The Taste Of Victory, Well A Sniff Of It At Least...

3/10/09

The Taste Of Victory, Well A Sniff Of It At Least...

Wow, it's been a few weeks since I last updated the
good old blog. Been busy workin' at AAA, part time at my
buddy's title business, and with some property management
issues. Plus, like I've said before - getting from point
A to point B in Vegas, is like driving from San Jo' to the
City - each damn way.

Anyway, after Vday weekend, my lady swung back from New
Mexico into Las Vegas the next weekend. Japes, his
girl and some of their friends were also in town for the
vacation and to play in some of the Deep Stack poker events
at the Venetian and Caesar's. Actually got to watch one
of his buddy's at the final table of a $300 event at
Venetian, the Friday after Valentine's day weekend. His
first tourny and he made a 4th place cash, which was good
for a great return on his $300. I'lll tell you this,
it was more than I made for my first place at Lucky Chances,
which now seems years ago, and if you remember that, that
was a good chunk of dolla' bills, hehe.

I decided to play a Mega Stack Poker tourny at Caesar's
the next day, on Saturday with JP. The buyin was for $340.00
total, which included the bonus, for a total of $15,000.00 in
tournament poker chips. The blind levels lasted 50 minutes
each. Pretty good value for the tourny, as you could have
a lot of play for the chipstack amount. Not necessarily
be gambo' gambo', but you could have the luxury of picking
your spots, without your tournament life on the line
in the first couple of rounds. A total of 155 players
played and they would pay the top 18.

The gameplan has pretty much been the same for me at each
tournament I play. I do not want to get into any big
confrontations early, unless I have the nut hand or if I have
a big enough stack to afford losing to some person who gets
lucky on me at the river. Playing small ball suits me these
days - I think back in the day, I would be willing to throw
it all in with Ace/King.

Recognizing spots to just call without putting a large
investment in the pot was a strategy that I wanted to employ
during the tournament. Ask Japes, he saw me do it time and
time again. I think everybody gets too hung up on raising
every hand and pot they enter. I think if you do that too
much, you can trap yourself in a hand. I'm not going to tell
you how I employed this strategy, hand by hand. I will tell
you it is a good way to build chips, without much of a hand.
You have to determine yourself when, how and who to employ
this strategy.

As in any poker tournament, there are times when you have to
get lucky. One hand I had, which Japes witnessed, and he
declared, "Vintage Scotty!". It's not like I wanted to get
lucky in the hand, but I was glad I did though. I made it
past the dinner break, Japes had already busted out, where
I found that my stack began to dwindle. Usually, if I am
around 10 to 15 big blinds, it is "All In" time. I just don't
do it indiscriminately. I try to find a good spot to make
my shove. Plus, I can't wait for pocket Aces or Ace/King
all day. This time, I shoved with a Five/Four of Diamonds.
I got one caller on the dealer button who had Ace/Ten OS.
I thought to myself, good it's a race, at least he doesn't
share any of my outs. The dealer dealt out Ace of Diamonds,
3 of Hearts and 5 of Hearts. What a flop, I have more outs
to win. 2 Fives, 3 Fours and 4 Twos, for a total of 9.
Ooh baby, the dealer dealt a turn card of Two of Diamonds.
Now I have a wheel straight, now the other player is drawing
to 3 outs for a chop (the remaining 4's in the deck). The
dealer dealt the river card which was an inconsequential
Ten of Clubs, which gave the other player a losing hand of
2 pair. I busted the other player, because I had $500 more
in chips. That was a nice double up. I didn't even celebrate,
cause it was still a long road ahead. Why should I celebrate,
we still had to get through 15 other players to get to the
money.

Back into grind mode now. After a few more hours, we
got to the money. We were now 2 tables of 9 each. To
make a long story short. I busted out in 11th place.
Made about 3 times my buyin, then gave 20% cut to Japes per
our trade. I guess I should be proud of the result.
Getting that far without having really any premium hands
is sometimes amazing to me. I only got pocket Aces once,
sometime in the early blind levels - where I raised it
under the gun, but got no callers at all (well, at least
I didn't bust out on them, lol).

I think my actual victory was that this was the first time
my girlfriend saw me play poker. She must have been bored
out her mind, but she did give me inspiration while playing.
Thanks hun!

And a first place would have been sweet as well, hehe...

Anyway, almost had the same result last Saturday at tourny
at the Orleans. Out of 69 players, I busted out at 13th,
just 6 away from the money. Jeez...

See you on the felt kids...