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Server Time: 2/13/2012 10:07:27 PM PACIFIC |
 A Few Stories During a Week With a Cold, FeliciaLee, 19. Nov 2003 12:37 | ||
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| Tuesday, October 28, 2003 I haven't been playing as much poker as I usually play. Most of it was due to the cold relapse I had after playing sick on Saturday night. In my last entry, I talked about not making money at the 4/8 table when I was on the waiting list for 10/20. I think the reason I am losing money is because I am not playing my "A" game. I am more focused on getting into the 10/20, who is playing in the 10/20, are there any fish in the 10/20...etc. I need to play my "A" game no matter what I am playing. I will work on this. One of the things I do at the poker table is watch everything that is going on around me. I used to assume everyone was this attentive (except at the no-fold'em tables). When I sit down, I look at all of the stakes. I see if anyone has paper money, like me. I want to know who is deep and who is on a short stack. I watch the button, the blinds, the rake and the bad beat jackpot drop. I know that I miss things, but I am very alert at the table. Maybe I shouldn't talk so much about the things I see and the way I play. In this journal, of course, I am going to keep talking, because it seems to help me more than anyone else, and I don't think too many Laughlin people are going to read it and figure out a way to outplay me, lol. I do, however, give things away at the table that I probably should keep to myself. For example, last Saturday in the 10/20 game, a good player named Jim sat down. After another player came close to busting out and got up and left, I asked Jim, "He didn't completely bust out, did he? He still had money?" Jim nodded, "Yeah, I think so." I said, "I think he still had a couple of reds, a stack of white, two hundreds behind his chips and a fifty dollar bill." Jim nodded, but his eyes widened as I said this. Oops, I think I am giving too much away by letting others know how much attention I pay at the table. Once I was playing in the 10/20 game and I was dealt pocket queens. I raised an aggressive player who called to see the flop. We were head's up. I watched him closely to read any body language. The flop didn't seem to have much of an effect on him. I looked at the flop. There was an ace, but I bet out. He called. The turn card still saw him showing no signs of having me beat. I looked at the turn card, it was a blank. I bet again and he called. Ditto river. When I turned over my hand, the player next to me said, "Wow, I can't believe you bet into an ace on the flop and just kept betting! How did you 'know' that he didn't have an ace?" I just shrugged and said that I wasn't playing the cards. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, October 29, 2003 Tonight we played the Belle's $100+10 Limit to No-limit hold'em tourney. I knew as soon as we walked into the poker room that the 70k bad beat jackpot had been hit. Not every table was being used, lol. I had come to expect a jam packed poker room over the last month, and as soon as I saw only five tables being used, I knew someone had hit that dumb jackpot. The staff were smiling, everyone was in a good mood. Gone were the past days of tenseness and stress in the poker room. Thank God! My table lineup for the tourney was pretty good. The one seat was a tight player who had been asking tons of questions about the tournament before we started. I had a feeling that he was new to tourneys, yet this wasn't his very first one. The two seat was extremely new. He had obviously never played a tourney before. He never caught on to the blinds, the betting, etc. He was a little drunk, but nice, and very innocent. I was in the three seat. The four seat was Sammy, the rammer-jammer dealer I played against in the Riverboat Classic tournament I wrote about on October 1st. The five seat was an Elizabeth Taylor lookalike. Elizabeth these days, heavy, with dyed black "big" hair. She seemed very sweet, but never really spoke. The six seat was an older man, a calling station. The seven seat was the only other experienced tournament player at our table. He was very talkative and obviously found our little tourney "small potatoes." I knew he was the one to beat. Seat eight was a man I'd never seen before. He was a caller. Seat nine was Jim II, the guy I spoke about in one of my 10/20 stories. The freelance writer. His wife had just hit the bad beat jackpot that morning, to the tune of about $28,000 (for the losing hand). So he was living it up. I played my usual tight, tight, tight method. I got a few pots, but they were mostly small, just the way I like them, during the first hour. Starting at 8pm, we went to no-limit. This is when I really start to play. I was dealt 53o in the big blind. I got a free play and flopped 55J. I caught a lucky break because the five seat Elizabeth Taylor lady bet out of turn (about 300, I believe). I had the dealer back up and I did my own acting job. I finally checked, knowing she would buy it, and she immediately bet out. All passed to me. I check-raised all-in for about 1500. She pondered, but called, like I knew she would, and I doubled up. In another big blind hand I was dealt Q6o. We were head's up. I flopped a queen and check-raised. He immediately folded. I stole a few blinds and had 3100 chips when we reached the final table. We drew for seats and I got the lucky nine seat. The other "good" tourney player from my last table got the two seat. He and I were close in chips. A decent newbie tourney player was in seat four. Larry was in seat seven with a medium stack. Chris was in seat eight, to my right. Glenn, my husband, was in seat ten with a medium stack. The top four got paid, with first place being 50%. I got dealt absolutely nothing, and had to fold hand after hand. Not even free plays in the big blind brought me any flop. I had the worst hands imaginable. I wasn't able to steal with any of these hands, as the pot has either already been raised, or I still had the hyper-aggressive two seat left to act after me. I thought I would start catching cards, but I was wrong. The unmentioned seats started busting out fast. We were losing players quickly, due to the hyper-aggressive nature of the two seat. I let him steal my blinds. I couldn't defend with the junk I was dealt. I hated being put in this passive, timid position, but I literally had nothing to stand on. Glenn pushed all-in several times and either doubled up, or stole the pot. Glenn has taken to wearing headphones and listening to music at the table. This has helped his game tremendously. No longer does he act hesitant and shy. He doesn't let the other player's comments affect him anymore, and plays more aggressive poker. I am very happy that he found a way around the problems that he was having in tourneys and cash games. Chris made a few good moves and kept a decent stack. He and I were neither catching good cards, and felt a little bound by the big stacks. Larry went all-in with A9 vs. TT and got eliminated. We were down to five. The two seat had become so aggressive, and knocked out so many players, that he was far and away the biggest stack. The four seat raised as a semi-steal with KQs. Glenn was in the small blind and went over the top, all-in, with AKo. The aggressive two seat was in the big blind and folded. Glenn spiked an ace, and we four were all in the money. I had been badly blinded down from my original 3100. I was down to about 1500 in the SB when I finally caught a hand, JJ. It was passed to me and I went all-in. Glenn was in the big blind. He pondered his decision, but he knew he had to call me. I really didn't have enough chips at this point to be a contender for first place, unless I doubled up, then caught some more cards. I was happy that he called me. He had A7s. He immediately spiked an ace, and IGHN. Compared to the last time he busted me, this time I think he did the right thing. Well, I think both of us did the right thing. Had he folded his big blind, it just would have delayed my torture a little bit longer. I was the shortest stack, by far, and with the blinds at 200/400, about to go up to 300/600, I would have only been able to survive about six more hands. JJ was the only playable hand I received during the entire final table play. I won $200 and they were down to three. Chris was the shortest stack, and getting no cards. He constantly had to let his blinds get stolen, and his frustration was showing. One time he showed a 53o, to illustrate just how bad his cards were. Finally, to avoid getting so blinded down that even doubling up wouldn't help him, he shoved all in with QJs. The two seat called with Ax and Chris was eliminated in third. Immediately, the two seat proposed a deal with Glenn. He gave Glenn $175 more than second paid, and took the rest. It was a great deal, which Glenn, who was shorter stacked than him, readily accepted. What a great night! We more than quadrupled our buy-in's, and had a great final table. Hope you are playing great! Felicia :) | ||
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| Re: A Few Stories During a Week With a Cold, FlopDaNutz, 19. Nov 2003 12:58 | ||
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| How often are deals made at the final table? I have heard you speak of this on many occasions. Why would the chip leader propose a deal to Glenn? Was it because he felt threatened that Glenn is a better player and did not want to give him a chance at a comeback? Or was it that, it was a long tourney, they both wanted it to be over and they would both be happy with the payout he offered? If I was the chip lead, I would definately want to play it out and fight for first. I know comebacks come a dime a dozen, but I think this is the most exciting part of the tourney. If I were in second, I would probably take the deal, but would never offer a deal from the lead. Just my opinion. | ||
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| Re: A Few Stories During a Week With a Cold, FeliciaLee, 19. Nov 2003 13:18 | ||
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| Deals are almost always made. The Belle plays a fast style tourney, just like their sister properties like the Luxor and Mandalay Bay. They want their tourneys to end quickly, lasting only about two to 2.5 hours max. The Wednesday night tourney gives us a little more play, since we ponied up $100, but it still advances rapidly after the first hour. Blinds mostly double every 15 minutes. Once it was down to Glenn and the Seattle guy, the blinds were huge compared to the total number of chips on the table. This reduces a tourney to more of a crapshoot quality (the chip lead can go from hero to zero in just a couple of hands, when he is outdrawn). If you read my post on winning this tourney on October 1st, you see that I end up winning the whole thing, having been the chip dog for almost the entire final table! It wasn't any brilliance on my part, simply a good run of cards that actually held up!!! Anyway, Glenn had #2 wrapped up. He could NOT receive anything less than #2 money. The chip lead, however, could easily lose his #1 position in just a couple of hands. Glenn had nothing to lose, the chip lead had about $500 to lose. Unless he has 90% of the chips on the table, it might be in his best interest to make a deal, to give a little to #2. I'm not saying that in this instance it was correct, but Glenn wasn't shortstacked, and was playing very solidly. The Seattle guy seemed a little impatient, wanting to play a small pot limit game we were trying to get organized. He was also in town for business, and wanted to get some cash game play before retiring to his room. I would suspect these factors, combined with the factors above, motivated him to make his offer. In any case, it was a good offer, and we had a great time. Felicia :) My Poker Journal: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeliciaLee <<on 19. Nov 2003 12:58 FlopDaNutz wrote: > How often are deals made at the final table? I have heard you speak of this on many > occasions. Why would the chip leader propose a deal to Glenn? Was it because he > felt threatened that Glenn is a better player and did not want to give him a chance > at a comeback? Or was it that, it was a long tourney, they both wanted it to be over > and they would both be happy with the payout he offered? If I was the chip lead, I > would definately want to play it out and fight for first. I know comebacks come a > dime a dozen, but I think this is the most exciting part of the tourney. If I were > in second, I would robably take the deal, but would never offer a deal from the > lead. Just my opinion. | ||
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| Re: A Few Stories During a Week With a Cold, FlopDaNutz, 20. Nov 2003 06:29 | ||
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| That makes much more sense, thank you for clearing it up. I play a lot of online and home tourneys, but rarely in Casino B&M tables. I've not been exposed to the "deals". Like I said, I think that can be the most exciting and intense part of the whole tourney. I love to battle out with just 1 or two people. Take Care | ||
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