Cabbage Tree - Thursday

Another day another freeroll. The tournament started off pretty good for me tonight... I won a few average sized pots after hitting top or middle pair when the quality of my hands got better i started to lose. I limped in with a QS 10S and after no raise i saw a flop... AS 8S 7D. I flopped a flush draw... I led out with with a bet of 75 (25/50 blinds) on the come (a term used when someone bets on a pretty strong draw). I got one caller... I did sense a bit of weakness in his call however... maybe he was on the same draw as me... so i made up my mind to keep betting even if the draw did not come... The turn was a 4H... not an action card... I doubled my bet to 150 trying to represent the A. He called... reluctantly. At this point I both, wanted to hit my flush and not hit my flush... If my flush hit I figured it would probably win (being the second nuts) but there was a small chance he was calling with the nuts flush draw (the KS)... He might have layed down the smaller flush draw on the turn after my bet... I was pretty sure however, I could steal the pot away from him with a big bet on the end if the flush did not come. The river... JS. My flush hit... I doubled my previous bet... 300... He min raised me... It became obvious that he was also on the draw... I announced "There is one card I am afraid of you having. But, I have to call."... Sure enough he showed up a KS 4S and took down the pot.
A hand just before the break I was in the big blind... Small blind asked the dealer "Can I have pocket Queens please... suited."... I replied with "Ill have Aces suited then... So I can split em." After a few limpers i looked down at my cards Q Q... I was surprised (which i did not show on the outside mind you). I raised 400 more (550 total)... I got one caller... After a 9 high board I bet 600 and took down the pot... I showed my Queens to the small blind and then the rest of the table...
After the break i was experiencing a bit of a cold deck... I was in the small blind for 200 and there was a massive raise of 1800... I looked down at my first card... a K "Oh please pair up"... My next card... an A... It did not pair up but i put him on Jacks... or at least a pair... So I knew it was a coin flip... I reraised all in and was quickly called... He turned up Queens and I turned up my A K... The window card was an A... Second card K and a 9... Although this may seem like a pretty good flop... all cards were clubs... I darted my eyes over to his hand and sure enough he had the Queen of clubs... The turn... 8C... He had made his flush... With no A or K on the river I was knocked out of the tournament.
With the risk of making this post too long... After the tournament i played a 6-max sit n' go for a Main Event ticket... Johnno dominated... Every hand he played he won... The second hand he tripled up... He opened up with a raise which was reraised quickly by Brett... Joker called... I looked down at pocket 6's which I quickly threw away... Johnno reraised all in and was called by both Brett and Joker... Johnno had pocket Kings and was up against two A K's. After no Ace Johnno raked in a pot of close to 9k.
A few hands later Matt pushed all in UTG. Johnno quickly reraised... I looked down at an A Q... Not the hand you want to see in this position. I threw it away... Matt turned up A J and Johnno turned up Pocket 10's... After no A or J (or Q :P)... Johnno took down the pot and we were 3 handed...
I was in the big blind and was faced with a raise from Johnno... I looked down at pocket 10's... I quickly reraised all in... Johnno called and turned up K 10 suited... The first two cards gave him the flush draw... But the turn was a K and left me drawing for the case 10... It did not come.
Johnno lost his first hand heads up... a pretty amazing feat since he played almost every hand. But... after he raised and was called preflop... And after a board consisting of A Q 10... Steel pushed and Johnno called and turned up a K J (the nuts straight) Steel was holding a J 10... Johnno won the Main Event ticket.

Cabbage Tree - Thursday

Umm, i'm not dead. Its my last week of Uni and i still have 8 assignments to do :\. Ive played two tournaments since the last post and did ok in both (19th and 13th). Poker at the tree last night was tough. 65 runners made the average chip stack very very high. Both of the tournaments i played (Monday and Thursday) ive started out with the mind set of playing position poker. Raising every button and following with continuation bets depending on the action i got. But i have come to the conclusion that in a freeroll it is virtually impossible to play like this. Not until the late rounds anyway. This technique is highly dependant on the table you are sitting on. I had two players on my table that were playing most hands and calling with any draw, low-mid pair and even high card. My mate Ben was in a pot with one of them. He pushed all in after hitting a Q on the board of Q 6 4. His opponant started questioning him... "Have you got pockets?...Have you got pockets?...HAVE YOU GOT POCKETS!?". As if he had just learnt what "pockets" were and was trying to show off his extensive pocker knowledge. He then came to the assumption that Ben was bluffing or or he could have thought he was on pockets or maybe he just wanted to show that he knew what a "call" was. He called... He turned up a J 10... No pair no draw. Even a bluff could beat him. No cards came that helped his hand and Ben doubled up.
He was also the same guy who doubled me up. I limped in UTG with an A 10... Jen raised min raised in late position which scared me a little. I had played maybe 3 hands all night so my table image was very tight, i had also limped into the pot in the worst position for that move so the standard my hand had to be at was high. This information i figured she knew so i put her on a pretty good hand because of my image. A few people called the raise and i did as well... The flop came 7 2 10. I pushed all in for 1400... Taking the risk that Jen had maybe some suited connector hand. She folded... The same guy who was in Ben's pot was counting out chips... Now this is who i wanted to call... He threw his chips in and i turned up my A 10. He turned up a J 2. Bottom pair... Now i did have a little bit of worry but not much. The table was talking up that a bad beat was emminent... It did not come and i doubled up.
When it was down to 2 tables i was on the short stack... I made a push in late position with K 9 for 3500 with blinds at 1000/2000... I expected BB to call which he did. I was miles ahead of the 8 9 Bull turned up and i doubled up, he did have to make the call due to the odds he was getting. My last hand was a J 8 which i received in late position once more... It is my second fav hand and i decided to get my chips in the post. After missing everything on the board however Bull turned up the brunson (10 2). He had hit the 2 and knocked me out in 13th place.

Poker Dome Hurstville - Friday

The boys from the Uni Poker League went up to Hurstville tonight and played a $75 deep stack. Everyone was disappointed... We were expecting a lot from the poker dome but none of our expectations were met. I was expecting a big complex of at least two stories high with at least one floor devoted to poker. The reality was more like a bar with a poker room... We were expecting a lot of runners, making a prize pool of 5k+. It was more like 16 (5 of us from uni poker) runners producing a prize pool of less then $1000... We expected the level of play to be high. We were corrected after we saw an all-in call, with a Q 9 in the first hand (was up against K K)... We were expecting a 'deep stack' tournament... Starting stack was only 5000 with 20 minute blinds. We were expecting the tournament to be well organised... We basically just sat at a table and expected to create our own poker (we were not told how much blinds were; just notified when they were up)... Luck was not on our side.
The first bad beat came from Siggy. Flopping a set with J 9 on a flop of K 9 9 (rainbow). He checked... The pot was bet into and he reraised. After he was insta called the turn was a 7... This put 2 diamonds on the board. Siggy bet again and was insta called... The river was a 4D... Siggy bet and was reraised all in. He called. His opponent turned up a QD 3D... He was being called on a back door flush draw and it hit...
The second bad beat was from Dan. After limping in behind the button the pot was raised. The raiser had been playing a lot of position poker and he had shown some pretty bad starting hands after raising in that position... Dan called with AS 10S... The flop was AC 7S 8S... Dan had flopped top pair with the nut flush draw... he checked. The pre flop raiser bet out and Dan quickly reraised. He was called... The button showed up an A 8... 2 pair! Talk about pre flop domination... Dan still had heaps of outs... Any spade would give him the flush, or he could hit his 10. After another A hit the turn Dan was drawing to a 10... It did not hit.
The next person out was yours truly. It was at the final table... Blinds were 100/200 which is ridiculous for a final table. I had some decent hands. I won a pretty good pot with Pocket J's. But i gave away most of what i won after a pot odds call (a calculated decision) with a K Q suited (was against A 9)... 7 Handed i was dealt pocket 7's in late position... I raised the pot to 700. I was called by two others. the flop was 3 5 5. Excellent flop for 7's. The big blind bet out with an 800 bet. I considered reraising all in. But she was one of the blinds and she could have called me with anything... The turn was an 8. She checked... I bet out 1300. She reraised all in... I only had 400 chips left and was too committed to the pot to back out (even though i was pretty sure i was behind). She turned up a K high flush... I regretted not reraising all in, but she assured me she would have called. The flush held up and knocked me out. Not a bad beat but definitely a hand that is worth reviewing to prevent it happening again.
Miguel was next out. He pushed all in with pocket K's and was snap called by a J 8... After a J hit on the flop he got nervous... On the river... an 8. A pretty bad beat from him.
Matt the best position of all of us went out in 4th position (the bubble). He was forced all in with an A Q in the big blind... It was unfortunate for him the button had picked up an A K. The A K held and the last of us were knocked out.
A pretty bad tournament. $75 for a $900 prize pool is horrible... Wont be playing satellite for a week. Public holiday Monday and working on Thursday...