I left for TI tonight with a surge of confidence. I felt that I was going to take down the Head Hunters Tourney. I've not felt this since the 10k challenge. I went in and within 10 minutes had chipped up from 5k to 8k during the 25/50 blinds level. It was all going great until I took some hits (5-outer on the river, tourist calling with A,5 offsuit out of position for a bit raise, and getting it all in with top two pair against aces and getting counterfeited.) POOF!!! Third straight bounty-less tourney for me.

AceTenguy is in town and got me to start a 1/3 game. The table soon filled up with all kinds of locals and the game was just not that good. I caught a nice run of cards, chipped up to cover the tourney and some play money and went home. Sorry that I don't have any hands to discuss. Nothing really noteworthy happened.

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[quote="Clem2754"]I guess I will owe you some money[/quote]

Ouch.

Are you planning to play the next headhunter's Wednesday AM? I'll be there and you busted me from the last tournament we played together so you'd have karma on your side.

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Don't tap the glass!

Wednesday is REALLY iffy, but I might make it.

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[quote="Clem2754"]I guess I will owe you some money[/quote]

With props to Annette_15, I took a page out of her book and wanted to see how I'd fare in a tournament without looking at my cards. Annette is famous online for having won a 180-person tournament online... blind... I wanted to give it a shot and did so in today's 2 pm $65 TI tourney. My rules for the "blind" play were that I could only look at my cards if faced with an all in decision and I had already put a considerable amount of chips into the pot. Only twice in the entire tournament did this happen and both yielded folds from me. There were 28 entries into the tourney. Here is a level by level summary of how the tournament went.

Level 1: 25/50 blinds, avg. stack is 3.5K.

I started off by raising to $125 and then realized I needed to jam harder. I quickly upped my raising amounts to $300. At this point, I could narrow the field down to one or two players and then bet hard if I sensed weakness. I was successful in taking down pots about 75% of the time when I continuation bet. If I was called, I'd fire a pot-sized bet on the turn, of which none of these were called. I chipped up to $5k during this level.

Level 2: 50/100 blinds, avg. stack is 4k.

At this point I was starting to confirm most reads at the table. One player specifically would hesitate before making a decision when he had a big hand and others would never call a raise after they limped in. These players were cake for me. I discovered that if I raised 5x with 2 or more limpers in front that I would take the pot down w/o a fight, or I'd just take it on the flop. I also decided that if somebody bet into me, I'd fold and move on. I finished this level with $8k and assumed the chipleadership during this level.

Level 3: 100/200 blinds, avg. stack is 4.5k.

I really started hammering home on the preflop raises when there were limpers. Now my raises were 5x to 6x and were for about 1/3rd of my opponents chips. They were just afraid to put lots of chips in preflop. To this point, I had only been reraised a single time. I had a hand where I went right at another big stack and put him all in on the turn, of which he folded. I'm not sure if I wanted a call or not... I finished this level and went on break with $11.2k and remained chipleader, still not having a single showdown.

Level 4: 200/400 blinds, avg. stack is 5.5k.

At this point, some stacks started getting short and I realized that I could not raise into the big blind of a player who had less than 3 big blinds left. The carefree call would possibly expose a weak raising hand of my and I'd lose all credibility. I stay at 11k through this level and lose to the chiplead to another player at my table who busted 3 others in 5 hands.

Level 5: 300/600 blinds, avg. stack 6k.

This is the level when the field quickly shrinks to the final table. There were 14 players left when I got into a spot where the other big stack limp/called me and we were heads up going to the flop. The flop brough KKJ, two to a suit. He bets 1/5th the pot into me. This was so confusing. He normally bet when he had a hand, but then again he normally BET when he had a hand. What was this? I decide to call and will shove on the turn if he checks or a scare card hits. A scare card does indeed hit, and he bets over half my stack. This removed my options. I look down at J,3 offsuit and fold. This pot was HUGE and already was twice the average stack before I made my decision. The next hand involved 3 limpers in front of me and I shoved my stack of 12 BBs in the middle. It folds around to the last limper who says those frightful words... "I'm tired, what the heck, I call." ASDGASDGAJSDKFASDFA She turns over Q,7 suited?!?! And is ahead of my J,2. Despite me flopping a deuce, her rivered queen takes it down and destroys my reputation. That was 1 hour and 32 minutes into the tournament. That's how long it took for a showdown. This left me with about 8 big blinds. Again on the next hand we had two limpers and I shoved all in. It folds around to both of them and they both call. I'm up against AK and Q8 and I turn over... AQ suited... haha, I actually had a hand. I lose that, am crippled and the next hand my 7,3 loses to ace high and I'm out. 4 straight hands and gone.

What I realized from this whole experience is that hyper-aggressive play is extremely affective in NL hold em tournies. I know that if I can manage to use that same play and actually play the hands that I might have had the nuts on, I likely could have run that entire tournament over. I'll try this next time.

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[quote="Clem2754"]I guess I will owe you some money[/quote]

VERY nice Dave and backs up my recent forray back into the halls of study, thanks!

And btw, a bit better that her $4 mtt

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Losers whine about doing their best... Winners go home and f'k the prom queen

Dave,

Did anyone notice that you were playing blind? Or did you just not look at your hands at all?

Dave... I enjoy reading the blog and I'm not sure that came across from my comment. I meant to say smoething else to you after busting out of the 11 AM tourney yesterday. I did okay (7th I think) and I got my chips all in with a pretty good lead but lost when George? (I don't know him) hit a third ten on the river. I do feel liike I have a tendency to be too tight (not so much too passive) in these tourneys and that report reinforces those views.

Fortunately or unfortunately (probably fortunately for my bankroll) I was out here on a trip with my mother who left yesterday so I had very little time to play poker. Gotta head back to Missouri today. I was considering trying the 11 AM tourney again today but that's probably cutting it too close with my flight at 320 assuming I do well so I may head to a different tourney.

It was nice meeting you zourah. You really can't do more than get your money in with the best hand. Just gotta hope it holds!

As for the other questions regarding the table noticing I wasn't looking... the other players weren't paying attention. They were so worried about looking at their own hand or making sure they got their two cards that I didn't have to worry. I would watch most of them when I did it to pick up reads and make sure they didn't notice.

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[quote="Clem2754"]I guess I will owe you some money[/quote]

Today's post: Stick to and follow through on your reads!!!

Two hands to speak of.

Hand 1

4 handed - 1/3 NL

CO (raises with only good hands) - limps
Hero button - raises to $12 (standard raise) with K9 suited.
SB folds
BB (loose, tricky local capable of bluffing) calls.
CO calls.

Flop is A,9,5 rainbow.

BB checks
CO checks
Hero bets $17.
BB calls
CO folds.

Turn is rainbow 8.

BB checks.
Hero bets $25.
BB raises to $60.
Hero calls.

This is where the hand got tricky. That 8 should not have helped the villain's hand. No flush draws possible now and did he really call me with a gutterball and think he had the implied odds to chase it? I just simply don't believe this raise and made a quick call to try to continue selling that I had an ace.

River is Queen.

BB bets $100.

That river should have bricked him. There's no reason he'd have JT for a straight and unless he got lucky with two pair when he bluffed the turn, I still think I've got this hand won. I really see no hand other than two pair that can win this. If he flopped a set or two pair, I think he'd have raised on the flop testing if I had an ace or not. If I have an ace, I'm paying him off in this pot, so his slow betting isn't selling a flopped hand. On the turn, if he hit two pair, I see him making a 3x or more bet to get me to get the money in there. I just simply don't think he has a hand based on how the entire hand played out.

Hero calls.
Villain mucks.

Hand 2

6 handed 1/3 NL.

Hero Raises to $12 UTG (I'd raised an average of two times per round and 80% of the time to $12.)
CO -1 reraises to $25. (He has called about 2/3rds of my raises and RARELY reraises)
Folds back to Hero who calls.

Flop is Q, T, T (two to a flush)

Hero bets $15.
Villain calls.

Turn is 7 putting two different flush draws on the board.

Hero checks.
Villain checks.

River is non-flush queen.

Hero bets $35.
Villain moves all-in for $265.

At first I wanted to verify that I had the nuts. Then I realized pocket tens were the nuts. I spent about 30 seconds thinking whether or not he would shove with a bare queen or ten and concluded that he would not. I think he'd call with a ten and make a small value raise with a queen. That leaves him with an air raise or pocket tens. One thing I knew at this table was that a drunken player was griping about how he shouldn't have folded on the flop and then blew up on the river. Basically, villain can't have the case queen. So it's pretty much confirmed, air or quads. At the point of this realization, I get the clock called on me. I can't even believe this and I turn my queen face up and asked for him to remove the clock request. Half the table looks at me as if I were dumb for not having already called. I then start analyzing how he'd play this hand if he had TT. In review, let's see it from his point of view.

LAG raises to $12 AGAIN, we look down at TT and want to get more money in there, but not too much in case he 3 bets us and we get out cheaply. We make a probe raise to $25. Folds to him and he calls. We're safe for now.

Flop is Q,T,T... JACKPOT!!! AND HE BETS INTO US!!!! Easy call.

Turn is double flush card and he checks it to us. He's scared, let's check and hope he catches.

River is Queen. JACKPOT X2!! He bets $35 into us. He MUST have the queen because he wouldn't be betting without it. That fits his play on the entire hand. If he has the queen, he's calling any raise, so why not shove all in?

Easy fold for us.

Or is it? 2nd nut and nut boat? Can we really fold? Could he be playing at us knowing that one of the queens is dead from a folded hand? He knows that we'd fold a ten on the push, so I could only call if I had the case queen. But I bet it like I had it. Why would he risk so much on a bluff?

I simply make one of the worst calls (per skill level) in my entire life and pay off his quad tens. I even shared that analysis as I was going through it and I STILL called. HEE HAW!!!!

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[quote="Clem2754"]I guess I will owe you some money[/quote]

It's been too long since I've mentioned RP.

An AP release today includes:

"No major GOP candidate has set foot in the state for two months, and some Republicans are bracing for a possible surprise first-place showing by long-shot Texas Rep. Ron Paul, the only Republican to broadcast TV ads in Nevada."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080117/ap_ ... ada_caucus

Oops

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[quote="Clem2754"]I guess I will owe you some money[/quote]