When you get knocked down you only have two options: the first is to go into hibernation and hang up your gloves but I have always preferred the second - to drag yourself off the floor and get back in the ring.
Inspired by The Executioner’s fantastic third place finish in the WSOP $1,500 Limit Hold'em event [read The Executioner's blog about it] I decided it was time to rid myself of my WSOP demons [see my previous blog]. So on Sunday, 9 July I got back in to the poker ring ready to scrap and fight my way to victory.
Comeback kid
The venue I chose for my comeback was the Bellagio card room and the daily $1,000 no limit holdem event. It kicked off at noon, and with a starting stack of 5,000 chips, a great structure and a field of 160 runners, I knew I’d have every chance.
I got off to the perfect start. On the first level, I had worked my way up to 5,500 when a frequent raiser sat to my immediate right with opened for 300 in first position (blinds were 25-50). I found pocket nines and decided to call and see a flop. The dealer peeled off a beautiful 9-4-3 rainbow. He came out betting for 1,000 leaving him 3,000 behind. Putting him on an over-pair, I decided not to get too cute and raised it up to 2,000. After little thought, he moved in and sighed as he saw that that his pocket Queens had been out-flopped. The turn brought him no help and the river brought an unnecessary but gratifying fourth nine.
Just over an hour later, sitting with 13,000 chips behind, another frequent raiser sat two to my right raised my big blind up to 500 (blinds were now 75-150). His actions looked fishy to me and I was already contemplating raising him regardless of my holding as I peeked down at my hole cards. When I found A-A I almost pinched myself to check I wasn’t dreaming. Feigning disgust that he had the temerity to raise my BB, I now wanted him to think that I was playing back at him with a weak hand. So I over-aggressively tossed in an extra 750 chips. He quickly called.
The flop was A-J-4 with one spade. Now I continued my act, feebly tossing in a 500 chip, trying for all the world to make it look like a weak continuation bet. Again he quickly called. I was pretty sure he was weak, but had bought my act and was looking to make a play at a later stage. So when the turn came the 6 of spades, I timidly checked. Right on cue he pushed all of his remaining 4,500 into the middle. I wasted no time in calling.
Dangerous rags
“Oops”, he said as he flipped over the Ks-10s. I had read him right – he had been looking to make a play all along. However his rags had actually turned into a dangerous hand as the turn had given him 10 outs (any spade that didn’t pair the board and any Queen). Fortunately the river blanked and another one bit the dust as my stack increased to almost 20,000. m
My original table broke and I was seated at a much tougher table. Sat to my immediate left was a large stacked and aggressive Frenchman. He seemed like a nice guy and we got chatting. It turned out it was Fabrice Soullier, twice final tablist at the WSOP and twice also on the WPT. To Fabrice’s immediate left was an equally aggressive young American by the name of Michael Binger, also a recent WSOP final tablist (and later third in the 2006 WSOP main event, good for $4.1 million) – so no more easy chips for me.
Three late position raises all got re-raised forcing me to pass halting my momentum in the process. My table move also coincided with a serious downturn in cards. But I still had plenty of chips so I resolved to switch down a gear or two and pick my spots with greater caution. The plan worked alright but a couple of hours later (following the exit of Fabrice and Michael, and a couple more table moves), and down to 30 players, I had been reduced to a pretty small stack.
Down to 13,000, with blinds at 500-1,000 and a running ante of 100, I remained card dead. I managed to hang on and maintain my stack through some late position stealing as the field reduced. Down to 14, playing seven-handed we were now in the money but my stack was static, the blinds had just increase to 1,500-3,000 and the pressure was seriously mounting. Sitting to the right of two Englishman, we all marvelled at the coincidence. But while the banter was fresh and I am all for patriotism, I needed to double up and if it had to come from an Englishman then so be it!
All-in
So, when the friendly young Brummie (inhabitant of Birmingham, England) who had been pounding my big blind raised it once again and I found A-7, I knew it was time to make a stand. I called all-in for 15,000 and he flipped over 10d-8d. To my great relief and surprise my hand held up and shortly afterwards we reached the final table nine-handed.
The first 40 minutes would be played at 1,500-3,000. I had 35,000 in chips and although the average was over 80,000, I drew a favourable seat in late position and back to nine-handed the pressure was eased a little. Seemingly, my final table opponents were less willing to readjust from short-handed play and the chips started flying all over the place. Within one round we were down to seven. Then the following hand came up…
Blinds 1,500-3,000, a medium stack (100,000) in first position limps in for 3,000, the player two to his right, a big stack but a weak player (200,000) also limps in, I pass in the cut-off and the player on the button, another fairly big stack (150,000) also limps in. The small blind completes, the big blind checks and they take a flop five-handed. The flop comes down Ks-Js-10d. The blinds both check, the first position limper checks and the next limper leads out for 30,000. The button thinks for about five seconds and then pushes all-in for 150,000. The blinds pass and the first position limper dwells up, trying to feign weakness, before calling all-in. Then the original raiser flippantly says, “What the hell, why not”, and he moves all-in too. WHAT A HAND!
The button re-raiser flips over J-10 for two pair, the first position limper flips over a monster, As-Qs for the made straight and a straight flush draw, and the big stack flips over an improbable J-Q for second pair and a straight draw (see – I told you he was a weak player)!
The medium stack on the button proceeds to hit one of his three outs when a second Jack comes on the turn. The river blanks and the first position limper is cruelly eliminated.
Big stack
Now down to six, and with the big stack dented, the very next hand sees two big stacks clash again. Englishman Ian Woodley comes off the better and we are down to five. He now holds a stack of over 350,000 chips and all the while I have been sitting there witnessing the carnage sat behind a puppy-stack of just over 30,000!
We take a short break and I find a quiet corner to give myself a pep talk. There was one other short stack with around 60,000 chips. Unfortunately he was on my right. To my immediate left was ‘Mr J-10’ with 300,000 and to his left sat Ian Woodley with a monster stack of around 500,000. Throughout the tournament I had been aware that the first prize was a healthy $55,000 but I had deliberately avoided studying the other prizes as first was my goal. But just before the break I had taken a quick peek and noticed that the prizes were broken down as follows: $55,000, $33,000, $15,000, $8,500.
It was my big blind so I was in for 4,000 plus ante. With the other small stack in the small blind, the chip leader (Ian) pushed all in from the button. The SB quickly folded and I looked down at A-4. Ian seemed strong but I knew he could make that move with almost any two cards and certainly with a hand like K-Q or K-Js. I reasoned with myself that if I was playing to win, with such a short stack I needed to call and try to get lucky. On the other hand, I always prefer to raise all-in than to call all-in and, if my goal was to outlast the other short-stack, I should probably fold.
Thinking it through, I believe it was a marginal situation. Deal-making in poker and the playing strategy around it is an art form in itself, and it is one I am a long way from mastering. It wasn’t a clear error to call with A-4 but given the relative chip sizes and table positions, I think it called for a change in strategy to tailor my plan towards locking up a 3rd place finish.
Still, I welcomed my timely return to the final table, and for the first time since 4 July I slept a bit easier.
Bye for now,
12 July 2006
______________________________________________________
Poker Verdict is a free service catering for the online poker community. It offers a unique and powerful tournament search tool as well as news and views from online poker experts.
Easyodds is a free service that compares odds from over 20 big name online betting companies (ladbrokes, betfair etc) to allow users to find the best price for any bet.
______________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment