Well, I didn’t even make the 1.5-hour mark I set for myself in the last post. I induced a guy to bluff all three streets, and it worked! I caught him! Except he was holding aces and I was out in a hurry.
In other news, A.J. Burnett is apparently in the building. If I rooted for the Evil Empire this would have a little more meaning to me. As it is, I didn’t even get the chance to hex his season.
Main event is next. I’m playing my Day One on Sunday, and I’ll update my chip count on Twitter.
I leave tomorrow night for this year’s installment of the Borgata Winter Open. I’ll be playing the 2k on Friday, the 1k six-max on Saturday, and of course the main event on Sunday. Watch this space (and its twitter cousin) for updates and hilarious stories.
I just finished up Day One here at the Borg. It went well. I’m probably in the top ten in chips with my 124,775 (we started with 30K). They got about 775 players, maybe 60% of which will come back for Day Two at 11 a.m. Average stack, therefore, is around 50K.
It’s late and I’m tired, but I have to relate to you all just one hand–possibly the most ridiculous hand I’ve ever been involved in.
Blinds are 100-200 with a 25 ante. A loose/bad/crazy player limps UTG+2 for 200. It folds to the hijack, who is also a loose-aggressive type, but not nearly as insane as the limper. The hijack makes it 775. I decide I don’t want to give up my button, and make a loose call with the 5d3c. The small blind calls, and we see the flop four ways with 3550 in the pot. The flop come Ad4s2d. I have the nuts. The small blind checks, and the wild player bets 2,000. The hijack folds. I make it 6,000. The small blind folds, and the loose/wild guy calls quickly. The turn is the queen of diamonds, putting a three-flush on board. Loose/wild leads out for 6,000 into the 15,550 pot. I choose to just call (possibly a mistake). The river is the nine of diamonds, putting the fourth diamond on board. (Remember, I have the five of diamonds.) Loose/wild bets 8,000 into the 27,550 pot. I reluctantly call. He says, and I quote, “you’re good; you have a flush, right?” I roll over my hand. He shakes his head and says, “yeah, I can’t win.” He flips his hand over. It’s the seven of hearts…and the eight of diamonds. He says, “wait, I win?” He then jumps up from the table shouting, “I played the hand blind! I played the hand blind!” I hope so, sir, given that you put 6,000 into the pot on the flop with 87o on a board of A42.
Outside of this hand, I ran exceptionally good today. I flopped five sets and won with all of them. I rivered the nuts late, and got a big raise paid off. Obviously getting those hands made things easier, but it’s clear based on the above play and many others that this tournament was a great investment, regardless of how it turns out. If I run half as good in Day Two as I did in Day One, I’ll be OK. I’ll give it my best shot.
I treaded water for six hours today in the $1,500 No Limit Hold ‘Em event at the Borgata Winter Open, with two exceptions.
Exception One: Blinds of 100-200. A tight-passive player limps UTG. Folded to a loose-aggressive internet player on the button, who makes it 550. The small blind (tight and straightforward older gentleman) calls, and I decide to call in the big blind with two nines. I could’ve three-bet to isolate the button, but there was a decent chance the small blind would’ve come along anyway, and I didn’t like my options if I got four-bet. UTG calls as well. The flop comes 964 with two spades. Checked to the button who bets 1,025. The SB folds. I make it 3,500. UTG folds, and the button quickly moves me in for 13,000 more. I, of course, call, and the button rolls over 74o. The five on the turn gives him a sweat, but luckily the river is a ten and I double up.
Exception Two: The very first hand of 200-400, 50 ante. Folds to the cutoff, who is an actual poker player, loose, tricky, tough. He opens for 1,025. The button folds. I’m in the SB with 87o, and I make it 3,500 to go. The BB folds. The cutoff thinks for a long time, and finally four-bets to 8,550 total. I don’t fold much of my three-betting range when being offered 2.6-1, although this hand would certainly be a candidate. But I didn’t feel my opponent was very strong. I opted to call, making the pot 18,000, and leaving me with 27,000 behind. I planned on leading out all-in on some flops, check-raising all-in on some flops, and check-folding on some flops (and not necessarily always deciding in advance). The flop comes JT8 rainbow. I decide to check and then re-evaluate. My opponent bets 10,200. I don’t see anything to change my initial read, and so I move in hoping for a fold. Sadly, my opponent calls instantly with T9s. Oh well, at least the preflop read was right. I don’t improve, and that’s that.
I’m happy I went out swinging, and I made some nice plays earlier in the day on small pots. Time to refocus and get ready for the Main Event, which I’ll start on Monday (although even before then, I’ll probably play some online stuff on Sunday).
Well, I’m here in Atlantic City for another instantiation of the Borgata Winter Open. Tomorrow I play the $1,500 No Limit Hold ‘Em event. Follow my twitter feed for chip count updates, and possibly other observations.
Well, I was hoping to get some more guesses for my last post, but anyway it’s high time I revealed the results, so here goes.
Hand One: I’m the shortest stack of the three players involved in the hand. A mid-position limper for 200, and then a loose-aggressive player makes it 900 in the next seat. I call from the button, the limper calls. The flop comes 976 with two clubs. Limper checks, the raiser bets 2,500. I move in for 19,000. The limper folds. A) What’s my range? B) What’s the worst hand the raiser should call with?
A) This is a pretty big bet for me, risking 19k to win 5500, so my range isn’t all that nutso. A decent answer would be something like flush draws with two overcards, any flush draw with an eight, a set, a straight, two pair, TT.
B) The raiser has to call 16.5k to win 24.5k, so he needs to win a showdown a little more than 40 percent of the time to show a profit. AA would win about 38 percent against a similar range to what I described in part A, so big pairs are very borderline calls in this spot (which is the conclusion most of us would probably come to intuitively). Anything better than one pair is a more straightforward call (although bottom two is still close).
In the actual hand, I had 99, my opponent called with KK, and I doubled up.
Hand Two: Everyone has more than 40,000. UTG limps for 400. Two other limpers, and a loose-aggressive player makes a small raise from the button to 1,400. Folds to me in the big blind. A) What’s my range for reraising? For calling?
I call, UTG calls, both other limpers call. The flop comes K82 with two hearts. I check. UTG leads out for 3,500. The other limpers and original raiser fold, I call. B) What’s my range now?
The turn is a blank. I check, UTG checks. The river brings a third heart. I check, UTG bets 3,800 into the almost 13,000 pot. C) What range do I call with? What do I raise with?
A) I will call 1,000 more here with anything remotely playable, as I’m getting a huge price both in terms of immediate and implied odds. I will reraise here with a range that includes very strong hands (that is, hands with which I’m comfortable facing a four-bet), somewhat strong hands (hands like QQ and AKo that can’t afford to put 40,000 into the pot, but are good enough to isolate against the raiser), and total airballs (hands that will happily fold if I get four-bet, but that give me some resteals in my range and make me less readable overall).
B) Getting 3-1 on my money, I’ll call with some flush draws, some kings, and some sets. Maybe even with 99 or TT or some eights. I’m very unlikely to be calling-to-steal out of position, but that might be a 5% probability or something.
C) I should have some good flushes in my range, and I should raise with those. I can consider making a rare check-raise bluff with 99 or TT, if I happened to get that far with them. I think I should call with good kings, as my opponent might be trying to squeeze value out of KT or KJ, and also small flushes (if I even have any of those in my range at this point).
In the actual hand, I called with AK, and my opponent showed 7h4h to win the pot.
Hand Three: Blinds 400-800, I open in the cutoff for 2,600. The button calls, the small blind calls, and Bill Edler calls in the big blind. The flop comes AQ2 all hearts. Checked to me, and I bet 7,500. It folds to Bill, who sets me all-in for about 60,000 more (Bill has me covered safely). A) What’s Bill’s range? B) What’s the worst hand I should call with?
A) I was hoping you guys could tell me. It’s a very big bet on his part, risking 67,500 to win about 18,500. Bill is highly aggressive, but I don’t think he’s crazy enough to be making this move without a real solid hand. I give him small flushes, 22, A2, AQ, KhQx, QxJh, AxJh, and maybe QxTh.
B) I have to call 60,000 to win about 86,000, so I need to win a little more than 40 percent of the time to show a profit. Against the range I’m guessing for Bill, AQ has somewhere around 39 percent equity, making AQ seem pretty much like the borderline hand. I should fold weaker two pairs, and call with anything better than top two. Top two is a tough spot.
In the actual hand, I called with top two, and Bill surprised me by showing AxKh (I’d mostly ruled out AK based on the preflop action). Alas, a flush hit on the turn and I was eliminated.
I’m playing the Foxwoods Main Event in two weeks, and I promise at least one post before then. I’ll aim for more, but only promise one.
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