Vegas March 2014

Day 5 - Oh so close, and done

Last Updated: 2014-03-18 10:46:28

I've decided not to play in the 1:00 on Sunday. I was planning to, and who knows Joann could possibly talk me into playing (she's been known to be my enabler) BUT with the size fields they've been getting for the 1:00 I think we'll just get home too late if I were to money since I am going to work Monday morning and we do have an almost 5 hour drive home.

So having said that, this is a rough finish to the trip. Joann gave some money back in the slots and I had my second deepest run of the trip but came away just short.

I really have nothing from the 1:00 tournament. No cards at all, most of the few hands I did play ended up being second best, didn't win very many pots tho I did make it past the rebuy period so I was done.

Argh! Their biggest field of the week at 173 players (that's like what they get in June!) ends up being my shortest run of the week.

Since I don't have a good story about me, I'll relay one from the other day that I forgot to include that didn't involve me but "cringe worthy" enough to tell it.

Couple of loose players who had been doing battle a little get all the chips in, with the guy who shoved clearly just not believing the other guy because all he had was 9-9 and ran into K-K.

So the dealer pulls 3 from the deck, neatly stacks them and turns them over to reveal a 9 in the door.

Fans out 9-K-x.

Turn a blank.

You know what's coming....river a 9. Ouch!

One more quick aside before I get into the 7:00. The one thing I have definitely learned from the reading I've been doing is the importance of thin value bets with hands that aren't super strong but stand a very good chance of being ahead. The first big hand I'll describe below is a perfect example. Yeah, there's a lot of hands that can beat me especially from a loose player. But extracting as much value as you can out of every hand adds up over the course of a tournament. I see way too many cases of people who are afraid of the board missing chips at the ends of hands.

Plus for me, if I show up with a hand every time I value bet on the river it allows me to pull off a river bluff now and then because I always get credit for something, if I actually get called on one of those bluffs I end up putting doubt in everyone's mind when I make them later.

On to the 7:00 and this time I managed to bust out quickly enough to buy back in (woo hoo!!!).

It started out as another case of lots of cards and most of them not working out.

First hand, a loose player I had played with before predictably raises out, I call w/ A8o and the guy on my left goes over the top. Everyone folds.

Second hand, same loose player predictably raises again. I look down at 2 red aces and decide to just call hoping the pattern continues...it doesn't. We see the flop 6 handed and it comes something like 10-6-2 all hearts. Original raiser bets like 2/3 of the pot, I call. Blank turn, he bets again, I call again. River pairs the board small (probably deuces) and he checks, I make a value bet, he calls and folds to my aces. He must have had a pair because when he saw my Ah he started to turn over his cards, then realized I had a pair and mucked.

So right off the bat I'm at 14K from my 10K start. After that I'm up and down like a yoyo ranging from 8K to 14K because I keep catching pairs between 7s and Jacks, not catching sets and having to give most of them up to overcards followed by overbets from someone else in the pot.

Eventually Mr loose guy takes me out when I have pocket 6s, flop comes 2-3-4 two hearts so I have an overpair and a gutshot against a guy who will play any two...all the chips go in and he has nothing but a flush draw and hits on the river.

I rebuy and they have enough alternates that they can start up a new table, which is good because even though the blinds are up we're all starting with equal stacks.

Not very far in, a guy who I figured out very quickly would get married to his hand raises out, gets a few callers including me with pocket 6s. You'd think I'd stay away from middle pairs after my first bust out but I'm feeling persistent.

Flop comes A-6-9. He overbets the pot, everyone folds to me. Little doubt in my mind he has a big ace, little doubt in my mind he's going to keep betting so why scare him off? I call.

Turn is a blank, he instantly goes all in, I call, he turns over A-Q.

He calls for and gets his ace on the river. He's happy. I feel a little bad for him...

Between then and the next break I build my stack up to a little under 40K, I'm well above average for the first time the entire week and we're down to 23 out of 59 with 5 spots paying.

Didn't get much going in the next three levels, but after the third break I again had a decent run of cards and had enough chips to actually play some poker for a change instead of just grinding, grinding, grinding.

We get down to final table and I'm in decent shape, but cards dry up a little and blinds take their toll. Down to 8, blinds at 2000/4000/100, I'm sitting around 43K. A guy with a 90-100K stack raises out for 10K, I look down at A-Q off and push all in.

He thinks about it for a while, says he has to call, pushes out some chips and rolls over 3-3. About half his stack on pocket 3s...oh well, you know how this is going.

The board did pair for me on the turn to give me some extra outs, but no love on the river and I was done.

So close. Oh well.

Now we start to look forward to June!