Nearly one week has passed since the 2010 Ballys Winterfest Poker concluded. Would the lack of playing in live tournament situations the last 3 months affect my play? Would my past experiences & reading abilities be enough to guide me deep? The answer to both questions ended with a "yes". This invite was a series of (3) 1 day tournaments. The tournament schedule consisted of playing a shootout prelim (top 2 advancing) in the morning & "Finals" regular tournament style in the afternoon-evening with a long break in between the morning & afternoon. I did not like this schedule too much as there was not enough time to rest or do other stuff in between sessions.
In the prelim sessions, you start out with 1,500 in chips, blinds start at 25/50 & increase every 15 minutes. As if that wasn't aggressive enough; antes started in Level 2. This would make for fast play, not alot of deep stack play.
Event 1 Prelims- My highpoint is t-3,825 through Level 3 as I use an aggressive style of play to accumulate chips & engage the shorter stacks in isolation play. Level 4 Blinds 200/400/75 Ante- I'm dealt Pocket 10s on button & raise to 1,100. The small blind fold, big blind calls (t-2,000 after call). Flop is 10,J,2. Big Blind checks, I shove with t-2,100 & have a set of 10s. Big Blind insta-calls w/ A,K & rivers straight. Go figure! Three hands later, I go all-in for t-1,600 w/pocket 5s & called by A,K same guy from three hands ago. Flop is Q,6,Q,. I end up getting counterfeited on the river & his Ace plays. Out in 3rd & time to rebuy. I end up facing this guy again during a later session, weird! I finish 3rd in the rebuy but advance without winning a single hand. I was down to t-400 but survived & advanced based on the rules of a player not being able to have 2 seats in one tournament & there was a big 15-minute Big Suits" discussion but ruled in my favor.
Event 1 Finals- The field is whittled from 850 to 204. You start with 5,000 in chips; blinds start 100/200 & Antes in Level 2. I'm able to win a few small pots to chip up to t-10,100 at end of Level 3. Level 4 Blinds 500/1000/300 antes. I'm dealt A,K spades UTG position & raise to 2,800 & mid position player goes all-in for 4,100. I call & he reveals pocket 9s, the board hits me but he turns a 3rd 9 & I'm down to t-6,000. A few hands later, I'm dealt pocket 10s in mid position & go all in for 4,500 against K,9x. This guy ends up hitting his damn flush on the river. So, the theme of day 1 is I hate pocket 10s & A,K. It didn't matter if I had either hand, I would always lose with these two hands. Deep run but not enough for the money. However, my friend Jay ends up winning the tournament & I'm happy for him. We party like modest rock stars the rest of the night & rest up late for Event 2.
Event 2 Prelims- I advance to the afternoon session based on good short stacked play. Key hands with blinds 100/200/50 antes. I'm dealt 8s in Hi-Jack position & fold because there is a raise & re-reraise before me. Next hand, I'm dealt 2,3 suited & shove all-in with t-550 in chips & am not called. This hand was huge in that I was able to chip up to 1,100 in chips with 5 players left. This move allowed me to use my experience to make the final two as other players were trying to survive. One more key hand develops with blinds 300/600/100 ante. I'm dealt A,K off in button position & in three handed play; top 2 advance. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the small blind lurch forward in seat after peeking at her cards & big blind watching the small blind. Neither player is watching me as I'm short stacked with 2,500. I fold & small blind raises, big blind shoves all-in. Small Blind wins hand deals once chip leader a big blow & I end up advancing on the next hand as the once chip leader is out. i was happy with my play in this session as masterfully managed my short-stack. Key concepts that helped me were observing table pre-flop activity, player range reads.
Event 2 Finals- I make it down to the final 4 tables but am snapped off with pocket 9s by A,8x with running cards to complete their flush. Finished 40th of 1,150. Deep but not deep enough. For those keeping score, Pocket 10s, AK, Pocket 9s all led to my demise during the first 2 events.
Event 3- 10,6 offsuit killed me twice & sent me steaming. How in the world does this stuff happen? It does, & I won't complain anymore. Karma, lady lucky or lack thereof, was definitely not on my side this trip. I could not hit a machine or card if you super glued it to me. Did I have fun this trip? I think you can see the answer for yourself. Nice people do finish ----/ I'm going to start being mean, just caring about me, & get crazy! Just joking, play nice everyone! Good Luck to everyone unless we are in the same hand. In which case, I'll wish you luck after the hand.
Chewey
