A Little Holiday Hold ‘Em
Well, I’ve returned back to Florida from spending the holidays with family in South Jersey. I must say that I am glad to be back.. it was cold and rainy up there. I did manage to get in 1 NLHE tournament in Atlantic City yesterday. The Showboat had a $53+12 tourney at 2pm (10K starting chips). My younger brother and I both bought in… There were 75 entrants. I have 2 hands I’d like to tell you guys about. One was the hand I felt was what eventually led to my departure in 24th place and the other my brother went out on in about 50th.
When I sit at my table I analyze everyone at my table. I start to gather all my information to help me make my best decisions later. This is why I hate being at a table that breaks early. Just when I’m in my groove I have a whole new group of people I need to check out. I’m very comfortable at these “mid-level” (relative to my bankroll right now) tournaments. I get a nice mix of purely bad players, tight-weak players, loose aggressive players and the tight-aggressive working on improving their game. I try to avoid those who look like they are taking the game more serious than others.. I assume they would often do what I do. The loose-aggressive I get involved with only when I know I got them and then I trap them. I pick up small pots off the tight-weak and I make sure I have a solid hand when I stay in a pot with the calling stations I call the bad players.
Just when I feel comfortable and I’ve got my thing rolling at my first table I get moved. I’m up to about 18,500 in chips when I arrive. I immediately make conversation with the 2 or 3 guys at my end of the table (I’m in seat 10.. boo!). I like to chat it up a bit just to get some casual reads off the people. Are they friendly or jerks? How are the doing? Have they been lucky? Plus, I’m everyone’s best friend when I’m doing well… it’s not fake.. it’s just what I’ve noticed.. I guess i don’t want anyone to dislike me for taking their chips (and I’m in a good mood because I’m doing well).
My new table isn’t going well. The blinds are getting high and there’s one guy who keeps betting people all-in. Maybe he’s on a run but he may just be a jerk.. haven’t seem him showdown. The blinds are now 800-1600. I’ve started to tighten up a lot- not by choice. I haven’t gotten much to work with and it seems whenever I get something I want to limp with someone is going all-in preflop. I’m not liking the way this is going.
I’m in the BB with about 16,500 left in chips. Everyone folds to a short-stack in middle position who goes all-in for 5200. A big stack at the table calls, the button & the SB fold. I look down at 99. I think for a bit. Unfortunately, I looked frustrated and facing a tough decision. I’m trying to decide if I should go all-in but fear the big stack had a higher pair. I make the call. The flop brings J-7-3. The big stack goes all-in. Disappointed at my play, I fold. The big stack shows J-Q off and the short stack shows K-Q off. The turn brings a 10 and the river a 2. I asked the big stack if he would have called my all-in preflop for 11500 more. (I think that was about half his stack.) He said I waiting too long and struggled with my decision for him to give me credit for a big hand. I won’t let this mistake happen again. I was playing so tight and with the action before I saw I had the 9’s I must have written off my blind and was hoping to see my usual 8-3. This eventually led to dealing with a short stack. I made my final stand with 8-8 and my opponent got lucky with a 10 on the river.
Now my brother had a short goal for this tournament. He just wanted to make it to a 2nd table. He plays online but isn’t comfortable investing money in poker right now. He’s very smart when it comes to math but I don’t think he’s fully applying it to poker yet. (So I bought him Sklansky’s NLHE Theory & Practice for Christmas).
His chip stack is at about 8000 when he sees 6-6 in the SB. There are 2 limpers already in the pot (UTG & a Middle). The blind is 300-600. He raises to 1200. The BB folds and the limpers call. The flop brings Q-4-5 rainbow. Out of position my brother bets out 2000. UTG goes all-in for 300 more and Middle reraises all-in. My brother calls. The short stack had A-4 and Middle had Q-7. My brother misses the turn and the river and is out.
He wasn’t sure what he did wrong. I told him he made a few mistakes. Firstly, his raise was too small to get anyone who limped and liked their hand to fold. He made a min raise and in these tournaments that only sweetens the pot. Second, I would have checked 1st to act on the flop. I would have figured there’d be betting with anyone with a low A or someone with a Q. Then I would have gone away. However, he bet out the 2000. With the action that followed I still wouldn’t have called the reraise all-in… but he did.. oh, well.
The good news was that the Showboat looked surprisingly nice. I thought it was more run down like a few of the other AC casinos. I hadn’t played there before. The poker room was nice and organized. The new Outlets when you first drive into AC look nice.. looks like good things are happening since Borgata opened in ‘01. Too bad it’s so dreary there in the winter.
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Comments
Thanks for the insight on my 9’s. That definitely makes me feel better. I know I would not have called in his spot with a Q-J. You’re right. Was he hoping to just have live cards and hit? I agree with your comment on my brother’s play. That was the advice I gave him too.
Thanks for reading my long post!
Sounds like a fun time, all in all. Best part here is it sounds like you both learned something you’ll be able to use going forward.
Hi Kat,
I just read the post and my opinion is he would have called your all in. He would be getting about 2.5 to 1 on his money and since he was big stack and that fact that he made a horrible call already with QJ (Why call when you know you are behind) he would call the remaining 11k+. As it turned out you probably made the right play with the 99. Tough to say. Regarding your brother, he should have either limped or raised to say 2000 and if they call, then fold to the all in bet even after his c-bet.