Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
----- Original Message -----
From: Eric Kurtzman
To: 'esethk.pokerdonkey@blogger.com' <esethk.pokerdonkey@blogger.com>
Sent: Sun Jun 12 13:12:18 2011
Subject: Hold'em Round 1
The Burro is Back! Here at the Rio for a stretch in a relatively low price tourney ($1,000).
Today we're playing NLH, which is the hold'em you see on TV. We start with 3,000 in chips.
Side note - for those tuned in earlier, you'll remember that the urinals have goal posts with footballs strung between them in order to get players to aim into the urinal. Quote of the day was from a guy talking (loudly as if he didn't know others were there), "Hey, I scored a goal!" The irony of calling poker a sport is that this was probably his most athletic point of his year and the goal the highest reward he's ever received for an athletic endeavor. On to the table . . .
First hand we are playing 25 25 with 3000 in chips; we're in seat 5 (9-handed) and discard 79o. There's big betting pre flop and after the 356 flop. Turn comes 8. We would have had a straight on a big pot. Oh well.
Second hand we raise to 100 from seat 4 with TT and BB calls. Pot is 225. Flop comes 5QK. Terrible flop for us. He checks and we bet 150. He folds. That's good.
Hand 3 we discard 9J. Flop comes 78T. Wow! We would have had a straight again.
Player 3 limps and 5 people limp after him. We check from the BB with J4s. Love seeing a free flop with a huge family and crappy cards. Flop comes 2JA with 1 spade and 2 hearts. We check. Seat 4 bets 125 and gets 2 callers. The pot is right to call in search of a 4 or a spade. We call and the 9h turns, putting 3 hearts on the board. Seat 4 bets 200 and everyone folds.
Next hand three players limp to seat 7 who raises to 150. Looks like a steal, so we raise to 525 with our QKd. The BB calls and everyone else folds. We were right about the steal, but what does BB have? Flop comes A47 with 2 spades. Could it be worse? We check and he pushes all in for about 1000. We fold.
At this point we call for the massage.
The massage helps us fold a few and then we check the SB and get to see a free flop with 4 other players and our Q7o. Flop comes 7TJ. Not great, but we bet 125 to try to steal (unlikely to work against 4 players). 2 call. Now we pray for a 7 and WE GET ONE. We bet 350 and the first player folds, but the second calls. River comes 3 rag. We think for 10 seconds, mostly preparing the vocal chords, and say in a choppy word "twelvehundred". He thinks for a minute and then calls. He mucks when we show the 7. If I could tip the dealer I would. Sitting across from him, I consider giving him a little foot action. But don't because I'm married.
Next hand seat 6 raises to 100 and we call from the button with 79c. Everyone else folds. Flop comes 6QA, all spades. He checks. We consider the bluff and instead check. Turn comes Kh. This is a crazy powerful board. He checks and we bet 150. Unfortunately he calls, likely with a small pair, perhaps something like 99, including 9s. River comes 4d, a total rag. He checks. We have nothing, but we delay 10 seconds, just like last hand, and state in the same choppy tone, "fourhunded". He folds. Please note this as lesson 1 in Poker Bully 101.
A new player comes to the table filling an empty seat beside me. He's a large 20 something player. Before he sits down, the smell of pot coming from him is like a wave of greenery. Good times. Pot is the performance enhancing drug of the poker sport.
Seat 8 raises to 75 and we call from SB with 9J. BB calls and flop comes 578, all clubs. We need a T for a straight or a club for a flush. We have the Jc; not a huge club, but at lease we have one. We check, BB checks and seat 8 bets 125. We call and BB folds. Turn comes 6c giving us a decent flush. We check and he checks. He probably doesn't have a good flush card. Our J gets beat by a QKA4 or 9 (4 or 9 give him a straight flush), making the J in the bottom half of flush cards. River comes 3d rag. We bet 200 and he calls. He has TQ with the Qc to take the pot down.
Everyone folds to us and we raise to 75 from seat 7 and 9J. The BB calls. Flop comes 68J. Good flop. He checks and we bet 75. He calls. Turn comes A. No good. He checks ands we bet 200. He calls. River comes 4. He checks. We think about betting, but will he fold anything that beats us or call with anything that doesn't? We check and he shows A4 for 2 pair made on the turn and river. The 4 was just overkill.
Seat 3 limps and we raise to 75 from seat 5 with AKd, our first premium hand. We get 3 callers, which is great because if our hand hits enough to be one of them, we should beat all 3. Flop comes 9TJ rainbow. Terrible. We check and the last player bets 325. Big bet. Everyone folds to us. He probably doesn't have a straight, but he could. He could also have something like JQ, in which case he's ahead and if I hit my K, he makes a straight. Worse than not knowing what to do now, I will know even less what to do after the turn (unless it's a Q giving me the nut straight). We fold. Death by 1,000 paper cuts!
Early in Round 2, we're doing well with about 3500 in chips and we raise to 75 in seat 4 with our second premium hand, QQ. Seat 7 calls. SB raises to 325. He's been very aggressive buying pots, but with the seat 4 call, this doesn't look like a purchase. The BB calls. That's a surprise. Big pot already. We'd be happy to take it down. What we don't want is to let someone with an AJ see the flop cheap. We raise to 1050. Seat 4 folds and the SB pushes all in. We're afraid of KK or AA, which is in his possible spectrum of hands, but so is AK or AQ as he's out of position and at a disadvantage betting post flop. We have about 2500 in chips in front of us. We push all in. He shows AQs and taps the table in the "good call, good hand" salute to our Qs; we're about a 70% favorite. The flop comes 86A and unless the case Q comes we're headed home. We've fallen to a 4% underdog position. And, well, this is the first, last and only blog entry of the day. Donkey down.
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
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