Poker

So I was in a $20 buy-in poker tournament earlier today (Saturday). It started at 3:00 p.m. with 16 people and I walked out later at just after 7:00 p.m. after a great game.

I started out playing pretty tight, but I was getting some pretty bad cards too. Then I got pocket aces, which was nice obviously. I got a little bit of action from it and took down a medium sized pot. I took a few more small ones before my biggest pot yet.

I looked down at Kh 4s in the small blind. Things got around to me and I decided to see the cheap flop. The flop came down 4 10 A. I check, the under the gun player bets out 50 (twice the big blind). The other two players in the hand fold. I think about it a second and decide to reraise him to see where I stood in the hand. He was a fairly loose player, but a good one too. I doubled his bet, and he hesitantly called. The turn card was another ace...I check, he checks. The river card is a 7. I bet out 100. He takes a ridiculously long amount of time to make a decision. He calls and I'm just thinking "Well I lost." I turn over my 4, showing my two-pair, Aces and Fours. He yells out "FUCK" and mucks his hand away. Later he exclaims that he had pocket 3s and thought I was bluffing with nothing. I was bluffing of course, but apparently with the best hand. So I got a little lucky there, but I still think I played it perfect. Considering I was out of position and going against the chip leader at the table, I took some risks. But I also had that nice tight table image which I hoped would help me (even though it didn't really).

The next hand right after I was the dealer button and I look down at 4 5 of spades. I decide to make the call and there's 5 people in the hand. The flop comes down 5 5 A. A bunch of checks come around to the guy on my right and he bets out the big blind. I make the call. The next card is like a 6 or something. He checks, I check. The next card is an 8 or some other pointless card. He bets out twice the big blind. I reraise him about twice that. He thinks about it for a short amount of time and makes the call. He has two-pair Aces and Fives, which, of course, loses to my set of 5s. A nice follow up hand to my big win.

The next good hand, even though it wasn't a big win, was humorous. I was in the small blind and everyone folded around to me. I looked down at 2 4 off suit. I decided to double p the big blind which was up to 50 by then (so a raise to 100). He thinks about it (like he does with every decision hand). He throws it down, exclaiming, "As much as I'd like to defend my big blind..." and then he throws up his 2 4 off suit. Normally I wouldn't show any hand, let alone a bluff, but I knew the psychological blow it would do to him would be better. So I flipped up my 2 4 off suit. Everyone had a good laugh about it.

I don't make any more huge moves after this, taking down some blinds here and there with both bad hands and good ones. I'm not doing anything too rash and we get down to the final 8 people and consolidate into one table.

Here's where I probably made a few mistakes. I think I should've tightened back up like I did in the beginning of the game. As it was I played a little loose. I was 2nd in chips going in to the final table and hope to use my chip lead to my advantage. It didn't work out so well and I soon found myself as the short stack as the blinds continued to increase every 20 minutes. Eventually I was down to just 125 in chips with the big blind staring me in the face. I was getting some really shitty cards, so I put all my hopes in the big blind hand. By this time we had already lost one guy and so were down to seven people. I threw in my big blind, leaving me with only 25 in chips. Clearly I was going to be all in no matter what my cards, but you never want to act out of turn. A few folds go through and another short stack goes all in. Eventually it's just down to me and I'm all in, of course.

So, my all in, tournament life on the life. My Q of hearts and 4 of hearts vs his J of spades and 10 of clubs. The flop doesn't pair anybody, but it does give me two hearts. The turn isn't helpful to anybody. He needs to improve his hand to win, I don't. The river is a heart and I double up off a queen high flush.

In the next hand I probably made another mistake, but in the long run it wasn't such a big deal. I was still a short stack of course...not THE short stack, but still pretty far down there with only 250 in chips (back to what I started the tournament with). I looked down at Q 10 off suit on the button. Everyone had folded around to me. I had just barely stayed alive in this thing and even though the blinds were short stacks too, I threw the cards away. The small blind folded, giving the big blind the free cards. I probably could've moved all-in with the Q 10 and seen both blinds fold. Since we know the small blind would have folded, the big blind is the only mystery. 250 chips would've left him with like 50 or 75 in chips and so chances are he would have folded and I would've taken down another 150 off the blinds. But I didn't do that and we move on.

Things go around for a while and then I look down at A 8 off suit. I move all in. Everyone folds around to the guy on my right who just recently put himself back into contention by knocking out another player leaving us with 6 people. He doesn't know what to do and takes advice from his friend who's already out of the game. He calls my all in. I flip over my A 8 off suit and he flips over his K 8 off suit. He takes the time to curse out his friend and we start seeing some cards. Neither of us pair anything and I take it down with my ace.

I'm not back up to 2nd or 3rd in chips and can breathe a nice sigh of relief. A few hands go around and then I look down at pocket 6s. I raise it 100, to 200 total (I have 600 in chips). I see a bunch of folds and then we're back to that guy on my right. He reraises me another 200, leaving me with only 200 if I call. I take my fair share amount of time to think about it and finally decide to go all in. I'm still not sure if this was a mistake or not. I could've just folded and been left with 400 and waited for a better situation. Of course, with only 600 in chips and the blinds being at 50/100, I'm still not in the best shape (even if I am second in chips). Of course, there were a lot of short stacks at the table, which were getting shorter and shorter. I probably could've just sat back and waited for them to bust themselves and tried to get in to one of the 4 places that pay out money. As I said though, I didn't do that, I went all in.

So I make him flip over his cards first, as he's first to the left of the dealer anyhow. He flips over A J of clubs, I flip over my pocket 6s and stand up to watch the cards come down. I'm a slight favorite, but only at 51.5% against 48.5%. The flop doesn't pair anybody, but it does bring down two clubs for him. At this point he turns in to about a 53% favorite against me. The turn brings him a straight draw too, but I turn back into the favorite at about 61% or so. I'm not happy though because he just has a ridiculous amount of outs (17 actually). He needs any ace or any jack (for a better pair), any 10 (for an ace high straight), or any club (for the flush). I just need to avoid any of that. The river comes down a 10 of hearts and my hopes are dashed as he makes his straight. I go out in 6th place out of 16 people.

It was depressing. I played very well, made good bluffs, got great value for my winning hands, made good laydowns. In the end though, it came down to the luck of the draw and I didn't come out on top. I don't so much care about the $20 I lost, more that I didn't finish in the money...more as a respect thing, validation, for all this poker I've been playing and practicing at.

I played a few good game though. I played next to perfect. My only real mistake was playing too loosely at the start of the final table. There's obviously places I can improve. There's playing perfect (making no mistakes with the hands you play) and playing extraordinary (making all the right moves, right calls, right laydowns, and the right reads). Once I learn to read people a little bit better, then I can learn how to really make them make hard decisions with their hands (and not just when I have the winning hand).

In the end though, it all basically came down to a coin toss, pocket 6s against A J suited. I didn't HAVE to make such a strong move right then, but everyone at the table was a short stack (technically) except for the chip leader. She wasn't the massive chip leader going in to the table, but she had a healthy lead. She used his chip lead well and bullied the table. She won a few key pots too and eventually was the massive chip leader. The guy I lost to though got my money and then soon followed it up with taking all the money of the guy who had been to my left. When the blinds went up to 100/200, he couldn't have been much more than a few hundred behind her. I didn't stay to see who won, just to see who made it in to the final four.

The payout went like this:
1st) $160
2nd) $90
3rd) $50
4th) $20
TOTAL: $320

In all, it was a really fun time and a great way to spend a Saturday. It was nice to play with a larger field of people, people I never met before, and some good players to boot. I found a few places to improve me game and, at the same time, learned that I'm a pretty strong player. The best compliment I got was after I doubled up from 125 to 250 at the end. One of the players said, "Don't give him chips, he's dangerous with them." That was the best thing to hear. Even the best players don't win all the time. I have no regrets.

Thanks for listening, stop reading.

- Rian