Tourney report/some hands from the Legends of Poker $330NL at the Bike

[sdplayerb]

I played the $330 NL Legends of Poker tourney Monday night. 477 people. I couldn’t believe it was that many.
Vince Vaughn and Tobey Maguire were at nearby tables.

Randy Holland was at mine. I had played with him last year at an NL tourney and knocked him out shortly after the end of rebuys in two hands.

I was in the 9 seat and recognized an asian player in the 6 seat, I was pretty sure who it was from TV, and confirmed today that it was Minh Nguyen, who has two bracelets.

Start with 800 chips, 40 minute rounds, blinds start at 5-15.

Hand 1: I get 88 UTG and limp. A couple of limpers come along. We see it 4 handed.
Flop is 832 with two diamonds (8 being one of them).
I bet 50 at it since any possible draws and LA people call a lot.
1 caller. Third diamond hits the turn..check check. A fourth on the river..check check.
He has no diamond. I win. That is a 100 chip profit.

Hand 2: I have JT on the button. Two limpers, I limp. A new player with over 1,600 chips makes it 60 (or maybe 55) to go from the SB..I don’t like JT, but the limpers call, so I do to.
QTx flop. Checked around. I consider betting at it, but will still have position on the turn.
Another low card. SB bets 60 at it, one caller. I almost folded, but was such a small bet..so I call.
Another low card on the river, maybe paired the board. We check around.
SB had A9, other player doesn’t show, so I take it. And a pretty nice pot.
I’m somewhere around 1,400 now.

Hand 3: Now we are at 10-25 blinds.
Two late limpers, I’m in the cutoff with AJs, so I make it 125 to go expecting to take it there.
SB calls as does the 2nd limper.
Kxx flop. They check, I consider betting it. But they really could have KQ or KJ..they play weird there.
A on the turn, nice. Checked to me, I bet 200. I am a bit weary though.
SB calls. I’m checking the river if he does, unless a J hits.
A low card hits. SB bets 150. I figure he has AQ or AT..i call. Yep, AQ.

Then something somewhat interesting happens. Fyi, I listen to my MP3 player while playing, so I then notice some talking going back and forth. A player not in the hand asked to see my hand when I mucked it. But my cards were in the muck.
Minh I saw saying that is bad (or something to that effect) and commenting to the player you have asked that numerous times and the player says he wants information. I tell him if he asks again I will ask to see his cards every single time..he said fine or something like that.
Minh then basically runs down all the hands I’ve played..I was pretty impressed.
I made some comment about did you like my call with 2nd pair. We chatted a little about the bad etiquette of him asking. I’m trying to make friends with the most dangerous player at the table.

But on that hand I lost 475, so back down to around 800. I really could have lost more if he bet out on the turn, I probably would have gone broke or pretty close. And he could have gotten 300 from me on the river.

Hand 4: There are a couple of limpers and I pickup 55 in the SB, so I complete. BB (the one that raised limp JT limp) makes it somewhere around 85, numerous callers. The odds are too good so I have to call. I decide if I flop my set I will slow play since any decent bet will be a huge portion of my stack (I don’t slowplay much).
K52 flop with 2 diamonds. I check, the raiser checks, the player that asked to see my hand bets 125 (into a pot around 350, maybe more). I make it 300 (could have made it more, but I wanted him to think I was making a play on him per the argument, and hoping the raiser would come in).
All fold to the guy that made it 125…I can see he knows I have a big hand and starts thinking a lot. I’m trying to convince him, touch my face like I’m nervous. He finally says he is allin, but not too thrilled. I say call, he asks if I have a set. I say you get to see it this time, or some smart aleck remark. He had AK (so I think he limped in early with it, or I remember something wrong). It holds up.

Minh and I agree it was bad karma from before.
I am at around 1,700 now and I believe the table leader.

Hand 5: Still at 10-25. UTG+1. I’ve decided I’ll be play 3x raises since most people are around 800 and won’t be getting good implied odds on me.
UTG limps, I have QQ and make it 100 to go. MP flat calls, Minh flat calls from the SB and the UTG flat calls. MP is around 1000, other two are under 800.
Flop comes 97x (I believe rainbow). Minh says allin (I know I have him beat) UTG thinks a little and calls (didn’t seem like he was trying to drag me in)..I say allin..MP folds, Minh says something about not liking that.
Minh has A9 diamonds (no flush draw), UTG has 86 for a str draw, which I don’t like since 8 outs.
Ace on the turn..crap. No help on the river.

I have to ship another 540 to Minh.
I tell him it is not fair you are both good and lucky. He then talks to his friend walking by and is showing him his stack. I ask him if he told him how lucky he got (not in a mean way), he says there is a lot of luck in NL (which I don’t really agree with).
He says he couldn’t put him on a big pair. I tell him that happens a lot and then people get lucky on me.
I also say I am pretty surprised he called with that hand.
He said he thought I should have raised more preflop, I don’t respond. He is wrong.

So somebody tell me that I am wrong. I have raised to 4x from EP, my 2nd raise of the day. One caller to him and he calls for 1/7th of his chips in the SB with A9s??
That is really a terrible play. If an A flops he is getting no action unless beat. And with his 9 hitting, he could still be crippled. He can’t win a big pot without luck.
And the other guy limped with 86 UTG for about 7% of his chips. With all the money to him, I can’t really blame him for calling my raise.
With the 3way allin, there were 15 outs against me, so I only had a 48% chance to win.
If I win, I’d be at 2,900 or so and nearly double anybody at my table.

I was down to 1,050. Not on tilt, but really not happy. I don’t mind people getting lucky, but not lucky when they play bad.


Hand 6: 25-50, 850 or so in chips
QQ UTG, I make it 200 to go.
UTG+1 calls. All else fold.
No A, no A, No A.
Axx flop..great.
Check check
Turn, check check
River another blank, expect check check, he bets 200.
Since I saw him bluff small before and 675 in the pot, I call and pretty quick.
He has AK, I am down to 450.
Player to my right tells him he played it terribly giving me two shots to get lucky with a set or two pair, I agreed and it was pretty funny.

Nothing else happened. No chances to steal or anything. Always a raise before me.
Down to 350 at 50-100 and I pushin with 76 from mid-early position. Hope to get through it (people were folding to Randy Holland constantly for around 550). And I don’t mind a call that much from AK even since I would be upto 850 if not one of the blinds.
Guy to my left that was AK before calls, Minh calls also.

First card I see is a 7! Then I see the ace. Player to my left pushes in, Minh throws away 99 face up..other guy has AQ. 9 on the turn, Minh is pissed..no help on the river and I am out.

Somebody said he shouldn’t have bet at a dry pot, it was the right thing to do per what happened on the turn.

I lasted longer than Vaughn and Maguire and read that Maguire went out around 150 (although it seemed there was well over 200 left when I got knocked out).
I had complete confidence playing against two big tourney players.
There were many other big names, so was bummed I didn’t get to play against some more. But mainly bummed that I didn’t get my chance to play with the stack I almost had.

SD

[durron597]

[ QUOTE ]
Hand 5: Still at 10-25. UTG+1. I’ve decided I’ll be play 3x raises since most people are around 800 and won’t be getting good implied odds on me.
UTG limps, I have QQ and make it 100 to go. MP flat calls, Minh flat calls from the SB and the UTG flat calls. MP is around 1000, other two are under 800.
Flop comes 97x (I believe rainbow). Minh says allin (I know I have him beat) UTG thinks a little and calls (didn’t seem like he was trying to drag me in)..I say allin..MP folds, Minh says something about not liking that.
Minh has A9 diamonds (no flush draw), UTG has 86 for a str draw, which I don’t like since 8 outs.
Ace on the turn..crap. No help on the river.

I have to ship another 540 to Minh.
I tell him it is not fair you are both good and lucky.

[/ QUOTE ]

IMVHO, You play good and Minh plays bad. I would say that he made a bad read on you preflop (AK-AJ) and he figured you were a tight enough player that he could outplay you post flop. The fact that his 9 hit has little to do with it, again, IMO.

From what I understand, that is how the famous pros like to build their stacks; getting their chips in first and outplaying people post flop, instead of taking 70:30 edges that risk their whole tourney life.

Don't sweat it. If tourneys were all about skill, then Phil Hellmuth would win every single one, right?

[sdplayerb]

Yeah, that was my read too. I put him on like KQ or 88/77.
I think his play is ok if my raise was from late position, but i was UTG+1. So as you said, he plays bad.

He said he put me on something like AK..so still a bad call.

Trust me, I don't sweat it. Good to know someone that is supposed to be so good, can play a hand like that.

[durron597]

Honestly.... I think the reason he is so good is that 1) he trusts his reads and 2) he can remember every hand you've played with which to make those reads. If he had correctly put you on AK, and the flop came undercards (as it did) would you have called? If the answer is no, then his play isn't quite so bad. The only mistake was making a bad read and not making allowances for it being wrong.

[sdplayerb]

then why not just do that all the time?

i also disagree as he was risking 630 chips to win around 250. they does not sound like a good move to me.
he still had 25x the BB. A top level player's chips are much too valuable for that.

And if that is the case he has me on AK, he should check thinking I am likely to bet at it.

[durron597]

Eh you're probably right. As to why not do it all the time, if he did it all the time you would eventually catch on. Also, it sounds to me like he was relatively card dead and decided that this was the time to make a move. I've seen him pull crap like this on TV with far less than A9.

Also, if you bet at it with AK, he doesn't want to risk you thinking that you are pot committed and have to call. Remember, you raised in front; he was probably thinking your raise would look real nice in his stack, if he could outplay you.

Of course I could be horribly wrong. But then again, I'm trying to read the mind of someone who would flatcall a raise of 1/7th his stack with A9.... [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[$DEADSEXE$]

Luck is a HUGE factor in no limit poker...more so than in limit.....especially in tourny's

[HoldingFolding]

Nice post. Do you know how far Minh eventually got?

[sdplayerb]

Thanks.
No, i just know he didn't make the money.
When I got knocked out he was probably between 900 and 1,200 chips at 50-100, so was in pretty bad shape.

[knsmith85]

Your analysis of the hands seems fairly logical; I don't have anything to add to that.

However, I'd strongly recommend you avoid engaging in discussions criticizing other players' hands. It's only going to lead to bad things - things around you will get much more unpredictable.