Weekend Roundup
Monday, March 05, 2007
What a weekend! This weekend saw my attempt to win my 5th straight tournament at Salami fall woefully short, my return to binge drinking, and a delayed attempt to win an iPod. Let's get this crackalackin'!
Wifey Kim's birthday was last week, and the plan was to celebrate all weekend. On Friday, she had dinner plans with her friend M.E., and since I was left out of the festivities, I decided to hit up Salami again. I had moneyed in the last 4 tournaments I played there, and truthfully was not feeling up to it on Friday 100%. I received an email from a law school acquaintance about his home game, one that I had yet to attend. I said I could make it, and I was curious to see how their game played. It's a cash game (I don't even know the stakes, but I imagine $50-100 buy-in at most, and likely less), and once there are three players at the game, the game starts with Hold'em. Once they reach 5 players, though, it switches to dealer's choice games, limited to stud and draw variations only. Weird! I guess we have some serious Hold'em haters, but I'm game for whatever, and pride myself on my ability and willingness to play a variety of games.
Ultimately, and sadly, the game wasn't able to go, and I found out it would be the host (John), me and only one other guy. Well, Jordan don't play that, so I suggested that he and his friend join me to Salami.
When we arrived, the place was fairly busy and by game time there were two full tables, spreading to three by the time the re-register period was over. I was seated at a table with John and a bunch of players, half of whom I kinda know. It seems like everyone knows each others' names and games at Salami sometimes, and I am just an interloper. Truth be told, I'm also somewhat anti-social there, happy to arrive for the game, play and chat at the table and leave immediately after. I'll read a book or listen to a podcast while the players are mulling about, and while I have tried to make small talk to a few players, I always feel, well, odd-man-out. Of course, I do this to myself, but in the end, I'm just there to play poker and not join an Elks Lodge or something.
So, I am sitting at the table and I'm in my first BB when I am dealt Q3o. There are four limpers before me (including the SB) or so, and I just check. The flop is a beautiful 334, with two hearts. I check, since I'm in good position, and a player to my immediate left who I remember was somewhat loose from the past (yet by appearances one would presume he was tight) bet 200 into the 250 or so pot. I believe there was one caller in MP and I decided to simply call and wait for the turn to raise. I was wary of the flush draw, but I knew I could get away from it if it came and I sensed it out there. The turn was an offsuit 7, and I was in good shape, from what I could see. I was a bit worried about someone playing A3s, but if that happened, I would just accept the cooler of a hand. I check and the bettor bets 200 again, a weak move. The MP folds and when it gets to me, I consider and decide to raise to 600. Now, we start with 2000 in chips, so after the preflop call, the flop call and the turn, I've put 850, or almost half of my stack, into the pot. He pushes all-in, and I call. I fear the A3, but he shows 47, for two pair. The river is a 4. I lose. REBUY!
I knew I had to rebuy, mostly because I could do very well against such a loose table. My second bust of the night, though, was part tilt and part bad luck. I held K8s and decided to limp in LP. It was cheap and I was in position, but admittedly I should have folded and saved myself the horror that came next. I don't remember betting amounts, but the flop came down K-high (K24) with two spades, and after it checked around on this loose table, I bet out a decent amount in an attempt to win it right there. I got one caller in EP. The turn was an offsuit 5 and I thought I was good. He checked and I bet again. He pushed all-in and by this point in the hand, I was committed to calling. He flipped over and announced that he had a flush draw. I showed my top pair, glad that I had such a good read. Then I noticed his flush draw consisted of a suited A3. He actually had a made straight and he didn't even realize it. REBUY!
Now, this last one was really simple. Someone raised from MP, I re-raised, he pushed, I called. I had JJ. He had AK. It was as expected, but he hit it and I quit it. I had enough rebuying. Down $180, I went a short half-block to where wifey Kim was with M.E. having dinner. They were, by coincidence, right next door, leaving me to wonder who the unlucky charm was: wifey Kim, M.E., or my new Flash t-shirt (it ain't no Superman).
The next night, wifey Kim and I went out to a lounge called Mantra for drinks to celebrate her and her twin brother's birthday. A bunch of my buddies came along, including Roose, Randy Hole, Ilan the G-lan and others from their crew. After a long night drinking (for me, the drink of choice was red bull and stohli vanil), we headed across the street to go to David Ruff's girlfriend's birthday soiree. There, I got even more 72o'ed with wifey Kim, my older bro and his fiance, and a bunch of other friends. The night ended at the diner, followed by passing out at home. The next morning was torture, as you can guess.
Finally, on Sunday, I excitedly turned on the computer to participate on PokerOnAMac.com's Blogger iPod freeroll. Sadly, FT's server was down, so it was rescheduled to next Sunday, probably when I'll be either on my way home from AC, or in a poker-induced coma. Oh well.
That's all for today. Since my last post was sorta unclear, if you are going to be in AC this upcoming weekend for the WSOP Circuit event, you may want to keep an eye on I Had Outs. The ladies were kind enough to pick up some of my excessive slack (I am a slacker, after all), and will be hosting a happy hour somewhere at sometime that will likely last more than an hour.
Until next time, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 12:41 PM,
3 Comments:
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At 1:57 PM,
said...
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Even though you lost, it's a good feeling knowing that you got your opponents to commit all their chips in spots where you were ahead - the Q3o hand especially. All you can do is try to outplay your opponents. Can't control the cards once all the chips go in.
http://iloveplaypokr.blogspot.com -
At 2:14 PM,
Jordan said...
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Thats the exact right attitude. It stung a bit at the time, but the second hand stung worse, mostly because I would have never been in that situation if I was smart and patient.
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At 2:54 PM,
said...
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Yeah. That's a pricey re-buy so it depends on how many chances you are willing to take. Obviously it sucks to go broke in an unraised pot, and it's even worse when the shover doesn't know how to read the board even when he has you drawing dead.
http://iloveplaypokr.blogspot.com/
