Garden City...

Garden City...

10/16/08

I played a $120.00 buyin NLHE poker tourny at Garden City
Casino yesterday. 50 players entered the tournament that
morning. You started off with $4,000.00 in chips,
blind levels for the first two hours were 15 minutes each.
Thereafter, they increased to 20 minutes. It was not too
bad. Blinds started off at $25/25. By the fifth level,
they were at $100/200 - so if you have your original stack
of $4,000.00, you would not be severely short stacked.

The first hour for me was not too bad. I got hit when I
raised with Ace/Queen of Spades from the big blind, after
4 other people limped in. I raised it to $300.00 to thin
the field and put a little more value in the pot. The
UTG player folded, the player next to him raised all in
to $1,000.00 total, and the other 2 players folded. I
thought to myself, did this guy really just call with a
big hand in mid position, waiting for someone to raise
and then he would re-raise? $1,600.00 was in the pot,
I had to call $700.00, and I had about $4,200.00 left
behind if I make the call. It should be a no brainer,
but I sometimes hesitate calling if I feel that the other
player has me dominated. But again, I'm getting pretty
good pot odds, with no more betting, heads up and with
a premium hand (yeah right, read my other blog "Ace
Queen, No Good", hehe). Anyways, I called off course
and tabled my hand, again Ace/Queen of Spades. The
other player sighed and tabled his hand Queen/Eight of
Diamonds. Cool, I have him dominated! Anyway, the
dealer dealt out a Queen of Hearts, Jack of Hearts
and a 3 of Diamonds. I pretty much have him here. He
needs diamonds on the turn and river, or an Eight
to hit to win. The turn card was dealt a 2 of Spades.
Now he only needs an Eight to win on the river. Well,
whattaya' know, an Eight of Hearts hits the river.

Jeez..If I didn't get outlucked on the river everytime,
I would be sippin' Mojitos on some island in the
Carribean with a "St." in front of the name, earning
12% on my stack of cash...

I was happy not be be busted out. What can you do
when you have the best hand? That's poker, hehe...

Another hand came up in the same round, where I was
on the dealer button with pocket 3's. There was about
2 callers in front of me, I called the $100 bet, the
small blind called and the big blind checked. There
was about $500.00 in the pot preflop. The flop came
magic, King of Spades, 3 of Hearts and Ten of Clubs.
4 players checked in front of me. I bet out $300.00,
so now the pot held $800.00. The small blind and
big blind players folded, the UTG player (same player
who got the lucky Eight on the river), called my
bet (he had about $1,600.00 left behind - he's probably
gonna go all in on the Turn). A player behind him
folded. We were now heads up. The turn brought a
Queen of Spades. The UTG player goes all in for his
last $1,600.00. Now the pot held $2,700.00. If I call
I would be left with $1,650.00 (still alive, if I lose).
I can't say I would really lay down this hand, in this
spot. I paused and thought, "would he really go all
in if he hit a straight?" (as the board, read one), if
he did, I could still redraw to a full house for the
nuts, hmmm...Anyway, I called and tabled my set of
Threes and he tabled Ace/King OS (he had top pair
and a gutshot straight draw - he needed a Jack on the
river to win). "Dealer don't do it", I said under
my breath. The dealer dealt out a 2 of clubs on the
river. Nice...

I was kind of surprised that the UTG player didn't raise
preflop with his Ace/King OS. If he did, I might have
folded the pocket Threes preflop. That's his bad, I guess.
Ace/King is very slippery sometimes, that's why they call
it Big Slick. It's still a drawing hand.

The next hour or so was uneventful. I made it to the ninth
blind level, where bets were $500/1,000 at this time, with
no antes. I had $5,000.00 in chips at that point. Had
a couple of non confrontational all ins.

This is the hand that busted me though, Ace/Jack OS.
A player ahead of me went all in. I was on the dealter
button and peeled up Ace/Jack OS. The other player
had me covered. I don't think I can fold in this spot.
I probably have the best hand "right now" (like how I
said that). I called all in, the small blind an big
blind players folded, so no we were heads up. If I get
this pot of $11,500.00, I can stil be in this game.
The other player laments, says he was making a move and
flipped up Queen/Ten OS. I flip up my hand and kind of
make a sigh as well. I usually don't do well with these
types of hand matchups. The worst hand has been winning
more lately. Anyway, the dealer dealt out Seven, Ten,
Eight Rainbow. Dang, he his his ten. Well, that flop
increased my outs with Aces, Jacks and Nines (for a
straight - now I had 10 outs total for the win). The turn
came a King of Hearts - now I have 13 outs total with
the 3 Queens, for a double gutshot straight draw, Aces
and Jacks. And of course, they didn't hit when the dealer
dealt out a 3 of spades on the river...

Busted 14th out of 50 today. 5 spots out of the final
money table of 9.

It's all good, I think I played the best I could have in
this game. All you can do is call with the best hand
and hope it holds up.

You can't lose what you don't put in the middle, but you
can't win much either - again a quote from my fave poker
movie, "Rounders"...

See you on the felt...Next stop - cash games at Caesar's
need to qualify for the freeroll on 10/27/08.