The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

I got back a little earlier than I hoped from Atlantic City, not just from the tournament but the flash flood warnings has us leave New Jersey around 6pm, and with the slow roads, we didn't hit Ottawa until about 5 in the morning. I got up today at 1pm...good times! Anyway, I had a fantastic time at the tournament, I did a lot better than last year in Vegas, but unfortunately did not walk away with some extra money or the ultimate prize, a gold ring.

The rest of this entry will be all about some poker hands I played, so if this does not interest you, why not check out Forts blog? (There you go Marc, free plug!).

At the earlier stages of a predominately amateur tournament (this one, for your information, had about 1,050+ players entered), you'll always get players who play much too loose, love any two cards that are the same suit and love chasing their straight or flush, regardless of the price it costs. I played my usual solid style, noticing most of the players were playing about every 2nd hand with plenty of multi-way pots, kept patient and picked my spots before entering in a pot. I thought things were going to go my way when I completed my small blind with Q-8 with one limper in front of me, the big blind checked and I flopped top pair. 8s got me my first few pots last year in Vegas, so seeing another 8 earn my first pot of the day I saw as a good sign.

Anyway, there were two hands that got me lots of chips, one perhaps overtly risky but the other simply taking a good hand and milking it for all it's worth. Maybe you'd have played it differently, as each one involved an unhealthy rise in pulse.

There were five limpers in front of me and I had A-J in the small blind. There weren't too many hands that were raised pre-flop, but those that were usually involved only two persons in a hand. With blinds at 50-100, I raised to 500 wanting to thin out the field and maybe take it down right away. I got two callers, the first hesitated but called. The next player who sat immediately to my right remarked "a donation to the pot!" and threw in his chips. He also had this habit of checking his weak hands by exaggerating the taps on the card table, so I knew he didn't have much. The flop was 9-6-x with two clubs. I bet out, wanting to take it down right away by representing an overpair. The first player folded, but I got a call from Mr. Donation. I immediately put him on a flush draw and the next card was a six. So with a pair on board, I bet out again and he called me. Now at this stage, about 70% of my chips are already in the pot. There's absolutely no way I'm folding regardless of the next card (maybe not so much if a third club hit). The final card was a another 9, so I declare an all-in, just wanting him to fold (and I actually thought the board's two pair with my ace kicker might even be the best hand) and he did, revealing his K-7 of clubs in the process. My heart was racing after my all-in declaration, but it paid off and almost doubled my chips. I eventually bounced out Mr. Donation (he was a nice guy, but he really was donating his chips to me just like he said) when he moved his short-stack all-in with pocket 10s and I called with A-J (A-J strikes again!)and I caught an Ace on the flop.

Another big hand ended up being the only big pocket pair I'd get dealt for the duration of the tournament, but again, I practically doubled up because of his insistence in "gambling." The blinds were 100-200 and I picked up Queens. Ding ding ding ding ding! Knowing the play of my opponents, I knew I'd get some action and get well paid... as long as I avoided a bad beat. I made my standard raise to 600, and got one caller. I had to act first, but with a powerhouse hand, it doesn't really matter all that much. The flop came 4-5-5. I immediately checked, knowing full well Mr. Slick (he had black, greasy hair all slicked back with a big pair of shades) would try to steal. He bet out 1900. 1900? Does that bet scream "Call me, I made trip 5s!" or does that bet mean bluff? I voted for the latter, and since calling the bet was 1/3 of my stack, I elected to go all-in and not let him catch some runner-runner garbage. He contemplated for a few seconds and announced, "Okay, let's gamble" and turned over 2-3 of spades (btw, there were no spades on the flop). 2-3? This idiot is making calls with THREE high? What are you hoping to flop? In this case, a straight draw, so I still had to dodge and Ace or a 6, and a good thing two Kings followed so I doubled up and avoided getting knocked out as he had a few hundred more chips than me. But still, this is a perfectly good example of why I avoid playing these low suited connectors: you're usually always taking the worst of it, you can get sucked into it when you flop to your draw and then you end up not even making your hand, losing a pile of chips in the process.

Those were the big hands outside of some other hands I played for the first couple of hours, and I managed to turn my initial 4,000 chips into about 14,000 before our table got broken up and I moved to a 2nd table. In my next blog entry, I'll tell you about some other hands I played and how fate can sometimes be a little cruel. (Holly, if you're reading, I changed my poker picture for my blog entries as per your request!).