pot and nobody representing a strong hand, a chop would be profitable. I regret the result but not the call.
HDouble (who I did not know to be HDouble at the time) was, for some reason, calling me “Sugarte” or “Sugar.” He was also going out of his way to try to rile BigWalt07 and I had no idea why. I thought he was just a random jerk and I called him to the river on a king high board with nothing but AJ. He paired his king and got a second pair on the turn to boot. I paid for it more in the chat than in my stack:
HDouble: sugar
HDouble: oh sugar
HDouble: aj?
AlCantHang: lucky it’s only .50/1
Pauly: ouch ugarte whats going on?
HDouble: no respect
Ugarte: that nails it
AlCantHang: stack don’t get you any respect
HDouble: give me some sugar
I didn’t even show. He just put me on AJ. Let me take this opportunity to apologize to HDouble - I wouldn’t have treated you like a leper had I known. Then again, maybe the $5 I gave you on the hand because of my tilt is apology enough.
Iggy gave me a gut punch a few hands later. I limped with 33, called Iggy on the flop (T-T-8) and then folded when an ace came on the turn. After I folded, Iggy showed 94s. Ouch. In my defense, the river would have been a 4. I know this with every ounce of my being, so it was a good fold.
One good hand can almost make up for a day of crap, though. I raised from EP with jacks and got four callers. The flop came A-9-8 with two hearts. I bet out to support my preflop raise. SpecialK3387 raised and I was one of three callers. I decided to call the .50 because the pot was laying me 17:1 to kick in the last bet. It paid off when the turn was a beautiful J. Three of us capped the turn. The river was a 9. I was in a bit of a pickle. The way SpecialK3387 was raising said to me that he hit his set on the flop. If he had 88 I was golden; if he had 99 I was dead (I knew he didn’t have aces). Fuck it. If I lose with Jacks full, I was meant to be busted by this table. We capped the betting again, though HDouble got out of the way when he missed his heart draw. SpecialK3387 turned over 88 and I scooped $28.25. My stack securely in the black at $34 I bid the table adieu and turned my attention to the tournament.
Lefty5556 and I took turns smacking around the rest of the table, though Lefty5556 got most of DGVol1‘s stack. When heads-up started, I was down T15423 to T4577. The poker gods were kind to me, however. In the space of 12 hands, I got full houses four times and won the tournament.
+$43 for the day. Not enough to pay the bills, but certainly enough to Party on.
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