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8/6/08

Hump Day...

Today I entered another Caesar's NLHE 12 pm tournament. Agin, buyin costs a total of $135.00 for $7,500.00 in chips. There was a total of 60 players who entered into the tourney. I had contemplated on going to Venetian for a similar 12 pm tournament for a buyin of $150.00 total, but they have this bonus for live play at the Caesars. So, if I bust out of the Caesar's tourny, I could sit down at a cash game. The bonus requires you to play 60 hours of live poker in the month of August 2008 and you would qualify for a freeroll poker tounament in September 2008. The freeroll tournament consists of a $100,000.00 payout, where 8 people could win $10,000.00 seats for another tournament in October 2008 (where first place is a guaranteed $1,000,000.00) and split $20,000.00 cash. I think I am just up to 3.75 hours of live play this month. I really want to play more cash at Treasure Island because of the $2.00 buck an hour food comp, but there is really more action at Caesar's.

Anyway, like I said before, I really like the format of this tournament. You start off with some deep chip stacks and the blind levels change every 30 minutes.

I was really trucking along with about 20 blinds through each level. I got a lucky hand where I called a standard raise with pocket Jacks and it was 4 handed. Flop came out Queen of Spades, Jack and Six of Clubs. I hit a Set of Jacks. The pot had about $2,000.00 and I led out from the small blind with a bet of $1,200.00. The big blind folded and the next player raised it to $3,600.00 total. The original raiser folded on the button. I paused for a second to think about what the raiser had. He probably did not have a Set of Queens, he might have raised preflop with that hand. It is pretty rare to have set against set also on the flop. Maybe he had a Set of Sixes, if he does I got him. Anyway, I pushed all in for a total of $6,600.00. He quickly called the additional $3,000.00 and tabled a Set of Sixes. Cool, I do have him now, he only has one out the case Six. Blanks came on the turn and river, so I doubled up, niicceee...

Anyway by the time the blinds got to $300/600, I had about 12 bets left. This one hand almost killed me. The under the gun player went all in for $4,200.00. I was next and peeled up 2 Red Kings. I went all in for $7,200.00. All the players folded and it was heads up. I got to bring back $3,000.00 in chips. The other player flipped up Ace/King OS and I flipped up my pocket Kings. And of course after the flop and turn, the other player paired her Ace on the river. Sucks, but hey, I'll take that race anyday.

Blinds went up the next round to $400/800. I went all in a couple of times to steal the blinds. I got to the dealer button unscathed. The cutoff player raised it to $4,200.00 total. I peeled up pocket Eights and I told myself, now or never. I went all in for $3,000.00 total. Everybody else folded and we were heads up. She tabled King/Queen of Clubs. Cool, a race, at least I'm ahead. The dealer dealt a Nine of Spades, Ten of Clubs and Two of Hearts. Now the other player has Jacks to win (for the straight) and her 2 over cards. Dealer please no paint! Turn card came 7 of Spades. River comes Nine of Clubs - whew! I won that race, thank God. I'm pretty much tripled up.

With "stellar" play and a bit of luck, I chipped my way up to one of the leaders to about $80,000.00 in chips. I made some calls I usually wouldn't make with a short stack, but I made them this time due to the stack I had at the time.

In this certain hand blinds were about $600/1,200 with a $100 ante. We were 8 handed at the time and the pot held about $2,600.00. Each player folds and I hold King/Queen OS in the cutoff. I decided to call the bet of $1,200.00. The button player folded. The small blind player had about $7,200.00 total in chips, he paused and then went all in. The big blind player folded and the pot now held $10,400.00. The small blind player had just lost a big pot the hand before and looked like he was on tilt. I thought I might have him dominated, or it could be a race. I thought to myself, that I probably do have the best hand with King/Queen OS. I called the additional $6,000.00 and I tabled my hand. The other player looked down, groaned and tabled his King/Eight OS. Nice, I got him dominated. Anyway the flop, turn and river were all Spades. I held the King of Spades for the Nut Flush, good call Scotty...

Another hand where I usually would not call unless I had a big stack of chips was where I held Ace/Eight of Hearts in the button. Each player folded and I raised it to $4,000.00 total (blinds were still $600/1,200, with a $100 ante). I figured I could steal the blinds with this bet. The small blind player folded and the big blind called my bet after a bit of hesitation. The flop came out Eight of Diamonds, Six of Clubs and Jack of Diamonds. The big blind player led out with a bet of $4,000.00, that's a smallish bet I thought - if he hit the Jack, I think he would have bet the pot size of amount of $9,400.00. Hmmm, what does he have? I decided to min raise him another $4,000.00 to see where I was at with my second pair of Eights, with Ace kicker. The other player paused and called my raise. The turn came a King of Clubs, putting another overcard and two flush draws there. The other player quickly went all in for $7,200.00 and now the pot held a total of $24,600.00 in chips. I had a little over 3 to 1 to call his all in, with the river card to go. He surely paired his King. I actually felt that I was indeed behind in the hand. Something inside felt like gambling and counted out $7,200.00 in chips. I still had $60,000.00 in chips left, if I make the all in call. If I make the call and win, another player would be busted out of the tournament as well. I felt that if I was behind, I still had the 2 Eights and 3 Aces for the win on the river. I decided to call and the other player tabled King/Eight OS for two pair - shoot, now I only have 3 Aces to win. Whattaya' know, Ace of Spades on the River, I got a better two pair. The other player grumbled and said something to the dealer, to the effect of @#$%^& 3 outer! And walked off. He was behind preflop and on the flop. I just wondered why he didn't just fold that hand preflop or on the flop when I raised him. He could have went all in preflop after my raise, and I might have folded my Ace/Eight of Hearts preflop. Anyway, I made kind of a gamble call, but I prevailed...

We got to nine handed, with no clear cut chip leader. I still had about $65,000.00 in chips at the time, which was about mid stack (the other players ranged from $40,000.00 to $85,000.00 in chips - blinds were about $1,000/2,000 with a $200 ante - still a battle to wage). We decided to do a 9 way even chop for the pot of $6,600.00. After tipping the tournament staff, we ended up with $720.00 each.

Not bad for hump day...