The last Friday of WCOOP was also my birthday. For the second year in a row, I spend it in a foreign country playing a card game online. Specifically, this was my 30th birthday, and while I don’t generally put much stock in such things, it would’ve been nice if Lady Luck were a bit kinder to me. Last year she set-under-setted me, and as you’ll see, she delivered a similar gift this year. This was the second hand of the $500 1R1A (which was actually on Friday – I misreported Thursday’s tournament, which was actually a regular $500 rebuy):
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds 5 Ante (9 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
CO (t7965)
Button (t7370)
Hero (SB) (t7445)
BB (t7370)
UTG (t14995)
UTG+1 (t7495)
MP1 (t7495)
MP2 (t7370)
MP3 (t14995)
Hero’s M: 62.04
Preflop: Hero is SB with A♠, A♦
UTG bets t125, 1 fold, MP1 calls t125, MP2 calls t125, 3 folds, Hero raises to t666, 2 folds, MP1 calls t541, MP2 calls t541
Flop: (t2218) J♥, 3♠, 6♠ (3 players)
Hero bets t1224, MP1 calls t1224, MP2 calls t1224
Turn: (t5890) 9♦ (3 players)
Hero bets t5550 (All-In), MP1 raises to t5600 (All-In), 1 fold
River: (t16990) 7♣ (2 players, 2 all-in)
Total pot: t16990
Results:
Hero had A♠, A♦ (one pair, Aces).
MP1 had 10♥, 8♥ (straight, Jack high).
Outcome: MP1 won t16990
Rebuy! And then a bit later in the tournament:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 125/250 Blinds 30 Ante (8 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (Button) (t21289)
SB (t19553)
BB (t23730)
UTG (t21931)
UTG+1 (t20220)
MP1 (t15720)
MP2 (t26511)
CO (t47258)
Hero’s M: 34.62
Preflop: Hero is Button with 6♣, 6♠
3 folds, MP2 bets t500, 1 fold, Hero calls t500, 1 fold, BB calls t250
Flop: (t1865) 6♦, 8♥, 8♣ (3 players)
BB checks, MP2 bets t750, Hero calls t750, 1 fold
Turn: (t3365) 5♠ (2 players)
MP2 bets t1350, Hero calls t1350
River: (t6065) 9♥ (2 players)
MP2 bets t3500, Hero raises to t13333, MP2 raises to t23881 (All-In), Hero folds
Total pot: t32731
Results:
MP2 didn’t show
Outcome: MP2 won t32731
It was actually only about 5K more to me to call, but even getting like 7:1 with a full house, this is an easy fold. I actually think raising the river might even be a mistake. I analyze the hand in more depth in my October 2+2 article Telling a Story With Your Value Bets.
My girlfriend didn’t come with me to Montreal, so I was by myself on my birthday proper, though I had plans to take Saturday off before the WCOOP Main Event on Sunday and to hang out with Luis that evening.
In lieu of cake, I did a little research on Yelp and found that one of the most popular dessert places in Montreal was a shop near me that sold macaroons. They’ve never been my favorite, so while these were pretty good, the real excitement for me was that it was by far my most thorough transaction in French. I asked the woman behind the counter which she preferred, but that no I didn’t like raspberries, anything else? Etc. Neither of us ever had to ask the other to repeat anything, though I suspect she was going easy on me in terms of vocabulary and speed. I picked up a few more local brews to try and watched Aziz Ansari’s Dangerously Delicious special.
Saturday was a little more exciting. Luis and I got coffee and then beer and then met up with his lady friend at an all-you-can-eat vegan Chinese restaurant. I chose this place, so I guess I have no one but myself to blame for the fact that it wasn’t very good. Almost all of their offerings had the oily sauciness of a low-end Chinese place, only with fried tofu products in place of meat. Worst of all, they charge you for what you don’t eat, so we even had to choke down the stuff that wasn’t that good.
Luis’ friend, on the other hand, was a pleasure. For one thing, she was beautiful, half-French and half-Cambodian. A little of Luis’ league IMHO, so well-played my friend. She was also very patient with my stilted French, and the three of us spoke mostly in French for about half an hour. We only switched to English when Luis went to the restroom, I guess because although it was better than my French it was a far cry from Luis’ near-perfect English and she was embarrassed speaking in front of him. It was very good practice for me even though (more likely because) I made a ton of mistakes.
The two of them were headed somewhere afterwards, but I turned in early. I wanted to be well-rested for the Main Event on Sunday…
That first one must have hurt, the AA vs T8 hand. What a dirty game poker is sometimes!
See, this is what makes poker such an interesting psychological experiment. Why did the first one have to hurt? It should be making Andrew jump for joy. That guy and his 8% EV is what is buttering his bread! It is entirely irrelevant, and not any more or less dirty, that he spiked his 1 in 12 in this particular hand.
You’re right, but it stil hurts, unless you are a robot. Of course he wanted would have wanted the call if he knew what the villian had.
Honestly I don’t much mind when something like that happens super early in a tournament. Not that this makes much more sense in the end, but usually my pain from a beat is proportionate to how deep I am in the tournament when it occurs, not how statistically unlikely it is. Often I get genuine enjoyment from the really unlikely ones, like if someone goes runner runner perfect on me it usually makes me smile and is not frustrating for me at all (though it probably would be at a final table).
You made a lot of good reads and gave so much compliments I don’t know where to hide ha!
It was a pleasure to taste this oily restaurant with you, we would go to a better one next time you come around 🙂
Reading your unfortunate loss of Internet while you had to use it… I feel sorry for you 🙁
If only you would have been able to call me that day, it would have been a pleasure to let you use my Internet connection. Next time you come you can get a 35$ phone from Public Mobile, a company which lets you pay per month and that would have been EV+ in the long run, I’m pretty sure !