Few More Games

GAME 1 - 10K HORSE 8-Person

Nothing much to report. I misplayed a hand badly at the wrong time which cost me an early chip deficit. I called to draw cards that I should have never played, cost myself some chips. I was a little more card dead than normal, but I blame my loss on lack of focus. If you imagine a straight line that represents perfect focus and strategy, my game was off that line about 50% or so: a nice acute angle (remember geometry?).

I came in 5th. No cash.


GAME 2 - 10K NLHE 18-Person

This entire game was just the definition of bad beat. I took a bad beat early when I had A2 suited in the big blind. I flopped two pair. I got one guy to commit all of his chips with A8 (he only had the one pair of aces). The turn was a sick 8. I'm pretty immune to bad beats, but I couldn't help but scream "No!" That hurt my chip stack pretty badly.

The cap things off, I went out when I had J7 suited in position against 2 players. The flop was 6 7 7. I won't bore you with the details, but I lost because one of my opponents had 6 7. That's an even worse bad beat than the first one, but I didn't say anything this time. I was out.

I went out 11th or 12th or somewhere around there.



GAME 3 - 10K HORSE 8-Person

I didn't get too much going early and it was a pretty uneventful game until the end. I dropped about 1/3 of my starting stack early, but clawed my way back up with small pots.

When it was four handed, I was the short stack almost the entire way. I made some great plays, some great laydowns, and had a little bit of luck. I managed to push into 3rd place and the new short stack eventually busted. I was happy just to cash since I had been having such a slow game.

I turned things around in the Stud Hi and Stud Hi/Lo rounds. I didn't take first, since the chip leader was well out of my grasp, but I did slip into second. Eventually all the chip stack evened up as money passed around the table. We were never more than a few hundred apart although I still don't think I ever managed to grab the chip lead.

Eventually, one of the guys lost a big pot to the other guy and was on the brink of elimination.

In the hold em round, I was dealt AJ suited and raised it up. One guy called, the other guy reraised me. I just called and so did the other guy. The flop was J 6 6. I bet, the second guy called, and the third guy raised. Despite how great my hand looked, I didn't like the situation and I folded.

On the turn, they managed to get all of their money in. The second guy had KJ, the third guy had pocket 10s!! It turned out I had folded the best hand. This was bad news, I had put in 3 bets which was a lot considering the blinds were getting rather high by this point. Not only that, but the guy with pocket 10s was about to ship his entire stack to the other guy, putting me at a severe disadvantage heads up. Needless to say, I was a little peeved. It's impossible to predict when somebody is going to go crazy and make an overly aggressive and stupid play, but had I stuck with my hand I would have had a huge chip lead going into heads up.

As it was, however, the guy busted and put me at 3-1 chip disadvantage. Still, I was prepared for the fight. I had just recently fought a tough battle when I had an 8-1 chip disadvantage. I had almost won that (see below) and if I can do that, this should be nothing. Right?

Well... the heads up battle was very very long. He seemed to want to be very aggressive early, but I wasn't going to have any of that. I became very aggressive myself and beat him back. I stole all the dead pots in the hold em round and made quite a few good hands to boot. I had 2 4o at one point and flopped the wheel. I had been so aggressive that this was no time to slow play. Plus, with the A 3 5 on the board and two spades, he could very well have some draw he might want to chase and pay me off. I bet, he called. Turn was a spade, that bothered me, but I bet anyway. He called. His lack of a raise increased my spirits. River was a blank. I could have done the safe check, but I was confident I had the best of it. I bet, he called, I won.

I had managed to take a chip lead before we got into Omaha! I was very pleased with my hold em play. Omaha, however, was a different story. At first, everything was going well. I seemed to carry my luck and aggression with me from the previous round. Slowly, however, things started to turn. Then he nearly scooped a pot. He won the high and the low and I only tied for the high. This put him back in the lead, but just barely. I made a few flushes and two pair, but every time I had a good high, he won the low. Eventually, I slipped into a very very slim chip lead. I had made the nut low with a 23 in my hand and an A 4 7 on the board. I raised and raised him. I knew that he had the high hand all locked up, but I was hoping to move him off his hand, after all, I had nothing to lose. It didn't work, however, and it was just another split pot.

I had managed a nice buffer chip lead in the last few minutes of omaha. Razz was not kind to me. FIVE of the first SIX hands, I was forced with the bring in. I think he won five of those and I won one. This completely evened the stacks back up. I was running really badly too and he managed to take the chip lead back. All in all, there were probably about 10 lead changes. I'm just guessing, but it really did happen quite a bit.

I won't bore you with everything from here on out, just a few more things. I managed to push him all the way back down to the very dangerous chip stack. He had only 2 bets in him. He said "good game" prematurely. I've seen this game really turn around on people though, me particularly, so I said, "it's not over yet." True to my prophecy, he managed to quadruple his stack and pull almost even again. Fortunately, he never managed to regain the chip lead. I beat him back down again, and he came back up again, but just to be beaten back down worse than ever. He had less than half a bet left. It took two hands to eliminate him, but it happened.

I took first place after a slow start and an impressive comeback. My absolutely superstar performance in heads up play is what won me the match. It had been almost survival up to that point.

This was perhaps one of my best HORSE heads up performances ever. My experience at the game really shown through and it was obvious that he was overmatched. Barring some horrible luck, it was only a matter of time until I won. All I had to do was stick to my game plan and keep my focus. I did just that and completely outplayed him. I challenge anybody who thinks that poker is more luck than skill to watch my heads up play in this game and dare to tell me that it was anything but skill that won me the match. I played the perfect levels of applied aggression, never felt uncomfortable stealing a pot, never found myself all in, managed to make great lay downs in even marginal situations, and hit the right cards when I needed them. There's always luck in poker, but skill won the battle today!