Livin' Live

Don't forget the dinner post below. I'm seriously wondering how many I'll have to cook for.

Anyway, hit the club with Kat last night. Her first time at the new digs. $40 tournament, with a new $5 knockout option. How do you not take the bounty chip?

Night was cruising nicely along as I won a decent uncontested pot with a little flush before the first orbit was up, and later split a couple more that had plenty of limpers and flop callers. A good one was the 5AA flop, my position bet (A9o) gets called twice with a comment from one of the callers of "only two of us have an ace." Turn 5, bet, fold, all-in, call... I'm against A3, no 9, split.

Table broke and I was two to the right of Kat. I bet at a J-high flop with a J8 or something and go re-raised. I folded with not so many chips left. As the break approached, I pushed with KJo right into the Aces to my left. I say, "they're no good", Kat says "what are you gonna crack 'em with?" and the board goes a little like this: J8x8J. Nice double-up on the break, but not in great shape.

Later on I'm at yet another table and have 53d in the BB. Folds to the SB who completes and I check my option. Two diamonds on the flop and we both check. Turn is a diamond, SB checks his cards and bets. I raise, he re-raises all-in for very little more, and I call. He flips over.. ATd. DAMN. So I'm down to one BB, sitting in the SB. 4 limpers and I have to complete with... THE HAMMER. 7 on the flop was all I needed as 3 people had A-rag and the 4th had presto (what? I beat presto? how?!). I now have 5 BB.

I later find QJ in MP with an M < 3 and push, running into.... cowboys. I reserve saying anything, but think "here we go again." TKxx9 board and I give an uncharacteristic "YES!" and am now not in terrible relative shape, but my M is still only 5. I take a couple blinds, and maybe one flop to chip up a bit more. Just as the table is breaking, in the BB, I get into it with the new SB (filled an empty chair). He raises me, I push overtop with AKc and he just barely has to fold, giving me a nice little stack.

New table and I push around a bit and have over 20k in chips, which is good for an M around 11. Here's where I made my first real mistake of the night I think. I have K7d in LP and limp. Button raises to 5000 (blinds are 800/1600). BB pushes for 5500 total. So the pot is currently 12,900 and a call would cost me 3400. I know the button will at least call the extra 500, so the pot is effectively 13,400. I'm getting 4:1. I know the button has something, and I have to put the BB on an Ace. I figure I'm against a decent pocket pair and AQ or AJ. I reluctantly fold, despite the voice in my head screaming at me to call. Button naturally calls and flips over 88, BB flips over A2o (WTF?). K on the flop would have won it for me. I was about 25% pre-flop, which I think warrants the call here. Even on my reads I was the same. What I really screwed up here though was paying attention to my stack size. I had underestimated my holdings by around 5k, which made a huge difference. If I'd realized where I stood relative to the blinds and the table (something I'm usually acutely aware of), I make this call easily.

I stole I think one set of blinds and then made my next mistake, which I deem as even bigger. From the SB with one EP limper I complete with 67o. Flop comes something like 359 rainbow, giving me a very strange double gutshot. I minbet, the BB folds, and the limper raises to 4000 chips (still 800/1600, pot = 6400). It feels like a position move on his part, and I'm getting a bit better than 4:1. I call. Turn is a brick, I check, and he checks. River is a Q, but brings a runner-runner flush to the board. I check, I think he checks, and the confusingly tries to put me all-in... but nobody can figure out what he's doing so he ends up checking and showing a Q. I was kicking myself over this one on the walk home. I SHOULD have pushed on the flop. It felt like a position bet, it WAS a position bet, and I guarantee he folds there. Even then, my call should have been enough that a push on the turn would get a fold.

Another hand that happened of note was when I held K8d, faced two all-ins, and tossed it with odds around 2:1. I would have rivered a runner-runner straight, but I had no regrets about that fold (the reads and odds were different than the K7d).

So two mistakes have cost me essentially 27,000 in chips, and if I'd gamboooled, I'd be up another 10k on top of that. If I'd been up those other chips, I probably would have taken the chance with the K8d.

In the end, with 13-15 left of the original 66, I pushed my shortish stack with JJ and ran into cowboys. No love from the dealer (the slow-reveal of the Q on the flop was painful), and IGH. 2 minutes before the Mookie started, so I couldn't get into that either, which was probably for the best.

So, as you'll find in ANY MTT with rapidly-escalating (15 min I think) blinds, two mistakes were the difference. I got the two suckouts required to win, and then wasted that with some poker that was either inattentive or weak.

Still, it was great to get some live action in. If I have time, I may return next week.