K9 Money and Free/Incentive Tour Finals

Played in the K9 Poker Tour Money and Free/Incentive Tour finals on Sunday. The Free/Incentive Tour final was first, and I swear that I have never seen so many great hands lose on draws. At least you knew that if you were behind, you would probably win the hand. The blinds increased quickly, so part of both tournaments was a crap shoot anyway. I butted heads with murrythecat repeatedly in the Free game, besting his Queens with a King kicker to my Queens with an Ace kicker. Then, just when he was on the ropes, he re-raised my A-Q hand and went all in with 7-7. I didn't pair the board, and mur doubled up while I lost a good portion of my chips -- which I'd mostly just won from him! Final hand: I was in the small blind with a garbage hand and called the big blind. He checked, and I hit top pair on the flop. We were both short stacked and I knew I had him beat, so I went all in. He called with middle pair. As you might guess, he hit a second pair of the turn, and that was all she wrote.

Money Tour - I was down to only a few chips and had to play push monkey out of desperation. As luck would have it, people were folding to me or I hit some lucky cards. Some astute playing got me back in the middle of the pack, and I actually ended up finishing in 4th place. At the end, the blinds were huge, and someone in front of me raised. With A-10d being the best hand I'd seen in a few orbits and with my chip stack low, I went all in. My opponent, who had two or three times as many chips as I did, called with 9-9. I lost this 50/50 also, and settled for 4th place.

Results: The Big Game

The final points event in the Battle of the Blogger Tournaments was The Big Game, a monthly $75 buy-in event. I had "tokened up" at Full Tilt several weeks ago and saved a $75 token for the game.

I chipped up early with a few good hands, then eeked out a nice win against one of the better bloggers:

Full Tilt Poker Game #2826039931: Blogger Big Game (19471102), Table 2 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:47:49 ET - 2007/07/01

Seat 1: Rake Feeder (3,000)

Seat 2: pvanharibo (938)

Seat 3: kaellinn18 (4,070)

Seat 4: oossuuu754 (2,730)

Seat 5: Zeem (2,926)

Seat 6: sellthekids (3,710)

Seat 7: columbo (3,240)

Seat 8: lightning36 (3,566)

Seat 9: smizmiatch (2,820)

kaellinn18 posts the small blind of 20

oossuuu754 posts the big blind of 40

The button is in seat #2

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to lightning36 [Ac 3c]

Zeem folds

sellthekids folds

columbo folds

lightning36 calls 40

smizmiatch folds

Rake Feeder folds

pvanharibo folds

kaellinn18 folds

columbo: talk about a volitile ride...

oossuuu754 raises to 140

lightning36 calls 100 I have some chips to play with. Let's see the flop.

*** FLOP *** [3h Kc 4c] Nut flush draw and bottom pair

oossuuu754 bets 300

lightning36 raises to 600 osu is a very aggressive player. Let's see what he does when I re-raise.

oossuuu754 raises to 900

lightning36 calls 300 Ut oh...

*** TURN *** [3h Kc 4c] [9s]

oossuuu754 bets 520

lightning36 calls 520 He bet about 1/4 the pot? Smells like weakness to me. Go with my gut.

*** RIVER *** [3h Kc 4c 9s] [7s]

oossuuu754 checks

lightning36 checks He must be weak with no bet. A big bet might get him to fold, but I don't want to donk off more chips in case I am wrong. He may have a pair, so I'd better just call.

*** SHOW DOWN ***

oossuuu754 shows [Ad Qd] Ace King high

lightning36 shows [Ac 3c] a pair of Threes

lightning36 wins the pot (3,140) with a pair of Threes Either I'm getting better at this or I am too much of a donk to realize it.

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 3,140 Rake 0

Board: [3h Kc 4c 9s 7s]

Seat 1: Rake Feeder didn't bet (folded)

Seat 2: pvanharibo (button) didn't bet (folded)

Seat 3: kaellinn18 (small blind) folded before the Flop

Seat 4: oossuuu754 (big blind) showed [Ad Qd] and lost with Ace King high

Seat 5: Zeem didn't bet (folded)

Seat 6: sellthekids didn't bet (folded)

Seat 7: columbo didn't bet (folded)

Seat 8: lightning36 showed [Ac 3c] and won (3,140) with a pair of Threes

Seat 9: smizmiatch didn't bet (folded)

oossuuu754: OMG

I felt like I was playing well, I was getting a few good cards, and I could see myself making a deep run in this tournament. Then, everything came crashing down on one hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #2826146604: Blogger Big Game (19471102), Table 2 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:58:22 ET - 2007/07/01

Seat 1: Rake Feeder (2,925)

Seat 2: pvanharibo (788)

Seat 3: kaellinn18 (2,055)

Seat 4: oossuuu754 (2,680)

Seat 5: Zeem (2,826)

Seat 6: sellthekids (3,635)

Seat 8: lightning36 (5,066)

Seat 9: smizmiatch (2,635)

lightning36 posts the small blind of 25

smizmiatch posts the big blind of 50

The button is in seat #6

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to lightning36 [Tc Ts]

Rake Feeder folds

pvanharibo folds

kaellinn18 folds

oossuuu754 foldsZeem folds

sellthekids raises to 150

lightning36 calls 125 Should I have re-raised? I hated to commit more chips here since it was likely that aces or paint would show up on the flop.

smizmiatch folds

*** FLOP *** [9d Td 5s]

lightning36 has 15 seconds left to act

lightning36 bets 300 Pot-sized bet. Don't know this player. Two diamonds on the board.

sellthekids calls 300

*** TURN *** [9d Td 5s] [8s]

lightning36 bets 900

sellthekids raises to 1,800 What could he have? I must have the better hand. I didn't put him on anything like Q-J suited.

lightning36 raises to 4,616, and is all I don't know what he has, but I am almost sure I have the better hand. Let's see if he calls and I send him to the rail.

sellthekids calls 1,385, and is all in

lightning36 shows [Tc Ts]

sellthekids shows [7h 9c] He raised and then went all in on a straight draw with middle pair??? With an overcard on the board? With a possible flush draw for me??

Uncalled bet of 1,431 returned to lightning36

*** RIVER *** [9d Td 5s 8s] [Jh] Fucking figures.

lightning36 shows three of a kind, Tens

sellthekids shows a straight, Jack high

sellthekids wins the pot (7,320) with a straight, Jack high

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 7,320 Rake 0

Board: [9d Td 5s 8s Jh]

Seat 1: Rake Feeder didn't bet (folded)

Seat 2: pvanharibo didn't bet (folded)

Seat 3: kaellinn18 didn't bet (folded)

Seat 4: oossuuu754 didn't bet (folded)

Seat 5: Zeem didn't bet (folded)

Seat 6: sellthekids (button) showed [7h 9c] and won (7,320) with a straight, Jack high

Seat 8: lightning36 (small blind) showed [Tc Ts] and lost with three of a kind, Tens

Seat 9: smizmiatch (big blind) folded before the Flop

lightning36: &@!& lol

sellthekids: pls excuse my ugliness I can't believe he risked his tournament on that play.

Instead of jousting at the top of the leaderboard, I was crippled. I battled to stay in for some time, but finally was taken down when I went all in with 8-8 and was called with A-9. I lost that 50/50, and I was out.

It hurts when you make a donkey play and hit the rail. It hurts when your opponent outplays you and you hit the rail. It tears your heart out when your opponent risks his tournament life with a straight draw and hits it, crippling you. At least I only paid $8.70 for the token.

Houses Update

Since my life has largely been focused on the old house and the new house, I am discovering why people say "never again" after moving a family that had been entrenched for many years in a house. Just when we thought the old house was ready to go on the market, an old roof leak of which we'd forgotten (only leaks during monsoon-type rains -- which we just had) had to be fixed. Then, our downstairs carpeting would not lose an odor or some stains, meaning it has to be replaced (cha-ching), delaying the listing for about a week. We hope to finally get the house on the market next week as soon as the new carpeting is put in.

If the house sells rather quickly and anywhere near our asking price, we will come out okay. If, however, it takes some time to sell or the market dictates lowering the asking price, we may have some tricky times ahead. However, I have always been a frugal-type guy and we have money to cover our butts even if things don't work out like we planned.

It is interesting to note that the "wiggle room" money in our savings which keeps my anxiety level down came from my 2006 poker winnings, both from Las Vegas and online. Who would have guessed that my poker addiction would fund part of our safety net in moving?