A Minor Success
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Well, I played at Genoa last night. I placed 2nd in the tournament, after being the monster chip leader for most of the tourney. To my defense, when it got heads up I was only slightly ahead. My profit for the trouble was $150. I'll just come out and say it. I lost about $130 playing 1/2 NL after. Oh well oh well! Aside from one (major) questionable laydown, I can't rightly complain about my play. Let's take an in depth look at some of the hands of last night:
Smoke and Mirrors
This one is for the bloggers. I'm dealt 27h and I'm feeling frisky. The table was short-handed, 6-7 people, early in the tourney, where there were still 2 tables going (we started with 15). The blinds are 50/100 (I think). I bump it up to 400 pre-flop, because we have a couple of posted blinds (seats 8 & 9, which were posting and folding in case new players show up late). Let's be honest though. I was raising no matter what.
One of the owners was playing in the tourney. He was very aggressive but not particularly loose. He called. It was heads up. The flop is 224. I check. He checks.
The turn is a 8. I threw out 1000, the largest bet the table had so far, in an attempt to look like I was bluffing. My deceipt included throwing the bet while the turn card was still being dealt. For anyone paying attention (and he was), this would look like a rookie overbet bluff that was going to happen no matter what the next card was.
Like lambs to slaughter, the owner said, "ALL IN!" "I call. 27...the Suited Hammer." And that is how I took an early lead, taking his 2500 or so chips, one of the big stacks at our table (and a decent player).
Those Bitches
We were combined to one table. I was the chip leader. A foreign-looking dude I'll call Yuri was the chipleader from the other table and had a stack similar to my own. I decided I would not play any hands against him. The table had tightened up considerably. With 100/200 blinds and 25 antes, a pre-flop raise to 600 was usually enough to take it down. I'm in MP/LP with K5d when I bump it up to 700 on a lark. All fold to me.
The very next hand, I'm dealt black Queens. I decide to keep pushing forward, with a bet of 1000. Again, an overbet like this was unneccesary and unheard of at this table. There was already a limper or two before me. Most of the table folds, but Yuri calls.
The flop is 884. It's checked to me and I bet 2000, which, for the pot is not ridiculous, but (as with the 27 turn bet) was designed to look desperate and protective. Yuri took the bate and moved all-in. I called confidently and flipped my Queens. He showed pocket 7s! The turn was a Q, and the river was inconsequential. I was suddenly holding probably 60% of the chips at the table with 9 players left.
So, um, a girl went on a tear, taking out several players. It got to her and I heads up and I was ahead 16,000 to 15,000 or so (remember we were blinding off people who never showed, so there was more than 30K in chips). We played back and forth, and I essentially lost it all on two hands, which had a lot of time between them. Overall, we played heads-up for at least 30 minutes, but probably more like 45 to an hour. I was all-in pre-flop with A5 v. A6 and lost when I had a decent lead, leaving me with probably 5K left. Later, I "slowplayed" A9s preflop, limping. She pushed with A8h, and hit her flush on the flop.
Later, I'll discuss my 1/2 NL major hands. Preview: See Jordan make a great laydown and a questionable one!
posted by Jordan @ 10:47 AM,
4 Comments:
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At 9:38 PM,
said...
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Hey, Joe here, I'm new to the poker blogging and am just trying to get some ideas from all of you professionals out there. I really like the graphics on your site, well done.
In regards to your post, I like your thought process with throwing out that 1000 chip bet. What did the owner guy actually have? Overpair?
Anyway, nice work on the blog. If you get a chance, come check out my feeble attempt at a poker blog @ http://checkitdown.blogspot.com.
Good luck at the tables.
-Joe -
At 1:25 AM,
said...
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Nice hammer hand. Booya!
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At 2:58 AM,
said...
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Very nice but I have to say, I'm very interested in reading the cash game post.
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At 6:09 PM,
said...
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I just wanted to quickly answer Joe's question. The owner had 2 overcards, A and T, if I'm not mistaken. I love setting them up and taking them down. I'll take a look at your blog soon. Good luck.
DP, I'll write up the 2 notable cash-game hands soon. Stay tuned.
