Saturday, July 5, 2014

The Big Dance - Round 4

Playing 150-300 with 25 antes.

Seat 3 raises to 1050 and seat 5 calls. We call from Seat 8 with 68d. The BB raises to 3300. Seat 3 calls and seat 5 folds. There's 9000 in the pot and it's 2250 to see the flop. 3 way action with a possible big pot is exactly what we need. We call and the three of us see the 39T flop with 2 diamonds. We need a 7 for a straight and a diamond for a flush. We likely have at least 12 outs, or about 44%, against anything. The BB bets 3000 and seat 3 folds. Oddly small bet into a pot over 10,000. We push all in hoping he will fold and he goes into the tank. The pot is now about 25000 and it's about 9000 for him to call. We would be thrilled with a fold, but he calls with KK. We have 12 outs. The turn comes As. The river comes 3s.

Donkey down. 6.5 hours into the main event. Can't say I'm not disappointed but it's been a fun season and next year is 10.75 months away. Until then,

Your Donkey

The Big Dance - Round 3

Our table breaks and we move to the amazon room, purple 437 seat 6. When we sit down an argument ensues over how player 5 is seated - specifically whether he is truly in the middle of the table. Sitting next to him it appears that he is but i stay out of the discussion as it turns toward angles of vision. Back to poker.

Playing 150-300.

Seat 4 min raises to 600 and gets called by 6 and 7. We call from the button with 79d and the BB calls. Five players see the flop AQ2 with AQd. Everyone checks to seat 6 who bets 1100. Seat 7 folds and we raise to 3300. Everyone folds. Great!

We raise to 850 in seat 6 with JJ and get called by seat 8 and the BB. Flop comes 25Q rainbow. BB checks and we bet 1300. Seat 6 raises to 3100. BB folds. We have no experience with this table. If he had a Q, would he raise or slow play. Two more betting rounds coming so best to decide now what to do. We fold. He shows 33. It was a bluff or a semi-bluff and it worked.

Seat 7 raises to 900 and we call from the button with ATh. The BB calls and the flop comes A86 with one heart. They both check and we bet 1600. The BB folds but seat 7 raises to 4200. Oiy! 2600 more for a pot over 10k. We call looking for an A, a T or a heart, or at least hoping he checks the turn. Turn comes Jd. He bets some large amount and we fold. Ouch. We have just under 20,000.

Seat 3 limps for 300 and we limp from seat 8 with 77. The SB calls and the BB raises to 1350. Seat 3 calls. Do we call? We like 77 in a four way pot because if we flop a 7 we should get paid. However, the only strong hand is the BB so maybe we raise to 4900 and try to steal it? However, if the BB pushes we will never see the flop. We call and the SB folds. Flop comes 3TA. Not good. BB bets 1600. Seat 3 calls and we fold.

Seat 4 raises to 800 and we call from seat 5 with A9s. Seat 7 and the BB call. Flop comes 57K rainbow (no spades). Everyone checks to seat 7 who is short-stacked and bets 2500. Seat 4 calls. We fold. Seat 4 took it down eventually with AK. Seat 7 had 78s. Wish the spades had come . . .

Sensing a pattern here? We are getting slowly cut down. We have 16,500 now.

We raise to 800 from seat 3 with JQs and seat 4 raises to 1750. Oddly small raise. Everyone folds to us and we call. Flop comes red 57K and we fold to the first bet.

Play that last hand a couple more times with minor variations. This has been a brutal round filled with predominantly unplayable hands interrupted only by the hands that are playable until the flop hits. We are down to 13000 in chips.

Everyone folds to the SB who raises to 750. We are in the BB heads up with T2. These chips mean a lot to us. We've been folding everything because we cant get a hand. We raise to 2700 advertising our first big hand in 2 hours. He goes into the tank and folds. Good.

Seat six races to 700 and we call from seat seven with JQh. The button and the big blind both Call, making a pot of about 3000. The flop comes 27Q with one heart. The BB and seat 6 check to us. We bet 1500 and they all fold. Good result.

We close Round 3, after six hours of play, with 15,075 chips. That's half of what we started with, but in light of some of the horrible luck we have had and the litany of bad cards and flops for the last two hours, I'm frustrated but not upset with the final number.

Off to dinner break. Hopefully no commentary for 3.5 hours.

Donkey

Big Dance round 2

We are still playing 5-handed which is a little strange. They are slowly filling seats with late arrivals. In any case, for now it means weaker hands play stronger.

Playing 100-200:

We are now playing 8-handed. People are flooding in i guess.

new player in seat 8 raises to four hundred. Everyone folds to us in the big blind and we raise to 1200 with 9 10 of clubs. He folds. Good.

We also won our small blind with pocket eights and a flop of 247. Guy with K7 paid us about 1500. I don't remember the exact play because the next hand took all of my mind.

Everyone folds to us in seat 8 with KK and we raise to 625. New player on the button calls and flop comes 7KA with 2 diamonds. We bet 600 with our set and he calls. The turn comes 7. Amazing. We were just hoping to avoid a diamond but now we have a full house. We check and he bets 1200. We call hoping the river is a diamond for him or something good (just not an ace or seven). Jd hits. Hopefully he made a flush. We bet 2400, hoping for a call and he RAISES to 6900. We go in the tank and fiddle with our chips. We only lose to two hands - pocket aces, which probably would have pre-flop raised or raised on the flop to avoid Letting us see a diamond. We also lose to pocket 7s but we cant play afraid of quads. We have to know we have a winner here. We only have about 13000, so 6900 is over half. As if to say, why not?, we push all in. He calls and shows A7 for a smaller full house. WE DOUBLE UP!

That was a ferocious beat to deliver to someone. Donkey has gone from some blood on the lips to full on bathing in it.

Note that shortly after this we lost a hand with 2-pair to someone who also had sevens full of aces. Strange that our opponents had that twice in rapid succession. Still, at the end of it we had just over 34,000 in chips. Back in the saddle!

Seat 8 raises to 400 and we have AKh in the SB. We raise to 1050 and he calls. Flop comes 889 with one heart. We bet 1200 and he calls. Turn comes Tc. We bet 2400 and he calls. River comes 6. Unless he has a big ace, cant really see him folding now, so we check. He bets 5200. We cant beat anything but a bluff, so we fold our premium hand.

Very next hand we get AKs. Crazy. We call an early raise to 500 and see the flop with the raiser and the BB. 25Q all clubs. Oiy! They check and we semi-bluff 700. They fold. Good result.

Seat 6 raises to 400 and we call from seat 8 with 57d. BB calls and flop comes 3TJ with 2 diamonds. Seat 6 bets 700 and we call as does the BB. Turn comes 4d giving us a flush and a straight flush draw. They check. We can't let another diamond come (unless it's the 6), so we bet 1650. They fold. That's fine.

In seat 4 we raise to 625 with TKs and the BB re-raises to 1600. We call to see the flop, which comes 89K with one spade. Good flop. He bets 2800 and we call, afraid of AA or AK, or even KQ. The turn comes 7s giving us a straight draw and a flush draw. There are literally 20 river cards that give us a flush, straight, set or 2 pair. He checks and we bet 4200. He calls and the river comes 2h rag. He checks and we check. He shows AA to take it down. Ouch. Back down to about 23,000.

Seat 5 raises to 400 and we are on the button with KK. We have had crazy good starting hands today. That means a lot of betting but too many of them have gone sideways. We raise to 1250 and he flat calls. Okay, he probably doesn't have pocket aces. Flop comes 9TA. Terrible. He checks and we take a stab with 1300. He calls. Turn comes 8. He checks but he will likely continue to call so we check. River comes 7 putting 4 straight cards on the board. Bluff? He checks and we check. He shows AQ to take it down. We are being slowly cut up.

There are also some small hands we've won. We called a raise to 600 from the BB playing an absurd 69h to see a flop with seat 5 and the SB. Pot odds might justify the call in light of the deep stacks (Sensei?). The flop came A38 with 2 hearts. SB checked and we bet 800. They folded and we took it down. Nice 1200 profit.

We end the round with 22,075. Much better than we started the round with, but about 14,000 shy of our peak!

Head in the game -

Donkey

Big Dance Round 1

As we saddle up to our table in the Brasilia room, table 92, the dealer tells us that our table was already broken and we are moving to table 21. We were going to be in seat eight, which is a good starting seat. Now we are nine, which is slightly better. It is really a trivial difference, but it still feels good.

First hand of the tournament playing 50-100 seat 4 raises to 225. Small raise and no one is sitting in the SB seat so there's dead money. (There are 4 seats with chips but no players). We are a little jittery when we look Down and see QKd on the button. We raise to 625 and the BB and seat 4 fold. We won hand one!

In seat 4 we have AK and raise to 225. Seat 4 and 7 call and we see the TJQ flop. Amazing! We would slow play but there are 2 spades and we are a little too afraid to give a card away. Hmmmm, who are we to be afraid. We check. Seat 4 checks and seat 7 bets 500. Now it's time. We raise to 1400 and seat 4 folds but 7 calls. Hmmmm, a set? 2 pair? Spades? Small straight? KQ? Turn comes 2s. Not good. We certInly can't let another spade fall as we don't have one. We bet 1900 and he RAISES to 3600. We cant get better on the river so calling now means calling a river bet too. Even if another spade doesn't fall, it seems likely that he has it already. We fold. Ouch. Big loss ten minutes in.

They have removed the empty seats from play and we are now playing 5-handed.

Seat 4 raises to 300 and everyone folds to us in the BB where we wake up with AA. Giddey-up. No slow playing here. We raise to 800 and he calls. Great. Flop comes 48Qs. Hmmmm, we don't have a spade. Three on the board is trouble but it's unlikely he has 2. We bet 1100 and he raises to 2800. Not good. He could have a set, a big queen, two spades or anything with the As. We put 1700 in to call to see the turn and it's the best possible card, Ah. We have top set. Unless he has 2 spades, we have him beat. We bet 2800 and he raises to 5800. Hmmm, he could have 2 spades, AQ, A of spades with anything else, a set, 2-pair maybe but probably not? We call as the river is huge. A spade and we are out. If it pairs the board we are all in with a big boat or quads. If it's neither we will call down and hope he doesn't have 2 spades. It's neither. The 6h comes leaving us with top set. We check and he bets 8800 into the 19000 pot. We call and he shows 69s to take it down.

I took a photo of that. Not because i want to remember it. I pray i forget - although you are welcome to a copy if you'd like. Nope - i took the photo so i would have something to do to prevent myself from throwing my chair across the room or doing something really bad.

We are suddenly short stacked, sitting with 6000 in chips when the field average is 30000 and we are not even an hour in. We have had two premium hands, one that flopped a broadway and one that turned top set, both taken down by flushes. Want to scream.

80 minutes in we get our third premium hand. That's a lot in 80 minutes, hopefully this one won't turn into a third disaster.

We raise to 325 from seat 3 with AQc and get calls from seat 4 and the BB. Flop comes 88Q. Great flop unless someone has an 8. We bet 600 and seat 4 calls. The BB folds - good, that was the more likely place for an 8. Turn comes Q. Amazing. We bet 1000 hoping for a call. He folds. All good.

Seat 3 raises to 225 and we have AK in seat 4. Our 4th premium hand. We raise to 800 and everyone folds. Okay. We likely don't get any more from him unless he hits the flop, which would be bad. Okay result for what he likely had.

Seat 3 throws in a big chip and states his raise a little quietly. The dealer asks him to repeat and his voice croaks "three" in a "i am weak please don't raise me" way. Everyone folds to us in the BB and we raise to 1200. He folds. Our cards are irrelevant, but we had 48o.

We have rebuilt the stack to just over 15000. Huge recovery and Donkey likes the taste of blood. In seat 4 we raise to 325 with 99 and get called by the BB. Flop comes 45T. We bet 450 and he calls. Turn comes 3. We bet 800 and he calls. River comes 2. He checks. We check. If he has an A or T he wins and he likely calls with nothing else. He shows AK to take it down. Wow. He slow played the pre flop action and then got lost and wandered onto treasure. He probably shouldn't have called the flop, he shouldn't have called he turn. But he made runner runner for a straight on the river and then checked it hoping we would bet the river.

We see bad flop after bad flop and slide down to 12000.

In seat 3 we raise to 325 with JKh and get called by the BB. Flop comes 5TJ rainbow. He checks and we bet 400. He calls and the turn comes 7. He checks and we bet 900. He calls and the river comes 3. He checks. Hmmmm. Pretty confident we have a winner as the turn and river rags unlikely to have helped him so we want to bet as much as we can and hope for a call. We bet 2100 into the 3300 pot. He calls and mucks when he sees our hand. Great!

We finish round 1 with 17,300 in chips. That's pretty bad, but still a great recovery from 6,000.

Hopefully more to come in two hours - no sooner.

Pleasantries from
Blood-on-the-lips Donkey

Friday, July 4, 2014

The Big Dance

Dear Herd,

On July 5 we will launch into the World Series of Poker championship, along with many thousand other players, from Pros to Wanna-Be Donkeys. I will do my best to discuss as many relevant hands as possible. If you want to add any commentary, you can email to everyone on the blog by using the address: esethk.pokerdonkey@blogger.com .

It's been a good series so far, only cashing twice this year, but playing fewer events than usual and getting to the final table once. Very executing for the Donkey, but didn't get the bracelet, so we'll have to pick it up this time. Just about 10,000 people in the way. Feel bad for them, but we have four hooves and not a single bracelet . . . it's stompin' time.

Your Donkey