Yum, Yum, Jack in the Box Chicken Sandwiches...

10/23/08

Yum, Yum, Jack in the Box Chicken Sandwiches
and Hump Day Redeaux...

I went back to Caesar's to get some hours in to try to
reach that attainable 40 hour mark by next Monday. I
cashed in $500.00 bucks into one of the $1/3 No Limit Holdem
games there. A very non productive 4 hours passed and
was down about $70.00 bucks from my initial buyin. Those
are the swings of the game, which I should know by now.
Which is not a big swing - I'm still beating the Dow, hehe.
My only discontent was the fight I had inside of trying
to be disciplined enough to play my game.

I felt that this would be a grinding session, so I decided
to play in the 1100 pm NLHE tournament. The buyin was for
$120.00 and you would get $2,500.00 in chips. This was not
the deepstack tournaments that I have come to like at Caesar's
or Orleans for that matter, but I thought I needed a change of
pace for the night. At least the blind levels changed at
every 30 minutes, so you didn't have to really double up
until the 3rd level of blinds. If I busted out early,
I could still play some more cash games in the main poker
room.

32 players eventually signed up to play the tourny. I even
came on a little late in the first level, as you could buy in
to the tournament any time during the first 30 minutes.
The tourny would pay the top 3 finishers. I think it was
about $1,600.00 for first, $930.00 for second and $620.00 for
third. There was about $3,104.00 in the pot. The money spots
are not restricted, as deals can always be made at the final
table.

That should give you an idea of what happened later, to my
delight...hehe...

Anyway, my first hand in on the big blind turned out to be
Ace/King OS. There were 3 other callers, before I actually
saw my hand. The table seemed pretty casual, so I blurted
out that I had a good hand and then raised it to $200.00
total (blinds were $25/50 at the time). I got two callers
and a fold. The dealer flopped Ace of Clubs, Five of
Clubs and a Nine of Diamonds. The small blind player
checked and the UTG player started to talk about how I
should have bet more so he could have folded. I chuckled
and put out a bet of $500.00. The UTG and small blind
players folded. I then decided to show my hand to the
table. I want to show the table a certain image right
away sometimes. Especially in that situation, where I
came in late to the table.

Again, I trucked along without getting into any trouble and
found myself at the final table, meaning the last nine
players (no matter how many players were in the tournament,
I always call the final 9 players - final table). We still
had to play for the last 3 money spots, unless we made
a deal. I probably would not have minded to chop the pot
at that point, as each player could gross about $345.00
if we all agreed to do that. I would be happy to parley
that cash into another tournament or cash game. Don't get
me wrong, I play for first all the time - but it sucks
to bust out on the money bubble with nothing to show for it.
I play poker to make money. You know what I'm sayin'?

I was glad to get the hands I went all in with not get
outlucked, meaning that the best hand would win after all
the cards were dealt. I did get pair of Kings twice and
Aces once, during my play at the final table. Got calls
from Ace/Jack twice and Ace/rag once - the best hand
won each time. I was expecting a suckout on the river
or something.

When it got to sixhanded, a couple of players and I again
suggested a chop of the pot at about $500.00 apiece.
A good overlay for 3 hours of play at the time. This
Vietnamese female player, kept on saying that she wanted
to play for first - I really didn't care either way, just
want to bring up the chop issue, so everyone is a winner.
There can be a lot of variance at the higher blind levels,
so you can be forced to go all in with any random hand.
This turns it into a luckfest - which is a part of the
game.

I made it to the final four players, which was the dreaded
money bubble. 4th place would not make any money. 3 of
us again suggested a chop of the money at about $775.00
each - the only dissenter being the Vietnamese female
player. She kept on going that "this is good practice"
for everyone, when we are ready to player bigger tournaments.
P'shah biatch - I hope you bust out 4th then, hehe...

I played even more disciplined at that point, as I did
not pick up any good hands during that time. The dissenting
player was playing pretty crazy and I thought in time, she
would eventually bust out. She was actually chip leader
from time to time, but we all traded chips equally
during that last blind level. I could not get any cards to
call her all in bets. She finally was called by the small
blind player (older white lady, who was chip leader at
that point), when she went all in with Jack/Nine OS in the
big blind. The small blind player called with pocket Sixes.
Fortunately, the big blind player, I'll call her Miss
Dissenter - did not get any help from the board. She got
up and left without saying anything. I told her "Good
Game", and she had no reaction. Well, she actually had
a look on her face of regret that she bubbled. F-U then
kid!, hehe...

Right after she left the tourny room, the three of us final
money table players agreed to chop the pot equally. I was
actually about even with one player, with the older white
lady was the chip leader. She had no trouble splitting the
pot equally among us. That's cool, I usually would do the
same, unless I was a clear dominant chip leader. I think
we were all kind of happy that Miss Dissenter did not agree
to a chop and she did not make any money. After our chop,
we got about $1,034.00 each.

After we got our money at the cashiers cage, we gave our tips
to the dealers and I was off for the work day, lol...

Oh yeah, I got about 7.5 hour hours in today, so I will
still need about 23 more hours and change to qualify for the
freeroll.

I also think I have found a pattern of winning - every time
I eat Jack in the Crack Chicken Dolla' Sandwiches, I make
the money in tournaments. Don't try this at home, alright?
Or was it because it was Hump Day? Hmmm...