musings and my day

So I have been thinking quite a bit about when I play best in tournaments. As I said yesterday I love that mix - just enough cards, but not too many. Then I can play situations very well. And then it got me to thinking - I've done pretty damn well in tournaments lately when I've had trouble finding cards. In a lot of ways, in these (relatively) shallow online tournaments, that's the key - finding ways to make chips when you're not getting the hands. Hopefully, eventually you'll get the hands to make a run. I've been doing a good job of that lately. I can point to the Party 40k yesterday and Sunday's 200k as great examples of this. Even though I never even got to 1600 on Party (start: 1000), I was in position to be able to make a run if I had gotten even a small rush of cards. Sunday in the 200k, I managed to almost triple my chips without ever really getting a hand. I flopped a set and got paid, but other than that it was mostly situational poker.

Which brings me to today. I played 3 tournaments today: the 75k on UB (200/15), the 16k on FT and a 20 table SnG on stars. I really got very few hands in any of these tournaments. I'll start with the 16k because I remember very little from this tournament. I can't remember how I busted, I don't really remember any hands.

The other two tournaments I had trouble playing the situations well. In the 20 table SnG I made two plays when I thought my opponent was weak that I should not have. In the first hand, UTG raised, and I called from the BB with 45s. The action went check/check on the JTx, two spade flop. The turn brought an offsuit 9, and I checked again. My opponent made a small bet at the pot, which I found very weird. I put everything together and I thought he was on a hand like AK or AQ that hadn't hit yet, so I tried to blow him off the hand with a strong raise. He called. I spiked a spade on the river and bet him in. He called his chips off with KQ - I misread him completely, but I was fortunate to hit my draw. The second situation I was dead on that my opponent was weak, but I was dead WRONG that my opponent would fold. I was being very rocky due to a lack of cards and a table gone nuts. The table had calmed down, so I finally took a flop behind a raise holding JT of clubs, a flop that ended up being 3 ways. The flop came down 977 with two diamonds and one club. It was checked to the PFR who made a bet that I just found weird (again). Again I perceived that the player didn't have the hand, so I moved in. I was STUNNED when the player called most of his chips with AJ of hearts - no pair, no draw. I didn't hit my 8, my T or my running clubs and that was that.

My big tournament was the 75k on UB. I said I needed to play a few tournaments to get used to the structure, but I probably shouldn't have started out with such a big one. The tournament was very deep, which I liked. Unfortunately, I again had trouble finding good cards. I did make quads to eliminate a shorty, but that was really it. Unlike usual, my efforts to make cards were rebuffed. When you don't have cards and you can't make chips - it's not going to be a good tourney. I went out pushing KQ on the KJx flop - another player had KJ. Oh well.

It wasn't a bad day though. For the first time in quite a while I had a very very good day at the cash tables. As you, loyal reader, have been able to read over the past few weeks - I've taken a few beats at the cash tables lately. Well, on this day, when they tried to give me their money, they succeeded. I stacked one guy drawing dead, and another drawing to two outs on the flop. I won a big coinflip at 5/10 (Yeah. One good session at 3/6 and suddenly I'm stepping up to 5/10. I had a reason though - the game was real good. We shall speak no more of this) when I overplayed AK and he overplayed JJ and it ended up well for me. It's nice to actually win a coinflip for a change. But I think my best play of the evening was a pot that cost me $120.


Seat 1: shawn ($1,235.75)
Seat 2: poker_dude25 ($388.75)
Seat 3: eman181 ($415.25)
Seat 5: Carlouch33 ($375.75)
Seat 6: kennyfel ($677.25)
Seat 7: KINGSNAKE007 ($642)
Seat 8: THEOSU ($655)
Seat 9: SAM SHADY ($755.75)
SAM SHADY posts the small blind of $5
shawn posts the big blind of $10
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to THEOSU [Qh Qc]
poker_dude25 calls $10
eman181 folds
Carlouch33 folds
kennyfel folds
KINGSNAKE007 folds
THEOSU raises to $40
SAM SHADY calls $35
shawn folds
poker_dude25 calls $30
*** FLOP *** [4s 9s Jh]
SAM SHADY checks
poker_dude25 checks
THEOSU checks
*** TURN *** [4s 9s Jh] [8d]
SAM SHADY checks
poker_dude25 checks
THEOSU bets $80
SAM SHADY raises to $160
poker_dude25 calls $160
THEOSU folds
*** RIVER *** [4s 9s Jh 8d] [6c]
SAM SHADY checks
poker_dude25 bets $188.75, and is all in
SAM SHADY calls $188.75
*** SHOW DOWN ***
poker_dude25 shows [7d Td] (a straight, Jack high)
SAM SHADY mucks
poker_dude25 wins the pot ($904.50) with a straight, Jack high
Seat 2: poker_dude25 showed [7d Td] and won ($904.50) with a straight, Jack high
Seat 8: THEOSU (button) folded on the Turn
Seat 9: SAM SHADY (small blind) mucked [4c 4d] - three of a kind, Fours


As an aside - if Sam Shady bets this flop, pokerdude probably folds, I probably raise, and shady either stacks me or wins a very good pot. His minraise told me he set up somewhere, and if I had any inclination to think the minraise was a bluff, the cold call told me it was a bad idea. It was a pretty easy laydown, but I'm still proud of it, particularly considering how I've been running at the cash tables of late.