Trip Report

So last night Rob, Adam and Jason and I headed towards Strathroy for a NL hold'em tournament that Adam heard about. After about a 40 minute drive it was clear it wasn't quite in strathroy and to be honest, I have no idea where we were. It was definitely an out of the way town especially since I had never heard of the place before.

We took two cars, Rob and I followed Adam and Jason. Jason was the cellphone contact as Adam was the only one who knew how to get there. And when we pulling into the drive of what was probably a farm, I said to Rob, "You know, if Adam is actually a serial killer, this is the perfect place to lead us to." We park and Adam leads us into a barn/shed. It probably at one point held a lot of farm equipment but was mostly cleared out except for the tables and chairs for all who were going to play.

The buy-in is $26+4 (we think). From what I gathered from Adam, it was a "charity" tournament for the local Optimus Club. It really wasn't clearly advertised what the rake was, so we have no idea how much the real buy-in was. In fact, it wasn't a very organized tournament; it was more like a very big home game.

The blind structure and chip counts kinda sucked. They started the blinds and 1/2 and then doubled them every 20 minutes(for the most part, there were a couple stages where it wasn't a double). And we only started with 150 chips. Definitely not a structure I'm used to. There were 30 players and 4 ended up paying out. First was a cool $312.

It was slow for the game to start. Everyone seemed to know everyone else--if they weren't related--so there was a lot of chatting and catching up on news before everyone was ready to play. When we did get going, Jason and I ended up at the same table and Rob and Adam were at two others. The best way to describe the play is "LOL, donkaments!"

It was bad; it was worse than the play at our home game. Everyone at the table would limp in. Although, if there were raises, it still didn't thin the field, it just sweetened the pot. The betting typically consisted of min bets, ocassionally someone would bet 2XBB but that was rare. And if they had an Ace in their hand, that was good enough to call down to the river. So, my strategy was to wait. I didn't want to get into to many pots with so many players. It was tough though, because of the blinds, waiting also meant worrying about being short stacked. As well, if I was in the BB or SB and I hit TP or better, I was staying until the river as my hand was likely good.

I really didn't have a choice about waiting for hands, though. I was not getting very good cards either way. So I folded and folded and folded. Blinds are about 5/10 and I look down and see TT. My stack is so-so, so I decide to make a hefty raise and re-evaluate on the flop. I get two callers and the flop is 34Q rainbow. The only thing I am afraid of is a queen so I push and hope neither player has one. One calls and one folds. When she flips her cards I'm happy to see A7o. The turn is a 5 and I'm now dreading a 6 on the river, but I hold up when it's just a seven. I scoop the pot and I'm good for a couple more blind increases.

My friend, Jason, is eliminated shortly after that and as he is busted he says to me "I hate the Mooney tables." Mooney is the worst player at our home game. I nod to Jason in agreement as I'm a little frustrated as well.

Part way into the 10/20 blind stage, I looked down to see KK in the BB. Time to make a move, I need to get more chips if I want to get to the final table let alone to the money. The whole table limps in, so I push. Everyone folds except for one caller. He flips A6o. I laugh and just feel an ace coming since I do have the kiss of death. Amazingly, my hand holds up.

Later, I double up a short stack when my TT ran into her QQ. Then next hand I call another all in with AKo and he flips QQ again. I'm beginning to hate the ladies. I end up lucking out and the two of us split the pot when the board made a straight.

During these hands, Adam goes broke and then later I see Rob come by my table so he's out as well. It's up to me now to represent.

Finally, the "tournament director" yells out that we will be going on break and after break we will be at final table! Blinds will also start at 20/40. I count my chips and I'm hurting. I have just under 200 chips. Once the game was one again, I check the chip stacks at the table there are 8 of us and only one other player is as desperate as I am. I was definitely going to have to push with any type of good holdings.

First hand is dealt and I'm UTG. I check and see QQ. Perfect, I'm sure to get a caller with this hand, so I push my stack in. Nope, everyone folds. Okay, the ladies really are a crappy hand for me tonight. In the BB I check and see 94 both spades. Sigh, with 60 chips coming off my stack this and the next hand, I'm not likely the looks of how things are going. So before the flop is dealt, everyone but one person limps in. As the cards are dealt, I see spade, then spade and finally a third spade. I flopped a flush. Not a great one, but it's all I have, when it's my turn to act, I push my stack to the center again. I get one caller again and when he flips his cards, my tournament is over. His K3 of spades, makes his King high flush better than mine. My only hope is a runner runner for a straight flush. It doesn't happen and I end out in 8th place.

I head over to where Rob and Jason are and the three of us wait until Adam finishes playing a Sit and Go that had started up. His game ends and he tells us he finished in first, so at least one of us were able to leave with a small profit.