WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 03/11

This week was odd. Jasons S and K were no-shows again.

I did really well in the beginning. I doubled up early with QQ. Jason M called a flop bet, then I check raised him on the turn when I picked up a set. I went all-in on the river and he called with bottom pair. I have no idea what he was thinking.

The next hand I had 72o and bloffed Greg off of a big pot with a large bet on the river when it gave flush possibilities.

I got QQ additional times in the tourney, but each one fared worse than the hand before.

Before I get to that, I'll just say that I was tired and not really focusing on the game, so I made a bunch of plays that I probably wouldn't have normally made. Some worked, some didn't. I was never really in danger of going out until I did.

My second QQ came when I was in the big blind. Archie raised from the small blind and I reraised, causing him to fold. (side note, our group has gotten terribly passive. So much preflop limping and family pots.

My third QQ came four handed. I raised, and Shane reraised out of the big blind. The flop is all under cards, two clubs and he bets my remaining chips. I make a crying call, putting him on KK or AA. He turns over AK, both clubs. That was actually a good bet on his part. Something I didn't think him capable of. Puts a ton of pressure on me to fold plus he has a ton of outs. Which of course he hits.

Not a terrible result except that it was one of my better results this season.

Here are the results from this week, and the overall standings.

1. Shane
2. Greg
3. Mark
4. Me
5. Aaron
6. Archie
7. Noah
8. Jason M
9. Jason K (DNP)
10. Jason S (DNP)

Overall

1. Jason M (85/84)
2. Mark (88/81)
3. Shane (68/66)
4. Aaron (68/64)
5. Greg (62/62)
6. Me (57/55)
7. Noah (55/53)
8. Archie(52/50)
9. Jason S (48/48)
10. Jason K (19/19)

So unless my math is wrong Jason M and Mark have clinched the top two spots.  Technically Shane could tie mark, but Jason M said he doesn't think he can make it next week, and the other two Jason's I don't expect to show at all, so there is an almost guaranteed three points for Mark.   

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 03/10

This is one of those weeks when I feel like PokerStars was just messing with me.  I got absolutely brutally awful cards all night.  And had I played them I think I would have flopped two pair, or at least made two pair by the turn 87% of the time.

Jasons K and S were no shows again.  I think K has given up, and S is in the process of moving across country.   I hovered around the starting stack size most of the game.  for some reason I was able to see the flop on my BB for free almost every orbit.  So I was able to hang around.  Ultimately when we were four handed I tried to bluff Mark off a pot and he made a great call with bottom pair.  That left me pretty short stacked and then I tried to get cute by reraising all-in with bottom pair, hoping Noah was just trying to steal my blind.  He had top pair and knocked me out.  It was probably an ill-advised move at that point, but I was banking on him bluffing and I was wrong.

In the grand scheme of things is probably doesn't matter as Mark and Jason M were still in it, and they don't need to beat me at this point. They just need to stick around for a while to accumulate enough points to prevent me from catching them.  I'll have to do the math later, but I think I'm mathematically eliminated at this point,

This weeks results are:

1. Noah
2. Jason M
3. Mark
4. Me
5. Archie
6. Greg
7. Aaron
8. Shane
9. Jason K (DNP)
10. Jason S (DNP)

The overall standings are:

1. Jason M (83/82)
2. Mark (80 /73)
3. Aaron (63/59)
4. Shane (53/51)
5. Greg (51/51)
6. Noah (52/50)
7. Me (51/49)
8. Jason S (48/48)
9. Archie (48/46)
10. Jason K(19/19)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas episode 03/08 and 03/09

I didn't post an update from last week, so I'm bundling it with the results from today.  I was pretty frustrated with the results last week.  I won a big hand early and was second in chips for most of the tourney before ultimately going out in a pathetic fifth place.  My cards were terrible and I couldn't seem to catch a break but enough bitching.  I do want to review the big hand I won early on. It was vs. Greg.

Its been a week so I may be a little fuzzy on the details, but here is how it went down.  Five handed, Greg is on the button, I'm in the small blind with Q6o.  He limps and I call.  Flop is A6A, and I make a small bet. BB folds and Greg calls.  Turn as a three.  I bet again, and he raises.  I call.  River is a four.  He makes a large bet.  Its early in the tournament and if I call, the loser of the hand is going to have a hard time not going out first or second.

It seems to me like he is trying to push me out. If he has an ace then he would be trying to get me to call with a smaller bet.  If he has an pocket pair, then I still think the ace scares him and he tries to keep the pot smaller.    I call and he turns over K7s.  He's shocked that I called him with what I.  I realize I'm not providing a perfect recount of the hand, but am I missing something. Was he representing something that I just didn't see, or was he overselling his hand like I thought?  I guess I was right so that is all that matters, but I was bothered that he thought he represented a hand that I should have folded to.  Someone else at the table concurred that they thought he was slow rolling a big hand.

Anyway.  I coasted for  a while after that, then just ran into a bunch of coin flips that I kept losing.

Here are the results from last week:  Jason M continues his dominance this season and Mark pulled into second place with his win.  Also note that despite losing that big hand Greg managed to come back and outlast me.

1. Mark
2. Jason M
3. Jason S
4. Noah 
5. Greg
6. Me
7. Archie
8. Aaron
9. Shane
10. Jason K

And for week 9....


Haaaaaaalelueah hallelujah, hallelujah.

I finally won one.  Holy crap I was starting to think it wouldn't happen.  Noah also got his first cash with a second place finish, so congrats to him.

Jasons K and S were no shows, although Jason K was nice enough to register and then get blinded out.  I wish I could set the registration period to 30 min before the tourney starts so that wouldn't happen.  Jason K would have finished in fifth if he had actually shown up and just folded every hand.

My table started out four handed and I was very aggressive, nearly doubling up by the time the tables merged after the first blind limit.  I settled into a conservative rhythm after than and started bleeding chips as has been the norm.  

The hand that put me up for good was one that I had no business playing I had T2h and entered a family pot.  Flop was king high with one heart.  Jason M made a small bet.  He's been catching ridiculous cards on the river all league long, and especially today.  Nothing against me so far today, but he's had some sick suckouts against Noah.  

The turn is another heart and Jason makes a slightly larger bet.  I think to myself "what the hell"  if you can't beat 'em, join em right?  The river is the king of hearts and Jason makes a big bet.  I push all in over the top and he calls.  He had a king, and I forget the kicker, but it doesn't matter because he finally gets rivered and I double up.

From that point on I'm never in danger.  When we get down to three players I get the sense that both Mark and Noah are waiting for the other to go out, and as a result both hemorrhage chips in my direction.  Mark fall first and then the heads up match with Noah is over in a few hands as he only has 5x BB left.



Here are the results for week 9

1. Me
2. Noah
3. Mark
4. Jason M
5. Greg
6. Shane
7. Aaron
8. Archie
9. Jason S (No Show)
10. Jason K (No Show)

And the overall standings (Total/Total dropping worst 2)

1. Jason M (72/71)
2. Mark (72/65)
3. Aaron (60/56)
4. Shane (51/49)
5. Jason S (48/46)
6. Greg (47/47)
7. Me (45/43)
8. Archie(43/41)
9. Noah (37/35)
10. Jason K (19/19)

In other news, even though it doesn't look like I'm going to be finishing anywhere near the top two, Jason M looks like he's going to win and has said that he doesn't really want to play in the WSOP event.  So I think I can convince him to let me play for him.  Mark is the other guy pushing to play for Jason, and he is now in position to win a seat outright so I might not have to worry about him.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSPL Goes to Vegas Episode 03/07

Ug.  That's about all I can say about tonight.  I was hoping to ride last week's performance into something better this week, but it was not to be.  It was one of those nights when pretty much nothing went right.

I'm going to make my cat take most of the blame for this.  He's an asshole.  When he's hungry or for whatever reason decides that he needs attention he becomes the most obnoxious furball in the history of pets.  He walks on your keyboard, knocks anything and everything he can find off your desk, tries to head butt you, and then starts biting.  He's a complete douchbag.  And I'm a cat guy.  I love cats.

Anyway, he's going through his routine as I'm trying to play.  I would put him out of the room but then he would start scratching at the door, or try to bust into my two year old daughter's room, who just went to bed. So there are a few borderline hands that I opt not to play because I'm know I'm distracted.  I tell myself I'm make smart conservative decisions.  Its just one of those days where every hand you fold would have hit the flop huge, and every hand you play misses completely.  I'm slightly tilty from that but I'm aware of it and I think I have it under control.

Three big hands are what untimately kill me.

1.  I have 64o in one of the blinds.  I've had terrible hands all night though so this is actually one of my better starting hands.  And the flop is four handed 537 with two spades.  I bet a smallish amount. I don't want to scare people away.  I know I should because the flush is there, but I don't.  Two fold one stays.  The turn is a flush.  I check he min bets and I call.  River is nothing.  Check Check he has a weak flush and I'm in trouble. I guess I should have tried to push him out on the flop, but if I can't get a big pot off of flopping a 7 high straight then I'm not going to far anyway.

2.  I have pocket sevens and call Mark's raise.  He flop is 833.  He bets I raise, he calls.  The pot is about the size of my stack, which he bets when an ace comes up on the turn.  I think about it for a long time, and eventually fold.  I figure he has an ace, or an overpair.  Anything other than an ace on the flop and I probably call, but I can't put him on anything that I can beat.   I fold and now I have to wait for a premium hand or I'm done.

3.  Does ATs count as a premium hand?  Three orbits later and its by far the best I've seen.    There are a couple limpers and I push all-in.   I get called by JT.  Of coarse he catches a Jack on the river and I'm busted in 9th place.  Yes that was a shitty bad beat story. I don't care.  This is probably the most frustrated I've ever been at poker.

ug.


Here is this week's results, and the overall standings.

1. Shane
2. Aaron
3. Mark
4. Archie
5. Jason M
6. Jason S
7. Jason K
8. Noah
9. Me
10. Greg

And the overall standings

1. Jason M (55)
2. Aaron (55)
3. Mark (49)
4. Shane (46)
5. Jason S (40)
6. Archie (38)
7. Greg (37)
8. Me (26)
9. Noah (20)
10. Jason K (19)

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com