Four Seats Will Have to Do
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
So close, yet so far.
I took 2nd place last night in the Skillz Game, which just plain sucked since I was hoping for my fifth BBT4 win. My last hand was absolutely atrocious, but I think fatigue set in and I was so short that I had foolishly decided right away to keep raising until I was all-in. That was just awfukkit poker, which is never a pretty site. But before then, I was on FIYAH!
TripJax has been writing about luck lately, and last night exemplified one of his main themes: I made my own luck. After a while, I could psychically feel the growns of my fellow players as I "got lucky" time and time again. And for a decent amount of those times, it was true. I won my fair share of coin tosses and hit my fair share of strong hands. In fact, when I was about out, I turned quads to triple up and put me back in the game. Later in the evening, I was down to a few blinds and doubled up, back-to-back, to put me right back into the thick of it.
But, there were other times when I made my good luck. Mostly, it was through relentless aggression when I had enough chips to weather a loss. It was also through making tough decision, like the hand we are about to discuss.
So, we are in the Skillz Game, playing a Limit Stud tournament. Let me state once again that I do not think Stud games should be played in tournament format because once you weather the useless early stages, you are essentially waiting for the late stage push-fest. Last night, I came up with what I believe would be a fine solution to the shortcomings of Limit Stud Game tournaments: a timed tourney with flat blinds. Essentially, it will be who can win the most chips in X amount of time rather than who can get lucky in the late stages. Of course, an even better solution would be to leave the Stud games to cash tables.
The blinds are 300/600 with a 50 ante. We are 7-handed. I have 5,887, in 3rd place for the table. There were a couple of shorties with 1,758 and 2,001. It is worth noting that this is a knockout tourney, which pays cash for each player you knock out.
I am dealt 5c 6s/As (i.e., 5 and 6 in the hole, with the Ace exposed). Cardgrrl (6,593) is the bring-in for 100 with a 3c showing. Four players fold (with a Jack, Ace, Queen and Ace showing, respectively) and I complete to 300. At this point, I have to assume that Cardgrrl has jack squat. The only other player left to act was BoneDaddy, one of the shorties with 1,758. To my surprise (and delight) he raises to 600. He has a 6c showing. That effectively squeezed out Cardgrrl even if she was thinking of calling me light. I call. He has less than 1,200 left and I have more than 5k.
On fourth street, these are our cards:
HoP: 56/A9
BD: XX/68
I have diddly squat. The pot is 1,650 or so. I check. BD bets. I take my time. Here, it seems like I have to be beat. He definitely has a pair AND I don't even have many good over cards. The Ace is ok, but two Aces are already out of the deck. The nine isn't that mighty either, since BD could easily have a better pair in the hole. HOWEVER, look at the situation. I can only loose so much AND I stand to take a bounty. Even if he has a pair, there are a lot of cards to come. Perhaps others fold here, but the deciding factor for me was the pot odds. I figured out the math and realized that I had to bet 1,200 to win about 3000+. Add in the bounty $ and the fact that I had enough chips to weather the loss and it seemed like a no brainer. So, once I decided that I wanted to take this to the river, I raised. Why? Because I want to see the final 3 cards so I might as well pay the toll now. I raise to 600. BD re-raises me and I cap. BD is all in and we see our actual hands:
HoP: 56/A9
BD: 6K/68
I'm clearly behind, but it's still worth the gamble.
After 5th Street:
HoP: 56A9T
BD: 6K682
After 6th Street:
HoP: 56A9T7
BD: 6K6829
On the river:
HoP: 56A9T78...or a straight to the Ten
BD: 6K6829T...or a pair of 6s
Now, I have no illusions about this hand. I got lucky. But I made my luck by (i) accumulating enough chips earlier that I did not fear losing, and (ii) recognizing the pot odds were favorable when combined with the bounty $.
With my 2nd place finish, I may have locked up the May Leaderboard. I can only hope. Congrats to 1QueensUp1 for the win. At the end, when we were headsup, I realized that we both already had TOC seats. I considered offering a chop, but really, it just didn't feel right. Of course, losing in 2nd didn't feel much better.
Until next time, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 11:31 PM,
4 Comments:
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At 2:13 PM,
BWoP said...
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GG Jordan :-)
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At 2:33 PM,
SirFWALGMan said...
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The braying of the Stud inept about how they had to make that horrible play. Good job anyways Jordon.
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At 2:48 PM,
1Queens Up1 said...
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GG Jordan.
I was thinking about asking you for a chop as well, but I figured you would decline :) -
At 9:39 PM,
TripJax said...
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You are a machine, dude.
I haven't kept up to realize what the winner of this shit gets, but if you win it, you deserve it.
I know there is another TJ award out there, but you win MY TJ (TripJax) award for being the pimpest winner of all in the BBT4. You and heffmike are making a mockery of this thing.
'Grats.
TripJax
