Today's nooner will be as listed above. My primary focus for the DSE generally is the multiple flight tournaments, and some of the bigger events, the next one being the $400 Superstack on Tuesday with $100K guaranteed and two start days. However I took yesterday off, played some golf and chilled out, so I don't wish to turn a poker trip into a holiday with too many days away from the table. There's always going to be a bit of room for down-time and this was originally on the schedule, so I'll give this a go at it and see how it unfolds. After Tuesday the schedule becomes a bit more full on for me, but I think this will be pretty well attended for a one dayer, so we'll try to spin up to something workable. More to come at noon.
Currently 63 players bought in, and it could be a volatile affair. You start with 12K in chips, but can rebuy IMMEDIATELY, or anytime you fall below the starting stack. I thought I'd capitalise on that, but I'm not planning on throwing $600 at this before I even play a hand. Chug along and see what happens. Cancel that. I didn't realise this wasn't the UK, and the way they do it here, is that the ENTRY is $300, and then rebuys are $100. Far more player friendly, so I peel off a Benjamin, and we continue on around a 25K stack.
Fast and furious. Not that dumb movie with a succession of balding over the hill actors. I just saw a flop of 10c 10h 8c. Three people shovelled in 20k or so apiece. One has AA one has JJ and one has 5c4c. Of course we're expecting the 54 to smash the others to bits, but AA holds and JJ gets the side pot. The 54 says "oh well, it's a rebuy event". Of course it is son, you'll be alright.
Level 4 already (30 minute levels), and little has happened. The guys at my end of the table are nice and chatty. One pencil-neck at the other end appears to have no sense of humour whatsoever, has already called a clock on one player who had a tough decision (he wasn't even in the hand), and likes to keep asking what the bet is, or how much people are playing. If he removed the massive headphones he's sporting it might be easier for him to keep track, but still, I'm playing nice.
Level 5, and still bang on the 25K average stack. Another 3 levels of madness, and presently first is approx $9,500 right now but that will be on the up as the numbers increase. Plod plod plod and let the lemmings do their thing.
Fast and furious. Not that dumb movie with a succession of balding over the hill actors. I just saw a flop of 10c 10h 8c. Three people shovelled in 20k or so apiece. One has AA one has JJ and one has 5c4c. Of course we're expecting the 54 to smash the others to bits, but AA holds and JJ gets the side pot. The 54 says "oh well, it's a rebuy event". Of course it is son, you'll be alright.
Level 4 already (30 minute levels), and little has happened. The guys at my end of the table are nice and chatty. One pencil-neck at the other end appears to have no sense of humour whatsoever, has already called a clock on one player who had a tough decision (he wasn't even in the hand), and likes to keep asking what the bet is, or how much people are playing. If he removed the massive headphones he's sporting it might be easier for him to keep track, but still, I'm playing nice.
Level 5, and still bang on the 25K average stack. Another 3 levels of madness, and presently first is approx $9,500 right now but that will be on the up as the numbers increase. Plod plod plod and let the lemmings do their thing.
Not much content in the video aside from my fizzog sorry. It gave me something to do on the 10 minute break and I wanted to make sure my website software was still behaving itself anyway. Truth is, the shells have been largely whizzing around overhead and I've not seen any heavy action. I've crept up to around 31K, and the average is 36K with 91/102 players. Shortly hitting level 7, which is 75/300/600.
Level 8, and I'm around 35K. The woman next to me though pleasant, has come off second best in quite a few hands and is venting and complaining about it to the nearest person..i.e-me. All good. She's just about ready to pop though. She finds AA and shovels it in and is promptly busted by 54 offsut. She leaves mumbling. The joys of tournament poker. 22 minutes before the rebuys end, and then we can play properly...
Made the break with 31K and promptly got moved tables, which I could have done without. Buy-in wise, I spent the bare minimum of $300+$100, so it's a pretty cheap date either way. I'm now sat to the right of a tetchy guy who has around 200K, who I'm reasonably sure hates my guts based on past experience. Ho hum. It takes all sorts, and clearly you can't please everyone. I'll live. On we go, and 86/113 remain and blind-wise we're at 200/600/1200.
Boom. My patience got rewarded. 10 10 on a 10 A J flop gets me up to a healthier 47K when AK gets married into the flop. My neighbour just punted off 45K of his stack with ace high on a 7 7 9 flop, and incredibly was still live versus JJ when it all went in. No cigar however. 70/113 remain.
Level 11 nears, and I've whittled back down to 38K after missing a lot of flops. Two guys on the table are comparing life bad-beat stories...who has had cancer, who got robbed, who lost everything, who's girlfriend cheated on them with their best friend...the list goes on. The massage girl and I are exchanging looks of both horror and mirth in equal doses. I feel like taking my own life right now just to get a break from it. 58 players remain, and 12 get paid.
Happy days are here again. I flop a set, find a non-believer, and value town him to catapult up to 103K. Nicely above the 95k average at last on level 12 as we hit 400/1200/2400 with 42 players remaining. Cute dealer arrives and we make silly jokes together whilst she very professionally runs the game. I'm still a huge flirt, though luckily most take it for what it is. Occasionally I find a hatchet-faced unsmiling one but this isn't the case tonight. Always time for cute smiling girls in life. What an old smoothie I am (cough)
Dinner break approaches. For some obscure reason they have decided a 30 minute dinner break is a good idea, so in 9 minutes I may be walking briskly in the direction of the Grand Lux Cafe. Dipped to around 90K now, but that's fine.
Back from break, and just lost 24k when I flopped two pair and got counterfeited. It could have been worse, but I managed to exercise a little pot control to stem the bloodflow.
An older guy who's had a bad run against me on this table makes a stand when i make it 9k with K10 and shoves for 25K total. The normal me is pretty disciplined about finding a fold here, but I feel i'm pretty live, and this is borne out when I call and he flips A9 offsuit. I hit a King in the window and bust him, getting myself back to 80K or so.
Standard raise is now 9-12K, and I call with Ac Jc, and am pretty happy with a 3 way pot and a flop of 10c Qc 4h. I'll take an overcard and a straight flush draw all day in these things. The pot is around 45K and one player bets out for 12K so I ship all to take it there or be drawing live against whatever he's going with. I don't like flatting it here as I'm too shallow behind (maybe another 55K or so) and can't call to heavy action on the turn if he fires again. The other player gets out of the way, and the bettor calls. He flips over QQ for top set. Shit.
Of course I'm not overjoyed to see the set. This was a fairly weak-tight player, and if I've made any mistake I'd say it's playing the hand at all. Basically go all the way with it, or not put a shilling in the pot to begin with. I'd go on the side of saying it's perfectly playable at this point. The average stack is more like 150K and I started the hand with around 79K which is getting into shove territory . The cool young kids nowadays wouldn't fold AJ suited preflop it you put a gun to their heads and showed them QQ as well. Maybe that's why I've generally won more money than them. Anyway, here we are and we now need to hit a King or a non pairing club to scoop and be in with a real shot to close it out with 30 players left and only 12 getting paid (another factor in my shove).
These are the last two cards dealt on the board for our hero:
Made the break with 31K and promptly got moved tables, which I could have done without. Buy-in wise, I spent the bare minimum of $300+$100, so it's a pretty cheap date either way. I'm now sat to the right of a tetchy guy who has around 200K, who I'm reasonably sure hates my guts based on past experience. Ho hum. It takes all sorts, and clearly you can't please everyone. I'll live. On we go, and 86/113 remain and blind-wise we're at 200/600/1200.
Boom. My patience got rewarded. 10 10 on a 10 A J flop gets me up to a healthier 47K when AK gets married into the flop. My neighbour just punted off 45K of his stack with ace high on a 7 7 9 flop, and incredibly was still live versus JJ when it all went in. No cigar however. 70/113 remain.
Level 11 nears, and I've whittled back down to 38K after missing a lot of flops. Two guys on the table are comparing life bad-beat stories...who has had cancer, who got robbed, who lost everything, who's girlfriend cheated on them with their best friend...the list goes on. The massage girl and I are exchanging looks of both horror and mirth in equal doses. I feel like taking my own life right now just to get a break from it. 58 players remain, and 12 get paid.
Happy days are here again. I flop a set, find a non-believer, and value town him to catapult up to 103K. Nicely above the 95k average at last on level 12 as we hit 400/1200/2400 with 42 players remaining. Cute dealer arrives and we make silly jokes together whilst she very professionally runs the game. I'm still a huge flirt, though luckily most take it for what it is. Occasionally I find a hatchet-faced unsmiling one but this isn't the case tonight. Always time for cute smiling girls in life. What an old smoothie I am (cough)
Dinner break approaches. For some obscure reason they have decided a 30 minute dinner break is a good idea, so in 9 minutes I may be walking briskly in the direction of the Grand Lux Cafe. Dipped to around 90K now, but that's fine.
Back from break, and just lost 24k when I flopped two pair and got counterfeited. It could have been worse, but I managed to exercise a little pot control to stem the bloodflow.
An older guy who's had a bad run against me on this table makes a stand when i make it 9k with K10 and shoves for 25K total. The normal me is pretty disciplined about finding a fold here, but I feel i'm pretty live, and this is borne out when I call and he flips A9 offsuit. I hit a King in the window and bust him, getting myself back to 80K or so.
Standard raise is now 9-12K, and I call with Ac Jc, and am pretty happy with a 3 way pot and a flop of 10c Qc 4h. I'll take an overcard and a straight flush draw all day in these things. The pot is around 45K and one player bets out for 12K so I ship all to take it there or be drawing live against whatever he's going with. I don't like flatting it here as I'm too shallow behind (maybe another 55K or so) and can't call to heavy action on the turn if he fires again. The other player gets out of the way, and the bettor calls. He flips over QQ for top set. Shit.
Of course I'm not overjoyed to see the set. This was a fairly weak-tight player, and if I've made any mistake I'd say it's playing the hand at all. Basically go all the way with it, or not put a shilling in the pot to begin with. I'd go on the side of saying it's perfectly playable at this point. The average stack is more like 150K and I started the hand with around 79K which is getting into shove territory . The cool young kids nowadays wouldn't fold AJ suited preflop it you put a gun to their heads and showed them QQ as well. Maybe that's why I've generally won more money than them. Anyway, here we are and we now need to hit a King or a non pairing club to scoop and be in with a real shot to close it out with 30 players left and only 12 getting paid (another factor in my shove).
These are the last two cards dealt on the board for our hero:
As you might guess, neither of these is ideal, and I bust in 30th after another 8 hour stint. No sob stories, it's what happens in tournaments. At least I went out swinging and making the action, which is far preferable to the slow death of the $1100.
Scrub it, and onto the next. Likely the Superstack day after tomorrow. Gives me a day to work out if I should be throwing AJ suited away preflop or when I flop the world. I'm thinking not, irrespective of the outcome.
Scrub it, and onto the next. Likely the Superstack day after tomorrow. Gives me a day to work out if I should be throwing AJ suited away preflop or when I flop the world. I'm thinking not, irrespective of the outcome.