Sunday, December 7, 2008

Late night cash game and deep stack live tourney

I really enjoyed yesterday's poker. It started with a phone call from a friend on my way home from work pulling together a home game. I turned up 1 hour later than everyone else and only missed two pots, both AI. The structure was cash $.5/1 with a $30 buy in. You can rebuy as often as you like.

I've played a few times before and as the field is soft, if you can get a stack early you are pretty set. Unfortunately, I lost a couple of buy ins early on coin flips, limp steal attempts from the BB, and trips over trips. Over $100 down, I had my first break and doubled up. Won another big hand to more than double again. Up about $20 with a decent stack and getting late, I waited for cheap chances to double up. It didn't come and I ended up $20 down. All in all, I think I played OK. It's my first loss in that company and I'm well up overall.

Late to bed and then off to the other side of Sydney for a long tournament. It's the best structure I've played with 30 min blinds. I promised myself tight early and I would have been out for sure if I hadn't. Only took two smallish pots with JJ and QQ and folded everything else pretty much. 2.5 hrs later I am level with my starting stack at the break.

Not long after the restart I've made the worst blunder for some time. 9Ts in early position, I limped with blinds of $200/$400 and had one raiser, the SB for $1200. I called with a stack of $10000. Flop came 983r, the SB led out for $3500 and without much hesitation, I raised AI. The SB thought for quite a while but he was never folding, just checking his logic (which I should have done). He called with JJ and almost crippled me. I'm very unhappy with my play, but to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what the right move was. That's the biggest problem - I'd like to be able to perform a structured hand analysis and be confident it was right.

I did gather myself up again which I was pleased with and then as the blinds rose, they were $5000/$10000 when I got KK UTG with $80000 in front. I pushed AI and was called by TT. Q89r wasn't what I wanted to see and definitely not the J on the river.

All in all, a realistic step up from the local pub games to the bigger gigs and I was found wanting but I'll be better prepared next time for the experience. More than 12 hours live has helped.

I spotted a great tell at a crucial point that I was proud of. I had the J on a board of 6789T. The river put a 3rd club on the board. I value bet and was raised AI. Did he have the flush or not? I couldn't get a read even though I tried until his friend walked past and they started a conversation. I'd read in Caro that its very difficult to have a natural conversation when under pressure. I reasoned that he was very comfortable and folded, showing the J. He showed the flush and congratulated me on the lay down. A by-product was a bit more respect at the table.

Sorry this post isn't a bit more structured or coherent but its been a long weekend of poker. Pleased to see that my fellow bloggers are all posting better results, long may it continue.

I'll register for Pokerstars when I read advice on a good RB deal (or similar) and have a go at the Blogger events hopefully (haven't checked out the timezone). Anyone interested in a last longer side bet?

5 comments:

The blindman said...

Hey TFAL,

There are no RB or similar long term deals for Stars. The best you can manage is a kickback from PSO or similar.

On your tourney, I think you played that key hand ok. 9Ts is fine for defending a raise from the SB. He has a pretty wide range of hands and will Cbet nearly all of them if he is a rational player. The Cbet was an overbet ($3500 into $2400), which usually signifies weakness. The shove holding top pair was a completely reasonable play in my book.

parttimebonuschaser said...

Thought i'd better post my link here if you're kind enough to sign up!

http://www.pokersourceonline.com/?rc=bort88

cheers mate and good luck at the champs

The blindman said...

Pick me, pick me!

:-P

Incidenally, timezones vary from 4am to 12pm here in the West, so it's not terribly convenient.

Assuming some of us make the final, a last longer bet might be fun (or shared pieces of each other or whatever).

parttimebonuschaser said...

i'll probably only play a couple .. work and sleep get in the way, and i can't be arsed getting up at 4am

TiocfaidhArLa said...

Eenie, meenie, minie, mo ...

Since I read about it there first, I'm going to share the love on this one.

As for a piece of each other, I'll only get to play a few too so I'm more than happy to chuck in my winnings to the consortium of like minded people (nominating in advance to do same) trying to get to the WSOP next year.

If its just you and I blindie we can cross-book for 50%. That is if you're still talking to me after eenie, meenie, minie, mo.

Thanks for the vote of confidence on the 9Ts. The same guy had laid down 99 preflop 2 hands before after great thought. He'd called a raise before the BB went AI, later showing a 99 too.

I'd reasoned that he can lay down a marginal hand, flip side was that he could have been on tilt after being pushed off before. In the end, it was an easy call for him and to his credit he took his time over the decision. I guess that is what I am most disappointed in in myself. It was just a lazy shove after being so nitty for so long.