We played our weekly home game tonight. And I'm happy to say that I won again. Last week was pretty crazy. Dustin was catching cards like crazy, and if he had a draw, he was gonna get there. I did everything I could to finish third. Even then, it was a battle. I never really picked up a hand throughout the entire tournament. We got down to three handed, and I found A10 on the button. I raised and both blinds called. The flop came 10-8-6. Both blinds checked, so I bet about two-thirds the pot. Dustin called. At this point I was pot committed. A Q came on the turn and he checked. I moved in and he insta called me. I said, "Well, you just got there." Sure enough, he had J9. GG me.
So that brings us to this week. At the beginning of the tournament, I was trying to keep the pots small and basically play my typical small ball style. It was working well, even though I didn't really have many big hands. Brenda went on a major heater and won 8 hands in a row. Some of them were probably steals based on her table image. But for the most part, she was showing down some real hands. There really wasn't much action early in the tourney.
A loose player limped in middle position, and I had been card dead for quite a few orbits. I look down and find AQ. I had him 2:1 in chips and had position. So I figured, put in a raise and take it down now. Well, poker is not that simple. I raised, the small blind called, and the limper suddenly shoved in for a huge re-raise. To make a long story short, I made a stupid call, and he showed down AA. So now I'm the short stack. UGH. THE VERY NEXT HAND, I get 77 in late position and decide to shove in. The BB wakes up with AA. So I rebought and just had to go back to grindstone.
I was bleeding chips, missing flops, and just hitting a major cold deck. The blinds were going up and my M was about 5-6. So I had to find a hand and go with it. When your M gets low, you don't have the luxury of trying to play flops and play the player. Your limited with what you can do. So I pick up KJ in middle position and made a mistake by limping. A player in late position raised. I thought about it for a second and mentally went through different strategies I could use and the pot odds, both actual and implied. I decided to go with a stop and go play. So I just called. The flop came J-10-8. I pushed in and got called by the raiser. They had KK...again UGH! How many times am I gonna run into big hands? The turn brought a Queen, so there were chop possibilites. The river was my dream Jack, and she lost her mind. She got pissed and stormed out, ranting about how I'm such a bad player and how if it happened to me how I would criticize the play....blah blah blah.
So that got me somewhat healthy and we were down to 6 handed. I kept adding chips and stealing blinds, now that my M was in the yellow zone. I had a few big hands, but never really got paid off. I just kept making small raises and if I didn't have much and got a lot of resistance, I just let go of my hand. Eventually, we got down to three handed, and I had position on the most aggressive player at the table. He would raise about 80% of the time. If you've been reading my blog, you know I don't mind overly aggressive players. He had been calling most of my raises and making really ridiculous re-raises on the flop. So I knew he would be pretty easy to trap or that he would overplay his hand. Sure enough. I had A9 of clubs on the button, three handed. The blinds were 600/1200, so I raised to 2800. He called. No surprise. The flop came KQ8 with two clubs. With only 6200 in the pot, he pushed all in for over 50,000. I knew if he had a real hand he would have made a small bet or even checked hoping to trap me. So I put him on a straight draw. We were three handed and I had the nut flush draw with possibly one over. So I had 12 outs twice. I decided to call and he showed 52 of clubs. HUH??? I turned a 9 and he rivered a 5, down to heads up.
Heads up was quite a battle. Martin played really well all night long. We passed chips back and forth, and we both played some hands extremely well, and other hands horribly. We passed the chip lead back and forth a few times. In the final hand, I was in the big blind with 10-8 of diamonds. He raised to 30,000 with the blinds at 5,000/10,000. I had him about 2:1 in chips and I had about 240,000. I called and saw a flop. The flop came 7-6-4, rainbow. Two overs, a double gutter, not bad for my hand. I checked it to him and he bet out 30,000. At this point, I knew he had either a 6 or 7. So I quickly went over everything in my head. 3:1 odds on my draw, I have conceivably 14 outs, so it's a coinflip. I decide to take one off, and was planning on making a move on the turn, no matter what hits. The turn brought another 4. I now bet out 58,000, and he calls. I'm not liking my hand now. The river brought my straight card. A 9 hit the river, and I decided to get the rest of his money in the pot. If my hand is good, so be it. If he has the nut straight beat, so be it. I'm not folding and I can't see check calling with his stack getting low. I check, he bet 20,000, and I put him in. He calls and shows 96 for two pair. I win with the straight and he just gives me the old, "nice catch" comment.
Would I play the hand differently in the future? Maybe. With 14 outs, it's not a bad spot to put a lot of pressure on your opponent. So I still have a lot to learn and still have a lot to work on. But I'm getting there. I win a lot of our tournaments, so that is a good sign for me. So far this year, I think I've won 6 or 7 of our tourneys and have cashed in a huge majority of them. If I win again next week, maybe i can get another long streak together.
So that brings us to this week. At the beginning of the tournament, I was trying to keep the pots small and basically play my typical small ball style. It was working well, even though I didn't really have many big hands. Brenda went on a major heater and won 8 hands in a row. Some of them were probably steals based on her table image. But for the most part, she was showing down some real hands. There really wasn't much action early in the tourney.
A loose player limped in middle position, and I had been card dead for quite a few orbits. I look down and find AQ. I had him 2:1 in chips and had position. So I figured, put in a raise and take it down now. Well, poker is not that simple. I raised, the small blind called, and the limper suddenly shoved in for a huge re-raise. To make a long story short, I made a stupid call, and he showed down AA. So now I'm the short stack. UGH. THE VERY NEXT HAND, I get 77 in late position and decide to shove in. The BB wakes up with AA. So I rebought and just had to go back to grindstone.
I was bleeding chips, missing flops, and just hitting a major cold deck. The blinds were going up and my M was about 5-6. So I had to find a hand and go with it. When your M gets low, you don't have the luxury of trying to play flops and play the player. Your limited with what you can do. So I pick up KJ in middle position and made a mistake by limping. A player in late position raised. I thought about it for a second and mentally went through different strategies I could use and the pot odds, both actual and implied. I decided to go with a stop and go play. So I just called. The flop came J-10-8. I pushed in and got called by the raiser. They had KK...again UGH! How many times am I gonna run into big hands? The turn brought a Queen, so there were chop possibilites. The river was my dream Jack, and she lost her mind. She got pissed and stormed out, ranting about how I'm such a bad player and how if it happened to me how I would criticize the play....blah blah blah.
So that got me somewhat healthy and we were down to 6 handed. I kept adding chips and stealing blinds, now that my M was in the yellow zone. I had a few big hands, but never really got paid off. I just kept making small raises and if I didn't have much and got a lot of resistance, I just let go of my hand. Eventually, we got down to three handed, and I had position on the most aggressive player at the table. He would raise about 80% of the time. If you've been reading my blog, you know I don't mind overly aggressive players. He had been calling most of my raises and making really ridiculous re-raises on the flop. So I knew he would be pretty easy to trap or that he would overplay his hand. Sure enough. I had A9 of clubs on the button, three handed. The blinds were 600/1200, so I raised to 2800. He called. No surprise. The flop came KQ8 with two clubs. With only 6200 in the pot, he pushed all in for over 50,000. I knew if he had a real hand he would have made a small bet or even checked hoping to trap me. So I put him on a straight draw. We were three handed and I had the nut flush draw with possibly one over. So I had 12 outs twice. I decided to call and he showed 52 of clubs. HUH??? I turned a 9 and he rivered a 5, down to heads up.
Heads up was quite a battle. Martin played really well all night long. We passed chips back and forth, and we both played some hands extremely well, and other hands horribly. We passed the chip lead back and forth a few times. In the final hand, I was in the big blind with 10-8 of diamonds. He raised to 30,000 with the blinds at 5,000/10,000. I had him about 2:1 in chips and I had about 240,000. I called and saw a flop. The flop came 7-6-4, rainbow. Two overs, a double gutter, not bad for my hand. I checked it to him and he bet out 30,000. At this point, I knew he had either a 6 or 7. So I quickly went over everything in my head. 3:1 odds on my draw, I have conceivably 14 outs, so it's a coinflip. I decide to take one off, and was planning on making a move on the turn, no matter what hits. The turn brought another 4. I now bet out 58,000, and he calls. I'm not liking my hand now. The river brought my straight card. A 9 hit the river, and I decided to get the rest of his money in the pot. If my hand is good, so be it. If he has the nut straight beat, so be it. I'm not folding and I can't see check calling with his stack getting low. I check, he bet 20,000, and I put him in. He calls and shows 96 for two pair. I win with the straight and he just gives me the old, "nice catch" comment.
Would I play the hand differently in the future? Maybe. With 14 outs, it's not a bad spot to put a lot of pressure on your opponent. So I still have a lot to learn and still have a lot to work on. But I'm getting there. I win a lot of our tournaments, so that is a good sign for me. So far this year, I think I've won 6 or 7 of our tourneys and have cashed in a huge majority of them. If I win again next week, maybe i can get another long streak together.
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