The plan for the day was to hit the gym in the morning, have lunch with some friends and then catch the afternoon tournament at the TI.
Once I was done at the gym, I had an hour or so before it was time to meet my friends. We were eating at the Orleans, so I played a little 2-4 while I waited and won my buy-in for the TI tournament, so the freeroll was on. After lunch, I made my way over to TI and got signed in jsut a few minutes before the tournament started.
There was a very good turnout, 57 entrants. I have to say that the TI seems to do a great job with the daily low buy-in tournaments. They run them four times a day, the structure (considering what kind of event it is) is good and when I have been by, the turnouts have always been good.
The first few levels were a rollercoaster for me, mostly because I kept catching hands either in the blinds or in early position that warranted a raise, but left me playing out of position after the flop without really kitting the flop hard (overcards to a good pp or missing on AK). So, I was up, I was down, I was up, I was down. Ended up the third level with only a few chips over starting stack.
I've gotten the feeling that in these low buy-in events that the first couple of levels after the first break tend to be very significant. People can't reenter the tournament after busting out anymore, the blinds have gotten up to the point where if you haven't chipped up then you are playing 10 or fewer blinds deep. I was lucky yesterday as I hit a couple of hands that allowed me to pick off other short players and build my stack up to 1.5 to 2 times the average. From there I was able to pick spots and (pretty easily) get to the final table. I had a pretty good stack by this point and was able to make a couple good position plays to keep myself ahead of the blinds. GOt down to three handed with the second biggest stack, but the spread between the big stack and the third stack was less than three big blinds, but everything was really fluid. Also, even though I was second, I still only had six big blinds, so the game was definitely in the shove fest category. I shoved with K10 offsuit from the button and got looked up by the big blind who had an ace. He had me covered and I was out in third. I was pretty happy with how I played the middle part of the tournament.
Today is Golden Nugget day. We got a room for the night, I will play in their 11am tournament and also a charity event there this evening. If I'm available around 2pm, I'm going to hit up the weekly poker discussion group across the street at Binion's jsut to check it out.
Showing posts with label results. Show all posts
Showing posts with label results. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Poker Vacation
No, I'm not taking a vacation from poker. Rather I'm taking a vacation this week from work so that I can play a lot of poker.
Started out nice and easy today with the noon offering at Santa Fe Station. I live nearby, and wanted to be home relatively early since I'm going out with my wife tonight. There were something like 23 or 24 entrants - two full tables with a handful of alternates who all got seats. Things went ok early on, although right before the first break lost a good chunk of chips that left me just above the starting stack. I got pretty aggressive after the break, but couldn't really get a sizable stack built up. Ended up the last person out before the final table. The hand I busted on, I could have played better and survived, but I think I was kind of in "go big or go home" mode so, that's fine. There's a lot more poker to come this week.
Started out nice and easy today with the noon offering at Santa Fe Station. I live nearby, and wanted to be home relatively early since I'm going out with my wife tonight. There were something like 23 or 24 entrants - two full tables with a handful of alternates who all got seats. Things went ok early on, although right before the first break lost a good chunk of chips that left me just above the starting stack. I got pretty aggressive after the break, but couldn't really get a sizable stack built up. Ended up the last person out before the final table. The hand I busted on, I could have played better and survived, but I think I was kind of in "go big or go home" mode so, that's fine. There's a lot more poker to come this week.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Tournament Report
Last night I played the Friday night tournament at Aliante Station. There were 21 entrants which led to a prize pool of around $950, the plan was to pay 3 places. I had a couple of steal attempts that went awry early on, missed a couple of flops, and I was down to less than half the starting stack. Spent the rest of the time during the first break building it back to just over starting stack size by the time we took a break. After the break, one of the calling stations busted out and steals got a lot easier. I built up to over 10,000 in chips (starting was t4500), and I don't think I ever had to see a turn card. When they consolidated the two tables into one I was slightly over average when I had my one big hand of the night.
I was UTG +1 and had two black aces. UTG limped, I raised to 3x the big blind, folded to the big blind who shoved, UTG thought a long time before folding, I called and the other guy had AK of diamonds. He flopped a gutshot straight draw, but couldn't catch and I was the big stack.
We played down to four people and agreed to pay fourth place their entry back. I wasn't the big stack anymore. The new big stack had one two big pots in a row from the same player to bust him in fifth. The first was pretty standard, soon to be bigstack had pocket 10s that she reraised all in against the soon to be fifth place's AK suited. He called and the tens held up. The second hand (very next hand) soon to be fifth open shoves and bigstack is the only one who calls. Fifth had pocket Ks, but big had pocket 9s and flopped a 9. Fifth was out and Big now had a commanding lead four handed. It was ironic because when we were ten handed, Big limp reraised all in one hand which led me to think she had either aces or kings (I was sitting next to Big's husband and he told me he thought the same). She got called by the person who actually had aces and she again had, pocket 9s. Big flopped a 9 that time too.
Once we were four handed, I lost some chips calling shoves from the short stack. The first hand was literally one of those any two cards type of calls because I was in the big blind and short only had two big blinds in her stack when she shoved. Short had two face cards and I had 78 or 89 off. I actually flopped an open ended straight draw, but couldn't catch and short doubled. A while later, short shoves from the button again and this time I have a pair (5s) so I call. There were a few other times she shoved and I folded, but when she shoved for about half of what I had I called with A10. Short had 89 and I caught the A on the flop leaving her needing runner runner which didn't come. We were down to 3. I was in second, only about 3,000 behind Bigstack and had third place covered about 3/1.
The next hand, I had KJ of spades, open raised and the Short stack reraised all in. I called and he flipped over A hearts 4 diamonds. I flopped a jack, but the flop was all hearts and the fourth one came on the turn leaving the two shorter stacks about even. We all compared chip stacks at this point and the other short player proposed a three way chop. I agreed (of course) but told the big stack it was up to her. She got both of our counts and said she was ok with the three way chop, so that's what we did. She had both of the other players covered by a fair amount, but the blinds are so big at that point and one hand can change everything quick, so I think that made sense.
I think deals in these type of tournaments once it's down to three or four players make a lot of sense because the high blinds make everyone's chip stacks pretty volatile. Unless one person really has the rest of the players dominated, things are really coin flippy at that point. That beign said, I do hope sometime that I can get down to just two. I think I'll propose that we chop something like ninety percent of the money and play heads up for the rest. I do want to actually get some experience at heads up play.
Thinking back on last night it was a good example of how in these tournaments you do not have to be a slave to luck. I wasn't unusually lucky last night. I lost most of my "flips" at the late stage of the tournament and I only had one really big hand. However, I was able to identify some weak players that I felt likely would fold to aggression and reacted appropriately. Doing that put me in a position where I could very easily have gone to the final two players with the chip lead.
I was UTG +1 and had two black aces. UTG limped, I raised to 3x the big blind, folded to the big blind who shoved, UTG thought a long time before folding, I called and the other guy had AK of diamonds. He flopped a gutshot straight draw, but couldn't catch and I was the big stack.
We played down to four people and agreed to pay fourth place their entry back. I wasn't the big stack anymore. The new big stack had one two big pots in a row from the same player to bust him in fifth. The first was pretty standard, soon to be bigstack had pocket 10s that she reraised all in against the soon to be fifth place's AK suited. He called and the tens held up. The second hand (very next hand) soon to be fifth open shoves and bigstack is the only one who calls. Fifth had pocket Ks, but big had pocket 9s and flopped a 9. Fifth was out and Big now had a commanding lead four handed. It was ironic because when we were ten handed, Big limp reraised all in one hand which led me to think she had either aces or kings (I was sitting next to Big's husband and he told me he thought the same). She got called by the person who actually had aces and she again had, pocket 9s. Big flopped a 9 that time too.
Once we were four handed, I lost some chips calling shoves from the short stack. The first hand was literally one of those any two cards type of calls because I was in the big blind and short only had two big blinds in her stack when she shoved. Short had two face cards and I had 78 or 89 off. I actually flopped an open ended straight draw, but couldn't catch and short doubled. A while later, short shoves from the button again and this time I have a pair (5s) so I call. There were a few other times she shoved and I folded, but when she shoved for about half of what I had I called with A10. Short had 89 and I caught the A on the flop leaving her needing runner runner which didn't come. We were down to 3. I was in second, only about 3,000 behind Bigstack and had third place covered about 3/1.
The next hand, I had KJ of spades, open raised and the Short stack reraised all in. I called and he flipped over A hearts 4 diamonds. I flopped a jack, but the flop was all hearts and the fourth one came on the turn leaving the two shorter stacks about even. We all compared chip stacks at this point and the other short player proposed a three way chop. I agreed (of course) but told the big stack it was up to her. She got both of our counts and said she was ok with the three way chop, so that's what we did. She had both of the other players covered by a fair amount, but the blinds are so big at that point and one hand can change everything quick, so I think that made sense.
I think deals in these type of tournaments once it's down to three or four players make a lot of sense because the high blinds make everyone's chip stacks pretty volatile. Unless one person really has the rest of the players dominated, things are really coin flippy at that point. That beign said, I do hope sometime that I can get down to just two. I think I'll propose that we chop something like ninety percent of the money and play heads up for the rest. I do want to actually get some experience at heads up play.
Thinking back on last night it was a good example of how in these tournaments you do not have to be a slave to luck. I wasn't unusually lucky last night. I lost most of my "flips" at the late stage of the tournament and I only had one really big hand. However, I was able to identify some weak players that I felt likely would fold to aggression and reacted appropriately. Doing that put me in a position where I could very easily have gone to the final two players with the chip lead.
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