At long last, a MTT victory

I've been close before....examples:

This one paid $207.

This one paid $231.

But I finally got one. You can see the payouts of the earlier tournaments (hopefully), and they were quite nice. Could I win one of those? Nope. I won this one.

Now it was a field of 90 players, but a first place take of $22.50 is somewhat of a let down. It's still a win, and I want wins, just wish it could have come in a bigger tourney.

Baby steps....

~M

Post from the old Blog

Scotty Nguyen:

The author and 1998 WSOP ME Champ Scotty Nguyen

"You call, it's gonna be all over, baby."

The final words of Scotty Nguyen before his opponent, Kevin McBride, made a fateful call of Scotty's all-in, with a board showing a full house, 8's full of 9's. McBride declared he was playing the board, while Nguyen (pronounced "win") held J-9, giving him the higher full house, and the $1 million dollar payday and Main Event bracelet.

He is known as the "Prince of Poker," but he wasn't born into royalty. This is a man who left Vietnam at the age of 14, looking for a better life in America. Much like my father, he found it. Unlike my father, he found it as a rounder. Nguyen is a self-made poker celebrity, but he is also one of the best tournament players around.

His lifetime earnings top $5 million dollars, and he is the owner of 4 WSOP bracelets in his career, but the way you can tell him apart from the other players is easy: his mouth and his gold.

Nguyen goes beyond the Mr. T Starter Kit, and takes it to a new level. Add in the round shades, and the long mullet (a look he got away from in 2003, but has since brought back), and you have one of the most unique pros out there. His table talk can have some bite, but for the most part, Scotty is having fun.

When he stopped for the above photo, he was on his way into the tournament area at the WSOP, but still smiled and spoke to me for a few moments before heading in. Any pro that is willing to share a few minutes of himself to spread the goodwill of the game is tops in my book, and Scotty is truly one of a kind.

NOTE: This post was moved over from my original blog. I had to change web addresses for reasons which I won't get into. Posts from that original blog are still available by clicking here.

Ho-Ho-Ho Hold 'Em

An enjoyable evening of cards and friendship. A field of 19 players in attendance, which made for a nice full 2 table game. Starting stacks of 3000 with a nice slow structure meant plenty of play for everyone. I went out with 10 players left when my AQ in late position ran into an early position raise with AA (oops). No outdraws there, but suffered a monstrous bad beat as we were nearing our "final table."

In late position with KK, I raise it to 1200 (blinds 200-400, 50 ante). button, and SB fold, BB goes all-in for 1400 (or so) more. I call. BB has 10-10.

Flop: 4-7-9
Turn: 6
River: 8

Ack.

Nothing I can do there-cards just spit on me, but I was able to play off that, and remain relavtively solid until the last hand (my AQ mishap).

A good group of folks in attendance, mostly league players, but some co-workers of mine too. In all, a nice night, and a perfect way to get together for some cards, and fellowship.

After I got knocked out of the tournament, I sat in on a cash game, playing .25/.50 no-limit. Hit a monster hand to win a monster pot (I'll leave the details out of it), and ended up ahead a little on the cash game (I say a little because I bought in for 40).

Highlight of the night, however, happened at the end. Our buddy Randy, a man who has taken as many bad beats as I have in league games, became so unhappy when his 2 pair got outrun in the cash game (very late, practically the last hand we played), that he picked up his cards and flung them into the muck, with one of them leaving the table. Problem was, the cards he flipped weren't his--they were the mucked cards of our other buddy Ballpark, who had folded to a river bet. There were 5 people at the table, and 4 of us were laughing. Randy wasn't one of them, but suffice to say, when you get so mad that you THINK you are flinging your hand, and you fling someone else's hand, that's just damn funny. Randy's cards were sitting underneath his card cover (a Magic 8-ball). I still chuckle thinking about it.

Randy, we weren't laughing AT you....we were laughing FOR you. Big difference.

Happy Holidays to all!

~M

Overvaluing your hand

Exhibit A:

All the chips got in after the flop, I am pokertvstar. I was able to see the cheap flop with what would turn out to be the nuts (at the end of the hand). Both players thought their pair of kings were good, but I checked post-flop, slow playing my set. Player on my left went all-in, and was called by the next player. I re-raised all-in, knowing I had the lead, because the pot was unraised pre-flop. I got the other player to call (amazingly). With both players sharing a K, and neither with 2 pair, they were virtually drawing dead on a rainbow board(and their hands were unsuited). In this spot, the value of my hand was immense, and luckily I got paid off for it.

In my humble opinion, the initial all-in was a stab, and the caller figured his kicker was good. Player 2 completely overvalued his hand when I came in over the top for all of my chips. He called without hesitation, leading me to beleive that he thought I was on a steal. That's ridiculous, again, in my opinion, because....how often is a player check-raising with nothing? That pot gave me a mountain of chips, based solely on the other players call of my all-in. Sometimes you have to ask, is top pair REALLY good here? often times, it isn't.

Anyone got a match?

My heater seems to have ended, and any sort of ignition would be most helpful. After getting out of the blocks with 5 rather solid outings, I have laid a pair of eggs (about the only pair I have seen in league play recently).

December league game was a quickie for me. I was 2nd player out of the tourney, field size 31. Thanks for coming, get out of the chair.

Nothing sick, just feeling the bruises after being outkicked on 3 separate hands.

A-Q beats my A-J
K-10 beats my K-9
K-Q beats my K-J

I actually got out of a monster pot with the best hand pre-flop. In SB I have 99, and the pot gets raised to where it is 125 more to me (I think)...I smooth call, knowing if I connect on the flop, I'll take down a monster. What comes on the flop? How about 3 overcards, 2 suited, 1 Ace.

My hand is dead. I check, the chips start making their way to the center, and when it comes to me, I muck. I was up against:
AQ, AK, and 2 big hearts (I honestly forget because my head was spinning on not being able to connect). The heart draw rivered the winner and raked a boatload of chips.

Congrats to Jaybird on winning his 2nd event this season. His win opens up another points seat in the TOC, and the way I am running, I'll take any help I can get.

Poker is a fickle game. I have found that out in live play, and also online. Enjoy your heaters when you get them, because when things cool, you start to doubt your ability and play. I am battling through the lull, because I know my ability. I am no pro, but I know how to pull myself outta this. Having gone through a 12 month season with some ridiculous beats, being outkicked on one league night, and playing like I had a train to catch in the other is the least of my worries.

I got a nice shot of confidence at the cash game later, making some hands, hitting on some questionable plays (like calling a preflop raise with J-3 off suit and spiking the 3 on the flop), but more than getting lucky, I won more pots by my play than by card draw. I am not saying EVERY hand was well played, and NO luck was involved--beleive me, I know I got lucky plenty. I am saying that a majority of my pots won were "won" with either the nuts, or by setting up a play during the hand.

Here's a lucky hand from cash game. Small stakes .25/.50:

4 handed, 1 fold, I'm on the button, I have 8-4 hearts. I limp, SB raises it $2. BB folds, I call.

My call was to represent a hand bigger than I had--I was going to try and bluff the whole way.

Flop:
6-7-5 with 2 clubs.

SB bets $2, I call.

Turn:
5

Scary card for me, since I could have had him on 77 preflop, but when he bet $2, I put him on big pocket pair (JJ, QQ, KK) or even AK. I knew my hand was good (and I had gotten very lucky). I raise $2 more. He calls.

River: low rag (I think it was a 3 or something).

SB checks, I bet $2, he calls. I flip the straight, hoping my read was right--he showed QQ. I didn't figure to flop a monster hand on 8-4, maybe a heart draw, but certainly not a straight. I was glad I trusted my post-flop read on the SB, but I will admit, folding that flopped straight wasn't really an option.

Ho-Ho-Ho Hold 'Em scheduled for Saturday. Looking forward to building some more confidence as we get ready to flip the calendar to 2007!

Good luck and good cards,
~M

Sick Beat Central

I look around the room now, eyes shifting, for I know not where the next horror will come from.

That's the state of my game right now.

In poker, all you can do is get your chips in the middle with the best hand--if you get in behind, then you made an incorrect decision.

7 player game at my place Sunday evening, and didn't really get too mixed up in a lot of hands, but here are 2 biggies-1 that forced me to the rebuy, and the other that forced me out. 2 very big differences in them.

The Rebuy:

I am in SB with 9-6 offsuit. No raises to me, so I limp in for the discount...BB checks. There is one other caller in the hand.

Flop:
9 high, rainbow. SB checks, Other player check, I bet (minimum bet with is 1/3 of the pot. BB calls, other player folds.

Turn:
Q
SB checks, I check.

River:
9--Giving me a set of 9's.

I check, BB bets 600 (about the pot--may have been the pot). I re-raise all in, he snap calls and turns over QQ (for a Queens full of 9's boat). Into my wallet I go. Ack.

On that hand, I simply got outplayed, but he also got lucky his gin card hit on the turn. I hate limping or checking on big pocket pairs. When it works out, you look like a genius, but when it blows up on you, you feel like an idiot. If the Q doesn't fall on turn, and I hit the 3rd 9 on the river, his nice juicy pocket pair of QQ goes for naught. Once the Q hit the turn, I got played big time. Nice hand, sir.

The hand that busted me:

I am under the gun with about 1900 chips, blinds 100-200, 25 ante.

I have AQ and am first to act--I raise it to 800.

2 callers, 1 in mid position, and the button.

Flop:
3-7-Q

I push all in for 1050 more (there is about 3K in the middle), mid position folds, and button says out loud, "I just got these chips," after raking a big pot 2 hands earlier. I say, "then fold, because you are trailing right now."

He calls and shows 10-10.

So here is the situation--I have top pair with top kicker, suffice to say, a large lead. He is drawing to 2 outs in the deck to take the lead (and turns out it was only 1 out since 1 of his 10's was folded preflop). Mathematically, I am a LARGE favorite to double my stack and then some.

Turn:
10

I didn't even see the river, because all I saw was red.

On that hand, I played it as well as I could, got my chips in with the best of it, and got outdraw. At some point, people need to learn to fold hands--I am not saying that because I knew I had the lead, and he would need a miracle to win it. I, and a couple other players in the league know when their pocket JJ or 10-10 is beaten after the flop. It's not a crime to lay down a nice looking hand that doesn't improve on the flop--it's actually a sign of a good player to lay down a big hand when they think it might not be best. I don't know how many times I have mucked a pocket pair of 9's, 10's even Jacks after the flop. You can't be married to a pocket pair when the board completely misses you.

No cards for me live for the next week, as I have work duties this weekend. Saturday calling play-by-play for a football game, Sunday working the NFL game. Next Saturday is our December league event, followed by another NFL Sunday.

Things will slow down a little for me around the holidays, which looks like a welcomed break.

Good luck and good cards,
~M