- the smoke. heavy smokers, a pall over the table
- rude players. they slow-roll like mothers, they don't know the rules, they don't pay attention
- horrific players who have scary-good luck; they regularly play AND HIT needing runner-runner...
And that is just off the top of my head.
Anyhow, I wanted to play so, even though I was a bit late, I stopped in. Wow, I made it 15 players! I was down about 400 chips for arriving late, but as I have said before...when I am playing well, at least against most of these people, a 10% chip discrepancy means nothing. I will take their chips anyway. When I am playing poorly it also does not matter, I will choke off my chips pretty fast. About the only time it matters is when I am being blinded out and lose fold equity...but coming in with 2600 chips or so and blinds at 25/50? I am fine with that.
First hand, j/3o. Fold.
Second hand j/2o. Fold.
Third hand 9/5o. Fold.
Fourth hand 3/7o. Fold.
Fifth hand 2/3. fold.
On the bright side, this gave me a chance to get a feel for the table. And I was salivating. Bob was to my right. He is the only player I really had a lot of respect for. Other than Bob...well, there was 2 all-ins where the guy going all-in had 8 high...and was ahead. On the first blind level. Seriously, if I could just catch a pair I would be a favorite.
Finally, in the big blind I checked my option with an Ace/7 off. The flop gave me trip Aces. I bet it, 4 callers. That says a lot about the table. Turn was a deuce. I bet, all but Bob folded. River was another blank. I figured Bob for the Ace as well and had kicker issues so when he checked I checked behind. Hmm. I had him out kicked all right...but he had a deuce kicker which meant he had turned the full house. My river check saved me a lot of chips.
Normally I would slow WAY down but from small blind position with 4 limpers I limped as well with pocket 4s. The flop was gorgeous...K/7/4. No flush draws, no straight draws. Old guy across from me bet it for me. I put him on anything from the King to a stone cold bluff with even just a 10 high. Yes, the hand range was that wide. And 3 people called. Well, I had a choice. I wanted to get all-in by the river. Should I re-raise and hope a couple people stuck with me? Or should I try to keep them in and just call? I figured he would bet again so even though his bet was smaller than I wanted, I just called. Turn was a Jack putting a 2 flush on the board. On this table, that was bad...someone would stay around on a runner-runner flush draw. Still, he bet it, everyone called, so I called. River was a blank. He bet, calls, I re-raised all-in to 1500 (he had bet 500). He called, everyone else folded. I showed, he showed...his pair of Jacks. With a 3 kicker. Awesome.
Now I have about 5K, maybe 6. I am thinking I will have a pretty good shot at winning. Pick up pocket Kings. Raise. 2 callers. Take them for a ride including the old guy. They actually fold at the turn. I want them to KNOW I have good cards when I bet. I showed.
Limped with K/J after 3 or 4 other people limp. Flop comes 8/j/8. I bet. 3 callers. Turn is a king. I bet, the old guy comes over the top all in. But I am priced in as his raise is like 300 into a 4 or 5K pot. And he has...the k/j as well. Split pot. Made maybe 500 chips off the pot.
But I have consistently been showing down good cards. Call a raise with a q/10 clubs. Not a great hand but at this table I will play weaker cards more often. Flop has 2 clubs, an Ace and a King. I raise with nothing but a draw...and everyone folds. I did not feel bad about the raise as I had 9 clubs and 3 10s to draw to, plus I would not bet against a Queen high being the best hand.
Meanwhile, I had been watching the guy to my left. He had no concept of risk versus reward and bet sizing. In a pot of 500 he bet 2000. In a pot of 350 he went all in. Now, on the one hand this is a solid strategy as he built a nice chip stack since his bets were so large in relation to the pot that they weren't worth calling. On the other hand...as soon as I could catch a hand with him in it I was going to either double up or take him out because I was pretty sure that when he made those bets it was because he was weak and did not want a call.
Sure enough, when we collapsed to 1 table, he tried that move on a board of 2/10/K and Randy called him. Of course, Randy had nothing...something like a 6/9 or some such crap. But our villain was even worse, holding a 2/4. Randy hit the 6 to take him out. That was terrible because Randy is not the guy you want having chips and he was the monster chip lead.
Randy is a horrible, horrible player. He will chase ridiculous draws needing runner runner or more. He has no concept of pot odds, no clue what his opponent might hold...he is the epitome of someone who "just plays their cards"...except he not only plays his cards, he plays every long shot draw in existence. Sadly, when he hits them that lets him play more. If you play 10 10-1 shots you figure to hit one. So against him I "charge him for his draws" by betting VERY, VERY heavily...if I hit ANYTHING...even a pair...and have him read for a draw I go all in.
But before I could came up a hand with Bill. I raised with pocket 6s. He was big blind and was going to fold since I raised it 3 times the blind. While he was pondering I was talking to Bob because someone commented on the size of the raise. "Ah, it is habit...when I have a strong hand it is 3 times the blinds + 1 blind per person already in the hand."
That was a mistake because he might have folded but when he figured out it is my "standard" raise he reluctantly called. Had I kept my mouth shut he might have overvalued my hand. On the bright side, the flop was beautiful for me...2/7/10. About the only thing he could reasonably have hit would be the 10 and then only if he had an Ace. But I know his game and had him on a couple picture cards. He checked and I went all in. He thought about it, thought about it, thought about it...while he was doing that I got very happy. I knew I was right...he had nothing but a couple of over cards. If he folded, I had a nice pick-up. If he called I was a huge favorite; 45 cards unknown, 39 help me, 6 help him...a little better than 6-1 so I pretty much wanted him to call. He did and turned over about what I expected...King-Jack. Even more amazing, he made the call with a King high against someone who raised pre-flop, had consistently won every showdown, and who had raised after the flop. I was in great shape to add a healthy chunk to my stack and take out the best player not named me left at the table.
Until he turned the Jack.
Now I was back down to about 4K. Only now the blinds were 4/800. And he had a good size stack.
A few hands later for the second time I picked up pocket kings. Raise, raise the flop, raise the turn, they folded. I wanted to emphasize the quality of hands I was playing so I showed.
The reason I kept showing was simple. By now it was just Randy, Bill and I. I wanted them to fold when I had the goods. I did not want Randy in particular sticking around on horrible draws. I did not want them to think I was bluffing. Against that crowd I simply don't bluff. If I am betting...I have the goods. You have to outdraw me or have hidden strength to win the hand.
A couple hands later I had K/7 hearts. I needed chips as I was low so I went all-in. They both folded and I picked up 1200 chips.
Randy raised the next couple of hands. I was down to about 4000 and the blinds went to 500/1000. I had to make a move. Bill folded on the button, I had j/9 suited on the small blind. I went all in. Randy called with the 10/4 off. Would I have called? No. But I am not Randy. I am not sure what hand he thought I might have but he got his chips in pretty good for Randy...he had about a 33% shot to win.
So the 2 hands that really hurt I got my chips in as a 72.32-27.68 percent and 67.73%-30..96% favorite and got outdrawn both times. If I can get in as a 3-1 favorite with regularity I don't feel bad. I played really well in my own opinion and just ran into 2 bad calls that ended well for the caller. Bill's pre-flop call with King Jack was not bad, it was his post flop call that was horrid. People who regularly get their chips in as 3-1 dogs when they are calling, not raising, don't deserve to win very often. About 1 in 4 times. But that 1 time really hurts.
It saddens me that I finished third. When John was still playing there I always thought he was the odds-on favorite to win any given tournament. Last night there was 1 other player there (Ryan) who I think is at least as good as me...he understands pot odds, drawing odds, he works to put people on hands, he understands when and why to raise/fold/call....and a few people who I respect as decent players that I, right or wrong, believe I am better than...including Bill among the final three...but overall, I thought Ryan or I should be the odds on favorite to win and when he got taken out mid way through I believed right down to the end I had a good shot at it. Had I not taken the beat on the end there I would have had the chips to wait for a good time to get in good again...hard to say if I could have come back from the deficit though as they each had about 20K and I would have had 8. I am good enough to pick the right time...but as we all know, Randy will call EVERY time so I need to hit that 2 more times probably to get a lead on him.
Next time, gadget, next time.
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