Well, I just got back from a $100 NLHE tournament. It was a local tournament and it paid out to the top 4 players. I got knocked out at 5th place. Go figure.
I was the short stack as the BB. I had $2175 after my $400 BB (the blinds were $200/$400-$50 ante). So I was very short stacked. Anyway, I had 5-2o in the BB. There were 2 limpers and the blinds in the hand pre-flop.
So the flop comes 2-5-J. Well, with about almost $2000 in the pot, I went all in figuring my two pair was best. Well, I got called. I was hoping for a mid-pocket pair or two high cards or even A-J. Nope. The guy called me with pocket fives. That was the one of very few hands that had me dominated. I would need to hit running deuces to win. Of course that didn't happen. Oh well, there is absolutely nothing I can do with that. I can't fold and neither could the other guy. I was destined to lose that hand and go out on the bubble.
However, I think my play today was very good. In fact, I think I played extremely well. I made a good play with pocket Kings early:
It was early in the tournament and I had pocket Kings in the big blind. My opponent raised it to $175 (the blinds were $25/$50). I just called in the big blind. I checked in the dark. The flop comes out 6-8-J. He bets out $200. I min-raised him to $400. He thinks about it and calls. The turn comes, blank card. I bet $500. He was pretty perplexed with that bet. I said he hit the flop but he ended up folding.
I think he probably had K-J or maybe even A-J. He's played with me plenty of times and probably put me on a strong hand like QQ or something of that strength. He knows I'm a pretty tight player and wouldn't call a raise out of position with a marginal hand. I think I got about as much as I could for that hand.
The other hand I think I played pretty well was a bluff. I was in the hand with two other players as the BB. Three hearts came out and the small blind checked, I checked and the last player checked. The small blind was pretty short stacked but had about 12 BB in him. So after the flop, a non-heart came out and he checked and I bet about half the pot. I was thinking how I would play the hand if I hit the flop but was afraid of the flush? I think I would check the flop and bet the turn. So I bet the turn. The guy in position folded and the small blind called. I had absolutely nothing. I had two spades, in fact. The last card put another blank card - non-heart. The small blind checked and I had to bet in order to win the pot. I knew with his stack, he couldn't just call and hope to win. Every bet he puts out there is one less bet he can steal with later if he doesn't win this hand. So I bet half the pot with nothing again and he even said, "I think you have a pair with a flush draw." and mucked his hand.
The next highlight hand was with the same guy I bluffed, in the exact same position. He was the small blind and I was the big blind. I had pocket 10s and after he limped, I raised him three times the BB. He called. The board made my 10s an over pair. He checked and I bet half the pot. He called. The turn brought a flush and I checked and he checked behind me. The river paired the board. The pot had about $1000 and he bet $500. So at this point, I don't have a hand strong enough to raise but I did have a hand that could beat any pair that he might have made. Also, he could have tripped up or slow played the flush. So I just called and he showed Ad-6d. He caught his 6 on the flop and thought I missed with AK or AQ possibly.
I showed him my pocket 10s and took down a nice pot.
So this guy to my right was very short stacked now. About 3 or 4 hands later, I see him limp in with a hand. He probably had about $700 and the blinds were $50/$100. So really he was in the all-in/fold mode. So I was really wondering why he's limping in. But in this particular hand, I saw him limp and then check call a $200 bet on the flop. So I'm thinking what the hell is he just calling? I was thinking, he has a monster hand and trying to extract maximum value. So the turn comes, he bets $200. The fool playing him calls. The river comes and goes all in with the remaining $200.
The idiot has to call with those pot odds....not realizing his opponent was playing the complete opposite of short-stacked play. Turns out he flopped a set. He doubled up. I saw his play a mile away. I would have shut it all down after the check-call on the flop.
Anyway, I was pretty proud of how I played and got all my reads correctly.
Still need to deposit $250 into my other pokerstars account to play some cash games online.
Well, that's about it. I'm still loving my iMac. It's great.
As a side note, I play in a band (keyboards) and we're playing in N. Va. on August 5th. It will be my first live performance since my piano recitals when I was like 16.
That's it!
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