Where you left your keys ...Rick's Cafe Americain

Online Tournaments

Bugsy’s Club is holding a three-round WSOP qualifying event and this weekend is part of Round 2.  Round 1 had a $1 tournament fee and the top finishers in each $1 qualifier, in addition to the cash prize pool, gained free entry into at least 1 Round 2 tournament.  I did not earn one of the freebies; instead, for my shot at the Round 3 tournament I paid the $10 entry fee and played in the Saturday and Sunday tournaments.  It had been a while since I played NL Hold ‘Em in a multi-table tournament so I wasn’t particularly optimistic, but I needed to get back into the game.

In the Saturday tournament I played tight and won all my showdowns.  My positional play was strong and I was able to steal blinds and push around limpers after the flop from the button.  Along the way I only one hand that I shouldn’t have.  A short stack went all-in with KK, but my 8♠8 took the pot when the 9♠ on the river gave me an unlikely flush.  In the end, what killed me was that I wasn’t aggressive enough.

The blinds had advanced to 400/800 and I was sitting in the BB with ~25K.  The board limped around to me, so I was able to see the flop with J9o.  And what a flop it was: J-9-6. With my two pair, I bet 800 and got called by the button (juggler32). The turn was a 7, I bet 1600 and juggler32 called again.  The river was a 3, I bet another 1600 and juggler32 raised me ~14K.  Dilemma.  Should I reraise?  I did have top two pair, and all of juggler’s previous calls suggest discomfort with the strength of his hand.  But my inner voice said “Fold.  If he’s been stringing you along, don’t let it cost you the tournament.”

So I called. And juggler flipped over 33 and showed me the set he made on the river. 

So, I ask again, should I have reraised? Certainly a reraise is a far riskier move than a call, but I was in a good position to represent strength: I had bet out UTG every round since the flop, and juggler may not have felt so confident with the lowest set on the board.  I still can’t decide which was a bigger mistake: failing to make the turn and river more expensive for him or failing to reraise all-in.

A little while later I busted out when I went all-in preflop with AK, only to lose when Shadowfax put ~25% of his stack on the line to call with A4o.  I was encouraged, but the turn was a 4 and no other help was forthcoming for Big Slick. (At least Shadowfax apologized in the chat.) 51st place out of 157. 

While playing, I kept my eye on on Rick’s wife’s table.  I think she ran into three full houses in a row and busted out somewhere in the 140s.  Unfortunately (for journalistic reasons) I have no idea what Ilsa was playing because all of the hands I saw were calls and she didn’t show after she lost.

In the Sunday tournament I played very strong out of the box and built a very solid table image for myself.  Unfortunately, my strong play and solid table image was mostly built on rock solid cards.  When the cards stopped coming my chips slowly melted away.  As the game wore on solid starting hands began getting undermined by the flop and I had to lay down hands after making considerable preflop raises.  Down to 9K (when the average player held over 20K), I was dealt cowboys. I made a modest preflop raise from under the gun, fearing that if I went all-in I would squander any value the cards had when the whole table folded.  I wasn’t looking to merely steal blinds.  My wish came true when another short stack reraised me all in. Of course I called.  My KK was facing AK.  I smiled in the comfort of my home, but the smile evaporated when an A on the turn ended my day.  81st out of ~160.  (Again, Rick’s wife was in the game.  I never really saw her involved in a pot when I peeked in on her table, but things must have gone better than Saturday.  She finished up in the 40s.)

I played tight and solid through both tournaments.  I didn’t place, but I usually feel much worst after I’ve busted out.  Either I’m improving and maturing or just growing numb.

Coach’s Low Stakes Home Game

I’m sure this won’t be the only write-up, as Pauly was at the game and is sure to report.  Actually, you should look to him for the game results because only one of us remembered to bring a pen to the game.  He’ll probably have all of the results up before this is posted, so head over there.  (Yep. Pauly’s got a report. And he’s got the results.)

In any event, I can’t really complain about my cards.  If you play tight, you are going to have to wait for cards.  And so I waited.  Got paid off almost every time also.

I decided to loosen up and play Ace-rag from any position because I promised that I would lay it down if I decided that the kicker would be important.  I laid down A4 when sombody bet the K on the flop.  Played A9 into a decent early pot when nobody raised my bet when I paired the A. Won some more when I bluffed with A6 and a K hit the board and Coach laid down his flush draw when it missed on the river.  Finally, one hand should have made me more money but didn’t because of some conservative play by PhD. 

I went in with A8.  The flop came A-8-x and I was sitting on Dead Man’s Hand, which was also the top two pair.  Ferrari bet, I raised and got two callers—PhD and Ferrari.  The turn was another A, giving me Aces Full of eights.  Ferarri bet again, I raised again and again PhD and Ferrari both called.  The turn was a 9, and I was sweating about possible kicker issues.  Could it be that either of them was hanging around with A9?  Nope, neither raised and I took the pot.  PhD showed his hand—88.  He had trips on the turn and, most surprisingly, didn’t raise with them, nor did he raise when the ace on the turn gave him Eights Full. 

I once read an old saw “if you don’t lose a lot of money with a set on the flop, you didn’t bet enough.” I think that is right.  Given the lack of preflop raising, it was unlikely that either Ferrari or I were holding AA. Since PhD had the best hand after the flop, he should have made the turn as expensive as possible and maximized his potential winnings when the odds were in his favor.  He probably should have raised on the turn also - if only to see if I was willing to tolerate a raise. 

Ferrari let himself be dragged to the river with A2, which is uncharacteristic of him.  Man, I wish the river had been a deuce.  Ferrari would have paid dearly and PhD would have had no choice but to call all the way.  But that is just getting greedy.  And between the greed and the advice that the good hands should be expensive if played correctly ...

Coach is known for calling “non-traditional” games and last night was no exception.  He called 7stud, H/L Push - a game in which every player is given one chance to “push” an up card to the left for .50 per round of betting.  I was dealt a spectacular low hand, and by the time all of the down cards were dealt I was showing the table 3♦5♦6♦K♥.  I had the T♦2♦ underneath.  From fourth street on I represented that I had both a killer low and a flush in progress and I bet accordingly. I was bluffing the low, of course, but what was showing was so good, who could doubt me? The last down card was the A♦, giving me the diamond flush to the Ace, and filling an A2356 low.  I got what I “said” that I had all along.  Swish and Brother of Coach both had pairs showing, but had been betting so conservatively I wasn’t worried about full houses.  Big Mike was clearly going low, but I was sure that his best low was an 8 or 9.  That left Coach.

It was clear that Coach was betting a spade flush and the highest spade he had showing was a Q.  It was a declare game, so I had to decide if I should take the certianty of a low pot against Big Mike or roll the dice and go H/L.  I rolled the dice.  When I bet after the declare Swish (high) and Brother of Coach (high) folded.  Big Mike (low, natch) called and Coach called and said “You don’t have a straight flush, do you?” - and flipped up the A♠. A♦2♦ 3♦5♦6♦ lost to A♠Q♠x♠x♠x♠ and I lost my both-ways bet.  Which leads to another question for the assembled masses:

Does Coach get the whole pot or just the high portion? Obviously I take nothing.  But Coach and I felt that since my low beat Big Mike, Big Mike “lost” the low and Coach, as the sole winner at the table, should get the whole pot.  Brother of Coach and Big Mike disagreed (Thanks, bro!) and Coach decided not to push the issue, opting to split the pot and preserve relationships.  We are truly cut from different cloth, coach and I. Ferrari sided with the split-pot crowd when asked about it the next day.  I couldn’t figure out where Rick stood.

Some final notes about the home game:

Rick never made it, trapped in the office.  Ferrari left almost immediately after I arrived, claiming other plans. 

Once again, Ferrari lost money when Coach was at the table. 

Pauly briefly tried to front Bronx tough, but failed miserably as he had already copped to (a) growing up in Riverdale and (b) attending the top academic Catholic school in NYC.  While the chances that he can kick my ass are still decent, that is not a particularly high bar. 

PhD gets a serious gold star for having honor trump cash.  He bet a considerable amount of money on a low hand, declared low and won low - until he was the only person at the table who remembered that the dealer had called the hand with a qualifying low - and his hand didn’t qualify.

Lots of laughing, a good burger from Jackson Hole, and - for the first time in ages - a woman at the game.  A good night for poker, even if once again I ended up essentially even for the night.

Conclusion

In sum, my play is getting better but my wallet isn’t getting fatter.  I feel that things are going to change, however, and my first chance to show it comes tonight at Ferrari’s game.  Keep your fingers crossed for me, everyone.