Season X - Game VIII

Hey everybody!

First of all, I have to apologize for not keeping on top of the last few games' write-ups. If I bust out early, I usually head home right away and don't get any information about the action and the knockouts. As a result, I can't give my thoughts on the game (and I know everybody is just DYING to hear my thoughts our games!)

So, really, it's EVERYBODY's fault for knocking me out. If I'm all-in, everybody needs to just lay their cards down so I make it to heads up every game, and I can keep on top of the action!  Keep this in mind for the next game!

Luckily (and trust me, I was lucky), I made it deep at the last game, and was able to keep on top of the action.  So here are my tweets and thoughts on the action.

 

Shawn is short stacked at around 520. Dave is at 1300. Shawn is just a donkey, but Dave ran into top 2 vs 2nd & 3rd pair. and flush vs flush

Man, Shawn and I had it rough in the early rounds. From what I can remember, Shawn called light a few times, but ran into some big hands, which made him lose a bunch of chips.

I ran into Dana's AQ when I was holding QJ when the board came AQJxx, I ran into a flush over flush against Marcel, and I had 99 vs Lou's 22 when the flop came QQ2.

 

Dana just doubles up! flop comes JT8, two hearts. bet/reraise/reraise/all-in/call vs Marcel. Dana shows JT, Marcel T7 hearts
Board doesn't help, and Dana has a big stack

This was a pretty big hand!  I can't blame Marcel for shoving with a pair and a draw there.  There are definitely some hands that Marcel doesn't want to see, but some of the hands in Dana's range (like KQ) make him a big favorite, or at worst, he's a 3:2 underdog.

Here are the percentages with the hands he could be up against:

• T7 vs TJ: 42% vs 56% (4% tie)
• T7 vs 88 : 37% vs 61% (4% tie)
• T7 vs TT and T7 vs JJ : 35% vs 62% (4% tie)
• T7 vs 9Q : 39% vs 60% (1% tie)
• T7 vs AJ : 57% vs 41% (4% tie)
• T7 vs KQ hearts : 40% vs 60%
• T7 vs KQ : 71% vs 29%
• T7 vs J8 : 46% vs 51% (4% tie)

 

After the hand, Marcel still had a pretty decent stack (he had accumulated a lot of chips before this hand, so doubling Dana up didn't kill him), but I think mentally, he was tilted for the rest of the game.  With the tilt-factor, I don't think Marcel ever fully recovered from this hand.

 

Shawn is out! Shoved right before the break (with a short stack) with AT and Jim reshoved with AK. Board doesn't help and we're down to 12.

Shawn was looking to double up with his short stack and picking up AT in that spot, I probably would have done the same thing.  It was just unfortunate (but fortunate for Jim!) that Jim woke up with AK behind him.

 

Roland just got quads. QQ vs Dan's KK. Flop comes QJT giving Dan an open ended straight flush draw and Roland top set. River comes a Q. Sick

This was at the other table, so I can't comment too much on the action.  But man, what a crazy hand.  From what I heard, Dan lost the minimum though, which is pretty good considering that monster flop. If I flop an open-ended straight flush draw and an overpair, you better believe I bet the farm.

After that flop, even though Roland flopped top set, Dan is 48.48% to win, and Roland is only 50.30%

Roland strikes again!

 

Marcel is out! Raised to 500, Jim moved in, and he called. QQ vs Jim's AK. Ace was the first card on the flop. Down to 11

One of those hands that just plays itself. Marcel still seemed a little deflated from that hand with Dana and was looking for a big payoff with his QQ, and Jim was ok gambling with AK.

 

Down to 10, sorry. I forgot Stacy's knockout! Matt knocked her out with KK, when she pushed with AK.

Sorry Stacy! I forgot about your knockout. From the details I received, Stacy was short stacked and moved in with AK, and Matt obviously called when he looked down at KK. No ace for Stacy, and that was the end of the day for her.

 

Lindsay is out. Moved in with a short stack with A2 and Campbell called with A9. The board didn't help and now we're down to 9. MERGE!

With Lindsay short stacked, she figured an ace was good enough to try and double up.  Unfortunately, was dominated when Chris flipped over a bigger ace.

 

Lou is out! After over an hour of playing 9 handed, Jim moved in with 33 (with a huge stack), and Lou called with Q2 suited in the BB
Board didn't help either of them, so the pocket 3s held up.

Longest merged table ever. I think we played for 3 rounds without a knockout.  There were definitely a lot of short stacks, but they either kept doubling up, or avoiding confrontation.  Lou fell as the first victim when he called with Q2 in the big blind.  Too much of his stack was already committed in blinds and he had to take a stand. Unfortunately, Jim had a pair giving Lou only one over card, which didn't hit.  We final go to 8-handed.

 

Barb just doubled up through Jim. AA vs QQ... That's the third person Jim has doubled up since the merge.

This is pretty much a cooler.  Although it played out a little weird.  The blinds were I think the blinds were 50/100 or 75/150, and with 2500 (maybe 3000?) in chips. Barbara moves in with no raises behind her.  It's a bit of an overbet there, and she won't get action from anybody unless somebody wakes up with a huge hand. Luckily for her, and unluckily for Jim, Jim had QQ.  She got paid the maximum with AA and doubles up!

 

Jim's out! Chris Campbell moved in with KQ and Jim calls with QT in the BB. Board doesn't improve either hand, down to 7-handed!

Jim just couldn't get anything going it seemed. Doubling up just about everybody at the table and not catching a break.  Doubling up that many people inevitably takes a toll on a stack, and he was knocked out when he took a stand with QT.

 

Barb just doubles up through Matt. KJ vs KQ with the flop KJ9. Matt is left with 300 behind (blinds 200/400)

This was the beginning of Barb's domination over the table. She was already a pretty big stack, and this double up made her an overwhelming chip leader.

 

Matt is out very next hand. Moved in with AT and the two blinds called. Dan took it down with a flop and we're 6-handed.

300 in chips left (not even a full blind) and he had AT… nobody can blame him for moving in there. Dan had 83 of hearts in the small blind and the board came 3 hearts, so that was the end Matt.

 

Barb is the chip leader BY FAR. with the blinds so high, everybody is just moving in pre-flop.

Blinds were nuts-o relative to our chip stacks.  Everybody, besides Barb, had less than 10x big blind and is considered a short stack.  So, basically, everybody was just waiting for a decent hand and moving in.

 

Roland is now out! Barb moved in with J9 and Roland called with KT. Board came TQAK5. Two pair for Roland and a straight for Barb

Roland falls victim of Barb's stack.  With Barb having so many chips, it was easy for her to bully and just put everybody at risk for their tournament life.  Roland found a callable hand but Barb hit her open-ended straight draw after Roland flopped a pair.  This brought us down to 5-handed.

 

Barb has over half of the chips in play. Everybody is fighting for 2nd.

26000 in chips in play, and Barb had like 14000.  Crazy!

 

Dana just doubled up through Barb. AJ vs 88 and Dana hit his Ace.

Pretty standard hand considering Dana and Barb's chip stack.  Dana found a strong ace and moved in, Barb had a pair and easily called with the amount of chips she had behind.  Dana won that coin toss and started accumulating a lot of chips.

 

Dan is out! Dave moved in with QT suited and Dan calls in the BB with A8, the board came Q52T8. 4-handed and in the money!

I was really short stacked at the time (maybe only 300 more than Dan), and figured QT was good enough to shove there.  I didn't really want any callers, but even if there were, as long as I wasn't dominated, I was happy.  I was happy when I saw A8, and even happier when I flopped top pair.  When the 10 came on the turn, Dan was drawing dead and we were down to 4-handed.

 

Chris is knocked out by Dave. Dave moves in with 44 and Chris calls with AJ. Board doesn't pair Chris, and we're down to 3-handed!

The hand right before this, Chris moved in and I insta-called. We were both ecstatic as we both had AK, but deflated when we turned up our cards.  That ended up a split pot.

This next hand was a coin flip.  With the blinds this high, a lot of pots were decided as pre-flop all-in coin flips.  I was lucky enough to win this hand and finally had enough chips to stop moving in every hand.

 

Barb is out. Dana moved in with A8 and she calls with KJ. Board paired Dana twice, and now we're down to heads up.

A few hands prior to this all-in, I had doubled up through Barb when I was holding AK and she had J9.  The flop came A9x when I moved in and she called.  So, she had taken a pretty big hit to her stack and was happy to see pocket paint.

The blinds were still high relative to our stacks, so I really don't mind calling with KJ here.  Dana's range would be pretty wide, and KJ is a nice hand to make a stand with.

 

Dana wins! Short heads up vs Dave, and was out-chipped about 2:1 going in.. But takes it down! Congrats and thanks to everybody who came out

I think the chips were like 16,000 for me and 10,000 for Dana going into heads up.  So the chip count was more like 3:2.  We had made a deal to split the cash, but play the game out for the win.  The blinds were 400/800 at this point, and after min-betting preflop and c-betting on the flop twice, and losing both pots, I was short stacked.

I was at about 6000 or so when I moved in with QT and Dana calls with K9.  He thought for sure I had an ace and was behind, but was willing call.  However, he was SO sure I had an ace, that even after turning up my cards, he still thought I had an ace! He was rooting for a K or a 9 the entire time, and I was a little confused, but just kind of went with it. After the hand was dealt, he said "I never get there" and started pushing his chips towards me! lol, I was like, dude, you won. Looks like he pulled a Roland!


At one point, Barb commented on the lack of action.  That there were a lot of walks, or if somebody pushed all-in, everybody folded.  I came up with this magnificent analogy.
Poker is like love, you can't force the action; you just have to let it happen.
In hindsight, I should have used; Poker is like dropping a deuce… etc etc.
I thought it was pretty funny… but I think a lot people were just laughing at me. Lol

Oh well, good times as always.  Looking forward to seeing everybody at the next game!

Cheers!
Dave