I made a decent run in the $500 6-max on Wednesday, and though I didn’t do as well in the $5K, there were interesting hands from both, so I’m going to do two different posts.
I lost about half my stack early on in the $500, but managed to recover. Then there was this hand that really gave me a boost:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $500+$30 Tournament, 100/200 Blinds 25 Ante (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) (t11229)
BB (t7109)
UTG (t4199)
MP (t11233)
CO (t11561)
Button (t21931)
Hero’s M: 24.95
Preflop: Hero is SB with 7
, A
3 folds, Button calls t200, Hero calls t100, BB checks
Flop: (t750) Q, A
, K
(3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, Button bets t500, Hero calls t500, 1 fold
Turn: (t1750) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t2000, Hero calls t2000
River: (t5750) 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t5200, Hero calls t5200
Total pot: t16150
Results:
Button had 9, 7 (high card, Ace).
Hero had 7, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Hero won t16150
Not that his line makes a whole lot of sense anyway, but I’d previously seen him check the flop and lead out for half pot on the turn with a set, so I was even less inclined to believe his overbet. I doubt he’s open limping AQ, AK, QQ, KK, or AA on the button, so JT is literally the only made hand I could expect him to have.
So things were going well, and I had a not-too-tough table, except for a guy some of you may know who plays under the handle teacuppoker. He’s a good player who’s been around for a while- I played with him in person at the 2007 WSOP, and recognized his screenname from before that. Sadly, I got into a tough spot against him and didn’t play it brilliantly.
It just goes to show you how much it sucks to be out of position against a good player, when you can flop top pair top kicker and your first thought is “Shit, what am I going to do?” It’s not that I was worried about getting beat, but just that I didn’t know what line to take to get paid off without getting bluff out or paying off to much to the occasional better hand myself. I ultimately went for three streets of value, which in a cash game would be fine but is probably too optimistic in a tournament, even against a guy who does play MSNL and HSNL:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $500+$30 Tournament, 150/300 Blinds 40 Ante (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (UTG) (t19208)
MP (t26465)
CO (t23634)
Button (t9160)
SB (t5430)
BB (t11357)
Hero’s M: 27.84
Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, A
Hero bets t777, 1 fold, CO calls t777, 3 folds
Flop: (t2244) 10, 4, K (2 players)
Hero bets t1111, CO calls t1111
Turn: (t4466) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets t2888, CO calls t2888
River: (t10242) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets t6666, CO calls t6666
Total pot: t23574
Results:
Hero had K, A (one pair, Kings).
CO had 10, 10 (three of a kind, tens).
Outcome: CO won t23574
Of course, I was destined to lose a big pot here. But check-folding the river might actually have been better. The most obvious draw got there, and although I’m sure he’s capable, he doesn’t have much reason to turn a pair into a bluff here.
Then I fought around for a while and eventually got sort of coolered in a blind battle, though based on how passive this guy had been on his big blind, I maybe could have just called flop. Even if I do, though, I don’t see how we don’t get it on this turn:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $500+$30 Tournament, 250/500 Blinds 60 Ante (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) (t13506)
BB (t19033)
UTG (t40954)
MP (t8136)
CO (t5030)
Button (t8595)
Hero’s M: 12.17
Preflop: Hero is SB with 9, J
4 folds, Hero calls t250, BB checks
Flop: (t1360) 7, 10, 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets t897, Hero raises to t2444, BB raises to t18473 (All-In), Hero calls t10502 (All-In)
Turn: (t27252) 3 (2 players, 2 all-in)
River: (t27252) K (2 players, 2 all-in)
Total pot: t27252
Results:
Hero had 9, J (one pair, nines).
BB had 9, 10 (two pair, tens and nines).
Outcome: BB won t27252