League Game Last Night

Well, I convinced Rob to back me last night for the Talking Poker Forum League III. It was just a NLHE game. We've added a few other game types and I've been hoping to crash one of those just for the practice and the fun.

Anyway, 13 people ended up signing up; Boobie Lover just made it in before registration closed. We had the usual attendees. Although, TP was there, but as we found out later, he had forgotten about it. He was sitting out the whole tournament. Although, it may have worked well for him. He placed in 4th for not even playing a hand which also gave him points.

I basically went into the tournament hoping to steal some points away from legitimate league members. If the points don't count for me, I might as well try to make them not count for someone else. I think going in thinking like this really helps my game. I'm playing the way I usually play, but I'm not thinking about trying to get to the money. I just focus on the hand I'm playing, trying to win that pot or not lose all my chips in that pot.

So, the first really big pot I get into was with Rob. I limp with KT suited in MP (although I think there were only 5 or 6 of us at the table). I didn't raise because I didn't want to deal with a re-raise, but depending on the size, I would call a raise. From the SB, Rob only raises it to 3XBB (we are only on the first level of the tourney). I call and eejit calls who had also limped from the CO. The flop comes 9sQsKh. A great flop for me. Rob leads out for only 40 the pot is 180 now. I raise him another 140. Uhoh, he re-raises me to 750. I'm worried now. I know what types of hands Rob will preflop raise with in the SB and most of them have me beat. I'm thinking the worst hand he would raise with is AK, which still beats me, but I also have a gutshot. It was tempting to call, but was it worth it to risk half my stack on a chase. I was 75% sure I was behind. After delving into a few seconds of my time bank, I fold. Rob shows his pocket Aces. Good fold? I'm not sure, I think I will have run the odds later.

Next big hand for me was again against Rob. We are now down to the final 9. He raises and I re-raise him with JJ. We are sitting across from each other in the living room and he looks up at me and asks "You got aces?" I shrug and say, "I did re-raise". He starts typing on his computer and I see that he has decided to re-re-raise. Well, this could definitely mean Rob has KK or AA. I knew that. But I also know that Rob and I know how each other play very well. He could have very well pushed with a hand less than that to make it look like he had those hands, knowing my first thoughts would be kings or aces. I was willing to press my luck, I push and he insta-calls. Crap, it was KK that he had. But then I suck out on the flop and catch my J. Rob is down to 185 in chips. Crippled but not too badly since we were still only at level 2 for the tournament.

The jacks were good for me tonight. At level 3, I was dealt them again. In the CO I raise 4xBB. KURN calls from the BB. The flop comes 7s2dJs and KURN pushes his entire stack in. I, of course, quickly call. He flips over 8h7h and in the chat says, "Bad timing for a stop and go." KURN's hand doesn't improve and I eliminate him from the tournament.

The tournament moved fast. We were down to three players even before first break. But once down to myself, JD and eejit. The game really slowed down. We were playing 3 handed for quite some time. I think the different styles helped stall the game. JD is an incredible poker player and amazingly successful, agressive and smart. He built up his bankroll from playchips to something ridiculous like 100k and he's not even legal to play poker live yet. Eejit is a chaos factor. A big bluffer. But if you pay attention, you can tell when he's bluffing. Then there was me. A little too tight, especially for a short handed game, but at least I can be aggressive when I get into a pot. I was hoping that the styles of JD and eejit would clash just right to get one or the other eliminated. JD would be aggressive, eejit would bluff and JD would catch him and take him out, or something similar to that. Although, it didn't quite happen that way. JD's laptop started to lose power. His AC adaptor had stopped charging his computer and soon it would turn off. He started to push with a lot of hands. I'm sure he was just trying to get eliminate or take us both out quickly before the laptop died. He seemed to be pushing more after I raised. I'm thinking that JD was hoping I had a big hand and I would take the chips to have a lead over eejit going into heads up. Anyway, I finally did call one of JD's pushes and my hand held up. I actually forget what the two hands were.

Now I'm heads up agains eejit. We play a few hands back and forth, nothing too big. I'm mostly waiting. From previous tournaments, eejit will try a huge bluff, so I was waiting for that moment. Then I get A4o. I'm in the SB and I decide to just complete rather than raise. Eejit does raise from 200 to 800. I just call. The flop comes 9sAsAd. Eejit acts first and bets 800 into the pot. I think this may be the hand to get all of his chips. I've got a monster hand for heads up and eejit is putting money in to the pot. I'm thinking he caught the 9 on the flop. Or he raise with a pocket pair. So, I think the best thing to do is look like I want to steal the pot. I push all in. Eejit calls and I think to myself, "Please don't have a better Ace." Nope, eejit turns over Td7d. WHAT?? Eejit says in the chat, "I'm a little drunk now." I'm okay with that. And the hand holds up and I win the tournament.

WOOHOOO! This was the first league tourney I won. I've been getting deep in almost all of them, but I couldn't seem to crack that first place. I'm happy with my play. I lucked out a few times and the all important factor, I was getting good cards.