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

Party Poker

I managed to piss away the money I had paid in, the money I had won (I never made enough to cash out), and the sign-in bonus.  I don’t have a job anymore, so I wasn’t planning on reloading.  When I paid $22 for a $20+2 SNG on Thursday, I knew I had to win or stay off of Party for a while.

I thought the tone of the table was set on the first hand when and luuluu52 went all in on a flop (K♦-Q♦-9) and chopped the pot with AKo (though Maximus_CSA had A♦ as well). TPTK isn’t a bad hand, but calling all-in on the first hand with a straight on the board, two pair a strong possibility and a flush draw seems like very loose action.  It turns out that most of the table was classic tight-weak.

luuluu52 lost her (?) reputation immediately.  On the second hand, she raised T175 preflop: 8xBB only to check an 8 high rainbow flop and fold to a T15 bet from masterhan on the turn. masterhan established himself as the table nutjob when he called a 10xBB on the third hand with K2o and went all in on a K-high flop.  Maximus_CSA had hit TPTK with AKo for the second time in three hands and had become the chip leader by almost a 3:1 margin.

It wasn’t until (ha ha) the fourth hand that I was able to get into the game.  I was dealt KK, made the table-standard 8xBB raise and got two callers.  When the pot came down with two jacks, I decided to test the table by betting the pot.  BOLSY33 and Borzi both folded. On the next hand, I flopped an open-ended straight draw after limping into a 6-way pot with K♦Q♦. BOLSY33 bet 15 and Borzi called, but I had already decided they were weak.  I raised the pot again and everyone folded.  Maximus_CSA was still the top stack with T2140, but I had T1195 and was sitting in second. On hand 6, masterhan went all-in with his last T40 holding T5s and flopped top two pair, jcb41 went over the top all-in with top pair and a flush draw and Seibukan called with BPTK, tripling-up masterhan and crippling Seibukan. Seibukan busted out on the hand 7 when he went all-in for his last T30 with T3o, flopped trips and lost as BOLSY33 yanked away most of what jcb41 had earned in hand 6 by rivering a flush.  And it is here that the hand-by-hand recap ends.  Eight hands in, and we have lost one player, seen another crippled and come back from the brink and a third climb high only to fall to earth. Crazy.

Over the next 7 hands, masterhan went all-in five times, slowly building his stack, but busting out when Maximus_CSA raised to 10xBB, jcb41 went over the top all-in, and masterhan thought this would be a good time to isolate jcb41 by going over the top himself.  Not this time.  Maximus_CSA called with KK and busted out both guys.  What did masterhan go over the top of two large bets with, you ask? A7s. Make a note. (jcb41 had gone all-in with AKo.)

We haven’t completed the second orbit and Maximus_CSA has T4315 and a colossal chip lead; I am in second with T1245. We have only six players left!  New diagnosis: Maximus_CSA is tight, but aggressive and I think he can be trapped.  BOLSY33 and Borzi are weak. luuluu is ... not sure yet, but I think easily pot-committed and the only other player (aiello4455) has no real definition, so I’ll guess tight.  Now that I have my reads, I have to play them.

I limp in with 55 (Presto!) and everybody folds to the blinds - B and B, who limp and check in turn.  The flop is 8-8♠-7♠.  BOLSY33 makes a minimum bet and I call.  The turn is A♥, same action.  I was sure he didn’t have the A with a bet like that.  The river is K♠, BOLSY33 makes the same bet, and I represented the flush by raising the pot.  True to form, he bailed out.  By the end of Level 3 I had played in 9 hands and never had to show down.

On the second hand of Level 4 I was dealt pocket jacks.  aiello4455 went all-in ahead of me for T465 and Maximus_CSA called.  I wanted to isolate the short-stack, who I didn’t put on a premium hand and I was hoping that Maximus_CSA would get out of the way since he still was the monster stack at T4515.  I went over the top all-in for T1500, but Maximus_CSA called.  aiello4455 had 77 and Maximus_CSA had KQs.  I thought that I was going to get bounced in third place when there was a K on the flop, but I rivered a jack and was suddenly the chip leader with T3515.

Maximus_CSA took another pounding early in Level 5 when he called BOLSY33’s preflop all-in (88) with AQo, but didn’t improve.  I pushed him further down a few hands later when, after making a small preflop raise with AKo, I checked TPTK on the flop to make sure I hadn’t run into a small set.  When he didn’t bet the flop, I made a minimum bet on the turn (call) and then induced a fold by betting the pot on the river.  If he went over the top I would have been able to get away with my stack intact, but he folded.  Probably on a flush draw.  BOLSY33 and I were both at around T3500 and the once mighty Maximus_CSA had fallen to T1000.

I realized that Maximus was playing from Ithaca, location of my alma mater.  I decided to ask him whether he was a Cornellian, but I have to say, the timing of my question seems cruel in retrospect: I raised his blind while we were talking and then called his over-the-top preflop all-in.  I called his JJ with A8o and spiked a 7 on the river to complete a gutshot straight and knocked him out of the tournament. So much for reminiscing about my time on the hill…

I thought I had BOLSY33 on our first heads-up hand.  I raised with ATo and he came over the top.  This is just too good a hand to lay down heads-up and I called.  He had A2o.  But there was a pair on the flop followed by running threes, so we chopped.  After we traded steals for a little while, I took the lead for good on a strange hand.

I limped in with 54o, ready to fold if he raised.  He didn’t.  The flop was A-A-3, two clubs.  BOLSY33 bet the minimum and I called with a gutshot draw.  And hit the gutshot on the turn.  Again BOLSY33 bet the minimum, but this time I made a baby raise to suck him out and he called.  The flop was a blank, and again BOLSY33 bet the minimum.  I went over the top all-in and he called ... with the HAMMER!!!  He committed almost his entire stack on the river with a CALL holding not only bottom pair, but bottom pair without a horrible kicker.  Two hands later I put him out of his misery when I pushed him all in with A3o and he called with a dominated Q3o.

My account now had $100.51, essentially where I started, less the signup bonus.  I had to play again immediately.

There isn’t much to say.  I played well, but with such a long recap of the first tournament, I am going to cut to the chase.  We were down to four handed.  Two players, KT82X and IHAVEAAAAK, were in the blinds (250/500) with roughly equal stacks of ~T3000; vizzance was on the bubble with T240 and I was hanging on to third with T820. vizzance called, putting himself all-in; I folded.  I figured the play would be simple.  KT82X would limp and the two big stacks would check it down to knock out the short stack.  Nope.  KT82X, foolishly fearing a reraise from the BB laid down his hand.  vizzance turned over K4o, and tripled up with K high.  I laid down QJo, hoping to see vizzance knocked out.  I would have made top two pair.  I was the beneficiary of a weak play like KT82X’s at the A.M. tournament last month and now I know exactly how Sheffield felt. Sort of.

On reflection, I think I should have pushed.  Adding my chips to the pot may have made the odds better for the big stacks and induced more action - I didn’t have enough for a comlete raise, so neither of them would have had to risk more than 25% of their remaining stacks. If vizzance and I both got knocked out on the hand, I would have ended up in the money.  Even losing the hand to vizzance is not much worse than letting vizzance triple his stack and push me onto the bubble anyway.  I got blinded away and ended up in third. 

I figured that vizzance, the only one of the last three that had any clue, would win from the short stack.  I was close.  vizzance ended up climbing into the chip lead, but he took a bad beat when KT82X made a stupid all-in call (QTo called A8o), but caught a T on the turn.  Short-stacked, vizzance went out when he bluff-raised 82o into KQo and got reraised all-in.  Pot committed, he had to call and lose.

Jerk Castle

Surrounded as I am in Prospect Heights by Carribean restaurants (I live two blocks from the terminus of the West Indian Day Parade).  In keeping with the neighborhood flavor and our personalities, Brother of Ugarte and I dubbed our apartment “Jerk Castle.” And Jerk Castle has started to host a little poker.

I have held off on hosting games here for two reasons: (1) as far as most New Yorkers are concerned, I live in the sticks and (2) the lighting in my apartment is terrible after dark.  We have been meaning to install high-hats or track lighting, but going on one year in the place we haven’t really made any effort to do so. But my girlfriend (let’s call her Zinester, for lack of a remotely good nickname) has decided that she likes playing for low stakes, and it seems like a good way to play more and hang out more.  Helmut came by along with two friends of Zinester’s.  Brother of Ugarte played also, making six.  Sous Chef had to work, so she bailed.

We ended up playing three winner-take-all $5 buy-in NLHE tournaments.  Helmut dominated play in the first tournament.  He was aggressive as hell early and, when called, had the cards to back up his bets.  Zinester also built quite a stack with tight, textbook play.  We got down to three-handed and I had the short stack.  The blinds were coming fast, so I went for a steal with T2o.  Helmut folded and Zinester started to contemplate a call.  The table essentially cajoled her into calling, so she did.  With 64o.  And she caught a 6 on the flop.  Game over for Ugarte.  Helmut came from slightly behind to win shortly thereafter.

I wish I remembered much about the next two tournaments.  I remember knocking Helmut out of one of the tournaments when I called his A7o with A9s.  I won both of the tournaments, so you would think that my recall would be better, but it wasn’t. It was a fun night, I won $45 (Zinester was a little surprised that I made her pay up) and I think we may make this a monthly thing.

Let me know if you are up for an occassional trip out to the hinterlands for a little low stakes action and dinner.