Action Report for Lucky's

In preparation for the upcoming World Series of Poker, me and a shall-not-be-named-friend Canuk got the bright idea of practicing playing in tournaments at the closest casino in Colma, Caifornia: Lucky Chances.

Summary: I busted, but I learned a lot about the pacing of tournaments like these, and actually got in around 25th out of 70+ players. I also picked up some nuances & leaks in my game as well.

Long Story:

"Let's do this!" This was Canuk's consistent chant since he showed up at my door at 8:40am in the morning. I could still smell the booze on him. Possibly hung over. We were off to a good start.

After a missed exit and getting in just as the registration was closing, we got seated at the same table, Canuk in Seat 2, me in Seat 8. A $65 Re-Buy NL Tournament ($50 for 4k more).

Immediately I saw this structure was actually quite similar to the Sit-N-Go's I used to play out East and online, so with blinds going up every half hour, you had to play close to premium hands. My table was a pretty bad draw, with only Seat 4 and 7 live fish. Everyone else was either regular or seemed pro. I also soon realized it was pointless to NOT re-buy (almost everyone did before the tournament even started).

I got settled in, and didn't even try to set-mine with pockets when I was UTG or early position because the raising was pretty aggressive. There was not a single free BB pass for the entire time I was there.

One of the first hands I get involved I pick up Ad Qc. Blinds at 25-50 I made it 150 to go. My friend Canuk in the BB looks down and flat-calls.

Flop: Q x x. Rags to rainbows. We both check it around.

Turn: J. Canuk shoots 400. I call.

River is another useless rag. This time Ian bets out 700, and I min-raise it to 1400. He folds.

I stack one of the fishes when he goes all in for a short-stack. I look down at Qc Qd. I iso-raise all-in, and he flips up AK off. I win the race, and am chipped up to 7,000.

Then a late registration comes in, Tony. I've seen this guy everywhere and immediately we sized each other up.

"Why aren't you at the cash games?" I asked.

"Taking a break," he says while shrugging. Going forward, he would be the de facto table captain, raising hands like J 5 and the range was all over the place. I knew I had to play back at him at some point.

A few failed pre-flop raises only to see myself fold on the flop led me to a critical hand at pocket 7s. I had roughly 10x the BB at this point, and felt like I needed to make a move. Tony was BB. I raised mid-position to 400. A regular calls, and it gets to Tony. He flat-calls.

Flop 9c 9s 3c. Feeling confident, I make it 1,500 to go, a pot-sized bet. Regular folds, and Tony blows it 5,000. With my remaining 4,000 I go all-in, and insta-call. He tables 9h Ad. I'm out.

"Should I buy back in?" Canuk shuffles his chips. "How long are we staying man?"

"It's up to you." And then I flip out another $50 in resignation. The table murmurs in agreement, probably thinking I'm dead money. At this point I felt like it too.

Playing a few hands and building up my stack again, on the last hand before the 1st break, I pick up pocket 8s. I min-raise, and the two short stacks at the table wake up and jam around 750+. The other surviving fish, Seat 4, flat-calls them in. At this price, I had to call for this four-way pot.

Flop is a K high rag of cards. Fish and I check it down.

Turn is help to no one, and again we checked.

Here's where it gets sick: an 8 spikes the river. Fish again checks. I shuffle some chips, and I try to imagine what I'd do to over bet the pot.

"I'm all in." And I toss in the rest of my stack. He looks up at me incredulously, and folds saying, "I should call...but I won't."

We turn it over, and suddenly I'm up to 8,000 in chips. Canuk later talks to me during break, "That was a dirty river, and I knew you caught it or someone filled out somewhere."

Unfortunately after the break on the way up I got it in on the button with 10s vs Canuk's 6s all-in, and mine held up. He made his exit, and wished me luck as he looked for a cab. Now I was on my own.

At this part of the tournament, Tony begins to make insane 5x pre-flop raises with heavy continuation betting. No one stands up to him, and if we do, he catches amazing hands (his J5 spikes a J on the river against AK or he gets runner-runner straight to pockets).

I easily make my stand when I look down at red AAs. Delightful. With the antes and blinds making the pot already 1,400 I make it 1,500 to go. Tony is the only caller.

Flop is a rainbow 10x 5x 4x. Tony check-calls 2,000.

Turn: 5x. Tony again check-calls my 3,000.

River 4x Check. At this point I'm almost certain I have him beat, but I wanted to see his hand. So I checked.

He flips over Q 10, and I table my Aces. As the pot is shoved towards me, Justin (a new arrival to the table with a monster stack) notes, "You could've gotten another 3,000."

"I know, but I wanted to see his hand." The table then discusses that I could've actually asked for the hand, though it's considered bad poker etiquette. Who knew?

By the second break, I'd chipped up to a decent 18,200. Blinds though had crept up to 600-1200, antes at 50. We were already down to 36 players from 70.

This part of the tournament was where it became a race to keep up with the blinds. I made some pretty hardcore AJ folds pre-flop (correctly), but I'd win on the river. I had to constantly remind myself the results were not relevant, and that I made the right decisions.

Somehow I swing around between 25,000 and 20,000. The most critical hand in the tournament ironically was the most curious hand.

I look down at some 4c 4d and made it 3,000 to go. The dealer suddenly tapped the table saying "you need 200 more." Instantly I realized the blinds had moved up another level, and I didn't put in enough. "Discount!" I said, laughing it off.

It folds around to this tight Vietnamese player. He snaps, "All in." This is the part of the tournament where I had to accumulate chips, and I felt I could make a stand here.

"How much more?"

8,500. It was giving me almost a 2.5 to 1 on my money. I pulled all the tricks out in the bag.

"Why did you go all in? You were short-stacked last time with sixes when you jammed, but why didn't you want to bait me in? Maximize your hand value?"

He smiles. "Do you have AJ like last time?"

I call time on myself, and shuffle up the chips required to make the call. I had him on A overs, a race situation, but I'd be ahead. He just couldn't be this strong with a strong jam. The way he postured his chips forward and made his 1,000s in small piles to make his stack look bigger was suspicious as well.

I make the reluctant call, and I table my Fours before he can even get his out. He slowly opens up A9 off!

Feeling the rush, I yell, "Oh man you got your hand caught in the f-cking cookie jar!" The table immediately protested on my swearing, and I immediately apologized.

Flop: 10 2 x rag.

Turn: 9. At this point, he yells and hugs a supporting friend (the one I knocked out with Qs). I only have one more card, and one out. I pat the felt saying, "Nice hand."

The river is a meaningless 5. I see the chips shoved the other way. I'm now down to 7,000 and crippled.

After getting the BB/SB in, I was down to 4,500 and just shoved with Jc 9c. A regular jams his stack all-in to isolate my money and then flips up Ax Qx.

Flop: 10 X Qc. WHAT A FLOP. I now had the backdoor flush, running cards, and an open-end straight draw. 30% to 70% favorite.

Ac. 20% to 80%. Now I semi-filled up a flush draw and he two-paired up. Still yummy.

4 spades. A blank.

And then suddenly I saw myself put on my jacket and wishing everyone at the table good luck in the tournament.

Conclusion:

I felt overall I had a solid table image and made the right calls for the most part except when I went broke on the pocket 7s. I feel though I really need to button-steal/bluff way more (I did once, and got snapped off immediately by the BB, which just threw me off). The whole time though I was pretty snug, stack-wise, always hovering around 10-18 for my M factor.

If you guys have any thoughts and comments, I'd love to hear 'em. I thought this was a great segway back into the live tournaments, and I think if I can do alright in this structure, I can definitely make something happen at the WSOP $1,000k NL Tournament.

Shuffle up & deal!