WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 2/12

Week 12 was fairly anti-climactic.   Mark and Rich were almost guaranteed to go to Vegas.  Aaron had a chance to knock Rich out if he won and Rich finished in 6th place or worse. I could knock either Rich or Mark out if I won and they came in 6th or worst.  Or something similar to that. I don't remember the exact scenarios.   It didn't matter though. Aaron went out first.   He tried to play too aggressively into Rich and it did not work out well for him.

I ended up going out second.  I was doing ok, but then I got distracted discussing a Roulette betting scheme in which I contend that if you pick four numbers and keep doubling your bet until you win, after 16 rounds your EV turns positive.  Rich disputes this, and while attempting to explain my math over the interwebs, I failed to notice that I was playing shitty poker.    To make matters worse Mark goes out fourth, which was his worst showing of the year, and would have left me room to sneak into the WSOP.

Rich came in third which was enough to put him in the overall lead, despite only winning one tourney.

Here are the finals:

Week 12

1. Shane
2. Jason
3. Rich
4. Archie
5. Noah
6. Mark
7. Cookie
8. Me
9. Aaron

And the league totals:

1. Rich ( 94 total /91 Dropping the worst two)
2. Mark (98/90)
3. Me (82/78)
4. Aaron (78/76)
5. Archie (70/68)
6. Jason (70/67)
7. Noah (66/66)
8. Shane(56/55)
9. Cookie (40/38)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas episode 2/11

We're playing twice this week since the last game was scheduled to be the day after Noah's wedding. Of course since we made a special game for him, Noah managed to not show up.

Things did not go very well for me this game. Early on I had JJ in the big blind. Everyone folded to Archie in the small blind who limped. If everyone limps to me in the big blind I generally like to just check it to disguise my hand. In this case I should have raised. I hate playing jacks. You never feel safe because someone is almost guaranteed to have overcards. This time the flop was ace high, Archie checked and bet. Same on the turn. The river was a third spade. Archie bets about 2/3 pot. It wasn't a very big pot, but still. It was great bet because I felt like I had to call even though I was sure I was behind. Sure enough he had rivered the flush with q2. Its my own fault. A raise pre-flop and I probably win that pot without the drama.

The next few hands were also multiway limps where I felt like I had to call. And I kept getting good pieces of the flop, but not good enough to stand up to the raises that I was getting. Before you know it I'm short stacked. and in trouble of going out real early.

I managed to stay alive long enough to finish in fifth, one spot ahead of Rich, but unfortunately Mark made it to XXXX place so my chances are pretty slim.

My final hand I had 88 in the big blind. Aaron min raised under the gun and I pushed all in. He had Aces and despite his claims that he never wins his aces held up. The frustrating thing about that is that I had 88 in the big blind earlier on when I had even less chips. Mark and Archie were both in a raised pot and while I contemplated pushing, I chickened out. Mark was also short stacked and I was hoping Archie would bust him. The flop was 89T and Mark ended up winning a big pot with a pair of tens. Not that I think I would have tripled up, but I would have at least won a decent amount of chips and prevented Mark from doing so. Second night in a row I let one of my top rivals stay alive.

Here are the standings after tonight

1. Aaron
2. Mark
3. Shane
4. Archie
5. Me
6. Rich
7. Jason
8. Cookie
9. Noah (DNP)

And the totals:

1. Mark 94/85
2. Rich 86/83
3. Me 80/76
4. Aaron 77/72
5. Archie 64/62
6. Noah 61/61
7. Jason 59/56
8. Shane 41/40
9. Cookie 37/35

So If Mark and Rich both choke tomorrow and Aaron or I win we have a chance, otherwise it looks like those two are going.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas episode 2/10

Both glorious and terrible things happened in this week's tourney.

We'll start with the glorious.

Actually no we'll start with some background. Mark is currently in the lead for our league with Rich in second. I'm in third, tied with Rich overall and a point behind after dropping our worst two.

The tourney goes more or less as usual.  Jason goes out first, then Noah and Shane and Aaron.  Mark and Rich are both short stacked for most of the early going, but keep battling back.  I'm comfortably sitting second behind Archie with the chip standings.

I'm playing really tight and getting bad cards so I'm getting chipped away while Rich and Mark slowly get back into it.  Mark is impossible to eliminate early on.  He's so patient when shortstacked and never seems to lose an all in until late in the game.

Anyways, I was worried that my image was starting to look weak passive, so I was looking for opportunities to raise when I get good old 72o.  I raise and Mark calls.   The flop is seven high.  Mark leads out and I push all in.  He thinks a bit, then calls with AJo.  The turn pairs the board  and the river is  another seven, so I managed to knock out the league leader with the worst hand in the game.  Good times.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to capitalize on it as much as I would have liked.  And I had a great opportunity too.   Rich was short stacked again and pushed all-in pre-flop.  I had ATo.  Archie called ahead of me though and I chickened out.  Archie was the chip leader and I didn't want to get into a pot with him that was already that big.  I figured he must have something good, so I let him try to knock Rich out.  In hindsight Archie probably would have let me check it down so I should have take the chance.  Plus the flop was AAT and there was another ten on the turn.   Terrible play, and not just because I would have won the pot.  I played that hand scared and it cost me big time.

Rich then went on to finally get a win.  I came in third losing to Jason. Three handed, Jason started as the chip leader and I just could not get a read on him.  He would check/call just about anything to the river, whether he had something or not.  Sometimes it worked to my advantage, other times not so much.

The had I lost I had pocket eights and made large bets pre-flop and post flop.  He called.  The board read JTX.  The turn was a rag and I pushed in my remaining chips.  He calls with AK and rivers the queen to knock me out.

So here are the new standings:

1. Rich
2. Jason
3. Me
4. Archie
5. Mark
6. Aaron
7. Shane
8. Noah
9. Cookie

Overall:

1. Rich (82 Total 79 Dropping the worst two)
2. Mark (83/74)
3. Me (75/71)
4. Noah(61/60)
5. Aaron (62/57)
6. Archie (58/56)
7. Jason (56/53)
8. Cookie (35/33)
9. Shane (33/32)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 2/9

And things get a  little more interesting...

I had just about resigned myself to the fact that Mark and Rich were going to be the top two finishers in the league.  They are in the lead now, and both too solid to have enough bad performances to let anyone else in. Or so I thought.

Rich is on vacation this week, out of the country.  He was planning on still playing but apparently wasn't able to make it, or most likely found something better to do.  This is why we get to drop two games.

For me this week things started out pretty poorly.  With one exception.  In my third or fourth hand I found myself with good old 27o.  Two players called my pre-flop raise, but they both folded to my continuation bet.  That was the only hand I won for the first three or four orbits.  I was playing tighter than usual in an attempt to keep myself out of trouble, and the few hands I did play I missed completely.

Just as I was starting to get frustrated I find myself with the small stack and AKs under the gun.  I make a standard 3xBB raise and get two callers, Noah and Cookie.   Noah has been on a tear lately. If he makes it to the ante levels (which we are in) he wins.

The flop is jack high with two of my suit.  Cookie bets, and Noah raises.  I push all in.  I'm guessing neither has anything, and that Noah is trying to steal the pot.  Even if they do have something I have a ton of outs.  Jason goes all in behind me and Noah calls, which initially doesn't make me too happy.  Cookie has QJ and Noah AJ.  I still have a bunch of outs, but I'm in trouble. The turn is a ten, which gives me some more outs, and I river a King.  Cookie is eliminated, Noah is still OK. I don't remember what he started with, but he may have come out ahead in the hand.

A few hands later Noah gets all in with Shane.  Noah again has AJ on a Jack high board, but Shane sucks out on the river.  Noah is finally eliminated when he again goes all in with the best hand and Aaron catches runner runner to make trips and beat him.  I think that is the most angry I've heard Noah after a game.

I was the chip leader after my triple up above and I never looked back.  I didn't jump into super aggressive bully mode because that has gotten me into trouble before, but I was able to push my way around when I needed to.  I was also able to sit back and watch the others knock each other out.  

With Rich not playing and Noah out early this was my big chance to gain ground.  Mark ends up going out in third so there is a little amount to be made there too.

Aaron and I get heads up before we are even an hour into the tourney, which I think is a first for this league.  I had about 7500 to his 4500.  We played to a stalemate for about half an hour.  Then I whittled him down to just under 2000.  He went all in with 22 and I called with AJo.  His two's held up and he got a new burst of confidence.  Suddenly he wasn't folding to my post flop raises, he was reraising me.   He ended up taking the lead and getting me all in, but this time my hand held up which seemed to put the game back to where we started.  I gradually ground him down to take my third win of the season.

So here are this weeks results.

1. Me
2. Aaron
3. Mark
4. Shane
5. Noah
6. Cookie
7. Jason
8. Archie
9. Rich (DNP)

And the overall standings

1. Mark 78 Points (68 Dropping the worst two)
2. Rich 67 (64)
3. Me 67 (63)
4. Noah 59 (58)
5. Aaron 58 (53)
6. Archie 52 (50)
7. Jason 45 (42)
8. Cookie 34 (31)
9. Shane 30 (29)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas episode 2/08

Mark and Rich are pulling further and further away from the pack, and I have to admit I'm getting pretty frustrated. I've been playing real poorly lately and I think I'm starting to get into my own head.

Things started off OK. Noah who is currently one spot above me in standings went out first and both Mark and Rich were fairly short stacked. I was getting terrible cards again, and not feeling any sort of confidence at all, but I figured as long as I played tight and smart I could at least make up some points. The only hands I played were out of the blinds, and I didn't play many of them past the flop.

Before I knew it I too was short stacked, and Rich kept rivering cards to stay alive. Somehow Archie accumulated more chips than the rest of the table, which worked out OK for me because he called just about anything, including my pre-flop all-in with TT.

That doubled me up and put me comfortably in second. I could have just played tight and waited for some spots to chip up, but no, I had to get aggressive and it didn't turn out well. I feel like whenever I try to push people out of a pot they hit something and raise me, and whenever I let it get to the river, they catch something to suck out on me.

I was back down to middle of the pack when I got AQs Mark was short stacked and limped. I popped it to 4x BB and he called that too. Our table normal preflop raise is probably 2.5-3. The flop is 5T8 and he pushes all in. Its about half my stack to call him. I put him on a missed hand, hoping that I too missed, and I call. He had KTs and it held up for him.

A few hands later I pushed with KT preflop and Mark called with AJ. Again his hand holds up and I'm out in third with a wasted opportunity to make up some ground. Only three games left. I need to win at least one and finish in the top 4 in all to even have a chance.

Here are the results for week 8

1. Archie
2. Aaron
3. Rich
4. Mark
5. Shane
6. Cookie
7. Me
8. Jason
9. Noah

And the current standings.  At this point I think Mark and Rich can start making travel arrangements.  

1. Mark (70 overall/60 dropping worst two)
2. Rich (67/58)
3. Noah(54/53)
4. Me (52/48)
5. Archie(50/48)
6. Aaron (47/42)
7. Jason (42/39)
8. Cookie (30/27)
9. Shane(24/23)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com