Let's play three

I didn't figure I'd play much today, and I didn't really. A little FTP Omaha8, where I was down from my $5 buy-in to $.90 and got all-in and won the low to get back up to $2. I eventually hit a ridiculous full house and jumped up to $6.75 or so. Out.

A few helpful Omaha tips:

• With a 3-flush on the board, somebody will have the other 2
• With a pair on the board, somebody will have the FH
• With a 3-straight (and certainly a 4+), somebody will have the nut straight

This is completely true.

I played a little on Stars in a ring game, lost a little bit. I can never keep a full table, and the hands are slow to come -- I wind up seeing flops with JT and catching shit.

But then I said, hey, I'm up a few bucks. Might as well take some tourney shots.

Played two, and came up dry both times. Oh well. I know that ITMs under 50% are perfectly normal -- it is, after all, your ROI that matters. In one I got a real shitty run of cards -- and then went all-in with a less than optimum hand. In the other I got a good hand & got drawn out on.

Tourney #3, I was determined to play less loose. To raise more (hopefully steal some). It seems to me that early in the tournament, you'll get called (or raised) a LOT. More than you want to when you're playing your A9o from the CO. So I determined to play supertight. I hadn't played one hand, and only seen a handful of flops, when I had a decent hand.

I was in 15th or so of 17 with a $1k stack. I made a postflop raise when it hit me a little. Got the folds, and I was back up to $1350. At 75/150, that's golden for a couple more orbits at least.

Then the fun begins -- and by fun, I mean the saga of myself and norma9. She was the aggressor at the table (there are 10-11 people left at this point, which means that one table is 6 and one is 5 -- we're at the fiver), and was cleaning up pretty well. I'm not the short stack, but [I'm a 1k+ stack at a table with two 10k+, and two 3k-4k stacks, plus one guy with 800.] But I got a run of cards, and I pretty much could purchase my own island with the cash I took off her. All these hands (practically) are very close in time. There are incidental "everyone folds" type of hands in here, as well as "I pay to see the flop, then fold" hands. But this is pretty much all the action for 5 minutes or so:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Grey IV [Ks Ad]
I raise, 2 callers (including norma9)

*** FLOP *** [3c 3s Ah]
norma9: bets 11045 and is all-in
Grey IV: calls 665 and is all-in
5MILLION: folds

*** TURN *** [3c 3s Ah] [7d]
*** RIVER *** [3c 3s Ah 7d] [3h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
norma9: shows [5s Qs] (three of a kind, Threes)
Grey IV: shows [Ks Ad] (a full house, Threes full of Aces)
Grey IV collected 3005 from pot
norma9 said, "whoops"

Like I said, norma9 was being aggressive. I'm not sure why she picked an overcarded board to push, though. And Q5 isn't great. Two Broadway cards, maybe. Maybe because there were two of us? No idea.

My new favorite hand is pocket fives -- or, as Vince Van Patten (last name: "is a tool") would say, Speed Limit:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Grey IV [5h 5s]
norma9 calls, I call, BB checks

*** FLOP *** [3c 2c 5d] (hooray!)
1 check, norma9: bets 200, Grey IV: raises 550 to 750, 1 fold, norma9: raises 550 to 1300, Grey IV: raises 755 to 2055 and is all-in, norma9: calls 755

*** TURN *** [3c 2c 5d] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [3c 2c 5d 6d] [Qc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
norma9: shows [Ks Ac] (high card Ace)
Grey IV: shows [5h 5s] (three of a kind, Fives)
Grey IV collected 4960 from pot

This is the point when I felt a little bad. norma9 had a great hand -- just ran into a buzzsaw. I know the Internet poker community would have her raise big preflop with such a big hand -- and I don't know if I would've called if she had. I should mention here that norma9 had the huge stack at the table, so she still has plenty of virtual coin for...

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Grey IV [5h 5c]
1 fold, norma9 calls, 1 fold, Grey IV: calls 100, 1 fold (some might raise here in LP; I'm just shocked to see the same hand again, and hey, it is a pair of 5s after all...)

*** FLOP *** [5s 4s 8c]
Grey IV: bets 725
norma9: raises 725 to 1450
Grey IV: raises 725 to 2175
norma9: raises 11350 to 13525 and is all-in
Grey IV: calls 2285 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [5s 4s 8c] [As]
*** RIVER *** [5s 4s 8c As] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Grey IV: shows [5h 5c] (a full house, Fives full of Eights)
norma9: shows [8h 7s] (a flush, Ace high)
Grey IV collected 9645 from pot

At first, I thought I had lost. Seriously. I saw the fourth spade, and went "FUCK!" But I didn't feel so bad -- I went all-in with a set on a non-scary board, she went all-in with top pair, and a 1-out straight draw and a runner-runner flush draw. Them's the odds. With this pot, my stack is now bigger than norma9's:

• I get AK suited. The flop comes [6h 7h 4h], and norma9 and I check down after she just calls my half-pot flop bet. But... *** SHOW DOWN *** norma9: shows [Qd Ad] (high card Ace); Grey IV: shows [Ac Kc] (high card Ace - King kicker); Grey IV collected 3575 from pot. We're two peas in a pod. Big overcards, terrified of the flush (and that open-ended straight that could've come in on the river). This is what SSHE means by "...will win unimproved a significant portion of the time in non-multiway pots," I guess.
• Truly the next hand: I get [4s 9d] in the big blind. I check to see the flop (hoping for, y'know, 949): *** FLOP *** [3h 4h 3d]. Is there a 3 in the house? I bet out, norma9 calls me and everyone else folds. We check a Qc and 7d on the river: *** SHOW DOWN *** Grey IV: shows [4s 9d] (two pair, Fours and Threes); norma9: shows [8c 4c] (two pair, Fours and Threes); Grey IV collected 1513 from pot; norma9 collected 1512 from pot. Ah, karma. Without the Q, of course, I win this pot outright.
• This is the next hand, but we've been moved to the final table. Second verse: *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to Grey IV [Kd Qd] norma9 calls, 1 call, Grey IV raises 400 to 800, 2 folds, norma9 calls, 1 call; *** FLOP *** [8h Tc Jd] norma9 bets, 1 fold, Grey IV: raises 1100 to 1500, norma9 calls. I like this straight draw I'm on -- not to mention the backdoor flusher. *** TURN *** [8h Tc Jd] [5s] norma9 checks, Grey IV checks; *** RIVER *** [8h Tc Jd 5s] [Th] norma9: checks, Grey IV: checks. Honestly, I'm unsure of what she called me on on the flop -- if it's a pair, a set, a FH, I'm dead. But if it's any pair at all, why isn't she betting? *** SHOW DOWN *** norma9: shows [Kh Qh] (a pair of Tens) Grey IV: shows [Kd Qd] (a pair of Tens) norma9 collected 3063 from pot Grey IV collected 3062 from pot. Geez. Why are we both not aggressive enough to actually win these pots?

Now it's the final table. Tournament strategy-wise, I should be folding my way up. But I will eventually get blinded down, and it's not like everyone else isn't playing supertight as well. I almost don't want to see a good hand -- if I play it, and get sucked out on, that would be terrible. So with 9 people left (remember, 7 cash), I'm actually a little ill to look down and see:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Grey IV [Kc Ks]
1 fold, risa1965 raises 1800 to 2400, 6 folds, Grey IV raises 2600 to 5000, risa1965 calls 2600 (this is appropriate -- I am only behind to AA at this point, I tell myself. But if I see an Ace on the board, I'm shitting my pants)

*** FLOP *** [6h 9h 6d]
Grey IV checks, risa1965 bets 2400, Grey IV: calls 2400 (I swear I think an A6 is being slowplayed or some shit)

*** TURN *** [6h 9h 6d] [4d]
Grey IV checks, risa1965 bets 3800 and is all-in, Grey IV: calls 3800 (our stacks were 13370 for me vs. 11250 for her at the beginning of the hand -- so I won't be totally out. But the blinds are 300/600 with a 50 ante, so I would be scrizewed. Great to see a second flush draw show up, too! But with KK ... WTF should I do?)

*** RIVER *** [6h 9h 6d 4d] [Js]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Grey IV: shows [Kc Ks] (two pair, Kings and Sixes)
risa1965: shows [Qs Qh] (two pair, Queens and Sixes)
Grey IV collected 23150 from pot
norma9 said, "wow"

I feel so bad for risa1965. She got shafted. norma9's reaction is the same as mine -- except norma9, I'm sure, is really tired of my B.S. luck at this point.

norma9 went out in 5th of 6 when she and the #6 stack busted out to the chipleader on the same hand when her flopped top two pair lost to a turned flush. Too bad. She had bad luck with good hands. I would've loved to be heads-up with her.

It's funny how these tournaments work. People are really tight around the bubble, obviously -- and even a couple of places afterward. But I'd estimate the table went from 6 to 3 within a few minutes. Maybe it's the late hours I'm playing -- other players often comment about wanting/needing to go to bed, so hay guyz, I'll just go all-in every hand to hurry it up. Or maybe people stop caring once they're ITM. But it seems infinitely easier, as far as I can tell, to get from 6th or 5th up to 3rd or 2nd rather than move up from 9th to 7th (or 15th to the final table, for that matter).

Fourth place was busted out by yours truly when he called my big preflop raise and he raised 4 BBs on a rainbow flop with all lowcards. I contemplated a pocket pair, but this guy was pretty smallstacked, so if he hit, he hit. I'm second stack at this point, and there's some sort of obligation to try to bust the short stacks. So I re-raise double his raise to put him all-in. He calls, and flips over 22, but luckily that wasn't on the board. I have QQ so I barely think about this move. The board pairs a 9 on the river and he's out with 2 pair.

At this point, there's a guy who got a big stack early and has been sitting out since half the field was eliminated. He was a midstack by the final table, but hey -- don't slag the sitters. He made a money-making move to shirk an hour and a half of possible losing to finish 3rd ($7). I (25k) and the big stack (43k) made a quick agreement to wait him out -- the blinds are 300/600 and his stack is like 4800 at this point. We agree to fold to each other in the big blind and wait him out. I sit for 5-10 minutes while I go get a Diet Pepsi (Mmm.) and watch a few minutes of SportsCenter. I come back in time to see the last two orbits, and now I'm guaranteed at least $10 ($14 to the winner).

So now it's heads-up, which is tough, I think. Whatever your read is on the other player, it needs to be malleable. The types of hands you'll play (nearly all of them) loosens up a lot. It's suicide to play too tight, because you'll be blinded down and find yourself needing to double-up just to get a respectable stack back (and I was already down 2:1 to him).

Luckily for me, this guy was pretty tight. Maybe as tight as I am. We both saw lots of flops, which was going to be great if we hit something. Of course, too much aggression from the other, and we both tended to fold. So it was fairly cat & mouse. Heads-up play lasted 22 hands.

At first, I stole a bunch of blinds early to move to more like 30k:40k instead of 25k:45k. But then he started calling/raising more, and I had to back off postflop when I had shit for shit.

My big hand turnaround came when I get dealt T8o in the SB. He minraised, I called. *** FLOP *** [9h Ac 7s], so I'm praying to hit the well-camouflaged straight. I check (note to self: talk about my predilection for a check in a later post), mostly to see what he'll do. There is an Ace out there. But he checks too. So I know I need to take action on the turn, no matter what comes:

*** TURN *** [9h Ac 7s] [Jd]

Aw, yeah. I do a quick check for a better straight than my Seven to Jack; not there. Flushes are gone. If a Ten comes on the river, KQ has me screwed (might explain his flop check); someone with QT beats me if another 8 shows up. But I decide to make a 1.5BB bet, to see if -- and how much -- I'll get raised. He could definitely have top pair, and I want to take advantage. But he just calls.

*** RIVER *** [9h Ac 7s Jd] [6h]

I have the nuts. So I make a bigger bet -- about 7BB. I can't see him not calling with top pair, but he re-raises double. That's half my stack, so I push. He flips over A6 -- how lucky was that river for me? -- and I take down a 48k pot, the balance of power shifted.

Now he's shortstacked, but he doesn't go all-in much (and when he does, I fold), so I'm able to blindsteal up a little [and win a few pots when he calls me down after I pair a hole card and he doesn't; I guess it's good to bet small, eh?] to 50k or so (50:17 ratio). We split a pot when we both split a 14k pot with a similarly weakly played (about 4 BBs apiece over the course of the hand) Kx with bad kicker. I have K6, he K2.

I lose a 20k pot when I get reraised preflop with JT, but he minbets the 7K6 flop, and checks the A on the turn, so I see the 5 come on the river. He's shown zero aggression ... could I have the best hand? Fishy. He does a 3x minbet on the river, and I call just for the hell of it. He shows AK -- ridiculous. Even I would have played this more aggro, and might have gotten paid off.

So of course the next hand, I get JT again. (Don't be gunshy, I tell myself; still a solid hand.) I complete the blind, he checks.

Seat 6: Grey IV (40815 in chips)
Seat 7: jtthurb (26685 in chips)
*** FLOP *** [Th 6d 5s]
jtthurb: bets 2400
Grey IV: raises 5600 to 8000
jtthurb: raises 17410 to 25410 and is all-in (I've got top pair ... worse case, he flopped 2 pair, I think; plus, I'm still fine chipwise if I lose)
Grey IV: calls 17410
*** TURN *** [Th 6d 5s] [As]
*** RIVER *** [Th 6d 5s As] [9c]
jtthurb said, "gg"
*** SHOW DOWN***
jtthurb: shows [Tc 4d] (a pair of Tens)
Grey IV: shows [Ts Jd] (a pair of Tens - Jack kicker)
Grey IV said, "You too"
Grey IV collected 53370 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 53370 Rake 0
Board [Th 6d 5s As 9c]
Seat 6: Grey IV (button) (small blind) showed [Ts Jd] and won (53370) with a pair of Tens
Seat 7: jtthurb (big blind) showed [Tc 4d] and lost with a pair of Tens

Shocked. Close hand. I'm totally shocked to have won this tournament -- and looking back now, I'm shocked that I played this hand that loose. Blinds were only 6k/12k ... couldn't I have waited for something premium? Answer: No, because I'm not guaranteed to win big with it when I do. (What would you think if Foldy McFolder is suddenly calling & raising?) Plus, I would be basically giving away chips.

Did I "outplay" this guy? I don't know. Was I lucky? You bet: the KK vs. QQ hand really stands out to me. But I hear you need a little luck -- or at least decent cards and better reads. I'd guess I was playing average/below average players, I got somewhat lucky, and I got a lot fortunate that my final-table foe was passive.

This makes me -$3.60 on buy-ins for the day, and $14 in profit. That's $10.40, baby.

Net profit: $21.53 ($15.53 Stars, $6 FTP)