Playing to Win

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Vegas shenanigans aside, I wanted to post a couple of hands from my play this trip that I think made all the difference between me cashing vs not cashing and report on the tournaments I enjoyed the most.

Tourneys

I thought the best structured tournaments were at The Venetian (the $560s+ are better than the $340s, but both are good).

The Golden Nugget's DSs are a great price and good fields.

Binion's little $125 is a really nice field (watch out for the locals) and I loved the structure.

WSOP Ladies Event - while its starting stack is only 3000 chips, the hour long levels make for a great opportunity to play well. What I saw (granted I only lasted through the first few levels before running Ks into As) was really a lot of straightforward ABC play. I hope to be rolled to play it again next year.

Hands

Monday, I played the Binion's $125, which drew about 10 10-handed tables and a first prize of $4k. I was seated between three locals and we were joined by a fourth (GWBH = Guy w/ Blue Hat) after about four hours of play. By then, I was cL at my table. GWBH was seated two to my right, had a stack, and was very active, limping and open raising many pots. I only played three hands against him.  One I limp behind his open limp (w/ 5s) and fold to flop bet when I don't hit.  The other two, he shoved to my flop cbets. One I folded, one I didn't. Here's the one I didn't fold:

I have ~33bbs and have him covered. Blinds are 400/800/100

As per normal, he limps UTG and pot's 3000. I raise a little more than 2200 behind with KJo, planning to fold to a raise depending on who raised. Everyone folds and he calls, pot's 6600.   

Flop comes xQhTh.

GWBH checks to me. I make it 2800 to go. Pot's 9400. He insta-shoves, as he'd done previously, and I have to call 14k to continue. 

I knew he was on a flush draw. I didn't put him on the nut flush, but figured I had a better draw than he did, with possibly 14 outs, any A, any 9, any K or J.

Mistakes:

1. I'm not even getting 2-1 to make that call.
2. You never call off your stack on a draw, you force the other guy to that kind of decision - which is exactly what he did. If I was going to make that call, I should've bet enough on my cbet to put HIM to the test and represent that if he did shove, I would call, effectively putting HIM all in to draw (I think he would've shoved anyway and I likely wouldn't have been able to fold, which a good/better player might've been able to do).
3.  Hoping - which is not playing poker.
4. Wanting his chips right then and there because I wanted the tourney.

Ultimately, I called. He didn't flush and his A high (Ah6h) won the hand.

Wow...writing all this out it's even worse than I remember.  Gross.

But let's change the scenario a bit.  What if I'd had a made hand on that flop? Do I call a shove raise there knowing he's on a draw? Well...that's the set up for yesterday's $550 game at the Venetian.

I have ~41bbs and have villian covered. Blinds are 300/600/50 and we've just come back from the first break. Villian has come late and is sitting with a little more than his starting stack immediately on my right.

Villian plays his first hand - and pretty much every hand after that, making the comment, "I hate sitting on a short stack (he wasn't even a ss at the table), it's either chip up or go home." His show down hands were 63o, 64o, sometimes showing an A or a 7 when having to fold, which was rare.

I played two hands with him. One I folded to a cbet and one I played to the river and got to see his 64o take the pot. He'd min-raised that from the BU to my SB (QJs).

I adjusted by just tightening up and waiting to play a premium hand in position.

Finally, I get to play. He raises 1350 utg, which is not unusual. I look down at AKo and raise to 3800. Folds back to him and he calls, which is also not unusual.  Pot's 9000.

Flop comes xKhxH. He checks and I bet 3200.  Pot's 12,200.  He insta-shoves and I immediately know he's on a flush draw.

I know someone's gonna say - why did you bet so small on the flop and give him such great odds? Well, my thinking was - given his range and the hands he's played, I feel like I'm good there a billion out of a billion times. Plus, even if he had As, he's played perfectly to get the action he wanted on them.

Aren't these the kinds of hands you have to win to win tournaments? I think I'm making that call 100 out of a 100 times, but given the money, is this a hand I should've folded?

This time, I didn't fade the river heart.

I shoved ~10bbs the very next hand (A8o) and picked up his open raise (yes, he raised again) plus blinds and antes. Shoved 4 hands later with AQs and got called by BBs AK and couldn't beat the flopped K to make a come back.  GG me.

I don't think I showed an ounce of emotion at the table, shook hands, smiled and wished everyone good luck as I walked away, but then I had to go stand in a corner, bend over, and catch my breath.

Man, this has been a tough trip.

The World Series of Poker - A Seat to the Main Event

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Not the tourney I played in

Last Saturday, I played in a large live MTT here in town. It was large in size and large in price, which I don't really want to tell you about because it isn't in my bankroll. But...there it is. Top prize was, of course, a seat into the ME. With the number of players, the prize pool was such that the entire final table (9-handed) would chop and each get a ME seat.

The structure was good, lots of chips to start and long levels. The catch that I wasn't aware of until I walked in the door was that it was a rebuy. I like rebuys, but my rule is that I can't rebuy (including the add-on) more than 5 times. And here, the initial buy-in was really outside my BR. So, I had to make a decision.

Looking around the room, I saw (a) lots of money and (b) lots of serious players. One player final tabled the ME the year Moneymaker won. Another has over $3M in online MTT cashes. Another was a guy I'd met in Vegas during the series last year. I remembered him because we'd played together in a Golden Nugget deepstacks event, which he went on to final table and chop for first.

Those were only the guys I knew a little something about. The rest, I think it's safe to assume, also knew their way around a poker table.

Armed with this knowledge, I probably should've just grabbed a drink and railed my friend David for awhile. This, however, did not happen.

Instead, I made a decision to play. I would buy-in, immediately do 1 re-buy, and then do the add on. If I couldn't last til the rebuy period ended, I'd walk away. And so that's what I did (bought in, got the rebuy, made it to rebuy break and added on).

If you've played in a rebuy tourney with people who have more money than God, then you likely know how things went. I played like a stone cold nit and most everyone around me was rebuying like maniacs. In fact, I would not be lying if I said that after the rebuy period ended, 60% of the chips in play in the entire tournament were sitting at my table. Not in front me, unfortunately, but after the add-on, I was sitting comfortably with 60bbs and felt really good, both with how I was playing and with how I felt I measured up with the opponents at my table. Sidenote, I think there were about 75-80 players and only two of us were women. (sad face)

Things settled down, somewhat, after the rebuy period ended, but not much. I didn't have too many entanglements of note and after a few orbits, I was in good shape with about 50 bbs.

I was surprised at the amount of limping and splashing around still occurring, but I just tried to bide my time. Two seats to my left, one man (apparently the Shah of Iran) had re-bought 11 times, not including the add-on. In other words, he spent three quarters of a Main Event buyin just playing this tournament. I will admit that he did get unlucky on two of his all-ins; however, he was mainly playing the loose aggro style that is common during the rebuy period in many of the $11 online ribeyes.

I fared well with AKs, Qs, and a few trash hands. I don't really think I'm a nit, but this day, I was pretty darn tight. Finally, sitting on ~45bbs, I'm sitting in CO. Blinds are 500/1000, still no antes. UTG former cL, who's decimated his stack in the previous hand by taking on the only other cL at the table, is obviously steaming. He limps in, his nemesis (now true cL of the entire tournament sitting immediately on his left) calls behind...and so it goes, limp, limp, I limp with Ts, BU folds, and Shah of Iran raises.

When it gets back to me, there is 11,500 in the pot and I'm getting about 2-1 to call. As soon as it folds back to me I say "all-in" and move my stack toward the dealer. Based on his play during the previous few hours, I felt that his raise from SB was likely a squeeze with two overs, but I didn't think he had even a pair, much less Js or better. Plus I was really trying to apply pressure - if he called and lost, he was out of the tournament.

He grimaced, but thought for less than 30 seconds and called with AJo - the mortal nuts, you know. At this point, I'm a 57% favorite. (do you guys think 57-42 is a coinflip? What constitutes a coinflip? Maybe this was a classic, I don't know).

At any rate, I had a momentary sense of calm as I saw a T in the window as the dealer fanned out the cards, but it was soon dashed when the K and Q came along for the ride.

Dude was ecstatic and not shy about sharing his opinion about the "coinflip."

Crippled, I was out a short time later and had a lot of time to think about my play that day and that hand in particular. I was sure sorry not to have taken down that pot, but I really think I'd play it the same way against that opponent in those circumstances, in a heartbeat. I'd also welcome your thoughts about the hand/play, as well. You've got to win those to run deep, and I was playing for a seat. So...that's poker.

There were a lot of great things to come out of that day for me. I got to see some old poker buddies I hadn't seen in awhile. That in turn opened up some doors to some games in town I was previously unaware of. It also gave me a boost of confidence. I felt good about my play and I believe I held my own against some really good (and some not so good) players. I outlasted my friend David and my friend who'd won the GN event last year. I did not, however, trade any hands with the former ME final table-r. He was running good that day, 4 people all in during rebuy period: As, Ks, Qs, 7c5c. His As held.

Last, but not least, I met a fella who's interested in helping me with some of that deliberate practice I've been going on and on about here in the blog. We're meeting next week and I'm beyond excited.

So, all total, I put a dent in my bankroll. Maybe I'm kidding myself about my play that day and about some of the rewards I felt I got in return for playing this particular tournament, but I don't really feel bad about the dent. I feel excited and positive and as though I'm right where I'm supposed to be.

I'm so excited about the Vegas trip in June. Yes, I want to win. But what I want to do more than a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. is play great poker. Because sooner or later, I'm going to win.

I'll keep you posted about the training. Have a great weekend and keep doing your best.

[Edit - not real sure why I sound like such an ass in this post, when describing my poker play. Overcompensation, I guess....]