Station Poker Classic trip report.

[all_aces]

Hey all,

I haven't posted on here in quite a while, mostly because I posted mainly in the shorthanded section and I don't play much shorthanded anymore. For those who don't know me (most of you...) I managed to bank 50K USD playing 25-50 shorthanded online for 3 months. I cashed it all out, and I'm using it now to fund trips to semi-large multi-table tournaments. The following is a repost from pokerforum.ca (I'm Canadian...) outlining my first stab at the "major" tournament world. This tournament is in Regina (about a four hour flight from my home in Toronto), so you've probably never heard of it. The deal that was agreed upon by the final six players has been the subject of some controversy, so I thought I'd see what you all thought about it.

It's a really long post. I wrote it on the flight back because I had nothing better to do. If you do read it, I hope you enjoy it!

I arrived in Regina on Thursday evening, armed with Sklansky's 'Tournament Poker for Advanced Players', Holden's 'Big Deal', and Jesse May's 'Shut up and Deal'. After throwing my stuff into my room at the Delta I proceeded immediately to the casino, very pleased that I wouldn't need a jacket for 3 days due to the above-ground walkways between the hotel, the casino, and the mall. My goal--other than making the money in Friday's limit or Saturday's no-limit tournament--was to never go outside.

So, I played 15/30 Thursday night for a while and met some really nice people, including Dave Scharf. He's a very popular man, so I didn't get much of a chance to talk to him over the weekend, but he seemed very pleasant, and helpful. I think these tournaments are a great opportunity for him to network with the other movers and shakers of the Canadian poker scene, and he appeared to be doing just that.

It was kind of weird to be sitting in a poker room in Regina and having Neil McVicar's face staring up at me from the little drink table; copies of Canadian Poker Player magazine had been strategically and wisely placed all over the poker room. The place was getting pretty packed due to the number of players arriving in town for the tournament. I was sitting next to a nice guy named Ron from Calgary I think, who was counting the number of times he's had aces cracked lately. (Last check he was having them hold up only 4 out of 17 times). I saw the 16th and 17th cracks, and both were ugly. 2 4o and 7 4o, calling the preflop raise.

So, while it sucked to see this happen to Ron, I really liked my table. I was up a bit when I went to bed early to rest up for Friday.

Friday's tournament drew somewhere around 245 players I think. I was pretty nervous. Top 27 spots paid, and I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to make it to the final 27. No mistakes. My table had a nice mix of players, and I was lucky enough to not be moved all day, so I could get a feel for some of the action players.

Here are a bunch of hands that I remember from the tournament.

After building my stack up slowly, holding steady with the average chip count, I was dealt 88 in EP at the 200/400 level and raised. A tight guy to my left called, as did the big blind. 3 of us to the flop: 8h 2c 4h. BB bets, I raise, both players call. So, there's at least one flush draw out there. Turn was the 5h. Uh-oh. BB checks, I check, guy to my left bets, BB check-raises, and now it's 800 cold to me. I couldn't afford to lose this pot, and had to gamble, so I called knowing I was currently beat. The guy to my left called as well.

The river was the beautiful 4c, giving me top full house. BB checked, I bet not wanting to risk going for a checkraise, and both called. BB had a rag flush, the guy to my left had KQh, and I had a nice stack in front of me.

However, as the limits went up, my cards were getting cold. I was below average when I limped in with the Kh Th in EP, and it was folded all the way to the BB who checked. The flop came ace high, no pair or draw for me, with 2 spades. BB checks and I bet, hoping to take it, but he called. Turn was another spade, we both check. River is a 4th spade, he checks, and I bet. My situation was such that I need that pot, and he thought for an agonizingly long time before flashing an ace and folding. Whew.

After a couple of lost blinds and level changes it was getting desperate for me. We'd been playing for a long time and were down to 30 players. I was shortstacked, no doubt, but there were at least 5 shorter stacks, maybe more. I had enough to wait it out until the money if I didn't get cards (or even if I did...) so that's what I did. After a couple of steals, I actually managed to make it down to 19 people left, guaranteeing me approx. $1500. I was very happy, but I had $500 into the tourney in rebuys/add-on's, and once you get close you just want to get closer.

I literally begged the dealer for good cards in my big blind as it approached, because I only had twice the amount of the BB left. He smiled sympathetically, and when my blind came he dealt me two black kings. Somebody raised, somebody called, and I called all-in, hoping to triple up. My seat had its back directly to the rail and neither of the players left in the hand were anywhere near me, so I flashed the kings to the growing number of people who had gathered to watch. The board ended up having 4 clubs, no ace, my king high flush was good, and I was back.

Shortly after that, I raised in EP with AhTh and a very good, very young player with his hood up 3-bet me. I called with a very bad feeling. Heads-up to the flop of 9h 7d 3h. I checked, he bet, I check-raised with my flush draw, and when he just called I put him on overcards. I had almost exactly enough left for a turn and river bet--he had only slightly more. One hand at these limits will cripple you; nobody at our table could afford more than maybe one or two mistakes. The turn was a brick, I bet my flush draw and tried not to move, think or breathe while he considered the situation, and he folded. He told me shortly after the hand, during the break, that he had AK.

So, I was in much better--though not outstanding--shape when this hand came up with only 11 of us left. One more person to bust out, then it's the final table. Folded to me in early MP and I raise with TT. Only the BB, a tricky and loose player, calls. The flop comes king high with two rags and no draw, and he bets into me. He has enough chips to bet his hand the whole way, coming only slightly short on his river bet. I have enough to call him down, but I'll be in the bottom 2 or 3 spots if I lose. And I thought about it for a while, how if he had a king it's an unusual way for him specifically to play it, just betting out like that, and I called. He bet the turn (a brick), and I called. The river paired the king, he bet all-in, I called, and he flipped up pocket sevens.

My tens were good, the game was paused, and they took down our names and chip counts for the final table. As it turned out, that hand made me the chip leader going into the final table by a very slim margin at 229,000 chips. I was thrilled, and called my girlfriend to update her.

So, a modest crowd had gathered around to watch the final table action, which was being broadcast throughout the casino. Everyone was introduced by their name, city, and chip count, and most everybody had brought a cheering section with them.

When it came to me I thought I heard crickets chirping behind the polite smattering of applause. It was pretty funny.

First place paid $37,000, but I couldn't think too much about that. The chips were distributed fairly evenly around the table, so my chip lead, although nice, would guarantee me nothing at these levels. And then my cards went cold. Frigid. Nothing at all. I stole a couple, but not enough, and the gentleman in seat 10 was hitting every flop and generally having his way with us. My stack was dwindling, fast, when I made a semi-steal attempt from the cut-off with 8dTd. The big blind--the guy with the hood--called, with very few chips left. In retrospect, it's a bad idea to steal blinds from someone who has barely any chips left, because they're committed, but oh well.

The flop came AJ8 rainbow and I bet after he checked. He checkraised me, and I called because he only had enough left to bet short on the turn, which he did. Luckily for me, the turn was a ten, giving me 2 pair to call his all-in with. He had A4o, no help on the river, and I apologized to him as I shook his hand. "That's poker", he said.

With now only 7 of us left, I needed another win. After missing flops and getting dealt garbage, I was once again getting fairly low. Folded to the SB who had a stack smaller than mine, though not by a whole lot. He was playing fast and as expected, he raised my BB. I called with J8o, because I pretty much had to. The flop came J25 rainbow and he bet. I raised and he called all-in with A4o. The turn was a 3, giving him the gutshot straight, and I slapped my head in shock. (I was later told that the people watching on the closed-circuit TV got a kick out of that). I was almost dead, just hanging on. Someone busted out, and with 6 of us left, we took a break. I had exactly 2 big blinds worth of chips in front of me. Not good. Glancing at the pay chart, however, I noticed that 6th was to get around $4500, and 5th was to get around $6000. Although I was the lowest stack, there were two more low stacks as well, and my goal was to fluke my way into 5th.

As it turned out, we got back from break and the clock was stopped because another short stack wanted to propose a deal. I was very interested. And then he proposed what is far and away the most bizarre and (for me) delightful deal imaginable.

The chip leader (seat 10, HUGE lead) would be guaranteed 27K of the the 37K first prize. The other 10K of the first prize would go to whoever took 1st place. So, if the chip leader wins the thing, he gets the full 37K. If not, he gets 27K, which is MORE that 2nd place pays, so he literally cannot lose.

As if that wasn't bizarre enough, the proposed deal saw the remaining five of us split the remaining prize pool (about 55K) equally, at about 11K each. The guy in 2nd place in chips at the time wanted 1K from each of the four of us, and we agreed to give him $500 each. Truth be told, I'd have given him 2K myself, but I kept my mouth shut. So, with me about to blind my way to a $4500 win, we all agreed to the following:

Current chip leader: 27K guaranteed.
Current 2nd chip leader: Approx. 13K guaranteed.
Remaining four: Approx. 10.5K each, guaranteed.
Final winner: Additional 10K.

I couldn't agree fast enough. Soon after, I busted out calling a raise with Ah5h because I had to, but not before someone went out 6th, putting me at a respectable 5th place finish for a $10,374 prize. I played air guitar in the empty lobby as I walked out.

The no-limit tourney on Saturday didn't go as well. I finished at about 100 of 265 or so, getting my money's worth out of the day with about 7 or 8 hours of play. My stack was never huge, my cards were rarely great, and I busted out with a good hand (trips) losing to a better hand (full house). I'd decided to fly my girlfriend in that night to celebrate with me, and played in a lively 20/40 game while I waited. The plan was for us to get hammered and terrorize a 5/10 game. She's never really played poker before, at all, so the getting hammered part was very important.

When she arrived I was enjoying the company at the 20/40 game too much, so I made the dubious decision to 'celebrate' there, with her sitting behind me doing the same. Despite my very obvious innebriation, I kept a lid on my game and stumbled away ahead about $600 when the game broke.

I then tried to play in the 15/30 game, and when the dealer--the same one who dealt me the kings the day before--told me in a nice but pointed way that I was drunk, I decided that I should probably stop playing. This, despite the fact that my girlfriend was very amused and more than a little intruiged by the people and the situations she was seeing at the tables.

Before I went to bed, I checked in on the no-limit tournament just in time to see Ron--Mr. '4 for 17 with aces'--take 5th place as well. I guess they must have held up!

Regards,
all_aces

[smudgex68]

Nice post - congrats

[all_aces]