Muckleshoot

Well, I went out on the first hand of a tournament. It was not even a great hand. I had just read an article on aggressive tournament strategy in the Poker Player Newspaper while waiting for the tournament to begin. I was in middle position with A7 hearts and raised it to 200 when the blinds were 25-50. We had a beginning stack of 3,000 chips which was a double stack tournament day for this room.

Usually, they have 1500 starting chips. I figured the regular players here would play this a little slower because they had more chips to play with. So I decided to play it fast. A player two positions to my left called. The flop came Kh, 2h, 9s and I bet 1,000. He called me and I went all-in fully expecting him to not risk his tournament life on what should have been a AK or better for me to bet like that in early position. He called without hesitation and turned over K,Q off suit. (A hand that is easily dominated in that type of call)

It was about 50/50 for me to catch the heart for the flush. It did not come and I was out the door.

I want to think a little more about that play but I am not sure it was that bad a play.

Right off, I know it would have been a smarter move to raise with a hand like that from later position. When he called I assumed he had a small pair or single Ace. I didn’t expect him to have AK or he should have re-raised me. So I really thought I could get him off any other hand he was likely to have after the flop came. I was wrong. Oh, well it could have gone the other way with a heart on the turn or river. Had I won it I would have had more options to dominate the table afterwards and increase my chip stack.

So now I am getting ready to leave the Muckleshoot Casino and venture forth a little more. It is a 3 hour drive from Portland to Seattle. It has been over 3 days for me and I am not there yet.

Yesterday, started off very badly. I couldn’t write for my blog, because of the power inverter problem. I needed a shower, so I pushed the button to ignite the hot water heater and it wouldn’t start. It had been getting difficult to start and I tried a couple of tricks that had started it before. I tried warming up the sensor a little with a match, I tried multiple attempts on the switch. Then I wiggled the sensor wire and it fell off in my hand. The connection had rotted away.

So I decided to go in and play the tournament anyway. When I walked in, I found out the floor person who told me there was a tournament this morning was wrong. As I was about to leave I noticed the game I had left at midnight was still going in the corner with three people.

I play pretty well short handed so I went over and bought in for $200. These three guys had been playing for 12-14 hours and I assumed I could do well here being rested and refreshed while they had to be exhausted.

Sure enough I played a couple of hands reading the board, and their hands well, and picked up a couple of pots by aggressive betting. I now had almost $300 on the table.

I played A6h on the big blind. I bet out $25 and was called by the dealer button. The flop came Jh, 7h, 8s. I bet out $75 and was called. I had two hearts and needed the flush.

The turn was the 10h and I bet $150. The dealer position player raised it! I checked again and sure enough I had the nut flush.

I called all in with the nut flush and the river was a 3c. When I flipped over my hand he said he had a flush also and assumed I had a straight.

Nice, I was now over $600 when a true maniac sat down. He went through 3 buy-ins of $500 in the next 20 minutes. He lost one and won one calling all in with nothing to the same player. I felt like I had a pretty good read on him and waited for my chance. It didn’t take long.

I had the AQ. He bet pre-flop $40. I called. The board came Q,7,9 He bet out $75 instantly. I raised him to $150 and he instantly went all-in. I went into the “think tank” and also watched him.

This was his 3rd buy-in he had to be feeling the loss a little by now. He looked a little nervous and everything in me thought he is bluffing. Finally, I came to a settled conviction that it was another of his “nothing bluffs”.

I called making the pot now $600. I was right. He turned over K, J for no pair. I was complimented by the other players for my reading of the situation.

For me the best part was I now had over $1200 in front of me. After one more hand where I beat the original player again and he said to me “I had given him a genuine ass-whuping” today.

He lost over $600 to me which was ½ of what he had spent all night earning. He did replace it from the maniac’s play. But, he gave me a hard time when I left after an hour when the table filled up.

I wished him luck and told him let’s play for his Harley “Fat-Boy”. I had heard him bragging about it last night to another player. He broke into a big grin and I “won him” over with that remark. He said if he lost that he would lose his house too, because his wife would leave him. I wished him luck, as I left, and told him I would bring his money back Friday and he could have another crack at it then.