West Palm Beach Main Event

Today was the $1,600 buyin main event here in West Palm Beach.  There is two starting flights for this event, Day 1a 11:00am start and Day 1b 7:00pm start.  This tournament has such a good structure with 20,000 in starting chips.  I have not done well in this tournament in the past, only having one min-cash in it in Louisville.  I decided to play Day 1a, and registered around 12:00pm.

Hand 1

I played the first few levels fairly tight, not winning any pots, but also not losing many chips.  Then at the 150/300 level I still hadn't won a pot and was down to around 13,000 chips. 

With the blinds at 150/300 I raised to 650 in late position with Js7s.  The big blind flats, as expected he never folded, and the flop is Jh6s6d.  He checks and I decide to check behind.  In this spot I'm sure I have to best hand, but at this point I don't think I will ever get three streets of value from a worse hand.  The turn is the 9s.  This is a good card for me as it gives me a backdoor flush draw and I already have top pair.  He leads for 1,100.  I decide to call as there isn't any point in raising as he will fold all nines and call with every hand that has me beat.  The river is the As and he checks.  This is a good and bad card for me.  It is good for me because it completes my flush, but it is also an overcard to his hand, his most likely holding being a nine.  It is going to be hard for me to get him to pay me off at this point.  I decide to bet 1,300 fully expecting him to fold.  Well he snap calls and I win my first pot of the tournament!

Hand 2

The next hand took place at the 300/600 level.  I started this hand with around 14,000 in chips.  The guy under the gun limps for 600 and it's folded to me on the button.  I have 3h4h and limp, the small blind limps and the big blind checks.  The flop is the KsKh3c.  Check, check, check to me and I decide I'm checking behind and basically letting whoever wants it on the turn to take it.  However, the turn is the 2s and they all check again.  This time I decide it's very likely I have the best hand so I bet 1,600.  The small blind folds and the big blind raises to 3,400 getting the UTG limper to fold.  I can fold right here and let him run me over, but I just didn't feel like he had a hand so I call.  The river is the 6c, he bets 4,400 immediately, I konw he is weak, I snap, he mucks.  Now we are over 20,000 chips for the first time all tournament!

Hand 3

The one thing you want to avoid in tournament poker is being on the wrong end of a "set over set" situation.  If you are on the right end it is going to be very profittable, but the wrong side is going to break you every time as you will see here. 

The blinds are now 400/800, the last level of the day before bagging up and playing Day 2 the following day.  A guy raises to 1,600 in early position and I call with 9s9d.  The small blind and big blind both call.  Taking the flop 4 ways I am basically trying to flop a 9 or I am done with the hand.  The flop is the Ad9c5d!  This is one of the best flops for my hand especially when the original raiser bets 3,200 on the flop.  He most likely is holding A10-AK or complete air.  I decide to play my hand fast and I raise to 8,300 on the flop.  Both the small blind and big blind get out of the way.  The original raiser has me covered and moves in, I call and he shows me the only hand I don't him to show me, AsAc!  Sigh, good game, eventually I will run good in one of the big ones.

Palm Beach Kennel Club WSOPC

I have been in Palm Beach Florida since Wednesday February 15.  The first tournament began on Thursday with three starting days, a $565 buyin, with a one million dollar guaranteed prize pool.  Day 1a (Thursday) was sold out, and I was shut out of it.  However, I did get into Day 1b and Day 1c.  There isn't too much to say about either of these days other than the play was horrific.  At these circuit stops there are always going to be recreational players who just cannot fold bottom pair because "I put you on AK"...this along with other great one liners is something I've had to endure for the past week.  I busted both of these days before the dinner break, which was a shame considering there were over 2,600 runners with $182,750 going to first place.

Event 3

I decided to skip event 2, which was a $355 buyin and chose to play event 3, a $355 HORSE tournament.  I thought these guys were bad at holdem, well they had no clue how to play HORSE(holdem, omaha hi lo, razz, stud, stud 8 or better) all being played as "limit" poker.  This is key as at the beginning of the tournament a guy could not figure out why he couldn't bet more than 100 on the river in holdem when we were playing 50/100.  He tried betting 300 a number of times and finally an older gentleman at the table stands up leans over right in his face and yells "WHAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THIS IS LIMIT POKER!"  That made my day and I suddenly was happy I chose to play this event.  I slowly chipped up and for not having much HORSE experience myself was happy with my play.  I made the 2nd day of the tournament, but would bust out fairly early on day 2; around 30 people shy of the money.

Event 4

This was a $355 No Limit Holdem tournament that started at 11am(Florida has really early start times and it's tilting me).  This tournament started on the same day as day 2 of the HORSE tournament so I decided to play this event until my HORSE restart began at 2pm.  Live multi-tabling can usually be done, however it is almost impossible here because I would have to run up and down two flights of stairs and through a long hallway between hands.  I sat out of this event for around an hour while I played the HORSE restart.  Event 4 had 413 runners, paying out 45 spots, with a top prize of $26,142.  It's possible I made history in this event as with a starting stack of 10,000 chips I never once had over 30,000 in chips, and would eventually end up getting 43rd place for $537!  Just to put it into perspective the average chip stack with 45 players left would have been just below 100,000 chips. 

Event 5

This was a $355 No Limit Holdem 6-max tournament.  I was very excited coming into this one because two weeks ago in Tunica I finished 2nd in the 6-max for $14,000.  I was feeling another deep run coming, and I was sitting with a 20k stack on dinner break.  Coming back from dinner break with 20 big blinds is very comfortable for me.  This tournament had 391 runners, paying 45 spots, with a top prize of $24,736.  I believe there were around 90 people left after the dinner break.  I maintained my stack, and then went card dead for a couple levels.  We were five people away from the money when a very weird hand took place.  I was in the big blind for 1,600 and once the cards were dealt I look at the kid to my left and he has 1,600 in the pot when someone says, "Did you just limp?”  His response, "Oh shit I thought I was big blind, I swear".  Action folds to the small blind and he shoves for around 20,000.  I have 12,000 behind and decide to go with 77 since there was an extra 1,600 from the kid who "thought it was his big blind".  So I call and then he snaps with QQ, didn't really matter as the shover had AK and flopped a king anyway.  I'm still not sure if he knew he had queens or if he got lucky to wake up with a hand.  Finishing five spots out of the money was not a good feeling, but hey there's always another one.

Event 6

This was another $355 No Limit Holdem tournament.  I decided to register late as I often do because there really isn't any point in playing the first few levels of these things, plus the 11am starts are still tilting.  I started out playing fairly tight trying to get a feel for my table as I do in most tournaments.  I lose a few small pots putting me down to 8,000.  All of these circuit events have to same structure and starting stacks, the 355s have a 10k starting stack, the 565s have a 12k starting stack, the 1080s have a 15k starting stacks, and the Main Events $1,600 buyin have a 20k starting stack.  I continued to grind, at one point being as low as 2,900 before winning a hand.  Then right before the dinner break I won a big flip with AK vs 99 for a 23,000 pot.  Again coming back from dinner with 20 big blinds I was happy with it.  After dinner I get moved tables.  There are a lot of chips on this table.  There are 4 stacks over 100k and one of them had over 200k, which at this point in the tournament is ridiculous.  I stay right around 20 to 30k for a few levels before shoving 10 big blinds with QK and get called by AJ, board bricks.  We were 8 from the money and for the second time in two days I basically bubble.  On to the next one.