Poker lessons.

LeverageMill:

Deo et Patriae:

On the topic of poker, yesterday I played in Day 1C of a $1 million guaranteed tournament being held at the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City. Borgata is currently hosting their annual WPT (World Poker Tour) Poker Open tournament and the $1 million guaranteed is one of the preliminary main events in the series. The tournament is a 3-day affair with five different Day 1's. Starting stack is 25,000 and the blinds begin at 25/50 with no ante (this means you start the tournament super deep with 500 big blinds). The buy-in is only $400, which is actually very good value considering the $1 million guarantee.

Unfortunately, poker tournaments are usually not friendly towards working professionals, but for this particular tournament, Day 1C was being offered at 6:00pm, and late registration was open until the end of level 9 (approximately 11:00pm give or a take a few minutes), so I got off work and rushed down to Atlantic City as fast as I could, late registered for the tournament (late registering is a disadvantage, since the blind levels have gone up while your starting stack remains the same) and sat down with a starting stack 25,000 in the middle of Level 9, worked it up to about 30,000, and then went on break and shortly afterwards returned to Level 10 in which the blinds were 500/1000 with a 100 ante (giving me roughly 30 big blinds).

Notable hands:

1) Doubled up pocket 8's on the button vs an all-in shove from the big blind with A8o (Ace Eight offsuit) I had a read that the guy was making a move/shoving very lightly. Was able to avoid an Ace and get the double up.
2) Lost 33% of stack with pocket Queens (QQ) against an all-in raise from short stack player who had J10s (Jack Ten suited). J10s flopped an open ended straight draw on a flop of "8 9 x" and immediately drilled it on the turn with a Queen, giving him a Queen high straight.
3) All in preflop, AK vs 66, flopped an Ace for a timely double up
4) All in preflop, 77 vs AK and 88, flop comes 7 K x, AK turns two with Ace on the turn, but river is a blank, and I triple up with my set of 7's.
5) Shortly before the end of Day 1, I wake up with pocket Kings (KK) UTG and make it 3x. I get one caller from the player in the big blind. Big blind checks, I bet, and big blind calls. Ultimately, the big blind stubbornly check calls all the way to the river with AQ (Ace Queen) on a Queen high board, I have pocket Kings (KK) and bet the flop, turn and river (the river bet was an all-in). Villain snap called the river, which kind of freaked me out, but when I showed KK he groaned and mucked/showed AQ

All in all, I was able to bag a decent number of chips for Day 2.

Nice selection of hands. not a fan of the pocket 7's or the AK. I hope you make it to the cash.

Some hands. that I remember (cause the pot was big)
Preflop holding AK
Loose cannon raise to 20$, I re raised all in 100$. Villian Calls turn over QQ vs AK. Flop 8 5 9 Turn 6 River 7

2) Preflop holding JJ
I raise mid position to 20$ loose cannon shoves all in for 140+, I called. Flop X X X Turn Ace River X

3) Hero Holds QQ (one heart)
UTG+2 raise 20$, call, Hero Call, Button raises +$50,
Fold, Fold, Hero Calls,

Flop K 10 6 (all hearts)
Hero checks, Villian bets 35, Hero raises +75, Villian mumbles about if i flopped the flush, this is where he gets in trouble, should he shove, yada yada. Villian Calls,

Turn 6
Hero Checks, Villian mumbles and slowly checks

River 8 (Heart)
Hero small bet 35$ with 2nd nut flush, villian calls.
Villian wins turns over AA (one heart)

3) in hindsight I shoulda known he was holding a big pocket pair, reraise was too small.

Started Day 2 as the second largest stack at my table. Loved my table draw too, I looked up each player on Hendon Mob and there were no notables except for one guy who had a WSOP Circuit Ring and over $600k in lifetime earnings. This guy was a short stack (15 bb), and I was guessing he would come out shoving (he was not going to try and fold himself into the money). Sure enough, he open shoved on my big blind a number of times. Each time I had marginal holdings, 10-3 offsuit, 7-3 suited, and pocket 22s. I thought about the pocket 22s for a minute, but there was no way I could really call off 33% of my stack with them. At best we would be flipping, and he could easily have me dominated with a higher pocket pair.

I wasn't getting any playable hands, but I tried to apply pressure when I was in position by raising with marginal holdings. One such hand crippled me. We were playing hand-for-hand with exactly one elimination left until the money. It was folded to me in the high-jack, and I had J-10 off suit, blinds were 6000/12000. I min-raised to 24,000, cutoff and button both folded, small blind and big blind both called. Flop came J 10 6 rainbow. Small blind checks, big blind checks, I make a standard c-bet, small blind check-raises all-in, big blind snap folds, and it's on me.

Small blind was a crusty old player (late 60s, early 70s) with messy long white hair. Generally, old guys tend to play on the tight side, but he didn't strike me as a typical straightforward tight player. I was hoping the old guy had some kind of broadway like AJ, KJ, flop was rainbow so no flush to worry about, maybe he was making a move with an opened ended straight draw with something like KQ. Hands I could rule out were pocket JJ's and pocket 10's, he would re-raise preflop with those holdings. The absolute worst thing he could be holding would be pocket 6's, but if he was that strong, why wouldn't he just call my c-bet and slow play?

Obviously, I make the call, and the old guy showed exactly what I was fearing: Pocket 6's for flopped bottom set. Couldn't man up on the turn or river, and I was crippled to under 10 big blinds. Money bubble burst a few hands later.

I was still at 10 bb. The cutoff, a guy who started the day as a shortstack but doubled up on the very first hand of Day 2 with JJ > 1010, and chipped up even more when he smashed a flop with AK on a K K x board, min-raised to 24,000. Folded around to me in the big blind, and I look down at A10 suited and insta-shove. Cut-off thinks about it for a few second, takes a deep breath and says "This is it!" and f'ing nit rolls me with Pocket KK's. Flop is a Jack high flop, he turns a set of Kings, and now I am drawing to a miracle Queen on the river. Doesn't come, of course, I never suck out on other players, it only happens the other way around. Out in 200-something place for a min cash. Sigh... Tournament poker is so brutal.