So I did a tournament tonight; nothing big, just a $50 buy-in.
A few lessons I learned:
1. A nice beer before the tournament can calm your nerves and relax your mind.
2. I STILL love baby connectors.
3. You never want to be put on penalty. :-/
4. The old adage "A chip and a chair..." finally became true in my mind.
So my uncle and I get to the casino about half hour before the tournament started and we decided that, since it was Cinco de Mayo and the beers were hella cheap, we would have a nice cold one before the start of the tournament. It was nice to have a Newcastle for only $1.50.
On to the poker.
When I sit down, I notice that I'm sitting with some of the highest places players from this casino, points wise. This nerves me a bit, but I decide that I'm going to play my game in order to get prepared for the WSOP.
First hand: 5/7 off-suit. I'm on the button, but decide that since no one raised it, I would. 3 times the blind- 150- and I got 3 callers.
Flop: 5h-6d-7s
Check-Check to me, I raise another 200.
Call/Call
Turn: Qs
Check- bet 200- I call- small blind folds.
Heads Up.
River: 7d
seat 9 bets 500, I push all in-
Insta call.
he turns over Q/A
I show my boat... he's crushed--- out within 5 minutes.
Second hand: 3/4 off suit. Again, I raise and I get 4 callers this time.
Flop: 5s, 6c, 7s
Big Blind bets 300, fold, fold, fold, I raise another 300- he calls.
Turn: Ah
BB bets 500, I push all in- he calls.
He turns over Q/7 off suit, I show my straight.
River: blank
Take another person out- 2 within 10 minutes.
Those are two of the four hands i'm going to write about. Anyways, the point I'm getting at is that baby connectors, are a beautiful thing, and they are under appreciated.
Anyways, so obviously I was off to a great start. I had more than tripled up my starting stack within a few short minutes and was going to lay low for a while. I would continue to win some pots and build up. Let's fast forward to the last 5 tables, shall we (140 players entered this, btw).
I get Q/10 off suit.
Old man raises pre-flop to a couple thousand, I call. Heads up.
Flop: Qd, 9c, 7c
Old man bets 1800. I call.
Turn: Jh
Old man pushes all in. I think...I think for a long while. This would be for most of my chips. But I have high pair, with a good kicker.
Someone at the table calls clock on me. I start talking to the old man. Trying to get some kind of read out of him. Couldn't get one. my head is spinning cause- what if he's holding 8/10? what if he already has two pair? Maybe he's on a flush draw with the clubs?
I fold my hand. All the players ask what I had- I tell- they all said they would have called. Old man mucks his cards- which is fine, I expect that after a big bet off.
What happens next, since I'm already kicking myself for not calling and feel myself going on tilt, is what pushes me over an edge I didn't know I had in a card room. The players are talking about the hand still, since it was a big pot... and the old man looks at me and says, "Yeah, you're weak, you don't have the balls to call me"...!!!!
I take my glasses off and say, "are you fucking kidding me right now??" Dealer gives me a warning, but I'm still heated... and old man just laughs at me... I said, "Don't fucking talk to me like that...." and I get put on penalty. I have to wait for the button to go all the way around for me to come back in.
Problem: As this happened, blinds now went up to 1000/2000. I would have to miss both my blinds and because of that massive hit, I only had about 5000 chips left. I went outside, thinking that I was done in this tournament, which was now down to 3 tables, cause people like to get eliminated with the quickness when it's getting down to the final tables. I come back after my little intermission.
Juan now has 1750 chips left, due to antes and blinds. Pocket 6/6's. All in.
2 callers. Both holding A/J
Board misses both of them. I triple up.
2 hands later. K/Q all in.
2 callers, again. One with A/5, another with 9/10.
Board: 2, 2, Q, 3, K
Again, I triple up. At this point, my uncle has been eliminated, I had the shortest stack when I came back, of the remaining players, and now I was close, but not quite there, to chip average.
Top 2 tables. One player pushes all in- I call with my American Airlines. I get cracked with a straight.
I'm crippled again. Get A/K, push all in and hit neither of them. I'm out of the tournament. 14th out of 140... not bad, I'd say... especially due to the penalty I incurred.
Overall, It was a good experience for me. I needed to be put on penalty, and it was the best thing for my tilt I was on. I learned that I'm a better poker player than I thought- and better than most there- to come back from so far behind with over 30 players left.
No cussing at the WSOP, that's for sure. I don't think I can handle an hour penalty. So yeah, that's my poker story.
A few lessons I learned:
1. A nice beer before the tournament can calm your nerves and relax your mind.
2. I STILL love baby connectors.
3. You never want to be put on penalty. :-/
4. The old adage "A chip and a chair..." finally became true in my mind.
So my uncle and I get to the casino about half hour before the tournament started and we decided that, since it was Cinco de Mayo and the beers were hella cheap, we would have a nice cold one before the start of the tournament. It was nice to have a Newcastle for only $1.50.
On to the poker.
When I sit down, I notice that I'm sitting with some of the highest places players from this casino, points wise. This nerves me a bit, but I decide that I'm going to play my game in order to get prepared for the WSOP.
First hand: 5/7 off-suit. I'm on the button, but decide that since no one raised it, I would. 3 times the blind- 150- and I got 3 callers.
Flop: 5h-6d-7s
Check-Check to me, I raise another 200.
Call/Call
Turn: Qs
Check- bet 200- I call- small blind folds.
Heads Up.
River: 7d
seat 9 bets 500, I push all in-
Insta call.
he turns over Q/A
I show my boat... he's crushed--- out within 5 minutes.
Second hand: 3/4 off suit. Again, I raise and I get 4 callers this time.
Flop: 5s, 6c, 7s
Big Blind bets 300, fold, fold, fold, I raise another 300- he calls.
Turn: Ah
BB bets 500, I push all in- he calls.
He turns over Q/7 off suit, I show my straight.
River: blank
Take another person out- 2 within 10 minutes.
Those are two of the four hands i'm going to write about. Anyways, the point I'm getting at is that baby connectors, are a beautiful thing, and they are under appreciated.
Anyways, so obviously I was off to a great start. I had more than tripled up my starting stack within a few short minutes and was going to lay low for a while. I would continue to win some pots and build up. Let's fast forward to the last 5 tables, shall we (140 players entered this, btw).
I get Q/10 off suit.
Old man raises pre-flop to a couple thousand, I call. Heads up.
Flop: Qd, 9c, 7c
Old man bets 1800. I call.
Turn: Jh
Old man pushes all in. I think...I think for a long while. This would be for most of my chips. But I have high pair, with a good kicker.
Someone at the table calls clock on me. I start talking to the old man. Trying to get some kind of read out of him. Couldn't get one. my head is spinning cause- what if he's holding 8/10? what if he already has two pair? Maybe he's on a flush draw with the clubs?
I fold my hand. All the players ask what I had- I tell- they all said they would have called. Old man mucks his cards- which is fine, I expect that after a big bet off.
What happens next, since I'm already kicking myself for not calling and feel myself going on tilt, is what pushes me over an edge I didn't know I had in a card room. The players are talking about the hand still, since it was a big pot... and the old man looks at me and says, "Yeah, you're weak, you don't have the balls to call me"...!!!!
I take my glasses off and say, "are you fucking kidding me right now??" Dealer gives me a warning, but I'm still heated... and old man just laughs at me... I said, "Don't fucking talk to me like that...." and I get put on penalty. I have to wait for the button to go all the way around for me to come back in.
Problem: As this happened, blinds now went up to 1000/2000. I would have to miss both my blinds and because of that massive hit, I only had about 5000 chips left. I went outside, thinking that I was done in this tournament, which was now down to 3 tables, cause people like to get eliminated with the quickness when it's getting down to the final tables. I come back after my little intermission.
Juan now has 1750 chips left, due to antes and blinds. Pocket 6/6's. All in.
2 callers. Both holding A/J
Board misses both of them. I triple up.
2 hands later. K/Q all in.
2 callers, again. One with A/5, another with 9/10.
Board: 2, 2, Q, 3, K
Again, I triple up. At this point, my uncle has been eliminated, I had the shortest stack when I came back, of the remaining players, and now I was close, but not quite there, to chip average.
Top 2 tables. One player pushes all in- I call with my American Airlines. I get cracked with a straight.
I'm crippled again. Get A/K, push all in and hit neither of them. I'm out of the tournament. 14th out of 140... not bad, I'd say... especially due to the penalty I incurred.
Overall, It was a good experience for me. I needed to be put on penalty, and it was the best thing for my tilt I was on. I learned that I'm a better poker player than I thought- and better than most there- to come back from so far behind with over 30 players left.
No cussing at the WSOP, that's for sure. I don't think I can handle an hour penalty. So yeah, that's my poker story.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
praesepe:
Hello, thanks for the add. How's life?
riese:
Poker is a great game! Each time you play you get better and better! And then every once in a while you lose on purpose so you get to remove some more cloths.... oh, you wernt talking about that kind of poker game.... oh well 