Where the Battle of Algiers rages on ...Rick's Cafe Americain

12/1 A.M. Tourney

This was a new kind of tournament for me. I decided to loosen up a little because the starting hands for most of the players are all over the place. I know that the general prescription for a loose table is to play tight, but when the table is more unpredictable than strictly loose, I feel that a slight loosening will allow me to play more aggressively postflop. All of the wierd starting hands generate a lot more scare cards. I ended up playing a lot of Ace-rag and it worked.

It worked first - and to greatest advantage on Level 2. With the blinds at 50/100 and only one fishy limper, I raised my A♣8♣ to 3x BB. JCatz, on my left where I like him, called from SB, and the limper called as well. The flop was A-8-x. JCatz bets 300. I know JCatz pretty well. He plays ATC a lot of the time and will call most preflop raises with any ace. I put him on either a high ace or two pair with 8x, so I pushed. JCatz calls instantly with AJo. No help for either of us on the turn or river, and since I had JCatz outchipped, he was done. He seemed pissed off that I had A8, but I’m having trouble seeing a mistake in a button raise with A8s in a pot with only one limper. He probably thought I had KK or QQ, but I had him beat with AK or AQ also (not to mention 88 or xx), so I’m having trouble generating any sympathy.

My biggest mistake was also on Level 2. Epstein raised from MP to 300. I called from the CO with T♠T in the CO. One other caller (EP) saw the K♠-x♠-x flop with us. The action was checked to me and I bet 500. Epstein called. The turn was another spade. Fuck. I figured Epstein was on a flush draw, so that wasn’t what I wanted to see. Surprisingly, Epstein checked. I smelled a trap so I checked also. The river was a 4th spade, giving me a flush with my T. Epstein bet 300 into a pot of 2050, so I didn’t feel like I could lay down even though I was almost certainly beat. Which I was. Epstein turned over A♠6♠ and had the nuts on the turn. Dodged a bullet there by holding back on the turn bet.

After that hand I slowly built back my stack by aggressively betting with position and doing a lot of preflop reraising. I don’t remember any of the hands, but I wasn’t showing down much anyway. My tight pre-tourney reputation and the good starting hands I was showing down were getting me a lot of respect. I didn’t build a monster stack, but I did more than tread water also.

When the tournament collapsed to one table I was 6th out of the remaining nine players. Zinester was still around and she ended up sitting on my immediate right. Just as my aggressive betting slowly built my stack back up before the final table, strong betting at the final table got me close to the chip lead. The blinds were up to 400/800 and all the blind-stealing was paying handsomely.

I also got to watch Zinester play her shortstacked ass off. She lasted to fifth place before a push with JTs got called by the chip leader with Ace-rag and the board didn’t help her. She was betting aggressively and getting people to lay down their hands. In fact, the only hand that she had to show down at final table was her all-in at the end. It was fun to watch and I was sorry to see her go.

It didn’t take long after that to get heads-up because KG, the chip leader, knocked out Jed and Epstein almost immediately after busting Zinester. So when we went heads-up I was at a huge chip disadvantage. Not bad, considering that KG had come back by tripling up from the shortstack to take the chip lead to begin with. I offered a chop immediately, but KG declined. I busted out when I pushed K9 after KG trapped me by limping with AJ.

I think I played a solid tournament and can’t really think of any mistakes other than pushing K9 at the end. Good for me.

12/5 Baby NL at A.M. II

The night started slowly for me. I was limp folding a lot and it was really hurting my stack. I was down from my initial buy-in of $20 when I got a call from my cousin. He jokingly assumed that I was losing money and that got my dander up. I went back to the table determined to make money so I started betting more. I got JCatz to (allegedly) lay down AK three times when he didn’t hit on the flop. My guess is that he had AK once, but he can say whatever he wants about his folded hands as long as he keeps folding.

Except for this hand: The table limped to me with 74 in the BB and I caught an almost perfect flop: 7-6-5, rainbow. Top pair and and an open-ended straight draw. I bet out and JCatz pushed. JCatz doesn’t limp pairs very often and has a habit of forgetting when the big blind is betting into a raggedy flop, so I called. He had 8-6: middle pair and a gutshot. The river was an 8, improving him to two pair, but giving me the straight.

For the record, JCatz isn’t the only person I play against. A few hands later I limped AJ UTG and two more limpers followed, including asphnxma in the SB. A flop of J-9-6 gave me TPTK. Bet $1. Nixma, in the SB, calls bullshit and check-raises me to $3. I shrug off his callous accusation and bump him back to $8. He is shocked and starts questioning me. Sixes? Or Kings? You don’t have jack-nine. Sixes ... or Kings? I go into poker-face shutdown mode, but I can’t help but start laughing the fourth time Nixma repeats Sixes ... or Kings. Nixma shows AJ as he folds it, and out of respect for his laydown of TPTK, I show him my AJ too.

I was up to almost $40 at that point, but I slowly pissed my way back to the mid-twenties by seeing (and missing) too many flops. I raised with KQs to $1.50 (the big blind is .50) and JCatz called. JCatz always calls preflop since his game is modeled after Gus Hansen’s post-flop aggression. The flop came A-K-x. JCatz checked (I don’t remember him ever checking an Ace) and I bet $3. JCatz calls. He’s got a K or QJ. The turn is a 9. JCatz checks and I bet $10. JCatz calls again. Now he’s calling because he thinks I’m full of shit, not because of anything he is holding. The river is a T and JCatz pushes in for my last $3.75. Shit. Maybe he had an ace all along and I’ve been the sucker. I call and he shows ... KTo. Fucking river. JCatz takes my stack on what was probably his most poorly played hand of the night. He shouldn’t have called my preflop raise, my flop bet OR my turn bet. And then he hit his river. Oh well, that’s po (Don’t say it. Just don’t say it. -ed.)

Nothing good happened after that hand, though I didn’t tilt off my rebuy. Ended up losing only another $3.50. Now I’m off to cross swords with these guys again. Wish me luck.