Hand #1 – Get In There And RAISE!

In any case the tournament started and I was in the big blind on hand #1.  I normally don’t like to play the first couple of hands at all just cause I’ve got so much going on at the beginning of a tournament (taking pictures, getting people bought in, etc.) that I’m not ready to “think” just yet.  So of course, when I look down at my hand I see:

There were 3 limpers in front of me and everything in my mind told me that I should be in there raising, but for some reason I didn’t.  Like I said, I just don’t feel ready to play those first couple of hands (which is a HUGE leak that I need to plug).  The flop comes out and things don’t get any better:

I figure that with all the limping someone’s got a piece of this flop but I figure to make a feeler bet to see where I’m at.  I bet the big blind and I’m quickly called by two players.  The turn comes a rag and the action is checked around.  The river comes and I’ve got a decision to make:

Do I make a bet and represent a hand or check and hope to show it down?  I can’t imagine that my par of Tens is good here and I don’t want to donk off a big chunk of my stack early so I check.  Of course the next guy makes a bet and I’m forced to fold.  I got out of the hand losing the minimum but I can’t help but wonder if I’d started off with a raise there what would have happened (and how it might have changed my day).   Verdict: BAD PLAY

Hand #2 – Another Round With Jacks

A few rounds later I look down to see:

.  I’ve got a history with this hand and it’s not good.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fallen in love with Jacks only to have them be second or third best come river time.  That being said, I think back to the first hand of the tournament and force myself to make a raise here.  The table folds around to the player on my right who makes a call.  She’s a good player who always seems to have the goods when it gets to a showdown.  I don’t have a great read on here but I figure her for a medium pair or a decent Ace.  The flop comes out Ten high:

I figure that this is a great flop for my hand unless she’s flopped trips with Eights or Duces.  I make a bet and she calls immediately.  The two sets are possibilities at this point as are Ace/Eight and Ace/Ten.  The turn comes a blank and we both check.  Either she’s slow playing set here or I’m in great shape.  I figure her for Ace/Eight.  The river comes and I couldn’t be more pissed off.  The final board reads:

Everything in me says that my Jacks just got rundown on the river.  She bets and I make a crying call and sure enough to flips up Ace/Ten for two pairs.  At the very least I read it pretty well and looking back I’m not sure that I could have done much better.  Ace/Ten is one of her favorite hands and I wouldn’t have been able to get her off the hand once she flopped top pair.  Verdict: GOOD PLAY

Hand #3 – Scary Flop For Aces

There are few things that look prettier than bullets in the hole.  They look ever nicer when you’ve got the button in front of you as well.  I make a raise with my bullets to get one caller (the big blind).  The flop comes:

and I figure I’m in pretty good shape.  The big blind checks to me and I make a pretty strong bet hoping that he doesn’t have his favorite hand (Fours) or a pair of Eights.  He calls and we’re off to the turn which is a blank.  Another bet and call and we’re off to the river where the final board looks like this:

Talk about a card that I didn’t want to see.  Now I’m worried about Fours, Eights, Ace/Four & Ace/Eight.  He makes a bet but I just have to see what he’s got at this point.  He flips up Ace/King and my Aces take it down.  In retrospect that Four was just about a perfect card for me as he figured to be good if I wasn’t holding an Eight or a Four.  I suppose that a King would have been better but I won’t complain.  The result was good but I’m playing scared… at least I recognize it.  Verdict: GOOD PLAY

Hand #4 – My Day Is Done

The blinds had just gone up again and people are starting to drop.  I’m hoping to make it to 5th place so that I can get a jump up in the Player Of The Year points.  I look down at King/Jack and decide that it’s time to make a move.  We’re at $50 antes with $250/$500 blinds so there’s already a good size pot out there.  I move in for $2,150 and get called by a good buddy of mine (who I consider the best player in the field).  I know that I’m up against a pair and I hope it’s not Kings.  Sure enough he flips up Jacks and I’ve got three outs.  Sure enough the Kings are absent and I’m on the rail.

I ended up in 7th place which is my highest finish this season.  I’m not happy with it, but I’m making progress.  I think my game is starting to come around and I’m hoping that a couple of high finishes are right around the corner.  As they say… “that’s poker”.

See you after the flop!

I find myself in the small blind with . It’s an unraised pot and I while I really don’t like calling with this hand cause I typically either win a small pot or lose a big one (ominous foreshadowing). I call and the big blind checks behind me so we go to the flop 4 handed which comes:

I figure I’m in pretty good shape even against a flopped flush. I make a pot sized bet to try and scare some folks with no diamonds away. The big blind and the player to his left fold and the button goes all in for nearly all of my chips. Like I said before I figure I’m in pretty good shape but it’s relatively early in the tournament and I’d hate to be down so low so soon. I decide to go with my gut and make the call with my two overcards and nut flush draw.

The button turned over for an overpair and a flush draw of his own. The turn and the river brought blanks for my hand leaving me near the felt but on the button. The antes hadn’t kicked in yet so I figure at the very least I can play another round waiting for a good hand before I go broke. I’m already to the point where I’m low stack at the table so I know I’m going to get action from just about any ace if I move in. The action folds around to an aggressive player who makes a big raise. I look at my hand and see:

I’m still steaming a bit from my last beat but I know that the raiser is aggressive and I figure this is probably as good as it’s going to get in the next round before the blinds hit me so I move all in for less than the big blind (which is always so imposing). The blinds fold leaving me heads up with the raiser. After he takes back the portion of his bet that I can’t cover he flips over his hand:

which is actually right around where I figured he’d be.

The flop comes out and I’m feeling pretty damn good about my hand:

and it just keeps getting better from there. The turn comes a giving me a royal flush.

The river comes a giving my opponent a sucker straight that didn’t matter. So with my best hand of my life I collected a pot that still left me as the short stack at the table. Such is life… that’s poker! You can see a picture of the hand here.

See you after the flop!

Not too bad for an unraised big blind hand. Off to the flop we went which looked like this:

Now based on the way the game was being played I wasn’t too worried. I was obviously not in the lead here but I figured if I made my flush I’d be in great shape. The small blind checked to me and I decided to try and take a free card to catch my flush so I checked. The next player checked. He was followed by a small bet, a call and a call from the button. The small blind folded and I thought for a moment before calling. The only reason I thought for a moment was because this was SUCH a tight game that any betting was out of the ordinary.

The turn came a and the betting was on me. I decided to make a bet to see just where I stood in this hand. The player to my left folded followed by a call and a raise! (remember, I’m surprised by this only because of how tight the game was). I immediately threw my hand away knowing that I was up against either a bigger flush draw, trips or at the very least a Q making my J no good if I hit it. The player who had called my original bet called the raise and we were off to the river.

The river came a making me feel very good about my laydown and VERY interested to see the cards that remained in play (2 players). The first player bet (very small bet in relation to the size of the pot) and the next player called.

I simply could not believe my eyes when the cards were flipped…

for a flopped quad 3s and for a flopped full house.

Remember that this hand was LIMPED AROUND TO ME IN THE BIG BLIND!!! I really can’t fault limping with a pair of 3s but for my money I’d be in there raising with a pair of queens in a 6 handed game. Not sure that a raise would have forced the threes to fold before the flop and there wasn’t anything in hell that was going to get them to fold after flopping quads. The best thing that I can say for the gentlemen with the queens is that he didn’t lose his entire stack on this hand which I definitely would have.

Just goes to show why I love this game… you never know what you’re going to see!