Commerce Casino LAPC, Events 2, 3, & 4
Whittled myself back to almost even! Event #2 - $300+30 LHEI was super psyched for this event. The table was super loose early so I wasn't able to implement my prefered strategy, and then all my hands that I expected/needed to get value on were shoved where the sun don't shine, and I was busted out by the 1st break. Headed downstairs, sat in 40-80, won my first hand, and then proceeded to win my next six flops I saw, even making quad fours with 43o. Profit of $1500. Ran into my good friend Jason from Minnesota, and three of us headed to El Cholo, the goodest Mexican restaurant ever.
After dinner I took Jim and Jason to the Hustler casino in Gardena. Going back to this place was like a walk down memory lane for me. This is where I played the most during college, where I won my first two tournaments, where I first played 15-30, and where I pulled my first overnighter at a card room. We ended up in the 25-50 limit hold'em game that is played with $5 chips. Yep. 5-10 chip structure. Every pot is huge. I was very proud of this hand. I raised J J UTG playing seven handed. The player to my left was new and posted $25 (which I love) thought about his hand for a moment. The old guy in middle position called for $25. Then the poster put in another $25, calling my raise. The old guy realized that it was two bets and tossed in five more chips. The big blind called as well, and we saw the flop four handed.
It came A Q 6 . BB checked, and I could tell he was done with the hand. I bet. I could tell the player to my left was done, and the old guy had 5 chips in his hand intending to call my flop bet. Then, as I was looking at the old guy, the new player raised! It was weird. It was like something clicked in his mind and he decided that he was going to win the pot. I mean seriously. He was done, he just hadn't thrown his cards in the muck, and then decided to raise. I found this to be quite wonderful because now the old man folded behind, whatever it is he had - most likely a Q, possibly some sort of gutshot broadway draw. I was thinking of how to get the old guy off his Q when the new player did it for me! Most excellent.
OK, so now what? I have JJ with two overcards and a flush draw on the board and am against an opponent who most likely has nothing . About the only nothing I'm afraid of is Kx, cause then he has 3 outs to win, but I'm pretty sure I'm way good at this point, and decide the best way to get value is to call down. I call. Turn comes a blank and I check call. The river comes K , and I once again check call. Showdown time. He looks at his first card, pushes it to the side, and rolls over his second card. Only. J . I laugh, say, "And??" 2 . Ship it.
Event #3 - $300+30 Omaha 8.
This was another event that I was pretty pumped for. The last Omaha event I played I took third in and was looking to improve on my successes. Again, had a ton of big hands and nothing worked out. Busted out early. Went downstairs, played 40-80, won $500, played 60-120, won $900, and then headed upstairs to sweat my buddy Adam Spiegelberg at the final table from event #2. He ended up making a deal three handed that was a very good deal for him and took home almost $25k for his efforts. He really got unlucky at the final table, but I am proud of the way he played his cards and negotiations. After that we naturally needed to go out and celebrate. Ended up on the Santa Monica Promenade, closed the bar, walked along the beach, got our feet wet, and made it home by 4am. I ended up playing online until almost 6:30am, winning $1100 in the process.
Event #4 - $300+30 NLHE w/Multiple Rebuys
The last time I played this event I never had to rebuy, and had my stack at 9k from 1k within nine minutes. The table I found myself on today was the complete opposite - players were playing like it was a freezeout with just a few chips. This was quite disappointing since I hit some huge hands early, making the nuts three times, flopping two sets, and several top pairs. I got my stack up to 4400 when this hand came up. With blinds at 75-150, it was raised early to 450, three players called behind, and I was in the big blind with the J 8 . I threw in 300 to call, and the flop came A K T . I checked, check, original raiser goes all in for about 6k. 6k! LOL. fold, and new player to the table calls for about 5k! Dear lord. Ok, so I'm getting 2-1 on a call, plus there's another 2325 in the pot, so about 2.5-1 money odds on my call. I have anywhere from 2 outs for a chop to 12 outs for a win. Worst case scenario is up against a set and K Q . Best case is against something like AQ and two pair, and everything else is in between. I figured that 9 outs was a safe number to assume, and I made the call. I was indeed up against the AQ and AT, and had eleven outs to win. I hit both the flush and the straight, scooping a pot worth 14,400.
The blinds are 75-150.
Devo has 14k.
This is gonna be fun.
About eight hands later, I raise 88 UTG+1 to 500 with blinds at 100-200, and the BB calls 300 more, having 2000 left in his stack. The flop comes QT5 rainbow. This hand really shook with my confidence a little bit, because I was conivnced that he missed the flop, and was figuring out what the right number to bet was on the flop when he checked to me. And then he suddenly decided to go all-in! 1100 in the pot, he open shoves for 2k. Too weird. I called, and I was wrong. He had KQ! LOL. It really made me think about how over-bets in specific situations like that against opponents that can read hands can be more profitable than say, check-raising all-in. If he had check-raised all-in I would have gotten off the hand most likely, but his open shove was so bizarre that I had to call.
One orbit later, blinds still 100-200, I'm in the big blind with about 12k. The UTG player, young, asian, and pretty solid thus far opens for 600. Folds to me, and I look down at K K . This hand smells trap all over it. We're the two deepest stacks on the table, he's been playing fast, and I haven't slow played a hand yet... everything has been totally straight forward. I just call. The flop comes Q 9 5 . I check, he bets 1100, and I make it 3k. He thinks forever, and finally calls. 7300 in the pot, I have about 8k behind, he has about 7k behind. The turn is the 8 . Pretty bad card if he has JT, but other than I'm not worried about it. I think for a while about what the best way to play the hand is. I don't want to give him a cheap river, so thus need to bet more than half the pot. But, if he shoves I'm auto calling, and I'm pretty sure I have the best hand, so, "I'm all in." He called. He flopped a set of nines. He played them perfectly. His thinking was genuine, and I wasn't able to put him on a big hand. Oh well. Down to 1200. Doubled up to 2800, re-raised AKo all-in and got called in two spots by 88 and AJ, no help. Had the 88 guy covered, so went to dinner with 800 in chips, blinds 100-200/25. For the love of all the tortillas in the joint, can't I play high card with somebody for my stack before taking an hour break?
Dinner was good though. I ate with Adam S and Maria Ho, and good times were had by all. I returned, folded the first three hands, doubled up the fourth, shoved the fifth and was drawing to 3 outs, no good.
So, wandered downstairs once again, and once again played some cash games. This time I sat in the 10-20 NL game. In the first hand of my session, I ran a great bluff against a player who I later learned was the resident village idiot, but it was tough to bluff the village idiot when he turned the second nut flush. Oops. Stuck $700 already. One orbit later, I'm in the big blind again, and five players limp in, and I check my option with the J T . The flop wasn't bad, coming out K Q 9 . I immediately fired $80 at the pot and was called only by the village idiot. Turn 6 . I bet $200, he made it $500 (nice...). I thought about what the best line was. He had about $1500 left in front of him, and by this point I had established that he was the village idiot, so I went all-in, having him plenty covered.
He hemmed and hawed for a good minute and finally called. JT obv good at this point, but I had no clue what he had really. He said, "One card one time please!" That could mean anything. T on the river, not what I would call a blank, but his reaction told the story - my hand was good, and I raked in the $4600 pot. I played about another hour until that player left, and quit up $2024. Excellent!
So, here we are going into day five. I've completely paid Jim back the cash that he hooked me up with, and I am stuck only $300 on the trip, counting tournaments and the online win. Tomorrow is the $300 stud event. It's about time I cash in one of these dang things, but I suppose I'll save all my run good for the $1k event Friday. Either way though, I'm pretty thrilled to be almost back to even after that horendous day one.
I heard a funny story tonight. My friend Scott was playing in a $40 satellite. Down to three players, one guy had most of the chips, Scott had a few chips, and the other guy had fewer chips. Somehow the other two players got in an arguement, a fistfight broke out, they both got kicked out, and Scott wins the satellite. Well played buddy.
Lastly, quote of the day comes from a comment posted on my private blog. If you ever want to comment on any of these blogs, click on the "Post a comment" link and you will be taken to the appropriate blog on my private page. From there scroll down and click on "comment", and you will be able to write whatever you want.
"I'm not very PC for the sake of it but I do cringe a bit when I see you write often that you are 'retarted'. Are you educated enough to know how to spell that word and are making a funny play on it or are you, yourself intelligently lacking due to factors other than genetics?" - Tobikosan on my "retartation". Unfortunately, it is the latter. I thought I was spelling retarded correctly every time until this morning. Pretty funny word to be misspelling for my entire life, eh?
OK. That's enough. Thanks for reading!
Peace and Good Luck,
Devo
posted by Devo @ 4:17 AM
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