Lost Weekend? (Part 1)

This weekend is my first weekend off as a regular mail carrier. This means that I punched out at 4:30 on Thursday afternoon, and I won't punch in until Monday morning. What will I do with all that free time?

This will be sort of a Running Log of my weekend, and will be published in a couple of parts. I will be playing numerous daily donkament, along with a few cash sessions, both NLHE and O-8.

Thurs 18:30 ~ Peppermill $65 Bounty - 17 players
Got off a great start by hitting a couple of hands, and pulling off a nice bluff with 87o. I started with 9k chips, and had over 20k by the start of Level 5 (300/600/75). During that level, I picked up my first $10 Bounty with 33. A shortstack called my preflop raise, and shoved his few remaining chips on the Flop. I was gonna call his shove preflop, so I called now. He had QTc, and the Flop was Jc 9h 2c, which meant he was the favorite with his monster draw. The Turn was [Jc 9h 2c] 9d, giving him more outs. But the 3 on the River gave me my first bounty.

After that level was the Break, and there were 15 players left. I had 28900 chips, and was the clear chip leader of the tourney.

One guy at my table came back late from the ten minute break, but he had a good reason. He won $4k by hitting a Royal Flush on a video poker machine, and was filling out the paperwork.

The next level was (500/1000/100). I went into lockdown mode, as I have plenty of chips for the Final Table. One of the only hands I played was towards the end is the level. I raised to 2600 in Mid with JJ. Button called, and BB went All-In for 100 more. We both called, Flop was 985. I checked with an intent to check-raise. Button was kind enough to bet 2000, and called my shove. He had 98d for Two Pair, and the BB had 66. I missed my outs, but the BB hit her Set for the Main Pot. This was Example #37 that there is no good way to play Jacks. This hand cost me about 9k chips, and I was down to 16400 by the end of the level.

First hand of the 700/1500/200 level, it folded to me on the Button, and I decided to just limp was 65c. I'm not sure why I did, but I was glad when the Flop was K65. BB bet 2000, and he's the 98d guy. I didn't see any reason to slowplay, so I raised to 4500. He shipped, and I called. He had K6o for a bigger Two Pair, and I missed my two outer. We counted down the stacks, and he had me covered by 1500 chips. I leave the table in 11th place. At least I got my $10 Bounty.

(-$55)

20:30 $4/$8 O8 - I sat in this game for one reason. The was a guy at the table whom I've played with before in NL cash games and tourneys, and he's a maniac. I have no clue if he knows how to play Omaha-8, but I want to be at his table. I bought in for $200, which is more than my normal $100, because the maniac had two racks of chips in front of him.

Unfortunately, he left the table after a few hands. I should have realized that he had his chips racked for a reason.

I'm still pissed off about the beats in the bounty tourney, so playing $4/$8 Omaha-8 while on tilt was probably not the best idea. Naturally, things didn't go well. My starting hands were terrible. I couldn't hit anything, except for the few times I folded and my draw got there. The most annoying hand was one that was checked around on the Flop. A player bet the Turn. I picked up the Nut Flush Draw, but there was also a Low Draw out there. I didn't have a Low Draw, so I decided to fold because the pot was too small to chase just half of it. After I folded, two other players called. The River was 8s, which hit my Flush, but also brought the Low. The three players checked. One player had the J-high Flush and scooped the pot because nobody had the Low.

After an hour of this, I realized that I'm not in the proper state of mind to sit here and bang my head against the wall. I gathered up my remaining $120, and headed home before I snapped.

(-$80)

Fri 06:00 ~ Peppermill $1/$2
I'm a morning person, and I can't sleep in on my off days. I woke at my usual time, and checked the Bravo Poker Live app to see if there was any games running at the Peppermill. They had one table of $1/$2 running, and I got the open seat. There were no monster stacks, as the largest was about $600.

Being an overnight table, I expected the table to be on the aggressive, big pot side, and they didn't disappoint. Peppermill has a NL straddle from anywhere on the table. About 80% of the hands were straddled, anywhere from $5 to $20. Fortunately, the two most active straddlers were on my direct Right, so I was able to stay out of their way. I kept my VPIP low, but my cards were terrible. My best starting hands were 77 and KQo, and the few hands I played airballed everything. I only won two hands in the first 90 minutes. My $300 buy-in was slowly bled under $100, so I added on my last $200.

Being an overnight game, we started losing players. The first two players to leave were the two most active straddlers, and others followed. By 8am, we were down to three players. We ended up playing three handed for about 20 minutes before the morning crew started to show up. I was able to start rebuilding during the three handed play, as the other two players were rather passive.

Once players started to show up, it took about an hour to get the table filled up. The play of the "new" table was exactly as you would expect for a morning table - loose and passive. Most players just wanted to limp in, and all of the table talk was about hitting bonus hands.

Things went much better for me at this "new" table, as I'm very used to playing in these games. I didn't win any big pots, but I did a good job of winning small pots by either hitting a couple of hands, betting draws, or jumping on pots that nobody wanted. For example, I had AJh in back to back Big Blinds. Both times I flopped a Flush Draw with Overcards, and won both pots without hitting anything, one on the Flop and the other on the Turn.

I left the table at 9:40 with $567, and went home to grab a meal before my next tournament.

(+$67)

11:00 - Atlantis $45 tournament ~ 31 players

They had three tables, and ended up with 31 players with re-entries. We started with 10k chips, and 20 min levels.

First hand, I'm the Button, and limped with A7o. The SB raised to 225, and I was one of the three callers. Flop J42. SB checked. Cutoff bet 200. That seemed weak to me, so I raised to 600. SB T&C, and so did Cutoff. Turn [J42] 3. They both checked. I bet 1500, hoping they go away. SB though for a while before finally folding what I assume was AK. While he was thinking, the Cutoff already had the 1500 in his hand, and then tossed it in the pot when it was his turn. River [J42 3] 5. He checked, I bet 2000, and he called with KJ.

Things went ok for a bit. My next big pot was a monster double up. It was a limped pot, and I flopped Two Pair against the SB who had flopped the Straight. I hit my Boat on the Turn, and we got the money in on the River.

At the break before Level 6 (500/1k/200), I had 35800 chips. There were 15 players left, and I was one of the chip leaders. It looked like I'm in great shape for a Final Table run, but I though the same thing last night.

I tried to get into lockdown mode, but did a lousy job of it. I ended up bluffing off over 15k for no good reason. The guy called me down with Second Pair.

I hung around for a while, winning a few and losing a few. In the 800/1600/400 level, I made my standard raise to 3600 with QQ from the Cutoff. The Button called, and the BB shipped All-In for around 12k. I quickly shipped All-In, and surprisingly so did the Button, who had me covered. The BB had AQo, but the Button had AA. Nicely played by the Button. This meant I was in deep trouble as I only had one out, and that Queen was the Window Card. I knock out BB, and that got us to the Final Table. I guess that makes up for last night.

We had a redraw for new seats. I had 65k, which looked like the chip leader. There were two other players who close behind in chips, but they were next to each other on the other end of the table.

Unfortunately, I was extremely card dead at the Final Table. I played very few hands, and won very few pots. The good news is that I didn't run into any bad luck, and I was able to maintain my stack. When we got to the next break (before 3k/6k/500), I had 69500 chips, and was in 2nd place out of the four remaining players. (Yes, four players got paid. We even made it through the Bubble without the term "Bubble Save" being mentioned.)

The Chip Leader was on the ones who was right behind me at the start of the Final Table. He was having a very good Final Table, and was knocking out people and winning big pots. He had well over 120k at this break.

In that next level, things started to go better for me, and my stack broke the 80k barrier. Later in that level, the chip leader limped on the Button. I was the SB, and raised to 18k with AQo. BB folded, but the chip leader went All-In. I snap-called, and he had KK. As everyone knows, KK vs any Ace is a coin flip (it's been proven over 75 billion hands on PokerStars). The Board was A75 A K, and I was knocked out in 4th place for $93.

(+$48)

Weekend Total (so far): -$20