Orleans Day 2

-
Quote of the day: "America has a leader, but he’s not in the House. He’s walking here among us, and we’ve got to seek him out” Neil Young from his Living with War album

I started a post on day 2 last week, which was last Wednesday, but didn't get a chance to finish it till today.

So I decided to go to the gym for a quick sweat before day 2 of the tournament. Just a little cardio always seems to help me feel better at the poker game. I’ve put on quite a bit of weight since being basically immobile since February. While there are still a lot of things I can’t do physically, like I can’t stand for long periods of time etc., the cross training cardio machines at the gym are great because I can put some of my weight on my arms and it is less painful to the nerves in my legs, much easier than walking or even just standing.

Anyway, poor planning left me changing in the locker room when I should have been on my way to the Orleans, but it was good to get in the workout first. It just makes me feel so much better when I’m at the table.

So I arrived a little late, but actually only missed 3 hands and no blinds. I had 14,800 chips and the blinds started at 300/600 with 100 ante for the final 20 minutes of that level. After that the levels were the full 30 minutes.

I never got involved with an interesting hand the entire day. As I figured, there were a lot of short stacks, and lots of bustouts quickly. After the first hour we were down to 65 players. The only hands I played were where I raised and picked up the blinds. I seemed to keep up with the average stack but I was never involved in an action hand. After about 2 hours we were down to 50 players and another payout level of $250. I was having fun at the table, joking around with guys and stuff. One guy looked like Lou Holtz, and he said he played 2/4 limit regularly. When we got down to 50 players and the $250 payout level he said that now he was moving up to 4/8 lol. He kept winning with Jacks, not pocket jacks, I mean he kept flopping a jack. When he doubled through I told him he could play 4/8 with a kill now. I had fun talking back and forth with some of the guys and it made for a fun table. I was very relaxed at the table and really enjoying it, which was a benefit as I think everyone else except Lou Holtz was tense about the prize money. I put the money out of my mind and minimized the distraction it could cause to my game. There was a guy at the table next to me that was trying to get everyone to chop it 35 ways when it gone down that far. He had a buddy at my table who tried to convince our table on the 35 way chop! And most people were going for it! They were obviously distracted by the money.

Twice I had 88 when a player went all-in in front of me from early/mid position, once in my big blind, and I mucked both times. I think most of the players at the table would have called with it. I continued to keep up with the average stack Jones’s but the blinds were increasing. My first flop/action came with 500/1500 blinds (a stupid level?) with 200 ante. My stack sat at about 16,000 and there was 4,000 in the pot in blinds/antes and it was folded around to me on the button and I looked at T8o. With an M of 4 and two scared players behind me with stacks a little less, I pushed all-in. The SB quickly folded and the BB took a long time to consider and finally called. He showed 33. I think it was a bad call by him as he had 11,000 chips and no chance of being a big favorite in the hand, but he held up and I was down to around 5,000. I needed a hand, and two hands later I caught an AK. A player went all-in in front of me so I called in this spot and Lou Holtz called behind us. They showed 77 and QJ, and I hit two Kings to beat them both and my stack was back to 18,000.

I picked up TT soon after that and the player on my right raised to 5,000. I had been watching him and knew his range was like 44+, AQ/AJ. There wasn’t much room left with the blinds in this spot, so even with 6 players to act behind us I pushed my 18,000 chips in with the tens. The BB was somewhat short and called about 6,000 worth, and the raiser thought for an eternity (someone else called a clock on him) and finally mucked 77 face up. I held over the BBs A8 and had around 30,000 chips as we hit 20 players and the $500 payout mark. 11-20 would get $500, 6-10 got $1,000, 5th $5,000 4th $7,500 3rd $10,000 2nd $20,000 1st $35,000. I was sure that the last 5 or 6 would propose an equity chop, so that was the goal to reach the last 6 or so in decent shape and then decide what to do.

I held steady for a while as we got down to 16 and I was moved to the other table to even things out. I wished everyone good luck at the table and joked around right away as I was late in putting out my ante. I asked how much the ante was and they said 800, and I said “That’s the same as it was at the other table! I don’t know why they moved me over here!” and they all laughed. I think it’s good to show a relaxed image as it becomes intimidating to players who are tense. None of them wanted to bust out and get $500 after coming this far. There were some very tense guys at the table. But the blinds were now 3000/6000 and I had 30,000 so my M was only about 2, and the average stack was around 60,000. On the first hand at that table I saw 66 as the cutoff, and as first in I raised. The button had only around 15,000 chips but the blinds were large stacks. The button mucked quickly, the SB took a long time but mucked, and the BB called and he showed A5. Questionable call for 24,000 chips which was about ¼ of his stack, perhaps my loose attitude made him think I was pushing with any two cards, but my 66 held and I doubled through. I said Now I know why they brought me over to this table!”

As it turned out, that 66 was a profitable hand. Soon after that, we were down to 15 players and an equity split was proposed. After some confusion the stacks were counted and numbers were figured, my equity was $5,130. The shortest stack equity was $2,100+ and the largest was $9,100+. I was happy to leave with $5100 which was basically 5th place prize money but I was also the most relaxed person in the field and wouldn’t have minded playing against a bunch of guys who were desperate to hang on for 5th or better. But if everyone else wanted the chop I’d go along. The equity deal was accepted by all and we all went home.

Overall, a nice score and I was happy with my play. I think I’m going to start playing some more live tournaments.