Me & Mrs B

"Shuffle Up & Deal" 10000 - I got home from work on Saturday, and expected to spend a quiet night catching up on Netflix. Instead, I find out that one of our Home game hosts (Julie) just scheduled a tournament that starts in about an hour. So I quickly scarf down some dinner, and head over to her place.

We started out with 12 players. I am seated at Table 2. I like my seat draw, since four of the six players are women. The only other guy is Adam, and he's on my direct Right. Host Julie is on my Left.

End of Level 1 (25/50) 9850 - So far, the play has been normal for the first level. I called two preflop raises, but airballed the Flops. Towards the end of the Level, I limped with AT, hit Top Pair on Flop, and won it on the Turn.

Level 2 (50/100) 9900 - Currently, we have 13 runners for the tournament. I raised to 250 with KQo. Won it on a Q-high Flop. With the small field tonight, I'm trying to play patiently until we get to the Final Table, then I can work my magic.

Level 3 (75/150) 10775 - The 14th player (Morgan) just walked in, and is at our table. I limped on the Button with 92s. Four players see a Flop of Kh 3c 3s. It checks to me, and I make a stab of 225. Only the BB calls.

She is a new player named Mrs B, and this is the first time I've played with her. She an older lady who is a very "recreational" player. So far, she's been playing a lot of pots. If she raises preflop, it's always a min-raise. She will call with a very wide range post-flop, but she will check Top Pair on the Flop.

Turn [Kh 3c 3s] 8s. She checks. She seemed rather reluctant to call the 225, so I fire again for 525 with my Flush Draw. She quickly folds.

Level 4 (100/200) 12025 - I limped in SB with Ah 2d. Four players saw the Flop of 7s 5c 3c, and all checked. Turn [7s 5c 3c] 5s. Since nobody showed much interest on the Flop, I lead out for 325. The BB (Julie) and the Button (Adam) called. River [7s 5c 3c 5s] Qh. Everybody checked, and my A-high was good.

Level 5 (125/250) 12950 - We are now up to 16 runners, but only 14 are left. I raised with KJ on the Button. I won the pot by hitting the K on the River.

BREAK TIME.

Level 6 (150/300) 11475 - I limped on the Button with T8c. Five players see the Flop of Kc Ks Qc. It checks around to me, and I bet 625 with my Flush Draw. Only the BB (Mrs B) calls. I hit my Flush on the Turn, and we both check. On the River, she bets 1000. This surprised me. She either got a K or a Full House. I decide to do a Min raise to 2000. If she goes All-In, then I will make the easy fold. But she just calls with a K.

Later, I limped on the Button with 64o. Three players see the Flop of Q 6 4. A Mid player (Morgan) bets 1000. Since I know that he likes to bet, I just call. Turn [Q 6 4] J. He bets 2000. I grab my stack of 500 chips, and push it forward. Unfortunately, it's only 8 chips, or 4000, so he calls the min-raise. River [Q 6 4 J] J. He checks. I turn my hand over in disgust at getting counterfeited. He wins the pot with QTs. I'm not sure he would have called if I made a "real" raise on the Turn.

Level 7 (200/400) 12575 - Blind vs Blind against Adam, who is the SB. We both limp. Flop J 8 3. He bets 500, and I call. Turn [J 8 3] 2. He checks. I bet 700, and he calls. River [J 8 3 2] 5. He checks, and I bet 1000. He says that his Pair is no good, and folds. I show 97o for a missed Gutshot. Gotta love the Value Bluff.

Level 8 (250/500) 18050 - I start bleeding chips. Not from any big pots. But calling a min-raise preflop, or getting check-raised after stabbing at a pot is starting to add up now that the Blinds are getting up there.

Morgan's been raising a lot against my Blinds, and I need to slow him down. After he raised in Mid position, I pushed back on the Button with A6. He snap called with TT. This was a mistake by me because he had less chips then I realized. However, my mistake was rewarded with an A on the Flop.

That sent Morgan home, and us to the Final Table shortly before the Level ended. I've got a slightly above average stack at this point. On my direct Right is Meat, and my direct Left is Mrs B.

Level 9 (300/600) 21550 - UTG+1 (Adam) make it 1700 to go. Two players call. I'm on the Button. I look down at AJo, and decided to squeeze it up to 7000. All fold.

Next hand, it folds to me in the Cutoff. I raise to 1600 with 65o. Only the BB (K-Tina) calls. Flop Tc 3h 2c. She leads out for 2200, and has about 4k behind. I decide not to gamble with my Gutshot, and fold.

Level 10 (400/800) 9700 - Mid (Jack) limps. CO (Linda) raises 2200. SB (Meat) calls. I'm the BB, and I look down at Ad Qh. I really can't call here, so it's a Push or Fold situation. I look over at Linda, and she's checking out her chip stack like she's counting it. I think she wants to get her chips in the middle, so I fold. Flop Qc Tc 8c. They both get the chips All-In. Linda has Ac Kh for the Nut Flush draw, but she's drawing dead. Meat called with J9c for a Straight Flush, and Linda is left with about 2k in chips. If I had shoved, I would hit my 3-outer against her. So I made the right move at the wrong time.

Since she's so short-stacked, she starts going All-In every chance she gets. I call the 2nd one for 4500 with 76c. She has 55, and wins the Race. This was a mistake by me. The Blinds are to high to start gambling at the Final Table.

Later, I raise to 2100 on the Hyjack with JTo. CO (Mrs B) and BB (Jack) call. Flop Ac 9c 7h. I make a C-Bet of 4100. Mrs B calls. The Flush came on the Turn, and we both check. I hit my J on the River, but I just check. She has A5d and wins the pot. Making that C-Bet was a mistake against someone who doesn't like to fold, especially when they will call my preflop raise with any A.

BREAK TIME. We've got 8 players left.

Level 11 (500/1000) 11200 - UTG (Mrs B) min-raised to 2000. Mid (K-Tina) calls. SB (Meat) folds. I'm the BB, and call with 85d. I flop a Flush draw, and quickly ship it All-In for 7700. Everyone folds.

Later, I raised to 2500 with QTh in Mid, and get two callers. The Flop came out K-high. I checked and folded.

Level 12 (600/1200) 28900 - I doubled up with KK.

Later, Mid (Jack) raises to 3600. The next player (McLovin') goes All-In for 5900. It folds around to me in the SB. I've got AQo, and ship it for 18400 total (12300 more). Jack goes deep in to the tank. He counts his stack, which is around 42k. After almost two minutes, he folds AK face up. I turn my hand over, and McLovin' shows 55. The Flop comes KQX, and I win the pot. We are now 6 handed.

Level 13 (700/1500) 57500 - Five players left, which is the Bubble. It folds to the Button (Meat), who raises to 4500. I'm the SB, and look down at KK. I see no reason to get cute here, so I raise to 12000. Meat quickly goes All-In with AK, and I call. The last remaining K hits the Flop, which seals the deal. We count down our stacks, and he's got about 4k left. He hangs around for a bit, but eventually is the Bubble Boy.

Level 14 (1k/2k) 75k-85k ish - Still four handed. Jack is the Button, and limps again. SB (Linda) calls. I'm the BB with ATo, and check. Flop is T 8 6. SB checks. I check my Top Top, because I'm sure that Jack will fire at it. He does for 5k. SB folds. I check-raise to 15k. Jack quickly goes All-In. Crap, I hope he didn't hit a monster. I ask how much, and he's got 19k more. I gotta make the call, and say I've got AT. He gets the "Are you serious?" look on his face, and turns over KT. He misses his 3-outer, and is out in 4th place. I've now got the dominant stack at the table.

Level 15 (1200/2500) 85500 - Been three handed the whole level. I started off as the dominant stack, with well over 100k. I'm trying to play small pots, and not give away any Courtesy Double-Ups. But at any Final Table, sometimes you just gotta call. I double up both of them with Coin Flips, like 88 vs Linda's AK.  This evens things up a bit, but I'm still chips leader.

Since we're three handed, most of the pots are Heads-Up. I'm playing pots against Mrs B very differently then the pots I play against Linda. As I've said before, Mrs B is a recreational player, and is not a fan of folding. Linda is an experienced grinder, and has no problem folding.

Level 16 (1500/3000) 160k - I raise on the Button to 8000 with A4o. Mrs B (SB) goes All-In. Linda folds her BB. It looks like she's got around 15-18k, so I call. She has KJ, and hit her card. After counting her chips, she actually had 27k more, and she is now the chip leader. If I knew she had that many, I wouldn't have called with just a baby Ace. Another mistake by me.

Shortly after, Mrs B min-raises to 6k on the Button. Linda calls in the SB. I look at A9 in the BB. A9 is a rather good hand with just three players left. I consider shipping it All-In, but there is no Fold Equity because Mrs B doesn't like to fold. I am the best player at this table, so why get into a Coin Flip if I don't have to? I just call the extra 3k. All three of us end up checking it down. Mrs B win the pot with AT-high. I pat myself on the back for being disciplined.

Shortly after, Linda goes All-In from the SB. I look down at AK, and call. She's got 66. I win the Race, and Linda finishes in 3rd. This give me back the chip lead, but only by 2k over Mrs B.

Linda decides to stick around, and shuffle the cards while Julie deals Heads-Up. The hands were coming faster then we could post our blinds. I'm playing Super Small Ball against Mrs B, with an occasional preflop raise or a stab at a pot. I'm just waiting to hit something big, and end this tourney. Finally, in the last hand of the level. I flop Bottom Pair, turn Bottom Two Pair, and river a Boat. Mrs B calls the All-In, and the tourney is over.

This was my first Home tourney win of the year. Being that we are halfway through this year, it's a little pathetic.