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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Honoring Washington, Lincoln, and Jackson

(Before you start reading this, let the dog outside, take a quick visit to the bathroom, and grab a snack along with a cool, refreshing beverage. This is loooong post.)

3:10 - I walk into the Eldorado Poker Room on Monday afternoon. (It's President's Day, and I have the day off.) There is one table of $1/$2 and a list with five names on it. I become player #6, and the Floorman says they will be calling a new table soon.

3:50 - I'm tired of waiting, and I've wasted $100 in a Video Poker machine. I go up to the desk to tell him that I'm leaving, but he says that he's calling the List right now to start the 2nd table. I decide to stick around, but I know the game won't start. I've been here for 40 minutes, and there are plenty of names that were here long before I got here. The List is stale, and many of those players have left the casino. It happens regularly at the Eldorado.

Naturally, I was right. Only four players showed up, and one of them was a Dealer in this room. While we're waiting to see if a fifth player might show up, a seat opens up at the first table. The Dealer takes the open seat, and our 2nd table is officially dead. This seemed very odd to me, so I asked the Floorman the obvious question, "Why does a Dealer get an open seat over a Customer?"

"Because he was the first name on the List," said the Floorman.

"So?", I said. "He's an employee who's in uniform. It looks really bad that you would rather give an open seat to an employee rather than a paying customer."

The Floorman didn't say anything, and walked away.

Typical.

4:00 - I walked out of the room, and headed to some other Downtown rooms to see if I could find a game that actually wanted a customer. I went to Silver Legacy, but they had no games.  Next was Sands Regency, but they only had one table with all White chips on it. I then headed to Harrah's, figuring they would have a $1/$2 table running. I was right.

4:25 $220 - I'm the 8th player at the table, and I have the table covered with my buy-in. I think the next biggest stack is around $150 with half of the table under $100. I expect there to be a lot of limping, checking, and min-raises in my future.

5:00 $125 - Well, I was right about this table. Everyone is super passive, and not betting their hands. I really haven't had much to play with. My first pot was me betting $7 from the Button with Bottom Pair (3) on the Flop. Only the SB called. I bet $15 on the Turn, and $20 on the River. He called both times with 2nd Pair on the Flop (5). (Right Click - Notes - "Calling Station") Other hands involved me stabbing at pots against various players who kept hitting Two Pair or Better, including the Calling Station.

We are now five handed, and I don't see this game lasting much longer.

5:30 $122 - I finally won a decent pot. I had 96o in the SB of a limp pot. I flopped Top Pair (6), bet $5, and got two callers. The Turn gave me Two Pair. I bet $10, and they both called. The River was a 6. I bet $15, and they both reluctantly called.

We lost more players, and are down to three. The Floor grabs some Shill money, and sits in the game to try to keep it alive. He only posted the single $1 Blind, and never played a hand. Once, he accidentally flipped his hand over, A9d. He would have flopped a Pair + Nut Flush Draw. (At Harrah's, when the table gets shorthanded, they only post a $1 Big Blind. It's still $2 to enter the pot.)

The three of us are playing small pots, but the Calling Station is the only one who seems to be catching cards. I finally started to not believe him, and called a $20 River Bet from him when I just had Top Pair (K - K9o). He had hit the Nut Straight on the Turn.

Shortly after that hand, the third player at the table goes busto to the Calling Station, and our game breaks. I've been wanting to play more at Harrah's so I can build up some Points for my Las Vegas trip in June. So I decide to grab a quick bite to eat, and play in the 6pm tournament.

"Shuffle Up & Deal" 6000 - Tonight's tournament is a $65 Bounty tournament ($10 Bounty) with 15 minute levels. We are starting with 10 players, but 11 stacks crammed at the table. I hate when a Poker Room does this, and it's common in Reno. The Rooms would rather squeeze 11 or more players at one table, instead of starting with two short handed tables. They keep the other Dealer at an empty Cash table that has no prayer of starting up until some of the tourney players bust out.

And speaking of "hating", I really don't like small bounty tournaments. Bounty tourneys are great with a larger field because players can win money without cashing. They are really popular in the Home Games that I used to run, where we had 35 or more players. But in these small, one-table tourneys, most of the Bounties go to the players who end up cashing. I would have to knock out seven players to get my buy-in back. If I knock out seven players, I will win the tourney. So why bother doing it?

End of Level 1 (25/50) 5850 - We now have 11 players. There are a few No0bs here, and the play has been, well... interesting. There were three separate preflop raises to 1000, and one to 500. All of them were called.

Since this is a one-table tournament, I'm going with the standard Sit-N-Go strategy of "Tight Early, Aggro Later". This means I haven't played a hand yet.

Level 2 (50/100) 5850 - The play at this table is still on the "Huh?" side. The preflop raises have calmed down to the 500 range. There was two All-Ins preflop; one for 2300 and another for 4400. Neither was called.

It's been easy for me to stay patient with the steady flow of Baby Face cards that I've been getting dealt. The only hand that I played was me getting a Walk in the BB, which is why I didn't lose any chips this level.

Level 3 (100/200) 5500 - We still have 11 players, which is odd for a Bounty tournament. My cards have improved to Baby Aces, which is still not playable at an 11-handed table. The only playable hand I saw was 88, but I was UTG, so it was an easy fold.

Level 4 (200/400) 16400 - First hand of the Level, I raise to 1000 in the Hyjack with AKo. Only the SB called. The Flop was AJ5. He checked, and I decided to try to trap him by checking. Turn [AJ5] A. He checked. I bet 1500, and he called. River [AJ5 A] 7. I go All-In for 3000. He quickly called with QJd. Sometimes, poker is easy.

Later, I limp UTG+1 with AKo, hoping that a shortstack will raise. Two other players limp in. The BB goes All-In for 800, a min-raise. I back-raise All-In, and the limpers fold. BB has 43c, and missed everything for Bounty #1.

Last hand of the level, an active No0b limps in Mid. I'm the SB with AKo (yes, three times in 15 minutes). I decide to limp, and three players see a Flop of Qd Jd Jc. The BB and I check. No0b bet 400, and I'm the only caller. The Turn was [Qd Jd Jc] 5s. I check, and he did as well. The River was [Qd Jd Jc 5c] Ts. Bingo! I bet 1500 with my Broadway. No0b raised to 3000. Now I know he has a J, but I don't know if he has a Full House. I just call, and he proudly shows J6h for Trips. Sometimes, poker is easy.

BREAK - We are down to 7 handed. I'm one of two Chip Leaders. The other one is on my Left+1.

Level 5 (400/800) 19200 - The only hand I played was me squeezing with AJo from the SB. I thought one of the Shortstacks would call, but they didn't. 

I'm now the comfortable Chip Leader. The other Big Stack made some rather loose calls, and wasted half of his stack.

Level 6 (500/1000) 20000 - We are down to 6 handed. The only hand I played was raising to 2500 with Ks Qh, and both Blinds called. Flop was Ad 9d 4d. They both checked, so I bet enough to put either of them All-In. Fortunately, they quickly folded. I decided to show the bluff.

Level 7 (1000/2000) 33000 - It folded to the Button, who min-raised to 4k and he has 4k behind. The SB went All-In for 6k. I'm the BB, and look at 85o. Doing the Math, I need to call 6k to win 16k plus two Bounties. I decide to gamble by going All-In and the Button calls with 22. The SB has A4o. There's an 8 on the Flop, and I collect Bounty #2 and Bounty #3. The next hand. the J6 No0b went All-In for 6k. I'm in the SB, look down at KK, and say "Hello!" to Bounty #4. We're down to 3-handed.

Level 8 (2000/4000) 18000 - 3-handed play goes on for a while with no big hands. I'm trying to stay patient, but I'm slowly bleeding chips with the Blinds this high. Through these small pots, I loose the chip lead to a young lady who's a No0b. She finally gets into a Coin Flip with the other player who's the former Big Stack. She has 99, and he has AQ. An Ace hit the Flop, but a 9 on the River pops the Bubble, and she gets her first Bounty.

Before the Dealer pushed the Pot to her, she asked, "Do you want to split the money?" I'm trying to cut down on the number of chops that I do in these tournaments. But she has a chip lead of more than 2-1. If the Blinds were lower, I would rather play it out since she's a No0b. I've got under 5 Big Blinds, so one little mistake would mean I get 2nd. A even-money chop is just too good of equity to say 'No'. We chop the $440 prize pool, and we each get our own Bounty, #5 for me.

I know that I just said that I don't like small Bounty tournament, but I think this proves my point. The two of us got 7 out of 11 Bounties. If we add the Bounties back into the prizepool, it would be $550, or $275 each. With my five $10 Bounties, I left the table with $270.

8:20 $220 - If you play in the Cash game for one hour after the tournament, Harrah's will give you $10 and a coupon for 1000 chips in a future tournament. So I sit down as Player #6, and once again, I have to table covered. The next largest stack is around $130. The J6 No0b is on the other end of the table, and has around $60. I'm only planning on being here until 10pm, so hopefully this quickie session will go better than the afternoon quickie session.

9:00 $316 - We're down to five players, as the No0b busted. He was still very active, but I didn't get any of his money.

The pots have been small as expected, but things are going much better for me. Two noteworthy hands. First was a $70 stack raised to $12 from the Hyjack. The SB called. I'm the BB with 55. I make the reluctant call, even though neither player has many chips for me to win if I hit my Set. Flop was Q-high with a Flush Draw. The SB and I check. The Hyjack bet $10, and the SB folds. As I've mentioned various times before, that bet means Weak. I decide to check-raise to $25. He thinks for almost a minute before folding.

Second hand was me having 76o in the SB on a Board of 998 T. I lead out on Turn for $5. Two players called, and the Button raised to $10. Having the bad end of the Straight, and being out of position, I just call. The other two players also call. River [998 T] K. We check, and the Button bets $15. I call, and so does another player. Button shows A9 for Trips, and the other player shows KJ. Ship it!

9:30 $201 - Things went sour for me. I ended up paying off two shortstacks who had AA and KK in different hands. We are now a full 10-handed table. I'm getting tired, so hopefully my last two orbits will be profitable.

10:10 $276 - My cards were relative quiet, but the action was good at the table. I got all my money in one hand. There were a few limpers, and I raise to $7 from the Hyjack with KJo. The Button called. The SB raised to $11, but the Dealer said he had to make it $12. Most of the limpers call. I 4-Bet to $60, to either win the pot, or get heads-up. Everyone folded, except the SB who called and a Shortstack who called for his last $35. The Flop is J-high, and the SB checked. I ship it All-In for $143, and the SB folds rather quickly. I show my hand, much to the surprise of the table. The Shortstack has 77, but misses his 2-outer.

I also played another hand that I could have won with a $40 Hero Call on the River against a traveling player who just arrived in town for the various tournament series that are starting this week. But I wimped out because my Hero Call Winning Percentage (or HCW% for you internet geeks) sucks lately. I know that I don't have win even half of my Hero Calls for it to be profitable, but I'm way below that over the last few months.

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