Well, it has been quite some time since my last blog entry, and that has mostly to do with me being away for the month of July for my annual Army Reserve training exercise. Since getting back home on 6 Aug, I’ve played live a couple times down at The Rivers and only online once or twice. surprisingly, I’ve only put in 3 live cash sessions and a ton of tournament play. Being out in the middle of no-where for my training in July granted me the time to read some important tournament strategy books that I’ve put off reading for way too long of a time, such as Kill Phil/Everyone and the Harrington Series. Needless to say, I’ve been itching to play a tournament now, and fortunately I got that chance here this past week and weekend.
I played in the 2.2K “Monster” tournament at The Rivers this past week, and on thursday and Friday nights, I played a “steps” satellite tournament to win my seat. on Thursday, I paid $270 to enter the 4th step of the satellite, and I outlasted 50% of the small field to earn my spot in Friday’s 5th satellite step. On Friday, we had a total of 35 people show up, and the top 20% won seats. 6 people won seats, 7th place pait $1760 cash or something like that because the buy in for step 5 was $500. In Thursday’s Satellite, I played very well and pretty much rode a big stack to easily finish in the top 50%. I more than doubled my stack in a huge pot where I had QQ on a 3QTT5 board where an older player made the nut flush on the river and paid me off. That hand helped me to easily finish in the top 50% and earn my seat for Friday.
On Friday, this Satellite was a different story because this thing lasted 6 hours long, which was really brutal for just a satellite! I really couldn’t get anything going the entire time, as my stack stayed around the starting stack of $10K as the levels went up. However, as the blinds went up, I really played my short stack to perfection by picking my spots to shove and forcing people to fold. I can remember being all in and not wanting a call with Ace high junk type hands at least 6 times. I only got called once when I had A4, and a guy with A6 called – we ended up chopping. I think that what really helped me to play well and make this work as the blinds increased is because I never let my stack dip below the 12-15 BB range, and my M never got lower than about 5 or so. I remember when I used to play tournaments several years ago, I would let my stack dwindle down to nothing and then when I doubled up, I wouldn’t have any stack to play with anyway. This satellite really taught me the power of having at least 10BB’s at all times because it gives me a chance to double up for an amount that matters, and 10 BB’s actually does have some fold equity.
When this satellite got down to the final table with 9 left, I was 1 of the 3 short stacks against 6 other big stacks. After a few rounds of play where all the big stacks pretty much just folded, we had another 10 minute break. during the break, when I came back from the restroom, the other 2 short stacks tried to make a deal with me. They offered me that between the 3 of us, whoever came in 7th would take home about $960 or so, and that person would then pay the other 2 people $400 each. I quickly told them that i appreciate the offer, but I was not interested because I didn’t play for 2 nights straight in this satellite to basically win my entry back plus another $100 or so. It was not worth it to me because I wanted a tournament seat, or at least a $1700 payday. i know that I’m not the most “tactful” or friendly person in situations such as this, but I thought I was very nice and professional when I turned down this deal and told them that I just wanted to play it out. The middle aged man next to me didn’t have an issue with my decision and was very cool about it; however, the other short stack, an older gentleman, really started berating me pretty bad, saying that i was making this satellite drag on too long. After berating for a few minutes, he then changed his offer to a straight 3 way split, to which my response was “why then are we just giving the other 6 seats away to the 0ther 6 big stacks?” So anyway, this went on for about 30 minutes or so during the break because the casino staff made an error when chipping up the chip denominations, and this older gentleman just would not leave it alone.
Fortunately, I was able to block this idiot out and focus once we did start playing again. Even more fortunately, in the very first hand after break, I got it in with AQo against a big stack’s QJs. The flop was a rainbow, but the turn brought a 4th spade to give the yound lady with QJs a flush draw. When the dealer was about to deal the river, this immature gentleman berating me yelled at the top of his lungs: “spade!” Unfortunately, for him, it was not a spade, and I doubled up and instantly was not a short stack anymore. So much for his deal. After another orbit or so, to my surprise, the 2 biggest stacks at the table played an all in pot with each other, and we had one of the big stacks get eliminated – just as I hinted earlier, this possibility came true because people are sumetimes just not smart. LOL, you have to always account for the moron factor.
After that, the other short stack (not the idiot) busted out in 8th, and the immature gentleman then busted in 7th to claim the money. I easily qualified for my seat in the top 6. As we were all getting our tickets printed for the main event, I walked up to this man and asked him very politely if he was now happy that I didn’t take his deal. He quickly grunted that no, he was not happy, and he didn’t understand my logic in not taking the deal. I told him that it was over and that I meant nothing personal, and i extended my hand, only to watch him not shake my hand and continue to rant on. I’m not sure what I ever did to this guy, but some people just don’t get it. They would rather play 6 hours and win back their entry buy in instead of making some money or winning a seat in the big tournament. Pathetic, conservative, STINGY, and absolutely stupid if you ask me. Stingy, conservative people have been bothering me a lot lately.
Aside from all the stinginess I’ve been witnessing lately (like how several people told me they can’t play in a measly $100 fantasy football league because that’s too much money), I had a blast playing in this $2K monster event! It was unfortunate that we only had 24 runners in this thing (6 of us from the satellite), but then again, people are stingy and don’t want to put up the 2K. I don’t blame them here because I had already resolved to buy in to the tournament if I didn’t win the satellite, but i don’t know how quick I would have been to buy in if I knew there were under 30 players. Regardless, the structure of this tournament was outstanding! 1 hour levels and a 25K starting stack! you can’t really ask for much more from a non-Vegas and non-WSOP tournament!
I lasted about 8 hours in this tournament before busting out in 15th place. During the first 2 levels, I built my stack up to about $35K, but when I came back from break, my wheels came off. First, I called off a turn and big river bet with 3rd pair in what I felt was a good spot, but obviously wasn’t. I had 88 on the button, 3 people limped, and I made it 800 to go. I think the blinds were 1-2 at the time. The second limper surprised me and limp raised me about 1200 more. I called, and he checked to me on a flop of Q73. I checked behind. The turn was a 10, and he bet 2K, and I called. The river was a brick, I think a 2, and the board had no straights or flushes. he bet 4k into me. i tanked for a long time and ended up calling, and he showed me KK. I know this was in hindsight a bad call, but that might be results oriented. Since he checked the flop, I felt there was a decent chance that he had air here, but in reality, he was probably scared that I had QQ – or he himself had QQ maybe. Unfortunately, after that hand, I went on a cold spell and couldn’t win a pot for quite some time. Later, I 3bet someone with AKo, and he shoved over me for like 20K more. i didn’t like it, but I h ad to fold that as i can’t be calling off my stack that early with AKo for like 20K. Push yes, but call no. Soon enough, I found myself coming back from the dinner break with a $15K stack and blinds of 400-800 with a 100 ante. Needless to say, I picked a coupld spots to shove, and after a few orbits, a rock called my shove with AQo vs my A6o. Good night me!
All in all, even though I may not have played my best, I learned a ton in these 3 days playing tournaments. I was not the best player at my table, not even close, and I can admit that. However, I learned a ton from some of these guys, and I’m excited for the next tournament I play. The next tournament for me will be the Mario Lemieux charity tournament on 17 Sept for $500+ buy in. Until then, it will be back to the cash tables for some much needed grinding!
Until next time – don’t be so stingy that you can’t play in a friendly $100 fantasy league!
– Formerly “6 Deuce Suited”
6 Deuce Suited Poker Blog 