We're 20% through the day starting Round 7 with 176,550 in chips. I miscounted as I exited for the bathroom at the end of Round 6 (those of you paying attention will recall I wrote 165,525 in chips). On the walk to the bathroom I thought about the big wins of about 35,000 and knew that with the small wins, even considering all the times I folded and lost blinds and antes, my count was off.
Here we go playing 300 600 with 75 antes. That means 1575 in the pot before we get cards.
S8 raises weakly to 1200 and we call from the BB with K6h. Flop comes 36Q with 1 heart. We check and he weak bets again 1200. We call and another Q turns. We check and he checks. River comes T. We bet 2800 and he calls with 7To. He was bluffing all the way to the River where he hit a winning card. Oh well, sustainable losses are okay.
We play a few small hands and win them all. Then we raise to 1550 from S7 with QK and get called by the button. Flop comes 9TQ and we bet 1500. He calls. Turn comes Q. Fantastico. We bet 2800 and he calls. River comes 8. If he has a J we're dead. We check and he bets 3000. Kind of weak if he has a J. Plus, if he does, he has to worry that we have JK or a full house, so raising is relatively safe. We raise to 9000 and he calls, which is what we were hoping for. He shows AJ to take the pot. Not what we were hoping for. Our first big loss today. Still, losing 15000 with 3 queens against a straight is not the worst possible result.
We limp from S7 with 68c and S8 raises to 2300. Everyone folds, but the pot odds and the 45000 S7 has push us to call. Flop comes Q77 with one club. We check, he bets 2500 and we fold.
We limp from S3 with 66 and S5 raises to 1900. The SB calls and we call. The flop comes 47Q. We bet 3500 and S5 calls. Turn comes J. Not good. We check, he bets, we fold.
This happens again in very similar fashion and rather than get disgruntled, we tighten up. Losing 5-10,000 is not terrible, but doing it repeatedly is. Pretty simple logic right? That's what makes me confident that even a Donkey can do this.
S6 weak bets to 1200 and we raise to 3600 from S7 with AQ. S8 comes over for 9600 and everyone folds to us. It's 6000 to call a pot of 16,000. Tempting, we like the AQ, but what happens after the flop? If we hit a Q, we have to worry he has AA or KK. If we hit an A, we have to worry he has AK. He's acting behind us and has 60,000 in chips. This is never going to be comfortable. We fold.
In seat 5 we raise to 1350 with AJ. The BB is absent from the table, so it's prime stealing time. We get called by S6 and the flop comes 6JQ. We bet 2250 hoping he doesn't have a Q and he folds. Good result. Let's pick up some more nickels and dimes; we have some catching up to do.
S6, 8 and 9 limp and we limp from the SB with K9. Even suited we don't like this hand, but for 300 we'll see the flop. Candidly, thought about raising all the limpers out pre-flop, but had some fear of hitting a slow playing big pair. Anyway, BB checks and we see the flop 3TK with 2 hearts. We bet 1400 and everyone folds. Guess no one had a K, 2 hearts, a JQ or a set. All good.
We raise to 1350 with QQ in S8. The button and the SB call and we see the 389 rainbow flop. Should be good for us. SB checks and we bet 3400. Button calls and SB raises to 11,000. Wow! He either thinks I'm bluffing and he thinks the Button thinks I'm bluffing or he has a hand. Doubtful he has a set as he wouldn't bet so much; he would slow play a little. He likely has 2 pair. In light of the pre-flop betting, probably 89 as opposed to 83 or 93. Alternatively, he could have an open ended straight draw and be semi-bluffing and hoping we fold (e.g. TJ hoping to hit a 7 or Q). We call, creating a massive pot, about 30,000. The Button folds. Turn comes 3 and SB checks. That's a good sign he has 89 or a straight draw. Now he's checking because he's afraid I have a pocket pair of Ts or better to make a better 2 pair than he has. If he is so worried, he's right. If he has a straight draw, we should bet to not give him a free shot at the straight, but more likely he has 2 pair. We check to see the river hoping a Q will come resolve this for us. River comes 2 - total rag, but that's fine. He checks, which is a great sign we have him beat. Otherwise, he's missed 2 opportunities to bet. We bet 12,500 and he goes into the tank. This is the same guy who beat our set of Qs with a straight just a bit ago and we start to worry that he could push and leave us in quite a quandary. We start to regret betting 12,500 and giving him that opportunity. Then we come to our senses and realize the delay now doesn't impact his decisions thus far which pretty much dictate that he has 89 (the delay does nix the idea that he has a straight draw as he would have mucked already). Eventually he calls and shows 89. This is, by the way, one of the only times I've actually read someone's hand this clearly. We pick it up with Qs and 3s. Giddey-up!
We've just eclipsed (by 125 in chips) the 200,000 mark!
S5 limps and we call from S8 with A8. S9 and the blinds limp and 5 of us see the flop with a pot just over 4000. Flop comes 28T with 2 clubs and S5 bets 1850. We call as he could have anything and be trying to buy the pot; everyone else folds. Turn comes Q. He checks and we check. Unlikely that hit him, but he will think the same of us, so no point betting to push him out (just in case he does have a T). River comes A. Fantastic except now there's 3 clubs on the board. He bets 3200. He could have a flush, or he could have been hoping to trap me on the turn and have a set. We just call. Tight and conservative. He shows TQ for 2 pair and we take it down with Aces and Eights, which I believe is referred to as the "Dead Man's Hand". He was slow playing when the Q hit, but I misread his hand as much as I honed in on the 89. I'd rather be lucky than good!
We close a big Round 7, 40% through the day, with 206,850 in chips! They're "racing off" the 25s now, so we will win or lose 50 during the break. Players change all their 25s in for 100s, but if you have orphaned 25s, as I do, you compete with all the other orphan holders by a high card process to see who gets the 100 chips. I got 22 for my 2 25s when they came to me, so others at my table took the 100s - oh well, we lost the 50.
Hopefully more good stuff in 2 hours!
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
******************************************************************************
Please visit the following website to read the KCC legal notice:
http://www.kccllc.com/Email-Disclaimer/
******************************************************************************
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
The Big Dance - Round 6
We left for the San Diego Airport at 630 this morning, flew into Vegas, took a 20 minute nap with Magic and Tinkerbelle, which is really a massive effort to find space on the bed while Magic kept sniffing my shirt like he was looking for signs of our smallest bedmate, but Melissa was nowhere to be found. Got to the Rio by 1145 and broke a sweat walking from the parking lot to the casino entrance - the walk was like a dry sauna, only I'm wearing jeans.
We start Day 2 today in great position with 136,900 chips. As great as the stack is, it doesn't allow for mistakes, because a mistake could bring us right back to the middle of the field, but leave us so frustrated that we under perform from that mid-field position. We'd be far better off starting with 60,000 today than making a mistake that drops us to 70,000. That shouldn't be true, but "we're more Donkey than Machine now" (say that with OB1's sad voice).
Looking back on Day 1, we played some really good poker, with some great luck. We got into 5 "all in" situations and won all 5. Although the big note here is that we bad beat someone, even avoiding being bad beaten 4 times in a row is something to be thankful for. The only unfortunate part of this is that we had the last 4 of our opponents covered, so we doubled up when we had about 14,000 in chips, but then the next 4 events paid us 12-25,000 each instead of doubling us. That's difficult to complain about because they (and we) may have played differently with deeper stacks and, at the end of the day, being remotely upset about it would be like looking a huge gift donkey in the mouth.
Hopefully we will play great instead of good and continue to have great luck. We have about ten hours of poker lying ahead. We start playing 250 500 with 50 antes. That means there's 1200 in the pot before cards hit the table. Stealing blinds will be a huge component to the play, particularly for people with short stacks.
Seat 4 raises to 1150 and we call from the BB with 56c to see the flop AKQ with 2 spades. Scary flop for anyone who doesn't have 2 cards matching the board. We lead out with an 1100 probe. It's a small bet that won't hurt us much to lose, but to him looks like we're bleeding him (he has about 24000 in chips). He calls. Too bad. Turn comes Js. Wow, scary board is out of control with 4 high cards, a straight and a flush. We bet 2500 and he goes into the tank. We turn and ask our massuse to focus on a different area of our back. He folds. Great start! Small pot, but that's what most of today will hopefully be about.
We fold around to the next BB when S8 raises to 1200. She (the only woman at the table) has about 18000 in chips. We call with 8J. Not sure that's a good idea until the 38J flops. We check, she checks and a 5 hits the board putting 3 diamonds up. We can't let another diamond fall for free so we bet 1600 and she folds.
Next hand seat 5 bets 1200 and we call from the SB with 46c. BB folds and flop comes 578. Hmmmm, it appears we have a straight, and unless he's raising with the unusual 69, we have the best hand by far. We check and he checks. Turn comes 2. Time to build the pot. We bet 1600 and he calls. River comes 2 and we bet 4200. He raises to 11200. Hmmmm, to call or raise. He likely has a pocket pair or is bluffing. If he's bluffing, there's no difference between a call and a raise, so assume a pocket pair. A mid pair would support the preflop raise, but not the post flop check. A high pair is more likely, but a small pair that flopped a set also works. In that case, he made a full house and if we raise he can re-raise. He has about 50,000 in chips. Let's just take the mid size pot with our straight. We call and show our cards. He mucks.
Seat 7 raises to 1200 and we call from S8 with 88. Flop comes 89Q. Beautiful unless he flopped a bigger set or a straight. He bets 2400 and we raise to 5200. We need to extract value before a T or J falls. He calls and a 6 turns. Great card. We bet 7500 and he folds.
We are in one other small pot. One with QKd and four players see an AK3 flop with 2 hearts. In third position we bet half the pot and everyone folded.
S3 raises to 1500 and S8 re-raises to 4500. We call from the BB with 9Th because if we hit S8 will push all his chips in (he only has another 15000). We get to see the flop before deciding to go all in with him. Unfortunately, S3 folds. Worse, the flop comes 257 with one heart. We check, predictably S8 pushes all in, and we fold. Our first loss of the day.
S5 bets 1500 and S7 calls. S9 raises to 4500 and we're in the big blind with QKo. We would have called 1500, but today is about playing small as much as possible. We fold.
We raise from the button with K9s, a hand that I really hate, but will play here to steal the blinds. The SB folds and the BB pushes all in for 11,000. That's the big fear in betting cards that aren't solid from the start at this table. We fold.
S7 (who has 18000) raises to 1200 and we call from the BB with A3o. Flop comes 446. We check he checks. Turn comes 7. We bet 1200 and he calls. River comes 2. Hopefully he has 2 over cards, but that didn't help him. We bet 2500 and he folds.
S6 (same guy as last hand) raises to 1300. S8 raises to 3000 and we're on the button with KK. Would love to raise but hopefully S6 will push all in and do it for us trapping S8 who has about 35000. We call and S6 calls. Flop comes 77Q. S6 checks and S8 bets 6000. He's very unlikely to have a 7. QQ is possible, but we're still most likely ahead. We call hoping S6 will push, but he folds. Turn comes T. S8 checks and we bet 7500. He folds.
In S8 we raise to 1300 with AT and get calls from S9 and the BB. Flop comes 38Q. Not good. BB checks and we bet 2400 in hopes they fold. S9 raises to 5200 and the BB calls. We fold.
Our table is broken and we move to 400. As we sit we post the ante and get dealt QQ. S4 bets 1200 and we raise to 3600 from S6. Everyone folds. 5 and 6 seats behind us are huge stacks. The first one is bigger than ours.
S7 raises to 1350 and gets called by S8 (the 2 big stacks). We call from the BB with A2o because if we get crazy lucky, this could be "the hand". Flop comes 789. We check. S7 bets 3500. S8 calls. We fold. Minimize losses.
S6 limps (first limp I've seen today) and we limp in the SB with 66. Bb limps and flop comes 9TQ. Didn't hit us, but probably didn't hit them either. We bet 1200 and they fold.
From S8 we raise to 1350 with K8c, because why not try to steal the blinds? The SB calls and the flop comes A36 rainbow. He checks and we bet 1600. He likely doesn't have an A and our bet represents that we do. He folds. Great result. Picking up nickels and dimes makes me happy.
We certainly played the round small and could have won more with our straight (probably). We had some great luck, played well, played safe, and ended Round 6 with in 165,525 chips. Pretty happy with that. Hopefully more in 2 hours.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
******************************************************************************
Please visit the following website to read the KCC legal notice:
http://www.kccllc.com/Email-Disclaimer/
******************************************************************************
We start Day 2 today in great position with 136,900 chips. As great as the stack is, it doesn't allow for mistakes, because a mistake could bring us right back to the middle of the field, but leave us so frustrated that we under perform from that mid-field position. We'd be far better off starting with 60,000 today than making a mistake that drops us to 70,000. That shouldn't be true, but "we're more Donkey than Machine now" (say that with OB1's sad voice).
Looking back on Day 1, we played some really good poker, with some great luck. We got into 5 "all in" situations and won all 5. Although the big note here is that we bad beat someone, even avoiding being bad beaten 4 times in a row is something to be thankful for. The only unfortunate part of this is that we had the last 4 of our opponents covered, so we doubled up when we had about 14,000 in chips, but then the next 4 events paid us 12-25,000 each instead of doubling us. That's difficult to complain about because they (and we) may have played differently with deeper stacks and, at the end of the day, being remotely upset about it would be like looking a huge gift donkey in the mouth.
Hopefully we will play great instead of good and continue to have great luck. We have about ten hours of poker lying ahead. We start playing 250 500 with 50 antes. That means there's 1200 in the pot before cards hit the table. Stealing blinds will be a huge component to the play, particularly for people with short stacks.
Seat 4 raises to 1150 and we call from the BB with 56c to see the flop AKQ with 2 spades. Scary flop for anyone who doesn't have 2 cards matching the board. We lead out with an 1100 probe. It's a small bet that won't hurt us much to lose, but to him looks like we're bleeding him (he has about 24000 in chips). He calls. Too bad. Turn comes Js. Wow, scary board is out of control with 4 high cards, a straight and a flush. We bet 2500 and he goes into the tank. We turn and ask our massuse to focus on a different area of our back. He folds. Great start! Small pot, but that's what most of today will hopefully be about.
We fold around to the next BB when S8 raises to 1200. She (the only woman at the table) has about 18000 in chips. We call with 8J. Not sure that's a good idea until the 38J flops. We check, she checks and a 5 hits the board putting 3 diamonds up. We can't let another diamond fall for free so we bet 1600 and she folds.
Next hand seat 5 bets 1200 and we call from the SB with 46c. BB folds and flop comes 578. Hmmmm, it appears we have a straight, and unless he's raising with the unusual 69, we have the best hand by far. We check and he checks. Turn comes 2. Time to build the pot. We bet 1600 and he calls. River comes 2 and we bet 4200. He raises to 11200. Hmmmm, to call or raise. He likely has a pocket pair or is bluffing. If he's bluffing, there's no difference between a call and a raise, so assume a pocket pair. A mid pair would support the preflop raise, but not the post flop check. A high pair is more likely, but a small pair that flopped a set also works. In that case, he made a full house and if we raise he can re-raise. He has about 50,000 in chips. Let's just take the mid size pot with our straight. We call and show our cards. He mucks.
Seat 7 raises to 1200 and we call from S8 with 88. Flop comes 89Q. Beautiful unless he flopped a bigger set or a straight. He bets 2400 and we raise to 5200. We need to extract value before a T or J falls. He calls and a 6 turns. Great card. We bet 7500 and he folds.
We are in one other small pot. One with QKd and four players see an AK3 flop with 2 hearts. In third position we bet half the pot and everyone folded.
S3 raises to 1500 and S8 re-raises to 4500. We call from the BB with 9Th because if we hit S8 will push all his chips in (he only has another 15000). We get to see the flop before deciding to go all in with him. Unfortunately, S3 folds. Worse, the flop comes 257 with one heart. We check, predictably S8 pushes all in, and we fold. Our first loss of the day.
S5 bets 1500 and S7 calls. S9 raises to 4500 and we're in the big blind with QKo. We would have called 1500, but today is about playing small as much as possible. We fold.
We raise from the button with K9s, a hand that I really hate, but will play here to steal the blinds. The SB folds and the BB pushes all in for 11,000. That's the big fear in betting cards that aren't solid from the start at this table. We fold.
S7 (who has 18000) raises to 1200 and we call from the BB with A3o. Flop comes 446. We check he checks. Turn comes 7. We bet 1200 and he calls. River comes 2. Hopefully he has 2 over cards, but that didn't help him. We bet 2500 and he folds.
S6 (same guy as last hand) raises to 1300. S8 raises to 3000 and we're on the button with KK. Would love to raise but hopefully S6 will push all in and do it for us trapping S8 who has about 35000. We call and S6 calls. Flop comes 77Q. S6 checks and S8 bets 6000. He's very unlikely to have a 7. QQ is possible, but we're still most likely ahead. We call hoping S6 will push, but he folds. Turn comes T. S8 checks and we bet 7500. He folds.
In S8 we raise to 1300 with AT and get calls from S9 and the BB. Flop comes 38Q. Not good. BB checks and we bet 2400 in hopes they fold. S9 raises to 5200 and the BB calls. We fold.
Our table is broken and we move to 400. As we sit we post the ante and get dealt QQ. S4 bets 1200 and we raise to 3600 from S6. Everyone folds. 5 and 6 seats behind us are huge stacks. The first one is bigger than ours.
S7 raises to 1350 and gets called by S8 (the 2 big stacks). We call from the BB with A2o because if we get crazy lucky, this could be "the hand". Flop comes 789. We check. S7 bets 3500. S8 calls. We fold. Minimize losses.
S6 limps (first limp I've seen today) and we limp in the SB with 66. Bb limps and flop comes 9TQ. Didn't hit us, but probably didn't hit them either. We bet 1200 and they fold.
From S8 we raise to 1350 with K8c, because why not try to steal the blinds? The SB calls and the flop comes A36 rainbow. He checks and we bet 1600. He likely doesn't have an A and our bet represents that we do. He folds. Great result. Picking up nickels and dimes makes me happy.
We certainly played the round small and could have won more with our straight (probably). We had some great luck, played well, played safe, and ended Round 6 with in 165,525 chips. Pretty happy with that. Hopefully more in 2 hours.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
******************************************************************************
Please visit the following website to read the KCC legal notice:
http://www.kccllc.com/Email-Disclaimer/
******************************************************************************
Sunday, July 8, 2012
The Big Dance - Round 5
So we start the round with 43,500 in chips playing 200 400 with 50 antes. That means there's 1050 in the pot before cards are dealt, so stealing the blinds is at a premium. This also puts pressure on players to build their stacks because soon the cost to play a hand will grow so large that small stacks have only one choice, fold or push all in. To add to the elements, there's a huge personal cost to playing Day 2 for a lot of players, including me. Those players will be more likely to push all in to either get knocked out and not have to come back or to double up and come back strong. My 43,500 chip stack is certainly above average, which is probably around 39,000, but it's not enough to feel excited coming back to Vegas in 3 days.
Side note - unlike prior years, there are only 3 Day 1s this year, so instead of playing Day 2 in four days (after the second, third, and fourth Day 1), people playing Day 1 today play Day 2 in 3 days, on Tuesday.
After folding for 20 minutes, S3 raises to 1000 and everyone folds to us in the BB. We have AK and consider raising, but he will likely pay us off if we hit, so we call. Flop comes 57J. We check and he checks. Either he's slow playing or has something like AQ - let's hope for that. Turn comes 2 and we bet 1000. He flat calls. That's a good sign. River comes 6 and we bet 2000. Again he flat calls. We show AK and he mucks. Nice pick up of about 5000!
S4 raises to 1100 and we call from S6 with 89c. S7 calls and S8, who is very aggressive, raises to 3200. S4 folds and we call because if we hit, we should get paid by S8. S7 calls and the flop comes 884. Wow! We check, S7 checks, and S8 bets 5200. We call and S7 folds. Turn comes 3. We check and he pushes all in. We call and he says good call and turns over AQ. River Q is no help to him; he's out.
Seat 4 raises to 1050, S7 calls and we call from S8 with AK. Flop comes A2Q and we wind up all in with S4. At this point I can't recall the exact play as it's been a while, but I remember he had AQ, which is terrible for us. We turn a J and river a T to make a straight and bad beat him for the pot. He's out.
Not long after someone new comes to the table to replace someone I busted. Everyone folds to me and we raise to 1600 in the SB with KTc. He re-raises to 3600 and we call. Flop comes 6TQ. We check and he bets 4800. We call and turn comes K giving us 2 pair. We check and he checks. River comes 7. We bet 7500. He only has about 11000, so he pushes all in. We call and he shows AA. Our 2 pair takes it down, and we send another person home.
We've knocked out several people this round, but they all had relatively small stacks. Still, this is amazing luck.
Seat 6 raises to 1200 and we're in the BB with 25h. Not a great hand, but for 800, we'll see the flop. Flop comes A36 with 1 heart and 2 clubs. We check and he bets 2200. He has about 50,000 in chips, but a call here still doesn't make sense. Even if I hit a 4 to make a straight, I won't make the 20,000 that is required for taking the 2200 risk. Still, we're on a heater and we call. Turn comes 3c. What a scare card. There are now 2 3s and 3 clubs on the board. We bet 4400 and he folds. Giddey-up!
Seat 6 raises to 800 and we call from the BB with TJ. Flop comes 39J and we bet 1600. He folds.
The guy to my right got a one round penalty for failing to bet when he had the nuts. He didn't realize he had it; this is the consequence of poker exhaustion. Anyway, his BB was dead in the pot and we're on our heater so we raise to 1050 with J4. Yep, true story. Wild attempt to steal the blinds. However, S7 and S8 call. Flop comes AA2. Very scary flop for them. I check and they check. Turn comes 5. We bet 1800 and S7 calls. S8 folds. River comes 7 and we bet 3600. He folds. This game is too easy when everyone's afraid of you and you can spare chips to throw at people.
We did, of course, hit a rough stretch to end the heater, but we took our lumps for about 10,000 in losses and finished Round 5 with 136,900 in chips.
Cards fly again Tuesday at noon. Thanks for joining the Herd.
Your Donkey
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
******************************************************************************
Please visit the following website to read the KCC legal notice:
http://www.kccllc.com/Email-Disclaimer/
******************************************************************************
Side note - unlike prior years, there are only 3 Day 1s this year, so instead of playing Day 2 in four days (after the second, third, and fourth Day 1), people playing Day 1 today play Day 2 in 3 days, on Tuesday.
After folding for 20 minutes, S3 raises to 1000 and everyone folds to us in the BB. We have AK and consider raising, but he will likely pay us off if we hit, so we call. Flop comes 57J. We check and he checks. Either he's slow playing or has something like AQ - let's hope for that. Turn comes 2 and we bet 1000. He flat calls. That's a good sign. River comes 6 and we bet 2000. Again he flat calls. We show AK and he mucks. Nice pick up of about 5000!
S4 raises to 1100 and we call from S6 with 89c. S7 calls and S8, who is very aggressive, raises to 3200. S4 folds and we call because if we hit, we should get paid by S8. S7 calls and the flop comes 884. Wow! We check, S7 checks, and S8 bets 5200. We call and S7 folds. Turn comes 3. We check and he pushes all in. We call and he says good call and turns over AQ. River Q is no help to him; he's out.
Seat 4 raises to 1050, S7 calls and we call from S8 with AK. Flop comes A2Q and we wind up all in with S4. At this point I can't recall the exact play as it's been a while, but I remember he had AQ, which is terrible for us. We turn a J and river a T to make a straight and bad beat him for the pot. He's out.
Not long after someone new comes to the table to replace someone I busted. Everyone folds to me and we raise to 1600 in the SB with KTc. He re-raises to 3600 and we call. Flop comes 6TQ. We check and he bets 4800. We call and turn comes K giving us 2 pair. We check and he checks. River comes 7. We bet 7500. He only has about 11000, so he pushes all in. We call and he shows AA. Our 2 pair takes it down, and we send another person home.
We've knocked out several people this round, but they all had relatively small stacks. Still, this is amazing luck.
Seat 6 raises to 1200 and we're in the BB with 25h. Not a great hand, but for 800, we'll see the flop. Flop comes A36 with 1 heart and 2 clubs. We check and he bets 2200. He has about 50,000 in chips, but a call here still doesn't make sense. Even if I hit a 4 to make a straight, I won't make the 20,000 that is required for taking the 2200 risk. Still, we're on a heater and we call. Turn comes 3c. What a scare card. There are now 2 3s and 3 clubs on the board. We bet 4400 and he folds. Giddey-up!
Seat 6 raises to 800 and we call from the BB with TJ. Flop comes 39J and we bet 1600. He folds.
The guy to my right got a one round penalty for failing to bet when he had the nuts. He didn't realize he had it; this is the consequence of poker exhaustion. Anyway, his BB was dead in the pot and we're on our heater so we raise to 1050 with J4. Yep, true story. Wild attempt to steal the blinds. However, S7 and S8 call. Flop comes AA2. Very scary flop for them. I check and they check. Turn comes 5. We bet 1800 and S7 calls. S8 folds. River comes 7 and we bet 3600. He folds. This game is too easy when everyone's afraid of you and you can spare chips to throw at people.
We did, of course, hit a rough stretch to end the heater, but we took our lumps for about 10,000 in losses and finished Round 5 with 136,900 in chips.
Cards fly again Tuesday at noon. Thanks for joining the Herd.
Your Donkey
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
******************************************************************************
Please visit the following website to read the KCC legal notice:
http://www.kccllc.com/Email-Disclaimer/
******************************************************************************
Saturday, July 7, 2012
The Big Dance - Round 4
On the way to dinner, we passed a few portraits of the most prolific bracelet winners. Among them is Bill Baxter with 8 bracelets. He's sitting in the 1 seat at our table.
We start with 42,000 chips (I must have miss counted at the end of last round) playing 150 300 with 25 antes. That means 675 in the pot before cards are dealt.
We fold every hand for 24 minutes and then raise to 700 with TT in S8. BB raises to 2100 and we call. Flop comes 47K, all spades. He bets 1700. Unless he has an overpair or AK (of course these are very possible hands, in fact probable), we're probably good. If he does, a raise from us may push him out in fear of the flush. We raise to 4700. He thinks for a bit, and then calls. The turn comes 8c. He checks. The lack of a re-raise and then the check to me means he doesn't have the As, but bluffing now is too expensive. We check. River comes 2d. He checks, we check, and he takes it down with JJ. I wonder if he would have folded if we bet the river? Oh well, big loss.
S6 makes a weak raise to 650 and we call from the BB with 44. Flop comes 29Q. Hopefully he has something like suited connectors that missed that. We bet 900 and he folds.
In S6 we raise to 750 with KQ and everyone folds. Good result.
In S4 we limp with 66 and see the flop with S5 and the blinds. Flop comes 25Q. Blinds check and we bet 750. S5 calls. Turn comes J. We bet 1050 and he calls. River comes 3. We check, he checks, and he takes it down with 88. I suppose bigger bets would have pushed him off his hand, but not if he had Q9 or something like that and we didn't want to risk the larger amounts. We have about 33,500 chips still. A respectable stack.
S6 weak raises to 600. S7 calls and we call from the BB with 88. Flop comes 236. We bet 1600 with our overpair and S7 calls. Turn comes 6. Still liking our overpair we bet 2800, but he still calls. The river comes 7. If we bet, he will likely not call unless he has an overpair, so we check. He checks and shows TT. Aaarrgggghhh - a few minutes ago we lost a big pot with TT against JJ and now 88 against TT. We're down to about 28000 chips!
From S4 we raise to 750 with AQ and everyone folds.
Next hand from S3 we raise to 750 with AK and get called by S8 and the BB. Flop comes 24Q. BB checks and we bet 1250. They fold. Good result.
S8 raises to 800 and gets called by the SB. In the BB we call with 9Ts and see the flop 8TJ giving us middle pair and an open-ended straight draw. We bet 1400 and S8 calls. Turn comes A. We check and he bets 2500. We call. River comes 5. We check, he bets 4800 and we fold our pair of Ts.
In S4 we raise to 700 with ATh and get called by S6 and S8. Flop comes A24 with 2 clubs. We bet 1800 hoping to take it down, but the both call! We are afraid of a club flush or someone with an Ax where the x is a face card. Turn comes 7d, putting 2 diamonds on the board. We bet 4200; that should get rid of the flush draws. S6 calls, but he has called down with nothing in his short time at the table (he replaced the guy we busted with the set of 9s). S8 folds. River comes 7s - no flush on the board. We still check. There's probably nothing he calls with that doesn't beat us. He checks and we show the ace; he mucks.
From S8 we raise to 700 with AQ and get called by the SB. Flop comes ATT and we bet 900. He calls. Turn comes 5. We bet 1800 and he calls. River comes 3. He checks and we consider betting, but what if he's slow playing a T and raises? What if he doesn't have the T but raises and we have to fold? We just turn over the AQ and take the pot down.
We punch and kick a little more as we come to the end of Round 4 and finish the round with 43,500 in chips. After all that drama we're up 1500. Happy result.
Hopefully nothing to report for 2 hours!
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
******************************************************************************
Please visit the following website to read the KCC legal notice:
http://www.kccllc.com/Email-Disclaimer/
******************************************************************************
We start with 42,000 chips (I must have miss counted at the end of last round) playing 150 300 with 25 antes. That means 675 in the pot before cards are dealt.
We fold every hand for 24 minutes and then raise to 700 with TT in S8. BB raises to 2100 and we call. Flop comes 47K, all spades. He bets 1700. Unless he has an overpair or AK (of course these are very possible hands, in fact probable), we're probably good. If he does, a raise from us may push him out in fear of the flush. We raise to 4700. He thinks for a bit, and then calls. The turn comes 8c. He checks. The lack of a re-raise and then the check to me means he doesn't have the As, but bluffing now is too expensive. We check. River comes 2d. He checks, we check, and he takes it down with JJ. I wonder if he would have folded if we bet the river? Oh well, big loss.
S6 makes a weak raise to 650 and we call from the BB with 44. Flop comes 29Q. Hopefully he has something like suited connectors that missed that. We bet 900 and he folds.
In S6 we raise to 750 with KQ and everyone folds. Good result.
In S4 we limp with 66 and see the flop with S5 and the blinds. Flop comes 25Q. Blinds check and we bet 750. S5 calls. Turn comes J. We bet 1050 and he calls. River comes 3. We check, he checks, and he takes it down with 88. I suppose bigger bets would have pushed him off his hand, but not if he had Q9 or something like that and we didn't want to risk the larger amounts. We have about 33,500 chips still. A respectable stack.
S6 weak raises to 600. S7 calls and we call from the BB with 88. Flop comes 236. We bet 1600 with our overpair and S7 calls. Turn comes 6. Still liking our overpair we bet 2800, but he still calls. The river comes 7. If we bet, he will likely not call unless he has an overpair, so we check. He checks and shows TT. Aaarrgggghhh - a few minutes ago we lost a big pot with TT against JJ and now 88 against TT. We're down to about 28000 chips!
From S4 we raise to 750 with AQ and everyone folds.
Next hand from S3 we raise to 750 with AK and get called by S8 and the BB. Flop comes 24Q. BB checks and we bet 1250. They fold. Good result.
S8 raises to 800 and gets called by the SB. In the BB we call with 9Ts and see the flop 8TJ giving us middle pair and an open-ended straight draw. We bet 1400 and S8 calls. Turn comes A. We check and he bets 2500. We call. River comes 5. We check, he bets 4800 and we fold our pair of Ts.
In S4 we raise to 700 with ATh and get called by S6 and S8. Flop comes A24 with 2 clubs. We bet 1800 hoping to take it down, but the both call! We are afraid of a club flush or someone with an Ax where the x is a face card. Turn comes 7d, putting 2 diamonds on the board. We bet 4200; that should get rid of the flush draws. S6 calls, but he has called down with nothing in his short time at the table (he replaced the guy we busted with the set of 9s). S8 folds. River comes 7s - no flush on the board. We still check. There's probably nothing he calls with that doesn't beat us. He checks and we show the ace; he mucks.
From S8 we raise to 700 with AQ and get called by the SB. Flop comes ATT and we bet 900. He calls. Turn comes 5. We bet 1800 and he calls. River comes 3. He checks and we consider betting, but what if he's slow playing a T and raises? What if he doesn't have the T but raises and we have to fold? We just turn over the AQ and take the pot down.
We punch and kick a little more as we come to the end of Round 4 and finish the round with 43,500 in chips. After all that drama we're up 1500. Happy result.
Hopefully nothing to report for 2 hours!
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
******************************************************************************
Please visit the following website to read the KCC legal notice:
http://www.kccllc.com/Email-Disclaimer/
******************************************************************************
The Big Dance - Round 3
Playing 150 300
Side note - during the last break I mentioned to Melissa that I'm hoping to get 99 and play it in honor of the 9 month old twins at home. Read on.
Seat 5 raises to 800 and we call from the BB with JT. Flop comes 24K. We check, he bets, we fold.
He raises again to 800 and we call from the SB with J9d. Flop comes 457. We take a stab at it with 900 but he calls. Turn comes A, which is really the worst card for us. We check, he bets, we fold.
Quick loss of 2500, but I feel like we're minimizing losses for the most part.
S6 raises to 600 and we call with A9d. BB calls and flop comes 4TK with 2 spades and a diamond. They check and we consider betting but don't. Turn comes 7s. BB bets, S6 calls, we fold.
S3 raises to 700 and everyone folds to us in the BB with 58d. For 400, we call. Flop comes KJ2 with 1 diamond. We check, he bets! We fold.
We need to get out of this rhythm.
We limp from seat 6 with 56c. Seat 8 raises to 1200 and everyone else folds. We call and flop comes 448 with 2 clubs. Great flop. We check, he checks and turn comes 2h. We need a 7 or a c. We bet 1600 hoping to take it down. He goes into the tank for a bit and then mucks his hand. We finally won a hand this round. Good rhythm breaker.
They've squared us up to play 9 handed. Evidently they didn't sell all the seats. That's fine. It's more comfortable to play 9 handed.
Seat 6 raises to 700 and we call from S8 with TT. Flop comes 457. He bets 800 and we raise to 1600. He calls. Turn comes 5 and he checks. We bet 2000 and he calls. River comes 7. Again he checks. We bet 2500 and he goes into the tank. He ultimately calls and shows QQ to take it down.
Ouch. We're back down to just over 30,000 in chips. Head in the game.
Seat 5 raises to 800 and gets called by 6 and 9. We're in the BB with 22 and call. What a great time to flop a 2! Unfortunately, no 2 flops and we fold to the post flop bet.
Seat 4 limps and S9 raises to 800. We call from the SB with 68h. BB and S4 call and we all see the 38K flop. Everyone checks to S9 who bets 1600. To call or not to call. If we do, we have 5 great cards that could turn, and we get to see if he bets the turn. We call. Turn comes Q. Terrible card. We check, he bets, we fold. Hmmmphhh.
Seat 3 raises to 700, S8 calls and we have JJ in the BB. We raise to 2800 and S3 calls. Flop comes 39K, all diamonds. Wow that's not so good. We do have the Jd, but, we check and he bets 5000 into the 6450 pot. What could he have? KK would have re-raised pre-flop. Same is true for AA. He could have AK or AQ, in either case a diamond in his hand would be higher than mine. Worst case is AK with the Ad. The bet just doesn't make sense because any of these hands would have re-raised pre-flop and would bet an amount post flop that would keep me in, maybe 3500. Suppose he could have top 2 pair or a set of 3s or 9s? We call. Turn comes 9c putting a pair of 9s on the board and one more thing to worry about. If he had a set or top two pair, he now has a full house. We check and he pushes all in with enough chips to cover us. This hurts, but we fold. Better to lose 7600 than 27,000. We're down to about 19,000 in chips.
After the hand he claimed to have AA but not the Ad. I doubt it as he didn't re-raise pre-flop, but if he did have that, our play was perfect.
S4 raises to 600 and we call from the BB with 89. It's just 300 more right? Flop comes 3JA. We check, he bets, we fold. Here we go again! We have had barely playable hands for the most part, which we've ditched pre or immediately post flop. We still have a decent stack of chips, about 15,000, but we need to turn this around.
In S7 we raise to 750 with KT and S8 (Mr AA) calls. Flop comes 7TK with 2 spades (we have Ks). Great flop! We bet 900 and he raises to 2200. He's been very aggressive and as much as we want to raise, we don't want to scare him away. So we call. Turn comes 9. Highly unlikely that helped him. He'd have to have raised with 99 or 8J or 68. We check and he bets 4000. We only have about 11,000, but we do the "Hollywood" in the tank thinking and the push all in. He calls and shows AK. As long as the river isn't an A, we'll win. River comes J and we double up. We're back to 30,000 chips.
7 hands later we're on the button as Round 3 ends, but they're dealing our cards. S8 raises to 900. We have 99. The raise to 900 was odd, the 99 is odd, I'm getting goose bumps. The only imperfect thing is I thought of the kids as hearts (Storm) and diamonds (Kiara), not the club and spade in my hand. Anyway, I call and the BB calls. Flop comes 9TQ with 2 diamonds. I've flopped a set! They check and we bet 1100. BB calls and S8 folds. The turn is 3s. Perfect. That card could not have helped him unless he's in with something like Q3. We bet 3100. He only has 8000 and his chips don't break into 3100 (he has a 5000, two 1000s, and two 500s). I'm making him break the 5000 chip or push. He pushes and we call. He has KT. As long as a J doesn't river (which would give him a straight, we'll win. I don't remember what the river was, but we won.
We close Round 3 with 42,400 in chips. After about 100 minutes of getting slapped around, we had a huge turn and finished just above where we started the round thanks to a couple of huge flops.
Now on a 90 minute dinner, followed by 2 hours of poker. Hopefully more in 3.5 hours!
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
******************************************************************************
Please visit the following website to read the KCC legal notice:
http://www.kccllc.com/Email-Disclaimer/
******************************************************************************
Side note - during the last break I mentioned to Melissa that I'm hoping to get 99 and play it in honor of the 9 month old twins at home. Read on.
Seat 5 raises to 800 and we call from the BB with JT. Flop comes 24K. We check, he bets, we fold.
He raises again to 800 and we call from the SB with J9d. Flop comes 457. We take a stab at it with 900 but he calls. Turn comes A, which is really the worst card for us. We check, he bets, we fold.
Quick loss of 2500, but I feel like we're minimizing losses for the most part.
S6 raises to 600 and we call with A9d. BB calls and flop comes 4TK with 2 spades and a diamond. They check and we consider betting but don't. Turn comes 7s. BB bets, S6 calls, we fold.
S3 raises to 700 and everyone folds to us in the BB with 58d. For 400, we call. Flop comes KJ2 with 1 diamond. We check, he bets! We fold.
We need to get out of this rhythm.
We limp from seat 6 with 56c. Seat 8 raises to 1200 and everyone else folds. We call and flop comes 448 with 2 clubs. Great flop. We check, he checks and turn comes 2h. We need a 7 or a c. We bet 1600 hoping to take it down. He goes into the tank for a bit and then mucks his hand. We finally won a hand this round. Good rhythm breaker.
They've squared us up to play 9 handed. Evidently they didn't sell all the seats. That's fine. It's more comfortable to play 9 handed.
Seat 6 raises to 700 and we call from S8 with TT. Flop comes 457. He bets 800 and we raise to 1600. He calls. Turn comes 5 and he checks. We bet 2000 and he calls. River comes 7. Again he checks. We bet 2500 and he goes into the tank. He ultimately calls and shows QQ to take it down.
Ouch. We're back down to just over 30,000 in chips. Head in the game.
Seat 5 raises to 800 and gets called by 6 and 9. We're in the BB with 22 and call. What a great time to flop a 2! Unfortunately, no 2 flops and we fold to the post flop bet.
Seat 4 limps and S9 raises to 800. We call from the SB with 68h. BB and S4 call and we all see the 38K flop. Everyone checks to S9 who bets 1600. To call or not to call. If we do, we have 5 great cards that could turn, and we get to see if he bets the turn. We call. Turn comes Q. Terrible card. We check, he bets, we fold. Hmmmphhh.
Seat 3 raises to 700, S8 calls and we have JJ in the BB. We raise to 2800 and S3 calls. Flop comes 39K, all diamonds. Wow that's not so good. We do have the Jd, but, we check and he bets 5000 into the 6450 pot. What could he have? KK would have re-raised pre-flop. Same is true for AA. He could have AK or AQ, in either case a diamond in his hand would be higher than mine. Worst case is AK with the Ad. The bet just doesn't make sense because any of these hands would have re-raised pre-flop and would bet an amount post flop that would keep me in, maybe 3500. Suppose he could have top 2 pair or a set of 3s or 9s? We call. Turn comes 9c putting a pair of 9s on the board and one more thing to worry about. If he had a set or top two pair, he now has a full house. We check and he pushes all in with enough chips to cover us. This hurts, but we fold. Better to lose 7600 than 27,000. We're down to about 19,000 in chips.
After the hand he claimed to have AA but not the Ad. I doubt it as he didn't re-raise pre-flop, but if he did have that, our play was perfect.
S4 raises to 600 and we call from the BB with 89. It's just 300 more right? Flop comes 3JA. We check, he bets, we fold. Here we go again! We have had barely playable hands for the most part, which we've ditched pre or immediately post flop. We still have a decent stack of chips, about 15,000, but we need to turn this around.
In S7 we raise to 750 with KT and S8 (Mr AA) calls. Flop comes 7TK with 2 spades (we have Ks). Great flop! We bet 900 and he raises to 2200. He's been very aggressive and as much as we want to raise, we don't want to scare him away. So we call. Turn comes 9. Highly unlikely that helped him. He'd have to have raised with 99 or 8J or 68. We check and he bets 4000. We only have about 11,000, but we do the "Hollywood" in the tank thinking and the push all in. He calls and shows AK. As long as the river isn't an A, we'll win. River comes J and we double up. We're back to 30,000 chips.
7 hands later we're on the button as Round 3 ends, but they're dealing our cards. S8 raises to 900. We have 99. The raise to 900 was odd, the 99 is odd, I'm getting goose bumps. The only imperfect thing is I thought of the kids as hearts (Storm) and diamonds (Kiara), not the club and spade in my hand. Anyway, I call and the BB calls. Flop comes 9TQ with 2 diamonds. I've flopped a set! They check and we bet 1100. BB calls and S8 folds. The turn is 3s. Perfect. That card could not have helped him unless he's in with something like Q3. We bet 3100. He only has 8000 and his chips don't break into 3100 (he has a 5000, two 1000s, and two 500s). I'm making him break the 5000 chip or push. He pushes and we call. He has KT. As long as a J doesn't river (which would give him a straight, we'll win. I don't remember what the river was, but we won.
We close Round 3 with 42,400 in chips. After about 100 minutes of getting slapped around, we had a huge turn and finished just above where we started the round thanks to a couple of huge flops.
Now on a 90 minute dinner, followed by 2 hours of poker. Hopefully more in 3.5 hours!
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
******************************************************************************
Please visit the following website to read the KCC legal notice:
http://www.kccllc.com/Email-Disclaimer/
******************************************************************************
The Big Dance - Round 2
Just as a reminder, if you want to post a reply, send your reply to esethk.pokerdonkey@blogger.com.
Brief look back at last round, we made a mistake betting the A3 on the river and we may have over bet or K-high flush. We could have squeezed more money out of that hand, but we also avoided seeing another heart come and having to muck our hand to a big bet.
Well, Donkey looking forward now. Let's charge forward! But in a soft, careful way.
We start Round 2 with 31,150 playing 100 200 NLH.
We limp in S3 with 55. S4 and S6 limp and S7 (who we will call Huck, and who is the guy we had the K flush against) raises to 1100. Huck has raised the limps consistently, so we re-raise to 4100 and he folds along with everyone else.
Huck raises to 600 and we call from the BB with TJs. Flop comes 48J. We bet 750 and he calls. Turn comes T. Fantastic. We bet 1500 and he calls. River comes 7. Now a 9 gives him a straight. We should still be good, but let's be careful. We check and he bets 2250. We call and he mucks his bluff.
Seat 8 raises to 400 and we call from the SB with 4Td. BB calls and flop comes 88J with 2 diamonds. We bet 600 and BB calls. S8 folds. Turn comes Kc. Hoping he'll fold we bet 1200. He calls. River comes 6s. Our only chance to win now is by betting and making him fold, so we bet 2300, but he calls with a J7. Can we scream? No. We are, however, allowed to punch ourselves in the face.
We raise to 450 from S7 with 66. The blinds both call. Huck, in the BB, comments that he's only playing so he can lose more chips to me. Flop comes 28T with 2 spades. They both check. We check, just in case they hit something and just in case we turn a 6. We don't. Turn comes 2 pairing the board and they check again. We bet 625 and they fold. I guess they didn't hit anything, so both our just in cases were irrelevant.
Seat 4 limps and Seat 7 raises to 600 and we call from the SB with AJ. S4 calls and flop comes 4TJ with 2 hearts (we have Ah). Jacks have been great for us so far and flopping quite a bit. We check, 4 checks and 7 bets 800. We raise to 1600. 4 folds and 7 calls. Turn comes T. That's not good if he has a T. We bet 2000. Let's see. He calls. No raise is nice, but he's behind us and could be slow playing. River comes A. Great card as we now have aces and jacks. If he was hoping to hit an over (eg playing a QA, we're probably solid (unless he has QK). We bet 3500 and he folds. Fine result.
On a side note, going back to the K flush hand, Huck mentioned that he had the Ah. Was he lying? Possibly - this is poker. But he went on to replay his mistakes. He should have flat called, he could have lost less, etc., so maybe it's true, in which case my play was right, but luckily so, not necessarily skillfully so. 6 commas. Great literature this is says Yoda.
S3 raises to 600 and we call from S4 with JJ. Flop comes 79Q and he bets 800. We call. Hoping for a J or that he doesn't have a Q. Turn comes 4. He bets 2000 and we call again. That didn't help him. River comes 9 and he checks. He may be afraid we have a 9, which means he has at least TT and prob a Q. We check and he shows AA and takes it down. Ouch, but that could have hurt more. If he had made a mid bet on the river we would have called and lost that too!
Everyone folds to the button who raises to 550 in a classic blind stealing mode. SB folds and we have A5, which may be the best hand out. We raise to 2100 assuming he'll fold, but he calls. Flop comes 34K with 2 spades. A miracle 2 would be fun? In any case, our pre-flop bet could certainly mean we have AK or KQ, or even AA. We bet 2200. Bet it like you got it. He goes into the tank for a bit and folds. Nice pick up of 2200 chips.
Seat 6 raises to 550. S7 calls and we're in S8 with A2h. We call and so does S9 and the BB. 5 players! Flop comes 24Q with one heart and everyone checks to us. We bet 1600 and S9 calls, but everyone else folds. Turn comes Kh. How much would a heart on the river rock? We check, hoping to see a free card and he checks behind us. River comes 3s. Not good. Doubtful that our 2s are good, but maybe. Pot is about 6000. We bet 3500 hoping he folds and he does. Yay!
Seat 4 raises to 500 and we call from S6 with A2d. Here we go again. BB calls and flop comes 47K with 2 hearts. BB bets 700 and we both fold.
Seat 7 raises to 500 and we call from the button with 79s. SB raises to 2200 and BB and S7 fold. We could win a huge pot if we hit, but 1700 more to see the flop? We fold.
Very next hand we raise from S8 to 550 with 89d and get called by the same guy, now on the button. Flop comes 33J with 2 diamonds. Today is the day of diamonds and jacks. We bet 750 and he folds. Okay, we're even on that exchange.
We raise to 550 from S4 with 79c. Deja vu of sorts. Seat 7 raises to 1750 and then the BB pushes all in for about 16000. This is his second recent pre-flop massive over bet push, but we can't call and we fold. So does S7.
S5 limps and S9 (the pusher) raises to 600. We're in the BB with JJ and raise to 1900. S5 folds and the pusher goes into the tank. Now we're worried. If he pushes again, we can't call. Not with JJ. Even if we're in the lead and he has A9, we can't risk 17000 chips on a roll of the dice. After a minute, he folds.
Huck in S4 raises to 500 and we call from the button with A2d. This must be the 4th time we've had suited A2. Crazy. BB calls and flop comes 569 with 2 spades. Huck bets 1700 and we fold. Ultimately the BB wins this pot making a straight with 67d. Would have been a great time to make a Diamond flush!
From S7 we limp in with 34c. The SB folds and we see the flop with the BB. 9JQ comes and he checks. We bet 200 and he folds. Not a great win, but we'll take it.
S4 raises to 600 and we call from 8 with AJ. S9 calls and the flop comes QQK. S4 bets 1100. Every now and the we like to float behind the bettor and see what they do next. If he doesn't have a Q or K, he should check the turn. Also, a T gives us a straight, which is against the odds but would be nice. We call and S9 folds. Turn comes 5 and S4 bets 2100. This philosophical floating thing is over. We fold.
In S6 we limp with 33. S6 raises to 1000, which we would have called, but Huck goes all in for 3200. I don't believe Huck, but S6 could raise after we call, so we fold. S6 calls with KQ. Huck has A8. It's painful to watch. The flop is 36J. Neither of them ever hit anything and Huck's ace takes the pot, but we would have flopped a set of threes. Oh well, play safe.
So we took a couple mid level hits, but the slow consistent play is working well at this point. We conclude Level 2, after 4 hours of play, with 40,025 in chips. Pretty happy about that.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
******************************************************************************
Please visit the following website to read the KCC legal notice:
http://www.kccllc.com/Email-Disclaimer/
******************************************************************************
Brief look back at last round, we made a mistake betting the A3 on the river and we may have over bet or K-high flush. We could have squeezed more money out of that hand, but we also avoided seeing another heart come and having to muck our hand to a big bet.
Well, Donkey looking forward now. Let's charge forward! But in a soft, careful way.
We start Round 2 with 31,150 playing 100 200 NLH.
We limp in S3 with 55. S4 and S6 limp and S7 (who we will call Huck, and who is the guy we had the K flush against) raises to 1100. Huck has raised the limps consistently, so we re-raise to 4100 and he folds along with everyone else.
Huck raises to 600 and we call from the BB with TJs. Flop comes 48J. We bet 750 and he calls. Turn comes T. Fantastic. We bet 1500 and he calls. River comes 7. Now a 9 gives him a straight. We should still be good, but let's be careful. We check and he bets 2250. We call and he mucks his bluff.
Seat 8 raises to 400 and we call from the SB with 4Td. BB calls and flop comes 88J with 2 diamonds. We bet 600 and BB calls. S8 folds. Turn comes Kc. Hoping he'll fold we bet 1200. He calls. River comes 6s. Our only chance to win now is by betting and making him fold, so we bet 2300, but he calls with a J7. Can we scream? No. We are, however, allowed to punch ourselves in the face.
We raise to 450 from S7 with 66. The blinds both call. Huck, in the BB, comments that he's only playing so he can lose more chips to me. Flop comes 28T with 2 spades. They both check. We check, just in case they hit something and just in case we turn a 6. We don't. Turn comes 2 pairing the board and they check again. We bet 625 and they fold. I guess they didn't hit anything, so both our just in cases were irrelevant.
Seat 4 limps and Seat 7 raises to 600 and we call from the SB with AJ. S4 calls and flop comes 4TJ with 2 hearts (we have Ah). Jacks have been great for us so far and flopping quite a bit. We check, 4 checks and 7 bets 800. We raise to 1600. 4 folds and 7 calls. Turn comes T. That's not good if he has a T. We bet 2000. Let's see. He calls. No raise is nice, but he's behind us and could be slow playing. River comes A. Great card as we now have aces and jacks. If he was hoping to hit an over (eg playing a QA, we're probably solid (unless he has QK). We bet 3500 and he folds. Fine result.
On a side note, going back to the K flush hand, Huck mentioned that he had the Ah. Was he lying? Possibly - this is poker. But he went on to replay his mistakes. He should have flat called, he could have lost less, etc., so maybe it's true, in which case my play was right, but luckily so, not necessarily skillfully so. 6 commas. Great literature this is says Yoda.
S3 raises to 600 and we call from S4 with JJ. Flop comes 79Q and he bets 800. We call. Hoping for a J or that he doesn't have a Q. Turn comes 4. He bets 2000 and we call again. That didn't help him. River comes 9 and he checks. He may be afraid we have a 9, which means he has at least TT and prob a Q. We check and he shows AA and takes it down. Ouch, but that could have hurt more. If he had made a mid bet on the river we would have called and lost that too!
Everyone folds to the button who raises to 550 in a classic blind stealing mode. SB folds and we have A5, which may be the best hand out. We raise to 2100 assuming he'll fold, but he calls. Flop comes 34K with 2 spades. A miracle 2 would be fun? In any case, our pre-flop bet could certainly mean we have AK or KQ, or even AA. We bet 2200. Bet it like you got it. He goes into the tank for a bit and folds. Nice pick up of 2200 chips.
Seat 6 raises to 550. S7 calls and we're in S8 with A2h. We call and so does S9 and the BB. 5 players! Flop comes 24Q with one heart and everyone checks to us. We bet 1600 and S9 calls, but everyone else folds. Turn comes Kh. How much would a heart on the river rock? We check, hoping to see a free card and he checks behind us. River comes 3s. Not good. Doubtful that our 2s are good, but maybe. Pot is about 6000. We bet 3500 hoping he folds and he does. Yay!
Seat 4 raises to 500 and we call from S6 with A2d. Here we go again. BB calls and flop comes 47K with 2 hearts. BB bets 700 and we both fold.
Seat 7 raises to 500 and we call from the button with 79s. SB raises to 2200 and BB and S7 fold. We could win a huge pot if we hit, but 1700 more to see the flop? We fold.
Very next hand we raise from S8 to 550 with 89d and get called by the same guy, now on the button. Flop comes 33J with 2 diamonds. Today is the day of diamonds and jacks. We bet 750 and he folds. Okay, we're even on that exchange.
We raise to 550 from S4 with 79c. Deja vu of sorts. Seat 7 raises to 1750 and then the BB pushes all in for about 16000. This is his second recent pre-flop massive over bet push, but we can't call and we fold. So does S7.
S5 limps and S9 (the pusher) raises to 600. We're in the BB with JJ and raise to 1900. S5 folds and the pusher goes into the tank. Now we're worried. If he pushes again, we can't call. Not with JJ. Even if we're in the lead and he has A9, we can't risk 17000 chips on a roll of the dice. After a minute, he folds.
Huck in S4 raises to 500 and we call from the button with A2d. This must be the 4th time we've had suited A2. Crazy. BB calls and flop comes 569 with 2 spades. Huck bets 1700 and we fold. Ultimately the BB wins this pot making a straight with 67d. Would have been a great time to make a Diamond flush!
From S7 we limp in with 34c. The SB folds and we see the flop with the BB. 9JQ comes and he checks. We bet 200 and he folds. Not a great win, but we'll take it.
S4 raises to 600 and we call from 8 with AJ. S9 calls and the flop comes QQK. S4 bets 1100. Every now and the we like to float behind the bettor and see what they do next. If he doesn't have a Q or K, he should check the turn. Also, a T gives us a straight, which is against the odds but would be nice. We call and S9 folds. Turn comes 5 and S4 bets 2100. This philosophical floating thing is over. We fold.
In S6 we limp with 33. S6 raises to 1000, which we would have called, but Huck goes all in for 3200. I don't believe Huck, but S6 could raise after we call, so we fold. S6 calls with KQ. Huck has A8. It's painful to watch. The flop is 36J. Neither of them ever hit anything and Huck's ace takes the pot, but we would have flopped a set of threes. Oh well, play safe.
So we took a couple mid level hits, but the slow consistent play is working well at this point. We conclude Level 2, after 4 hours of play, with 40,025 in chips. Pretty happy about that.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
******************************************************************************
Please visit the following website to read the KCC legal notice:
http://www.kccllc.com/Email-Disclaimer/
******************************************************************************
The Big Dance - Round 1
We're in the Amazon Room, Table 376, Seat 7, with 30,000 in chips, our KCC Card Holder and seven opponents we thankfully don't recognize. Two more players should feed in over time.
The air is filled with tension and a certain amount of what I can only call Poker Stench, a mix of sweat on bodies unaccustomed to anything that should cause one to sweat, smoke from cigarettes and pot, and a mist of halitosis.
Hopefully the blog is working now. If not (if it thinks this email is spam), you will get all of these when I get home, hopefully very late tonight.
Playing 50 100 NLH.
We put our first chip in as the BB. Seat 4 limps and seat 8 raises to 400. Everyone folds to us and we fold our 79o leaving 100 in the pot. Seat 4 folds and hand ends.
Seat 3 limps and the button limps. We're in the small blind with A7d and we limp, throwing 50 on top of our SB. BB checks and we see the 335 flop with 2 diamonds. We check and everyone checks to see the 2d turn. We have the top flush (other than the straight flush). We bet 200 but everyone folds. Sad, but no one had a hand they could put 200 behind.
Seat 3 raises to 250 and we call from seat 5 with A5d. Small price to pay for what could be a huge hit, particularly as seat 3 just got punched for a few thousand and may be more willing to chase and push if we hit well. Everyone else folds and flop comes 8TQ with one diamond. 3 bets 450 and we fold. He likely hit something based on his pre-flop bet. We could bluff raise, but we've selected him for his likely tenacity, so that seems dumb. We could call and hope for a diamond, but then we're calling the 1000 plus he bets so we can see the river and pray for a diamond. Nope. Fold and walk away from the 250.
Seat 4 raises to 300, 5 calls and it comes to us in the SB with A2d. We call and the BB folds. Flop comes 5KK with 2 diamonds. We could check and hope to see the turn, or we can bet and hope no one has a K. If no one has a K, we're not getting paid, even if we hit the flush. We bet 600 into the 1000 pot looking for a caller who will see the turn with us or for two folds. They both fold and we take it down. Small victory, but we'll take the chips.
Everyone folds to us on the button and we raise to 325 with A7h. We've been playing so tight that most observant players with decent hands should fold. BB calls and flop comes 889 with 2 clubs. Pretty terrible. He checks and we bet 450. If he calls, we're probably done. He calls and the turn comes 9. He bets 650 like a pronouncement that he has a 9. Doesn't really matter. Our A may be good for half the pot, but it's not worth the chips to find out. We fold.
In S3 we have KK and raise to 275. Seats 6 and 7 call and the flop comes 36J. Great flop, but we can't let someone make 2 pair or turn an A, so we bet 550 to make sure they pay to see the turn. They fold. Oh well, if they had anything that would have paid us, they would have called.
S3 and 7 limp and we're in S8 with K9d. Lots of diamonds today. We limp and the blinds limp. 5 players see the Q72 (all clubs) flop. S3 bets 300 and we think about bluff raising, but S7 calls, so we fold. The board winds up with 5 clubs and they both play the board. S3 had A7h and S7 had 77.
S6 we have TT and raise to 275. S8 calls and everyone else folds. Flop comes 68Q with 2 spades. We bet 450 and he goes into the tank. After a minute he folds. Happy to pick up the pot. Again, these are small pots, but it's a marathon, not a sprint, and we're only 75 minutes in.
In S3 we have KQ and raise to 275. S5 calls and the flop comes 247 rainbow. We bet 450 and he calls. Turn comes 9, putting 2 hearts on the board. We bet 850 hoping he'll fold. He thinks for a bit and calls. His hand is probably two high cards hoping to hit. River comes Td. No help, but probably didn't help him either. Hopefully with a push he'll fold, even a hand like AJ. We bet 1100. He thinks for a bit and raises to 4100. At least we can fold without showing anyone our cards.
Hmmm, that hurt. First moderate pot and we came up empty handed and folding.
S4 raises to 300 and we call from S7 with A2c. Seat 8 raises to 1150. S4 calls. It's now 850 to us to call a pot with 2750. The pot odds are okay, but the fact that hitting club (or a lucky 2 pair) allows us to bet a lot of the other 25,000 plus chips we have, pushes us to call. Flop comes 9JQ with only 1 club. S4 checks, we check, and S8 bets 3000. Everyone folds. Another moderate pot lost.
We still have 26,500 in chips, so we've managed to minimize most of the losses. Still, it would be nice to hit on the next moderate size pot.
We limp in S3 with K7h thinking a heart flush here could kill us if someone has the Axh. S5 calls and S7 raises to 500. We call and so does S5. Flop comes 39J - all hearts. Great flop, but scary too because someone could have the Ah or worse Axh. We bet 500 and S5 folds, but S7 raises to 1800. Hard decision here. If he has the Ah, we have to get rid of him. We raise to 5300 and he folds.
S5 bets 300 and we're in the SB with QJs. We call and the flop comes 39J, again. He's been fairly aggressive, and our J may not be good, so we check and then call his 500 bet. Turn comes T. Now we have a straight draw and top pair. We check and he checks. River comes 2. We bet 1100 and he folds.
From S8 we bet 300 with A3 hoping to steal the blinds. BB calls and flop comes 455. Pretty terrible. He bets 600 and we call. The odds of him having a 5 are pretty bad, so let's see if he bets the turn. Maybe a miracle 2 will come to give us an absurd straight. Turn comes 8. He checks and we check. River comes A. He checks and we bet 800. In retrospect, a bad bet as he only calls us with a 5 or an A, either of which beats us because our 3 kicker won't work. Of course he could call with a small or mid pocket pair, but he would have bet the turn if he had that. All we can really hope is that he folds a hand we would have beaten anyway. He folds.
Round 1 ends after several wins that bring us to 31,150 in chips. We're up a little. Hopefully this email will make it through the blog spam filter and to you, and hopefully more in 2 hours.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
******************************************************************************
Please visit the following website to read the KCC legal notice:
http://www.kccllc.com/Email-Disclaimer/
******************************************************************************
The air is filled with tension and a certain amount of what I can only call Poker Stench, a mix of sweat on bodies unaccustomed to anything that should cause one to sweat, smoke from cigarettes and pot, and a mist of halitosis.
Hopefully the blog is working now. If not (if it thinks this email is spam), you will get all of these when I get home, hopefully very late tonight.
Playing 50 100 NLH.
We put our first chip in as the BB. Seat 4 limps and seat 8 raises to 400. Everyone folds to us and we fold our 79o leaving 100 in the pot. Seat 4 folds and hand ends.
Seat 3 limps and the button limps. We're in the small blind with A7d and we limp, throwing 50 on top of our SB. BB checks and we see the 335 flop with 2 diamonds. We check and everyone checks to see the 2d turn. We have the top flush (other than the straight flush). We bet 200 but everyone folds. Sad, but no one had a hand they could put 200 behind.
Seat 3 raises to 250 and we call from seat 5 with A5d. Small price to pay for what could be a huge hit, particularly as seat 3 just got punched for a few thousand and may be more willing to chase and push if we hit well. Everyone else folds and flop comes 8TQ with one diamond. 3 bets 450 and we fold. He likely hit something based on his pre-flop bet. We could bluff raise, but we've selected him for his likely tenacity, so that seems dumb. We could call and hope for a diamond, but then we're calling the 1000 plus he bets so we can see the river and pray for a diamond. Nope. Fold and walk away from the 250.
Seat 4 raises to 300, 5 calls and it comes to us in the SB with A2d. We call and the BB folds. Flop comes 5KK with 2 diamonds. We could check and hope to see the turn, or we can bet and hope no one has a K. If no one has a K, we're not getting paid, even if we hit the flush. We bet 600 into the 1000 pot looking for a caller who will see the turn with us or for two folds. They both fold and we take it down. Small victory, but we'll take the chips.
Everyone folds to us on the button and we raise to 325 with A7h. We've been playing so tight that most observant players with decent hands should fold. BB calls and flop comes 889 with 2 clubs. Pretty terrible. He checks and we bet 450. If he calls, we're probably done. He calls and the turn comes 9. He bets 650 like a pronouncement that he has a 9. Doesn't really matter. Our A may be good for half the pot, but it's not worth the chips to find out. We fold.
In S3 we have KK and raise to 275. Seats 6 and 7 call and the flop comes 36J. Great flop, but we can't let someone make 2 pair or turn an A, so we bet 550 to make sure they pay to see the turn. They fold. Oh well, if they had anything that would have paid us, they would have called.
S3 and 7 limp and we're in S8 with K9d. Lots of diamonds today. We limp and the blinds limp. 5 players see the Q72 (all clubs) flop. S3 bets 300 and we think about bluff raising, but S7 calls, so we fold. The board winds up with 5 clubs and they both play the board. S3 had A7h and S7 had 77.
S6 we have TT and raise to 275. S8 calls and everyone else folds. Flop comes 68Q with 2 spades. We bet 450 and he goes into the tank. After a minute he folds. Happy to pick up the pot. Again, these are small pots, but it's a marathon, not a sprint, and we're only 75 minutes in.
In S3 we have KQ and raise to 275. S5 calls and the flop comes 247 rainbow. We bet 450 and he calls. Turn comes 9, putting 2 hearts on the board. We bet 850 hoping he'll fold. He thinks for a bit and calls. His hand is probably two high cards hoping to hit. River comes Td. No help, but probably didn't help him either. Hopefully with a push he'll fold, even a hand like AJ. We bet 1100. He thinks for a bit and raises to 4100. At least we can fold without showing anyone our cards.
Hmmm, that hurt. First moderate pot and we came up empty handed and folding.
S4 raises to 300 and we call from S7 with A2c. Seat 8 raises to 1150. S4 calls. It's now 850 to us to call a pot with 2750. The pot odds are okay, but the fact that hitting club (or a lucky 2 pair) allows us to bet a lot of the other 25,000 plus chips we have, pushes us to call. Flop comes 9JQ with only 1 club. S4 checks, we check, and S8 bets 3000. Everyone folds. Another moderate pot lost.
We still have 26,500 in chips, so we've managed to minimize most of the losses. Still, it would be nice to hit on the next moderate size pot.
We limp in S3 with K7h thinking a heart flush here could kill us if someone has the Axh. S5 calls and S7 raises to 500. We call and so does S5. Flop comes 39J - all hearts. Great flop, but scary too because someone could have the Ah or worse Axh. We bet 500 and S5 folds, but S7 raises to 1800. Hard decision here. If he has the Ah, we have to get rid of him. We raise to 5300 and he folds.
S5 bets 300 and we're in the SB with QJs. We call and the flop comes 39J, again. He's been fairly aggressive, and our J may not be good, so we check and then call his 500 bet. Turn comes T. Now we have a straight draw and top pair. We check and he checks. River comes 2. We bet 1100 and he folds.
From S8 we bet 300 with A3 hoping to steal the blinds. BB calls and flop comes 455. Pretty terrible. He bets 600 and we call. The odds of him having a 5 are pretty bad, so let's see if he bets the turn. Maybe a miracle 2 will come to give us an absurd straight. Turn comes 8. He checks and we check. River comes A. He checks and we bet 800. In retrospect, a bad bet as he only calls us with a 5 or an A, either of which beats us because our 3 kicker won't work. Of course he could call with a small or mid pocket pair, but he would have bet the turn if he had that. All we can really hope is that he folds a hand we would have beaten anyway. He folds.
Round 1 ends after several wins that bring us to 31,150 in chips. We're up a little. Hopefully this email will make it through the blog spam filter and to you, and hopefully more in 2 hours.
All the best,
Eric Kurtzman
Kurtzman Carson Consultants
2335 Alaska Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245
voice (310) 751-1500
fax (310) 751-1550
******************************************************************************
Please visit the following website to read the KCC legal notice:
http://www.kccllc.com/Email-Disclaimer/
******************************************************************************
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