My return to the Orleans Friday night tournament. 250 players, alternates waiting in line to play all night long... I had a good feeling about tonight. But alas, I am at home, writing about it instead of still playing.
After a few hands I had established a tight image and ended up in a good situation when I looked down at two Kings UTG and raised it up to 700 with 100/200 blinds, with 1 limper in front of me. Everyone else folded and the limper called. The flop came Q 9 3 with two hearts, and I did not have the King of hearts. U of Arizona hat checked, and I bet 1200. He raised to 3000, and I went all in. he called me and tabled J8 of hearts. The turn brought the ten of diamonds, giving him the second nut straight, and leaving me with only a jack to make a higher straight, but it did not come and I was crippled down to just 1800 in chips. Very next hand I went all in for my last 1800 with K2 of clubs in an attempt to either steal the blinds or get lucky, and it ended up being the latter when I rivered a K vs two Queens. Very next hand the blinds are now up to 200/400 and I open shoved with KQs in late position and got no callers, and am up now up to 5k. Very next hand I win a small pot with QJ vs KT. I find myself up to more than 6k. I decided to keep the momentum rolling and raised the very next hand again with 75 of clubs, and got two callers. The flop was 985 with two diamonds and one club. I shoved all in and got a caller, and thought for sure I was finally going to lose. But he tabled QJ off suit? He needs a ten for a straight or a queen or a jack for a better pair. my 75 was actually ahead! The turn brought the 7 though, and it left him with only a ten for the win. The river brought another 5 and my full house knocked out the poor little asian fellow.
VERY NEXT HAND I am now big blind and the button raises me. I look down at AQ of spades and think about 3betting him, but if she shoved all in I would not be so sure what to do, as I have no information on this guy. I wouldnt know if he was trying a steal play or if he really wasnt messing around. So I just call and see a A 3 3 flop with one spade. I decided I would check raise him to make it look bluffy and he might shove with a worse hand. Well, thats exactly what happened, and after his bet of 1200 I raised to 3750, he shoved and I called, he tabled 99. My AQ held up and I suddenly found myself going from 1800 to almost 33,000 in a matter of 10 minutes. Last hand of the break Im in the small blind, and a short stack goes all in for 1.1k, and UTG calls his raise, and I look down in the small blind at T9 offsuit. Theres about 3k out there and it only costs me 900 to call. I decided I would see a flop and wouldnt you know it the flop came T9K. After it went check check though, the turn brought an ugly K, to counterfeit my two pair. Action went check check again, and the river brought a blank. I checked once more, and UTG made a 1.2k bet at me. I called and he showed 55, and so I won that side pot. The all in raiser showed 8 4? so i won that one too. I now had almost 40,000 and went on the first break.
after the ten minute break, feeling good about myself, got the solo piano pandora station going, Im ready to roll. First hand it folds around to me on the button, and I raised with J9 of diamonds. The small blind called me and the flop brought A Q T with the QT being diamonds, giving me a straight flush draw. I bet about 1600, and got raised to 4400. He had about 11k behind and I went for the all in move, not caring whether or not he called or folded. He did call with AQ, and I was drawing to a K, 8, or a diamond. None of these cards came and I found myself back down to 23k.
VERY NEXT HAND we have one limper for 600 and Mr Arizona hat comes over the top for 3800. I look down on the cutoff with two tens. Seeking revenge I call his 3800, as does the original limper. 3 way action brought the AQT flop with the AQ of clubs, and the limper leads out for 5k. Arizona hat folds and I go all in for my last 19k. He calls me quickly with KJ of diamonds. I am in trouble but the dealer put the J of clubs out on the turn. I HAD to win it now, right? I mean I have the ten of clubs in my hand, with the AQJ of clubs out there, and a set of tens. A king of clubs would give me a royal flush, any club would give me the winning hand over his straight, or any A,Q,J, or T would give me a full house or quads to beat his straight. Guy next to me says he folded K7 with the 7 of clubs, so now I have EIGHTEEN CARDS TO HELP ME. But the river brought the stupid 6 of spades and I was out rather quickly.
In about 25 minutes I went from 15000 in chips to 1800 in chips back up to 38kish in chips, and then suddenly I was out.
Pretty disappointing.
I did see a contact I made last Monday when I won the tournament whose name is Ralph, hes an older married guy, all around nice guy. He finished 4th in that tournament when his QJ couldnt do it vs my A6. Ralph has been in every tournament I've ever played there, and he claims he plays so much because his wife is always working. We dont talk about personal stuff, just poker. He made me aware of the WSOP circuit events starting next week at Caesar's, and I looked at the schedule. There are a multitude of buyins ranging from 365-1600 and he said there is good money to be made there. However, I do not feel like I could afford a buy in that great for any single tournament. If I can do well this weekend (so far not so good) then maybe Ill play a 365 next Thursday, but highly unlikely.
I also learned that the tournament of the month points literally translate from the dollar amounts won in any given tournament. If you win a Friday or Saturday night tournament, you get 60% of your winnings in points. Any other day, you get 100%. Reason being, Friday and Saturday night tournament winners win about 3-7k, which would skew the data. So if I can prove consistent over the enxt few weeks, I should have no problem getting up there. The leader only had about 5700 points. I think thats doable for me :)
Tomorrow I am playing at the Mirage deepstack at 11am and depending on how I do I will either play the $100 7pm tournament at the Orleans, or play a smaller tournament at the Mirage again. I know that wherever I am there has to be some good tvs close by so I can watch my #1 ranked Michigan Wolverines take on the #3 ranked Indiana Hoosiers in college basketball.
I still cant believe that I lost two hands in a row both with straight flush draws and couldnt hit any of my outs. But I guess thats poker and you cant always get lucky. *sigh
-ATR
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