Poker binge

Friday, poker. Saturday, poker. Sunday, poker.

Thus was my weekend.

I decided to fire up the laptop for the Donk-a-thon on Friday night, only to find a small group, with none of the regulars I recognized. There were just 13 players...and I gotta say, for the first time ever, I hated this game. It was so UN-fun. No one was chatting and it was all-in every hand. I expect frequent all-ins, but at least give me a little witty banter along the way. Not to mention a total grump at my table who complained the whole time. I rebought 4 or 5 times before I realized I wasn’t getting any enjoyment out of it, and left the last time I busted out (with still 30 min to go in the rebuy period).

I guess when the Kat’s away, the mice don’t play (nice).

Saturday was a rebuy game at Woody’s. It was a deeper stack than we normally play there, and the buy-in was a little higher than normal. There were some new players, and quite honestly – it was a tough field. The guy sitting to my left when the game started made the final table of a WSOP tourney in 2005.

It was a 16 man (well, 14 man and two ladies *natch*) game, and I made the final table, but couldn’t pull out a cash. I made a questionable call with pocket 10s...

I was actually second chip leader at that point, with just over 24,000 in chips. WSOP-guy was a monster chipleader….so even though I was second in chips, blinds were 1,000-2,000…..if I was second chip leader, you can imagine the rest of the field. I think at this point there were 7 players left.

Anyhoo….in mid-position I get pocket 10s. I raise 3xBB to 6,000. It folds to the BB who pushes in for another 5,500 chips. I pretty much immediately called – she had Jacks, they held up, and I was down to approx 10,000 chips. Bah.

I question my call because not too long earlier, this player had raised 3xBB and then folded to my all-in, and she said she had pocket 10s. Knowing that, I should have out her range on better than 10s...she’s going all-in against my raise, and her all-in is less than double my raise...she pretty much is expecting me to call...she’s got to have ‘something’. Sure, she could have had AK there...and I can convince myself that I was ok with a race – but knowing my relative chip stack, I think a fold should have been possible.

Anyone play 10s differently in that spot?

Needless to say, I went out not all that long after with Kd10d to get called my AK. By the turn I had two diamonds, but the river didn’t bring a 3rd. I went out 6th (I think) and got a lovely parting gift. It was a rebuy game, and I rebought once, plus did the add-on, so for the low-low price of $250, I got a stunning golf shirt and baseball hat.

I didn’t bother with the cash game that was going on afterwards...I just didn’t feel up to it.

On Sunday, Banky and I went to Seneca Casino in Buffalo for a deepstack tourney. At over 150 entrants, it was the largest live field we’ve ever played.

I was extremely card dead. I had no pairs above 10s (and I had to fold 10s in the BB to a raise and a re-raise all-in in front of me). I had AK once (that’s the hand I went out on), and the only other Aces I had were with baby cards. The thing is, I was so patient and focused. I doubled up in the 3rd level when I called from a blind with Ac2c...I hit 2 clubs on the flop, led out & got called – hit a 2 on the turn, checked and called a bet, and then hit the flush on the river. I checked (my opponent was aggressive) – he bet and I went all-in for about 1,500 more and he folded. So it was an ‘almost’ double up.

That was my only big hand of the night. The rest of the time I stole small pots here and there to stay alive.

My final hand came when we were down to approx 50 players. I had recently moved to a new table, so I didn’t really have reads on anyone. I stole a pot from late position, but otherwise had been pretty quiet. There was a 3xBB raise from late position, from a player with a large stack. I put him on a bit of a steal. I’m in the blinds (I can’t remember if it was SB or BB) and I have AKo. I re-raise just over double his original raise (expecting him to fold or push me all in, in which case I call – as the pot would be slightly more than what I have in my stack). Instead, he smooth calls. The flop brings As, Js, 3h. I push all-in and he immediately calls, I table my AK, he tables his JJ.

I was extremely bummed – because I felt like I’d played solid, patient poker all day long (this was about 5 hours in), and to go out like that felt awful. Why couldn’t he have QQ or 1010 there?

Banky and I went with a group of friends, and it was good to have them there right after the bustout, because they wouldn’t let me take it too badly. I was pretty quiet for most of the car ride home though – just processing everything through my head. But by the time I got home it was ok. Usually it’s me that has to cheer Banky up after a tough game – but this time he was the cheerleader. It felt good to have him tell me all the good things about the day, and really, there were lots...but the top two were:

I spent the day with 4 friends I made through poker (plus Bankwell, of course) – they are all really good guys, and I’m glad to know them.

I made it to the top 3rd of a BIG live field.

Not too shabby. Maybe next time I’ll make the final table ;)

Oh, and Bam-Bam...I need your Let-it-Ride secrets. I dropped $80 at a table before the tourney. Ouch!