Upcoming Charity Tournament

We have 3 days left until my annual Charity Tournament. I am exhausted from working on it almost every night for the past week and a half. I am tweaking the software, working out prize rankings, designing sponsor recognition sheets, etc.

I really enjoy doing it, but the week or so before will wear me out. I can't wait until Saturday: 1)It will finally be here 2)It will be a blast. I do always have a ton of fun.

Last year we had 79 players which included over 20 walk-ins the day of. Right now we have 106 pre-registered. I am planning on cutting it off at 120 players (due to seating restrictions), but I do NOT want to turn people away at the door. Hopefully we will come in right at 120players, but I have a feeling we will be turning people away.

Last year we raised right at $5,000 for the Charity, but with 120 players, we have a chance at doubling that number. Hard to believe we might be able to raise $10,000 or even close to it. It's all because of the great donations we got this year. We have over $6,000 in prizes. All donated. So that's HUGE!

I really can't wait. I'm getting very excited. Thank you to anyone reading this that donated. You really made a difference.

Don't forget to Laugh today

Tom Cruise in his BEST ROLE EVA'

What would you do, the ANSWER

Thanks to everyone who posted. It was, of course, unanimous that I should shove AKsooted to an early raise, even if it was risking my tournament right at the bubble.

For the set up to this post, CLICK HERE

Here was my initial thought process: I asked for a chip count and determined he had me covered 2-1. Then I thought about raising, but quickly realized I had too few chips for that. If I raise or call, and then I miss the flop, he is putting me all in. I could then be losing to the same hand or to AQ, KQ sooted, or a small pocket pair that I might have improved on at the turn or river. I need to win this tournament to make a big move upwards in points, and folding to 4th or 5th place doesn't improve me much more than going out now. If he folds now, I pick up 12,000 in chips -a big move. If I double up, I am the chip leader and can start bullying. There was a ton of upside to shoving.

So I shoved, he tabled JJ, and I went home. <---Quickly, as Wonka pointed out.

I thought about it on the way home (45 minute drive) and discussed it in detail with Hawkette. I actually rationalized that I could have folded to the bigger stack than mine and waited for a better time to make a move. I could pick on the smaller stacks or watch as they dwindled and got eliminated and then tried to battle it out with 4 of us left. That was assuming the shorties didn't double up. After all, I had 4 rounds at the current level left, if I just blinded out.

I know there are times when I won't race for my tournament life. If I have top pair weak kicker and someone shoves into me early in a tournament and I KNOW they are on a draw... I can fold there. I can even fold AK if there's a raise and a reraise that has me covered and it's early in the tournament. I can wait for a better spot (and hopefully I just set them up to bluff shove into me later when I have da nuts). But with 8 players left, holding AKsooted, I just couldn't find the fold button.

So I came back to the fact that I was trying to win the tournament. As Hoyazo said: "Shoving maximizes your EV in the tournament", and I totally agree. I got home, plugged into Pokerstove the ranges for the Villian (top 8% of hands) and got a 55% favorite for the AKsooted.

It was the right move, I just hated the end result.

But that's how I've been running in my monthly tournament this year. I did move up from 26th to 20th in points. Now I just need to win the next 3 tournaments to get in the top 7 and get a seat to the WSOP. I can do it!

By the way, Hawkette went out in 11th place and is staying steading in 2nd place overall in the standings. Congrats to her for dominating still.

Stay patient...

What would you do?

Let me set this up the best I can. My monthly tournament was Saturday night. We have 36 players, the top 6 get paid. It is a points based league, so you are playing for short term winnings (top 6 payouts) and for long term winnings (points accumulated). These both affect how you might play a hand -folding a couple more spots could get you much needed points, but that could take you out of having fold equity.

I'm not doing well this year points wise, so I need to make some aggressive moves. Going into Saturday, I was ranked 26th. I have hit 2 final tables but have not cashed.

At the final table, blinds are 1200/2400 with a 300 ante. We are down to 8 players after 3 hands. I am in 3rd place with ~20,000 in chips, right at average ($180,000 chips are in play). So the stacks look about like this:

Seat 1(dealer) 5,000
Seat 2 (SB) 6,000
Seat 3 (BB) 55,000
Seat 4 (UTG) 3,000
Seat 5 19,000
Seat 6 Villian 48,000
Seat 7 20,000
Seat 8 ME 24,000

UTG folds as does Seat 5. Our villian raises to $6500 or about 2.7x the BB. Seat 7 folds. I look at Ace of spades, King of spades. Villian is not overly aggressive player, but not super tight either. So neutral read on the player. What would you do? Fold, Call or Shove?

I'll post results tomorrow.

Hit another Main Event Satellite!

Don't Forget to Laugh Today

My son making big news as a Freshman

Unfortunately, he tore his ACL and his football career was all but over. But he can still run like the wind. Congratulations CAL for breaking records as a Freshman. Just imagine what you'll be doing as a senior.

Finally won a $15 45 player

Happy Valentine's Day at the HAWK!

We even had one couple that played together. What could be more romantic than whipping your spouse at a little online poker (Mandalgan and Mawmawmae488). Congratulations to TrustUrGutShot for taking it down!

Are you killing these yet? You should be....

Unfortunately, I have not won a $15 45 player one yet, but I have hit 2nd a few times...

$24 buy in and hit another FTOPS satellite

Need 1 more win to complete the cycle...

FTOPS Satellites

I managed to satellite into 2 more FTOPS events. I already had 1 so that gave me 3 total. I'm not sure that I will play in any of them, but the nice thing is, I am qualified for 2 freerolls because of it. The bummer is, I expect some decent players to be in these freerolls. But we shall see. After all, I'm in it, so I'm sure there are going to be other luckboxes in it like me, right Wonka?

Coolest IPHONE APP ever

Turns your Iphone into a live streaming webcam. I watched my kids at gymnastics from work this morning. So effin cool!

More Super Turbo Gold

Same exact cards on two different tables at once

I can't remember that happening before. Same exact cards.

Don't Forget to Laugh Today

And then don't forget to check out BamBam's Frantic Fridays (NSFW)

Last night I got heads up in a Satellite to an FTOPS seat. I had the other player pretty well figured out, so was confident to take it down even though we were about even in chips. I chipped up nicely and was at about 42K to his 22K when this hand happened.

I raised 2 1/2x from the SB with Ah5h. He called. Flop came Jh5s6c. I insta shoved. I mean shoved so fast it was like shoving in the dark. He thought for a long time and finally called with 4c7c. I thought I had him dominated, but in reality was only a 57% favorite. Better than a coin flip, but not much. Bad thing was, he beat me with runner runner clubs for the flush.



From there it all seemed to go down hill. We were at 600/1200 blinds and here are the hands I got: 64 76 210 85 Q2 34 35 23 AQ (raised and won the blinds) 2J KQ (raised and won the blinds) K5 (raised and won the blinds) K5 (raised and won the blinds) 78 54 45 24 26 and finally 10J (which I shoved and lost to A4). Bad timing for a bad run of cards.



Still, second paid $54. Not bad for a $5 entry and $5 add on. Would have loved that $216 first place though.



And here's a shot of Bowie300 (friend I've been tutoring on 45player Super Turbos) that he sent me last night:


I hope you are tearing up the Super Turbos as well.

Stay patient....

Live play this past weekend

Hawkette and I played in a live Charity Tournament this past weekend. It was nice to play live, and I was very relaxed since I wasn't really thrilled about the prizes. I mean, first place was a trip to Las Vegas and a $1,000 buy in to a WSOP bracelet event, but outside of that, I was just playing for the sake of helping the Charity (Ashley House Foundation).

There were 89 players and several local celebrities playing, including Dennis Phillips. Dennis wasn't at my table, but he seemed very nice from what I heard everyone else saying about him. This was a $100 buy in with rebuys available for the first hour and a half. The rebuys made a big difference in play, IMO.

My starting table was very wild. One of the regulars from my monthly poker club was seated to my immediate left (which I was not happy about since he is so aggro). There was a young Internet kid who asked if we can straddle. When my aggro buddy said "there's no straddles in tournaments", the Internet kid replied "well I typically play online and I know there are no straddles there, but I've seen straddles in tournaments before." We both just laughed.

My neighbor, who I invited to play with us, was also seated at our table. He plays in a monthly game at someones house (outside of my circle of players) and he plays online for micro stakes (I flip him $40 online every once in a while for all the work he helps me with around my house). But he has almost no experience in poker etiquette, which was obvious shortly into play.

The very first hand of the tournament, I was dealt QQ in the big blind. There were at least 4 limpers, so I raised to $300 from my $50 big blind (we started with $2500 in chips). I got two callers. The flop came 9 high with no draws so I bet out $600, about 3/4 of the pot. This only left me about $1600 behind, so a re raise at this point commits my whole stack. I get one caller, an older gentlemen with glasses wearing a hat that states in large bold letters: "VETERAN". The turn comes an Ace. I can't help but think he is playing tight, so I check and he shoves all in.
I fold my cards face up, as he says "good fold". Yeah, I know.

The play is pretty loose and there is lots of action at our table. I watch my neighbor get in a huge pot and then string bets on the river (he moves chips out in 3 different moves without saying a word, to finally be all in). The aggro buddy of mine next to me is in the pot heads up and starts complaining about a string bet. I remind him it is charity, and ask my neighbor to pull back his second and third stack of chips he put out. My aggro buddy, frustrated, mucks and says "I was going to fold anyway". But he is now on tilt.

A couple of hands later, my neighbor and my aggro buddy get heads up again. My neighbor bets one $500 chip with 25/50 blinds. So I chuckle a little, but my aggro buddy on tilt plays back at him. Aggro buddy checks then my neighbor fires one $500 chip on the flop and the turn and aggro buddy calls each. On the river, Aggro buddy checks again. This time my neighbor drums his fingers like he is checking. As Aggro buddy is flipping over his cards, my neighbor moves all his chips in like he is all in. Aggro buddy stops half way flipping his cards, and says "WTF? He checked." I agree and ask my neighbor to pull back his chips. He does and shows pocket 4's for a set of 4's as my Aggro buddy folds up two pair. He is now on super tilt with $600 in chips left. I got a pretty good laugh out of this and made several one liners trying to lighten the mood at the table after all this.

Aggro buddy goes all in with pocket 7's a few hands later and loses to A10. He leaves but returns with a rebuy.

I get pocket Queens again, raise and get two callers. This time the flop comes Q62. 1 player fires a big bet (I'm happy) and we get heads up with my call. He fires a big bet on the turn and all in on the river. I call and send him to rebuy after he shows a set of ducks. I'm up to $6,000 in chips.

This same player that just re-bought, gets it all in a few hands later with KK and loses to Quad 6's. The guy with quads called an all in bet preflop announcing "I'm sure I'm dominated here, but it is for Charity" and flipped over pocket sixes. Brutal. The guy with KK decided not to rebuy again.

The Internet kid at my table is playing terrible. He gets knocked out early easily, then rebuys. He is making moves just like a cash player would, and he loves to say "I check in the dark". But he hits a couple of draws and then has a pretty good size chip stack. He is on the button, to my big blind.

Internet kid limps from UTG+1, I raise to 4x BB with AQsooted. Everyone folds, Internet kid calls, and announces again "I check in the dark". Flop comes K72. I bet out half the pot, he calls, then announces "I check in the dark". Turn comes a Jack. I have a straight draw, but figure my opponent has some small piece of the flop, and hopefully the Jack and King will scare him. I fire again, this time $1200, and he again calls and announces "I check in the dark". I want to strangle him. A K falls on the river and I decide to slow down. I check and he shows K4 off. A great "limp-call-a-raise" hand. I'm down to $2500 in chips.

A couple of hands later, Aggro buddy limps from UTG and it folds to the button (Internet Kid). He limps, small blind folds and I check my option with 92off. Flop comes 997 with 2 clubs. I check to the two most aggressive bettors at the table with the intention of check/raising all in. They both check. Well then. Certainly, another 9 is not out there and no one could be on a flush draw or they would have bet out to protect it. A J of clubs hits the turn. I certainly don't want anyone chasing a 4 card flush, so I insta push all in. Aggro buddy insta calls and Internet kid insta calls. OOPS! I know I'm beat. I flip over my trip 9's. Aggro buddy flips 94off (a great UTG limping hand), and the Internet kid flips over Kc10c for the crubs flush that holds up to win. I'm out and Aggro buddy out in the same hand.

Oh well. It was for charity. I suppose I played that last hand wrong, but with two checks behind, I didn't put anyone on a flush draw. Or another 9 for that matter. I also don't think a check raise would have put the Internet kid off of his draw since my aggro buddy would have definitely called, putting so much money into the pot.

I did get a chance to pimp my upcoming Charity Tournament and am certain we picked up some more players. That was nice. And I made a couple of contacts that may get us a few more prizes.

Hope the tables are treating you well. Stay patient....