Early bird/worm/etc. Turned up at V nice and early today and bought in for the noon flight of the MSPT. At 11.55 I guarantee you there'll be 100 poker players standing in a line bitching about why they have to queue up and wait. So I bought in and buggered off to do other stuff for a while.
I think on reflection I was always going to choose 1B over the bounty event for the same buy in. The money here is better, and though I will play bounty events from time to time, my main goal in a DSE is to try to just win it outright, and thus the more money that stays in the prize pool (that is, money that isn't given away to people for things like bounties) the better. Add to that that whilst they often play much alike, a normal tournament format is more suited to my game. I'd rather just try to get through the field, make a final table, pick up a big bag of money and leave. We'll see how that works out at noon.
Nice early start and I run AJ into QQ on a Jack high board in the first orbit to lose a lump straight away and drop to 15K. Always nice to start a tournament on the back foot! I get half of it back straight afterwards as we hit level two. 291 players are in already today.
I just rivered the nut flush, but it paired and I paid off 9's full. This isn't really the way I was hoping today would start out. So far each hand has been second best by a pip, but in a two card variant, none of them were really folding spots.
Just happened again when I flopped top two with KcJc and got chased down by 54 hearts for a rivered flush! This is turning out to be a horrible day so far for our hero. Of the 8 or so hands I've played, all with half decent holdings, I've managed to lose seven of them. That's a rare skill.
I just turned two pair with Ac2c on an A452 board and shoved into two people. Gotta try to stop the rot somehow. The first folds and the second gets stubborn with his AJ and calls me. I try not to be a doom-monger, but I'm fully expecting the worst here, a Jack, 4, or 5 kills me. Luckily it's none of these and I'm back to the dizzy heights of 10k after my horrific start.
I find QQ shortly after and 4-bet shove to inch up to 13,500. I'm very much in control but I think given the way my hands have played it might look to the table like I'm steaming a bit. This is fine. The ones who know me, know I don't steam. It's just not something I do, however, image wise I might get a huge hand paid off if the ones who aren't too familiar with me decide to take a shot with something less than great. Approaching level 3 and screen shows 303/327.
It's not been pretty, but I'm back to 14K after being down to under 5! First break in 20 minutes.
I just lost about 3 paragraphs of typing thanks to the shitty internet connection. Great.
Weird thing happened before the break. I raise to 600 with 33. Two players call. A third then makes it 2500. I fold, and the guy who made it 2500, presumably having some kind of a brain-fart, then shows the table AK, with two players still in the hand!
Obviously he somehow convinced himself it was just he and I, and the hand was over, however, this is where it really gets weird. The next player folds, leaving one player who has put in 600 heads up with the guy who has exposed his AK. The AK can now take no positive action in the hand since he exposed his cards, and if the flop comes without an Ace or a King, the other player simply has to shove, regardless of his own hand, and the AK can't possibly call it (unless he's an idiot).
The other player folds preflop, for the 1900 more. Now I've seen it all.
By virtue of picking off a river bluff with one pair and being right, then by making a small flush and getting paid off by one pair, I'm back to a more acceptable 18K again at the first break.
Level 5 now, and I'm on 13K. Nothing of note has materialised. I've had a few baby pairs, and none of them have turned into sets. 325/437 remain as we approach level 6 and 50/200/400.
Level 6, and my day just came crashing to an ugly end. Not quite as bad as yesterday, but along similar lines.
50/200/400, and I've dropped to 8500. One player I know of old opens to 1300, three more players call, and I ship AQ. I'm not in love with a call, but playing poker hanging on by your fingertips is just dire so I decide to take the initiative. Everyone else folds save the original raiser who calls tabling AK with the Kc. OK, not great but I made the move, now I need to get lucky.
Get lucky I do. I river a Queen on a blank board. Before it hits, on the turn there are three clubs on board and I say "well, I guess i don't want the Queen of clubs then".
River is the Queen of clubs, making me a pair, him a flush, and busting me out. What fun. Lots of oohs and aahhs and a "that's so sick" (it isn't), from one guy.
Good luck all. Off I go. Sigh.
My next event is the $400 DSE Superstack in a few days. This wasn't the start I was hoping for on the trip as in general I'm feeling pretty damn good, however, as William Shakespeare said in one of his plays "shit happens".
I'll post something in between now and then most likely. I shall stick to my guns and say that poker isn't unfair, although the last two days are trying their hardest to convince me otherwise.
I think on reflection I was always going to choose 1B over the bounty event for the same buy in. The money here is better, and though I will play bounty events from time to time, my main goal in a DSE is to try to just win it outright, and thus the more money that stays in the prize pool (that is, money that isn't given away to people for things like bounties) the better. Add to that that whilst they often play much alike, a normal tournament format is more suited to my game. I'd rather just try to get through the field, make a final table, pick up a big bag of money and leave. We'll see how that works out at noon.
Nice early start and I run AJ into QQ on a Jack high board in the first orbit to lose a lump straight away and drop to 15K. Always nice to start a tournament on the back foot! I get half of it back straight afterwards as we hit level two. 291 players are in already today.
I just rivered the nut flush, but it paired and I paid off 9's full. This isn't really the way I was hoping today would start out. So far each hand has been second best by a pip, but in a two card variant, none of them were really folding spots.
Just happened again when I flopped top two with KcJc and got chased down by 54 hearts for a rivered flush! This is turning out to be a horrible day so far for our hero. Of the 8 or so hands I've played, all with half decent holdings, I've managed to lose seven of them. That's a rare skill.
I just turned two pair with Ac2c on an A452 board and shoved into two people. Gotta try to stop the rot somehow. The first folds and the second gets stubborn with his AJ and calls me. I try not to be a doom-monger, but I'm fully expecting the worst here, a Jack, 4, or 5 kills me. Luckily it's none of these and I'm back to the dizzy heights of 10k after my horrific start.
I find QQ shortly after and 4-bet shove to inch up to 13,500. I'm very much in control but I think given the way my hands have played it might look to the table like I'm steaming a bit. This is fine. The ones who know me, know I don't steam. It's just not something I do, however, image wise I might get a huge hand paid off if the ones who aren't too familiar with me decide to take a shot with something less than great. Approaching level 3 and screen shows 303/327.
It's not been pretty, but I'm back to 14K after being down to under 5! First break in 20 minutes.
I just lost about 3 paragraphs of typing thanks to the shitty internet connection. Great.
Weird thing happened before the break. I raise to 600 with 33. Two players call. A third then makes it 2500. I fold, and the guy who made it 2500, presumably having some kind of a brain-fart, then shows the table AK, with two players still in the hand!
Obviously he somehow convinced himself it was just he and I, and the hand was over, however, this is where it really gets weird. The next player folds, leaving one player who has put in 600 heads up with the guy who has exposed his AK. The AK can now take no positive action in the hand since he exposed his cards, and if the flop comes without an Ace or a King, the other player simply has to shove, regardless of his own hand, and the AK can't possibly call it (unless he's an idiot).
The other player folds preflop, for the 1900 more. Now I've seen it all.
By virtue of picking off a river bluff with one pair and being right, then by making a small flush and getting paid off by one pair, I'm back to a more acceptable 18K again at the first break.
Level 5 now, and I'm on 13K. Nothing of note has materialised. I've had a few baby pairs, and none of them have turned into sets. 325/437 remain as we approach level 6 and 50/200/400.
Level 6, and my day just came crashing to an ugly end. Not quite as bad as yesterday, but along similar lines.
50/200/400, and I've dropped to 8500. One player I know of old opens to 1300, three more players call, and I ship AQ. I'm not in love with a call, but playing poker hanging on by your fingertips is just dire so I decide to take the initiative. Everyone else folds save the original raiser who calls tabling AK with the Kc. OK, not great but I made the move, now I need to get lucky.
Get lucky I do. I river a Queen on a blank board. Before it hits, on the turn there are three clubs on board and I say "well, I guess i don't want the Queen of clubs then".
River is the Queen of clubs, making me a pair, him a flush, and busting me out. What fun. Lots of oohs and aahhs and a "that's so sick" (it isn't), from one guy.
Good luck all. Off I go. Sigh.
My next event is the $400 DSE Superstack in a few days. This wasn't the start I was hoping for on the trip as in general I'm feeling pretty damn good, however, as William Shakespeare said in one of his plays "shit happens".
I'll post something in between now and then most likely. I shall stick to my guns and say that poker isn't unfair, although the last two days are trying their hardest to convince me otherwise.
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