Monday Night

I’m late. Taylor is house/dog sitting an amazing property just east and south of Boulder up on a hill overlooking the city. It’s an amazing place, and a great place to grind online. However, in the winter, it can be difficult to reach. I left my car at the bottom of the hill cause it’s likely to snow tonight and I don’t want to navigate the rough dirt road in the morning snow. Before driving here, I spent a good twenty minutes scraping ice off my windshield. There was an apocalyptic ice storm in Boulder this morning which left a sheet of ice on the town. I almost fell down the stairs this morning. I hate ice. I hate snow. I hate the cold. I hate winter. Yet I still live in Boulder when moving to Las Vegas or Los Angeles a long time ago would have made more sense. Why?

Apart from the obvious proximity to family and friends, along with familiarity (new things generally make me uncomfortable), it’s the seasons. The summer is better when you go through a winter to get to it. A perfect spring day is indeed perfect when there are only a few each year. I love the repetitive change.

15-30

3000

Ukrainian across the table raises I fold QJo in BB.

Table has Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania two to my left and Eric “blizair” Blair, a final tablemate from the NAPT Venetian a year ago, two to my right. I’m pleased and excited to recognize no one else at the table, a rarity for the 1k Monday.

Blizair raises I call with 86 of clubs. Flop K55 one club he checks I check. Turn 4h second heart he bets a little more than half pot and I slowly fold.

Taylor made this stew of chicken, quinoa, and tomato which didn’t make a strong first impression but slowly got better the more you ate it.

Limp AQhh in 2^nd pos. The Ukrainian raises 4x in the cutoff and I call when it folds back to me. Flop KdJdJh. I check-call a half-pot bet. Turn x check-check. River Td – it wasn’t my plan to hit the gutshot but since I do I bet 60% pot and he folds.

20-40

5165

The Ukrainian raises, two guys call in position, the SB calls, and I call with 76ss in the BB. Flop is 332 with two spades. SB checks, I check, preflop raiser bets small, both players in position call, and then the SB checkraises big. I fold – and was planning to fold to that action anyways. The SB ends up getting it in dead with AsTs on the 8x turn vs 88.

A couple hands later that guy shoves from the cutoff for 9 BB with QJs and I end his tournament with KQo on the button.

Moved to a new table which surprisingly boasts Annette_15 as the only big name. I recently completed the first draft of a book chapter about my experience in the Bahamas last year, which includes a section on Annette. She’s a great player, but I’m directly to her left here.

GimmeDa1time AKA Ty Reiman registers late and sits down across the table.

Raise 9h7h in second position. The SB reraises 3.5x. I decide to take a shot here. Flop is an orgasmic Ts8s6d. SB bets out just 220 into 756. I decide to make a big raise to 840. He timebank calls. Turn 8d. He checks. It’s pretty clear he has a big pair. I think hard about the best way to stack him. I can check it back and almost certainly get a 2/3 pot bet out of him on the river if a blank hits. I can bet small to set up a river shove, but that looks like a big hand when the board pairs. Finally I decide to just shove in for 3400 effective into 2400 pretending to have some big draw or wild move. He tank-folds. What do you guys think is the best way to play this hand?

25-50

6369

Bailey keeps stealing this new rubber chicken from Kongo. Bailey tears every toy to shreds with fervor and immediacy. We have to keep stealing it back from Bailey (no easy feat) and give it to Kongo.

Limp TT in 3^rd position. Reiman 4xes from the button and the SB calls. I could easily raise here with what’s likely the best hand but just call. Flop KJ9 we check to Reiman he fires and we both fold.

Taylor says “don’t call me ‘The Girlfriend’ in this blog post.”

Button 3xes Annette calls in SB I fold T8o in BB.

30-60

6089

This is a pretty bad stackoff IMO:

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to GnightMoon [Qd 8s]

RocketsBaby folds

GimmeDa1time folds

BooBoo825 folds

A1THINKTWICE folds

thewood503 raises to 180

Annette_15 calls 180

GnightMoon folds

dwf1029 calls 150

macqueen56 calls 120

*** FLOP *** [8c 7d 3h]

dwf1029 bets 240

macqueen56 calls 240

thewood503 calls 240

Annette_15 folds

*** TURN *** [8c 7d 3h] [9c]

dwf1029 checks

macqueen56 has 15 seconds left to act

macqueen56 bets 840

thewood503 has 15 seconds left to act

thewood503 raises to 1,800

dwf1029 folds

macqueen56 raises to 6,044, and is all in

thewood503 calls 2,595, and is all in

macqueen56 shows [5s 6d]

thewood503 shows [3d 3s]

I feel like a raise here on the turn by thewood, as my friend Joel often says, “isolates to better hands.” Flatting saves your bacon when he has the straight (which is a decent chunk of the time) without losing too much value or protection.

Raise QTs MP and win uncontested.

During the break I play a spirited round of monkey (or in this case, rubber chicken) in the middle with the dogs. Kongo wins, but only because we let him.

I raise the SB to 180 with KQo the BB makes it just 360 I call then check-fold on 764.

Next hand raise J7o on the button blinds fold.

Check in on @grtwhitehoop and @jressle who are getting fairly deep in the Big Event or whatever it is called in LA. Both these guys seem to do some damage in a lot of the tournaments they’ve been playing lately. I’ve spent some time studying a few of grtwhitehoop’s hand histories the last few weeks and have implemented a few things, though sucking out on overpairs has not been one of them just yet.

40-80

5939

Button raises 3x I call with KJo in BB. Flop is 863 two hearts I check he bets 365 into 520 and for some reason unbeknownst to me I raise to 890 then fold when he makes it 1615.

Next hand Reiman minraises MP, guy behind him calls, I pop it to 629 in the SB with AQo, and the BB instajams for 1847 with AQo. This is a bad ship against my range, and it also turns out to be a bad ship cause Reiman reships QQ and takes him out after I fold.

50-100

4180

The button raises yet again on my BB. This time Annette 3-bets in the small blind and I want to 4-bet from the big with QJo, but the stacks are such that I would basically be risking my whole stack to pick up the 1k in the middle.

MP raises and thewood calls. I call with 44 on the button – getting close to where I should be folding. Flop is T83, the preflop raiser bets and we both fold.

60-120

3790

The button raises yet again (this time min) and I call with Ad8s in the BB. Flop is AcTs9s and it goes check-check. Turn is the As. I can fire-fire here but instead I decide to checkraise, and he quickly folds.

Echinacea tea. Not ecch. Not bad.

Annette raises the cutoff and I have AJo on the button. With antes and/or history I would play this hand for stacks (she has 33 BB and I have her barely covered) but we’re not there yet so I just call. Flop is KT7 rainbow. She bets 345 into 660 and I make it 850. She quickly calls. I decide she has a set, QJ, or J9. I’m not sure what else she could play like this. She’s got 3k left in the stack and there’s 2300 in the pot. Turn is a deuce. She checks. I decide to check. River is a deuce. I think I can actually call a bet here but she checks. I check and she wins with JJ.

I actually consider firing up a game of Dominion online but that wouldn’t really be fair to my opponent as I’d miss some time while playing hands in this tournament.

I call a raise in the BB with K6s getting almost 10:1 and miss.

80-160

3060

Raise AJdd MP and a tight guy calls on the button. Flop T32 two hearts one diamond. I slowly check and he checks. Turn 2 I bet the minimum and he calls. River 3 I check he checks 88 I actually feel good about how I played that hand.

Fold 54s 2^nd position.

UTG mins I fold A9s in the BB.

100-200

2200

Fold QJs EP.

Shove 66 for 1900 from MP they fold.

120-240-25

2200

Made it to antes! Yay!

GetPWN3D raises in 2^nd pos and the SB calls. I have 66 in the BB. Thoughts? Saul has been tight. I fold. Flop 996. kad;fgs/.kmasfgs yeah yeah I know that wouldn't have been the flop on FTP if I called.

Shove J9o on the button both blinds reship and I lose to both A8 and QQ.