First Hand of the Night

Sometimes the poker gods keep smiling:

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $1/$2
9 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $92.05
UTG+1: $232.30
MP1: $224.35
MP2: $196
MP3: $190
CO: $196
Button: $67
SB: $54.30
Hero: $200

Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is BB with Jh Jd
UTG calls, UTG+1 raises to $4, 3 folds, CO raises to $17, Button folds, SB calls, Hero calls, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: 2c 5h Jc ($85, 5 players)
SB is all-in $37.3, Hero calls, UTG raises all-in $75.05, UTG+1 folds, CO calls, Hero raises all-in $183, CO calls all-in $103.95.
Uncalled bets: $4 returned to Hero.

Turn: Qc ($555.35, 0 player + 4 all-in – Main pot: $234.2, Sidepot 1: $113.25, Sidepot 2: $207.9)

River: Qs ($555.35, 0 player + 4 all-in – Main pot: $234.2, Sidepot 1: $113.25, Sidepot 2: $207.9)

Results:
Final pot: $555.35
SB showed As Ah
Hero showed Jh Jd
UTG showed 3s 2s
CO showed Ac Kc

Of course, I was probably too greedy on the flop by flat-calling that first bet. You’d figure I’d have learned my lesson by now.

And then real life stepped in and changed everything

This may come as a great disappoint to you–especially if you were someone I busted–but I won’t be playing in the WSOP this year.

I’m planning out life-related things this year, and part of that entails saving my vacation days for trips that don’t involve poker. Or, at least, to a much lesser degree. So I’ve appointed Absinthe to represent me, LA bloggers, and PokerStars at event #37, No-Limit Hold’em (3 day event), on Tuesday, July 25th. In return, we’re splitting the prize money 50-50.

Go and wish him luck.

PokerStars changed my July 2006 plans

Imprudence relies on luck, prudence on method. That gives prudence less edge than it expects.
–Mason Cooley

I often hear that winning in tournament poker requires a dose of luck, so provided you play good poker in enough tournaments, you’ll make it deep and win from time to time. Like this guy.

I had more than my share of good luck on Sunday in the PokerStars 2nd Annual World Blogger Championship of Online Poker.

Lucky Break #1

I was seated at a table where 6 of the 9 players were sitting out and never showed up to play. Not only did that mean all the blinds one could steal, but also a lot of short-handed pressure play. Once I knocked out the player to my left (AQ vs AT, A high flop), it was heads-up play with a 2:1 chip advantage and a positional advantage (seat 9 vs 6).

Lucky Break #2

While heads-up with seat 6, I called a min-raise with a suited Q. The flop came K high, all in my suit. Check, check. The turn put a non-threatening card on the board. Another check from the raiser and I put out a normal sized bet. He called. The river pairs the board and seat 6 wakes up with a sizable bet. I raised a few times the size of his bet and he re-raised. I thought about it, discounted the possibility of the boat or the higher flush, and put him all in. He had a suited J for the 3rd nut flush and I was sitting on a lot of chips.

Lucky Break #3

At level 13, with blinds/antes at 1000/2000/100, I found myself getting short (m of 5.6). I steal-raised to 4xBB from the button with a suited K, but laid it down to an all-in re-steal. In desperate shape, I re-raised the short stack’s all-in with a pair of sixes. Unfortunately, Columbo quickly called all-in with his pair of queens. The short stack had AK and the flop came down Ah As 2s, leaving me with 2 outs twice or running spades to win. Then the beat: a 6h on the turn. This was probably not as bad as the beat I handed out last December, but it was pretty bad. I apologized in the PokerStars chat and on IRC, but I’m not sure if anyone bought it. With that CJ-esque suckout, my stack was back in the playable range.

The Rest

Honestly I don’t remember the rest too well. I do remember not wanting to win a Letterman jacket. I’ve got one of those. 🙂 The iPod mini would have been nice, and I would have preferred it over the $215 seat in the Sunday Million or even the $370 seat in the WSOP Satellite. Once it got down to the 10th place bubble, I took a few opportunities to steal some blinds/antes, but probably not as many as I should have.

At the final table, I made some bold moves, knowing that 9th place would pay just as well as 2nd, and bold moves were needed to come in 1st. Unfortunately, trying to push someone off a hand by re-raising all-in in response to his re-raise of your raise doesn’t always work. Especially if you have 99 and he has a pair of kings. Strangely enough, I survived that hand with a few chips, survived the next with a crazy 7 high straight, and finally went out in 6th place.

Once again, a big thank you to all the people who cheered me on and gave me encouragement. These things are always more fun with friends watching.