Capping a nice week...

Hey again. It's just me, X, ready to rant and rave about the goings on in my poker life. I hope everybody had a Happy Thanksgiving, because I sure did. Anyways, since it was a long weekend, Greg decided to graciously open his garage yesterday and hold a poker tournament. Being a sucker for a good poker game, I decided to join in on the fun. The buy in was $20, with unlimited rebuys for the first hour and twenty minutes. I came into the game with a plan, last with my original stack until after the rebuy period and make my move when I get cards. Here is how it went...

First off, when I got seated, I though my table would be the more reserved, less aggressive table. The table had Greg, Jack, Andy and Elaine, who are more laid back when it comes to their play. Then there were Jim, Leo, Ryan and myself who aren't the straight forward, ABC type. I'm not really crazy, but I'm also not a conservative player. I have been known to take risks. So it was an interesting table and the only question was who would break the mold and go crazy.

That question was answered quite emphatically when Ryan pushed all in on the second hand. I was in the BB and I picked up Ah - Jh. I wasn't thrilled with the hand. I mean A - J suited is a pretty good hand to see a flop with, but I get wary raising with it and I hate calling an all in with it. I don't know why, it's just that hand has never really won for me. Even considering all that, I still pondered calling. That is until Greg in the SB called Ryan's all in. That made my decision a lot more difficult. I really wasn't caught up with what Ryan had, because he could've honestly had anything. The call by Greg was a little more troubling for a couple of reasons. I knew Ryan had a strategy in regard to rebuy tournaments and he had done this before in similar tournaments. He'd push all in with any two cards and he'd either steal the blinds, get called and hit his cards and win the pot, or bust out and rebuy. It's not a bad strategy, I just don't think much of it, but that is beside the point. I have a decent hand and both Ryan and Greg (a conservative player as I mentioned) are playing for all of their chips. The trouble is Greg's call... I mean what could he have?! Pocket queens, pocket 10's, A - Q, A - K, pocket kings. You just don't know, and I couldn't really see getting into an all in pot knowing or even thinking Greg could have all of these hands. I folded after a little while of posturing. If Greg had folded I maybe would have called, I'm not sure. I may have made a bad fold considering it was so early to play a hand for all of my chips. When both Greg and Ryan flipped, I was kind of relieved and a little taken back as well. Ryan right on cue didn't much, K - 2 offsuit to be precise. Greg had As - Js, which was honestly not one of the hands I thought he had. I kicked myself preflop knowing that I probably in all estimation threw away half of Ryan's chips. That was until the I saw the flop, it was 2h - Qc - 4d. The turn was a 5c and the river was a 7d. Ryan won the pot with his pair of deuces. Sad, ain't it? I felt bad for Greg, I threw away two of the eight cards he needed. I also felt bad becuase K - 2 offsuit wasn't worthy of an all in play. At least not preflop, but hey, Ryan's strategy worked out.

After that, chips went back and forth between Ryan and Greg. Greg started hitting hands left and right, including a couple off of yours truly. After about forty minutes I found myslef shortstacked with about $1100 in chips. The blinds had just gone up and the play wasn't slowing down at our table either. I payed a hand against Jack that I don't normally play in early position, K - Q offsuit. The flop was Jd - 9c - 4s and I led out with a $400 bet, and Jack responded by going all in. Now I don't normally chase draws, but I had over a quarter of my stack invested in the pot and I was going to either win or rebuy so I called. Jack had me covered by a good thousand or so. We turned over our cards and he had Ad - Jh. The turn came Qc giving me top pair, and the river was the 7c. I admit it, it was a suckout, but I have been sucked out on a lot worse. I took a huge pot and was healthy again.

A little later in the game I played an all in pot against Leo when I had A - K suited. I pretty much played the hand as best as I possibly could have. I slow played my top pair of aces on the flop by check-calling a bet by Leo. When a club flush draw came up on the turn, I checked into Leo again only to have him bet again. I pushed all in and was called by Leo with his 9 - 7. A five came on the river and I took another good pot.

I ended up making it to the final table and surviving being card dead yet again with a few key double ups. I made it all the way to 3rd place, making $70. Not bad at all in my opinion. Coupled with the night I had at Kurt's and that's a damn good week. Kurt and I had come in with a plan of playing tight and surviving the rebuy period and turning on the afterburners. Kurt finished 4th so our plan worked out to perfection.

I don't really have any more to say, so I'll post again when I do. Later

X