Good start to 2017
Did well in the Sunday Night Freeroll.
Ok, the deets. First off, started with a really good table draw. Was able to raise a few pots and win blinds uncontested early which almost never happens. Had 1 donk at my table that I got into a few pots with early heads up and ended up with him making a pot sized bet on the river. Smelled like a bluff each time but I had A high and K high respectively so didn't call.
Then I got into the following hand with him. Had K♠J♥ with 10/20 blinds and raised it up to 60 from 2nd position. Donk calls from the BB (everyone else folded). Heads up to a flop of K♦T♣6♣. He donks into me for 20, I raise to 142, and he calls. Turn 6♠. He fails to respect the raise of the previous street and bets out 207. I just call. River 8♥. He bets 828. Does he have something here? Because of the history with him on the 2 hands before I think he's trying to push me around because he probably thinks he can get me to fold. Or he's over valuing top pair middle/low kicker. I call. He had Q♣T♥ for middle pair. El-oh-el.
Unfortunately that juicy table broke up a few minutes after and had to play at another one. Had a little over 3k in chips, got K♦K♠ at the other table with no reads on any players and opened with it for 150 three off the button (blinds 25/50 at this point). Both blinds called and I checked behind on an A♣2♣5♠ flop. Get donked into on a 9♠ turn for 50 and I called. Other player folded. River A♥ and his check makes me sure he doesn't have a flush or A so I bet 250 hoping he'll pay me off with some type of pair but it doesn't happen and I collect the pot after a fold.
Pretty card dead for the rest of my stay at the table and I get moved again. Only a little over 20 minutes into it and already at table #3. Little annoying for me as I do not have a TV in my living room at this point and only 1 screen so had the SNF game on the computer so had to keep re-sizing the table every time I got moved.
It would be about another 20 minutes before I'd even get to play another hand as I caught a shitty wave of cards. Had K♦Q♥ and opened for 450 with blinds now 75/150 + a 10 ante. The two players right behind me called and down came an awesome flop of 6♥3♥2♠ and OOP against 2 players I had to give up.
Got moved again after that and got a bit of a break as I came in as the CO and missed a round of blinds as I was a hand away from posting them at the other table. This was a relief on my ever dwindling stack as I had dipped to around the starting stack of 2k after being card dead for awhile. Finally picked up K♥K♣ two off the button with blinds now 100/200-25. Both blinds call. Flop A♣T♠T♦. Motherfucking ace magnets! They check to me on the flop and I check right behind. Turn 7♣ and they check again. I bet 1400 and pick it up. Yay position.
A little bit later get a free play in the BB with 9♠8♥ after 2nd to act limps and all others fold. Flop 5♣Q♠8♦ and I check/call a 447 bet and after a checking down a 5♥ turn and Q♦ river my hand is good (he mucked T♠9♣).
Turning point would come shortly after as we got under 100 people. Blinds were up to 300/600-70 and I raised J♥T♣ to 3400 with everyone folding to the BB who had only 1400 behind and called. He turned over K♠K♥, yikes. Flop: A♣9♣3♠. Turn T♦, river T♠. Yay for variance that benefits me.
My best play of the tournament would come shortly after though. With ~85 left I pick up J♣9♣ in the BB. Blinds 350/700-85 at this point. I get a free play with an early limp from a big stack and the SB completing. 3 to a flop of Q♥4♠2♠. It gets checked around, as does a turn of 5♠. River J♠. I pair up but there’s a 4-flush out there. Checked to the original limper who had the biggest stack at the table, ~22k to my ~6k. He bets 1390. SB folds. I use my timebank, go down to 1 second and call. My thinking was he probably would have bet the turn with a high spade to try and pick it up, and a low spade probably checks back that river. My thinking turns out to be correct and he had measly 7♣5♣ and I take down an important pot as we near the bubble.
Very next hand blinds go up to 400/800-100 and it gets folded to me in the SB and I open-complete with K♥7♦. He checks and lets me see the flop. Definitely a more experienced player would have raised here and tried to punish the smaller stack so close to the bubble. Flop A♠7♣2♦ and I check. He bets 1200. LOL, no fuckin way he has an ace. Turn A♥. Good luck representing an A now buddy. Goes check-check. River 8♦. I check a 3rd time and he fires 2400. Insta-call this time. If he has 87 so be it, I still have chips left. Instead he had Q♣3♠. And this my loyal readership is why it is perfectly acceptable to limp. Keep them in the hand and let them make mistakes after the flop.
Right after this hand the table breaks and we are about 3 places away from the actual bubble. I’m in great shape now after those 2 pots. Interesting note here is that the table I’m moved to I see a familiar name: EmpireMaker. Not sure if it’s THE EmpireMaker or not, but I digress. Didn’t get to play a hand against him as the table broke soon after.
Got to another new table and now blinds 1k/2k-250. Had 6♦5♦ in the BB and got a free play after 3 limpers. Flop K♣K♠6♠. Gets checked around. Turn 2♣. I check, next player bets 2k and it’s folded back to me. Closing the action facing only a min bet and with a piece of the board I call. River 9♦. I check and he fires another 2 grand. Gonna cost more than that to get rid of me buddy. I call and beat his Q♠T♠. That hand gets me from 17k to 30k and a little above water.
Do get that up to ~48k taking down some pots preflop and seeing my raises get some respect but the escalating blinds quickly dwindle that down to ~16k. Up to 3500/7000-850 and reduced to calling an all-in from the button with A♣7♣ after the player in the HJ seat (with over 100k) opens for 21k. My hand holds up against his K♥2♠ and because of the large blinds and antes that is almost a triple up as I improve my stack to ~47k after that hand.
At this point the blinds would come quicker as we were down to 2 tables and 6-handed and then 5-handed play. 11 players left. So close to the final table. Maybe didn’t anticipate for this as I was left with 31k on the button and had to move-in with Q♦8♦ on the button after it was folded to me. BB had a huge stack and called with 6♥6♣ and the A♣5♣9♥ flop offered no help. K♥ on the turn left me with just 6 outs and 13.6% equity. River of 4♦ sealed my fate and I was out in 11th. So close to making that final table, but my best finish ever in the freeroll and not a bad start to 2017 at all.
FWIW my 2016 ended on Saturday night with the $.50 LOLMAHA. Actually ran really well and had the chip lead through most of it, but my eventual heads-up opponent knocked out the 4th & 3rd place finishers and took the chip lead going into heads up. We went back and forth but on the final hand he called for about ½ his stack on a hand that I had a set and a small flush redraw, and the river put the 3rd ♦. I shoved and he called and turned over a better flush. Did cash for $2.85 but really tough way to end that tournament.
Overall great weekend of poker though going back to my session at Twin River on Friday, the 2nd on Saturday and the 11th (out of 472) on Sunday. Really excited for what this upcoming year will bring. More live poker and in May I am headed to Las Vegas for the first time ever. My trip is for something non-poker related but it will coincide with the start of the WSOP. While I don't think I'll be able to play an event I'll definitely try to get over to the Rio and see some of the action and at least partake in some side games.
Ok, the deets. First off, started with a really good table draw. Was able to raise a few pots and win blinds uncontested early which almost never happens. Had 1 donk at my table that I got into a few pots with early heads up and ended up with him making a pot sized bet on the river. Smelled like a bluff each time but I had A high and K high respectively so didn't call.
Then I got into the following hand with him. Had K♠J♥ with 10/20 blinds and raised it up to 60 from 2nd position. Donk calls from the BB (everyone else folded). Heads up to a flop of K♦T♣6♣. He donks into me for 20, I raise to 142, and he calls. Turn 6♠. He fails to respect the raise of the previous street and bets out 207. I just call. River 8♥. He bets 828. Does he have something here? Because of the history with him on the 2 hands before I think he's trying to push me around because he probably thinks he can get me to fold. Or he's over valuing top pair middle/low kicker. I call. He had Q♣T♥ for middle pair. El-oh-el.
Unfortunately that juicy table broke up a few minutes after and had to play at another one. Had a little over 3k in chips, got K♦K♠ at the other table with no reads on any players and opened with it for 150 three off the button (blinds 25/50 at this point). Both blinds called and I checked behind on an A♣2♣5♠ flop. Get donked into on a 9♠ turn for 50 and I called. Other player folded. River A♥ and his check makes me sure he doesn't have a flush or A so I bet 250 hoping he'll pay me off with some type of pair but it doesn't happen and I collect the pot after a fold.
Pretty card dead for the rest of my stay at the table and I get moved again. Only a little over 20 minutes into it and already at table #3. Little annoying for me as I do not have a TV in my living room at this point and only 1 screen so had the SNF game on the computer so had to keep re-sizing the table every time I got moved.
It would be about another 20 minutes before I'd even get to play another hand as I caught a shitty wave of cards. Had K♦Q♥ and opened for 450 with blinds now 75/150 + a 10 ante. The two players right behind me called and down came an awesome flop of 6♥3♥2♠ and OOP against 2 players I had to give up.
Got moved again after that and got a bit of a break as I came in as the CO and missed a round of blinds as I was a hand away from posting them at the other table. This was a relief on my ever dwindling stack as I had dipped to around the starting stack of 2k after being card dead for awhile. Finally picked up K♥K♣ two off the button with blinds now 100/200-25. Both blinds call. Flop A♣T♠T♦. Motherfucking ace magnets! They check to me on the flop and I check right behind. Turn 7♣ and they check again. I bet 1400 and pick it up. Yay position.
A little bit later get a free play in the BB with 9♠8♥ after 2nd to act limps and all others fold. Flop 5♣Q♠8♦ and I check/call a 447 bet and after a checking down a 5♥ turn and Q♦ river my hand is good (he mucked T♠9♣).
Turning point would come shortly after as we got under 100 people. Blinds were up to 300/600-70 and I raised J♥T♣ to 3400 with everyone folding to the BB who had only 1400 behind and called. He turned over K♠K♥, yikes. Flop: A♣9♣3♠. Turn T♦, river T♠. Yay for variance that benefits me.
My best play of the tournament would come shortly after though. With ~85 left I pick up J♣9♣ in the BB. Blinds 350/700-85 at this point. I get a free play with an early limp from a big stack and the SB completing. 3 to a flop of Q♥4♠2♠. It gets checked around, as does a turn of 5♠. River J♠. I pair up but there’s a 4-flush out there. Checked to the original limper who had the biggest stack at the table, ~22k to my ~6k. He bets 1390. SB folds. I use my timebank, go down to 1 second and call. My thinking was he probably would have bet the turn with a high spade to try and pick it up, and a low spade probably checks back that river. My thinking turns out to be correct and he had measly 7♣5♣ and I take down an important pot as we near the bubble.
Very next hand blinds go up to 400/800-100 and it gets folded to me in the SB and I open-complete with K♥7♦. He checks and lets me see the flop. Definitely a more experienced player would have raised here and tried to punish the smaller stack so close to the bubble. Flop A♠7♣2♦ and I check. He bets 1200. LOL, no fuckin way he has an ace. Turn A♥. Good luck representing an A now buddy. Goes check-check. River 8♦. I check a 3rd time and he fires 2400. Insta-call this time. If he has 87 so be it, I still have chips left. Instead he had Q♣3♠. And this my loyal readership is why it is perfectly acceptable to limp. Keep them in the hand and let them make mistakes after the flop.
Right after this hand the table breaks and we are about 3 places away from the actual bubble. I’m in great shape now after those 2 pots. Interesting note here is that the table I’m moved to I see a familiar name: EmpireMaker. Not sure if it’s THE EmpireMaker or not, but I digress. Didn’t get to play a hand against him as the table broke soon after.
Got to another new table and now blinds 1k/2k-250. Had 6♦5♦ in the BB and got a free play after 3 limpers. Flop K♣K♠6♠. Gets checked around. Turn 2♣. I check, next player bets 2k and it’s folded back to me. Closing the action facing only a min bet and with a piece of the board I call. River 9♦. I check and he fires another 2 grand. Gonna cost more than that to get rid of me buddy. I call and beat his Q♠T♠. That hand gets me from 17k to 30k and a little above water.
Do get that up to ~48k taking down some pots preflop and seeing my raises get some respect but the escalating blinds quickly dwindle that down to ~16k. Up to 3500/7000-850 and reduced to calling an all-in from the button with A♣7♣ after the player in the HJ seat (with over 100k) opens for 21k. My hand holds up against his K♥2♠ and because of the large blinds and antes that is almost a triple up as I improve my stack to ~47k after that hand.
At this point the blinds would come quicker as we were down to 2 tables and 6-handed and then 5-handed play. 11 players left. So close to the final table. Maybe didn’t anticipate for this as I was left with 31k on the button and had to move-in with Q♦8♦ on the button after it was folded to me. BB had a huge stack and called with 6♥6♣ and the A♣5♣9♥ flop offered no help. K♥ on the turn left me with just 6 outs and 13.6% equity. River of 4♦ sealed my fate and I was out in 11th. So close to making that final table, but my best finish ever in the freeroll and not a bad start to 2017 at all.
FWIW my 2016 ended on Saturday night with the $.50 LOLMAHA. Actually ran really well and had the chip lead through most of it, but my eventual heads-up opponent knocked out the 4th & 3rd place finishers and took the chip lead going into heads up. We went back and forth but on the final hand he called for about ½ his stack on a hand that I had a set and a small flush redraw, and the river put the 3rd ♦. I shoved and he called and turned over a better flush. Did cash for $2.85 but really tough way to end that tournament.
Overall great weekend of poker though going back to my session at Twin River on Friday, the 2nd on Saturday and the 11th (out of 472) on Sunday. Really excited for what this upcoming year will bring. More live poker and in May I am headed to Las Vegas for the first time ever. My trip is for something non-poker related but it will coincide with the start of the WSOP. While I don't think I'll be able to play an event I'll definitely try to get over to the Rio and see some of the action and at least partake in some side games.
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