Big Dance 10

Playing 600-1200 with 200 antes so 3600 in pre cards.

Likely the strangest hand I've ever seen;

Monster stack bets and seat to my left raises. Monster puts a huge stack of orange in clearly intending all in but the guy on my left says call and turns his cards over AA thinking he had called an all in. Monster stack shows KK but then everyone realizes they haven't gone all in and guy on my left has 20,000 chips left. He simply had more chips than Minster had pushed in. So they see the flop TJK. They both check and a T turns. Monster pushes all in and reminds AA that he only has 2 outs because monster stack has a full house already. AA folds having lost the biggest pot we've seen with by far the weirdest play.

In seat 4 we raise to 3500 with TT hoping monster stack will aggressively challenge is from the bb. Everyone folds. That's okay too.

We fold through our blinds and we are back where we started this round. Also okay.

We raise to 2800 with 88 in seat 6 and seat 7 and the button go all in. We fold. They show AKd and QQ.

Lando raises to 3000 and we call with TJc. Flop comes A25. He bets and we exit.

We have 28000.

We raise to 3300 from seat 3 with KK and everyone folds to monster stack who goes all in. This is what we have been hoping for. We call and he shows AQd. Anything but an ace! Flop comes JJ4 no diamonds . Great. Two more cards. Turn comes K!!!! Perfect. River comes T. For a second all I see is his straight, then I realize we have a full house - Ks full of Js. We double up! We have just over 55,000 now.

We raise to 3300 in seat 4 with KQc and TQh Crusher raises to 6000. Strangely small raise. We call and flop comes 49T. Bluffing sounds bad. We check and he checks. We need a jack! But it doesn't come this time. Board pairs the 9. We check and he bets 10,000. We fold.

One modest pot and blinds and antes and we are down to 45,000.

We muck our blinds and we are down to 43,000. There isn't much opportunity to wait for a hand at this rate!

We raise from seat 4 with AJ to 3300 and get calls from TQ Crusher and Monster Stack in the bb. Flop comes 59T with 2 spades. Monster checks and we bet 5500. They both call. Not good. Turn comes Th putting 2 hearts on the board. Monster checks. We check TQ checks. Hmmm. River comes Kh. Everyone checks again. They both have 2 spades, neither with a pair, one with A8. Our A with a Jack kicker takes it! Small pot but we have just over 60k now.

They announced that there are five more hands to play in the second day and then we are bagging up chips. Amazing that we have made it. We fold 3 hands and then play the bb.

Everyone folds to the small blind. He raises to 4600. We looked down and have AQ. We could call and see if we hit something on the flop, I really want to just take this down now. We raise to 14,500 and he quickly raises all in. Wow. It was like a snap raise. No one wants to get knocked out on the last hand of the second day and he is likely relying on that to get us to fold. To be honest, we are not immune to that, and despite having a fantastic heads up hand, we consider folding. However, then we consider how cowardly that would be and how great it would be to have 120,000 chips coming back Friday, and we call. We are all in and he turns over 93 off suit. Now we just need the cards to do what they're supposed to do to send us home with a big stack. The flop comes 53J. That's terrible! He flopped a three. Now we need to hit one of our cards. The turn comes nine and the river six. We take a pretty bad beat, and im that's it; we are heading to the rails 90 seconds short of the end of the 20th hour of play.

There really is no good way to get busted out of the World Series. However, there are gradients of bad, and this was pretty terrible. To lose to a 93 off suit after making a great call and risking 60,000 chips; that is truly unfortunate.

For those of you receiving this complete with photos, I'm including a couple keepsakes of the last hand.

Truly amazing to come all this way and get u horses by a 93o. This will haunt me for a long time.

Thank you all for following along and for your support. It is as much fun to communicate with you as it is to play, almost.

Big Dance 9

16 hours in we are going to be playing 500-1000 with 100 antes so 2400 chips before cards. That's a lot of chips compared to our stack so we will be looking for a chance to steal chips but we have to be ready to push all in soon. Really, pushing all in is all we can do if we fall to 15000; so we don't have much room for real poker.

Thought more about the TQh hand, and spoke to a couple people about it. I think I played it right. The only question is whether I should have pushed after the flop. Maybe. If I had i would have busted because he wasn't laying down top two pair (he could put me on a straight afraid of the flush and fold but highly unlikely). So with perfect hindsight I like the no push. That's the hand that's going to haunt me. Huge swing based on whether a T K or heart fell.

Anyway, we are back in now. Let's see if we can double up.

First hand seat 4 bets 2400 and seat 6 goes all in for 16400. We fold K3. Seat 4 calls. He also has about 25000 and shows 44. Seat 6 shows 55 and they hold up to take it down. A lot of us in push position.

Second hand we fold 36h in seat 7. 8 bets 2500. Button calls and sb bets all in. Seat 7 calls and they both show AK.

First 2 hands back all in pre flop. It's a new game.

In seat 5 we raise to 2500 with TKh and get called by a short stack button. Flop comes 236 and we bet 3200. Big enough that he can't really call without being pot committed. He folds.

Next hand we fold K9s in seat 4 as that seems a little weaker and our credibility won't allow too much bluffing.

Then we fold KT in seat 3.

Button is a small stack with about 23000 and raises to 2300. We are in the bb with K6 and raise to 6900. Why? Because he looks like he's stealing so he won't want to push because I will likely call having already put almost 30% of his stack in. Calling will cripple him if he loses. He calls. Not good. Flop comes 359 all hearts. We have the Kh. We push all in hoping he will fold. He tanks and then calls with JQ including the Jh. We are way ahead. He has 5 outs and we have lots of redraws. Turn comes 8d and river 5d. We take it down. Big win!

Lorenzo raises to 2200 and we call from the button with QK. Flop comes 666. He bets 2400. We raise to 6800, just enough to get a fold if he's hunting for an overcard. We want to get rid of Ax. He folds. Giddey up.

In seat 5 we raise to 2400 with 9Jc and get calls from 6, 7 and the bb. Flop comes 4JQ with 2 hearts and no clubs. Bb checks we check and seat 6 bets 4500. Seat 7 calls and we call looking for a J or 9. Turn comes J! We check and they check. Too bad. River comes Kh. Scary card. Flushes and straights are on the board. We bet 9500 and seat 7 calls. He mucks when we show the J.

Seat 3 raises to 2200 and seat 6 calls and the button calls. We call from the bb with TKd and see the flop 4QA with 2 hearts. We bet 4300 like we have something and get called by seat 6 (the guy who crushed out TQh). As the turn is coming you should know that even as an ardent blackjack player, I have never prayed so hard for a black jack! Turn comes a miracle Js. We have a straight! Now all we have to worry about is a heart putting a flush on the board or a pair opening up full house possibilities. We bet 6500 and he raises to 14000! He could have a set or a flush draw or a straight. We don't want him to get a free card and we want to set up an all in push. We raise another 25000. He tanks for a while and then folds. Okay.

We are suddenly alive again. Wow. Huge upswing of luck and all of this was in 50 minutes of play! We have 102000!

We raise to 2200 from seat 5 with ATs and Lando calls from the bb. Flop comes 236 with 2 spades. He checks. He could have a pair but even if he does he has to worry we have an overpair. Let's build the pot and see if we get a spade. We bet 2300. Very small. He is in pain folding but he does. Ok.

We raise to 2200 with QK from seat 8 and get called by the button. Flop comes AQ6 and we bet 3300. He calls. Not good. Turn comes A. That makes it less likely that he has one and we have the best kicker if he is playing a Q. We bet 6000 and he calls. Hmmm. River comes J. We check. He bets 7000 and we call. He shows A7c. Calling the river was certainly questionable. Damn. That hand cost us 18500! We have 86000.

Seat 5 bets 2000 and seats 6 and 8 call. We call from the bb with TQd. Here we go again. Flop is 49Q with 2 hearts. We bet 4300 and seat 6 calls (the TQ Crusher). Turn is 5s rag. We bet 9500 and he calls. River is Jh putting a heart flush on the board. We bet 9500 and he raises to 25000. He's representing a flush. What else has he been calling down with? We fold. Damn! We are down to 60000! This game is moving too fast. Going to try to slow down but not so good at that.

In seat 8 we raise to 2400 with 88 and everyone folds.

New guy just sat down to lando's left with over 200,000 chips!

We raise to 2200 from seat 5 with 45c and get called by seat 6. Flop comes 38K with 2 clubs. We bet 3300 and he calls. Turn comes Kd. We bet 5500 hoping he will fold but also with our club flush draw. He raises to 15500. Pot odds are close to a call scenario especially with what we can get on the river, but we fold. We have to tighten up.

We raise to 2200 in seat 5 with TT. Seat 8 pushes all in for 11500 and we call. He has KQc and flops a K. He takes it down. We are down to 38000.

Luck swings are absurd.

Person to my right gets knocked out leaving no small blind for the next hand. Monster stack goes all in from the button. We look at our cards hoping for something big we can call and double up with. 57o we fold.

Seat 6 raises to 2600 and we call from sb with 9Tc. Bb calls and flop comes 59Q with 2 diamonds. We check and bb bets 5000. Seat 6 folds. We fold.

Lando raises to 2200 and we call from seat 7 with A9h. Flop comes KK7 with 1 heart and Lando bets 2000. Small prod but we are too small stacked to limp around. We fold.

We finish round 9 with 30,000 chips. Oiy!

All the best,
Struggling Donkey

Sent from my iPhone

Big Dance 8

Now playing 400-800 with 100 antes so 2100 in the pot before cards.

Seat 3 raises to 1800 and we call from seat 7 with 9Th. Flop comes 38J giving us an open ended straight. He bets 2300 and we raise to 7200 hoping he was prodding and will fold. If he calls, we are a 32% hand. He raises to 17500. Not good. If he had 80000 more behind we would call, but the pot odds don't justify the call here. If we miss the tur. He will push his remaining 15000 in and we will wind up calling. We fold. Bad start to the round but not terrible.

We raise to 1600 with AK in seat 5 and Lando calls from the bb. Flop comes 237. He checks and we bet 3000. He calls and the turn comes Kd putting 3 diamonds on the board but giving us top top. He checks and we bet 5500. He calls. River comes 5c. He checks. What could he have. In the bb it's pretty broad. He could have 2 small pair or just a pair of 7s. Could have an A4 for a straight but unlikely to have hunted for a 5 or A like that. Not sure. We just check. He shows K3 to take it down. Shit. Really? K4 yesterday and K3 today!

We are down to about 83000. That was fast. TWSS

Seat 4 short stack raises to 1800 and seat 5 raises to 4400. We want to call from the bb with TJc but fold bc the short stack is too likely to push 15000 in and then let seat 5 push more.

Seat 4 raises to 1800 and we call from the sb with J9. Bb calls and flop comes 6JA rainbow. We bet 3300 and their folds indicate that they didn't have aces either.

Again, we aren't opening much so we open from seat 7 with 9T for 1800. Button small stack pushes all in for 11000. We have to fold.

Seat 4 raises to 1600 and we call from the bb w Q4c. Flop comes 236 and we bet out our gut shot straight draw for 2300. He folds. Great.

Next hand everyone folds to us in the sb and we raise to 2200 with AT. Big hand heads up. He calls and the flop comes 23Q. We bet out 2200 and he folds.

Small pots but each worth about 3000-4000 to us. We are just under 90000.

Seat 6 raises to 1800. He has about 10000 behind. We raise to 4800, which will pot commit him if he calls. He will fold anything he doesn't want to risk his entire tournament on and we have 99, so unless he has a big pair we are in great shape. Everyone folds.

We raise to 1800 from seat 5 with Q9s and everyone folds to Lando in the bb. He clearly wants to call but can't. He folds. Geat.

Next hand seat 3 raises to 1800 and we have QK in seat 4. We fold.

Everyone folds to us in the sb and we limp with K5s. Bb checks and flop comes JQA.

Seat 6 makes it 2500 and we smooth call in seat 8 with AA for the first time today. Trying to get a raise behind us. Instead the button and both blinds call! 5-way action. Flop comes 9Qk with 2 spades. Not good. Big chance someone hit 2 pair or a straight and someone could have 2 spades or TJ for a made straight. Bb bets 11000 and seat 6 raises to 24000. We tank. Someone has to have us beat. We fold. Fuckety fuck fuck. They wind up all in with KTs and KJ. The turn is a 3s so the flush came and the bb took it down. If we had made a big preflop raise we would have gotten everyone but the JK out but who knows really.

Lando raises to 1800 and seat 6 pushes all in for 5100. We are in seat 7 with AJ. We likely have him beat or its a race as his range with that stack is huge. We call and Lorenzo calls. Flop comes K and a couple rags. Lando bets 6000. He has no reason to bluff us out as he would be heads up against the unknown. We fold and he shows KJd and ultimately takes the whole pot down.

In seat 4 we raise to 1800 with 79d and fold to an all in push for 9000.

We call a raise to 1800 from the bb to see a 3-way pot with J8. Flop comes 269 and we bet 3000 and get raised to 8000. We fold.

Lando raises to 1800 and we call from sb with 9j. Bb calls and flop comes 3TQ. Open ended straight draw. We bet 2500 to see if they will fold. Bb doesn't but Lando does. Turn comes 4. We bet 5200 looking for a fold, but he calls. River pairs the T. No good. If he has a T or a Q we aren't bluffing him out. We check and he shows Q3. We muck.

We have had a bad bout here. Back down to about 72000 but worse than that feeling a little tilted. Have to push away from hands now. Bad emotional spot.

Lando raises to 1700 and we make a position call from the button with 36c. Ok - very loose call but if we hit we are in great position with an aggressive player betting into us. Bb calls and flop comes 799 no clubs. Lando bets and we fold. Ultimately Lando shows down with KK losing to 89c. Thankfully clubs didn't come!

Seat 6 bets 1800 and Lorenzo raises to 4100. We call from the sb with TQh. Seat 6 calls and flop comes TJA with 2 hearts. Wow. We have bottom pair, gut shot straight draw and a flush draw. Our second but flush draw is almost assured to be good as only the K flush beats us and all the hearts between T and K are accounted for. Unlikely someone is playing K9h for 4100. We check seat 6 checks and Lorenzo bets 5000. Do we push? We win with a heart, a king and maybe a T. That's 14 outs. Would they fold? Let's see the turn. We call and seat 6 raises to 18000. He has a hand. Lorenzo folds. We have to call and see the turn or push and see if he folds. We are committed to see this one down so we should probably push but even with 14 outs that seems unsavory. We call. Turn comes 5s. Not good. He bets 18000 and we call. River comes 4c. Fuck. We check, he checks and he shows AJ. We would never have gotten him out by pushing.

We go to dinner with only 25000 chips. Lots of small cuts and then one big hatchet wound at the end.

All the best,
Bloody Donkey

Sent from my iPhone

Big Dance 7

Now playing 300-600 with 75 antes; so 1575 in the pot pre cards.

In seat 4 we raise to 1475 with KK and get calls from seat 6, the button and the bb. No aces please. Flop comes 345 with 2 diamonds. Bb checks and we bet 5000. Seat 4 calls, button folds and bb goes into the tank and then folds. That's good. Bb scares me as he could have called the preflop bet with about anything. Turn pairs the 4 putting 2 clubs on the board. We have no club or diamond. Kc or Kd river would be amazing if it gave him a flush. We bet 8600 hoping for a call not a raise. He tanks and then folds.

Next hand we raise to 1600 in seat 3 with QK and everyone folds. Okay. This feels better. We have just over 70000. Going in the right direction.

We raise to 1550 from seat 6 with K9d. Bb calls and flop comes 678 with one diamond. He checks and we bet 1500. He calls. Turn comes about perfect - 5d giving us second nut flush draw and a made straight. The only better turn would have been Td, and even that's debatable. He checks and we bet 3800 hoping for a call or a raise. We would push all in with this hand given the opportunity. He folds. Ok. Too bad. But ok.

Seat 4 raises to 1200 and we call with 34s from seat 5. Seats 7 and the blinds call. Big pot. Just what we want to see with low suited connectors. Flop comes 69A with one spade. Not what we wanted to see. The sb bets and everyone folds.

In seat 3 we raise to 1575 with AJ. Seat 6 raises to 4300 and everyone folds to us. Hmm. Too much chance he has AQ or AK. And if we do hit the miracle jack, we still don't know if he has QQ or KK. We fold.

Next hand same guy now in seat 5 raises to 1400 and we raise to 4800 with QK in the bb hoping he will fold. He calls and the flop comes A26 rainbow. Ugly. 10000 in the pot and it goes to whoever has an ace or performs an ace-acting job. We bet 2500, which is like saying "hey - I have an ace. Do you want to play with me?" Luckily he didn't want to. He folds. Giddey up. We are closing in on 77000.

Lando raises to 1500 and gets an all in push for about 14000. Lando calls showing KK to crush the J8c. Clearly the J8 saw that Lando was playing a lot of aggressive hands, but he didn't note that Lando has basically had the goods every time he's had to show (and hasn't folded much).

This ones a little fuzzy as that's what adrenaline does to my memory. Seat 4 raises to 1500. The sb has only 5100 left so we have to be ready to call that to proceed. We call from seat 5 with 79s hoping the sb folds. He does and we see the flop heads up. 457 with 2 spades. Amazing! He bets 2100. We could call but we are probably in the lead and don't want to see something like an Ad turn. We min raise to 4200 and he calls. Good. Unlikely he has a big pocket pair. Turn comes Qs. This just gets better and better. We have a flush. He checks and we bet 7800. He raises to 17500. Hmmmm. He could have a bigger flush. This could be the reverse of our day 1 spade flush over flush Unlikely, but possible. However what would it be that he raised pre flop and raise called post flop? AK or AJ re raise post flop. As likely would AT KJ KT or JT. Especially out of position. However if he were going to flat call the flop raise out of position, the check raise on the turn makes a lot of sense. More likely he has a strong Q, like Q with an A or K of spades. That's more likely. He has about 25000 left. We just call, to hint at weakness, and let him bet the river, hoping it's not a spade and doesn't pair the board in case he's pulling to a full house. River comes 3h. Perfect. He bets 11500. Strange that he would bet half his remaining chips. We tank for a moment and then push all in. He goes into the tank. Fantastic! Anything that beats us would have resulted in a snap call. We have a winner. Now we just hope he will call to see it. Sadly he folds, but that's okay. Great hand!

We are up to about 108000! Back. Back in the saddle again! Back. Back in the saddle again!

Orlando raises to 1400 and we call from the bb with 77. Flop comes A97. Giddey up. We flopped a set. Hopefully he has an A. We check and he bets 1600. Easy prod. We call. And the turn comes 4c putting 2 clubs on the board. We bet 3200 and he raises to 7800. Hmmm. Don't like the idea of him having a free look to fill a straight or a flush. Also, having some PTSD about day 1s flop set over set and now starting to worry he could have 99 or AA. If he does, we're done, so let's focus on clubs. Nothing we can do but give all our chips away gracefully if he flopped a set. We raise to 17500 and he folds. He admits he was bluffing, so we weren't getting anything more out of him most likely. Anyway, nice to take some more chips in.

On a side note Rabbi Watstein just sent me the following supportive text:

Last week's Parasha, the Torah portion that began this tourney, was a cryptic tale of a talking donkey who is "able to see that which others are blind to". Be the donkey....see what others don't.

Here's the cliff notes
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/balaam-and-balak/

Back to the game.

Button raises to 1500 and we call from bb with A7s. Flop comes 7JQ with one spade. We bet 1600 and he raises to 4200. Hmmm. This doesn't feel good. If we call and get a spade then we are calling again to fish? We can call hoping for a second pair, but an ace could be bad if he is playing JA QA or TK. We fold. No reason to get in trouble out of position.

Seat 7 raises to 1500 and seat 8 calls. We call from the button with K9h. Bb calls. Flop comes 459 rainbow no hearts. Seat 7 bets 4500 and 8 folds. We have top pair, and would have bet if he didn't, but we just call to see the turn and what he does with it. Bb folds. Turn comes J and he bets 7500. Hmmm. Not good. We call. Probably our worst call of the tourney right there. River comes 2 and he checks. He isn't folding anything that beats us and we don't feel too strong so we check and he shows TT to take it down. Going the wrong way now. Time to correct course.

We have just over 101000, so in a good place still. We were up close to 120, but we were also down at 60, so head up.

We haven't led out much so from seat 5 we bet 1500 with 89. The button calls and the flop comes 59A. We bet 1600 and he folds. Great result.

We close round 7 feeling much better about life. And sitting on about 103000 in chips.

All the best,
Back to where we started Donkey

Sent from my iPhone

Fwd: Big Dance 6

We are playing 250-500 with 50 antes 9-handed, so there's 1200 in the pot before cards. Several players at the table have 10000 - 20000 in chips so we can expect them to push more aggressively early. That 1200 score means a lot to them.

Hand 1 38c. Discard.
Hand 2 K3. Discard.
Hand 3 25. Discard.

Hand 4 bb seat 8 raises to 1200 and we have TT. He's probably stealing and we could raise him out but we can't sustain a re-raise so let's see the flop. We call and flop comes 48K. Don't like the K but even if he wasn't stealing, there's a good chance that missed him. We bet 2400 and he calls. Turn comes 4 pairing the board. Great. That shouldn't help him but may scare him a little bc we are in the blind and more likely to have a 4. We bet 5600 and he calls. Not good. River is a 9. If the K hit him he will call almost any bet here and if it didn't he will likely fold. We just check. He shows QKd to take it down.

Damn it. Wasn't looking to lose the first played pot. But, well, that does happen.

Next bb. Sam guy raises to 1200 and we call with 69d. Flop comes 46K with 2 clubs and a diamond. This is eerily familiar. We bet 1500 and he calls. Turn comes Js. Not a good card. We check and he bets 3000. We tank for a bit and then call with some hope, which are largely dashed when the 8c hits. We could bluff, but he won't fold a K or a flush. We check. He bets 7500 and we fold.

Next hand short stack in seat 5 raises to 1200 and short stack in 6 calls. We have ATh in the sb. Would love to push them out but there's too much chance we get called by an AJ. We call and flop comes JK5. Terrible. We check, 5 checks and 6 bets 3100. We fold.

We have just under 82000 chips left. Down almost 20k for the first 45 minutes. Slow and steady?

Seat 4 raises to 1200 and we have AJ in seat 5. Too many raisers and too many all in possibilities behind us. We fold. Too conservative?

We are 30 hands and 63 minutes in and haven't won a single chip. Hmmm.

Same guy, who we will refer to as Lando as he seems from his attire to be very proud of being from Orlando, raises to 1200 and we call from the bb with 35d to see the 27J flop. We check he bets we fold.

We fold our 28 in the sb and continue looking for a change, any change, in direction. We muck hand after hand. Luckily we have enough chips to suffer through the blinds and antes but this is frustrating.

In seat 8 we lead out for the first time today to 1200 with 36d and the bb calls. Flop comes 48A. He checks and we bet 1500. He folds. Tiny pot but fuck yeah.

Seat 6 raises to 1200 and we call from 7 with 89d. Short stack in 8 bets half his stack, 4600. Seat 6 raises to 9500 and we fold. We would have called a call. They go all in and show AQs and KK. My 89 would have beat the AQ but still a good fold.

In seat 5 we raise to 1200 with AK and everyone folds to Lando who tanks for a bit and then folds. Fine. We have 81,800.

I will note here that Lando has, whenever called down, shown the goods. He looks like he's bluffing but he's hitting crazy hands. He has folded one but otherwise won every hand he's entered.

Seat 4 raises to 1300 and we call from seat 8 with J9h. Bb calls and flop comes 4TK. Feels like there's been a K on every board we have played. Bb checks and seat 4 bets 3500. We fold.

We raise to 1200 from seat 6 with 44 and everyone folds. Good result.

Seat 5 raises to 1200 and we call from the bb with 9T. Flop comes 68T all clubs. We have top pair and a gut shot straight draw but no clubs. Don't really want to see another card. We bet 1400 and he calls. Turn comes 8d pairing the board. He could have a big club, two over cards? Prob doesn't have an 8. We bet 3200 and he calls. River comes rag 2d. If he has 2 overcards he will call if he thinks we are bluffing. It would be a big call though. If he had an overpair he would have raised the flop or the turn to prevent us from flushing or straightening. We bet 5500 and he goes into the tank and then calls with AT to take it down. Shit! We are down to 66000.

In seat 8 we bet 1250 with QK and the bb calls. Flop comes AA7. He checks and we check, like we would if we had an ace. Turn comes Q. He bets 1700 and we raise to 4200. He calls. Hmmm, not good. Hopefully he has a weak Q. River comes J and he checks. The J is irrelevant unless he has JJ or TK, but if we bet and he raises we have to find. We check and he shows A4 to take it down. WTF.

Terrible round 6. We end down at 60000 in chips. Going to try to refocus now but first fuckety fuck fuck!!!

All the best,
Angry annoyed frustrated donkey

Sent from my iPhone

Brief Update

First, for those of you who have looked at wsop.com, we are listed as no chip count.  Of the 430 people who finished Day 1 with us, we should be listed in 30th place.  However, I forgot to note on my receipt the chip count of 101,100 (mark that up to exhaustion).  In the long run, it doesn't matter.  These are all self reported chip counts.  I could have written 12,000 or 212,000 or nothing at all.  I did the latter.

In review of the day, there are a few highlights that keep going through my head:

• We were very lucky to have slow-played the set of 9s we flopped.  Had we not, or had the guy who flopped the set of Aces not slow-played, we would have been all in.  We played the river very, very conservatively, afraid of a flush.  Had the river not been a heart, we probably would have been all in and lost 30,000 chips there instead of about a quarter of that.  We are rarely conservative, so this was great timing.
• We were lucky near the end of the tournament to simply call with AK on the button.  Had we raised, we would have been called by the 66 and the JJ, creating a bigger pot for them to get quads and full houses on.  It is, of course, possible that a large enough raise would have pushed the 66 out, and perhaps continuation bets would have pushed the JJ out before  he hit the J on the river, but we really have to twist the hypothetical to find a hand where we win.  Instead, the conservative play let us lose as little as possible.
• We were absurdly lucky to flop a flush against a hand that flopped a smaller flush and to get them all in on it.
• We were absurdly lucky to flop the nut straight against a hand that flopped top two pair and to get them all in on it on the flop and then have it hold up on the turn and river.  Holding up was about 92%, but just getting it all in with the nuts like that is pretty fantastic in the luck department.
• We did suffer a bad beat from a K4 against our bigger K when he rivered a 4, but that was the only terrible luck we saw that we couldn't get out of way of.

Going into Day 2 we will likely be in the top 10%, but not in the top 5%.  It's a great place to line up.  We will look at what our table looks like on Wednesday morning when that information is available.

All the best,

Donkey

Big Dance 5

Playing 200-400 with 50 antes 9-handed so 1050 in the pot to start. Seat 4 raises to 900 and the sb calls and we call from the bb with 57h. Flop comes 3QK with 2 clubs and a heart. Sb checks. We check. Surprisingly seat 4 checks. Turn comes 2h giving us flush draw. Sb checks and we bet 1500. Seat 4 calls and sb folds. River comes Tc. We bet 3300 with absolutely nothing and he folds. Giddey up.

Seat 4 raises to 900 and seat 5 calls. We call in seat 7 with TQd. The button calls and the bb raises to 3500. Seats 4 and 5 fold. The pot odds are just enough for us to call and the button calls behind us. Flop comes JKA with 2 clubs. Amazing. We have a straight. To make it better, the bb pushes all in for 25100. Just a donkey looking for a good flop. We call and the button folds. Bb turns over AK. He has a monster hand but it gives him only 4 outs. We are about 84%. Turn comes 5 and river 8. We take it down. Bye bye.

We raise to 900 in seat 4 with 7Th. The suited 7T feels like our hand today. Seat 7 raises to 2300 and we call. Flop comes AA3 with one heart. We check and he bets 3200. Unlikely he has an ace so we could raise to 8200 and perhaps push him out, but unclear. He likely calls with 2 spades and then we are trapped and out of position. He may even raise with 2 spades and we have to fold. Obviously if he has an A we are dead. If he calls with something like JJ we are in trouble unless we runner runner hearts. We fold.

Seat 7 raises to 1000 and we raise to 3000 in the bb with AK again! He calls and the flop comes AT3 with 2 hearts. We check hoping he will bet. He checks and the turn comes Td. If he has a T that's clearly bad. We bet 3000 and he calls. River comes 5s. If he had a T he would have raised the turn. We bet 4500. He goes into the tank for at least a minute, calls, and then mucks when he sees our cards.

We just broke 100,000!

Seat 5 limps and we raise to 1600 from seat 8 hoping to take it down with A7c. Bb raises to 5200. Interesting. There's 8200 in the pot and its 3600 to call. Pot odds are right if he has a pocket pair below A. However, we only win if we hit an A and if we do we will not know his cards - he could crush is with an Ax. We fold and he shows AK including the Kc.

In seat 7 we raise to 950 with TK and seat 8 raises to 3300. Hard call. We were hoping to steal the pot but we do have a playable hand. We call and the flop comes 779. We could pretend we have a small pocket pair and bet, but he is in position and we don't need to get crazy. We check and he bets 3000. Same story. We could raise, but let's go conservative as there are 75 minutes left and we still have about 100k.

Seat 5 raises to 900 and seat 6 calls. We call from the button with AK. Usually we would raise but let's see the flop and see if we hit. Bb calls and flop comes 266 rainbow. Bb bets 1100 and seats 5 and 6 call. Bad flop for us but big pot and let's see the turn. We call. Turn comes 7. Bb checks, seat 5 checks and seat 6 bets 2600. Big pot. 2600 to win about 11000. We call and so does everyone else! River comes J. Bb and seat 5 check. Seat 6 bets 6000 and we fold. Bb folds and seat 5 pushes all in. Seat 6 calls. Seat 5 shows 66 for quads taking out seat 6 who shows JJ for top full house. Wow. Glad we didn't get "lucky". We got out to the rails for 4600!

This by the way is the story of our day. We should have lost a lot more with AK on the button. And when we flopped a set of nines against the guy who flopped a set of aces, we should have been sent to the rail; flopping set over set generally means someone is going home. We've had some good wins, but our two big losses were somehow avoided.

We limp from seat 4 with 34c. The button and sb limp and the bb raises to 1200. We call. So do the button and sb. Flop comes 4TQ with one club. Bb bets 2500 and we call. The button and sb fold. Turn comes Kd. Bb checks. If he has a mid pocket pair or Ax where the x is a T or lower, this is our chance, and only chance, to win unless we hit a dream card on the river. We bet 4400. He goes into the tank and then raises to 12000. We fold.

We limp from sb with 89. Bb raises to 1200 and we call. Flop comes 239 with 2 hearts. Great. We bet 1800 and he calls. Turn comes Qh. Terrible. We bet 2800 hoping that didn't hit him. He raises to 6200 and we fold.

We are running cold and need to slow down. Plus we've let ourselves get pushed out of too many pots so we are losing credibility. We are down to 81000 having lost every pot we've been in for a while.

We limp from seat 6 with 66. Seat 8 raises to 1200 and we call. Flop comes 44K. He could have a K of course or a bigger pocket pair. We check and he checks. Hmmm. Sign of weakness. Turn is a 5. That shouldn't have helped him. We bet 1500 and he calls. River is a 9. What would he call the turn with that is improved by a 9? We bet 2500 and he calls and shows AK. Wow. He played that so conservatively. Still, another 5000 lost. Hmmm.

In seat 3 we raise to 900 with 66. Seat 8 calls and the button raises to 2500. We call and seat 8 calls. Flop comes 68T with 2 clubs. We have a set! We bet 3000 and the button calls. The turn is Ks putting 2 spades on the board. We bet 7500 and he raises to 17500. What could he have? His preflop bet means 79 is unlikely. His failure to raise the flop means KK is unlikely. AK is most likely but he could have AKc which would give him a lot of outs. He could also have KT but that's unlikely. We could squeeze more out of him but he only has another 22000. We push all in. He folds and shows AK.

Last hand of the night we raise to 900 with 55 in seat 7. Seat 8 and the bb call and the flop comes 27A. Bb checks and we bet 2100. Seat 8 calls. Turn comes Q. We check, he bets 4000 and we fold.

We end round 5 and go home with 101,100 chips. Giddey-up. That's probably almost twice the average stack. We return Wednesday at noon in the amazon room table 432 seat 5.

All the best,
Resting. Donkey

Sent from my iPhone

Big Dance 4

Playing 150-300 with 25 antes 8-handed so 650 in the pot before cards are dealt.

We fold the first round of the button. Half the hands are raises to 800 or 900 by Pete on our immediate right and we haven't had anything to call with, even from the bb.

Seat 4 is new to the table (9-handed now) and raises to 800. We call from seat 7 with 99 and the bb calls. Flop comes 29A rainbow. Giddey up. We have a set on a board with no real straight or flush danger. They both check and we check hoping someone will hit the turn. Turn comes 5h putting a second heart on the board. Bb checks and seat 4 bets 2250. We call and so does bb. River comes Qh putting a flush on the board. Not good. Bb checks and seat 4 bets 3000. Does he have a flush? Does the bb and he's just waiting to raise? We just call. Bb folds and seat 4 shows AA. He flopped top set over our mid set. He takes it down, but losing 6000 on that pot is amazingly cheap. That Qh probably saved us 20,000 chips or he would have bet and we would have raised until he was all in. Wow. Lucky to lose 6000 with set over set.

Bracelet raises to 750 and we call from the bb with AQ. Flop comes 46Q. We check and he bets 1500. Just no kings please. We call. Turn comes 9. We check and he checks. River comes 2. We bet 2900 and he calls. He mucks when we show our cards.

Seat 3 raises to 800 and we call from bb with JKh. Flop comes 356 with 2 spades. If she has 2 big cards that should scare her. We bet 1100 and she calls. Turn comes 4s putting a 4 card straight and a flush on the board. We bet 2200. She should fold big cards but she raises to 6000. Flush? Big spade? We fold.

We raise to 800 from seat 6 with 7Td and get calls from 7 and 8. Flop 39T with 2 hearts and a diamond. We bet 1800 and they both call. Turn comes 2d giving us the flush draw and top pair. We bet 4000 and they both call. Hmmmm. River comes 8d giving us a flush! It would be very strange to lose this. The only possible hands to beat us are A9d really. Maybe JQd. Best case scenario someone has JQ not diamonds and made a straight. We bet 10000 and sadly they both fold. No worries, we picked up a good chunk of chips there bringing us back over 50 and almost to 60!

Seat 3 and 6 limp and we limp from 7 with 22. The blinds limp and the 5 of us see the flop AA3. Blinds and 3 check and Pete bets 700. Doesn't mean anything - he has picked up a lot of pita with prodding bets. Our 22 is likely good. We call and seat 3 calls. Turn comes 5. Now a 4 gives us a straight and a 2 a boat (A also gives us a boat, but less likely to win). They both check and we bet 2200. Seat 3 raises to 5200 and Pete folds. It's 3000 to us. She has another 15000 behind so if we hit we will get paid. Also, we have position so if she checks the river we can see if our dueces are good even u improved. It's a hard decision but we call. River pairs the 3 and she pushes all in for 15000. Our cards literally don't play. Our best hand is the AA335 on the board. We fold.

Our table breaks and we move to table 1 seat 1. I like that.

Seat 6 raises to 800 and we reraise from the bb with AK to 2300. He calls. Flop comes 35T with 2 clubs. We bet 2400 and he calls. River comes Ah. Giddey-up. We bet 3500 and he folds. Too bad.

We call a bet to 800 from the sb with 57d and see a flop 4-way 6TA with no diamonds. We fold.

We fold about ten hands in a row, watching the action. Not as much action here.

Seat 7 raises to 800 and we call from the bb with 89. Flop comes A38. We check and he bets 750. Kind of weak. We raise to 2000 and he calls. Turn comes Q. We check and he bets 2300. We fold.

We end round 4 with 56,125 in chips. One more round of day 1.

All the best,
Donkey. Just Donkey.

Sent from my iPhone

Big Dance 3

Playing 150-300. They haven't replaced Mr. Bag yet so we are 8-handed.

We raise to 725 with QK in seat 5. Bracelet in seat 6 raises to 1525. We call and the flop comes AA2 with 2 clubs. We check and he bets 2000. We should fold, but if he had an ace he would have checked and let us bet the turn. We are pretty aggressive and he would let us see the turn and bluff into him. He doesn't have an ace. He has a pair of some sort. We raise to 4750. The problem here is that if he calls, we are out of position and can't bet the turn into him very well. Doesn't matter though. He folds. Giddey-up. Picked up about 4000 on that busted hand.

Seat 5 limps and button and sb limp. We limp in bb with 58h and flop comes 77J. Everyone checks to button who bets 600. We raise to 1800 in a stab. He calls. Hmmm. Turn comes 8. At least we have something but he likely has a J. We bet 2500 hoping he will let go but he's like a pit bull and keeps calling. River is a 5. Pairs us but that's no good as we already have 2 pair. We check and he bets 5000. We fold. Ouch.

Now playing 9-handed. Mr Bags seat was taken and we now have 3 women at the table, somewhat of an anomaly.

Seat 4 (Pete) raises to 725 and we call in seat 5 with AJ. Flop comes 24Q with 2 clubs and he bets 1050. We fold.

Next hand we raise to 750 with AT from seat 4 and get called by seat 7. Flop comes 5JK. No good. But she doesn't know that. Shes a very aggressive player. We bet 1025 and she folds. Good result.

Seat 8 raises to 700 and everyone folds to us in the bb. We have A6. We think he is stealing so we raise to 2300 and he folds. Great.

Next hand everyone folds to Pete on the button who bets 700. We are in the sb with AT and raise to 2300 again. He thinks and then folds. Pete's a fun guy, so we show our cards. He grabs his mucked cards and shows AT.

Seat 6 bets 600. Pete calls, we call from seat 8 with A9c and bb calls. Flop comes 44T with one club. Bb bets 1200 and Pete raises to something more. We fold.

Seat 3, the only fish at the table, limps. Pete raises to 1200 and we have 56d in seat 5. Would love to see a flop but too many people are after us, including the limping fish. We fold. We see the Flop; it would have sucked for us anyway.

Seat 8 we raise to 725 with A4d. Bb raises to 1700. She's the most aggressive bettor at the table. We call because if we hit against her we will make bank. Flop comes 77J with one diamond and she bets 2000. We fold.

We raise to 725 in seat 5 with KTh and bracelet raises to 2000 in seat 7. We call and flop comes 2JK with 2 spades. We check and he bets 3000. We call. Turn comes 9s putting a flush and straight on the board. We check and he checks. River comes 4h. We bet 4500 and he calls showing K4d. He rivered the 4 to win. Big pot. Shit. Lost 9500 on that. That's going to be frustrating for a while. We were a 93% favorite after the turn.

Seat 8 raises to 700 and sb calls. We call with 46d from bb and flop comes 57Q - all spades. Pete bets 1025 from the sb. He's very aggressive and his bet means little. We call with our open ended straight draw, which likely has 6 outs as a spade probably is no good. Turn comes Th and he bets 2000. We fold.

We are down to about 38000 in chips.

An argument now ensues at the table over whether the player to my left called out her raise before her chip hit the table. If she did its a raise; if she doesn't it's a call. Bracelet is basically frothing at the mouth over what is a pretty minimal call. Pretty soon the news cameras are on us and there's a boom stick hovering over bracelet who continues to disparage the dealer after the floor makes the call. A few of the players tell him to stop, but he continues saying that bad dealers are bad for poker. To which Pete comments that players complaining like bracelet are bad for poker. It ends but the cameras and boom stick remain for a bit.

Pete raises to 950 in seat 6 and we flat call from 7 with AKc. Normally a raising hand, but let's see if we can hit and get some action. The blinds both call and we see a 652 flop with one club. The blinds check and Pete bets 3000. He's been betting large into Potts for a while so not sure what this means. We call hunting for a pair and hoping Pete is on non-pair high cards. The blinds fold. The turn comes 7d and Pete checks. We consider bluffing but we can't withstand a check raise so we check and hope for the pair on the river. River pairs the 7 on the board. That didn't help anyone but Pete bets 8000. What does he have? The check on the turn means he shouldn't have a mid pair. He would have chased me out before an ace or king or queen rivered. He could have AA or KK. We call and he says good call and turns over AJ. There's a gasp at the table as we show AK to take it down. Pete just laughs and comments that he wishes the cameras were still there.

We raise from seat 3 to 725 with AA and get calls from seat 6 and the bb. The two most aggressive people at the table. Flop comes 5QK all clubs. We have the Ac. Bb checks and we check looking for seat 6 to bet. She checks and the turn comes Ts. Bb checks and we bet 1500. They both fold.

Seat 7 limps and we raise to 900 from the button with AK. Bb and seat 7 call. Flop comes 469. They check and we check looking for a pair. We could bet, but the bb (bracelet) is the type to check raise and we would like to see the turn. Turn comes 8 and bb bets 2500. Everyone folds.

Everyone folds to us and we min-raise to 600 on the button with 36d. Bracelet calls from the bb and flop comes 499 with one diamond. He checks. We bet 600 and he folds.

Next hand we raise to 725 from seat 8 with 55 and the bracelet calls from the sb. Flop comes 4QA with 2 hearts. He checks and we bet 775. He raises to 2000. As mentioned before, he is liable to check raise. We fold.

We end round 3 and head to dinner with 51100 in chips. Pete is joining us at martarano.


All the best,
Feeling smooth donkey

Sent from my iPhone

Big Dance 2

Playing 100-200 8-handed.

Seat 6 raises to 525 and seat 7 calls. We are in the bb with Q6h. Seat 6 raises a lot on our bb. We call. Flop comes 38Q rainbow. We check. Seat 6 bets and everyone folds.

Seat 7 raises to 525 and we have KT in the sb. We fold. We are out of position and if we do hit we have to worry that our kicker is too weak.

Now playing 9-handed.

Everyone folds to us on the button and we have KK. We raise to 525 and the sb calls. Flop comes 459. He checks. We bet 750 and he folds. He is the guy who earlier claimed to have KK when we flopped aces over queens, so we socially mention that we had the pocket kings that time. He immediately asks what suit and we respond that they were black. He then calls us a liar. This is a very strange conversation. Of course it is possible that we misremember the suits, because the suits were not very important, but anyone who knows me would know that calling me a liar is about the worst thing that you can do. Moving forward we will refer to him as Mr. douche bag.

We bet 425 in seat 4 with 45c and Mr. douche bag calls. Flop comes AK6 with one club. Not good. Only options are admit defeat or bet out with our fictitious ace. We bet 750 and he calls. Not good. Turn comes Kc. We check, consistent with the ace representation. He bets 1100. Hmmmm, a club is probably a winner for us and the pot odds are right to call. We call. River comes 7c. Giddey up. No way he has clubs bc the Ac and Kc are on the board. He wouldn't have called the flop bet with lower clubs. He could have a boat, but that's highly unlikely. If he had AK he would have pre flop raised us. K6 or K7 doesn't make sense. So really all we are worried about is 66. We bet 3000 and he calls and mucks when we show the clubs. We resist the urge to yell, "believe me now douche bag!"

Seat 5 raises to 600 and we call from the bb with TJ. Flop comes 368. Generally a good flop for the blinds. We bet out 550 to try to take it down and she min-raises to 1100. She could have any 2 big cards and do this. We call hoping to turn a pair. Turn comes 5 and we check, ready to exit. She checks and gives us a free card. River comes 8 pairing the board. We bet out 1200 hoping she will believe we have an 8. She doesn't - she flat calls and shows KK before we show our cards. We muck.

We fold what feels like 62 hands in a row.

Seat 3 raises to 525 and gets calls from seat 6 and the sb. We call from the bb with TQs. Flop comes 59J with one spade and 2 hearts. Sb checks and we bet 1025 with our open ended straight draw hoping everyone will fold. They do. Very nice.

We go back to folding.

We raise to 600 in seat 8 with AJ. Mr. douche bag raises to 1400 and we call. Flop comes 78K. We check. He bets 1300. We fold.

Seat 5 limps as does seat 7. We limp from the button with J2h. For 200 let's see the flop while we are in position. Blinds limp and 5 of us see the 29Q flop. They all check and we bet 600. The bb calls. Turn comes 6. He checks and we take one more crack at it betting 1300. He raises to 3000 and we fold.

Seat 4 raises to 550 and gets calls from 5 and the sb. We are in the bb with Q8. For 350 we call and see the flop. Don't remember it. It sucked though and we folded.

Next hand seat 5 bets 525 and gets called by the button. We call from the sb with 77. Bb folds and flop comes 255 with 2 hearts. We are probably good here. We bet 800. They both call. Turn comes 8c. That didn't help anyone. We bet 2050 and they fold.

I don't remember exactly how this one played out but here's my best guess. Seat 4 raises to 525 and seat 7 calls. We call from seat 8 with 8Ts and Mr. douche bag calls from the button. Flop comes AK2 all spades. Giddey up. We have a flush. Seats 4 and 7 check and we bet 900. Mr. douche bag raises to 2500. He has another 11000 more or less behind. What does he have? Can't be a set of kings or aces or he would have pre flop raised. Could be a set of dueces, in which case we don't want him seeing more cards. Could be 2 spades, which would be bad if he has the Js or Qs. If any of those cases are true we could go all in now or see more cards and he will only go all in with a high spade if a spade hits; so letting a spade turn minimizes my value if I have him beat now. That promotes three betting. Or he could have Qs with anything else hoping i will fold or he will hit a spade. Can't let go of this hand and don't want to let him see a spade. So that pushes for three bet as well. We are dead if he has 2 spades with the J or Q. Otherwise we are way ahead. We raise to 10900, essentially putting him all in. He thinks for a moment and goes all in. We call and show our cards. He shows 34s. He has a smaller flush and only one out, the 5s would give him a straight flush. We are about 96%. Mr. Bag literally stands up and is half way to the door before the river hits. Turn comes something meaningless and river comes an equally meaningless Qd. We take it down and say bye bye.

Seat 6 raises to 600 and seat 7 calls. We call from BB with 79c. Flop comes 6KA with one club. We check and seat 6 bets. We fold.

We end round 2 with just over 50000 in chips. As we said at the end of round 1, just looking for one good flop. This time it was a great flop giving me a second player with a great, but not great enough, hand. His play, however, would have been consistent with QJ, Q9 or J9s so we were lucky we didn't run into a bigger flush.

For a conflicting view of these hands you can read Twitter @Venturepete. He's the guy on my right.

All the best,
Kicking Donkey

Sent from my iPhone

Big dance 1

We start with 30,000 in chips playing 50-100. 7 people at the table.

In seat 3 we raise to 225 with 56h. Blinds call. Flop comes AK6 with 2 clubs. Bb bets 400. Do we chase a second pair and hope it's not a club? We fold.

Button raises to 300 and we call from sb with JQ. Flop comes 25K and we fold to his bet.

We raise from the button to 225 with 88. The bb raises to 600 (only lady at the table). Small raise. We call. Flop comes 667. Bb bets 750. We are probably in the lead but there's a solid chance bb has a bigger pocket pair. We can fold, call or raise to 2100? Not feeling like paying 2100 for info yet so we call to see the turn and see what bb does. Turn comes Q and bb bets 1000. Hmmm. Representing KK KA or Qx. If that were the river we would call, but this will cost another 2500 to see through. We fold.

Seat 5 raises to 250 and we call from the Bb with K9h and see the flop come 49Q. We bet 325 and he calls. Turn comes A. Terrible. Too many chances he has us beat now. We check, he bets 750 and we fold.

There were a couple more hands of this nature, each one with an expense of 250-600 and we are down to 27000 chips. Sucks to be down, but we still have 90% of our starting stack.

My table, by the way, seems to be a fairly high level of player caliber including one bracelet holder.

Seat 5 raises to 250 and we call from the bb with 68c. Flop comes 67J. We check and he bets 350. We call. He was practically obliged to bet whether he hit the J or no. Turn comes 5. Now we need a 46 or 8. We check and he bets 700. We call. River comes 2. Not what we want. We check and he bets 825. Hmmm. Small bet in light of the pot. His betting would justify a pocket pair or Ax and we beat Ax except AJ. We call and he shows AJ.

Not a good start.

Seat 5 bets 300. Seat 6 calls and we call from the button with QK. Bb calls. Flop comes 55J. Seat 5 bets 600 and we fold. Pattern needs some breaking.

Seat 6 raises to 275 and we call from the button with 56s. Flop comes 24Q. He checks and we check. Turn comes 5. He has been an aggressive player so when he bets 350, and the 5 likely didn't help him, we are calling it a bluff. Had he had the Q he would have bet the flop. We raise to 1250 and he folds. Wow. That's what winning a hand feels like?

Button raises to 250 and we call from the bb with A9. Flop comes 459 with 2 spades (we have As). We check and he bets 350. We raise to 950 and he folds.

We raise to 300 in seat 3 with TJc and get calls from seat 6 and the bb. Flop comes 56A with 2 spades. Not good. Bb checks. We make a 425 stab at it hoping no one has an ace and that our continuation bet will take it down. It does. Very nice.

Seat 3 raises to 300 and the sb calls. We call from the bb with Q9o. Not really a playable hand but aggressive player to our right means we can win a lot if we hit. Flop comes 69A with 2 spades. Everyone checks. Turn comes Td. Sb checks and we bet 425 hoping to take it down. They both call. Didn't work that time. River comes 6s putting flushes and boats on the board. Sb tanks for a minute and then checks. Was he considering bluffing or hoping to induce someone to bet. Probably the former. Do we bet and hope to push out the tens and aces or would they call anyway? What would we have to bet to get an ace to fold? We check and seat 3 checks. Sb shows J8. We show our 9 and seat 3 folds. Giddey-up, another small win. We are back to 29250.

Seat 4 bets 300 and we raise to 825 with AQ from seat 6. Button raises to 2200 and seat 4 folds. We just call to see the flop. Flop comes 4QA with 2 spades. Giddey up. We bet 1500 and he calls. Turn comes 6 putting a second diamond on the board. We would love to small bet here or even check with the hope that he would bet, but there are flush draws and straight draws and lions and tigers and we don't want a free card option. We bet 4000 and he folds claiming to have had KK.

From seat 3 we raise to 225 with 88. Seat 6 raises to 600 and we call looking. For the 13% chance to flop an 8. We miss. She bets we fold.

We have 33000 in chips now. So that feels nice.

Playing 8-handed seat 4 bets 300 and gets calls from seat 5 and 7. We call from the button with 67o. Questionable call for sure but if we hit theres a lot of chips and players and we are in position playing from the button. So it's all about the flop. Unfortunately the sb raises to 2200 and everyone folds. So we never see the flop.

Seat 4 bets 300 and gets calls from seat 7 and the button. We call from the bb with QK. Flop comes 48J with 2 hearts. We check and she bets 500. Seat 7 calls. She has bet at about every opportunity so let's hunt for a Q or K. We call. Turn comes Th. Not what we were looking for but gives us a straight draw and second but flush draw (we have Kh). She bets 1000 and seat 7 calls. So we call looking for a heart for the flush, a 9 or A for the straight, or even a Q or K for top pair. We get a 2d. Nothing for us. We check and they check and she takes it down with a JQ. So Q was no good for us but a heart would have been great as she had the Qh.

We finish the first two hours with 31,100 in chips. We had one good flop in 2 hours and no premium hands. Not a bad result, mostly because our one good flop paid us 4000. Settling in and looking for a good flop.

All the best,
Zen Donkey

Sent from my iPhone

Stud 8

Playing 200-400 with 50 antes now.

Starting hand 347 all hearts. Pound it as we wind up 3 betting a 4-way pot. Hit an As and get two more bets in. Then 9h for flush draw and get 2 more bets in. Then 8s for the low. We just call a single bet here as someone is showing A558. River a Jd and call another bet and lose the 87 low to an 86 low (the above referenced hand had a 64A under). Down to 5000.

Starting hand 235. Hit 5727 to lose with 3 pair to a set of 6s. Minimal betting. Down to 3000.

At 50 per hand and two calls followed by folds we slowly drop down to 2300. We are now in push territory. The next opening hand we get will be all or nothing. Well, survival or nothing really.

We have A5 under and 5 showing and raise to 400. 2 callers - one with a 4 and one with a K (who completed the first bet). 4th street the K hits a K and bets. We fold. Hmmm.

We start with a 38Q all clubs. This is it, but if we hit we will beat everyone so we want to maximize players and the pot. We call 200 and see 4th street 4 handed. We get the 9c and the player to our left bets with AQ showing. She gets 2 callers and we raise. She raises and the two other players fold. We essentially push and she obliges. We are all in. She shows 35 under and has 3 spades. She proceeds to hit Js Ad Th for a pair of aces. We hit 8s 3d Jd for a pair of 8s. We are out.

Next entry will be the big dance july 5. Rest up heard. Long day coming

All the best,
Bad luck well now empty donkey

Sent from my iPhone

Re: Year of terrible luck

Just a little catch up as I haven't been blogging. It's been a strangely terrible year.

Yesterday in horse I lost 3 times with a set to a straight or a flush in stud. Not stud 8. Stud. Wtf. Hold'em lost a king high flush to ace high. Just brutal.

Hand of the day yesterday was 800-1600 stud 8 had 3 kings on 4th street and had a low draw at the table pounding it up with me capping it 4 handed. Although betting after that slowed, that round put 32,000 chips in the pot. Ultimately no one made the low, I never made the boat, and one of the callers showed 3 hearts rolled up for a flush to take the whole thing down.

Playing stud 8 today (starting stack 7500). First hand at the table started w 4 wheel cards and wound up with jacks up losing to kings up. Then had 3 low pair lose to jacks up. Start of yet another brutal day. But at least the limits are low so there's time to play. Luck has to even out right?

Finishing round 1 with about 60% of my stack.

Round 2 tides changed a little. Made Ts full of 3s on 5th street. Someone had a high draw they loved too much and someone had a made 8 that looked good enough to cap it. I actually smooth called the fourth bet on 5th street hoping to induce a 6th street cap, which did happen along with a river cap. Crazy pot. Sad to split it with the low, but back to just above starting stack.

Then lost a flush to tens full held by the victim of the previous hand and then rivered a 4h into an A2469K with 4 diamonds. A low diamond is the whole pot. A 4h is sad. And we're back to 5200.

It is very difficult to describe stud 8 on a card by card basis. Our only Big Hand we start with an ace showing and ace three under. We limp and then slow play calling a raise, getting two people into the pot. Slow playing is very hard and dangerous in a hi-lo game. We began betting on fourth Street and continue on fifth when we paired the Q we hit on fourth, and continued to bet on sixth when they finally fold giving us the whole pot. Well, it worked that time.

We end round 2 with 7575. Muzzle above water!



All the best,

NLH rounds 1-2

We sit down with 7500 in chips playing 25-50 6-handed (table will fill to 9 later).

We start on the button and throw our first few hands away - J2, Q4, J7, A6. No one is betting on anything. This seems so far (too early to tell) to be a very tight table.

In the bb we have K4. Seat 4 raises to 125 and gets calls from seat 5 and the sb. For 75 we call. Flop comes 223. Scary flop for people. We check and everyone checks. Turn comes 7. We bet 200 and they all fold. Tight.

Everyone fold to us in the sb and we limp with Q3s. Bb checks and flop comes 47T with one spade. We check. He checks and turn comes 2s. Okay, we have a flush draw so at least we can bluff. We bet 75 and he raises to 275. Hmmmm. Does he have a T? Would he have checked the flop then? 2 spades? Did the 2 help him? Does he think we bluffed last hand and are bluffing again, so he's rebuffing? We can afford to put some money in bc we have the Spades and a Q, so likely 12 outs. If we call the pot will be 650. We want him to have to put close to that in to call. We raise to 875. He folds. Great result.

We fold every hand around to our bb. Best starting hand we have had is 9T, and that was in seat 3. Now playing 7-handed.

Button raises to 125 and we call for 75 with Q2s. Flop comes an amazing J22. We check and he bets 225. We smooth call and the turn comes Th putting 2 hearts on the board. Not really worried about hearts but here's the deal. If he can't beat a T he likely won't bet again. If he can we want a big bet out of him. We bet 325 hoping he has a J and will raise. He folds. Oh well.

Seat 3 raises to 125 and we fold 95 in the sb.

Seat 5 limps and 6 limps. We are on the button with AJd and raise to 200. The blinds fold and 5 and 6 call. Flop comes 7KK with Kd. Not good. They check and we check. Turn comes Td giving us a gut shot straight draw and a flush draw as well as a royal flush draw. Seat 5 bets 300 and 6 folds. Hmmmm. If we hit the straight we could still lose to a full house (if he has QK), but let's not worry about that. For 300 we go fishing. We could semi bluff raise but we have a loose image and he's too likely to call. We call and the river comes 8c. He bets 450 and we fold.

In seat 3 we raise to 125 with AJc and the bb calls. Flop comes 57T. He checks and we bet 175. He folds.

Seat 4 raises to 125 and we call from seat 6 w KT. The blinds call and we see the flop 3TK with 2 hearts. Great flop! The seat 4 bets 150 and we just call we have been aggressively pushing people out after the turn; let's wait and hope no flush card comes so we can get aggressive and catch someone watching our patter. We call and the sb raises to 475. Giddey-up. Seat 4 folds. We have to raise enough to push out the flush. We raise to 1250 and sb calls. Turn comes Jh. Terrible card. He could have a flush or a straight. Unlikely but possible in light of how loose our image is. He could have KJ. He checks. Let's see if we river a boat before we bet and let him check raise us out. River comes Qc. One of the worst possible cards for us. The board is now 3TJQK. Any 9 or A has a straight. He bets 1600 and we fold.

After grinding slowly up we have 7075 in chips. Okay. Let's do it some more.

We fold to our bb and get 95. Seat 4 raises to 125 and sb calls. For 75 we call. Flop comes 36A all spades. We have the 9s. Sb checks, we check and seat 4 checks. Turn comes 9h giving us a pair. We can't beat anyone with an A but hopefully if they have an A their other card isn't a big spade. We bet 200 and they both fold.

Everyone folds to us on the button and we have our first premium hand. AQd. We bet 125 and the blinds call. Flop comes 36Q with 2 hearts. Great. They check and we bet 175. Sb folds and bb raises to 525? Hearts? Set of 3s or 6s? A Q? A pair and hoping we missed? We just call. Turn comes 3c. Not good but at least not a heart. He bets 600 and we call. Does he have a 3? River comes 9s and he bets 1800. No idea. He could have a Q or be bluffing. He could have a pocket pair. He could have us crushed. We call and he shows 66. He has a full house and crushes us.

We raise from seat 4 with TQ and get called by the button who just crushed us. Flop comes 89J with 2 clubs. We flipped a straight. We check and he bets 175. We call. Turn comes Kc. We still have a great straight and he is unlikely to have 2 clubs so we bet 375. Let's build a pot. He calls and the river comes 8c. Really? Wtf. We check and he bets 1200. We call and e shows Ac to take it down. He had a 5d with it. He literally needed runner runner clubs to win after the flop. Wtf. We are down to 2200 in chips. Heading home soon and we just entered the second round playing 50-100.

Seat 4 raises to 300 and gets calls from seats 5 and 6. We are in the bb with KQd and push all in for 2250. Seat 5 calls w JJ. It's a race. His jacks hold up and we are actually going home.

Wow. Nothing to learn from this one. Big hands were hitting top top against a set and hitting a straight agains someone who runner runnered clubs. His odds on that hand were about 5%. wtf. At least that's out of the way before July 5.

All the best,
Just pissed off

Sent from my iPhone

NLH 6-Handed Championship Rounds 9-10

Playing 400-800 with 100 antes.

Seat 5 raises to 1600. He has done this every time he is in a late seat with no raise before him. We call from Sb with TK. Bb calls and flop comes 23T. All diamonds. We bet 2300 and bb folds but seat 5 raises to 7200. We fold.

Seat 4 raises to 1800 and we call from the bb with JT. Flop comes AQJ. We check and he bets 3000. We call. Turn comes 6. We check he bets we fold.

We raise in the Sb with 67h to 2200 and the bb calls. Flop comes 679. Giddey up. We bet 2600 and he calls. Turn comes J. We bet 5200 and he calls. River comes Q. We bet 9200 and he raises to 21200. What? We call and he shows JQ. Runner runner for 2 pair. Wow.

We lose a couple small hands and look down at our dwindling chip stack. The swings happen but this has been harsh. We lost half our stack. We're down to 53000.

On the button we raise to 2100 with AQ and the Sb raises to 5600. We call. Flop comes JKK. He checks and we check. Turn comes 4. He bets 4500 and we fold.

Button raises to 2200 and we raise to 6500 in the Sb with AKc. He raises to 18500. Do we fold? That would leave us with 40000. We are a favorite over anything but KK or AA, which hopefully he doesn't have as we have one of each. Rather race than accept 40000. We push and he calls with AA. He takes it down. It's 2am. I actually feel physically ill. What a terrible hour.

All the best,
Eric Kurtzman

Sent from my iPhone

NLH 6-Handed Championship Rounds 7-8

Playing 250-500 with 50 antes. 5 players right now so pre card pots of 1000.

Button raises to 1100 and we are in the Sb with KK. Cowboys again! Normally we would raise but the bb is short stacked with 7000 and hopefully will go all in when we call. That would allow us to raise the button with a 21000 pot in the backdrop (assuming he calls the bb all in). Sadly bb folds. Flop comes 45Q. We slow play and check. He checks. Damn burn comes 6. We bet 2500 and he calls. River pairs the Q. Unlikely he has a Q because he checked and then called, so not worried. We bet 5000 and he calls. He mucks when he sees the Cowboys.

We then go into a strange small pot losing streak. No one is betting large into us. It's like they're afraid, but we keep missing. Twice we flop flush draws that never hit, once an open ended straight draw that fails and once KQ that never finds a pair. It's a one way outward door for chips for a while that drains close to 20000. One of the problems is the short stack to our left has pushed all in for 8 or 9 thousand pushing us out. Time to narrow the playing hands?

Now playing 300-600 with 75 antes. 6-handed so 1350 in the pot before cards are dealt. We have about 95000 in chips.

Seat 3 bets 1400 and the button calls. We are in the bb being visited by a pair of aces. Hello boys. We raise to 3600 and they both call. Flop comes 24Q with 2 diamonds. We should check. If they got a Q they will bet. If they didn't and we bet they will fold. Sucks to be out of position here. We bet 6000 and they both fold.

Seat 5 limps and we are on the button with A9. The limp is strange as he hasn't done that in the last 7 hours and he only has 10000 in chips. He either has a monster pair awaiting or a drawing hand like suited connectors or a small pair. We bet 1700 and the blinds fold to him. He pushes all in and we call. He shows 22. It's a race. Flop comes AA8. Giddey up. Turn and river don't help him and we take it down.

We see a few flops and fold. Each flop has a sticker price of about 1500 so we can't do too much of this shopping.

Also, we are 5-handed now so playing so drawing hands are less valuable when they hit.

In a 3-handed pot button raises to 1600 and we re-raise in the bb to 3600 w KK. Third time! He calls and flop comes 8TQ with 2 hearts. We bet 3000 and he calls. Turn comes 6. We bet 10000 and he calls. River comes 6c and we go all in. He has about 40000 left. He folds.

We lose a handful of small pots and a couple mid size ones that I can't specifically recall and couldn't take notes on.

Last hand of the round seat 5 bets 1250 and we call from the bb with J5. Flop comes 678 with 2 clubs. We bet 1600 and he raises to 3600. We call with the open ended straight draw. Turn is a Td. We check and he checks. River is a 3d. We have nothing. We bet 4400 and he folds. Geat result.

We end round 8 with 109000 in chips. It's 1am and we have 2 hours to go. We are tired. Have to play in a calm state and avoid big mistakes and big bluffs.

All the best,
Steady Donkey

Sent from my iPhone

NLH 6-Handed Championship Rounds 5-6

Playing 150-300 with 25 antes.
Button raises to 650 and we call with J3s. Flop comes 9JQ with 2 clubs. We check and he bets 1000. We call and the turn comes 2h. We check and he checks. River comes Tc putting straights and flushes all over the board. We check and he bets 2700. We fold.

Seat 5, who we will refer to as 58, raises to 1000. We are in the bb with QQ. We want him pot committed pre flop and he has 8000. We raise to 3000 and he folds. Okay. Too bad, but we do hate watching flops with QQ.

We raise to 850 with 88 in seat 4 playing 5-handed. Seat 5 calls and the flop comes 667. Pretty good for us. We bet 1500 and he calls. The turn comes 9 giving us an open ended straight draw. We bet 2500 and he raises to 7000. Hmmm. We have a really good hand, but did he hit the 9? We would need a 5, 8, or T to win. We call and the river comes K. We check and he bets 12000. It's just too much to risk. We probably have him beat but we throw it away and maintain our 31000 stack for more confident wagers.

Playing 6-handed again. New guy just sat down who we recognize from yesterday. He finished 18th.

Seat 5 raises to 700 and we call from the Sb with K8h. New guy in bb raises to 3500. Seat 5 calls and we fold. They had AK (new guy) and TQ. TQ took it down.

We sit out about 15 hands. In seat 3 we raise to 700 with ATc. New guy raises in seat 4 to 2100 and gets called by the button. We call and the flop comes 4TJ with one club. We bet 2700. Seat 4 folds but the button calls. Turn comes As. No good. We check. He bets. We fold.

We play a few small hands and between the losses and the blinds and antes we are down to 22900 in chips.

Now playing 200-400 with 50 antes so 900 in the pot to start.

New guy bets 1000 from seat 3 and seat 4 raises to 2500. We are in the bb w KK. Go cowboys! We raise to 7000 and seat 4 calls. Flop comes 246 rainbow. Great flop. We check knowing he will bet. He's the guy who pushed our 88 out earlier. He doesn't know how to check. He bets 7000 and we go all in for 16500. The dealer then does something I've literally never seen. She turns to him holding the deck in her left hand and hits it with her right hand knocking half of it out of her hand and upsidedown. We can see several cards including an ace. The floor comes over and allows seat 4 to finish his action, which he acknowledges is unfair to me. Seat 4 calls and shows KQ. Then the dealer reshuffles the deck and deals out an ace and a 7. We double up!

Seat 3 raises to 800 and gets called by the button. We call from the Sb with 66 and the bb calls. We silently remind anyone who can hear our thoughts that we have yet to flop a set. However the flop comes 59K. We check and everyone checks. The turn comes 6! We bet 1300 and get called by the button. The river is a 4. We bet 3000 and he goes into the tank. Unfortunately he folds.

Seat 5 bets 800 and the button raises to 2100. We call from the bb with 67d and seat 5 calls. The flop comes 89Q. This gives us an open ended straight draw but if we hit the T anyone w a J has a bigger straight. We bet 2200 and seat 5 calls. The turn is a T! We check and he bets 2800. We min raise to 5600 to see if he has a J. there are two spades on the board, so he should raise if he does. He just calls. Probably no jack. River comes 3c. We push all in. He has about 15000 but folds.

Seat 3 bets 900 and we call from the button with 77. The bb pushes all in for 3200 and seat 3 (The guy with the 15,000) calls. We want to play this heads up. We push all in and seat three folds leaving his dead money in the pot. The bb shows AK. It's a race. Our sevens hold up and we take it down.

Seat three raises to 900 and everyone folds to us in the big blind with 46. Terrible hand but for 500 let's go bargain shopping. Flop comes 235 rainbow. Amazing. We have been slow playing our big hands a little and he's seen this so we bet out 1100 and he calls. The turn comes 9s putting a second spade on the board. We bet 2800 and he raises to 6000. He has another 12000 behind. Let's see if we can get him pot committed. We raise to 11000 and he goes into the tank for several minutes and then folds. Okay.

We end round 6 with 89700. Seems like a few minutes ago we wee under 5000!

All the best,
Crushing everything in our path (or close enough to reach) Donkey

Sent from my iPhone

NLH 6-Handed Championship Rounds 3-4

Playing 100-200.

AB gets randomly removed from our table to balance out 4 lucky guys somewhere else. We are 5-handed now.

Seat 3 raises to 600 and we have 66 in the Sb. We want to take this down pre flop if we can. We raise to 2500. He tanks and calls. Okay, unlikely to have AQ suited or better. Flop comes 49Q. Did the Q hit him? We bet 5000 hoping he will fold. He tanks and then calls. The turn comes another 9. That likely doesn't help him. If we don't push he will bet and we will fold regardless of what he has. We push all in with about 10000. He folds. Great result. Happy to not let him fish on the river.

We play a couple small pots and fold and count our chips. Just over 24000 now.

Seat 3 bets 500 and we call from seat 4 with KT. Seat 5 calls and the flop comes 468 all spades. We Have the Ks. Seat 3 checks and we bet 750. Seat 5 calls and the turn comes Ad. Not good. We check and he bets 2300. We fold.

Hand after hand we are in for the flop and miss entirely. Very frustrating.

In seat 4 we raise to 550 with ATh and get calls from seat 5 and the bb. Flop comes 248 with 2 hearts. Bb checks and we bet 1100. Let's take it down now if we can. Seat 5 calls. Turn comes Td. Wanted a heart, but top pair works. We bet 1800 and he calls. River comes 7d. We check top top and he bets 2600. We call and he shows 8T to take it down.

We have just over 15000 and we are again playing 6-handed.

Button limps and Sb raises to 700. We call from Sb with TJ. Button calls and flop comes 4QQ. We exit. Repeat this hand over and over. We play with KQs, AJ, 99, etc and fold after every flop. We are down to 11500. It's level 3 and we're headed toward push territory!

From the button we raise to 550 with A5d. Not a great hand but from the button we like it. Bb calls and flop comes A47 with 2 hearts. We finally hit a flop. He checks and we bet 700. He raises to 1500. Hmmmm, does he have a set? 2 pair? A bigger ace than ours? Hearts? We call and see the turn. Jh. Not good. He bets 2600 and we fold. We have less than 10000.

Seat 3 bets 550 and seat 4 raises to 1100. We are on the button with 55. If we flop a set for the first time in 3 days of this game we will easily get 8x our bet, so we call. Flop comes 38T. Seat 3 checks and 4 bets 1000. We call to see the turn. Seat 3 Cal's and the turn comes K. We fold to seat 4s next bet.

We are under 5000. Seat 3 bets 600 and we call from the bb with 8T. Flop comes 66T. Wow, we hit one. We check and he bets 1500. We push all in for about 4000 and he folds.

We win another small hand and build the stack to over 8000.

Seat 5 raises to 550 and we call from the button with 9Th. Flop comes 99J with 2 spades. Wow. The flop tide is turning. He bets 800 and we call. The turn comes 6c putting 2 clubs on the board. He bets 1500 and we push all in for 7000. He calls and shows KK. We are about 95%. River comes 7d and we double up! Deep breath. We can play cards.

Seat 3 raises to 600 and seat 4 calls. We are in the bb with AQ. Slow play? No - we're out of position. We raise to 1900 and they both call. Flop comes 7TT. We bet 2000. We have already advertised big hand and they have to interpret that as two big cards, likely paired. If they didn't hit the T they should fold. They do. Great result.

We have breached 20000.

Quick note on a hand we didn't play. We folded 27h on the button and then watched the board come Ah 9h 7d 2s Qh. Monster for us that we missed.

We raise from seat 3 to 600 with 58c. Kind of weak but gimme a break - closest thing to the 27h we could find. The button raises to 1600 and the bb calls. Pot odds are great - we call. 5000 in the pot and the flop comes 37T. ALL CLUBS! Could it get better? Why yes, glad you asked. The button bets 2000 into us. We can't let him see another club fall so we raise to 7000 as that should get rid of the club draws. The button calls! Bb folds and the two of us see the turn - anything red please. 6d comes. The pot is 20000 so we push all in for 12000 and he calls showing QQ with the Qc. Any non club wins it for us. River comes 3s. Our heart skipped a beat when we saw a black card but we take it down.

In seat 4 we raise to 600 with TQc. Clubs have been good to us. The button raises to 1500. The bb calls and we call. Flop comes AQT with 2 hearts. The BB bets 4000 and has another 11000 behind. What does he have that could beat us? AA or QQ would have raised pre flop. TT is possible but would require him to have both outstanding Ts. Unlikely. This is also a problem for QQ. AT or QT are possible and big problems, as is JK. He could also have Ax (likely with a J or K straight draw) or two hearts. Of all these possibilities, I suspect 2 hearts to be most likely. Do we call and let him fish for a heart or a straight. If he misses and bets are we ever folding? No, we are never folding. So we may as well try to push out the flush draw and straight draw and hope that's what he has. We raise him all in and he calls showing AQ. Ouch. Terrible. His AQ holds up.

Well, we could have folded, but that was not going to happen. As it played out, our push didn't matter. The turn was a 7d. He likely would have bet at least 5000 and we would have called. And he would have put his last 6000 in on the river. Uggggghhhh.

Last hand of the round we are in seat 3 with 58c again. Oh the memories! We bet 600 and the button raises to 1600. Bb calls and see call flop comes 234 with 2 clubs. Wow! We bet 1500 and they both call. The turn comes Ac giving us a flush. Would have preferred a different ace for the straight, but still elated. We bet 3000 and the button (the guy we last crushed with 58c) calls. The river comes Ks. Perfect. We hem and haw and finally bet 7200. He calls and shows A8. Crazy call. We take it down.

We finish round 4 with 38900 in chips. In light of where we were, pretty damn happy with that.

All the best,
Still on 4-hooves Donkey

Sent from my iPhone

NLH 6-Handed Championship Rounds 1-2

We can't help ourselves. There are only 2 6-handed no limit tournaments this year. The one we just placed in, and the one that starts today at 4 o'clock, the championship. We saddle up to the table to play in the championship.

We start with 30,000 in chips, playing 50–100.

Playing 3-handed for a bit. Button raises to 300 and Sb calls. We call from the bb with Q8s. Flop comes 345 with 2 spades. Sb checks. We bet 450 and button raises to 1100. We call. Turn comes 2c. We wanted a spade but the 2 will slow him down unless he has an A. We check and he checks. River comes 9s. We bet 1200 and he calls. He mucks when he sees our flush.

Button raises to 300 and we raise to 900 with 55 from the Sb. Bb calls and button folds. Flop comes 4QK. We check and he bets 1200. We fold.

Fourth player joins.

Sb limps and we check from the bb with T4o. Flop comes 349. He checks and we bet 150. He calls. Jack turns and he checks. We bet 300 and he raises to 800. We fold.

Seat 3 is already down to 7000. Very aggressive and not a good player. He bets 250 so we call from the button just to play with him. We have J8. Sb folds and bb calls. Flop comes 59T. We have an open ended straight draw. They both check. We check and see the turn. It's a Q! They both check and we bet 350. Bb folds and seat 3 raises to 1300. Giddey up! The only hand that beats us is JK and we can't be so afraid of that that we don't try to get all in here. The Q did put 2 clubs on the board, but raising the flush draw would be overly aggressive even for him. We raise to 3300 and he pushes all in. We happily call. He shows JK. Amazing. Seriously. Wtf? Okay, if he had had a full stack we would be going home with second nut. Happy to still have a good stack of chips. 24300. Head up.

Playing 5-handed now. Room is filling.

Seat 3 raises to 300 and the button calls. We call from the Sb with 8Q. Bb calls. Flop comes JKA with AJd. Flush draw and gut shot straight draw. We bet 450 and bb calls. Turn comes 7s. We bet 950 and he raises to 2250. Hmmm. We call. River comes Q. We check and he bets 2500. Our pair of queens is not going to be good. We fold.

Aggressive boy on the button raises to 300 and we call from the Sb with 88. Would love to his a set on this guy! Flop comes AA5 with 2 spades. He bets 400 and we call. Let's see what he does on the turn. Turn comes 9s. He checks. Hmmm, we lose to a big pocket pair, an ace, a 9 or 2 spades. We bet 1000 and he calls. He would have raised if he had any of the above better than a 9. River comes 2h. He bets 1500. Makes no sense. The only hand that really would help is if he's playing 22. We should raise, but if he reraises it we won't know what to do. We call and he shows K5h. We take it down.

Playing 75-150 seat 3 raises to 450 and aggressive boy on the button calls. We are in the Sb with 99 and raise to 1750. Seat 3 calls (sign of weakness) and aggressive boy pushes all in for about 6000. With 99 we want to be heads up against him, particularly if we can get seat 3's 1750 as dead money. We push all in and seat 3 folds. Aggressive boy shows A4c. We are about a 70% favorite. Flop comes A56 with 2 spades. Turns a Js to give us a flush draw. River is Qd. Wow. Painful bad beat.

Overall by the way we're doing well. We have 18000 in chips left despite getting hammered unexpectedly twice by all in aggressive boy or AB.

Now playing 6-handed. Someone sat between us and AB. AB raises to 300 from seat 3. Seat 4 calls and we call from seat 5 with 46s. Button calls and Sb raises to 1200. AB calls and seat 4 calls. Wow. We have to call. Button folds. Big pot! Flop comes JKK no spades. Hmmm. We fold as soon as possible.

From seat 3 we raise to 450 with AK and get calls from 4, 5 and bb. We are 5-handed again and everyone but AB is in the pot. Flop comes JJ9. Everyone checks to seat 5 who bets 1000. Bb folds. A steal? We call. We see the turn heads up. It's an A. We check and he bets 1500. We call. River comes 7. We check and he checks. We show AK and he shows A9. We take it down.

Seat 3 raises to 450 and AB calls from seat 4. We call from the Button with 77. I know I have the seats a little wrong on this one, but that's the best I can piece the action together so please excuse the oddity if you caught it. Flop comes 235 with 2 hearts. Great flop. They check and we bet 700 and seat 3 raises to 2100. Wow. AB calls. Wow. Does seat 3 have hearts? An overpair? On a semi bluff with 2 big cards? We can call and hope for a 7, but there are only 2 in the deck and one of them is a heart. Hmmm, we call. Turn comes 4s putting a 2345 on the board. They both check. Anyone with an A has a straight. They probably don't have it and if they are on over cards or have paired the board once, we are in the lead. We bet 2200 and they both fold.

Back to 22400. Good.

Playing 6-handed again.

I sit here painfully watching AB slowly lose what were once our chips to everyone else at the table.

We play half a dozen hands to see the flop but never hit anything. We take one opportunity to launch a failed semi bluff and finish the round with just over 18000 in chips. All things considered, not bad.

All the best,
Still on four hooves Donkey

Sent from my iPhone

Nlh rounds 17-18

Hand to hand is incredibly boring. We fold our 66, then our 79. Why even look? Would we play AA? Mmmmm, yes. Economically it makes no sense, but we would do it. We fold and fold and fold. Seat 3 raises to 10000 and we fold the 9Th from the bb instead of chipping in 6000 to see if we hit a monster. Why? Because 60th place is so important. The inhumanity of it.

Finally someone busts. We are in the money and can play poker now, but we are down to 34000 in chips. Our only move is to push really.

First hand in the money someone at our table busts. A lot of people were playing uber tight as we were. Now it's like the ending of a terrible constipation. Yep, donkey has gone dark.

Seat 4 bets 9000 and we are in the bb with Q9s. We push all in. He folds. Great.

We push all in on the button with A8. The blinds fold. Great.

Next hand we push all in from seat 5 with AQ and everyone folds. Would have liked a call, but fine taking down a pot of 10000 as we are playing 2500-5000 with 500 antes.

Another player busts from our table and we are on hold waiting for a table to break. After it took an hour for one person to break, six broke in 11 minutes.

We have 93500.

Seat 4 raises to 11000 and the Sb calls. We have AT in the bb. We could call, but we are out of position. We push hoping they will fold but okay with a call. Seat 4 calls with AQ. We are a big dog. His Q holds up and we exit in 50th place.

Had some frustration this tournament. Still mad about finding the JQ. Maybe we would have gotten knocked out but more likely we would have had a big stack. Oh well - glad to finally cash this year!

Thanks for following along. Tomorrow is PLO so probably won't be blogging. May play the next nlh 6 handed tourney though - this one went well and tomorrow's starts at 4.

All the best,
Eric Kurtzman

All the best,
Eric Kurtzman

Sent from my iPhone

Nlh rounds 15-16

Playing 1500-3000 with 500 antes. 7500 in the pot pre deal.

In seat 4 we raise to 7500 with 88 and the blinds both call. Flop comes 249. They check. Ever hear the expression "beware the 9"? No? That's because it doesn't exist. We bet 18000 and they fold.

Seat 3 raises to 6500 and we call from the Sb with 8T. Flop comes 6TK. We check and he bets 9500. We call looking for a second pair. Turn comes 6 pairing the board. We check and he bets 14500. We raise to 30000 hoping the check raise will drive him out. He re-raises to 60000. Not what we were looking for. Obviously not worried we have a 6. We fold. Big loss. Ouch.

In seat 3 we make a questionable raise to 6500 with QT and get calls from seat 5 and both blinds. Flop comes 35T with 2 hearts. We have the Qh. Blinds check and we bet 18000. Seat 5 goes into the tank. He has more chips than we do and we can't get into a big hand with him unless we feel stronger than we do. He folds. The blinds fold. Good result.

We are down to 71 players on 12 tables. We have 233500 in chips.

In seat 4 we raise to 6500 with JQc and the button raises to 15000. The bb calls and we call. Flop comes 56J. Great flop. Bb checks and we bet 22000. Button folds and bb calls. Turn comes 4 putting 2 diamonds on the board. Bb checks and we bet 42000. He goes into the tank and then pushes all in. Wow. We are 80000 into this pot but how do we call an all in? He could be bluffing but otherwise he has 2 pair at least. Maybe a set or straight. If he has 2 small pair we are a desperate dog. Could he be making a six figure semi-bluff with a flush draw? Wtf? We fold. Ouch. Wow. Ouch.

Playing 6 handed 2000-4000 with 500 antes. 9000 in the pot before the deal. We have about 140000 chips.

In seat 4 we raise to 9500 with 89c. Seat 5 raises to 28500. We fold.

We are getting shit canned. Time to regroup.

We raise from seat 5 with AT to 9500. Bb calls us and flop comes 45J. He checks and we check turn comes q. He checks and we check. River comes 7. He bets 4000. We call and he shows 56 to take it down with a pair of 5s.

We are down to 101000. This has been a straight down path for 90 minutes. We don't want to bubble out so its hard to play big right now (62 players left).

Seat 5 raises to 10000 and we call from the Sb with 44. Maybe we will finally flop a set? Bb calls and flop comes 67Q with 2 spades. We check and they both check. Hmmmm, if seat 5 has something he should bet to get the flush draw out. Turn comes 2h. Total rag. We could bet and hope to take it down but if someone calls we won't be able to bet the river. We are now playing with fear. We check. Bb checks and seat 5 bets. We both fold.

61 players. We are now playing hand by hand. Every table plays one hand and waits for every table to finish before dealing the next hand. This is a sucky time. We don't want to be the guy who placed 61st in a tourney paying 60, but we have to continue to play and try to rebuild our stack.

Our 5th hand to hand hand everyone folds to the Sb who pushes all in for 51000. We have 82000. If we call and lose we can still limp to the money but that would suck. We have 77. We are probably the favorite, by at least a little. Do we call and hope to repair our stack a little, even if losing means limping our way to the money. Our do we play like a giant vag?

We call and he shows A7. We are about 70% favorite. Just no aces! Flop comes A36. Oiy! Turn comes 5 and river a miracle 4 to give both of us straights. We split the pot. Phew!

In between hands i walk the floor. There are only 2 or 3 players with fewer chips than we have. This could be a long slow hand to hand.

We end round 16 with 42000 in chips. Frustrating. We are going to have to fold to the money and then die. Hopefully we make it to the money.

To add to my frustration, I ran into the guy who pushed all in on the 456j board when we had JQ and asked him what he had. He responded quickly AQd. He had a diamond draw and two overcards. I hadn't really thought of that, but it's not much different from just the diamond draw. He needed a diamond or an ace. We were about a 75% favorite to double up to about 450k and instead we folded. Cowardly donkey.

All the best,
Oiy Donkey

Sent from my iPhone

Nlh rounds 13-14

Playing 5-handed 1000-2000 with 300 antes. So 4500 in the pot before cards are dealt.

We raise to 4200 from the button with QQ and get called by the bb. Flop comes 5TA with 2 spades. Not good. He checks and we bet 5500. He raises to 15000 and we fold.

We proceed to get great cards. 9Js, JKs, and JJ, not really going up or down much.

Button raises to 4000 and we call from Sb with K7s. Flop comes 5TK with one spade. We are probably in the lead. We check and he bets 4500. We call. Turn comes 8 putting 2 diamonds on the board. We check and he bets 9900. Hmmmm, maybe he has a K? Do we call, fold or push? Fold doesn't feel good. If we push and he's bluffing, we get no river bet from him. Bad. If he's not bluffing he calls us and we are out. Also bad. The push is only good if he has a Tx and is hunting for a second pair. Or an ace looking for another. Very possible. Hmmmm, we call. River comes Q. Not good. Ace would be worse. But Tx could well hit a Q. Betting here is much the same as pushing the turn. We check and he bets 18000. We are likely a loser but we call. He mucks! He was on nothing but a bluff!

Seat 3 bets 4000 and the button calls. We call from the bb with K6d. Flop comes 68J with 2 spades. We check. Seat 3 checks and the button bets 4000. Kind of weak. If seat 3 hit he would have bet and the button is showing weakness. We raise to 14000. Seat 3 folds and the button calls. The turn comes a 6! Giddey-up. We bet 17000 and he calls. Wow. River comes Qs putting a third spade on the board as well as a possible straight. Hmmm. We check and he pushes all in for about 20000. We call and he shows A7o. He was bluffing! Who are these fools who think they can scare the Donkey?

Sb raises to 4500 and we call from the bb with J9. Flop comes 4JA. He bets 4500 again and we call. Turn comes 8h giving us a weak flush draw (we have 9h). He bets 9800 and we go into the tank for a bit and then call. River comes 3s. He pushes all in. On the one hand this is a guy who mucked when we called a few minutes ago so he has little credibility. On the other hand, he knows we will call with top pair and no kicker, which is more than we have now. And he still betting into us! We fold. Ouch.

We fold a few more small pots but have just over 135000 in chips. Take that Donkey-bluffers.

Seat 3 raises to 4400 and we call from the bb with 33. He has a huge stack so let's see if we can flop a set. Flop comes 249 with 2 hearts. Probably didn't hit him. We bet 4500 and he calls. Turn comes 3h. Yay! We hit a set. Hopefully he doesn't have hearts. We bet 8200 and he raises to 18200. Not good. We call looking for the board to pair. River comes 2d! We have a full house! We bet 40000 and he calls. He mucks his hand when we show, but I think I caught a glimpse of a 4d. Not sure what he could have had? 24?

We're still taking that in when seat 5 raises to 5000 and we raise to 17000 from the Sb with QKh. Seat 5 goes all in for about 100000. Hmmm, that's silly talk. We fold. Wish we had just called to see the flop.

We pissed away 12000 there, but we still have 187900.

Playing 1200-2400 with 400 antes. That's 6000 in the pot before cards are dealt.

We raise to 6600 from the button with A6 and the Sb calls. Flop comes 67K. He checks. We bet 7500 and he calls. Turn comes T. He checks and we check. River comes Q. He checks and we check. He shows 22 and folds to our 6.

Table breaks and 5 new stoppable faces appear.

We lose a medium size pot to the guy on our left as an intro to the table. Don't remember the details but we folded to his river bet.

We raise to 5500 from the button with 94d trying to steal. Sb calls and flop comes 2QA with 2 diamonds. He checks and we bet 6000. He calls. Turn comes 4s. We wanted a diamond but at least we made a pair. He checks and we bet 10500. He calls. River comes 2d. Giddey-up. We have a flush. He checks and we bet 22000. He folds. Okay.

Seat 3 raises to 5000 and we call from the bb with Q6c. Flop comes 589. We check and he bets 5500. We call, looking for a 7 or Q or to see what he does. Turn pairs the 5. We check and he checks. Must be afraid we called with a 5. River comes 2. We bet 9500 looking for a fold. Instead we get a raise to 25000. We fold.

We end the round with 254500 in chips with 84 players. Yep, a cool quarter million. Almost 10 times where we came in with today.

We will soon be on the bubble and play will slow down as people try to avoid getting knocked out before we get into the money, which is at 60 players.

All the best,
Fearless Donkey

Sent from my iPhone