$340 Tournament Recap

After going broke early in Event #7 I decided to play one of the daily tournaments here at the Rio. The tournament started with 262 entrants and paid 27 places with 27th being $762 gross. First place was a little over $18,000 and I had my eye on 8th place which paid $2,400 or enough to get me even for the day.

After looking back on this post I think it might be a little over the top for those of you who aren't poker savy. But I'd encourage you to read it anyway and let me know what is confusing. All of this stuff it totally second nature to me at this point so it's tough for me to figure out what's easy to understand and what's not. If you'd like you can scroll down to where it says SERIOUS POKER TALK OVER!

My luck picked up right where it left off earlier in the day. We started with 5,000 in chips, 30 minute levels, and blinds of 25/50. Just after the blinds went up to 50/100 I looked down at 88 and after one player raised it to 300 and another called, I made it 900 to go. A total nut job to my left threw in his last 800 and both of the other players folded.

I was shocked when he turned over his cards - he had 24 of diamonds! Deuce four? You called your last chips with deuce four? I knew the competition in this tournament was going to be weak, but this was just plain nuts. I was a 4 to 1 favorite when the money went in and when the flop came down 567 with one diamond I was still 78% to win. But after a diamond on the turn and a diamond on the river my opponent got the pot.

A little over an hour into the action I got moved to a new table and shortly after I arrived I picked up 66 and raised to 600. I got one caller and the flop came down AQ3 all spades (I didn't have a spade). I checked planning on folding to just about any bet, but my opponent check behind me. The turn was an off suit ten and I bet 800 into the 1,500 chip pot. My opponent thought for a few seconds and then called. The river was a non spade K and I decided to fire again. I put him on a small to medium pair (something like 88 or 99) with a spade and certainly if he had a hand like that he'd be forced to fold. In fact I figured he might even fold a hand as strong as a middle two pair. I bet 1,700 into the 3,100 chip pot, my opponent instantly called and turned over JJ with the J of spades.

This is a hand that I'm not sure if I played right. I was VERY surprised to see JJ since 95% of players would reraise before the flop with such a strong hand. I'm guessing he thought that when I checked to flop it meant that I'd really nailed it and was slowplaying. Both his check on the flop and call on the turn were both telling me that he was weak, but part of me wonders if I could have just checked the river and given up. I'd welcome comments from my poker savy readers on this one.

The last hand of this tournament for me was one I am sure that I played correctly. With blinds of 100/200 I was down to 1,700 chips with 200 of those in the big blind. The first player to act just called the big blind as did FOUR other players in front of me. I was planning on moving all in with anything but the very worst of hands and even then I was going to think about it.

The reason why I liked this spot so much was everyone had a chance to raise and if anyone had a strong hand they would have done it already. The only one I was really worried about was that first guy because he could have limped in with a hand like AA or KK hoping to reraise any raisers. I was confident none of the other players had a hand they could call another 1,500 with when they'd already passed on the chance to raise. Furthermore there was already 1,200 in the pot and I only had to risk 1,500 to pick it up in a spot where I figured everyone would fold. And even if I got called I'd still have a chance to win a now even bigger pot.

When I looked down at A7 it was a no brainer all in. The first guy (the one I was worried about) thought for about 5 seconds and then went all in for about 3,000 total. I thought I might be against a hand like 66 or 88, but when he flipped up his cards he had QJs. This is a total novice type play. When you first start playing two suited face cards look like just about the best hand you could find. The problem is you run into so many hands like AJ and AQ that have you dominated that you have no chance in the long run playing those kind of cards against all in bets.

When all the money went in I was 52% to win and I was getting almost 2 to 1 on my investment in the pot. While I would have preferred to win without any chance of going broke even if I was certain he was going to call I still would have made the same move. Like my friend with the 24, he flopped one of his suit and the made a runner, runner flush. I was only about 200 spots from my 8th place goal! In order to do well in the tournaments not only do you have to win one of these hands, you have to win quite a few. And so far I haven't been able to win even the ones where I'm way ahead let alone 50/50.

SERIOUS POKER TALK OVER!!!

For those of you that missed it, I went broke well short of the money in unspectacular fashion. Now I'm tired! Sorry to drag you all the way down here for nothing! Oh I did play some craps with T.J. Cloutier after I went broke. I suppose that's of interest. For those of you who don't know who that is, he has 6 WSOP bracelets and over 9 million dollars in career tournament winnings. He's also a craps junkie and kind of a prick! But he is famous so I thought I'd mention him.