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Server Time: 10/6/2008 5:04:16 PM PACIFIC |
 Hold'em & Omaha Tourneys, FeliciaLee, 5. Dec 2003 22:03 | ||
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| Wednesday, November 19, 2003 We didn't get very many players for the $100 Hold'em Freezeout. I think we had 18. I guess the Belle is going to have to cut out the juice (only $10), or add some money, bounties or something. We just aren't getting enough players. The good news is, if there are less than 20 players, first place pays out 50%. I am very in favor of a top heavy tourney, now that I am doing well, LOL! I guess the tournament director at the Trop was right, back in May, when he predicted that I would have this attitude down the line. We were down to the final six in short order. After the No-limit portion of the tournament starts, players drop quickly. Chasing is not that hot a proposition in any tourney, but chasing a made hand, with a drawing hand, in no-limit hold'em, is suicide. Glenn was in the final six. So was Darren. I was sandwiched between the two. Darren is a local dealer at the Riverside. He is 29 years old. Most of what I have heard about him is gossip, as he doesn't talk much about himself, or talk much, period. The locals say that last year he won a big tourney in Vegas (Orleans Open?), and got about 100k. Supposedly he tried to play with the "big boys," over his head, and lost it all. He had to come back to Laughlin and get a job dealing. Like I said, this is all gossip, and I wouldn't ask him about it, as it must be bittersweet, but even if the story is completely false, how many true stories are there like this? At any rate, Darren is a good player. He is very aggressive. He usually has a good read on his opponents. Sometimes he can be a bit self destructive, and steam away chips. Other times he keeps betting or raising on a bluff, when he should have slowed down. Overall, he has a good playing style. I would prefer him on my right, but when I am catching some cards, I like him on my left. I have "called down" many hands with Darren when I had ace-high. If I am in the blind and no one has entered the pot, Darren will raise on my right. Always. This means he raises my blind when he is the button, because we chop if he is the small blind. Sometimes I have to make very borderline decisions, so he challenges me. I like him. He barely talks, but when he does, it is positive. He takes criticism well (I disguise my criticism in little jokes, one-liners. I would never put someone down at the table), if it is coming from someone he seems to like, who is playing well and likes to joke with him. Darren's style works very well in tourneys, too. He usually either busts out quickly, getting caught in an all-in steal attempt, or he gets in the money. I was eliminated by Darren in sixth place. I held K5s in the big blind. He raised on the button. The player in the SB folded. I knew Darren was weak. For one, he only raised the blind double. For another, he would have raised no matter what, in that position, IMHO. I was so shortstacked by that time that I needed to go all-in. I did, having only one more chip than his raise, lol. He had KTo, and we got no help. IGHN. Glenn made a deal when there were four players left. Go Glenn! Tanya, from PokerClan, a decent player, Gary, who is staying in Laughlin, trying to find a house in Bullhead City, Glenn and I wanted to go play no-limit hold'em. We heard the Riverside had one going. We got a game going, but this was the most dead game I have ever seen at the Riverside. Even the action players weren't giving any action! It got so bad that one no-limit player actually turned in his button and went back to the $2-6 game. Now THAT is sad! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, November 20, 2003 Omaha, Omaha. My love-hate relationship continues. We had almost 45 players for our Thursday night Omaha tourney. The prize pool became large, as so many people do multiple rebuys during the first hour, to ensure they can play EVERY hand, lol. I had the greatest table. So passive, full of newbies. I had to love that. Unfortunately, I was given many good hands to play during the first hour, yet EVERY hand was outdrawn either on the turn or the river. Every hand, no exaggeration. I did not win, split or quarter even one hand in the first hour. I had to rebuy twice, a record for me, I believe, lol. So I was $65 into the tournament by break ($25 buy-in, two $10 rebuys, the $20 optional add-on). I said to Glenn that I would probably go all-in right after the break, if this rash of great starting hands continued, and if my "bad luck" continued, I'd be all OUT. Sure enough, right after the break I was dealt an awesome hand: A3QK, two hearts. I flopped a flush! I was preparing to go all-in, when a lady in the one seat (I was in the three), made a huge bet before me. Bonus! I went all-in (I had one less chip than her), and she got no help. I believe she had both a worse low draw than me, plus a set, or two pair. I can't even remember. I just remember looking at her hand and saying to myself, "what the heck was she thinking?" I do remember that I had one nano-second's thought that there WAS a straight flush possible. But I'm not looking for monsters under the bed with this crowd, plus I had the second nut low draw. I won my first pot, and never lost a pot again. Literally, I never, ever lost a pot again during the tourney, when I played all the way to the river (either I was all-in, or my opponent was all-in). I split lots of pots, but I never lost. Awesome! Things can turn around so quickly. There was no brilliance on my part. Everytime there was a flush draw out for me, it got there. Usually the board wasn't paired, so I had no full-house to fear. The only advantage I had over other players was that I stayed tight, and only went in with good cards, so when a flush did come up, I usually had the ace of that suit. Drawing to the nuts is a lot less scary than drawing dead, lol. We got to the final table in short order. This tourney went FAST, for whatever reason. I was the chip lead, or close to it, at the final table. Darren, from my last post, has about the same number of chips that I did, or slightly less. No one else was a close third. Darren started stealing a lot of pots right away, from tight players looking to move up in the money. If Darren passed, I usually tried to make a move myself, if I had a leg to stand on. Soon we were down to four. The shortstacked guy wanted a deal, but no one would really say anything. Darren and Chuck (a really sweet, but bad player), kind of hemmed and hawed, so it was up to me. I finally just said, in my usual blunt manner, "Come on, would you chop with me if I was as shortstacked as you?" He laughed and said, "Sure I would, if you gave me $100." LOL, I'm glad he took it well (I thought he would, as I've played against him quite a bit now). He was out the very next hand, and we were three. Chuck immediately started pushing a deal. Darren didn't know Chuck, so he had no idea how badly he played. Chuck and I were about dead even in chips, with Darren having more than twice as much as us. They both were pushing a deal. I didn't really want to deal, for two reasons. First of all, I feel I am a much better player than Chuck, and so is Darren. Unfortunately, the blinds were so high that it was becoming more of a crapshoot (600/1200 blinds, and the average stack only about 10k). Also, in three-handed Omaha, unless one is not willing to steal quite a bit and make a lot of moves, anything can happen, and quickly. Secondly, I have been playing these tourneys at the Belle for the last four months, four per week, and we have made a deal EVERY, single time. We have never played it out. I long for the head's up matches that I loved back in my Sit-n-Go days on PokerStars. I want to play three-handed and head's up! My shorthanded tourney skills are suffering from disuse. In the end, though, I took the deal, since Darren was so generous. We each got $500, with Darren getting the leftover money, since he was the chip lead. The next time it comes to this in no limit hold'em, however, I am going to insist on playing it out. I might make a deal on the side, but I want to play until one opponent has all of the chips, even if it is not me! Felicia :) | ||
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