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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Interesting Spots In Las Vegas

Since the world didn't end last week, I better get back to blogging.

I documented my entire Las Vegas trip through my Twitter account. But sometimes 140 characters just doesn't do a situation justice. So here's an extended version of some interesting spots.

- Stratosphere 7pm $65 12/07/12

74 runners for this one. We started with 9k chips. This tourney has a decent structure for a donkament, but any donkament with 74 players will become a shovefest long before the Final Table. I did a decent job of building a big stack before the Push-N-Pray started with a few tables left.

When we got down to the last two tables, I was at Table #3, so I was moved to a new table. I had 42500 in the 2k/4k level, which was a little over average.  The player on my right was a 50's gentleman whom we will call Larry, and is on the rather large size (over 350 lbs). He also had a near average stack somewhere around 35k.

Larry was mumbling to me and himself about the great poker that he's been playing. Evidently this happened right before I got to the table, but Larry was quite proud of how he skillfully folded AK from UTG. He said there was too many players to act after him, and it would have been reckless to raise with all those players to still act.

I found this to be hilarious, but I didn't say anything. First of all, it would be rude to ridicule him for being a Super-Nit. But mostly I didn't want to "tap on the tank". This was valuable information that he was proudly sharing with anyone who would listen, and I was planning on using this information later in the tournament.

Anyways, with the stacks this short, the players were busting out at a decent pace. Meanwhile, Larry was still mumbling about how great he was playing by folding AK. He also kept mentioning about wanting to do a chop, even with 15 players left. I was trying not to engage him in conversation, and focus on the other players who were actually playing. But I did mention that I thought that nine spots getting paid was perfectly fine. I had no intention of doing a Bubble Save, and wanted to start announcing it.

As we got closer to the Final Table, Larry was very actively folding his way to the money. He was also actively keeping an eye on the other table. Not only counting the players, but also keeping track of how many stacks were shorter than his. He would even get up to look at the table next to us when it was his turn to act. He blatantly stalled before folding every time, and it was starting to piss me off.

Eventually, we were down to 11 players in the 3k/6k level. Larry had let himself get blinded down to 15k. He had to shove All-In while saying, "I doubt I'll get a better hand than this." Meanwhile, someone else at the other table also shoved All-In. At my table, the BB was one of the big stacks, and quickly called with A9o. Larry had KJo (he waited all this time for KJo?). At the other table, the shortstack who shoved All-In had lost, and was eliminated in 11th. At my table, the Dealer dealt the board, and an Ace hit the Turn to eliminate Larry in 10th place, which was the Bubble.

Larry got up, and went over to his scooter to leave the poker room. He was bitching and whining about how bad his luck was, and this was the 3rd or 4th time in a row that he got so close without cashing. Naturally, I didn't feel sorry for him. My only thought was, "Karma's a bitch."

- South Point 6pm $110 12/09/12

This tournament runs on Wednesday & Sunday, and I'm playing in the Sunday one. We get 10k chips and 30 minute levels starting at 50/100. You can rebuy for $100 if you go broke during the first two hours. We started with four tables that weren't full.

In the first level, a 50's Lady limped from UTG+1. Mid raised to 300. I called from the Hyjack with 77. The BB 3-bet to 1000. The Lady called the extra 900. Mid also called, and so did I. Flop Th 9h 8c. BB bet 1000, and all of us call. Turn [Th 9h 8c] Js. BB bet 1k again, but Lady shoved for 7200. Mid player thought for a while before folding. While he was thinking, so was I. I know nothing about the Lady other than she knows all the Dealers. That's a very wet board, so she could have a very wide range, including Two Pairs, Sets, Combo Draws, or a Q or 7 for a Straight. Since I can beat most of that list, I called. BB folded his JJ for a Set. Lady showed Q2o for a bigger Straight.

This left me with 700 chips. I had no intention of rebuying, so I went into shortstack mode. I managed to shove a couple of times to punish the limpers, but didn't get the big double up.

Meanwhile, the Lady was playing almost every hand and hitting most of them, including hitting Trip-7 on the Turn with 73o. There was also a Kid with a shortstack who shoved from Mid, and was called by the Cutoff. The Lady went All-In from the BB with KK, and knocked out both players who had AT and KJ. I did a quick count of her chips, and she had over 45k in the 100/200 level, and we had only been playing for 35 minutes.

Shortly after that, I went All-In for 1550 with A9o. The was one caller, and the Lady also called from the Button. Flop was KJ9. The Lady bet the Flop, and the other player folded. She had... Yep, Q2s. I didn't improve, and I couldn't get out of that place fast enough.

#GameOfSkill

1 comment:

lightning36 said...

The "Larry" story was funny. Interesting how some guys are not smart enough to keep their yapper shut in a tournament.