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

The night didn’t start particularly well.  I entered a $1 tournament at Bugsy’s Club that acts as the first round in their qualifying tournament for WSOP seats.  There were 147 players; top 5 go to round 2 and top 20 seats pay out (though “pay out” may be a bit strong—11th-20th pay ~$1.25).  It started well.  Tight play, aggressive situational raises, the sort of thing that you have to do early in tournaments (or so I think).  I won a few small pots when I got people to lay down their hands and I avoided showdowns.  Looking over the hand history, I played very tight the whole way through.  I essentially treaded water for a while and then one stupid play…

Holding A♠ 3♠ with 10,200 I called one baby raise from the table junkmeister to see the flop with 4 other callers.  The flop came 6♠-6-3. I didn’t think that there was an overpair because I didn’t believe the only raiser.  tiretrack, holding a 3:1 chip advantage over me bet out UTG. missnewyork raised all-in from the next position for 2,700.  I had watched missnewyork slowly blow her chips on bad bluff after bad bluff so I called with my two pair, as did tiretrack.  The turn was 4♣, killing my flush draw. tiretrack bet 5,675 (an odd amount, if I do say so).  What is frustrating is not that in retrospect it should have been clear that he had a 6.  What is frustrating is that AT THE TIME I felt like he had a 6—but I still raised him all-in.  He, of course, called and turned over A6o. Which I’m sure shocked missnewyork, who probably thought her 56o was the nuts. 

I was about to tell you the river card, and how it didn’t help me, but I just realized something: I was drawing dead from the turn.  A 3 would have given me 33366, but tiretrack and missnewyork would have chopped the main pot with 66633.  Hey kids!  You don’t want to realize stuff like this the next day when blogging! So pay attention!

Ahem. (By the way, the river was a J♠; too little, too late for my flush and useless to missnewyork.  Hasta la vista, Ugarte, 106th out of 147.) (Parenthetical aside: If you play on pokerstars, don’t look for Ugarte.  I signed up at Bugsy’s before I had this blog so I play under my actual name.)

I then moseyed over to pokerstars because despite a great display and a great affiliated freeplay area at pokerpages, the cash rooms are pretty desolate at Bugsy’s and the SNGs take forever to fill.

I honestly don’t remember anything about the first SNG I played last night.  It was a 5+.50 limit hold’em, I played like crap and busted out 17th out of 18.  The second SNG (NL hold’em) was another performance that was less than memorable.  I only remember the hand I lost on, though it is all you need to know.  I called the blinds with A♥J♥ from an early position, and a player who had been tighter than a nun to that point raised about 2BB from middle position.  I was one of two callers.  The board was A-T-x rainbow.  If I had put her on a high pair, it would have made sense to call her big raise.  But for some reason, I was sensing AK - and I raised her all in anyway.  She called, showed me her AK and knocked me out in a glorious 9th out of 9.

I decided that was enough for the night.  I had blown $12 in SNGs and hadn’t finished in the top 2/3 in any of the games.  It was no consolation, though it should have been, that while waiting for the second tournament I turned $10 into $17.50 in a .10/.25 NL ring game.  At around 11 I decided that I had to play one more SNG and decided to play whatever 5+.50 was closest to starting. PL Omaha/8?  PL Omaha/8 it is! 

I actually like Omaha.  I know Omaha about as well as I know hold’em (which is to say, so-so), but that is an advantage in games with novices.  While there are a lot of people at least at my level in hold’em, most people don’t have a frickin’ clue in Omaha and even my meager ability can be a very big advantage.  At least that is how it seems in home games, so I was willing to test it out for real last night.  The tourney started well.  I won a few pots early, but I only asked for my last 50 hands, so when we pick up the action, I had just given up my chip lead after losing a medium sized pot to br1stolboy in which my computer crashed in the middle of the hand (eating up most of my time bank, but doing no other damage).  This would be a recurring theme, as pokerstars crashed on me at least half a dozen times - once doing me a favor and folding a great low draw that never materialized.  This particular crash led to this adorable burst of petulance by yours truly:
> Ugarte’s said, “jesus this is getting annoying”
> Ugarte’s said, “not the hand - nh”
> br1stolboy said, “ty 8-))"

And left the standings at:
> Seat 3: holacee (1040 in chips)(Get it? ‘Ace in the hole’. Cute.)
> Seat 4: Ugarte’s (3075 in chips) (Some other muthafucka took ‘Ugarte’ first!)
> Seat 5: zegg (4125 in chips)
> Seat 6: deversm (1490 in chips)
> Seat 8: br1stolboy (3770 in chips)

I knew at this point that I had to outlast holacee and deversm.  But neither of them was the next to go out.  After a multiway hand in which I ended up betting 2400 to win 170 (I chopped the low and took the high in a side pot) I got br1stolboy heads up and knocked the table down to four.

Against my better judgment, I played A♣k♣9♣7♥.  I don’t like to play when I have three of a suit because it messes up the flush odds, but nobody was raising pre-flop and it was a cheap enough call.  The flop was decent—2♣-J♦-Q♥. I had a draw for Broadway, there was no flush on the board and if I could see the turn cheaply, I would.  br1stolboy bet 250 and I called.  The turn was T♥; mixed news.  I had my straight, but there was now a ♥ flush draw on the board.  When br1stol bet 750, I doubled it to 1500, expecting him to fold.  Nope.  He called and got a turn of 9♠.  Shit!  Now, instead of a flush draw, there was a damn full house possibility.  Fortunately, br1stolboy didn’t have much of a stack left.  He went all-in for 780, and pot-committed as I was, I called.  He turned over K-Q-7-2, giving him a not-quite-good-enough straight to the K and I took the chip lead back.  One spot away from the money, and now I could coast to 3d at least:

> Seat 3: holacee (1040 in chips)
> Seat 4: Ugarte’s (6075 in chips)
> Seat 5: zegg (4325 in chips) is sitting out
> Seat 6: deversm (2060 in chips)

That was a bit lucky, though.  I made two strong plays in the game, and the first came with three players left.  zegg had me doubled up and holacee was barely hanging on.  I was dealt KQ5♣2♣ in the big blind; I checked when zegg called.  The flop was A♥-3♥-7♠, giving me the 2d best low with a draw to the wheel.  zegg bet 600, I raised it to 1200 (semi-secure in my low and hoping that he would lay down his hand) and he called.  The turn was 7♦.  When zegg bet only 300 I knew he was on the flush draw - I flat called so that I could get away from the hand if the river was a ♥. 8♣.  I had nothing for the high but the 7s on the board, but I knew he missed his flush.  So I crossed my fingers, bet 900 and pumped my fist when zegg threw his cards away.  We were roughly even, and stayed that way until zegg knocked out holacee a few hands later and took a modest lead.

When the end came, it came fast.  Slightly behind, holding 5-5-4-2, I caught a straight draw on the flop (3-6-J) that turned into a full house when the turn and river were 6-6.  I bet the river hard and zegg laid it down to give the lead back to me.  On the next hand, I caught the nut low and a straight.  Fortunately zegg got the nut low also, so he bet the hell out of the hand and I took half of what he threw in, and I had him more than doubled up.  The next hand was a dream come true.

I was dealt A♣Q♣8♥2♠, I called and zegg checked.  The flop was 5♣-4♥-3♣, giving me the wheel and the nut flush draw.  He bet 800, I flat called. The turn was an A♥, which worried me a little.  Now I ran the risk of losing to a higher straight and chopping the low.  Still, I was comfortable.  He bet 1200 and I smooth called again. The river was Q♠, zegg bet another 1200, I raised him all in for his last 425 and he called with A-Q-6-3.  My wheel beat his top two pair and it beat his A3456.  Tournament over and I won my first cash SNG.

After struggling for a long time (with plenty of struggle still to come) it was nice to get this in my inbox:

PokerStars Tournament #984178, Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
Buy-In: $5.00/$0.50
9 players
Total Prize Pool: $45.00
Tournament started - 2004/02/12 - 23:18:57 (ET)

Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.