Luck comes in many forms...long ..Taj $100 + $20 no limit tournament

[Mike Gallo]

I played in the Taj Mahal $100 + $20 No Limit this morning at 11:00 am. Poster Avid (Matt) and I met up at 9:30 and registered for the tournament. The Taj does not have a computerized system, so the floor manually charts the seats after registering the players. I used the Jedi mind trick and the floor man sat Matt and I at the same table. He sat in seat 3 I sat in seat 2.

Matt and I sat at a great table. We had very aggressive players, who over valued hands and over raised. I had a player to my right, who played his hand as if it were face up. Matt got to double up with his Kings against a woman who over valued her AQ. Welcome to the table. She raised Matt reraised and she went all in. Matt called and took her down to korea town. Matt got lucky that 1) She played the hand so poorly and 2) She didnt spike an Ace.

A lucky hand

I have A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]8 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] in the big blind. Limits are T150-T300 with a T50 ante. I have T2025. Action gets folded to the cutoff who goes all in for T6000. The cutoff is a regular play who plays well at best. Folded to me and I insta call. He table 9 10 off and I hit the flush on the turn. Good thing because he hit a straight. The final board looked like this. He had 9 10 I had A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]8 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]4 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]7 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]J [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

I got lucky in this spot because an opponent moved all in with an inferior hand. I had a drawing hand that got there. I think it shocked Matt that I moved in that quick. I did not think it over, I knew I had the best hand.

I raised one limper with AK and the action got folded to a hyper aggressive player who put me all in. I called and he had Q9 and flopped a 9, I rivered an Ace. I got lucky that AK got there, it is only a drawing hand, you know [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

I now have T7500 in chips. Our table breaks and Matt and I parted ways. I got lucky and moved to a table that suits my style more. The table that Matt and I had featured some wild players. One guy raised to T1000 with the blinds T50-T100. He then commented, "I just wanted to steal the blinds". Like the boy who cried wolf, and got caught, he raised again to T1000 the hyper aggressive player raised to T3000 the blind stealer moved all in, the hyper aggressive player called. Blind stealer had QQ and hyper aggressive player had AA. Hyper aggressive player sent the blind stealer to the rail. Ironically Matt and I ran into blind stealer later on in the day. Blind stealer does not do too good in tournaments he told us, he preferred live play.

I moved to table 21 seat 7.

Steal with a scare card

I have attempted to add new maneuvers to my arsenal. Here is one I pulled off today, I might post this in a seperate thread.

Limits T150-T300 T50 ante

3 players limped and the cut off raised to T600. I had AQ on the button and called. The blinds folded we lost one player and four of us saw a flop of 10 8 3

Checked to the cutoff who bet T300 I called everyone else folded. K hit the turn. The cutoff checked, I bet T1500 and he folded.

Limits have moved up to T200-T400 with a T75 ante. I limped UTG with K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], the player to my left called the player to his left called. Everyone else folded to the blinds who both called.
Flop K : [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]10 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

Checked to me and I bet T1000 the next player called the next player went all in and I called. He tabled A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

I got extremely lucky and turned a King.

I had this hand with against the cutoff from the AQ hand. He had the cutoff and I had the button. Limits were T300-T600 and an ante of T100. I had T15,700 at the start of this hand. Several people called and I called from the button with 9 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]10 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].

The flop came Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]8 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 8 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Checked to the cutoff and he bet T1000. I called and planned on raising him on the turn if a scary card came. I put him on a decent Queen, although he could have had an 8.

Turn 6 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]8 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 8 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

He bet T2000 and I raised to T7000. He called.

River 7 6 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]8 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 8 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

He checked and I went all in. He had me covered and called with 8 10 off suit. I play g0000t.

Throwing away the best hand.

Sometimes I give my opponents too much credit.

With the blinds T1000-T3000 and an ante of T300 I open raised with 1010 to T6000. Folded to the big blind who called. I had him only slightly covered.

Flop J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]6 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]8 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

The big blind makes a T12000 bet into a T19000 pot. I folded. The fold seemed correct at the time, however after I discovered this player had not slept all night and he played erratically to say the least. I folded the best hand.

I stopped taking notes about hands after we got down to 40 players. Basically I had hands where I called someones all in bet with a better hand. I had QQ against A5 hold up and AK draw out on A5. He flopped a 5 I turned a King.

I did not get lucky for my last hand when I became the 20th player out of 279 knocked out.

With the blinds of T5000 and T10000 and a T1000 I went all in with T40000 with A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] A player who had over 100K in chips called with 77. I did not get there.

All in all I had a blast today. I started the tournament miserably and made a strong comeback. Matt and I laughed about how I have a different style of play in tournaments compared to live play.

I feel a sense of achievement because I finished in the money in back to back tournaments. I still have a long road to travel, however I see some light.

Thanks to everyone who has read this so far.

[wAzZu24]

Your tournament report posts are great. Keep them coming.

[CCx]

good stuff mike, tough break losing the race on your last hand, but there's no doubt you're definitely playing well lately - keep up the good work and the well written tourney reports! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Mike Gallo]

Thanks for the kind words. Will do. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Mike Gallo]

Thanks.