Saturday night special
Saturday night we played a big buyin tourney to cap off the NL Holdem we've been playing for a year now. Starting next week we are switching to PL Omaha for a ten week tournament and it can't come soon enough. NL Holdem is a suckers game designed to lower the skill level so that a monkey with a football can win buy pushing all in and getting lucky. Such was the case last night yet again. Let me set the scene.
Since the buying for this tourney was more than twice the usual ammount and it fell on a Saturday instead of the regular Friday night, we had a much smaller turnout. Only 9 poker players were in the room and we all crammed into one table for the night. We got 1500 chips instead of the normal 1000 and the blinds started at 20-40 with one hour levels. I pulled the queen of spades from the mound of cards and got to deal first. There was lots and lots of limping going on early and nobody wanted to get too involved becasue there were NO REBUYS in this event. I started building my stack with bold aggressive plays in good position and showed down a few nice hands in the process. I flopped trip sixes and took down a $1200 pot vs two other players who had both flopped top pair. I was rolling.
I had the big stack after the first hour but we had stil not lost any players just yet. On the button I dealt myself 6 8 offsuit and with three other players in the hand I turned and flopped 2 4 5. BJ was in the small blind and he put in a 1/2 pot bet and got two callers including me with my double gutshot straight draw. The turn came a 9 which left me with the same hand. BJ made a smallish bet and I put him on two unmatched high cards. I called. The river was the jackpot. A beautiful seven with no flush possiblities that gave me the rock solid nuts. BJ made yet another smallish bet and I took a moment and the raised the pot by about 1/2. Eventually BJ made a crying call and I showed down the nuts and took a nice pot of nearly $2ooo. I was now the monster chip leader and feeling pretty good about my chances. The stacks around the table were shrinking with the exception of Jimmy who was only playing good hands and avoiding trouble. Meanwhile, Jackie Fisher, the suckout king/queen who has been my longstanding poker nemesis had made some horrible plays and his stack was suffering to the tune of about $375. I was in the driver's seat.
I was dealing again and gave myself some ugly cards. 10c 3c. In the pot were Jack, Ronnie and myself. Everyone limped in and we saw a flop. Kc 8c 5h. Jack pushed on the flop for his last $275 and Ronnie called. I called too and planned to check it down, just hoping to make a flush and knock Jack out. I had no plans to put anymore $ in the pot and I put my head down and kept saying "check" "check". When the river still showed no club, Ronnie made a jackass play by betting $100 into an empty sidepot and I folded while chastising him for the horrible tournament poker play he had made. Jacks 9 9 held and he was back over $1000 chips again. Not good.
I am still the monster chip leader with nearly 6000 in chips. I took out cousin BJ with pocket aces and then sent Ronnie packing with top two pair. Uncle Bill was gone and Johnny Buzz ended his amazing final table run with a mediocre finish. We got down to three handed between Jack, Jimmy and myself. We were paying the lions share to 1st and the buyin was returned to second place while third got nothing. I was getting bad cards fromt he start and I was conserving my chips. Jack started pushing all in and making stupid size raises to steal pots right away. I was folding and waiting. See, here's the thing, I know what Jack is going to do. He senses weakness and he trys to take any pot that nobody else wants to bet at. The past few weeks I've had him against the ropes with dominating hands and all the money in the pot only to see him catch up on the river and knock me out. I don't know why it keeps happening. Everyone else at the table seems to be afraid of him when he bets but when I punch him in the mouth someone hands his ass a gun at the last minute.
The blinds are now at 100-200 and the hands are coming out faster. A few steals later, Jack has a little over $2000, I've still got nearly $6000 and Jimmy is sitting quietly with around $4500. I'm dealt 56 offsuit in the Big Blind. When the flop comes 3 3 4 and nobody bets I make a min bet with my open ender. Jack pushes all in from the button in a hurry. Jimmy folds and I instantly call but not without thinking a lifetime in that split second. Here's why. I knew I was behind with my 6 hi of course but I saw a chance to maybe get lucky when I had some chips and get rid of him. I know that he wouldn't stop the bullying and raising because he felt he had nothing to lose. I knew that if I had flopped quad aces that theres a 99% chance he'd suckout a Royal Flush and whack me. So I called, and crossed my fingers. It didn't work. He had A 3 offsuit and his trips held on. Now he has the chip lead but I still like my chances.
Two hands later I'm dealt Q5 offsuit on the button and I limp in for $200. Jack calls from the Small Blind and Jimmy checks. FLOP !!! 5 5 9. How lovely. Jack bets $400 and Jimmy folds. I do my best Meryl Streep imitaion as I glance back at my cards in confusion. I decide to make a teaser raise just equal to his. $400 + $400. Jack calls. The turn is a total brick and I check to him, knowing with 100% certainty that he is going to move all of his chips in the pot and give them to me. I know this with all my heart. I played the hand so well it was scary. Sure enough he does it. "All in" he says and I immediately call and show my trip fives. For a moment I see it in his eyes and he knows he was outplayed. He turns over JJ for an overpair to the board. He is drawing dead to one of the two remaining Jacks in the deck.
Here's the odds for you from Two Dimes.net
http://twodimes.net/h/?z=1614597
jh js /vs/ qs 5c -Board reads- 5h 5s 9h 4d
Js Jh winning cards in the deck 2 win% 4.55
Qs 5c winning cards in the deck 42 win% 95.45
And the Jack hits on the river. That's all folks. I don't even call that lucky. I call that alot of other bad words that I won't write here because the internet saves everything. You tell me how this can keep happening. That's 3 river suckouts by this fella in a row vs me. I even told him after wards that I consider him a very good card player despite his sucking out ways. I'm telling you all right now however, that I am much better, just unlucky. He and Jimmy split the prize money and I went on to kill the sidegame for the next two hours.
Next week ? Omaha. Where the luckbox factor is dimished and skill prevails.
Hopefully......
Stay tuned.
Have a Drink on me
Since the buying for this tourney was more than twice the usual ammount and it fell on a Saturday instead of the regular Friday night, we had a much smaller turnout. Only 9 poker players were in the room and we all crammed into one table for the night. We got 1500 chips instead of the normal 1000 and the blinds started at 20-40 with one hour levels. I pulled the queen of spades from the mound of cards and got to deal first. There was lots and lots of limping going on early and nobody wanted to get too involved becasue there were NO REBUYS in this event. I started building my stack with bold aggressive plays in good position and showed down a few nice hands in the process. I flopped trip sixes and took down a $1200 pot vs two other players who had both flopped top pair. I was rolling.
I had the big stack after the first hour but we had stil not lost any players just yet. On the button I dealt myself 6 8 offsuit and with three other players in the hand I turned and flopped 2 4 5. BJ was in the small blind and he put in a 1/2 pot bet and got two callers including me with my double gutshot straight draw. The turn came a 9 which left me with the same hand. BJ made a smallish bet and I put him on two unmatched high cards. I called. The river was the jackpot. A beautiful seven with no flush possiblities that gave me the rock solid nuts. BJ made yet another smallish bet and I took a moment and the raised the pot by about 1/2. Eventually BJ made a crying call and I showed down the nuts and took a nice pot of nearly $2ooo. I was now the monster chip leader and feeling pretty good about my chances. The stacks around the table were shrinking with the exception of Jimmy who was only playing good hands and avoiding trouble. Meanwhile, Jackie Fisher, the suckout king/queen who has been my longstanding poker nemesis had made some horrible plays and his stack was suffering to the tune of about $375. I was in the driver's seat.
I was dealing again and gave myself some ugly cards. 10c 3c. In the pot were Jack, Ronnie and myself. Everyone limped in and we saw a flop. Kc 8c 5h. Jack pushed on the flop for his last $275 and Ronnie called. I called too and planned to check it down, just hoping to make a flush and knock Jack out. I had no plans to put anymore $ in the pot and I put my head down and kept saying "check" "check". When the river still showed no club, Ronnie made a jackass play by betting $100 into an empty sidepot and I folded while chastising him for the horrible tournament poker play he had made. Jacks 9 9 held and he was back over $1000 chips again. Not good.
I am still the monster chip leader with nearly 6000 in chips. I took out cousin BJ with pocket aces and then sent Ronnie packing with top two pair. Uncle Bill was gone and Johnny Buzz ended his amazing final table run with a mediocre finish. We got down to three handed between Jack, Jimmy and myself. We were paying the lions share to 1st and the buyin was returned to second place while third got nothing. I was getting bad cards fromt he start and I was conserving my chips. Jack started pushing all in and making stupid size raises to steal pots right away. I was folding and waiting. See, here's the thing, I know what Jack is going to do. He senses weakness and he trys to take any pot that nobody else wants to bet at. The past few weeks I've had him against the ropes with dominating hands and all the money in the pot only to see him catch up on the river and knock me out. I don't know why it keeps happening. Everyone else at the table seems to be afraid of him when he bets but when I punch him in the mouth someone hands his ass a gun at the last minute.
The blinds are now at 100-200 and the hands are coming out faster. A few steals later, Jack has a little over $2000, I've still got nearly $6000 and Jimmy is sitting quietly with around $4500. I'm dealt 56 offsuit in the Big Blind. When the flop comes 3 3 4 and nobody bets I make a min bet with my open ender. Jack pushes all in from the button in a hurry. Jimmy folds and I instantly call but not without thinking a lifetime in that split second. Here's why. I knew I was behind with my 6 hi of course but I saw a chance to maybe get lucky when I had some chips and get rid of him. I know that he wouldn't stop the bullying and raising because he felt he had nothing to lose. I knew that if I had flopped quad aces that theres a 99% chance he'd suckout a Royal Flush and whack me. So I called, and crossed my fingers. It didn't work. He had A 3 offsuit and his trips held on. Now he has the chip lead but I still like my chances.
Two hands later I'm dealt Q5 offsuit on the button and I limp in for $200. Jack calls from the Small Blind and Jimmy checks. FLOP !!! 5 5 9. How lovely. Jack bets $400 and Jimmy folds. I do my best Meryl Streep imitaion as I glance back at my cards in confusion. I decide to make a teaser raise just equal to his. $400 + $400. Jack calls. The turn is a total brick and I check to him, knowing with 100% certainty that he is going to move all of his chips in the pot and give them to me. I know this with all my heart. I played the hand so well it was scary. Sure enough he does it. "All in" he says and I immediately call and show my trip fives. For a moment I see it in his eyes and he knows he was outplayed. He turns over JJ for an overpair to the board. He is drawing dead to one of the two remaining Jacks in the deck.
Here's the odds for you from Two Dimes.net
http://twodimes.net/h/?z=1614597
jh js /vs/ qs 5c -Board reads- 5h 5s 9h 4d
Js Jh winning cards in the deck 2 win% 4.55
Qs 5c winning cards in the deck 42 win% 95.45
And the Jack hits on the river. That's all folks. I don't even call that lucky. I call that alot of other bad words that I won't write here because the internet saves everything. You tell me how this can keep happening. That's 3 river suckouts by this fella in a row vs me. I even told him after wards that I consider him a very good card player despite his sucking out ways. I'm telling you all right now however, that I am much better, just unlucky. He and Jimmy split the prize money and I went on to kill the sidegame for the next two hours.
Next week ? Omaha. Where the luckbox factor is dimished and skill prevails.
Hopefully......
Stay tuned.
Have a Drink on me
posted by ChaseNFold @ 4:57 PM
2 Comments:
At 1:28 PM ,
Anonymous said...
I think calling with the 5 6 was a bad move. I know you will usually take any chance of busting him. But He plays loose enough that you will have a better chance with a made hand. Jack usually doesn't bluff post-flop, if he puts it all-in on the flop he usually is confindent that he has the best hand. He was a 3 to 1 fav to win the hand and become chip leader.
At 2:30 PM ,
Anonymous said...
beano glad i made your blog, you can't say that you would not have made the same play. cards are both skill and luck, i tip my hat to your skills but only to rake the pot,ha. just kiddin' can't wait to see how this omaha goes.
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