Emphatically Ending the Streak

Yesterday I placed 2nd in the first event of the Fall Poker Classic at Canterbury Park, the $300 Limit Hold 'em, for $12,964, and most importantly, 270 Cardplayer of the Year points.

The irony here is pretty thick. The game was limit hold 'em, a game which I have lost money at over the years. Further, I can't remember ever playing a limit tournament before (I may have played one or two small ones online). I showed up to play wearing the same clothes I had been wearing for the last 30 hours, and I hadn't showered or shaved in days. I only slept about four hours the night before, plus about half an hour in the rental car in the parking lot right before the tournament.

Since I wasn't totally comfortable playing limit, my strategy was just to let it fly and play very aggressively. I wouldn't try to play with much finesse; instead I would just bet and raise and hope for the best.

Fairly early on I got short stacked but was lucky to pick up pocket kings and double up when my stack was getting critically low. Shortly after that I won a huge pot with AK against 77 after it came AA7 and I rivered a king. I won another pot or two and had gone from a short stack to a big one in fifteen minutes.

From there I was able to steadily build my stack by winning three nice pots against a loose, aggressive player and hammering away at the tighter players with brute force. I was very lucky throughout because it seemed like whenever I would raise with a weakish hand no one would have anything to come back at me and I'd take the pot preflop or on the flop. What I lacked in limit hold em skill I made up for in tournament strategy and dumb luck. I made some bad turn and river calls in an effort to siphon my stack but I kept building it back up by hitting hands and betting them. Before I knew it we were down to 27 and in the money, and the Streak was over. I had an average stack heading into the dinner break.

At dinner I chatted with a local player named Mike Tornes who had also made the money, then took a walk outside listening to music. I came back five minutes late; I had missed several hands, including my blinds, and already 7 people had been knocked out. Play slowed down with two tables left. When we finally reached the final table I arrived with a below-average stack.

We took another break and I thought about my chances. I was very excited to be at the final table, of course, but the situation looked somewhat bleak. Several of the casino's top high-limit players had reached the final table, and most had a lot of chips. I was particularly concerned about a young, top-notch local named Mike Carlson, the defending champ in this event and loaded with chips.

The fact is I hit a huge rush of cards at the final table. I won a huge pot with AA when one of the high-limit guys tried to bluff me while drawing dead, busting himself in the process. I then won another big pot against Carlson after turning a set of eights and checkraising him. One by one they all vanished and it was down to me, the guy to my left Brandon, and a very weak-tight older gentleman.

Three-handed I bullied the crap out of the old man and picked my spots against Brandon. It was clear to me that the older fellow had no chance and it was just a matter of how many chips I would have when I got heads up with Brandon. We played for quite a while until the older fellow went broke. When we got heads up we were fairly close in chips.

We played heads up for two incredible hours. I outplayed him, I'm sure of it. I had him all in with my QQ against his AT, my A7 against his QJ, my bare flush draw against his top pair, and virtually all in with my A8 against his T8 and a board of K98x. He won them all. It just kept going back and forth. Every time I got short I would pick up a hand and get back in it. Finally he finished me off with K6 against my A3 in a pot that I had 3 bet preflop when it came KK88 and I called the last of my chips, praying he was making a move.

Play of the day: From my first table. A weak, passive player limps in early position and the professional kid behind him raises. Another pro flatcalls as does the limper and they see a very ragged flop. Everyone checks. On the turn (another rag) the kid bets, the other pro raises, the limper folds, and the kid immediately three-bets. The other guy thinks for a bit and calls. The kid bets the river and the other guy folds. The kid shows QJo and tells the other guy not to try to outplay him anymore.

Today Wolf, Pickett, and I all played the $300 NLHE at Canterbury. It was a pretty crazy scene as more than 500 hopefuls made it out there with no Vikings game on tap. Pickett built up some chips before getting AA cracked and then the ultimate nightmare KK vs AA to end her tournament. Wolf’s overpair was no good against a maniac and neither was his button steal. I tripled up with 53 against KsQc and Ah2c in an unraised pot in the big blind after it came Qh5h3h and they both called my all-in checkraise. I then got moved to a new table and made the play of the day:

50-100 blinds. Folds to me in the cutoff and I raise to 275 with Ah3h. The big stack in the BB calls. This is the first hand I had played at this table. The flop comes A74 rainbow. He checks and I check. The turn is a 5. He checks, I bet 325, he quickly makes it 700. I ponder my options. Folding did not cross my mind. I can call and decide what to do on the river if I miss my straight. Or I can go all in for 1300 more and put him to the test hoping he will fold a medium ace. That’s exactly what I do. He thinks for over a minute and folds.

Unfortunately right after this I picked up TT against JJ and he didn’t have enough chips for me to fold. Right after that I moved in with 99 over the top of a late position raise. The big blind went all-in and the original raiser immediately folded QQ faceup. How beautiful would this be if the BB has AK? I get a chance to triple up with the best hand after a hand that had me dominated folds! But the big blind did not have AK, he had AA, and I was a goner.

Tomorrow is the $200 NL and they are expecting a very large field for another Crapshoot at Canterbury.

Now the first edition of the eagerly anticipated Worst Hand of the Week. As I’m sure there will always be there were plenty of horrible plays but this one took the prize:

StackHead folds.
milipa folds.
gsg2005 folds.
Kwickfish calls [$10].
d2442222 calls [$10].
thewisdom calls [$10].
kasstex raises [$65].
NoxirE folds.
AAAAHawk folds.
Kwickfish calls [$55].
d2442222 calls [$55].
thewisdom folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9s, 6d, 5c ]
Kwickfish checks.
d2442222 bets [$125].
kasstex calls [$125].
Kwickfish folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ Tc ]
d2442222 bets [$150].
kasstex calls [$150].
** Dealing River ** [ 9c ]
d2442222 is all-In [$104.25]
kasstex calls [$104.25].
d2442222 shows [ Jc, Kc ] a flush, king high.
kasstex shows [ Kh, As ] a pair of nines.

d2442222: well as you know, you play by the book on these pokersites, and your gonna get burnt