Mooki3
Thursday, July 10, 2008
I moneyed in 3rd in the Mookie last night, good for $81 and a bunch of knockout bounties along the way. It was an interesting tournament, as my good bud from the 'real world' Dave Roose felt a hankerin' for some online poker, so after I got him outfitted with a couple of bucks, he joined the fray.
"tight!" he exclaimed via AIM. Tight was right. Roose, who is not used to playing against bloggers, was initially surprised by the style of play. Play poker just about anywhere, online or live, and you are bound to find your share of donks willing to pay the fare for the funnest (or most depressing) carnival ride on Earth. Play poker online with a bunch of bloggers, though, and unless the game is intentionally rabid, the play is decidedly more conservative. For what its worth, I consider the tight style to be vastly superior to the donk style of which I just spoke, so while some naysayers would poo poo bloggers as worse than the average player, I have to maintain my stance that bloggers, on a whole, are better players than the average bear.
I considiered a last-longer bet with Roose, but he got off to an early lead at his table, so I kept my mouth shut. Meanwhile, somewhere the gods were on vacation, because I became a freakin' card rack (that's right, gods, I know your stupid little plan. I shake my fist at thee. SHAKE!).
I saw more KKs and TTs then I could count, but unfortunately, Roose's characterization of this particular tourney was right, and most raises were met with folds. I was called a card rack evenso by NewinNov, accurate to a point, since I was getting my fair share of premium hands. Unfortunately, one such hand, a QQ, ran into AA. Un-unfortunately, after the money got all-in on the under-card flop, the turn was another Queen, saving me from my temporary turn of luck.
Before I continue, though, I should take a step back to discuss a fun hand. Fun for me, that is. I was sitting on about 3200 or so, from a starting stack of 3000. I held 33 and PirateLawyer, from EP/MP pushed all-in for 210 more than my SB (I don't recall the blinds, but I know the call was just 210 more). When it folded to me, I took a while. Obviously, 33 is not a monster hand, especially in this spot. I figured it was 50/50 that he had an overpair or two overcards. Logic will tell you that in the former situation, I was drawing extremely thin, whereas in the latter, I was only slightly ahead, close to a coin toss. Math will tell you that, assuming this range, my chance of winning the hand was probably only about 35% (against an overpair, I'm 20% to win; against overcards, I'm about 50% to win; average the two, and voila!).
But, I called. It was a knockout tourney, I had some momentum, and I could afford the tiny amount of chips. PirateLawyer showed 84c, missed the board and I won an extra $2. There were some words exchanged afterwards in frustration. Something about "Call with 3s!" I thought it was funny, overall. I was trying to donk some chips to the Pirate. I figured I was behind, but he was so low in chips that I didn't mind doubling him up. After semi-joking that I was trying donate, I finally just said, "It's not my fault you push with 84c." Ok, a bit cutting, but you get the point. Don't be mad at me for your play. If 84c doesn't push there, he doesn't get called by 33 or any other pocket pair or high Ace; after all, he was in EP/MP, with a lot of players left to act.
I had a nice hand at the final table, although I did not keep the hand history. It was against RecessRampage, a player who I know to be intelligent and plays well. I held 55 on the button when Recess raised pot or thereabouts from MP. I called, set farming. One other player called.
The flop came down 567. It checked to Recess, who bet out. I considered raising, but wanted to keep the EP caller in the hand. I also figured that Recess was not likely 'catch up' to my hand. If he had a high pair, he could hit a set, but it was a slim chance. If he had two high cards, he would fold to a raise anyway.
The turn was a 9, if memory serves correctly. I think Recess checked, and this time, I bet pot, which was the majority of my remaining stack. Recess had me slightly covered. He took his time and even took the TIME option, which had a whopping 40+ seconds. During that time, I feared his fold, so I did what I usually do at live games when I want a call but the player looks like he is going to fold...I began talking (or chatting, as it were). All paraphrased, naturally:
Me: "43 seconds! That's a lot of time to decide!"
Recess: "I'm not good enough to fold this."
Me: "then don't."
And so, he didn't. He put me all-in for a few bucks more, I called, and he showed AA. He was busted not too long after by someone else, reaping the benefit of my hard work.
I came into the final table as the shortstack or second shorstack, but by the time we were down to 8 players, I was in the top 3, all of whom were head and shoulders over the rest. The top three changed while people busted out, but I remained up there most of the time. Finally, it was just down to me and two other players. I had about 25k, the other shortie had 25k, and Obie (blog?) had a whopping 100k+. And he played that big stack like a freakin' champ. I had to admire his play as he essentially raised 6-10k for the first 6-8 hands. He slowed down a tad when we started firing back, but he had such a lead, it was no sweat for him to fold a few hands. Finally, in pushing mode, with blinds at 1000/2000 with antes and barely over 20,000 each, the other shortie and I got allin against each other. I did the pushing from the SB with QJs. He called from the BB with A7. Two Aces flopped and I go home.
Not for a minute did I seriously entertain the idea of winning a Mookie. I don't know why, but I just don't see it happening, and I don't care to envision it happening until it happens. But, it was nice to have a decent cash and my decent results in blogger tournaments continues.
Until next time, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 9:13 AM,
5 Comments:
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At 3:50 PM,
Shrike said...
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Congrats on the cash, and my bounty.
With 20 chips invested in the small blind ... can you explain why you called an EP shove for 210 more with the lowly 33? -) -
At 4:21 PM,
Alan aka RecessRampage said...
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The turn was not a 9... otherwise, it woulda made it so much easier to fold...
*sigh*
the inability to pull the trigger there (as in actually click the fold) was definitely bad. Well played though man. GG! -
At 4:39 PM,
Jordan said...
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Shrike/PL, I already gave a detailed explanation of why I played it the way I did. But here it is again:
I called because:
*You were supremely shortstacked and the amount was a tiny fraction of my stack that I could bear to lose.
*It was a KO tourney, so there was financial incentive to see if you had two overs instead of a dominating overpair.
*I sincerely like you and have a feeling of kinship with a fellow attorney, so if I lost, doubling you up to 500 or less, I didn't mind. It's the Mookie, after all.
Now, please enumerate the reason why you pushed from early position with 84c? And then explain to me why you are so stuck on me calling with 33? There were way too many players left to act after you, and you must've known with your uber-short stack that any dominating pocket pair (from 88-AA) and many other superior hands (66, 77, AK, AQ, even AJ!) would call. -
At 5:08 PM,
Shrike said...
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No angst here, Jordan.
I pushed because I *was* supremely short-stacked and because my hand is very live if I get called. The reason I was a bit irked was that Iactually got through everyone but the blinds and you decided to call with something I expected to see folded (22-77) from the SB when you had to call 210 to win 270 (my shove + the BB).
But as you say, it's just the Mookie. And I cleaned up at the cash tables last night, so all is right with the world. -
At 10:06 AM,
said...
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Great post. Good synopsis of the final table. I was not following the other tables, so when we got to the final table I was surprised to see I had a 4:1 chip lead over everyone else. I did raise a lot to try and make people play for half or their entire stack. I also got dealt some good cards near the end and they held up. It was a pleasure playing with you all.
