After all the controversy surrounding my last blog entry, I decided that it wasn’t helping my game to get so bad-tempered with people or to worry about how they act, play or look. As such, I was pretty low key for my next tourny at Caesar’s. I wore my plainest, most conservative image of faded jeans + cream shirt, didn’t get involved in too much table talk and also played a less fancy style of poker.

For the most part my opening table was nice and friendly. I was Seat 3 and the occupants to my immediate left and right were laid-back Southern-US guys with whom I had a few quiet conversations, but I didn’t really raise my voice at all to the rest of the table. The only annoying spot was Seat 6: a loud, talkative, middle-aged Indian-American (not Native, but descended from India). He kept making remarks that perhaps were intended to be witty, but generally came across badly as an arrogant prick. In a way, I can see that’s sometimes how I come across when I’m too talkative at the table, so there’s a lesson-learned.

I played a few speculative hands during Level 1, but nothing major happened until Level 2:

My Stack ~12.5k, Seat 10 ~20k, Blinds 50/100, I hold KK UTG

I’d noticed the table was playing pretty loose-passively with multiple callers in every pot, as is usual during early levels of live deep-stack tourneys, so I made my opener 350 just to try to avoid too many callers. This resulted in 2 callers:

Pot 1200
Flop K63dd

Even though I have top set, I need to bet here for two reasons: firstly to protect my hand against draws; and secondly to set-up an image that I c-bet made hands. Given 2 callers, I want to make this quite a large bet so that if the first caller calls, the second one doesn’t get too attractive a price. I decide on 1k and get just one call from Seat 10.

Pot 3200
Turn 6h

Bingo! Now I’m safe and don’t need to protect my hand anymore. I can give up the lead and see how strong he is here. So I check and he makes it 3k. He might just be having a pop with air / flush draw here, or could have the case King, a medium pair or even trip 6s. In any event, I want to let him potentially improve his hand on the river, so I call the 3k. I also recognise that I’ve a close to pot-sized bet left for the river.

Pot 9200
River 2h

I move-in and he tanks before finally deciding to fold. Through the day, I learn that Seat 10 is pretty much a rock. Had I known that at the time, I probably bet ~4k because he’d pay that, but I was just going for max value. I then played this hand just as we timed-out for the first break:

My Stack ~18k, Seat 8 ~15k, Blinds 50/100, I hold 77 in BB

UTG limps, Seat 8 makes it 500 to go, I call for set-value and UTG calls:

Pot 1550
Flop K74 rainbow

This time, as I didn’t lead pre-flop action, I check and Seat 8 bets 500. That seems pretty small into the pot size and I don’t think he has much, so I just call and UTG calls.

Pot 3050
Turn 8s, putting flush and straight draws out there (and 56 gets there, but Seat 7 never has 56 with his preflop action).

I bet 1500 and both fold. Seat 8 says he had JJ, so the flop kinda killed my action.

Nothing much happened in Level 3 and I feel that I’ve gained a tight enough image that I can open-up a little as the antes kick-in:

My Stack ~20k, Seat 6 ~40k, Blinds 100/200/25, I hold KJo in MP

I open for 550, Seat 6 calls OTB and blinds fold. He has defended both his blinds and his button and got lucky to chip-up so well during the first few levels. He has also been incessantly talking and annoying everyone.

Pot 1450
Flop 974cc

I’ve taken down one or two pots with c-bets, but versus this player, I already know he calls with anything and checks when he hasn’t got much, so I check and he checks behind.

Turn Ad

I feel I can represent a strong Ace here, so I lead for 900 and after some pause he calls. I put him on a weak Ace.

Pot 3250
River 3s

I believe that I can push him off his weak Ace and that there is a lot of value in running and showing a bluff here, so I make it 2500 and he tank-folds, showing me an Ace. I table the bluff and he is flustered. He never sees me make another bluff again, but calls me “the bluffer” for the rest of the day. These things stick in people’s memory and may influence them to play sub-optimally versus my image. During the same orbit I play my next key hand:

My Stack ~22k, Seat 9 ~11.5k, Blinds 100/200/25, I hold AKo UTG

I make it 550, Seat 9 calls OTB and the BB comes along for the ride.

Pot 2000
Flop AQ6dd

I lead for 1250, OTB calls and BB folds. Seat 9 is a youngish Mediterranean, Latino or perhaps even Middle-Eastern guy (can’t figure out his accent). He has played a fairly loose game and clearly has some moves. As such I can put him on a float here as well as a weaker Ace, flush draw or maybe even a Queen. He has just seen me bluff, so my line here might look like I’m just c-betting air.

Pot 4500
Turn: Offsuit 8

I decide that is a safe card to hand him the chance to have a stab at the pot. I know there is a danger he takes a free card and sees the river, but I think he makes a play at this pot almost all of the time here. He bets 3200 with 7500 behind. I feel that he has pot-committed himself with that bet, so I move-in for value. He tank-folds, telling me he doesn’t believe I’d bluff twice in a row. He told me he had AT.

After the break, I play a hand with the same guy:

My Stack ~27k, Seat 9 ~8k, Blinds 200/400/50, I hold AQo in MP.

Seat 9 makes it 1200 to go and I decide that AQo plays well enough versus his 20BBs opening range, so I make it 3000 to isolate and also so I can get away from it if someone jams behind me. Folds back to him, he calls, flop Qxx, I insta-call his shove and win versus 99.

Stay pretty quiet through the rest of Level 5, then catch another big hand in Level 6:

My Stack ~33k, Seat 2 ~30k, Blinds 300/600/75, I hold KK UTG+1.

UTG limps. I’ve been chatting quietly with this guy all day and for the most part he has played good solid poker. He has been drinking whisky-sodas since the start and during the past half-hour or so, he has clearly passed the point where it has started to affect his game and he has loosened-up considerably. I make it 2400 and get not one or two, but three callers, including Seat 2. Not really what I want with KK:

Pot ~10.5k
Flop 774 rainbow

That’s a fairly good flop for me as it makes it much less likely that anyone flopped a set and no drawing-type hands got there. It’s also a good value versus medium pairs. I make it 6k and only Seat 2 calls.

Pot 22.5k
Turn 8s putting two spades out there.

I’m not sure what to make of his check-call here, given his loosened state of mind. He checks again and I decide to check behind for pot control. The river is Ts, making the flush and he checks again. I think for a few seconds about whether there is any thin-value bet here, but decide that it is too risky and just check. He shows me KJo and says he wasn’t calling any bet on the turn, so I didn’t lose out, but I’m still not happy about my line in the hand and maybe I should always be betting the turn versus this type of drunk player.

My Stack ~40k, Seat 8 15.5k, Blinds 400/800/100, I hold AQo in BB

MP limp and Seat 8 makes it 5k straight. Folds to my BB and I jam for value: Seat 8 has been pretty loose in both his opening range and his large bet-sizing and I’m not worried if he happens to wake-up with a monster here. With only 10.5k behind, getting well over 2-1 he tank folds, showing me an Ace.

My Stack ~45k, Seat 8 ~23k, Seat 2 ~20k, Blinds 600/1200/100, I hold AKo in BB

Seat 8 moves-in for close to 20BBs, Seat 2 calls and I decide there’s just too much value here, especially as Seat 2 has got to the point of drunkenness where he is playing most hands and clearly has given up playing poker at all. I lose versus TT and A2s and Seat 8 cheers like he’s won the tourney as he triples-up. I’m left with a fairly short, but still workable stack.

I short-stack Ninja for a while and manage to get up to ~40k without any showdowns while the blinds keep creeping-up:

My Stack ~40k, Seat 2 ~60k, Blinds 1000/2000/300, I hold 64o in BB
Folds to SB who completes. He is an older guy who hasn’t played much since replacing our drunken friend in Seat 2. I can bluff-raise here, but with these stacks it is risky, so I just check:

Pot 7000
Flop 775

He bets 8k, which doesn’t really surprise me as these older guys tend to over-bet a lot of the time. I feel that I’ve got fold equity, so I jam and he says “I just don’t believe you” and calls with 53o. I say “Nice call” and watch as the turn blanks and the 8 hits the river. I don’t celebrate. I pretty-much never celebrate winning a pot, but especially not when it’s a suckout on the river. Suddenly I have over 80k and I’m still stacking chips when it folds to my SB:

My Stack ~85k, Seat 4 ~65k, Blinds 1000/2000/300, I hold QQ in SB.

I make it 6000 and he calls. Seat 4 has called with a lot of speculative hands throughout the day and clearly likes to play flops no matter what the stack-sizes are. We’d chatted a bit through the day and got along well. He recently busted the annoying guy in Seat 6, who was replaced by a sweet, beautiful, ample-bosomed Latino girl: a major improvement!

Pot 15k
Flop TT4

I bet 10k and he moved-in. I just can’t see how I can ever find a fold in this spot and called to be shown T9s. I bricked and was back down to 10BBs short-stack Ninja mode. I soon manage to shove LP with J8 and get action from AK:

Flop A77
“I’m dead, good game guys”
Turn T
“Wait a minute”
River 9

I’m really laid-back about it and don’t make a fuss. After that double-up, I blind-off again down to a short-stack as the blinds go up again. The old guy in Seat 2 busted and was replaced by a young French kid with a LAG style. We saw him open a pot from EP with JTs and beat a short-stack’s 55. He makes it 7.5k at 1500/3000/400 and I jam KJo for pot-odds value, knowing he has to call, and win versus A9s. That gets me up to over 40k and I jam a couple more pots with decent hands. Then another key spot:

My Stack ~48k, Seat 8 ~80k, Blinds 2000/4000/500, I hold KdQh in MP.

Seat 8 opens for 11k and I think he’s not too strong so once again I decide to make a value-play versus his range and the pot odds and he calls with AJo, just what I wanted to see.

Flop A56dd and once again I need runners
Turn Ad, it can’t happen again…
River 2d, oh my…

That gets my up to 98k and finally our table breaks. At the new table, there are tight old guys on my immediate left and right and I manage to pick up a few uncontested pots, including two walks in succession. That gets me to 107k.

Then a guy jams 115k UTG+1 at 3000/6000/500 and I see AQo. I feel that he’s never jamming worse than AQ there and let it go. BB calls and they both have AK and the board bricks. Phew!

A few hands later, however, I get dealt AQo again and now I’m first to act. We’re down to 24 players at 3 tables of 8, with 18 paying and ~15k for the winner. I’m not interested in folding to cash and we’ve been at 24 for over 30 mins. From my observations at the table the big stack who has position on me is putting pressure on the others, who all have stacks like mine or shorter, except for one other guy with ~150k two to my right.

As such, I feel that if I make a standard raise to 15k or so, I’ll likely get called by one of the big stacks and have to play a pot out of position or someone will reraise me and I can’t think of raise-folding AQ here. So I decide that jamming 18BBs all-in is the best play and it folds to the tight old guy in the BB with ~80k. He says “I hope I’ve got something” and peeks at his cards. He kinda sighs and says “I think I’ve gotta call this” and I just know he has AK. He shows me the bad news:

Flop Qxx, maybe it’s my lucky day…
Turn K, I guess not
River brick

I get my last few BBs in after seeing an Ace and BB calls me with AK. I turn over AJs, but can’t suck out and finish 24th. It was an enjoyable day’s poker, with some interesting hands and I’ve not lost control of my emotions or upset anyone (apart from the suckouts). I feel that playing the lower key, Steady Eddy style worked out for me quite well and I don’t mind missing out on the money too much. I plan to stick to this style for the rest of the series and see how it goes.

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