Starving Crazed Weasels, June

Smaller turnout of 11, but that is all good...will be that way sometimes.

Actually had a pretty soft starting table. I did have Kev to my left...he has become one of my toughest opponents. But next to him was Amy, playing for the second time, to her left Tess, also playing for the second time, Then Rick, playing for about the 4th time. So really, a good table to play ABC poker...fold a lot, raise my good hands, and so forth. In fact, I think only twice at that table did I get to the showdown with second best hand; once when we had an All-in and checked it down, once when I checked after the flop and she never bet.

Started nicely with pocket Queens, raised, couple callers, flop small and ragged, raised, they folded. I showed.

I wanted them to have in their minds that I always had the best hand so wanted to show a lot of strong hands. 

Played a few small hands and won them. Meanwhile, Kev kept getting rivered by his sisters. In one hand he flopped 2 pair, bet to the river and lost when Tess hit the straight on the river...but was also beat because Amy hit  Flush on the same card.

I was hitting a lot of hands but nothing memorable, so I played and won about 8 or 10 hands and had a nice stack. 

Got to the final table and now it was getting ugly. Had Josh to my left..I want him on my right. To his left was Tim, then Tess, then Amy, then Rick, then Phillip, then Ken. So I had Phillip and Ken to my right and Josh and Tim to my left. I was not happy.

I put out Tess when she had few chips and I paired, and the very next hand put out Tim when he had less than the small blind. 

I had a nice chip lead, but then came an ugly hand. I had A/10, raised.Ken called. Flop was rainbow, small cards. Ken checked, I raised, he almost folded, then said, "I don't like calling on outs, but I am going to. He called.  Turn put a second Heart on the board, he called my raise. River was another Heart. He checked, I read him as having hit his draw and checked behind. He was bummed I checked and flipped up the King/2 of Hearts. He hit runner runner to take 3K from me. That hurt.

Josh took out Phillip and was climbing the chip board.

I got little bits back from Ken a couple times.

Amy was next to fall and then Rick, who was tired, went to the river on a hand he normally would fold and Josh took him out. Uh-oh, both Ken and Josh have lots of chips and we are down to final three.

I had A/8 spades, raised. 3 handed, that is pretty good. Ken called. Flop was ragged, a couple Spades. I raised, he called. . Turn was a blank, raise/call. River gave me the flush, I raised him all in, he called with...2 pair maybe?

Down to Josh and I. I had maybe a 2 to 1 chip lead and the advantage of being in Josh's head. Picked up A/2 Diamonds first hand. Raised. He hesitated, was going to fold, then called. Flop was ragged, no help, just one Diamond. I raised. He called pretty quick. I was done with the hand. Turn was 5 Diamonds. Hmm. I raised to keep control of the hand. He snap-called. River...another Diamond. I river-ratted him. How to get the most out of him?

A quick glance at the pot told me it had more than he had left, I raised all-in, he called. He had the straight. I had the Flush. Back to back hands I put out 2 of the most dangerous players we had.

For the night, about everything went right. Not only did I pretty much only play good hands...those hands held up. Only once did I get crushed and that was a hand I felt Ken normally wouldn't (and shouldn't) have stayed on, but he had a couple back door draws on the flop and one came home so  I don't mind that at all. I played well and had good results. And a lot of fun,

Starving Crazed Weasels April 2008

11 players tonight. We broke down to tables of 5 and 6.

I was with the 5. Tom my left was Kenneth, to my right Tracy, to her right Phillip and to his right Rick.

First hand I checked in the big blind with 2/3. Flop came A/2/3. I bet, got 2 callers. Turn put a 3rd club on the board. I bet, they both called. River put a 4th club on the board. I checked, Phillip bet, Tracy called, I folded. Phillip had the 5 high flush, Tracy the Ace high flush. That set the tone for my night.

I won a couple small pots when I raised pre-flop and every one folded but for the most part I was bleeding. Tracy was hitting hard, meanwhile, including a pretty funny hand.

Rick brought up the time he beat my flopped full house with quad 2s. While we were discussing that hand the flop had a deuce. Turn had another deuce. At the showdown Tracy hat pocket deuces, giving her quads.

The other table was playing somewhat fast as by the end of the first blind level they were down 2 players. Rick was under 1000 at our table, I had a shade over 2400. Tracy had the lead, then Kenneth, Phillip was about with me.

Soon in the next level they busted out a third player so we collapsed to one table. I ended up not playing a hand in the entire blind level.

With blinds of 1/200 I was under 2000. I needed to hit a hand...and I think I played one, maybe 2 hands when I checked in the big blind. I was bleeding like mad but just picking up garbage hand after hand. I was short stack...but Kevin gave up all his chips in 2 hands and disappeared. Phillip came back from the dead a couple times. Pete had a HUGE chip lead, Robin had a lot, Tracy had a lot...I was looking for an all in hand.

Blinds went up to 2/400. I kept bleeding, fold, fold, fold, fold through the blinds, fold...it got all the way down to where I had 300 chips left before I saw something to play and it was nothing to write home about, K/6 suited under the gun. I went all-in for less than the blinds. Pete called, Robin called, Tracy folded, Kenneth checked. I had a K/6 suited. Flop came 6 high. I liked it...until Kenneth bet strong...and Robin called. Turn put a pair of 3s on the board. He bet...Robin called. I figured I was done. River was a King. Kenneth bet...Robin folded. I flipped mine up and he mucked, later saying he had I think Jacks. I now had 1100...less than 3 times the blinds.

Next hand Pete raised to to 1200 under the gun. Robin called. Tracy called. Kenneth folded from the small blind. I looked at an A/6. I figured one of them had to have an Ace so I was at best dominated, at worst way behind to a pair. But if I was "just" dominated I was getting 3-1. So I announced I believed I was dominated but pot odds demanded a call. I went all in. If I won I would have 4700...my high point for the night and the first time since the first hand I would have even as much as I started with.

The flop was gorgeous...A/A/9. I had flopped trips. Of course, if I was dominated...I was still in trouble. As it turns out, I WAS dominated...by Kenneth, who had folded an A/7 pre-flop. Pete bet the flop, everyone folded and it was his pocket 7s against my trip Aces. They held up and i was in business.

Next hand I picked up A/9, raised it, stole the blinds.

Back into fold mode.

Then Pete gave up most of his chips in about 2 hands including one bizarre hand. I had J/9o, thought about raising it but everyone had called and Pete was behind me. I weakly completed from the small blind and he checked. Flop came 3/4/q. I thought about betting to try and steal it, but checked. He went all-in. I knew he did not want a call, but I thought he had something like paired the trey or 4. I thought about calling...but Tracy called. Okay, I am beat, I folded. She flipped up the Queen as expected...and Pete flipped up a 2/6. Oops. No 5 arrived and he was left with 500.

Soon he was gone, then Tracy behind him and it was down to Ken and I heads up. I had taken down a couple nice pots from Tracy and was about 2.5-1 chip short. Kenneth had the lead and was playing super well.

He mentioned that 1 double up where we both caught at the same time and it could change. The next hand after I picked up A/J. He raised to 3K, I called. Flop came A/10/A, 2 spades. He bet, I went all-in, he called. He had K/Q Spades...he was on the flush draw. But I turned the Jack and he was drawing dead. I was now the chip lead.

But his lead had been so huge he still had like 9K left...he was not exactly in trouble and he is at least as good as I am. So this was a long way from over.

A few hands later I picked up Pocket Aces. We had been limping a lot so I did, he checked. Flop came 2/3/6. He looked at his chips and I started turning internal cartwheels. "You didn't catch any part of that" I said. He bet 2400. I went all-in. He called. He flipped up K/2. I flipped up my Aces. He said, "I thought you were just betting me not having anything."

Turn was a blank. River...well, he hit trip deuces to retake a slight chip lead.

Back and forth. he won a few hands, I won a few. We started occasional bets pre-flop. I picked up Kings with blinds at 500/1000, raised to 3K, he called, flop was Jack high, I raised, he folded.

A few other raises by me where he folded and a few he folded from the small blind gave me a slight lead.

Finally I picked up A/J again. He raised, I hemmed and hawed...I was actually debating re-raising but it came across as me having a marginal hand, apparently. Flop came J/rag/rag. He raised, I went all-in, he called...he had I think J/7 but never got help and I had come back from 300 chips to take the win.

Sadly, most of the tournament was not too much fun for me from the standpoint of...for almost 3 blind levels I looked for an all-in hand but did not play a single hand. I was folding to nothing. It was boring. On the bright side, it was a fun group, a fun game because of the joking around, so it was all right. And the huge comeback...I actually think Kenneth deserved the win tonight because he consistently played well. I had the 3 hand stretch where I got lucky, then with some chips to play with hit a few hands and he caught cards at the wrong times. Be that as it may...I will take it. I played an extremely patient game and it paid off.