Ocean’s 11 tournaments 9/25/09, 9/26/09, 9/27/09 October 3, 2009

I flew out to San Diego to meet friends and play poker at Ocean’s 11 Casino in Oceanside CA.  The California Ladies State Championship was going on and I planned to play in not only the championship but the LIPS event and the tag team charity event.

Hubby tells me I should try one $60 satellite to the clsc and I do.  I was overtired and should have peeked at the starting chips before I signed up.  You only started with 1200 in chips but I decided I could deal with that.  I was doing okay, stealing when I needed to, playing my hands well, moving my chips around well.  It got down to 4 and the button made a move on my bb.  We were the two short stacks at the table so I felt she was making a move against me.  I had KJ sooooted and decided this was a good place to call and hope to double up.  She had Ax and it held up and I was all in in the sb the next hand and went out on the bubble.

Next day was the LIPS tournament and again I wasn’t paying enough attention and didn’t check the structure before it started.  A lesson I learned and a mistake I don’t plan on making again.  The LIPS tournament had a very fast structure, 4k in starting chips, 25 minute levels, with antes kicking in starting at 100 ante somewhere around the 5th level.  My first table held two great players and I spent a lot of time watching and learning and fighting to gather chips.  I did well at that table and when our table broke my momentum broke too.  I got moved again and I moved in with I don’t even remember what just trying to double up because the blinds and antes were so high.  I went out with 6 tables left and about a 1/2 hour later someone told me there were only 3 tables left that is how fast the structure was.

Next day was the CLSC and it had a much better structure.  5k in starting chips, 30 minute levels, and antes kicked in at only 25 and moved up a lot slower.  My first table was good to me.  Me and the eventual winner of the event spent a lot of time gathering chips and both left our table when it broke in good shape.  I got moved to a table with a few great players (not scared of them but definitely kept their play on my radar) and one card rack.  This woman could not lose a hand and eventually went on to win the most money (they did a chop) but went out in 3rd place.  I was getting short in chips and made a move on the button against the bb which didn’t end up working because she was hiding KK.  I was fine with that though, I was getting short and had to double up or go home.  Next hand I moved in with J8 and flopped two pair against card rack’s Q9 and the river brought the dreaded T to knock me out.

I wasn’t unhappy with my play though even with the move I made on the button.  I didn’t want to get blinded out and if the move had worked I would have been in position to make it deep in the tournament.  I went out about 15 before the money started but I’m not complaining because I hopped on a 3/6 table that hit a bad beat jackpot and I got a nice table share out of it.

Last day was the charity event which was a tag team event.  Half limit holdem and half limit omaha h/l.  My husband played the holdem part and I played the omaha part.  The first couple rounds we stayed around our starting chip stack (we took both the dealer bonus and add-on) of 4500 chips.  The third round hubby lost 1/4 of our stack and the next level I almost doubled our stack.  From there we slowly built a chip stack but eventually the levels went from 30 minute levels to 20 minute levels and blinds creeped up fast.

When there were about twenty left he got upset with himself, he made a bad judgement in a hand and lost half our chips.  He was hoping they’d let me finish the tournament alone because he felt if it hadn’t been for him I would have cruised to the money.  We played two more levels and then my next round up when there were 12 couples (or singles as some played both games) an even chop was proposed and we all took it and then fought it out for the trophy.  Hubby and I went out in 7th place, I thought it was cute as he was the last man standing.  He definitely felt pressured playing with all of us scary-good women poker players.

All in all it was a successful weekend.  I met so many wonderful people, I played a lot of live poker which I don’t always get a chance to do, and the whole trip only cost us our airfare because of our chop and my bad beat jackpot share.

Saturday $150 nlhe mtt at Seabrook 9/19/2009 October 3, 2009

I decided that before I went to Ocean’s 11 to see friends and play in the two nlhe ladie’s events I should play in a live nlhe mtt because it had been a while since I’d done so.  Seabrook Poker has a tournament every Saturday at 1pm, $150 entrance fee, 15k in starting chips, 30 minute levels.

I didn’t keep track of my chip stack along with the levels because they announced no cell phones out at the table at all and I normally use the memo feature on my phone.  I could have used a structure sheet to write on but I like to use my youngish naive look to my advantage and keeping close watch on how I’m doing doesn’t do anything for this.  I mostly just remember each table I was at and how I played.

There were 51 entrants to start, I had been hoping for more as I was thinking the Sunday $200 would be light on players because of the Patriots game but I was off on that thinking.  My first table was pretty soft, I was able to pick up chips using bluffs, steals, semi-bluffs, decent hands, etc.  I remember making one large laydown with JJ when a person smooth called my raise preflop and then bet out on a Queen high flop.  I had too many chips and it was too early for me to go getting silly with Jacks.  I knocked out one person with AA when they moved in with AK against me.  I also gathered some chips against a very loose female player (obviously loose in the poker sense lol) when we were in the sb/bb (me the bb) and I flopped two pair and she flopped trips and I rivered a boat…she almost blew a gasket but she gave me a free flop and bet small on the turn and I honestly felt I had the best hand at that time. When they broke my table I moved to the next table with around 31k in chips.

At this time there were 4 shortish tables left (about 35 or so players).  I had a player two to my left who I knew was a good player, he is a friend of a friend and I know he had some great cashes under his belt and mostly relied on poker to pay his bills.   I steered clear of him unless I had a hand.  The blinds were starting to get up there but I still had plenty of chips to play with until this happened.

I had AA in mid position and UTG raises 2 1/2 times the big blind (which was 500/1000 at the time).  I’d seen this player get silly with some idiotic hands so I was hoping to isolate him and take his chips.  I re-raised another 5k on top and it was back around to him (he honestly looked like he was 12 and I’m guessing he was just 18 which is NH’s legal poker age) and was unsurprised when he re-raised another 7k to put himself in and to commit a ton of my chips to the pot.  I totally expected when he re-raised that he had JJ, QQ, or KK.

He flips over QJ off and there was a collective gasp at what he re-raised me with since this was my first hand at the table since I’d sat down about 20 minutes before.  The flop came K92…dum dum dum…turn T….river blank and he’s got over 1/2 my chips in his stack.  This man to his right freaked out on him on my behalf while I just sat there silently steaming.  Two hands later I look down at K3 off and think that would be a great hand to put almost 15k in the middle with and decide I need to go for a walk.  I come back recomposed and steal the blinds every round to keep my stack even.

Eventually it is down to two tables and I’m looking for a hand to make a move with.  With 19 players left, I am in the bb with K9 of diamonds.  A player in mid-position limps (he has a ton of chips) as does the bb (who has a decent amount of chips).  The flop comes Kxx (2 diamonds on the xx).  The sb bets out a min bet and I move all in for my remaining chips (I had about 9x the bb at that time).  The big stack folds and the medium stack snap calls 3/4 of his stack with Ax of diamonds.  Turn comes with a diamond and I’m out.

I played so well this day, I really felt as if lady luck had been smiling down on me on the AA hand I wouldn’t have had to make a move with the K9 or at least would have had chips left to continue playing.  I definitely plan on playing this tournament again, it is a really good structure for me.  I had to laugh because one of the dealers saw me and was like “why are you playing nlhe, you are a mixed games player and there is an omaha h/l tournament going on and you aren’t in it”.  I thought that was cute, that he remembered I liked to play the omaha/horse/etc tournaments.

Omaha h/l mtt at Seabrook 8/8/09 October 3, 2009

I was looking forward to playing this tournament, Omaha h/l and Omaha in general is one of my favorite games.  I was hoping for a better turn out than the Razz tournament a couple weeks before.  It was a $100 buy-in and you started with 6k in chips.   There were 32 players for this mtt.

I don’t remember specific hands but I do remember a steady climb through the first break with things going downhill after.

Level 1 – 25/50 blinds and I ended the level with 6450 in chips

Level 2 – 50/100 blinds and I ended the level with 6950 in chips

Level 3 – 75/150 blinds and I’m still making small strides ending with 7450 in chips.

Level 4 – 100/200 blinds and I end with 9800 in chips.  This was a good level.  I didn’t get many good hands but I did get one scooped pot which helped a lot.

Level 5 – 150/300 blinds, win a couple high hands and end with 11,300 in chips.

(this is where the downward trend begins, I stop picking up hands and lose my way)

Level 6 – 200/400 blinds, play no hands really and end with 10k even in chips.

Level 7 – 300/500 blinds, end with 9200 in chips.

Level 8 – 300/600 blinds, end with 8900 in chips.  I’m doing a good job of hanging tight and not losing patience.

Level 9 – 400/800 blinds, end with 11,700 in chips.  I had a good level, split a couple pots.  I’m feeling good at this point and still have confidence I can win.

Level 10 – 500/1000 blinds, down to 9000 in chips just from paying blinds.

Level 11 – 500/1500 blinds (these blind levels are weirding me out lol), I pay my blinds and then get moved to a new table (2 tables left) and get moved in to the bb and by the end of the round after losing a big hand I am down to 3500 in chips.

Level 12 – 1000/2000 blinds I go out in 11th place and they do a 7 way chop a few victims later.

I played well I felt, it was only my 2nd Omaha h/l tournament.  The first time I played in one was at Foxwoods and I was the true bubble and just missed the cash and one person out of the 5 left refused to pay the bubble.  I really enjoyed this tournament and kept a good attitude throughout.  A couple of the dealers commented on recognizing me as a mixed game player which I thought was funny as I play more holdem than anything.

Razz mtt at Seabrook 7/25/09 October 3, 2009

I’d never believe that they would hold a Razz tournament but they did.  It was held late on a Saturday afternoon and the same weekend as a big event down at one of the CT casinos so it didn’t get a good draw.  There were 19 players to start with top 3 getting paid, so basically a large sit-n-go.

We started with 6k in chips and the rounds were 30 minutes if I remember correctly.  I wrote down everything on my memo on my phone except the blind length, oops.  The first few rounds until the break were eh, too many players playing and I watched my stack dwindle a bit.

Level 1- 25 ante, 25 bring in, 50/100 limits ending the level with 5450 in chips

Level 2 – 25 ante, 25 bring in, 100/200 limits ending the level with 4925 in chips

Level 3 – 50 ante, 50 bring in, 150/300 limits ending the level with 4975 in chips

Level 4 – 50 ante, 50 bring in, 200/400 limits ending the level with 4475 in chips

Level 5 – 75 ante, 100 bring in, 300/600 limits ending the level and going to break with 4225 in chips.  They raced off the green chips during break and I came back to 4200 in chips.  I’ve never gained any momentum up to this point and was hoping after break would be better.

Level 6 – 100 ante, 100 bring in, 400/800 limits and end the level with 3400 in chips.

Level 7 – 200 ante, 200 bring in, 600/1200 limits (where did 500/1000 go darnit!) and end the level with 3800 in chips.  I finally finally won a hand woohooo!

Level 8 – 200 ante, 200 bring in, 800/1600 limits ending the level with 2ooo in chips.  There are nine left at this point and this level was a very bad level for me.  I was the bring in almost every hand and it really affected my already dwindling chip stack.

Level 9 – 200 ante, 300 bring in, 1000/2000 limits and this is the level I went out in with 8 left.  I had the best hand until 7th and he hit a 75 low to beat my first five card made 85 low.  He was running well and the last card was kind to him.  After I and 7th place got knocked out (same hand) they did a 6 way chop.

This was a hard tournament for me.  I was considered to be a solid razz player and either one of two things would happen if I entered a hand.  If I raised or showed agression at all everyone would fold to me and if I slowed down and checked or called or just bet and got called I would get chased to 7th street and would lose the hand.  I just could never find a good balance in this mtt but was very happy to get to try a Razz tournament.