detailed writeup of my live MTT yesterday (35th place!)
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detailed writeup of my live MTT yesterday (35th place!)
by goofyballer » Mon Nov 21, 2005 12:18 am
Alright, here's the writeup I promised. Recap of previous posts: $220 buyin, $150k prizepool, ~750 entrants. Payout was very top heavy; 1st made $50,000, 10th made $1150, 35th (me) made $475, 50-100 got somewhere between $325 and $250.
Our story begins at 3am yesterday morning. Thursday night, I got about two hours of sleep before getting up at 9 for class, figuring that I'd be so insanely tired by the end of the day that I'd get a fantastic night's sleep Friday night for the tournament. I was able to easily fall asleep at 9pm, but then woke up at 3am unable to sleep anymore. Oops. I spent a few hours reviewing Sklansky and Harrington, then got ready and hit the road at about 7:45. I arrived at the casino at 8:45 and made a dash for my seat (no check-in, just had to show the dealer a card they gave you when you registered). The tournament began at something like 9:10am. A lot of players were late due to an accident on 101 in Santa Barbara that had traffic at a standstill; fortunately, I came from the north so there wasn't a problem.
We started with three blue $1000 chips, three orange $500 chips, four black $100 chips, and four green $25 chips. Total: $5000. I started at table F-1 (#36 out of 70), seat 6. My table featured a super cute girl two seats to my right, who also happened to go to the community college in the city I live in. Sadly, she sucked at poker. Seat 2 was a pretty solid kid around my age, seat 4 was super-cute girl, seat 5 was a middle-aged dude that seemed pretty solid as well. To my left were TWO dead stacks (one of them showed up about an hour late), seat 9 was a middle-aged guy that was somewhat aggressive preflop (raised a decent amount, cold-called a lot) but not so much postflop, seat 10 was a woman that was solid preflop and attacked a lot of pots postflop.
Level 1: $5000 chips, $25/$50 blinds, 1 hour
Given that my tournament experience lasted about 9.5 hours, I'll have trouble remembering a lot of hands, but I'll do my best.
Very first hand of the tournament: AKs in MP. Two or three limpers, I raise to 200, everyone folds. Wow, that was easy.
ATo in LP. A few limpers, I limp, BB (woman in seat 10) makes it 150. None of the limpers fold, so I call as well. Flop is A-shit-shit. She bets 100, one caller, I call. Turn is a 9, I think. She bets 200, someone folds, I call. River is a blank, she bets 200 more, I call. She shows AJ. I'm not really sure what else I expected her to show...wow, mental note to stop playing like a f-ing donkey. I'm open to suggestions on how to play this better...fold preflop after her raise (even with the odds I was getting)? Raise the flop to 300 or so? Then what do I do on the turn and river when she calls? So yeah, I'm down to 4500 chips or so.
AQo in the SB. Maybe 5-6 limpers. Tough spot to play AQ from...I decide that if I limp, this hand will be impossible to play postflop if I hit TPTK with that many limpers, so I make it 200. About half of them fold. Flop comes A-K-T with two spades. I bet out 500 or so, hoping to take it down right there. As the button folds, he says "Ace-King is good." Like I give a shit if it's obvious what I have, just fold bitch!!! I take down a nice pot.
QQ in the BB. Cute girl limps on the button, SB completes, I make it 200. She calls, he doesn't. Flop is K-J-x. I bet 250, she calls. Turn is a blank diamond (3rd on the board). I check (can't bluff a calling station), she checks. River is the 9d. Check, check. I show QQ (no diamonds), she shows T9o (no diamonds). WOW. I HAD NO IDEA YOU SUCK SO BADLY. I take it down.
KK in EP. I make it $200. Seat 9 cold-calls, everyone else folds. Flop is T-7-5. I bet $250, he flat calls very quickly. I put him on 88-99 or JJ-QQ; if he had a set or something he'd be like "oh, hmm, let me think about it, gee..." but he seemed to want to intimidate me out of betting. I decided this was weakness. Turn was a 5, I bet $500, he calls. River was a blank (3, maybe?), I value bet $500 more, he calls, I show KK, he says "nice hand" and mucks.
99 on the button. One or two limpers, I make it $200, everyone folds. By this point, I have a very tight table image.
Level 2: $6525 chips, $50/$100 blinds, 1/2 hour (all following levels are also 1/2 hour)
AA UTG. I make it $400, everyone folds. Fun times.
I honestly don't remember anything from this level. Maybe I just didn't play much, since I lost 225 chips during this level.
Level 3: $6300 chips, $100/$200 blinds
This level feels fuzzy as well. I must have done something right cause I made $1000 chips.
Entertaining story of the night (which I think has to do with the Sonics jersey I was wearing with Vladimir Radmanovic's name on it): during the break after this level, I go over to the food table to grab a snack, during which some dude walks up to me and says something completely unintelligible. I say "what?" and he repeats it. A blank look on my face, and a "huh?" later, he says "Are you Croatian?" Which doesn't make a ton of sense, since Radmanovic is Serbian, but I guess they're pretty close. Randomness.
Level 4: $7300 chips, $200/$400 blinds
Now it's all coming back! Lots of excitement this round.
AA on the button. I seem to be getting this hand a lot. MP raises to $1200; I re-raise to $3000. BB (was a dead stack, has now shown up) folds while complaining, original raiser folds as well. I tried to remain composed but I think a vein in my neck was pulsing or something...I also fumbled with my chips a little when I went grab some raising chips. I think throughout the tournament I did a good job of remaining composed in all situations, but this hand I didn't. Although it's perfectly likely he was just on a blind steal anyway. Original raiser folds, BB says "nice bet, you made me lay down pocket tens." Dammit, you're supposed to go all-in!
AJo in MP. Folded to me, I open with 1200 chips. Both blinds (seats 1 and 2) call. Seat 2 was the chip leader at our table at this point, having taken down a couple very big pots, but he was also a solid player and seemed to a.) respect me b.) be slightly weak-tight. I didn't have much of a read on seat 1 at all. He seemed to call a lot. Anyway, flop is Q-7-5 or something like that (I definitely remember the Q). They both check to me. I'm nervous about throwing out a bet here and almost check, but I decide that neither of them have shown strength, so I can probably get them to lay it down with a strong bet representing AQ or a pair. I throw out $2000 and they both fold.
AA in the BB. Lots of limpers, I throw out three orange chips and say "1500 more." Massive overbet, I wasn't really thinking straight...AA has a tendency to do that to me. Seat 1 calls, everyone else folds. Flop is something like K-T-shit, I bet $2000, which I think was almost enough to put him all-in; he folds.
Level 5: $8500 chips, $300/$600 blinds
I'm starting to think I'm remembering some hands as being in the wrong level. I could have sworn that the KQs hand below was in level 4, but it obviously wasn't since I had $8500 at the end of level 4 and $18200 at the end of this level (and I know the chip counts are accurate, since I jotted them down at the end of each level in my cell phone). Anyway, here goes:
KQs UTG. I make it $2000 to go. Folded to SB, who goes all-in for $5000 or so. BB folds. I think long and hard about this...I could be dominated, I could be a coinflip. I said "I think you got me" out loud at one point...he didn't really react, although to be honest I don't really stare down my opponents and probe for weaknesses or whatever. I don't really know what I'd be looking for to get tells off someone. I would probably have laid it down unsuited, but since I at least had diamond outs at worst and I was getting good odds, I called. He says "good call" and shows KJo. YES! No surprises on the board, I take all his chips and am probably now the chip leader at my table.
I don't really remember much else from this level, which is quite baffling considering that I made $10000 chips in it. Maybe a bunch of my level 4 hands were really in this level and I'm just confused. Quite possible, I suppose.
Level 6: $18200 chips, $400/$800 blinds
Nothing. My memory is feeling very inadequate right now. I must have done something right, cause I made $5000 chips. Towards the end of this level, my table got broken up, signifying that around 360 people were left. I was moved to table C-1 (#15 of 70), seat 1...god I hate sitting next to the dealer. I do remember the second or third hand at this table:
AKs in the SB. CO raises to $2500 or so, button goes all-in for $12000. Wow, overbet? So there I am, with AKs behind a raise and a huge re-raise and zero reads. The $12000 call is about half my stack, but if the CO has a hand as well he has me covered. After about a minute of thinking, I decide that my complete lack of reads isn't worth the risk and lay it down. CO lays it down as well.
Level 7: $23500 chips, $600/$1200 blinds
I remember nothing. My stack doesn't either. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that it was right before lunchtime.
LUNCH BREAK: I eat pasta, potato salad, and a small sandwich.
Level 8: $25500 chips, $1000/$2000 blinds
Level 9: $46500 chips, $1500/$3000 blinds
I go to town on bitches. I'll combine the writeups for these two levels because I don't remember betting amounts well enough to differentiate between the two.
33 in LP. A few limpers, I limp. Flop is J-J-4. Checked around, I check. Turn is an 8. Checked around, I decide I can represent AJ or a flopped boat and take a small stab as if I want callers. I do this mostly because the players in the pot with me seem solid and would probably understand this move the way I intend it. I bet out a little more than the minimum ($3000? This was probably the earlier level) and take it down. Sweetness.
33 in LP...again. A few limpers, I limp. Button goes all-in for...$10000 or so? I don't remember, but I do remember that I had about 1.7:1 odds and thought his move seemed pretty desperate, i.e. two overs rather than a pair; so, I call. He has A5s and I flop a set and turn quads.
AA UTG. I open-raise to $6000 or so (must have been earlier level then), seat 3 calls all-in since he only had $4000 left. Everyone else folds, he has QQ, my hand holds up.
AA in LP. Wow, I love this hand. I don't remember if anyone limped, but I raised 3-4x and the BB (solid player) went all-in for 2-3x my bet. I had a tight table image, as shown by the kid who looked about 15 sitting in seat 3, who said "man, what's he doing, this guy [referring to me] only plays the nuts." I confirmed his statement by flipping over my AA; villain has AdQs. Flop comes Kd Td 8d. SHIT NOT GOOD, he now has 12 outs twice. Fortunately, the runners were something like Kh Ts and my hand holds up again.
Towards the end of this level, we break up (signifying ~140 left) and I'm moved to table A-4 (#3, since A-1 was broken up as well for some reason), seat 6. Everyone groans when they see the rack of chips I'm carrying as I sit down, since I had all of them covered. I think the level ended pretty soon after this.
Level 10: $67000 chips, $2000/$4000 blinds
A2o in SB. Everyone folds to me, I make it $10000. BB (looks like a college kid, wearing a hat and sunglasses) minimum re-raises to $16000. I decide that absolutely no good, other than a flop giving me trips or two pair, can possibly come from calling, so I let it go. Not a good start. This gives the BB about an equal stack to me, setting up what I think was one of the biggest hands of the tournament for me a few hands later:
KQo in the CO. Folded to me, I make it $12000. Button thinks for a little and flat calls; I figure A-x or a medium pair. Blinds fold. Flop comes 9-9-6. With what I figure has to be the worse hand, I bet $14000 (it seems to me that betting the same amount of your preflop raise screams "continuation", and I wanted to show strength, so I figured the $2000 extra in my bet would make him much more likely to fold); he thought for awhile and laid it down. YES!
ATo in LP, I try to steal, BB (seat 10) goes all-in pretty much giving me 3:1. I call, he has TT (OUCH!) and we split on a 8-9-J-Q-x board.
Level 11: $77000 chips, $3000/$6000 blinds
No recollection. I think a shortstack went all-in and I called with A9o, only for his 92s to hit a flush. Weak.
Level 12: $76000 chips, $4000/$8000 blinds
87o in the BB. MP min-raises, folded to me. He has about $16000 left after his raise. I think folding with 2.5:1 odds is weak w/o seeing a flop, and re-raising isn't going to make him lay anything down when he has 3:1 odds. So, I decide to see a flop. It's J-T-x. I go all-in. Why? Because I'm a complete retard. I think I decided subconciously before the flop to put him all-in regardless, instead of stopping to think about the chances that flop hit him...and really, the only way he's folding on that flop is if he was raising ace-shit or a tiny pair. He calls and turns over AJ, I miss my four outs and double him up. Wow, I'm a tard.
I went on a hot streak of blind stealing after that stealing: all-in with A9o from EP, then with A5s next hand, then (now with ~$70k chips from stealing those blinds) raised $30k from UTG with A7s and took it down. I turned over the ace as I mucked that last one so everyone wouldn't think I was going nuts...I liked my tight image.
I also remember going all-in with AJs with maybe $40-$50k chips after a UTG min-raise (which I figured to be weakness, and it was also the same min-raiser from the previous hand); turns out he had QQ and I guess doesn't know how to do anything other than min-raise. Flop J-J-2, blank turn, river J. Quads like me today.
Level 13: $80000 chips, $6000/$12000 blinds
No recollection. Probably lost a race or two. I'm not sure if it was this level, but I remember a shortstack going all-in with 92s and beating my A9o with a flush, which cost me $20k or so.
Level 14: $55000 chips, $10000/$20000 blinds
This blind level was fucking ridiculous. EVERYONE was a shortstack at this point. With 35 people left, the average stack is 750*5000/35 = ~107,000 (and keep in mind that the median stack is generally less than the mean, I think); so the average player's M was 107000/30000 = 3.57!!!
First hand at this level, I get AJo on the button. CO-1 min-raises; he's pretty loose with his chips, and has been gambling a lot, so I think nothing of this. I put my entire stack in. BB, who also has $55000, flat calls, and the original raiser calls too. I think "wow, I'm fucked." Fortunately, original raiser says "man, I was on a bluff" and shows J9s; dominated! BB shows KJs; also dominated!
Wow, I'm surprised I'm not more of a favorite. I guess the suitedness helps them. Anyway, the flop was Qh-T-x giving everybody a million outs against me, so I pretty much figured I was done at that point. Blank heart on the turn and the 8h on the river and I'm done. 35th place, $475. I'm still thinking about what could have happened had I tripled up on that last hand (like I was supposed to, dammit!)...but I'm happy with how I played, and how things turned out. I did learn some things I need to do better, though:
- LEARN HOW TO PLAY A FREAKING BIG STACK!!! This is a problem I have in online tournaments too. Even when I was a chip leader at my last table for a very long time, I rarely stole blinds. I remember raising up A9s in MP and thinking that was loose, when in reality I should have been taking all those 93o's on the button and victimizing all the bitches to my left. I think the A2o hand I wrote about was the loosest steal I made all night; I mean, come on! What the hell is wrong with me not to be raising any two, especially when I can end any player's night while close to the money, and especially when my tight image had everyone cowering in fear every freaking time I threw chips into the pot? Obviously stealing reduces that image some, but I'm not talking about stealing every other hand, just rotating between players to pick on a couple times per orbit. I really think I screwed up by not blind stealing enough; the proof of this lies in how stagnant my stack remained between levels 10 and 13 (at the start of each level, I had 67k, 77k, 76k, and 80k respectively); when I'm a big stack and the blinds are large, those are the moments when my stack should be going up the most, not staying exactly the same.
- Don't ever stop using my brain, as evidenced by the 87o hand. Wow, what an idiot play that was.
Aside from those two things, I'm very happy with how I played (the cards helped too, although I suppose I did win a large majority of the pots I showed strength in without showdown) and totally had a blast. A week ago, I had just lost $300 playing NL at the casino and went off to the ATM, grabbed $200, and paid my entry, so it meant a lot to me to make some of it back. Most of the players were pretty friendly, and I had a very good time with the people at my last table, probably cause everyone was happy to have gotten in the money as well.
I would have liked to stick around and watch the end, but it was about 6:30pm when I got knocked out and my roommate's band was playing a show in Santa Maria (halfway between home and the casino) at 7, so I went to go cheer him on. The Poker Room Manager congratulated me as I collected my money and said that finishing 35th in that field is a great job, and that the 34th place guy (who walked up right after me, and was a villain in my "I lost $300 playing NL" post a week ago) was a pro. That made me feel special. Very well-run tournament, and if my BR is feeling up to it I might do it again, although to be honest I think the average result in a tournament like this for me would be busting out around 200th...definitely had a better than average result this time. We'll see if I'm having a blast next time I finish OOTM, heh.
Oh, and Amir Vahedi played and got knocked out early. A woman at my first table said he was playing the $500 NL game last night and walked away with $2500. I saw him watching us towards the end...my table was on the far side of the rail though, so nobody got to see my expert play
Our story begins at 3am yesterday morning. Thursday night, I got about two hours of sleep before getting up at 9 for class, figuring that I'd be so insanely tired by the end of the day that I'd get a fantastic night's sleep Friday night for the tournament. I was able to easily fall asleep at 9pm, but then woke up at 3am unable to sleep anymore. Oops. I spent a few hours reviewing Sklansky and Harrington, then got ready and hit the road at about 7:45. I arrived at the casino at 8:45 and made a dash for my seat (no check-in, just had to show the dealer a card they gave you when you registered). The tournament began at something like 9:10am. A lot of players were late due to an accident on 101 in Santa Barbara that had traffic at a standstill; fortunately, I came from the north so there wasn't a problem.
We started with three blue $1000 chips, three orange $500 chips, four black $100 chips, and four green $25 chips. Total: $5000. I started at table F-1 (#36 out of 70), seat 6. My table featured a super cute girl two seats to my right, who also happened to go to the community college in the city I live in. Sadly, she sucked at poker. Seat 2 was a pretty solid kid around my age, seat 4 was super-cute girl, seat 5 was a middle-aged dude that seemed pretty solid as well. To my left were TWO dead stacks (one of them showed up about an hour late), seat 9 was a middle-aged guy that was somewhat aggressive preflop (raised a decent amount, cold-called a lot) but not so much postflop, seat 10 was a woman that was solid preflop and attacked a lot of pots postflop.
Level 1: $5000 chips, $25/$50 blinds, 1 hour
Given that my tournament experience lasted about 9.5 hours, I'll have trouble remembering a lot of hands, but I'll do my best.
Very first hand of the tournament: AKs in MP. Two or three limpers, I raise to 200, everyone folds. Wow, that was easy.
ATo in LP. A few limpers, I limp, BB (woman in seat 10) makes it 150. None of the limpers fold, so I call as well. Flop is A-shit-shit. She bets 100, one caller, I call. Turn is a 9, I think. She bets 200, someone folds, I call. River is a blank, she bets 200 more, I call. She shows AJ. I'm not really sure what else I expected her to show...wow, mental note to stop playing like a f-ing donkey. I'm open to suggestions on how to play this better...fold preflop after her raise (even with the odds I was getting)? Raise the flop to 300 or so? Then what do I do on the turn and river when she calls? So yeah, I'm down to 4500 chips or so.
AQo in the SB. Maybe 5-6 limpers. Tough spot to play AQ from...I decide that if I limp, this hand will be impossible to play postflop if I hit TPTK with that many limpers, so I make it 200. About half of them fold. Flop comes A-K-T with two spades. I bet out 500 or so, hoping to take it down right there. As the button folds, he says "Ace-King is good." Like I give a shit if it's obvious what I have, just fold bitch!!! I take down a nice pot.
QQ in the BB. Cute girl limps on the button, SB completes, I make it 200. She calls, he doesn't. Flop is K-J-x. I bet 250, she calls. Turn is a blank diamond (3rd on the board). I check (can't bluff a calling station), she checks. River is the 9d. Check, check. I show QQ (no diamonds), she shows T9o (no diamonds). WOW. I HAD NO IDEA YOU SUCK SO BADLY. I take it down.
KK in EP. I make it $200. Seat 9 cold-calls, everyone else folds. Flop is T-7-5. I bet $250, he flat calls very quickly. I put him on 88-99 or JJ-QQ; if he had a set or something he'd be like "oh, hmm, let me think about it, gee..." but he seemed to want to intimidate me out of betting. I decided this was weakness. Turn was a 5, I bet $500, he calls. River was a blank (3, maybe?), I value bet $500 more, he calls, I show KK, he says "nice hand" and mucks.
99 on the button. One or two limpers, I make it $200, everyone folds. By this point, I have a very tight table image.
Level 2: $6525 chips, $50/$100 blinds, 1/2 hour (all following levels are also 1/2 hour)
AA UTG. I make it $400, everyone folds. Fun times.
I honestly don't remember anything from this level. Maybe I just didn't play much, since I lost 225 chips during this level.
Level 3: $6300 chips, $100/$200 blinds
This level feels fuzzy as well. I must have done something right cause I made $1000 chips.
Entertaining story of the night (which I think has to do with the Sonics jersey I was wearing with Vladimir Radmanovic's name on it): during the break after this level, I go over to the food table to grab a snack, during which some dude walks up to me and says something completely unintelligible. I say "what?" and he repeats it. A blank look on my face, and a "huh?" later, he says "Are you Croatian?" Which doesn't make a ton of sense, since Radmanovic is Serbian, but I guess they're pretty close. Randomness.
Level 4: $7300 chips, $200/$400 blinds
Now it's all coming back! Lots of excitement this round.
AA on the button. I seem to be getting this hand a lot. MP raises to $1200; I re-raise to $3000. BB (was a dead stack, has now shown up) folds while complaining, original raiser folds as well. I tried to remain composed but I think a vein in my neck was pulsing or something...I also fumbled with my chips a little when I went grab some raising chips. I think throughout the tournament I did a good job of remaining composed in all situations, but this hand I didn't. Although it's perfectly likely he was just on a blind steal anyway. Original raiser folds, BB says "nice bet, you made me lay down pocket tens." Dammit, you're supposed to go all-in!
AJo in MP. Folded to me, I open with 1200 chips. Both blinds (seats 1 and 2) call. Seat 2 was the chip leader at our table at this point, having taken down a couple very big pots, but he was also a solid player and seemed to a.) respect me b.) be slightly weak-tight. I didn't have much of a read on seat 1 at all. He seemed to call a lot. Anyway, flop is Q-7-5 or something like that (I definitely remember the Q). They both check to me. I'm nervous about throwing out a bet here and almost check, but I decide that neither of them have shown strength, so I can probably get them to lay it down with a strong bet representing AQ or a pair. I throw out $2000 and they both fold.
AA in the BB. Lots of limpers, I throw out three orange chips and say "1500 more." Massive overbet, I wasn't really thinking straight...AA has a tendency to do that to me. Seat 1 calls, everyone else folds. Flop is something like K-T-shit, I bet $2000, which I think was almost enough to put him all-in; he folds.
Level 5: $8500 chips, $300/$600 blinds
I'm starting to think I'm remembering some hands as being in the wrong level. I could have sworn that the KQs hand below was in level 4, but it obviously wasn't since I had $8500 at the end of level 4 and $18200 at the end of this level (and I know the chip counts are accurate, since I jotted them down at the end of each level in my cell phone). Anyway, here goes:
KQs UTG. I make it $2000 to go. Folded to SB, who goes all-in for $5000 or so. BB folds. I think long and hard about this...I could be dominated, I could be a coinflip. I said "I think you got me" out loud at one point...he didn't really react, although to be honest I don't really stare down my opponents and probe for weaknesses or whatever. I don't really know what I'd be looking for to get tells off someone. I would probably have laid it down unsuited, but since I at least had diamond outs at worst and I was getting good odds, I called. He says "good call" and shows KJo. YES! No surprises on the board, I take all his chips and am probably now the chip leader at my table.
I don't really remember much else from this level, which is quite baffling considering that I made $10000 chips in it. Maybe a bunch of my level 4 hands were really in this level and I'm just confused. Quite possible, I suppose.
Level 6: $18200 chips, $400/$800 blinds
Nothing. My memory is feeling very inadequate right now. I must have done something right, cause I made $5000 chips. Towards the end of this level, my table got broken up, signifying that around 360 people were left. I was moved to table C-1 (#15 of 70), seat 1...god I hate sitting next to the dealer. I do remember the second or third hand at this table:
AKs in the SB. CO raises to $2500 or so, button goes all-in for $12000. Wow, overbet? So there I am, with AKs behind a raise and a huge re-raise and zero reads. The $12000 call is about half my stack, but if the CO has a hand as well he has me covered. After about a minute of thinking, I decide that my complete lack of reads isn't worth the risk and lay it down. CO lays it down as well.
Level 7: $23500 chips, $600/$1200 blinds
I remember nothing. My stack doesn't either. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that it was right before lunchtime.
LUNCH BREAK: I eat pasta, potato salad, and a small sandwich.
Level 8: $25500 chips, $1000/$2000 blinds
Level 9: $46500 chips, $1500/$3000 blinds
I go to town on bitches. I'll combine the writeups for these two levels because I don't remember betting amounts well enough to differentiate between the two.
33 in LP. A few limpers, I limp. Flop is J-J-4. Checked around, I check. Turn is an 8. Checked around, I decide I can represent AJ or a flopped boat and take a small stab as if I want callers. I do this mostly because the players in the pot with me seem solid and would probably understand this move the way I intend it. I bet out a little more than the minimum ($3000? This was probably the earlier level) and take it down. Sweetness.
33 in LP...again. A few limpers, I limp. Button goes all-in for...$10000 or so? I don't remember, but I do remember that I had about 1.7:1 odds and thought his move seemed pretty desperate, i.e. two overs rather than a pair; so, I call. He has A5s and I flop a set and turn quads.
AA UTG. I open-raise to $6000 or so (must have been earlier level then), seat 3 calls all-in since he only had $4000 left. Everyone else folds, he has QQ, my hand holds up.
AA in LP. Wow, I love this hand. I don't remember if anyone limped, but I raised 3-4x and the BB (solid player) went all-in for 2-3x my bet. I had a tight table image, as shown by the kid who looked about 15 sitting in seat 3, who said "man, what's he doing, this guy [referring to me] only plays the nuts." I confirmed his statement by flipping over my AA; villain has AdQs. Flop comes Kd Td 8d. SHIT NOT GOOD, he now has 12 outs twice. Fortunately, the runners were something like Kh Ts and my hand holds up again.
Towards the end of this level, we break up (signifying ~140 left) and I'm moved to table A-4 (#3, since A-1 was broken up as well for some reason), seat 6. Everyone groans when they see the rack of chips I'm carrying as I sit down, since I had all of them covered.
I think the level ended pretty soon after this.
Level 10: $67000 chips, $2000/$4000 blinds
A2o in SB. Everyone folds to me, I make it $10000. BB (looks like a college kid, wearing a hat and sunglasses) minimum re-raises to $16000. I decide that absolutely no good, other than a flop giving me trips or two pair, can possibly come from calling, so I let it go. Not a good start. This gives the BB about an equal stack to me, setting up what I think was one of the biggest hands of the tournament for me a few hands later:
KQo in the CO. Folded to me, I make it $12000. Button thinks for a little and flat calls; I figure A-x or a medium pair. Blinds fold. Flop comes 9-9-6. With what I figure has to be the worse hand, I bet $14000 (it seems to me that betting the same amount of your preflop raise screams "continuation", and I wanted to show strength, so I figured the $2000 extra in my bet would make him much more likely to fold); he thought for awhile and laid it down. YES!
ATo in LP, I try to steal, BB (seat 10) goes all-in pretty much giving me 3:1. I call, he has TT (OUCH!) and we split on a 8-9-J-Q-x board.
Level 11: $77000 chips, $3000/$6000 blinds
No recollection. I think a shortstack went all-in and I called with A9o, only for his 92s to hit a flush. Weak.
Level 12: $76000 chips, $4000/$8000 blinds
87o in the BB. MP min-raises, folded to me. He has about $16000 left after his raise. I think folding with 2.5:1 odds is weak w/o seeing a flop, and re-raising isn't going to make him lay anything down when he has 3:1 odds. So, I decide to see a flop. It's J-T-x. I go all-in. Why? Because I'm a complete retard. I think I decided subconciously before the flop to put him all-in regardless, instead of stopping to think about the chances that flop hit him...and really, the only way he's folding on that flop is if he was raising ace-shit or a tiny pair. He calls and turns over AJ, I miss my four outs and double him up. Wow, I'm a tard.
I went on a hot streak of blind stealing after that stealing: all-in with A9o from EP, then with A5s next hand, then (now with ~$70k chips from stealing those blinds) raised $30k from UTG with A7s and took it down. I turned over the ace as I mucked that last one so everyone wouldn't think I was going nuts...I liked my tight image.
I also remember going all-in with AJs with maybe $40-$50k chips after a UTG min-raise (which I figured to be weakness, and it was also the same min-raiser from the previous hand); turns out he had QQ and I guess doesn't know how to do anything other than min-raise. Flop J-J-2, blank turn, river J. Quads like me today.
Level 13: $80000 chips, $6000/$12000 blinds
No recollection. Probably lost a race or two. I'm not sure if it was this level, but I remember a shortstack going all-in with 92s and beating my A9o with a flush, which cost me $20k or so.
Level 14: $55000 chips, $10000/$20000 blinds
This blind level was fucking ridiculous. EVERYONE was a shortstack at this point. With 35 people left, the average stack is 750*5000/35 = ~107,000 (and keep in mind that the median stack is generally less than the mean, I think); so the average player's M was 107000/30000 = 3.57!!!
First hand at this level, I get AJo on the button. CO-1 min-raises; he's pretty loose with his chips, and has been gambling a lot, so I think nothing of this. I put my entire stack in. BB, who also has $55000, flat calls, and the original raiser calls too. I think "wow, I'm fucked." Fortunately, original raiser says "man, I was on a bluff" and shows J9s; dominated! BB shows KJs; also dominated!
- Code: Select all
Holdem Hi: 1370754 enumerated boards
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
Js Ad 648795 47.33 707004 51.58 14955 1.09 0.477
Jc 9c 329470 24.04 1026329 74.87 14955 1.09 0.244
Kh Jh 377534 27.54 978265 71.37 14955 1.09 0.279
Wow, I'm surprised I'm not more of a favorite. I guess the suitedness helps them. Anyway, the flop was Qh-T-x giving everybody a million outs against me, so I pretty much figured I was done at that point. Blank heart on the turn and the 8h on the river and I'm done. 35th place, $475. I'm still thinking about what could have happened had I tripled up on that last hand (like I was supposed to, dammit!)...but I'm happy with how I played, and how things turned out. I did learn some things I need to do better, though:
- LEARN HOW TO PLAY A FREAKING BIG STACK!!! This is a problem I have in online tournaments too. Even when I was a chip leader at my last table for a very long time, I rarely stole blinds. I remember raising up A9s in MP and thinking that was loose, when in reality I should have been taking all those 93o's on the button and victimizing all the bitches to my left. I think the A2o hand I wrote about was the loosest steal I made all night; I mean, come on! What the hell is wrong with me not to be raising any two, especially when I can end any player's night while close to the money, and especially when my tight image had everyone cowering in fear every freaking time I threw chips into the pot? Obviously stealing reduces that image some, but I'm not talking about stealing every other hand, just rotating between players to pick on a couple times per orbit. I really think I screwed up by not blind stealing enough; the proof of this lies in how stagnant my stack remained between levels 10 and 13 (at the start of each level, I had 67k, 77k, 76k, and 80k respectively); when I'm a big stack and the blinds are large, those are the moments when my stack should be going up the most, not staying exactly the same.
- Don't ever stop using my brain, as evidenced by the 87o hand. Wow, what an idiot play that was.
Aside from those two things, I'm very happy with how I played (the cards helped too, although I suppose I did win a large majority of the pots I showed strength in without showdown) and totally had a blast. A week ago, I had just lost $300 playing NL at the casino and went off to the ATM, grabbed $200, and paid my entry, so it meant a lot to me to make some of it back. Most of the players were pretty friendly, and I had a very good time with the people at my last table, probably cause everyone was happy to have gotten in the money as well.
I would have liked to stick around and watch the end, but it was about 6:30pm when I got knocked out and my roommate's band was playing a show in Santa Maria (halfway between home and the casino) at 7, so I went to go cheer him on. The Poker Room Manager congratulated me as I collected my money and said that finishing 35th in that field is a great job, and that the 34th place guy (who walked up right after me, and was a villain in my "I lost $300 playing NL" post a week ago) was a pro. That made me feel special.
Very well-run tournament, and if my BR is feeling up to it I might do it again, although to be honest I think the average result in a tournament like this for me would be busting out around 200th...definitely had a better than average result this time. We'll see if I'm having a blast next time I finish OOTM, heh.
Oh, and Amir Vahedi played and got knocked out early. A woman at my first table said he was playing the $500 NL game last night and walked away with $2500. I saw him watching us towards the end...my table was on the far side of the rail though, so nobody got to see my expert play
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goofyballer - Whale Hunter
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by scotty1139 » Mon Nov 21, 2005 3:59 am
I'll add a "ditto" to that. I like your idea about recording your stack amount in your cell phone. I'll have to remember that one next time I'm out.
Oh, and I'm really sorry the cute girl in seat 4 was a terrible player.
Oh, and I'm really sorry the cute girl in seat 4 was a terrible player.
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scotty1139 - Moderator
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by goofyballer » Mon Nov 21, 2005 4:05 am
Heh, I got that idea when I remembered the bit on last year's WSOP about Raymer doing it. Lon Simmons said something stupid like "he's not writing down some mean things to say to Matusow, he's actually recording his chip count at the end of each level." Sounded like a handy idea.
I'm sorry about the girl too, she was out after level 3 or so. I may never see her again.
I think she was there with her dad or something, cause some old dude came over and talked to her a few times.
I also got one of the dealers to take a picture of me on my phone right after I got moved to my last table. 66,000 in chips at that point:
I'm sorry about the girl too, she was out after level 3 or so. I may never see her again.
I think she was there with her dad or something, cause some old dude came over and talked to her a few times.
I also got one of the dealers to take a picture of me on my phone right after I got moved to my last table. 66,000 in chips at that point:
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goofyballer - Whale Hunter
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by poormanbilly » Mon Nov 21, 2005 12:14 pm
scotty1139 wrote:Oh, and I'm really sorry the cute girl in seat 4 was a terrible player.
Hell, goofy, offer her "lessons".
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poormanbilly - Whale Hunter
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by happycamper374 » Mon Nov 21, 2005 2:49 pm
Took me a while to read it, but nice job! I have yet to go out and participate in a live tourney. Before I do that i have to play live at the casino more. My manner in a home game and in a casino is much different.
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happycamper374 - Whale Hunter
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by shun » Sun Nov 27, 2005 10:15 pm
Nice job.
I've found it equally hard to remember what happens in what stages of a tournament. In some of the big tournaments I've played ($40-80 bar tournaments..uhh..kind of big), I've brought a tiny notepad and jotted down chip counts and tried to write down hands, but my notes have been too messy to read lately. Even when they are coherent I can't remember the levels, what position I was in, what action happened on what streets.
I figure that as I play more of these live tournaments I will improve the memorization skills required that you see the pros have when they write about hands they played.
Anyway, to the tournament.
I'm really surprised so many limpers would fold after a raise especially in the first two limpers. If this happens that frequently you might want to loosen up your pot raising standards later on if there is a lot of dead money in the pot.
Raise sizes. If you follow the 3x the BB + 1x per limper school, 4x the BB after a bunch of limpers isn't a big raise. Your AA in the BB hand against lots of limpers is only 5x the BB, that isn't a huge overbet and is a good amount.
A good time to steal is when idiots start limping when the blinds are high. I think my greatest strength is being a good short-stack player, namely because everyone else plays a short-stack horribly.
I've found it equally hard to remember what happens in what stages of a tournament. In some of the big tournaments I've played ($40-80 bar tournaments..uhh..kind of big), I've brought a tiny notepad and jotted down chip counts and tried to write down hands, but my notes have been too messy to read lately. Even when they are coherent I can't remember the levels, what position I was in, what action happened on what streets.
I figure that as I play more of these live tournaments I will improve the memorization skills required that you see the pros have when they write about hands they played.
Anyway, to the tournament.
I'm really surprised so many limpers would fold after a raise especially in the first two limpers. If this happens that frequently you might want to loosen up your pot raising standards later on if there is a lot of dead money in the pot.
Raise sizes. If you follow the 3x the BB + 1x per limper school, 4x the BB after a bunch of limpers isn't a big raise. Your AA in the BB hand against lots of limpers is only 5x the BB, that isn't a huge overbet and is a good amount.
A good time to steal is when idiots start limping when the blinds are high. I think my greatest strength is being a good short-stack player, namely because everyone else plays a short-stack horribly.
- shun
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