God what a grind this thing was. There were a little over 2000 runners, and after five and a half hours of playing, I was eliminated in 665th. It took five hours to get through two-thirds of the field. That’s what happens when you play a very well-structure limit tournament with split pot games.
I’m not sure how I last that long, because I was catching absolute shit and playing about the same. I wasn’t getting much in the way of starting hands, and there were always a few monkeys at the table such that stealing wasn’t really an option. By the same token, the few times that I did get hands, I was generally winning the pot. Still, for the first few hours I barely got above my starting stack, and the only time I passed the average was on this hand:
PokerStars Game #20386595428: Tournament #200800018, $200+$15 HORSE (7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Limit) – Level XX (160/320) – 2008/09/13 20:52:57 ET
Table ‘200800018 52’ 8-max
Seat 1: atactor (3172 in chips)
Seat 2: Joeyhaha (3536 in chips)
Seat 3: eriholer (2275 in chips)
Seat 4: foucault82 (3386 in chips)
Seat 5: noize-boy (5099 in chips)
Seat 6: doudouc (8954 in chips)
Seat 7: GSUSLIVS (8204 in chips)
Seat 8: goldhawk (5072 in chips)
noize-boy: posts the ante 32
doudouc: posts the ante 32
GSUSLIVS: posts the ante 32
goldhawk: posts the ante 32
atactor: posts the ante 32
Joeyhaha: posts the ante 32
eriholer: posts the ante 32
foucault82: posts the ante 32
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to atactor [5s]
Dealt to Joeyhaha [Ts]
Dealt to eriholer [Jc]
Dealt to foucault82 [4s 6h 3c]
Dealt to noize-boy [As]
Dealt to doudouc [9d]
Dealt to GSUSLIVS [5d]
Dealt to goldhawk [5c]
foucault82: brings in for 48
noize-boy: folds
doudouc: folds
GSUSLIVS: calls 48
goldhawk: calls 48
atactor: folds
Joeyhaha: folds
eriholer: raises 112 to 160
foucault82: calls 112
GSUSLIVS: calls 112
goldhawk: calls 112
*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to eriholer [Jc] [8s]
Dealt to foucault82 [4s 6h 3c] [2d]
Dealt to GSUSLIVS [5d] [3s]
Dealt to goldhawk [5c] [Js]
eriholer: bets 160
foucault82: raises 160 to 320
GSUSLIVS: calls 320
goldhawk: folds
eriholer: raises 160 to 480
foucault82: calls 160
GSUSLIVS: calls 160
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to eriholer [Jc 8s] [2h]
Dealt to foucault82 [4s 6h 3c 2d] [4h]
Dealt to GSUSLIVS [5d 3s] [3d]
GSUSLIVS: checks
eriholer: bets 320
foucault82: raises 320 to 640
GSUSLIVS: folds
eriholer: calls 320
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to eriholer [Jc 8s 2h] [Ah]
Dealt to foucault82 [4s 6h 3c 2d 4h] [8d]
eriholer: checks
foucault82: bets 320
eriholer: calls 320
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to foucault82 [4s 6h 3c 2d 4h 8d] [4c]
eriholer: checks
foucault82: bets 320
eriholer: calls 320
*** SHOW DOWN ***
foucault82: shows [4s 6h 3c 2d 4h 8d 4c] (HI: three of a kind, Fours; LO: 8,6,4,3,2)
eriholer: mucks hand
foucault82 collected 2448 from pot
foucault82 collected 2448 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4896 | Rake 0
Seat 1: atactor folded on the 3rd Street (didn’t bet)
Seat 2: Joeyhaha folded on the 3rd Street (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: eriholer mucked [Jh 8c Jc 8s 2h Ah 3h]
Seat 4: foucault82 showed [4s 6h 3c 2d 4h 8d 4c] and won (4896) with HI: three of a kind, Fours; LO: 8,6,4,3,2
Seat 5: noize-boy folded on the 3rd Street (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: doudouc folded on the 3rd Street (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: GSUSLIVS folded on the 5th Street
Seat 8: goldhawk folded on the 4th Street
I had a monster hand on 3rd street. The only problem was that three of my fives were dead, which drastically reduced the high potential of my hand and hurt my ability to make a low as well. I’m still playing it, but I’m not going to raise it just yet. Once I catch good on 4th, though, I’m raising hoping to drive out the low hand behind me. Even though I surely have the better draw, I want to insure that catching an 8 will be enough to lock up half the pot. As I said, my high potential isn’t much, but the fraction of a bet that I lose to the J-8 is compensated if I can get the guy out behind me or at least make him call two bets with a worse low draw.
I couldn’t get him out on 4th, but I caught another scary card on 5th. Now my board is scarier, the bets are bigger, and with my pair my equity against the high hand is better, so I am losing less by raising him.
On 6th, I’m freerolling, and that miracle card on 7th was almost too good to be true.