 Council Bluffs 02/2009 (WSOP Circuit) |
| Day 1 (part 2) |
| Last Updated: 2009-02-16 22:24:25 |
| Sometimes you do everything right, and...
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| First of all, I need to read the fine print. Had I READ the fine print this trip might not have happened because this was the only tournament in the entire series that started with a lousy 2000 in chips. What a joke for a $345 buyin. HORSE for the same buyin is 4K. A lot of people were steamed when they saw the small chip stacks.
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| So basically one mistake and you're crippled.
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| 108 players I heard, top prize over $10,000 I definitely heard...
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| First hand out of the gate I'm in the small blind with a pair of Qs and not much else. Not a great hand but the blinds were 25-25 so I'm in for free and my pair of Qs ended up being good. Bet every street and my opponent called me on the flop and turn, I had him on a low draw and sure enough he folded on the river when the board paired and there was no low. Always nice to win the first hand. Next hand pocket Q's again and I should have played them to the river because I would have hit a boat...
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| So basically for the first three rounds I floated from about 1700-2200 chips. I just couldn't get a good scoop that would really get me going, seemed like almost every pot I won was a chop or a 3/4 that didn't amount to a whole lot anyway.
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| I did have A-A-2-X hold up for me twice, but the first time my low got counterfeited and the second time bastard rivered two pair on me but my low was good.
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| So I finally win a decent pot, don't remember it too well but I got up over 3K in chips for the first time with blinds 200-300 (300-600 limits, don't ask me why). A hand or three later the first big suckout. I've got A-J-10-3 in the small blind. I call, BB raises, I call. Flop comes A-J-10. Very simple, with that flop I bet out, if there's a call or a raise he has aces, if he folds he was going low. Dude agonizes, goes back and forth and finally calls. No doubt in my mind he was on a low draw and wants to take a card off and hope he gets lucky. Turn is a 3, I have four pair, I bet, he pushes and tables A-2-4-8. River 5, wheel, I'm back under 2K again.
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| But I stay focused, realizing that in this game anything can happen. Sure enough by the time the blinds are at 300-600 I work my way back up to almost 4K in chips and I get A-A-K-2 with at least one ace suited. Doesn't get any better. I raise out, button calls, everyone else folds.
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| Flop is 3-6-Q with one spade. Dude bets out, I go over top, he goes all in and turns over 4-4-5-J. You can't make this up, pot commits himself with that hand and then puts the rest in on a straight draw. But I'm golden because even if he hits a straight I have low and get my chips back. Only bad card for me really is a 4, right? Except he hits running big spades to catch a flush and I get no low. I'm down to 800 chips.
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| Very next hand I push what little I have left with A-3-6-Q. Not great but for a desperate player I'll take it. Flop 2-5-X. Some betting on the side, turn is a 4. I have wheel and nut straight. River is a third spade, my low is good but same fucking guy on consecutive hands drew out a spade flush on me to take half with J-4-5-something. Unreal.
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| We're down to 45 players and I have 1200 in chips.
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| Somehow I manage to work my way back up over 4000 chips while players start dropping like flies. One memorable hand in my path to recovery, I had A-A-2...A (argh!) to start. But I'm short so I make the raise and everyone folds including the blinds. I show off my "set of" aces, BB was actually glad he folded (two people pointed out I had one suited :) ). I'm about to be in the bing blind when we get down to 27 players, I have about 4000 in chips with blinds 400-800 but since we're one table from the money they redraw everyones seats. I get the button at my new table.
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| So I'm definitely one of the shorter stacks in the tournament but all I need is one double-up and I'm probably in the money. Unfortunately once around the table I get nothing, the only playable hand was an A-3-K-X in the small blind and the flop came 4-4-4 and someone bet out so I had to give it up. But about every other hand someone somewhere was getting knocked out and at the end of the round I was down to 2400 in chips with 21 players left and 18 paying out of a starting group of 108.
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| And then we get sent on break so I can see where I'm really at...
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| Which is 4 hands from putting 2/3 of my stack into the pot in blinds. Three other people have about what I have in chips, I can either fold and hope or try and make a move. First hand back from the break I have A-K-4-4 with A-K spades. The BB is a tight player, if I'm going to get anyone off their blinds it will be her. I raise to 2000, everyone folds, she thinks about it and calls. Flop Q-10-8 with Q-10 spades. Gutshot royal. I push my last 400, she calls with K-K-Q-?. Believe it or not, before the flop I'm a 42-32 fave to scoop, she's got me 57-43 on the high but I have her 40-0 on the low. After that flop now I'm actually a 60-30 favorite to scoop and a 60-40 fave on the high alone (down to 17% on the low). Turn is a 5 to give me a low draw...but the river is another Q and I'm done in 21st place three from the money.
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| As you can imagine I'm happy with the way I grinded out a short stack for so long and also that I played what I believe was fairly perfect poker for five hours, but to do that and come so close to money and miss was incredibly frustrating. But there is a silver lining, I'm going to get another shot at what I expect will be the same collection of mostly morons in HORSE tomorrow.
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| For all those who think that the morons only exist in $5-10 online poker rooms, let me tell you, even for $350 a shot there are a lot of really bad players. And I almost managed to navigate through them all. I have absolutely no doubt that if just one of those bad beats hadn't occurred, and there were more than just the ones above believe me, I was in the money.
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| Hopefully skill will prevail tomorrow.... |
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