Another crummy $50 tournament
I’m pretty frustrated, so this would be pretty short even if there weren’t too many hands to report. Let’s see… I basically stole a lot of pots early and was barely keeping afloat for about the first 80 minutes. We started with 4K chips and I never made it to 5K, but hung pretty well around 4K. Blinds were 100/200. I was dealt JTo in the CO. UTG+1 limped (he’d been limping with some junk, so I knew he wasn’t super strong). I limped (that’s a little loose for me, but this table was playing pretty tight. The button raised it to 400, the blinds folded, UTG+1 called, I called. 3 people to the flop and the pot is 1500. Flop comes down Q99 rainbow. UTG+1 checks, I check, button checks (the button’s min-raise, check makes me a little suspicious, but I’m glad to be getting a free shot at an open-ended straight draw). Turn is the 8d, putting 2 diamonds on the board and making my Queen-high straight. UTG+1 bets 300, I raise to 800, button moves in for 3400 total, UTG+1 re-raises all-in (I think it’s another thousand or so; he has about as many chips as I do). When UTG+1 moved in, he gave a little speech, a big shrug and said something like, “Well, I guess I’m gonna’ go all-in.” I’m obviously thinking my straight’s no good. I thought for a while and folded my JTo face-up. Button turned over KQc (two-pair, Queens and nines), UTG+1 showed JTo for the same straight I had. The river was a Q and the button doubled-up with a full house, Queens full of nines.
I was pretty sure sommeone had a boat with all that betting, but I turned out to be wrong. What’s interesting is that if I called off all my chips, I would’ve been playing for half the pot and possibly only half the side-pot. Later, I’m going to crunch some numbers to see what the proper play would’ve been if I could see everyone’s cards. I think it was a marginally bad laydown, but given the action, I was convinced I was beat. I should note that this is the third tourney I’ve played with this group, and I’ve probably played about 10 hours total. My best hand so far was the straight I folded. I’m pretty sure I have not flopped a set. So, I’ve been running pretty badly.
That covers the first 80 minutes. A little later, I got moved to a new table. I continued stealing blinds and getting crummy cards. I got my first pocket pair when I picked up AA in the SB. Everyone folded to me, I raised the minimum (blinds were 300/600 and I raised to 1200). BB studied me for a long time and finally folded.
A few hands later, I changed tables again. We were down to two tables and 19 people. After about 15 minutes, I picked up my second pocket pair, 66, and made a standard raise from middle position. Everyone folded and I took the blnds.
The blinds went up to 400/800 a few hands later. I folded for a while, then picked up AKs in middle position. I moved in for my last 3200 and everyone folded. I was up to 4400. I flipped up the AKs to show I wasn’t messing around. The table was relatively tight and I wanted to make sure no one called my next all-in with AJ or 44 or something. I knew I’d have to be stealing a lot to stay in it and I didn’t want much resistance.
Next hand, I had A3o and folded.
We’ve got one more hand before we go to 500/1000 w/ a 100 ante.
Next hand, I was in UTG+1 and got ATs. UTG folded, I moved in for my last 4400. Guy two seats to my left looks down and I can immediately tell he has something. He says “I hate this hand”, thinks for a few seconds and calls. Everyone else folds. I said, “You got Ace, Queen?” He flipped over AKo. It held up and I was out.
So, to sum up, my best hand of the night (of the last three tournaments) was a straight, which I folded. I had two pocket pairs all night: AA took the BB, 66 stole the blinds. That’s it.
I guess the encouraging thing was that I paid my entry fee with the money I won playing in the cash game last Friday night. Could be worse, I guess. In all, I felt I played very well. I was card-dead all night, but I managed to steal some blinds and tread water for a long time. This was probably the worst I’ve run of the three tournaments and that’s really saying something. I busted 19/36 on the last hand of the 400/800 level. The last two tourneys, I’ve busted during the next level (500/100 w/ 100 ante).
PS This is my 700th post. Swell.