Midnight Tournament @ Bay 101

Just got back from the bay 101 midnight tournament. I had so much fun because from beginning to end was straight up poker with the exception of mid-levels where short stacks had no choice but to push all-in preflop. I think I busted out around 6 players. Kept to my small-ball strategy, but added a bit of semi-bluff aggressiveness as well. Not to mention my reads on people were awesome.

Here are the highlights: Stacks start out with 10k. Blinds at 100-100.

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Early Levels:

I played 3 hands on the first level that chip me up nice.

On the very first hand, someone min raised and I called with J 9 suited.
4 people to the flop. (800 chips)
Flop came out: 10 Q 3. This gives me a gut shot.
Check. Someone bets 300. I call. (1700 in pot)
Turn is a 9. Check. Check. I bet out 800. Fold and original raiser calls. (3300 in pot)
River card is a 8. I got my straight and guy bets out 1200. I raise 2400 and he calls with AQ. (8100).

I'm chip leader!

The very next hand. Same guy re-raises to 400. Someone calls and I call with Q 9. (1200).
Flop comes out: 9 A 2. Guy bets out 600, player folds and I call for some reason.
Turn is a 9. Guy pushes all in and I instantly call. He shows AK and river was no help.

I'm massive chip leader!

Few hands later, I get dealt AJ of clubs. Bet out 300. 2 callers.
Flop: 7 9 3. Check all around.
Turn: J. Someone bets out 400. Guy behind calls. I re-raise to 1200.
Guy folds and player behind calls.
River: A. He checks and I bet out 2200. He calls. I win.

I'm ultimate chip leader!

The hand that put me at over the top was when 5 players called a 4000 raise. I call with pocket 6's because of pot odds. I flop a set and bet out 8000. Guy behind goes all in with top pair and I call to win.

I'm super chip leader! About 80k in chips.

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Funniest poker hand:

Blinds 600-800
Two short stacks push in with AQ, AJ and I have A4 in the big blind and had to call 4k more. Flop comes out with a 4 and that's the end of that. I become a hero.

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Late Mid-level:

Lost some big pots with missed boards. Staying with my small ball strategy, avoided race situations and folded AK, 44, 22 and KQ to all-in pre-flop bets. They all turn out to be good folds.

Soon, many others at my table bust out and chip up to nearly my stack. Two new shorter stacked players enter and one goes all in and other calls. I look down at pocket queens and call.

AQ (20k) & J5 (6k) show. River gives AQ player a flush and I take a big hit.

I'm down to 40k in chips and become short-stack at 400-600 blinds. Average stack at my table: 70k-100k in chips.

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Final table:

Couldn't climb back up after the hit, but still made it to the final table with only 25k in chips. With blinds at 2000-4000. I was running low and blinds were approaching. Pushed all in with pocket queens and big blind calls with 27 suited. Wtf right? Flop gives him a flush draw. Turn pairs his deuce and river misses him. I double up despite all his outs.

I'm big blind and push with AQ suited. Little blind calls with J 9 and loses. I have 60k in chips, which was still short stacked. From here on out, most of it was all-in pre-flops and the only raisers were the chip leaders.

Down to the last 7 players, I bust out with KJ to someone's AQ.

I'm 7th place out of 58 players who enter. Bubble prize was my buy-in back.

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All in all, this tournament was super fun, despite the fact that it ended at 5am for me and I went to work at 9am. My table had to be some of the top players of the tournament and toughest, because 4 of us ended up at the final table together. This proved to me that I can play.

My first two tourneys I played at bay 101. I was super-tight and played predictable. Never really tried to outplay and always stayed low stacked or average. This time I came in saying to myself "I want to be deep in chips early or leave early".

I love how I played tonight and no longer have doubts about small-ball strategy. If I hadn't gotten unlucky with pocket queens, I might have taken it down. I played most of my connectors, but also folded a lot of them thinking they were more valuable later in the tournament. Yet, I found it harder to call connectors mid-level, because I didn't want to commit myself. So, note to myself.

WSOP, watch out.

Sit & Go

(Any two cards will do for me...haha!)

Played a bunch of online sit & go tourneys with the style of being the ultimate aggressor while keeping true to smallball strategy. Minimum raises and check-raise, re-raises and firing bullet after bullet when bluffing. Making pot size bets when hitting the nuts and hoping to be paid off due to bluffs set up earlier. Usually I do get paid off, cause of the caught bluffs on pots that didn't matter.

I played 2 HORSE sit & go and alway end up busting out in stud. I keep getting unlucky when another player makes his better hand on the river. I placed in 3rd and 4th on the 9 player tables.

Believe it or not, I dominate in Razz. I guess its cause people don't really know how to play it. I saw a guy calling all the way with KQJA on his face up cards, and to be even more curious, he bet out on the river and the other guy folded!!! wth?

I so need to convince the guys to get a HORSE tournament going on. :-)

Then I played 3 no limit hold em' tourneys. Each one, I knocked out all the players and get to be the chip leader for the longest time, but then got busted out in 3rd twice!

Just finished one earlier and finally got 1st after with no doubt, knocking out 7 of the 9 players. I almost got busted out early on when I raised someone with top pair and he went all in with ACES. I hit a set and bad beat him off the table. Whew~!

I am feeling so ready to hit the tournament scene. I just hope I can keep the nerves to play this aggressive in live tournaments like I do online.

Playing against drunks

I have to say, playing against drunks is very fun. They will limp in  a lot, they raise with nothing, bluff all their money with nothing and they will call a lot of all-in pre-flops. Yet, I get a little scared because drunks also tend to get lucky most often.

Two frustrating hands:

I went all in with AJ and got called with 68. He caught two pair and I'm playing ace high.

I went all in again with AQ suited and got called by 5 6. the flop comes out two sixes.

So my advice is to have patients and take the beats, because eventually you want these type of players at your table because it will help build your bankroll.

But be warned that you will win some and you will lose some.

My last entry was about the "tattoo table" and although the styles of play seem the same, its not because at this particular table, since they all know each other, I think in a way they also back up each other when one of them goes all-in or calls a all-in.

donks have the most luck on the table

I played in two online tournaments today and one I placed in last place just in the money and the other I placed 24 out of 130. John C. also was in that tournament and we played a table together for awhile. He had position on me and kept re-raising my bets. damn! He gain a quick chip lead and lost it in 15 minutes after I left his table. I have no idea how. Haha!

Ray also came over to borrow my Daniel N. poker book. Hopefully, he doesn't learn all my secrets. lol.

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Later Jose messaged me to go to Lucky Chances. We got there around midnight and I was seated at what I like to call the "tattoo table". This is my third time sitting with them. Let me explain what this table is: Its a bunch of guys with tattoos all over, they know each other and they just like to keep raising with garage hands and pushing their cash into the pot with the worst hand. Basically, the table is about luck games. I hate this table!

I guess the people at LC think I will see this opportunity as easy money. Tonight, I thought so too, but I finally figured out that I really don't have any luck. I lose everytime I sit with them. This table was just stupid in general cause the non-tattoo people were playing the same way as me. Waiting for good hands and pushing it in. No real poker here.

I finally figured it out. These players control the table and the way the game is played. Everything is in their favor as they are the ones raising and calling. They are involved in all action and force you into decisions you don't like, therefore putting them on a hand or reading them is out of the question. My advice if you want to play these tables is patience and play your cards.

So my note for myself tonight: DON'T play at the tattoo table ever again! I always come into the table with too much ego and play their version of "poker". Playing with luck rather than skill. Sigh, didn't I learn this from last session? Next time they put me here, I will stand up right away and yell "TABLE CHANGE!"

Well, I'm down another $100. Not looking good for my poker bankroll if this keeps up.
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Funny note: After I saw down at the table, Jose came up to me, later Clay came up to me and then Jed came up to me all to say hi. The guy next to me goes, "Damn! do you know everyone here?" It was scary to answer "yes, I think I do."

Calling to gamble

Tonight was very frustrating, because I would fold on the flop with a gut-shot, only to always hit it on the turn. What's worst is that those pots are always huge. Urg! Honestly, what do I expect to hit when I play 6 7 suited? I guess last session really made me hate chasing draws, when in fact I realize this is my strongest plays. When I tend to alway represent straights, when the board looks to have it. Negreanu calls these cards "bluff outs". It just seems some days I'll hit it, and other days I'll miss it completely.

All my positional bluffs worked tonight. I would call a bet on the flop with nothing, yet "knowing" they are just building the pot for their straight draws or flush draws and when I think they missed it, I would bet out on the river. Easy money.

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I think this decision is going to haunt me for awhile. A player goes all in for his last 9 dollars.

Player B calls. Player C re-raises to $29. I look down to see pocket jacks and call the raise.
Player B re-raises all-in for $160. Player C insta-calls. Thinking they are holding aces and kings, I decide to call hoping to get lucky even though I know I'm behind.

Both flip their cards and its exactly as I thought Aces over Kings. The aces hold up and he wins the big pot. I make such amazing reads these days, but still make stupid decisions of playing luck games. I guess I still can't resist the temptation of making easy money by putting it all in and see who hits.

I hope I learn from this that I should just fold when that little voice tells me I'm behind, because what's the point of playing skillfully and winning a lot of small pots, only to lose it at the end because I wanted to play the luck game.

Just one of those days...

Urge to randomly go to LC tonight after work and there was tons of parking, so I thought it was going to be my lucky day.

There was so much on cash on the tables tonight....yet, my highlights were:

-I will keep flopping up and down straight draws or flush draws on every flop, but never hit.
-Having pocket queens, only to be out-flopped by another person holding ace-jack.
-Hitting top pair and not being paid off.
-Having two pair counter-fitted.

oh well...its just one of those days when the cards just don't want you in the game.

Even fishes get cards

I'm down $160 tonight.

I had a bunch of loose players at my table who would not play real poker and would just all-in most of the time on the flop with $200 dollars or put large overbets. (some guy bet $60 dollars into a 8 dollar pot...and was called. wtf?)

I figured I would play a lot of connectors and try to bust them out. Example was when I put a live 8 and was called by all the players. I checked and flop came out: 7 K 9. giving me a up and down straight draw. First to act, I bet out $12 dollars and get called by three players.

The turn: Q. I bet out $25. get called by two players.

River brings out the jack. Gives me the straight, but I worried someone might have been playing a A10. So I bet out $25 and first player folds and second player calls after what seem like forever of thinking time. I win.

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After awhile people got really loose with their money and there were at least 3 pots with 5 players all-in pre-flop! Let's just say 2/3 pots went to players who had no business in the hand and just called to gamble.

I think I might have had a big ego problem on this table and playing a little on tilt after losing a big pot when I had pocket 10's and went all-in pre-flop for $100 only to be called by two players who had Q 4 and K 9. Fish got a Q on the river. I win side-pot, but it puts me now at $60 dollars.

I out-played the fish on tons of hands, but he finally got it all when I hit top pair and bet the whole way. He calls the whole way up to river when he goes all in. I saw that his face looked excited and I figure he had a good hand, but I didn't want to believe it and called. He shows me tripe 8's for a full house and I leave the table.

The player next to me who I played before and knew my style was thinking the same thing that even fishes get cards.

next time.