Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[littlemissC]

good luck Tom and chinese"is it" Frankie

[mouth]

Well done Tom. Sally SAS and Michelle Sheils also back for day 2. Good luck to you all.

Two women. One great player then there's Sally.

Good luck to you all

[RED-DOG]

Well naturally I've busted out of a lot of comps in my time, but for some reason, going out of this one really hurt, and I'm struggling to shake it off. I think it stings so much because I know I played my A game  for two days, I didn't put a foot wrong, and then I let myself down by mangling one crucial hand.

So let me get it off my chest. Then I will stand up and turn around 3 times while chanting "It didn't happen....it didn't happen....it didn't happen...." Then we will never speak of it again.

After 12 hours of playing out of my skin on day one, I was going back for day two as 3rd chip leader, I had 100k and the average was 46k. I was in with a great chance and I was determined to do well, what's more, I was confident of doing so. The only small cloud on the horizon was the structure, it had looked great on paper, but it seemed to be getting very quick all of a sudden. We were going back to blinds of 1500/3000 with a 300 running ante. There were a lot of 10bb shorties looking for a double up. We lost 15 players in the first half hour.

Oh I was OK, with 100k I was in good shape, but I couldn't afford to sit still, the next level  was 2000/4000 with a 400 running ante, and 10k a round would very quickly eat into my stack. A lot of the players were  being forced to take a shot. I had to be careful, one wrong move against a kamikaze would mean that I was now the short stack.

On the way to the casino I had given myself a pep talk. "This is a good opportunity, make the most of it. try to gather up some of the loose chips being flung about by the shorties, but be careful not to try to push the ones who can't or won't slide. Don't let the strong players bully you, but don't piss your chips away by getting involved in a dick waving contest. Basically, survive the next to levels in good shape, and then you're really in with a shout"

During those two levels I was completely card dead, but I somehow managed to maintain my stack by stealing from the shorties and scowling at the biggies in an effort to prevent them from stealing from me. By the time we reached the first break the average stack was 70+k and the next blinds were 3000/6000 with a 600 ante. It was 3 O'clock in the afternoon and it was crapshoot time. There was no play left.

A couple of us had a chat with Bonnie the cardroom manager, who was very approachable. We said "Look, you have done a terrific job here, the comp is a sell out and a great success. Don't spoil it now, give us a chance to play"  All credit due, she decided to cap the blinds at 2000/4000 until we were down to 18, and then 3000/6000 until the final.

We played on for another couple of hours, and were down to 20 players, 18 get paid, first money is £1000. I'm still card dead, but playing well and have a stack of about 100k when a young Chinese man is moved into seat 4. I'm in seat 6 so he is button to my big blind. He immediately raises my blind, I have dross and I pass.

He then proceeds to raise my next two blinds as well, I have J2 both times and fold, but I decide that the next time I will play back whatever. This is where the mangling starts.

The next orbit, he does it again. he makes it 12000 to go. I'm going to back raise with any two, but when I look I find



Suddenly I decide to smooth call. If I hit the flop, great. If I miss, I will check raise. The flop comes

 

I check, he checks behind. (Bugger!)

The turn is

 

I make a smallish, feeler type bet hoping he will not believe and try to take it off me. He moves all in. I have 47k behind. He is about 1k short of having me covered.

I dwell for ages, I know I have played the hand badly, and I'm torn between passing because I'm so close to the money and might find a better spot, or calling with the chance of doubling up, having a great shot at the big bucks and ridding myself of this thorn in my flesh at the same time.

I decided a while ago that if I ever found myself with a difficult call or fold decision and I really didn't know what to do, I would take the bold route and call, so I did.

He had

 

The river was no help.








"It didn't happen....it didn't happen....it didn't happen...."

[lazaroonie]

The next orbit, he does it again. he makes it 12000 to go. I'm going to back raise with any two, but when I look I find



Suddenly I decide to smooth call. If I hit the flop, great. If I miss, I will check raise. The flop comes

I am obviously play the game on a much simpler level, but my thinking here is almost the opposite - what was your plan if you did hit the flop ? lead out ? or were you planning to check-raise whatever the flop.

I would be more inclined to lead out if I miss, and C-R if I hit (unless I hit bottom pair or something like that).

[RED-DOG]

The next orbit, he does it again. he makes it 12000 to go. I'm going to back raise with any two, but when I look I find



Suddenly I decide to smooth call. If I hit the flop, great. If I miss, I will check raise. The flop comes

I am obviously play the game on a much simpler level, but my thinking here is almost the opposite - what was your plan if you did hit the flop ? lead out ? or were you planning to check-raise whatever the flop.

I would be more inclined to lead out if I miss, and C-R if I hit (unless I hit bottom pair or something like that).

My plan was to check-raise whatever, I hated it when he checked behind. If I lead out when I miss I think I take it down there and then, or he if he rr me all in I get away with my wings singed but still airborne.

[lazaroonie]

The next orbit, he does it again. he makes it 12000 to go. I'm going to back raise with any two, but when I look I find



Suddenly I decide to smooth call. If I hit the flop, great. If I miss, I will check raise. The flop comes

I am obviously play the game on a much simpler level, but my thinking here is almost the opposite - what was your plan if you did hit the flop ? lead out ? or were you planning to check-raise whatever the flop.

I would be more inclined to lead out if I miss, and C-R if I hit (unless I hit bottom pair or something like that).

My plan was to check-raise whatever, I hated it when he checked behind. If I lead out when I miss I think I take it down there and then, or he if he rr me all in I get away with my wings singed but still airborne.

thats what I mean, its really difficult to try and dictate the action OOP.

however, i doubt that many players would have folded the flop with AK. WIth the turn being the K, the rest was inevitable.

[ShatnerPants]

He then proceeds to raise my next two blinds as well, I have J2 both times and fold, but I decide that the next time I will play back whatever.

 

Dick waver.







soz, couldn't resist.
Aren't you being a bit hard on yourself.  That hand could have happened anytime during the comp, and given the blind / antes there isn't a whole lot of subtle play that lets you get away with any kind of playable stack here.

The poker gods stuffed you.

They do do that, don't they.

[RED-DOG]

Dick waver.

Correct. I entered the pissing contest and then chickened out of betting the flop, which was my only chance of winning the hand. I should have shit, or got off the pot.

PS- Is it me, or has this thread has become very lavatorial all of a sudden?

[RED-DOG]

"It didn't happen....it didn't happen....it didn't happen...."

[Karabiner]

I could always start talking bollocks as a distraction....

[Colchester Kev]

I could always start talking bollocks as a distraction....

Tut, thats Kins job !!

[TightEnd]

Tom

you said earlier that you were intending to push whatever, and then flat called when you had KQ off..presumably because its a "hand" of sorts? Ignoring the results orientated fact he did have a hand on the button, why didn't you just stick it in pre and save yourself shallow stack OOP difficulties? He'll pass a good number of times to your push compared to the times he'll call.

[RED-DOG]

Tom

you said earlier that you were intending to push whatever, and then flat called when you had KQ off..presumably because its a "hand" of sorts? Ignoring the results orientated fact he did have a hand on the button, why didn't you just stick it in pre and save yourself shallow stack OOP difficulties? He'll pass a good number of times to your push compared to the times he'll call.

Yes, that would also have been a good play (Not knowing that he had AK of course) but when I saw the KQ it looked like a monster and I immediately wanted to play a check raise whatever the flop. I didn't expect him to check behind, and then suddenly theres a king on the board and I find myself firing at it.



"It didn't happen....it didn't happen....it didn't happen...."

[RED-DOG]

I could always start talking bollocks as a distraction....

No Ralph, you cant fake it. It won't work unless it's real jet lag, sleep deprivation bollocks.

[RED-DOG]

I ran the hand by Simon Trumper at DTD last night and he said I should have bet the flop. (Tony tried to pretend that he said it too)

I played the scalps comp. I was drawn on Chili's immediate left, lovely!

Hand one of the comp we clashed and she gave me a short back and sides, hand two and I was out, bald, and looking to buy me a syrup.

(I think she put me on tilt before we started with her erotic banter)