Fallin' Short

22/23 April 2010 - Here's a quick rundown of event#2 at the IP Poker Classic. This event was a $230 buy-in with a field of 196 players. First place was $10k and a $10,000 seat to the main event of the WSOP. Any time there's a considerable overlay on the prize pool like that, players come out of the woodwork.

On about the 4th or 5th hand, I open JJ to 125 at 25/50 UTG+1. The action folds to Bert in the SB who calls, and then Mo--who's a very tough player and a regular on the Coast--3bets small to 400 from the BB. Which I really hated. Mo is a very good player and it's just really unlikely he's getting out of line here. I almost just folded because I feel certain his 3bet range in this spot is like QQ+, maybe AK. But I called, of course, as did Bert. The flop was 652r. Bert checked, Mo bet 900 into 1200, I thought for about 5 seconds and folded, and Bert checked-raised to like 3000. Mo thought for a long while and ultimately folded to a likely set from Bert. I guess. Or maybe Bert was just spazzing with 99 or whatever. The hand just felt weird all around.

With a few minutes left at 25/50, the guy to my direct left who had played very few hands and was seemingly tight and knowledgeable, opened UTG to 125. Everyone folded and I peeled red JJ in the BB and called. The flop was J98dd and I checked (I think leading into this board is a better option for a few reasons, but I didn't really think it through before I checked). So he potted 300 and I made it 800. He insta-called and I pegged him for KdKx or AdAx. The 9h turn filled me up and I led for 800. Again, he called very quickly. The 4s river totally bricked and I stopped and thought for a second. The pot was 3500 and I settled on bombing 4200 and hoping he'd hero call thinking I missed my likely bazillion flop draws. He tanked for a long time, then flashed me QThh and mucked. Well that sucked.

After the table broke, I built my stack when I called a button shove with 88 and held vs AQo. Then I won a very large pot AIPF when I opened AA to 925 at 200/400 (50a) and this older regular who I recognized from several events snap3bet me to 2500 from the button with ~25bbs back. When it got back to me I shoved very quickly and he called it off with AKo and I held. Then I endured a long spell of awkward stacks and bad cards that forced me to do a lot of folding. I took only about 15bbs to the dinner break. After the break I found black 44 in MP2 and shipped 13bbs. The SB--who's an older, loose, gamble-y cash game player--made a smart call with KQo and the board ran out xxxQ4. Bink. That much needed double-up freed me to maneuver and chip up on the bubble.

On the stone bubble, I kinda tooled out and almost busted unnecessarily. With 22 left at 3 tables and 21 getting paid, the action folded to Mo in the SB who covered me. He opened for 7000 at 1500/3000 and when I saw A6cc in the BB I just insta-thoughtlessly-overshipped like 30 bbs and he had me covered. The likelihood was that he was just stealing, but I still hated the fact that I instinctively over-shoved like that instead of doing something else. When Mo started asking me questions, I knew he had a real hand. He tanked for a long time and finally folded what he said was AQo (I seriously, seriously doubt that). But I breathed a sigh of relief nonetheless.

When the bubble broke and we combined to two tables, my stack fluctuated wildly when I called a 15bb shove from the button with A8cc in the BB and his 99 held. This crippled me to like 8 bbs, but I built my stack back by open-shoving at every reasonable opportunity. Then I won this very strange hand with 16 players left. The button limped, the SB completed, and I checked my option with Qs2d in the BB. The flop was an interesting QT9ddd. The SB checked, I checked, and the button shipped his stack (which was like 8 or 9bbs). The SB folded and I couldn't--for the life of me--figure out what the button was doing. I assumed he had one of the thousands of draws (duh) or maybe top pair (duh) and I was trying to correlate it to his PF limp range and his stack size, then I got confused, said "f*ck it" and pressed call. He turned over KJss for the nut straight--whaaaaaattttt??????--and I simply rivered the Jd to bust him. No problem.

Then I spewed some back by raise/folding to awkward stack shoves and 3bets (Raise/folding like this is something I generally would never do in online MTTs, but live it's just a different story ... I'm not going to belabor the point, but I'm fine raise/folding on bubbles with awkward stacks in live MTTs like this one. It's an adjustment that I think is reasonable, instead of rigidly adhering to fundamental guidelines when most players are reacting by playing their two cards instead of situationally. Wait a second, I think I just belabored the point). Anyway, 6-handed, a micro-stack shoved 3bbs UTG and I iso-shoved black 55 two to his left. I'm pretty certain my re-shove folded out two hands that crushed me, but this is a good indicator of how to exploit needless tightness from players trying to sneak into the money or final table. When I turned over my hand, the reactions from the two players who tank-folded were incredulous. At any rate, I busted the dude's KQo. Finally, after playing for over 12 hours we finished playing for the night with 9 players left.

We reconvened for the final table next day, and it didn't go very well. I found myself all-in on the first hand when I shoved over an open with AKo. After I won that hand, I lost every hand I played and ran poorly in two spots when I got it in PF. I ended up finishing a disappointing 8th .... That's it for now. I'm hoping to satellite into the $2k main event later this month.

Thanks for reading.