Arrived late, 20 minutes and missed most of level 1
Lost a few and then won a hand.
A few hands later this happened.
I play A/6h very traditionally. I check raise the 2 heart flop, call the turn and then when checked to on the 3rd heart river I go all-in and am called. I have the nuts so get a nice double-up.
I go on a nice string of wins and suspect I’m running like God so start getting money in as often as I can. It works well for a while.
I knew it was over when this happened:
I call a raise with A/Jd. The flop is all low, something like 2/3/6. I don’t think there were any diamonds. My opponent bets about half of his remaining stack. I opt to raise and put him all in as I think I have a good chance of winning with an Ace or Jack. He calls and turns over… A/A. Of course. However, the turn and river complete the low straight and we split the pot. Interesting!
This was my signal from the Poker Gods that #easygame was over. Back to the grind! With near 20K in level 2 or 3 though, I was sitting pretty good for a while.
I was very quiet for a good long while with really the only interesting hand was with A/K Vs. The Rule. I know he wants to hear my analysis of it so here you go:
I raise with A/Ko and get one caller. The flop misses me completely and I make a standard c-bet. He thinks and then calls. At this point based on what I know of him, he doesn’t have nothing. My usual track would be to keep betting to bluff him out of the hand. Maybe give him bad odds. However, I know that he isn’t likely to fold after thinking so long and then calling the flop. He checks the turn and I opt to check back. I immediately see him relax and know he’ll fire out on almost any river card, which he does. I still have a lonely A/K so make an easy fold.
The Rule – I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing your play from the other side!
A little while later, the guy to my right who I had that amazing flush hand against (who had to rebuy) and I have this hand together:
He raises and I jam with K/K. Everyone else folds, he calls and turns over A/2. Not bad. Flop: A/2/x. Ugh. The turn is another 2 just to kick me in the balls.
Thinking I’m the big blind in the next hand, I place my big blind out. The player two to my left goes all-in. I opt to call blind for only another 1,500. He has something, maybe a pair? I turn over 8/4o. Yuck. I do end up hitting the board, but he’s still better. Ah well. In the next hand when I’m asked to place my big blind I realize that I had mis-placed it the hand before. Yuck. Stupid tilt! I refocused and talked 30 seconds of the Mental Game of Poker with Blood Feud and got my game face back on.
I ended up going all-in again a few hands later with K/10s for around 4k. I’m called by Honey Badger who doesn’t look happy. He shows something pretty unexpected: low cards. Can’t remember exactly what he had but do remember that he connected with the flop (bad for me). I do remember hearing someone ask him why he called and he said that I’d been going all-in too often and that you can’t let people do that without calling. One spade on the flop and nothing else good. I shut my eyes and somehow it goes runner-runner for my flush and I’m back to 10k!
We move down to 2 tables and I’m hoping for a new lease on life.
My first hand I’m dealt 9/9 and feeling good. However, by the time it gets to me it’s already been 3-bet all-in. I look to my left and see a couple of folks that want to call. I muck my cards very quickly. 2 callers. The flop is something like 3/3/x. It checks down to the river and then DAN makes a quick bet that is called. He shows 3/3 for flopped quads! I’m very happy I wasn’t in this hand! The original person that had gone all-in also had me crushed so I definitely read the table and situation right.
I’m feeling pretty good and make an early position raise with K/Jh. One caller, the dreaded Mr. Miles! The flop is sort of kind to me with 6/K/6. A 6 is in his range, but it’s pretty unlikely. I bet about 35/40% of the pot with the aim to aggressively slow play. He calls without too much thought. I remove the 6 from his range. The turn is a Jack which is very good for me. Keeping my slow play thoughts in mind, I figure if I bet here he’s going to fold. I want his money so bad that I decide that if I check he’ll probably bet. I check and he bets. I think and complain a little and call. I’m figuring this is a lock when an Ace hits the river. FML. If he has an Ace, which I suspect he does, he has a better 2-pair than I do. I check, he checks. He has the Ace.
Before I played this tournament, I wrote down all of the things I could think of that are potential leaks in my game. One of the major ones is slow playing. I couldn’t find a single example of when slow playing my strong hand had worked in my favor. I found plenty of examples of when slow playing had worked in someone else’s favor against me, but that’s another story… My recommendation to myself was to not do it and simply play strong. That might net me less chips, but this type of situation wouldn’t happen. I couldn’t even listen to my own advice! I had to play so SMART. Sigh.
I don’t last too much longer after this. I end up going all-in from one of the blinds and am called by Dan who has 10/10. I figure I’m pretty good with K/K until a 10 comes on the river. Good night!
In analyzing my play, I’ve found that I’ve had lots of success early on in tournaments but that I can’t seem to keep that momentum going. Instead I’m waiting for good cards. In my head I know that I should be looking for good situations where I can continue to build my chip stack, but my gut still tells me to wait for good cards. The only problem is when they don’t come. It’s definitely something I need to work on.