Hella Hold'em

I had a great night of poker at Scott's Diamond Game this past Saturday; too bad I ran into a nightmare at Trump last night to lose all of my winnings! At least most of the chips went Randy's way... ahem...

Saturday's Diamond Game was a bit smaller than usual. Nine players ponied up fifty bucks for the privilege of playing some NLHE on Scott's air-hockey-table-turned-poker-table (felt and all). Top three places paid out, at $225, 140, and 85. Blinds increased every 15 minutes. 3500 chips to start.

Here's the lineup for game #1:

1. Scott
2. Matt
3. Steve
4. John
5. Randy
6. Shelly
7. Rob
8. Ed
9. Brian

Action was a bit slow to start out - I don't have any notes from Level 1.

Blinds: 30/60:

I'm in a 5 way pot for 360 a pop (1,800 or so in the pot). I've got AQ, and flopped a queen on a ragged board of Q5x. Randy bet out 750, and I raised it to 1500, hoping to protect my hand from the spade flush draw that was out there. Matt thought long and hard about the play and then moved all in for 1900 more. He thought so long about the move that I put him on a draw for sure. I called. Turns out he had a set of fives. I lost. I'm now significantly short stacked.

Shortly thereafter, I held Ace ten and flopped top pair, tens. Randy bet out for more than half of my remaining chips, so I moved all in. Randy was a bit pissed at me coming over the top of him a second time, but the situation warranted it. I'd have made the same move regardless of who was to my right; it's not like I was picking on him. He folded his Queen ten, which was a good fold. Aren't ya glad I raised your bet, dear, instead of calling you down? :)

Brian took a big pot off of John when he flopped the nut straight with 9-10 (6-7-8 onboard). John was chasing a gutshot draw.

Randy survived his first all-in after flopping his own straight - JT with a board of 8-9-Q. Scott folded what he claims was KQ (he didn't show, just told us it was so). Randy still thinks it to be unlikely that Scott read him for a flopped straight. While every poker table is full of liars, I have no desire to comment on whether or not I think Scott made that great laydown or was telling a tall tale :)

We have our first casualty: John pushes all in with K4 and Ed wakes up with hooks in the pocket. While Ed had a hairy moment when the turn gave John a gutshot draw with his 4, the Jacks held up. John went out in 9th place.

Blinds 50/100

Steve wins an all in with 54 offsuit from the big blind versus Brian's K8 offsuit. Steve flopped two pair on a board of K54.

Blinds 100/200:

With blogger pride, I had the exquisite joy of flopping two pair with a free look at the flop from the big blind with The Hammer. My seven deuce rivered a boat, and unfortunately for Rob, he'd made a straight by that point. I slow played my hammer hand, and raised all in when Rob bet out on the river. (He'd been doing some slow playing himself). Rob called and was knocked out in 8th place. I can't take true Hammer credit for this hand, since I was the big blind, didn't raise, and saw a free flop, but it was still a great testament to the Power of the Hammer. Never doubt the power of the hammer. FEAR the hammer.

Steve survived an all in with KJ against Matt's AQ when a cowboy hit the flop.

Randy made a 7th place exit when he pushed all in with his top pair against Steve's nut flush draw and pair of 2's. The turn did Randy in when an Ace hit, giving Steve two pair, but the river twisted the knife, as the flush hit as well. Nothing like getting knocked out twice in one hand!

Blinds 300/600, 50 ante

Scott raises it up preflop to 2,000. Matt re-raises all in for 5,100. Ed calls all in. Scott, dismayed at all of the action, folds. Matt shows QJ hearts; Ed shows J9 clubs. The board came Ad - Kc - 7d - 6c - Kh, making Matt's Queen high the winning hand and knocking out Ed in 6th place.

Brian survived an all in with a suckout of monstrous proportions when his pocket Jack's hit a set on the river against Steve's Hilton Sisters. No love for the ladies. Steve was still in the game, however, winning the side pot that had developed.

I sent Scott packing when I called his all in with AT versus his KQ. I hit an ace on the flop. Scott finished in 5th place.

Blinds 500/1000, 100 ante:

Steve pushes all in for 1950 with KJ offsuit. Matt calls with K9 offsuit. The board comes A-K-A-5-5, and Steve's kicker doubles him up.

I raise it up preflop with KQ for 3,000 (3xBB). Brian calls, and Matt calls all in. I flop a King and win the hand. Matt finished in 4th place.

We're now 3-handed. Welcome to the money! Brian, Steve, and I will battle for top prize.

With the blinds still at 500/1000, I raise it up to 3,000 with pocket tens. Brian goes over the top of me all in with pocket 6's. I call, and The Roman holds up for me. Brian finished in 3rd place.

Heads-up play started with me holding a dominant chip lead. Steve quickly became a formidable opponent, however, stealing blinds by pushing all in hand after hand. I kept looking down to see hands like 92 offsuit and 23 offsuit, and chose to wait for a better hand to call. When I finally did have a hand that might hold up, I lost, and my chip lead had vanished. Now I had to work for the win.

I don't have notes on the action that led up to the final hand, but I called Steve's all in preflop with 34 offsuit. I figured, at least I've likely got 2 live cards. The board came 2-A-8-3-7, and my lowly pair of 3's held up against Steve's unpaired 10-6.

The final standings:

1st: Shelly (me)
2nd: Steve
3rd: Brian

4th: Matt
5th: Scott
6th: Ed
7th: Randy
8th: Rob
9th: John

We played a second game for $20, and I don't have many notes. The most notable hand of the game was Brian pushing all in on the very first hand against Steve. There was some sort of personal vengeance playing out before our eyes. Brian had flopped 2 pair with 85 offsuit on a board of 8-5-3. Steve turned an Ace, and the board paired 3's on the river, counterfeiting Brian's two pair. Ouch. Brian went out in last place. He kindly helped with the card dealing for the rest of the game.

The end result:

1st/2nd: Randy and I chopped. Randy had a chip lead of about 4,000 chips going into heads-up play.

3rd: Steve
4th: Ed
5th: Scott
6th: Brian

I'm missing a few hands that I vaguely remember (such as a nut flush that I caught on the river against Randy's turned two pair). I have no notes on that hand, and Randy and I argued well into the night over whether or not that qualifies as a suckout. I say no; I'd pushed all in preflop on the short stack with my Ax suited; Randy had called with KJ. He flopped a king and turned a Jack, so my only outs were the hearts. While Randy was a favorite to win the hand, I still had a 20% or so chance to win going into the river. That wasn't even my point of contention: my point was that I pushed all of my chips in preflop with the best hand. That negates any accusations that I sucked out. Sure, I got brutalized on the flop and turn and had to come back from a deep deficit - but I was already all in!

For the record, Randy wasn't calling it a suckout; Scott alluded to me "catching more cards in this basement" than anybody else, leading to a suckout-related conversation that had put me on the defensive.

At any rate... it was a good night of cards for me over at Scott's house. Thanks to Scott and Ann for hosting the game.

Last night, Randy and I decided to go check out the single table sit n go's at Trump. What a mistake.

We sat down to 3/6 limit hold'em while waiting for the SnG to start. Originally, only Randy was going to play in the SnG. However, I was getting butchered at 3/6, rebuying within the first half hour of sitting down.

Very first hand: I post the big blind to come into the game with 85 of clubs. I flop two pair and bet it all the way down on a flop of A-8-5. My opponent had an Ace, and caught another Ace on the river to trump my two pair. There goes a stack and a half of chips.

A couple hands later, I find KQ suited in middle position in a kill pot. There was no preflop raise. I flopped a King. Randy, in early position, bet the flop, turn, and river. I called him down, figuring my kicker to be good in the absence of a preflop raise. My kicker was not good. Randy had AK.

Two hands later, I find KQ again. I flopped top pair Queens and bet it all the way. Randy called me down with his Ace-little suited and hit the flush on the river.

REBUY!

At least the chips were going to Randy, who could do no wrong at 3/6 last night. I was a little peeved, though. I shouldn't have been; that's poker.

Shortly after rebuying, I decided to put my name on the SnG list, since I was just getting crushed at 3/6. I stayed afloat with my rebuy until the tournament started. We moved tables, and the waters were no kinder at the SnG.

Early on, I find Ace King in the hole and raise it up 4xBB. I get one caller. The queen high flop missed me. I threw out a continuation bet of about 3/4 the size of the pot. My opponent thought for a bit and reluctantly called. The turn missed me as well, but put 4 to a straight onboard. First to act, I probably should have let it go. I bet out again, and my opponent raised all in, having hit his straight with the ten. (He had Ace ten of diamonds). I had to fold. I could have drawn for the gutshot to hit the higher straight, but decided against it.

I was severely short stacked at this point, and a few hands later, an opponent raised 3xBB. I pushed all in for a total of 9xBB with pocket tens. He called with pocket Jacks and they held up. I went out in 6th or 7th place out of 10. (I don't remember which).

I took the rest of my money and bought back into the 3/6 game while Randy played the SnG. By the time Randy busted out on the bubble, I had won myself up to $85 or so. He went down to play video poker while I finished my last orbit. On the next hand, I got myself into a 9-way pot that was capped preflop with pocket sevens. There were so many people in the pot that I had odds to chase, and I just couldn't let it go. My set would have been no good anyway - pocket nines hit a set to my right. There goes $60. I cashed out with $25 left and went in search of Randy. At least he was winning.

Unfortunately, by the time I found him, he'd lost his 3/6 profits as well. I stuck my last $25 into a mindless slot machine and lost.

The $200 I won at Scott's house is now gone. A wash. A bummer of a wash. We should have stayed home and ordered pizza! With our week in Vegas only 9 days away, I've got to do a bit more winning if I want to have any sort of a decent bankroll for this trip.

If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Reed will be at Trump this coming Thursday night. I'll head up there Thursday. I'm not sure if I'll be there before then. We'll see.

Thus concludes my weekend!