July Poker Roll Continues 🙂

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So, we drove from NY to VA today. Most of the ride was good and uneventful, until we hit Springfield, which was at a dead stop, as it often is… Took an extra 30 minutes to get to the hotel. All in all, I guess we can’t complain.

Spent a number of hours shopping and running errands. By the time we got back to the hotel, I was pooped. I had one hour left before the big weekly tournament. I nearly nodded off waiting for it to start, which didn’t bode well for the necessary concentration.

I guess I caught a second wind. 😉

813 entrants today, top 90 paid. I won my entry on July 4th, for a total of $15.50. I also played in two other qualifiers trying just to win the cash, which I came very close to doing in one (I may or may not report on that at month end). So, I really had a bit more invested in than just the $15.50.

There were really only 6 particularly interesting hands, though obviously a number of additional hands where I had to make some serious decisions. Here are the notes that I took in the order that they occurred:

1. I had AA in early position, and I raised. The small blind thought for quite a while, then re-raised me all-in. I called (obviously). He had QQ. Flop came 3 spades. Neither of us had a spade. I knew, with 100% certainty, that the next two cards would both be spades. They were. We split the pot. Ouch!
2. I had QQ in the small blind (200 invested). UTG raised. Another guy re-raised a lot. A third guy called the re-raise. I folded. It wasn’t that tough a decision, but it stunk to have that many people represent a hand when I had a real one, that was likely beat.
3. Had TT in middle position. Someone in early position went all-in. I had him easily covered, but it would have cost me nearly 40% of my stack, and because I was in middle position, someone behind me could have forced me all in, so I folded. So did everyone else, so I have no idea whether I would have won or not.
4. I had 88 on the button. At this point, I also had a nice stack. A short stack went all-in. I called. The small blind re-raised all-in which would have been for most, if not all of my chips. I folded. The original guy had AKo. The small blind had JJ. A K hit the flop, so the original guy tripled up. I would have lost my original call, and would have lost the rest of my chips to the J’s, so I’m glad he re-raised, and that I folded.
5. There were roughly 150 players left (60 to go to the money), and I was in 88th. Technically, I was still “in the money”, but practically, I knew from experience that if I wasn’t willing to gamble a bit, I could easily bubble. I got AKh and raised. The same guy who re-raised all-in with J’s from the hand above (this was perhaps 15-20 hands later) raised all-in again, and this time had me well covered. Everyone folded. I called. He had 22 (a horrible play on his part!). That said, I was in trouble, as I still had to hit. A K came on the flop, and held up, and I doubled up. He still had a marginal stack, and played on tilt from then on. He hit some hands and built his stack way back up, and still blew up way out of the money.
6. This was the critical hand. I had enough chips to definitely drift into the money. There were 92 players left (two to go to the money), and I had 11,000 chips, which probably put me at around 70. I had KK. I decided to risk it all, really hoping for no callers, and to just pick up the blinds. I went all-in and got called by a big stack. Three hands earlier, he called another all-in, and had AA. I was nervous that he had it again! He had AKo, and my K’s held up, and I doubled to 23,000 chips, which put me in 32nd place. Whew!

After that, I was somewhere between truly card dead, and having cards that were likely 2nd or 3rd best hands, but facing very big raises. So, I ended up folding practically every hand, and kept drifting higher and higher in position. At the same time, once people make the money, all small stacks typically go crazy, so they start dropping like flies.

Cutting to the chase, I finished in 40th, and got the same exact prize that I received for 38th last week, $900. Not too bad! Here is the “log” of my positions along the way.

Remain My Position
====== ===========
719 384
687 358
586 313
532 222
489 251
344 44
335 40
319 6
281 15
239 23
191 37
180 64
143 23
125 40
117 48
104 60
98 64
91 32

ONE FROM THE MONEY!

MADE THE MONEY! 🙂

78 38

Next step up in the money!

70 48

Next step up in the money!

58 54

Next step up in the money!

50 47

Next step up in the money!

40 40

Next step up in the money!

I have nearly zero chips, and I am now out in 40th, and got
the same prize again this week that I did last week! Woo
Hoo!

Here’s hoping to repeat this again (and again). That said, being at Zope this week will mean little chance to win an entry into next week’s tourney until the weekend, and I have to be back in NY for an important meeting over the weekend. I might need to skip this tourney next week. Bummer!