CardSharpCook
05-19-2005, 03:44 AM
Well, today I played in the first of five prelim WSOP circuit events. A $200 buy in tourney with 833 entrants. It was an awesome experience.
From the moment I sat down in the BB, every thing was coming up Cook. The first hand of the tourney, with 25/25 blinds, the "SB" folded (even though a check would have worked) to me. For the first two hours, I never lost a pot that I seriously played. I was playing just as Cooks do - agro, agro, agro. Players would bet into me, I'd call. They'd check to me, I'd bet.
Hands that bothered me. KTo with 100/200 blinds. I'm about 4K deep, and make it 500 to go from MP3 (includes "they're about to fold" reads). BB calls. OK. Flop come Q98. Checked to me, I bet 500. BB calls. Now this BB has been waiting to playback at me for quite some time now. He knows my style and he wants to punish me (I get used to this sort of thing). Turn comes 3. BB with 2300 chips (now) checks. I push. I know he has me beat, and that my 7 outs may or may not be good. I know that he was waiting to Chk/rz or river bet me with whatever he has, but I go AI. He folds. TG!
AKo. The chick from Tennesse with HUGE knockers and an absolutely delightful personality triples the BB to 900 UTG+1. Sitting in MP3 with AKo and 4000K chips I... call. I think I should have pushed because later reads showed that she probably had a PP 22-77. However, I call and a flop of T88 does nothing for me when she pushes. (first to act).
55. SB 100/200 blinds. Folded to me. I make it 600, call. 800 on a JT3 flop. BB pushes. damn. Muck. 6500 chips down to 4100.
99. SB 100/200. Make it 600 to go. Call. QsJs6 flop. bet 800. Raise to 1600. I go into the tank for a minute and a half (knowing all the while that I'm folding) and fold. The problem is, I know this BB. I mean, I don't know him, but I know him. He is a straight shooter. Both times he had some over cards, both times he caught. What can I do? This hand was the turning point for my tourney. I had been the 2X chip leader (double any other stack at the table) and these two hands lead into that AKo hand and for THE REST OF THE TOURNEY I am a short stack. I can't tell you how much this sucked. CSC was meant to play a big stack. Fortune allowed me to do it for a good portion of this tourney. Sadly, 3 hands reduced me to a bot (make the mathematically correct play every time).
Comical hands. Right before a break, the Short stack sitting on 1500 chips makes it 400 to go. A slightly larger short stack pushes. Boy-o with 1500 says, "ah, you probably have a pocket pair, you take it." and turns over AKo....
Same guy. Folds in MP2. Folded to SB (mid-stack) who goes AI. MP2 says, "I folded pocket jacks. He was itching for some callers." Ok, buddy. Amazingly, this guy went on to cash five hours later. (this required winning as a 30:70 underdog at one point vs. a kid who had embarrassed him by showing his bluff)
Twice, someone folded AK to my bet. Once I had AK as well, the other time I had AA BUT he would have caught trip kings.
3/4 of the way through the tourney this hot chick.... and when I say she was hot, she was SMOKING! sat down. At this point in the tourney I was gaining the rep. of going AI WAY too much. (in reality, I was just following the rules, but this appeared as such at the table). Hot chick... well, I can't say she was checking me out, (she had sunglasses on) but she was definately taking an interest in me. Time went on, she was dying to call one of my AIs. 8 handed I push A5s UTG+1. She folds after some painful deliberation, and the SB is almost a forced AI, completes with his....43o. Girly says, "Now we finally get to see what he's been pushing with!" He pairs, I straight, I win... But then hot chick says, "I just lost SOOO much respect for you!" "What?!?!" "I had ATs. I'm not folding that next time!" "Aw!!! come one!" "I just lost so much respect for you, now we know what you're raising over there." "Well, what did you think I was stealing with?" We all had a good laugh.
I'm an idiot. I decide to blind limp from UTG. Of course, I don't realise this until the NEXT hand starts and they tell me to put in the BB..... But, Girly with the bad feelings for CSC limps behind with A4o and catches....A46 on the flop, and pushes. I fold easily, thinking her a fool for not raising PF... I'm an idiot. Gave up 1000 of my 7000 chips with that move.
AI in the dark with 1700 chips with 300-600 blinds from UTG+3. Some fool does this. Girly is the benefactor of this hand as her A6o beats his....52o.... She had a good time calling him an absolute idiot after he left. We all had a good laugh.
LOL! Moron agro sits at the table. We all know he is a moron agro. Folded to him on the button. He triples the blinds. SS BB calls. Flop is J84. BB checks, moron puts SS AI. BB, who knew (along with the rest of us) what the button would do, calls with.... KK. Moron turns over...T2o. A ten on the turn provides false hope. Next hand moron gives the rest of his stack to me with 88 vs 99.
Internet pros. Two players sit down at the table. They look like brothers. They talk to each other like they've known each other their entire lives. Turns out, they keep getting moved together and they keep sitting right next to each other. Turns out, they BOTH know Gavin. I didn't get involved in that conversation, but that was cool. Both are named Matt, one is from Dallas and goes by the name Juice54 (if I recall correctly) and the other is SamENole. I was so excited to meet Sam. I understand his play so easily now after sitting with him for just a few hours at a live table. I understand HIM so much more. He is a really cool guy. Kind of shy and reserved, a very straight laces poker player. I really liked the kid. He was stilling playing with just a couple chips when I busted out. Very cool though meeting guys my age who have the same success that I do.
So, I'm pushing every time I play from 500 players left down to... my bust out hand at 41. I NEVER get called. I got called with K6s (by 44, AQQ88 board) and with AKs (by 88, 86642 board), and the A5s hand. Hands that floated included, 99,66,QJo,K9o, 77, and more that I can't remember. Absolutely incredible. NEVER had an opportunity to double up. Finally, we are sitting 7 handed with about 45 left in the tourney. I have 6700 chips and the big stack (previously passive, but now understands SH and bubble considerations) bets 3000. I look down at KQo, check the blinds, (500/1500) and remember my rules. "at 4bb or less, you are accepting any reasonable offer of a coinflip." I know I have no FE, of course, but I throw my chips in. The nearly forced AI SB calls. SB has Q9s, big stack has 33. 4 clubs show up to give the 33 a flush. I lose, I go home $240 richer for 11 hours of work.
Awesome tourney. I had a blast. Sat in the same seat for eleven hours. Got to meet SamENole. Had SOOO much fun with Girly AND the other players who kept sitting down. Clonie Gowen (of FTP and Indian Poker (at the WSOP) fame) was at the next table (she finshed well, OTM around 130). My buddy in the BB was a NO native, so was a very friendly guy. 3 of us sat at the same table for 11 hours. I played well. I got beaten by following my rules, not by playing stupidly. I finished in the top 5%. I am happy.
However, I know I could have won it. I mean, I needed luck, but I could have....
Oh god, one more hand. I had about 4200 chips, blinds 75/150, one limper in front of me, one limper (out of turn) behind me, and I toss KJo. I would have flopped the nuts in a 5-handed pot WITH 2 people betting into me. This hand would have changed the entire tournament for me. This and the AKo hand may have done me in. Who knows though, right?
I will get better.
Anyway, I had a blast. God has gifted me with a highly developed sense of empathy. This helps me help countless others, but in poker, it lets me read and understand other players and take their money. I love live tourneys because it is so much easier to use my empathic abilities when I can see and talk to the players I am trying to bust. I miss this.
CSC
Oh, and God bless you, if you actually read this entire thing. It got a little long, and I know I left parts out. I'll bump this in the morning too.
From the moment I sat down in the BB, every thing was coming up Cook. The first hand of the tourney, with 25/25 blinds, the "SB" folded (even though a check would have worked) to me. For the first two hours, I never lost a pot that I seriously played. I was playing just as Cooks do - agro, agro, agro. Players would bet into me, I'd call. They'd check to me, I'd bet.
Hands that bothered me. KTo with 100/200 blinds. I'm about 4K deep, and make it 500 to go from MP3 (includes "they're about to fold" reads). BB calls. OK. Flop come Q98. Checked to me, I bet 500. BB calls. Now this BB has been waiting to playback at me for quite some time now. He knows my style and he wants to punish me (I get used to this sort of thing). Turn comes 3. BB with 2300 chips (now) checks. I push. I know he has me beat, and that my 7 outs may or may not be good. I know that he was waiting to Chk/rz or river bet me with whatever he has, but I go AI. He folds. TG!
AKo. The chick from Tennesse with HUGE knockers and an absolutely delightful personality triples the BB to 900 UTG+1. Sitting in MP3 with AKo and 4000K chips I... call. I think I should have pushed because later reads showed that she probably had a PP 22-77. However, I call and a flop of T88 does nothing for me when she pushes. (first to act).
55. SB 100/200 blinds. Folded to me. I make it 600, call. 800 on a JT3 flop. BB pushes. damn. Muck. 6500 chips down to 4100.
99. SB 100/200. Make it 600 to go. Call. QsJs6 flop. bet 800. Raise to 1600. I go into the tank for a minute and a half (knowing all the while that I'm folding) and fold. The problem is, I know this BB. I mean, I don't know him, but I know him. He is a straight shooter. Both times he had some over cards, both times he caught. What can I do? This hand was the turning point for my tourney. I had been the 2X chip leader (double any other stack at the table) and these two hands lead into that AKo hand and for THE REST OF THE TOURNEY I am a short stack. I can't tell you how much this sucked. CSC was meant to play a big stack. Fortune allowed me to do it for a good portion of this tourney. Sadly, 3 hands reduced me to a bot (make the mathematically correct play every time).
Comical hands. Right before a break, the Short stack sitting on 1500 chips makes it 400 to go. A slightly larger short stack pushes. Boy-o with 1500 says, "ah, you probably have a pocket pair, you take it." and turns over AKo....
Same guy. Folds in MP2. Folded to SB (mid-stack) who goes AI. MP2 says, "I folded pocket jacks. He was itching for some callers." Ok, buddy. Amazingly, this guy went on to cash five hours later. (this required winning as a 30:70 underdog at one point vs. a kid who had embarrassed him by showing his bluff)
Twice, someone folded AK to my bet. Once I had AK as well, the other time I had AA BUT he would have caught trip kings.
3/4 of the way through the tourney this hot chick.... and when I say she was hot, she was SMOKING! sat down. At this point in the tourney I was gaining the rep. of going AI WAY too much. (in reality, I was just following the rules, but this appeared as such at the table). Hot chick... well, I can't say she was checking me out, (she had sunglasses on) but she was definately taking an interest in me. Time went on, she was dying to call one of my AIs. 8 handed I push A5s UTG+1. She folds after some painful deliberation, and the SB is almost a forced AI, completes with his....43o. Girly says, "Now we finally get to see what he's been pushing with!" He pairs, I straight, I win... But then hot chick says, "I just lost SOOO much respect for you!" "What?!?!" "I had ATs. I'm not folding that next time!" "Aw!!! come one!" "I just lost so much respect for you, now we know what you're raising over there." "Well, what did you think I was stealing with?" We all had a good laugh.
I'm an idiot. I decide to blind limp from UTG. Of course, I don't realise this until the NEXT hand starts and they tell me to put in the BB..... But, Girly with the bad feelings for CSC limps behind with A4o and catches....A46 on the flop, and pushes. I fold easily, thinking her a fool for not raising PF... I'm an idiot. Gave up 1000 of my 7000 chips with that move.
AI in the dark with 1700 chips with 300-600 blinds from UTG+3. Some fool does this. Girly is the benefactor of this hand as her A6o beats his....52o.... She had a good time calling him an absolute idiot after he left. We all had a good laugh.
LOL! Moron agro sits at the table. We all know he is a moron agro. Folded to him on the button. He triples the blinds. SS BB calls. Flop is J84. BB checks, moron puts SS AI. BB, who knew (along with the rest of us) what the button would do, calls with.... KK. Moron turns over...T2o. A ten on the turn provides false hope. Next hand moron gives the rest of his stack to me with 88 vs 99.
Internet pros. Two players sit down at the table. They look like brothers. They talk to each other like they've known each other their entire lives. Turns out, they keep getting moved together and they keep sitting right next to each other. Turns out, they BOTH know Gavin. I didn't get involved in that conversation, but that was cool. Both are named Matt, one is from Dallas and goes by the name Juice54 (if I recall correctly) and the other is SamENole. I was so excited to meet Sam. I understand his play so easily now after sitting with him for just a few hours at a live table. I understand HIM so much more. He is a really cool guy. Kind of shy and reserved, a very straight laces poker player. I really liked the kid. He was stilling playing with just a couple chips when I busted out. Very cool though meeting guys my age who have the same success that I do.
So, I'm pushing every time I play from 500 players left down to... my bust out hand at 41. I NEVER get called. I got called with K6s (by 44, AQQ88 board) and with AKs (by 88, 86642 board), and the A5s hand. Hands that floated included, 99,66,QJo,K9o, 77, and more that I can't remember. Absolutely incredible. NEVER had an opportunity to double up. Finally, we are sitting 7 handed with about 45 left in the tourney. I have 6700 chips and the big stack (previously passive, but now understands SH and bubble considerations) bets 3000. I look down at KQo, check the blinds, (500/1500) and remember my rules. "at 4bb or less, you are accepting any reasonable offer of a coinflip." I know I have no FE, of course, but I throw my chips in. The nearly forced AI SB calls. SB has Q9s, big stack has 33. 4 clubs show up to give the 33 a flush. I lose, I go home $240 richer for 11 hours of work.
Awesome tourney. I had a blast. Sat in the same seat for eleven hours. Got to meet SamENole. Had SOOO much fun with Girly AND the other players who kept sitting down. Clonie Gowen (of FTP and Indian Poker (at the WSOP) fame) was at the next table (she finshed well, OTM around 130). My buddy in the BB was a NO native, so was a very friendly guy. 3 of us sat at the same table for 11 hours. I played well. I got beaten by following my rules, not by playing stupidly. I finished in the top 5%. I am happy.
However, I know I could have won it. I mean, I needed luck, but I could have....
Oh god, one more hand. I had about 4200 chips, blinds 75/150, one limper in front of me, one limper (out of turn) behind me, and I toss KJo. I would have flopped the nuts in a 5-handed pot WITH 2 people betting into me. This hand would have changed the entire tournament for me. This and the AKo hand may have done me in. Who knows though, right?
I will get better.
Anyway, I had a blast. God has gifted me with a highly developed sense of empathy. This helps me help countless others, but in poker, it lets me read and understand other players and take their money. I love live tourneys because it is so much easier to use my empathic abilities when I can see and talk to the players I am trying to bust. I miss this.
CSC
Oh, and God bless you, if you actually read this entire thing. It got a little long, and I know I left parts out. I'll bump this in the morning too.