Dublin Poker

I never made it down to the Regency game on Tuesday night, as I had to give a friend a driving lesson. I had planned on going to a game last night, probably the SE, then I remembered that the second WSOP feeder was on.

Like the last time, I didn't really want to sit back and wait for hands, as you need to build a stack right from the start in these games. Its sink or swim right from the start in this winner takes all $10 freezeout, so there's no point in playing to place well!

I had an uneventful first half an hour, and couldn't find a decent hand to make a move on. I was up and down for a while, and wasn't really concentrating too much on the game, as I had hit the final table of a $10 MTT. I was monster chip leader with at lease twice that of the next stack. With 9 left and top six paid, I felt I was in for a decent payday. At least guaranteed money... or so I thought... somehow, even though I had a huge chip lead I went out in 9th! I lost with QQ vs AA against a shortstack, then I picked up QQ again and lost to 10 10 (trips on the turn). The last kick in the teeth came when I flopped a house and was rivered by a higher house.

A mixture of bad luck and bad timing had the result of putting me on tilt, and I was annoyed at not getting any cards in the WSOP feeder, so instead of waiting for a decent hand to push on, I decided to find the biggest pile of crap could find and see if Karl and his magical RNG would reward me! So when I picked up 45s, my chips went straight into the middle... I got called by pocket eights and somehow hit a straight (thanks Karl!) to double up to 5K.

A few hands later I picked up AJ and flat called a raise of 1600 from Rounders. I figured he was on a similar range, and thought I could take him off the hand on a low flop. The flop came low and I pushed. Im pretty sure he would fold A10 AJ here, so when he dwelled up it must have been at least AQ, possibly AK. He eventually folded, figuring I had a medium pocket pair. Good read as this is usually how I would play these, but I was in loose mode and still a bit tilty from the MTT, so I wasn't playing my usual game. Anyway that got me up to 8K. I worked up to about 12K and a short while later picked up KK. I decided to slowplay hoping for a raise. 'Deadparrot', a fellow boardie obliged and raised it up to 4K. I reraised him and when he pushed I obviously called. Close to 30K in the middle, and my KK somehow stood up against his 10 10 and I was doing nicely now.

I drifted down to about 20K before I picked up the hand of the night. I picked up 99 and called a small raise from a super tight player. I figured I was definitely behind, but if I hit I would get paid off. Another lad limped too, so there was close to 10K in the middle. The flop came a lovely 889, and I was first to act. Check, bet, all-in? I chose the latter, figuring the tight player had AA or KK and wouldn't let it go. I was right, he had the aces and no bad beat (again!) and Im up to close to 50K and 3rd in chips with about 40 people left.

There was still a fair few boardies left (Rounders, Brian O'C, Rusty, careca, TheAceFace etc..), so it was looking good for one of us to get a ticket. I dribbled down to around 40K, due to not getting any cards and being at a semi-aggressive table. I lost almost half my stack in a hand with rounders. I picked up As 7c, and when the flop came Queen high with three spades I felt like this could be my hand.

Rounders bet out about 5K, and I felt he had top pair and I could get him off it with a decent re-raise. I added 15K on top and Rounders pushed. Now I was left with a decision. I knew I was behind, but with almost half my stack in the middle and the nut flush draw it looked like I had to call. It was another 20K to win a 90K pot, and I FOLDED...

I was playing scared, and was convinced that if I called I wouldn't hit. Im pretty sure he had top pair with a flush draw, although something was niggling away at me that he had made the flush. If he had top pair with a flush draw it was likel to be the K or perhaps the J, so against KQ or QJ, I reckon it was a 40/60 and I was getting almost 4:1 on my money. Stupid fold by me when I look at it now, but I've had a bad experience going into big hands like this. When I have so many outs I tend to miss, and this has influenced how likely I am to call. If this was live I would have called in an instant, but as it was online I had no confidence I would hit and folded.

This stupid play cost me the game IMO, as I never really recovered enough to have a chance at first. If I had won that hand I would have been big tournament chip leader, with 3 tables left. Instead I was struggling on 20K, while Rounders was chip leader on 75K. Im kicking myself today for not calling, but thats poker... everyone has brainfarts now and then.

I hung in, having to push 4 or 5 times to stay alive. My 60/40 edges held up and I outdrew a few people along the way, although nothing major! Usually Kx beating Ax or something.

By this stage most of boards had joined to watch the table as there was about 6 of us left in the last 18. A few friends of mine had also logged on to watch. The pressure was building as I was struggling to stay alive. Careca was to my left and every time without fail, he raised my BB! Unbelievavly every time this happened I had absolute muck... 23, 35, 26 etc.. I thought about pushing many times, but I didn't have the chips to bully and felt he would call either way, as he had close to 100K. It was annoying because it made it look like I was scared to throw my chips in, but the cards were simply too bad to play.

I was picking my spots with my shortstack and doubling up when needed. Soon we were down to 10, and when Rounders got knocked out in 10th, we broke for the final table. I was shortstacked on 35K, 8th overall. The chip leader had about 175K, so I needed a double up fast!

The blinds were coming around, and at 4K/8K I really needed to get something here. Unfortunately I picked up the monsters that are 23 and 26 in the small and big blind... Big raises and I had to fold... Next hand on the button I pick up Q9, and when its folded to me theres only the SB and BB to act. I push for about 20K, Careca folds, and 'munro' called. He had Ax and no lucky cards for me and I'm gone in 8th.

I was gutted to go out so close to the ticket, and with no commisseration money paid out, I had worked so hard for nothing... Great experience though, and I learned a thing or two about how to play online. Screw all this playing well and ensuring you go into showdowns ahead! In future I'm playing much looser and taking a lot more risks. I won nearly every showdown I went into yesterday and a good proportion of them I went into behind, although other than the 45 vs 88 at the start of the game, never THAT far behind! I got lucky that my big hands held up, and didn't really have any bad beats to give out about... for once! I actually enjoyed the game last night.

Im happy with how I played to get that far, except for the silly fold against Rounders... I only picked up a handful of playable hands all night and only one premium hand, KK. Maybe next time eh...

Anyway back to the game. Soon we lost a few more players and were down to 4, with three boardies! There was Careca, RU$TY, JamesTolland, and Munro29. There was no major action until all of a sudden there was three all-ins! James had KK, Careca had A9, obviously thinking James was 'at it', but unfortunately the CL behind him woke up with JJ.

Careca needed an ace to stay alive or James would triple up and become the CL... until a nasty, sick J appeared on the river! OUCH! Munro29 hits his two outer and knocks out the two lads to go heads up with RU$TY! What a bad beat... that nasty J probably cost him $12,500... ul, gg wp etc...

EDIT: looking at the image, Ive just realised that There was also a flush draw out, so the Jack of spades was no good as it would fill the flush for James...so it was a ONE OUTER. ughghgh....

The heads up didn't last too long, as Munro held a big chip advantage over RU$TY (who we knew was a boardie, but didn't realise until after was none other than Kieran 'Flipper' Walsh).
Munro29, the only non-boardie in the final 4, and the lad that knocked me out, went on to win it, and will now be playing in the WSOP 2006 with $2500 spending money to boot. Not bad for $10 eh...

I'm still gutted though...

gl


(I have images to go with this post but for some reason I cant upload them)