15 or so straight hours of poker
by Adanthar on 06/12/07
Most of those hours, unfortunately, were not in the $2500, as I busted out of that at the 150/300/25 level. My actual bustout hand was fairly uneventful (AK < 77 for 20 BB or so), but there are a few interesting hands, most of them against the same, not very good but thinking LAG opponent. The highlight is flopping a straight flush draw with K
2 on a Q J Tx 3x Jx board, leading all three streets and getting minraised on the river/shown a jack after I folded (I'd lay odds on the other card being a K or 9.) The river was the big decision in that hand - bluffing it cost me about a quarter of my remaining stack - and while the pot was big and I actually thought some of his hands would find a fold there, in retrospect I should probably just give up. I also had time for four $525 satellites. I ran as bad as ever in three (the highlight was a flop all in against Rainkhan with QT on a QT6, 2 diamond board vs. Qdxd on the very first hand of a sat, which I of course lost), but managed to chop the fourth for a $1500 sat profit on the day. These continue to be ridiculously soft*, and I hope to be crushing them as soon as the runbad stops, since Rainkhan told me just how badly he's dominating these and I'm a better player ;)
*Fun flukey hand: I raise A
Q in EP and get called by the BB, a 50ish man who basically looks and acts like more or less of a drunken hobo (but a nice guy!) The flop comes 8 7
2, he looks at his cards - clearly checking the suit - and checks, I mentally say "awesome, lower flush draw no good" and bet; of course, he calls. The turn is the Q, he checks again, I bet about half the pot to keep him in, he takes about 15 seconds and calls again. The river is a club, giving me the nuts and him a lower flush...except that now, he tanks for 30 seconds and checks. Well, okay, he doesn't have a flush, so I'll just bet 2/3 pot or so (half our stacks). Sure enough, he tanks and eventually calls one more time...then, while I'm flipping my cards and dragging the pot, turns over K 
K and softly asks "What else can I do here?" Wow. After the sats ended, I went to watch Nath play the stud/8 event for a couple of hours. It's not my best game, but I have a good grasp of the fundamentals, and as Nath was at the table with John Juanda and next to a couple of other pros, it was very interesting seeing them all play. Juanda actually open completed a bring-in (and eventually showed down 262 2 tone), something I've never seen anybody good do before - worth thinking about.
Tomorrow is the NL shootout, where I get to play anywhere from 1 to 3 tables full of people like the KK guy. Please let me run good :)
Comments
EdmondDantes says
Yeah, those $525s were money last year and seem to be even more so this year. Last year it seemed like roughly half the table was at least competent. Of the three I've played so far this year, I only saw a couple real players at each table. Add to that, guys like you running bad, and it makes for some easy money. Just curious, how are the 1k stts and have you tried anything smaller? Last year, I backed a friend of mine in the $100-300s and he printed money. He's a $10 or $20 stt player online and even he was a little surprised at the level of play.Edmond
06/12/07
Anonymous says
The stories you guys are related to bad play is amazing. What was the KK guy doing there? I guess waiting for you to catch up so he could ship you his chips <G>. How have he lines been on the Sats? Are they getting better organized than at the beginning?06/12/07
Adanthar says
They aren't organized well, but the lines are down to a manageable 5-10 minutes so they're on the right track. From my 1 1K and my friends' several others, they're tougher, but still not > say, a $109 on Stars, even discounting the 3-5 guys who are total dead money. At the 525's, that number is more like ~7-8.06/12/07
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