Tournament Report

On Tuesday night I played a tournament at The Meadows. Buy-in was $65 with t5k to start and another t1k with the $5 dealer add-on. There were a total of 46 runners paying top five. The structure was pretty standard, no doubling of the blinds late, and 18 minute levels.

In the first level at 25/50 we had an older dude raise to 300 and a younger guy 3bet to 2k. Old dude tanks for like 3 minutes (lol with 18 min levels) and calls off 1/3 of his stack. Flop 10 high and its all-in and a quick call. Young guy had AA and old dude tables AK. After the hand old dude is down to 75.

Next hand after a couple limpers old dude puts in his last 75. One other caller to me in the sb and I call with J,3 and all limpers call. Five to the flop (1 all-in) comes Q93 rainbow. Older guy (OG) in ep bets 75 into the 375 pot. Folds to me and I call. Turn 10 bringing second diamond and I check call the 200 bet into the 725 pot. River 8d and I fire 600 and he starts bitching "can't get him off of a draw". Well yeah when you bet 1/3 pot or less you can't. He folds and I was gonna fold but had to show because of all-in.

OG won't let it go. After that every pot I'm in he enters as well. About a lap later I raise AK UTG to 200 at 25/50 and get 2 callers including said OG. Flop comes AJXhh. I bet 400 and he calls. Turn Kd bringing diamond draw in as well. I lead for 800 and he raises back. I shove and he turns AQdd over "hmm what do i do, I call". Brick river and I have a double stack.

After that I yo-yo up and down. 9k to 12k to 7k back to 12k. That happens when in the first two levels you get AA, QQ AK and AQ. When we break to 3 tables left I am sitting on 15k. I started paying for good cards early as I had nothing. Raise and 3bet was the standard and I went fold fold fold. I actually blind down to 9k when we break to 2 tables.

With 2 tables left I was able to get back to 18k without showing down a hand. A combination of hands and opportune spots. I think with 11 people left I raise to 2.3x and the bb shoves for 4.4x. I call with the K4dd and was up against A7. Not the worst in the world but I don't catch up and I am knocked down to around 9k when we break for the final table.

Having 11bb's isn't great but workable. First hand at the final table I draw the sb and see UTG shvoe for around 10k, CL at (90kish) flats. Late position old guy shoves for 30k and chip leader calls. EP has AQ, CL has AJ and old dude of course has AA. Bullets hold and old dude is now the chip leader around 80k. I don't pick up a hand in ages and fold all the way down to 3bbs 8 handed. I'm on button with 33 and call all-in vs lady who has me covered and I see JJ. I flop a set and hold for the double.

Down to 6 handed we all throw in $10 for bubble. Bubble burst shortly after and I am down to like 4bbs again. After a limp and raise I jam J6. Limp folds out and I am up against A7. Jack in the door and I get a double.

Still 5 handed the chip leader is running the table, that is until he is called down by QUEEN HIGH and it's good. He shut down after that. I am sitting on around 9bbs and raise 2.2x with K10 and see a 3bet. I am never good vs this dude and opt to fold. He shows AK. Very next hand in the bb short stack shoves and I wake up with QQ. I flop the set but still have to fade straight outs which doesn't come and we are 4 handed.

While 4 handed I pull off a sweet bluff with 83 which leads to next hand. At 3k/6k I limp the sb with 98 and bb checks. Flop 1065 and I bet 6k and bb calls. Turn binks a 7 and I bet out 24k, bb jams and I call. He had 109. Now 3 handed I am 2nd in chips but close to the chip leader. Shortly after that I am in the sb and put bb all-in with 44 and he calls with J10 and I hold.

Here is where good negotiating skills come in. 1st is $1011 and 2nd is $563. I have a 3/2 chip lead and feel really good vs my opponent so I'm gonna propose a deal well in my favor and if he doesn't take it I am fine with playing on. I offer $100 off of 1st and he immediately snaps it up. $911 score for me. Guess I picked the right tournament to win when 1st pays around 40%.

Cash Games and Casino

I played 1/2 on Thursday with horrid results. There was an older guy who would bet 2x pot on every dry flop. I didn't quite have him figured out yet when I went to war with him. I raise with JJ and he is the only caller. Flop 10 high and I bet 3-bet my stack and he flopped a set of 4's. I bought in for another $100 and nitted it up for another 4 hours and got up with $100 in front of me.

The casino was good to me. I actually turned a small profit in Pai Gow and probably broke even on the 100 play JOB machine over around 30k hands.

Back to the track

The wife said today I'm leaving for around 5 hours, why don't you take $20 and go to the track and win some money. After a good laugh I took just a bit more than that and went. About 4 hours later I won about $300.

A good week for me.