I didn't drive up to Reno to come home empty handed! This was a re-entry tournament which means exactly that: if someone busts out before the end of level 4 he/she can re-enter the tournament. I felt like I was playing well, I keep very good control of my emotions so the bust out wasn't going to bother me, and the majority of the players in the field were very poor. The only argument for not entering was simply that my luck hasn't been running so well the past couple months. I tend not to give the luck factor much weight as it is out of your control, so I re-entered and went to my new table. Here again are the key hands I remember:
100/200/25
As soon as I sat down and looked around I could see it was another very good table filled with weaker players. Shortly thereafter an older player in S7 open limped from middle position. This is just a poor play. And the simple proof is this: if this was a good/profitable play then you would see the successful players do this. They don't. Quod Erat Demonstrandum! I raised to 700 from the cutoff with JT. I chose this amount as it is big enough to get rid of players behind me without a hand as my goal is to get the limper heads up. It is small enough that if someone behind me wakes up with a huge hand and re-raises me I can fold my hand and not lose too much. The big blind called as did the limper. There was 2400 in the pot and the flop came J8d3d. What a bonus - I flopped top pair! They both checked and I bet 1200. The big blind folded and the limper called. Why did he call?
- He could have a pair - either the J or the 8. The 8 is more likely as I am holding a J.
- He could have a pair in his hand, in this case most likely a smaller or middle pair.
- He could have a flush draw. Unlikely but possible.
- He could have T9 for a straight draw.
- some unreasonable hand that makes no sense that I could not start to explain!
I am beating just about all of these hands so I will proceed accordingly. The pot was now 4800. The turn came 3d and he checked. If he had a flush he just got there. Otherwise I am still in good shape. There's no reason to bet as my hand can win on its own merit so I check. The river is 8c. That's not the best card as if he did have a pair of 8 he just went ahead of me. However, he checked again so this was unlikely. Again, there's no real reason to bet as I can beat the busted straight draws but not much else. I check and he shows QJ to win.
His play sucks. He HAS to hit a pair AND hope that I don't have a better hand in order to win. If either case doesn't hold true he loses the pot, and he lost the pot without every putting out a bet that could make me fold. However, maybe I am looking at the problem all wrong. Maybe I should just blast through bets on every street. Let's say I bet 1500 on the flop and he called. Let's say I bet 4000 on the turn and he somehow found a call. What's he going to do when the river comes and I bet 10,000. Is he really going to call with top pair only? Maybe I have to start getting crazy to get some chips and win some pots! Thoughts?
Shortly after, another weak player limped utg. I raised to 800 from the cutoff with AKs. He called and the pot was 1900. I checked down a board of J534T. I didn't think he was good enough to bluff me off a winning hand and he didn't look too interested in making a bet so I chose to let my hand win. He turned over 89s and I won the pot. As he turned over his hand he said "Wow, good thing spades didn't come out." Yeah, good thing.... for him...
One last time at this level there were three weak limpers. I raised 1100 on the button with AKc and one of the limpers called and folded a flop of Ah8s2h after we bet 1100. Notice that we didn't need a hand to win this pot. You can just raise in position with anything after a bunch of limpers and that will usually do the trick. If someone does call just throw out a small bet on the flop. If he misses he will fold. Our flop bet was actually smaller than our pre-flop raise! It's a great way to earn chips.
We moved on to the 150/300/25 level with 17,000 chips.
150/300/25 level
From middle position I raised 700 with 55. Both S2 and S3 called and then the button in S4 re-raised to 2000. It cost me another 1300 to call, and if one other player called there would be 7350 in the pot already and an easy chance to double up if I flopped a set as both players had me easily covered. You want to be able to make well over 10x your investment if you are looking to flop a set and that was easily attainable here. Notice in this case I am looking to make 10x my calling bet of 1300. My raising bet of 700 occurred before his re-raise and thus it is part of the pot and does not belong to me anymore. S3 called and the board came out AdKdJ. That was good enough for me to wave the white flag and I folded when the Jd came on the turn. Maybe a healthy lead out bet could have won me this pot on the flop? It would have cost me almost half my chips to make a realistic bet in this spot and that is just not in my nature to do so. I make a lot of my decisions based on the amount of chips I have and if I cannot afford the bluff I usually don't try it.
A new player in S9 raised to 650 utg. I was next to act and looked down to see AA. I briefly thought about calling in this spot, hoping to get someone to try to take the pot with a big re-raise, but this wasn't the style of the table. There were no such aggressive players here and if I just call the bet from such early position it could attract a slew of callers. I chose the standard play and re-raised to 1750. Everyone folded and he called. The pot was not 4150. The flop came out AhQ4h. That looks great but this is the one time you really don't want to flop a set! The A on the board will be a scare card to many hands my opponent has, and my hand doesn't need to improve as it is the best starting hand in no limit hold em. He checked. My goal was to start building a pot so I bet 1300, hoping to give the appearance that I had KK and was scared of the A. It worked! He check-raised me to 3100. I thought for a bit and called. He had about 6500 left and I really didn't think he had a hand here. If he had a flush draw or a pair plus draw type hand I think he's getting it all in on the turn and hoping to hit. The turn came out 8s and he checked. I checked behind, hoping to give him one more chance to bluff on the river. I would absolutely check the turn with KK and wanted to continue to tell this story. The river was the 5c and it was clear he had given up after taking one stab on the flop at winning the pot. He checked one last time and here is where I completely F-ed it up! I chose to move all in, figuring that he was folding all hands where he had nothing and possibly calling if he did have a real hand. (After all, I was surmising he didn't have much of a hand; there is always a good chance I was wrong.) He instantly mucked his hand. Why would I do this? I had already decided he didn't have much of anything so it would be impossible for him to call this river shove. The great play would be to do what I did on the flop - bet a tiny amount and give him one more chance to bluff. I SHOULD HAVE bet 700-900 into the pot of 10,000+ and who knows how he would have reacted. He check-raised me on the flop and now he can't call a bet getting 15:1 pot odds?! What an F U this would have been to him!! I am embarrassed to admit I didn't even consider this option. I've watched Derrick use this bet with great success in our cash games we play in Sacramento and we talk about it often. Some day it will enter my arsenal. For some reason I looked at my opponents' stack before my river bet and saw that he had less than the pot in front of him and decided he would be getting good odds to call a bet with a hand of value. But I already deduced he didn't have a hand! The key is to stick with my read of my opponent's hand and proceed accordingly in the hand. Some day I will learn.... soon I hope!! (Thanks to Derrick for responding to my text of this hand and very nicely pointing out that my river shove was basically idiotic - he said it in a very supportive manner!)
I had 18,500 chips entering the next level. There were 132 entries and 87 now remain.
200/400/50 level
I raised to 900 utg with 55. S4 called as well as S9, the big blind. The pot was 3400 and the flop came out 5d77! We all checked. The turn was the 9d. The bb checked, I bet 1600 and they both folded pretty quickly. No one could have picked up a pair, a flush draw, a straight draw, an itch to bluff?! Sometimes you need a little help to make some chips. This one sucked!
Editor's note: As I folded my J3, 82, etc. for the next 40 minutes a player sat to my left in S2 with at least 70,000 chips. I played with him on my first table and the first two hands I saw him play he open limped Q6 and A3 from late position! That is the definition of bad poker. He went bust shortly after and must have re-bought because here he was with a mountain of chips! If the casino was offering a last longer I would have bet my Raider season tickets he would go bust before I did. He is blowing off his chips in short order. What an amazing waste...
I raised to 900 utg with 75d. S4 and S6 both called and the pot was 3600. The flop came 9h8d3h. I led out and bet 2000, hoping to either take down the pot now or, if called, pick up either a diamond or the miracle 6 on the turn. That flop shouldn't be too great for my opponents. S4 folded pretty quickly but S6 called. The turn was the worst card in the deck - the Qh. If he had a straight draw he just hit. If he had a flush draw he just hit. If he had a gut shot draw with two over cards he just hit. Given the size of my chip stack I had to shut it down. I checked, he bet 4000 and I mucked fast.
I finished this level with 14,000 chips and 78 players remained.
250/500/50
Editor's note: And there he goes, into the abyss. My buddy in S2. He actually got his last chips in with the lead but his opponent had 17 outs and hit on the river. He'll go tell his buddies what a bad beat he took to get knocked out; I wonder if he'll tell them how he lit his other 70,000+ chips on fire!
On the very next hand, S8, who knocked him out, was first in the pot with a limp. I raised 1600 from the hijack with J7h. The button and blinds folded and he looked at me and said "Are you sure you want to mess with me? I'm running pretty hot!" Then he proceeded to muck his AJ face up. And he has six times as many chips as me right now...
And that's the only hand I got that level! Damn poker is tough!! I went off to dinner break with 13,200 chips.
After the dinner break we had a few more minutes to go at this level. I won a hand in the small blind vs the big blind, then on the very next hand S7 raised to 1300. All his other raises were three times the big blind; this one was smaller. Typically, this will mean that his hand is not as strong and he wants to save a couple hundred chips in case he doesn't win. Fortunately I was paying attention and I re-raised to 3100 from the button with 98. The blinds folded and he mucked his hand after very little thought. A much needed pot.
A KEY HAND
The next hand S7 limped utg. S9 put in a raise to 2600. I had 15,000 chips in front of me (25bb) and looked down to see 99. Let's take a look at my choices:
I had 18,500 chips entering the next level. There were 132 entries and 87 now remain.
200/400/50 level
I raised to 900 utg with 55. S4 called as well as S9, the big blind. The pot was 3400 and the flop came out 5d77! We all checked. The turn was the 9d. The bb checked, I bet 1600 and they both folded pretty quickly. No one could have picked up a pair, a flush draw, a straight draw, an itch to bluff?! Sometimes you need a little help to make some chips. This one sucked!
Editor's note: As I folded my J3, 82, etc. for the next 40 minutes a player sat to my left in S2 with at least 70,000 chips. I played with him on my first table and the first two hands I saw him play he open limped Q6 and A3 from late position! That is the definition of bad poker. He went bust shortly after and must have re-bought because here he was with a mountain of chips! If the casino was offering a last longer I would have bet my Raider season tickets he would go bust before I did. He is blowing off his chips in short order. What an amazing waste...
I raised to 900 utg with 75d. S4 and S6 both called and the pot was 3600. The flop came 9h8d3h. I led out and bet 2000, hoping to either take down the pot now or, if called, pick up either a diamond or the miracle 6 on the turn. That flop shouldn't be too great for my opponents. S4 folded pretty quickly but S6 called. The turn was the worst card in the deck - the Qh. If he had a straight draw he just hit. If he had a flush draw he just hit. If he had a gut shot draw with two over cards he just hit. Given the size of my chip stack I had to shut it down. I checked, he bet 4000 and I mucked fast.
I finished this level with 14,000 chips and 78 players remained.
250/500/50
Editor's note: And there he goes, into the abyss. My buddy in S2. He actually got his last chips in with the lead but his opponent had 17 outs and hit on the river. He'll go tell his buddies what a bad beat he took to get knocked out; I wonder if he'll tell them how he lit his other 70,000+ chips on fire!
On the very next hand, S8, who knocked him out, was first in the pot with a limp. I raised 1600 from the hijack with J7h. The button and blinds folded and he looked at me and said "Are you sure you want to mess with me? I'm running pretty hot!" Then he proceeded to muck his AJ face up. And he has six times as many chips as me right now...
And that's the only hand I got that level! Damn poker is tough!! I went off to dinner break with 13,200 chips.
After the dinner break we had a few more minutes to go at this level. I won a hand in the small blind vs the big blind, then on the very next hand S7 raised to 1300. All his other raises were three times the big blind; this one was smaller. Typically, this will mean that his hand is not as strong and he wants to save a couple hundred chips in case he doesn't win. Fortunately I was paying attention and I re-raised to 3100 from the button with 98. The blinds folded and he mucked his hand after very little thought. A much needed pot.
A KEY HAND
The next hand S7 limped utg. S9 put in a raise to 2600. I had 15,000 chips in front of me (25bb) and looked down to see 99. Let's take a look at my choices:
- FOLD. PROS: S9 is raising from early position so he should have a real hand and there are still five players to act behind me. My hand can easily be crushed by either or. CONS: It is the 6th best starting hand in poker and I only have 25bb. I need to get chips pretty soon and this might be a golden opportunity.
- CALL. PROS: I have position on S9 so I would get to act after him when the flop comes out. I can see what he does before proceeding.
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