We're in the Amazon Room, Table 376, Seat 7, with 30,000 in chips, our KCC Card Holder and seven opponents we thankfully don't recognize. Two more players should feed in over time.
The air is filled with tension and a certain amount of what I can only call Poker Stench, a mix of sweat on bodies unaccustomed to anything that should cause one to sweat, smoke from cigarettes and pot, and a mist of halitosis.
Hopefully the blog is working now. If not (if it thinks this email is spam), you will get all of these when I get home, hopefully very late tonight.
Playing 50 100 NLH.
We put our first chip in as the BB. Seat 4 limps and seat 8 raises to 400. Everyone folds to us and we fold our 79o leaving 100 in the pot. Seat 4 folds and hand ends.
Seat 3 limps and the button limps. We're in the small blind with A7d and we limp, throwing 50 on top of our SB. BB checks and we see the 335 flop with 2 diamonds. We check and everyone checks to see the 2d turn. We have the top flush (other than the straight flush). We bet 200 but everyone folds. Sad, but no one had a hand they could put 200 behind.
Seat 3 raises to 250 and we call from seat 5 with A5d. Small price to pay for what could be a huge hit, particularly as seat 3 just got punched for a few thousand and may be more willing to chase and push if we hit well. Everyone else folds and flop comes 8TQ with one diamond. 3 bets 450 and we fold. He likely hit something based on his pre-flop bet. We could bluff raise, but we've selected him for his likely tenacity, so that seems dumb. We could call and hope for a diamond, but then we're calling the 1000 plus he bets so we can see the river and pray for a diamond. Nope. Fold and walk away from the 250.
Seat 4 raises to 300, 5 calls and it comes to us in the SB with A2d. We call and the BB folds. Flop comes 5KK with 2 diamonds. We could check and hope to see the turn, or we can bet and hope no one has a K. If no one has a K, we're not getting paid, even if we hit the flush. We bet 600 into the 1000 pot looking for a caller who will see the turn with us or for two folds. They both fold and we take it down. Small victory, but we'll take the chips.
Everyone folds to us on the button and we raise to 325 with A7h. We've been playing so tight that most observant players with decent hands should fold. BB calls and flop comes 889 with 2 clubs. Pretty terrible. He checks and we bet 450. If he calls, we're probably done. He calls and the turn comes 9. He bets 650 like a pronouncement that he has a 9. Doesn't really matter. Our A may be good for half the pot, but it's not worth the chips to find out. We fold.
In S3 we have KK and raise to 275. Seats 6 and 7 call and the flop comes 36J. Great flop, but we can't let someone make 2 pair or turn an A, so we bet 550 to make sure they pay to see the turn. They fold. Oh well, if they had anything that would have paid us, they would have called.
S3 and 7 limp and we're in S8 with K9d. Lots of diamonds today. We limp and the blinds limp. 5 players see the Q72 (all clubs) flop. S3 bets 300 and we think about bluff raising, but S7 calls, so we fold. The board winds up with 5 clubs and they both play the board. S3 had A7h and S7 had 77.
S6 we have TT and raise to 275. S8 calls and everyone else folds. Flop comes 68Q with 2 spades. We bet 450 and he goes into the tank. After a minute he folds. Happy to pick up the pot. Again, these are small pots, but it's a marathon, not a sprint, and we're only 75 minutes in.
In S3 we have KQ and raise to 275. S5 calls and the flop comes 247 rainbow. We bet 450 and he calls. Turn comes 9, putting 2 hearts on the board. We bet 850 hoping he'll fold. He thinks for a bit and calls. His hand is probably two high cards hoping to hit. River comes Td. No help, but probably didn't help him either. Hopefully with a push he'll fold, even a hand like AJ. We bet 1100. He thinks for a bit and raises to 4100. At least we can fold without showing anyone our cards.
Hmmm, that hurt. First moderate pot and we came up empty handed and folding.
S4 raises to 300 and we call from S7 with A2c. Seat 8 raises to 1150. S4 calls. It's now 850 to us to call a pot with 2750. The pot odds are okay, but the fact that hitting club (or a lucky 2 pair) allows us to bet a lot of the other 25,000 plus chips we have, pushes us to call. Flop comes 9JQ with only 1 club. S4 checks, we check, and S8 bets 3000. Everyone folds. Another moderate pot lost.
We still have 26,500 in chips, so we've managed to minimize most of the losses. Still, it would be nice to hit on the next moderate size pot.
We limp in S3 with K7h thinking a heart flush here could kill us if someone has the Axh. S5 calls and S7 raises to 500. We call and so does S5. Flop comes 39J - all hearts. Great flop, but scary too because someone could have the Ah or worse Axh. We bet 500 and S5 folds, but S7 raises to 1800. Hard decision here. If he has the Ah, we have to get rid of him. We raise to 5300 and he folds.
S5 bets 300 and we're in the SB with QJs. We call and the flop comes 39J, again. He's been fairly aggressive, and our J may not be good, so we check and then call his 500 bet. Turn comes T. Now we have a straight draw and top pair. We check and he checks. River comes 2. We bet 1100 and he folds.
From S8 we bet 300 with A3 hoping to steal the blinds. BB calls and flop comes 455. Pretty terrible. He bets 600 and we call. The odds of him having a 5 are pretty bad, so let's see if he bets the turn. Maybe a miracle 2 will come to give us an absurd straight. Turn comes 8. He checks and we check. River comes A. He checks and we bet 800. In retrospect, a bad bet as he only calls us with a 5 or an A, either of which beats us because our 3 kicker won't work. Of course he could call with a small or mid pocket pair, but he would have bet the turn if he had that. All we can really hope is that he folds a hand we would have beaten anyway. He folds.
Round 1 ends after several wins that bring us to 31,150 in chips. We're up a little. Hopefully this email will make it through the blog spam filter and to you, and hopefully more in 2 hours.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
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