Playing Big

Things didn't go well for me in the second day of the $1500 NLHE. I got reraised after opening a pot with AQ and decided to lay it down, I had my blinds stolen, and I wasn't able to pick up any cards. I managed a double up with KK against 88 to hit my high-water mark of 42k, but the cards completely went to shit after that. I made a desperation all-in move with 86, ran into AQ, made a straight, and doubled again, then folded about two rounds until my final hand. It was one of the most painful hands of my life.

With the blinds at 1500-3000 and a 400 ante, I moved in for about 19k in second position with 7s6s. I took my time and clearly said all-in, but didn't move my chips into the middle. The one seat was not paying attention and threw in six yellow chips (6000) when it got to him. He was alerted that I was all-in and would have to complete my bet, or fold and leave the 6000 in the pot. When he hesitated, I was devastated, knowing he had a crap hand like J9 or something and would now have to call with it and likely send me packing. To my shock and glee, he eventually threw his hand away despite the incredible pot odds he was now receiving. I guess he was afraid of someone behind him picking up a monster.

Two or three guys behind him considered the bet for at least a minute, but each eventually folded. Finally it got to the big blind who thought for about three minutes, then said "I'll gamble", called, and turned over a worst-case scenario, the 9-6 of clubs. He was getting almost exactly 2:1 and had about 100k. Most players would quickly fold here, but I think a call is pretty reasonable in this spot. We both made a pair of sixes and his 9 kicker played to win the pot and send me home in 67th place for $7652.

That puts my lifetime live tournament winnings above $100,000, although my live tournament expenditures are also above $100,000.

Congratulations and good luck to Jason Strasser, formerly Shavlick on Party, who made the final table which finishes up today.

___

At night, I woke up from a nap and immediately felt an urge to play 25-50 NL online for the first time. I got on the waitlists, and soon I was 4-tabling easily the highest stakes of my life. This was literally the first hand I ever played at 25-50:

Seat 2: DoomSwitched ( $1566)
Seat 5: APotIsAPot ( $5000)
Seat 9: AA505 ( $1000)

unknownpp posts small blind (25)
tindlaiso posts big blind (50)
AA505 posts big blind (50)
APotIsAPot posts big blind (50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to APotIsAPot [ Ac, Ks ]
AA505 checks.
The_Czar folds.
DorsVenabili folds.
DoomSwitched raises (250) to 250
Sh00teR folds.
Razor_Edge folds.
APotIsAPot raises (688.89) to 738.89
slowrolls folds.
unknownpp folds.
tindlaiso folds.
AA505 calls (688.89)
DoomSwitched folds.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Jc, Qh, Jh ]
AA505 checks.
APotIsAPot bets (50) (a misclick, I was trying to bet the pot)
AA505 calls (50)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 4d ]
AA505 checks.
APotIsAPot bets (1899.78)
AA505 calls (211.11)
AA505 is all-In.
** Dealing River ** : [ 7c ]
Creating Main Pot with $2322 with AA505
** Summary **
Main Pot: $2322
APotIsAPot balance $4000, bet $2688.67, collected $1688.67, lost -$1000 [ Ac Ks ]
AA505 balance $2322, bet $1000, collected $2322, net +$1322 [ Ts Js ]

This was literally the second hand of 25-50 I ever played:

Seat 5: APotIsAPot ( $4000)
Seat 9: AA505 ( $2322)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to APotIsAPot [ Jh, Kc ]
The_Czar folds.
DorsVenabili folds.
DoomSwitched folds.
Sh00teR calls (50)
Razor_Edge folds.
APotIsAPot calls (50)
slowrolls did not respond in time. slowrolls folds.
unknownpp folds.
tindlaiso calls (25)
AA505 raises (349.90) to 399.90
Sh00teR folds.
APotIsAPot calls (349.90)
tindlaiso folds.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 7h, 4h, Kd ]
AA505 bets (599.99)
APotIsAPot calls (599.99)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Th ]
AA505 bets (1322.11)
AA505 is all-In.
APotIsAPot calls (1322.11)
** Dealing River ** : [ Ah ]
Creating Main Pot with $4741 with AA505
** Summary ** Main Pot: $4741
APotIsAPot balance $1678, lost $2322 [ Jh Kc ]
AA505 balance $4741, bet $2322, collected $4741, net +$2419 [ Kh 8d ]

The good news was that an idiot or two had found his way to 25-50, the bad news was that I was immediately stuck a little over 3k.

After I made a flush against top two and a moron decided to put $4000 in preflop with pocket threes against pocket kings, I was up a decent amount for the session. I then got into some pretty serious battles with Razor_Edge, who was not backing down to anyone and playing as if on steroids. The pissing contest culminated in this:

Seat 8: Razor_Edge ( $11072.06)
Seat 9: APotIsAPot ( $12150.47)
masa9 posts small blind (25)
Force_of_Will posts big blind (50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to APotIsAPot [ Qc, Ah ]
OMor1529 folds.
Razor_Edge raises (200) to 200
APotIsAPot raises (652) to 652
AA_Legend folds.
masa9 folds.
Force_of_Will folds.
Razor_Edge calls (452)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Jd, Jc, As ]
Razor_Edge checks.
APotIsAPot checks.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 4d ]
Razor_Edge checks.
APotIsAPot bets (800)
Razor_Edge calls (800)
** Dealing River ** : [ 3s ]
Razor_Edge checks.
APotIsAPot bets (2172)
Razor_Edge calls (2172)
** Summary **
Main Pot: $7320
Razor_Edge balance $14768.06, bet $3624, collected $7320, net +$3696 [ Jh 9c ]

Against many players I would check the river, but the Edge has been known to make some very thin calls against me and other players, and I didn't want to lose value to his ace-rag.

This disaster, against an unknown player who had just sat down, put me back down for the session:

DoomSwitched posts small blind (25)
paul8wang posts big blind (50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to APotIsAPot [ 5h, 5s ]
DorsVenabili folds.
tindlaiso folds.
Force_of_Will folds.
Razor_Edge folds.
APotIsAPot raises (150) to 150
boat69 folds.
ComeOnPhish folds.
DoomSwitched folds.
paul8wang calls (100)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Jc, Qh, 5d ]
paul8wang bets (450)
APotIsAPot raises (1307.94) to 1307.94
paul8wang calls (857.94)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Ah ]
paul8wang bets (2000)
APotIsAPot raises (4732.06) to 4732.06
APotIsAPot is all-In.
paul8wang calls (751.06)
paul8wang is all-In.
** Dealing River ** : [ 4h ]
Creating Main Pot with $8440 with paul8wang
Creating Side Pot 1 with $1981 with APotIsAPot
** Summary **
paul8wang balance $8440, bet $4209, collected $8440, net +$4231 [ Kh Tc ]

After that I ran a patented Moon limp-reraise/squeeze with QQ, had an AK shove on me, called, and won the 10k coinflip. The session ended on a sour note as I failed to get away from 85 on a A85 flop and doubled up a shortish stack's 55. I finished down $1790, essentially a break-even four-tabling these stakes. Overall I felt the game was very beatable, and thought I was the second best player behind the Edge at all four tables. Still, I doubt I will be playing much 25-50 in the future. I think my future lies in 10-20 ring (although the 25-50 has sort of killed those games on Party), 10-20 shorthanded a la Kwickfish, and 5-10 shorthanded. I really believe playing a bunch of 5-10 shorthanded tables might give me the best profit margin, without the ulcers of playing higher.

The main event starts tomorrow, and I play on Saturday. I've never been this focused, determined, and confident about a poker tournament. I've also never been this good.

___

$1500 NLHE: +6102
Wednesday night, 25-50: 3.5 hrs, -1790

Year to date: 172,327