Second Table Hell

It’s official; I’m in second table hell! In my past twelve tourneys, I’ve had only two final tables and ten second, two of which I was the bubble boy. It really sucks to get so close so very consistently and then get beat out time after time.

I did have one very sweet and well played pot that night though. I was small blind (50/100) with Kc8c. It got to me with a min raise so I called as did the big blind, total of four in the pot. The flop comes Qc 9d 7c. I checked, BB checked next person made it 300 to go and everyone called. Turn is a 2c so I have my K high flush and I check it. The guy made it 300 to go and I check-raised him to 600 and he called. The river is an Ac and I see that I have the nuts, so I checked again. This time he made it 600 to go and I check-raised him again to 1200 and he instantly went all in. As he got his chips out and started counting them out, I took a quick glance at the board just to make sure there was no straight flush there, then I called him. I only had about 700 more so he got to pull back about 550, then flipped up his 6cTc as he announced his flush. I let out a ‘oohh,’ knowing the pain he was about to feel as I flipped over the nuts.

I stayed one of the upper to upper-mid stacks for most of the night and was a good sized mid stack when we got to two tables. Unfortunately, it seemed like everyone was chasing at this table. Damn near impossible to get people to lay down, but because most of them had four people in the pot, someone would catch and all I could do was watch my stack slowly evaporate to the chasers and the blinds.

My last two hands really sucked. In the BB (1000/2000) I had Jd8d and one caller so far. I made a two BB raise to buy the pot but the BB called, the other folded. I didn’t feel too bad about his call, cause this guy is normally a very good donkey, who once in a pot, will almost never fold and call it all the way down. Flop was J Xd Xd so I bet about ½ the pot and he called. There were two more bricks and I kept betting about ½ the pot and he kept calling, then turned to show AJ to my J8 and missed flush so his A played and took the pot.

The very next hand I was SB and donkey was BB and I looked down to pocket tens. It was folded around to me so I went all in my remaining 3500 after covering the blind. He thought then called and turned an 8s6s. Flop was 5.7.9 In that order. The donkey flopped his straight. The turn was a T, giving him an even higher straight, but at least moving me up to 10 outs, which naturally failed to appear.

After that I went home and decided to de-tilt myself with some Captian and Diet and some nice micro-limit .10 NLHE on Stars. Sat down at the table with $5 and by the time I was nice and tired and ready for bed 28 minutes later after busting out four people, I left with $18.05. Not bad for half and hours worth of work.

Three and Thirty Tourney and a Player Alert

Had an interesting time in one of the $3+.30 tourneys on Stars last night. It seemed like if you had pocket T’s or better there was some rule that I missed that said you were required to go all-in preflop. Within my first four hands I was looking at cowboys and made it 80 to go (blinds 10/20). Before I know it, there are two all-ins. I almost called, but my spidie senses were tingling, so I folded. The two still there showed pocket Tens and Hiltons. I nearly kicked myself till Hiltons flopped a set.

I saw pocket 6’s CALL pocket J’s all-in. I saw AKo all-in against KK. I even saw A6o CALL a KK all-in. It was, in several words, un.fucking.real. Later on in the tourney, I saw the big stack at the table (about 3.5X second stack) go all-in with his pocket K’s, Q’s, J’s, only to watch the table fold to him and would almost never pick up more than the blinds.

Perhaps I missed something in that poker 101 class I never took. Would it not have been wiser for him to lead out with somewhere between 5-10 times the big blind (normally I’m a 3-5 person myself but this guy obviously felt the need to move a lot of chips with big pairs) to get rid of all the weak hands and possibly get a caller or two and maybe even manage to pick up a few more chips than just the blinds? I know, I know, that’s just crazy talk.

Of course, maybe they were all onto something, after all, the big stack was still there when I busted out in 181st (of 1932). I should note that at that time, he was no longer the big stack. The new big stack that got moved in just chased people off by betting 4-6 time the big blind, and that seemed to work for him without risking a significant portion of his stack.

Now for something useful. Add the player FoldNow23 to your Find-a-Player list on Stars. On Saturday, after my SnG while I was getting ready to head out for a live game, for some reason I pulled up a $3+.30 re-buy tourney to watch while I got ready. I kid you not when I saw this kid pull at least 12 re-buy’s, probably more, before the blinds broke 25/50, and this was a turbo if memory serves.

My notes on him read as such: All-in with any pocket pair, any paint, any suited, any connectors. I saw him take down only one pot with his big all-in move, but he was quite generous to the rest of the table. I for one would love to see if such behavior carries over into the cash games, or if his generosity is reserved for re-buy tourneys.

There's Always Tomorrow

The past three nights it seems like I just get so damn close, yet still so far away. I’ve found myself on the last two tables every night, but just keep falling shy of that final table. Last night was the worst, I went out in tenth, the bubble boy.

The blinds were T5000/10000 and the BB was mine next hand. I look down at AsKs so I pushed with 19000. The SB called with 9000 all-in, everyone else was a fold. He flipped A2o. Flop comes A95r, turn is 3 and river was a 4. Couldn’t believe it, he caught a small straight on the river.

Next hand I was all-in in the BB. Everyone folded to the SB who called a flipped a 56o. I get up, put on my jacket and look at my cards for the first time, AJo. Flop and turn are bricks and the river was a six. Out I go in tenth place and hear the cry “Final Table!”

The night before I went out in twelfth and before that out in thirteenth. I always got my money in with good cards, KQ, KJ, QJ, AQ etc. but none of them ever held up. Kept losing to pocket 2’s, 3’s, 8’s, or some low connectors that would make bottom pair.

I really need to make a few more tables this month and get my points up. That’s why it sucks so much to be getting so close to the point but just coming up a bit short. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow…

JsTs

Well so far this has been a pretty decent week. On-line I’ve taken a third and a second in my SnG’s, bubbled out in one and lost two (the two were wasting time in a $1+.10 SNG’s). I also did a $2+.20 tourney but didn’t do all that well, I didn’t time it right and had to get rolling for the live game at 7:00.

In the tourneys, so far I have had two final tables; a third and a fifth finish. Not the greatest, but I’m already beating that horrendous month of February. For the times I didn’t make the final table, in the side games I cashed 3 out of 4 so let’s just hope this streak continues through the end of April.

Well, just this past Sunday I had a first, my first straight flush!! It all started with JsTs in mid-position so I lead out with T300 (blinds were 50/100) and got three callers. Flop came KsQsX. There were two checks to me so I continued on with my T300 and all three called again.

Turn was a 9s. I was pretty much in shock, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, I had just turned a straight flush! While instinct said go all-in, the more rational side said take you time and get some chips so I went back to T300 hoping that someone had something to make it worth their while to stay in.

The guy to my left said ‘you’ve got the flush, don’t you’ as he disgustedly threw his chips in. Then next person folded and the girl to my right called.

The river is a K. Once I saw that K, I was hoping that someone had a boat, since they had all put me on the flush. Checked to me so I made it 600 to go. The guy to my left just said, “I know you have it” and once again threw in his chips. The girl pretty much followed suit.

‘Trip K’s said the guy to my left as he showed his card. The girl to my right had two pair, QX—I’m still not sure why she stuck around but I’m glad she did.

Finally I went ‘Well, I have two hands, both the straight and the flush…’. I flipped my JsTs over and watched them just go bug-eyed at it.

The guy just said ‘Sweet’ and then bought me a drink.

WSOP Satellite

You’ll never guess who got a seat in a satellite to the WSOP? That’s right, me, and 143 others. So on April 22nd and 23rd we will all be playing for a seat in one of the $1500 NLHE events in the 2006 WSOP. Everyone at the final table will actually win a seat in a tourney, but 1st place gets the big prize! This will be my first big multi-day tourney, so I’m quite excited about it and hope I actually make it to day two. With a field of only 144, this is probably my best chance of making it there (short of coming up with the $1500 buy-in on my own that is).