Chris Halverson’s Blog

Editor’s Note: I’m looking for some advice in here, if you play MTTs and/or just want to offer an opinion but don’t want to wade through the whole story, can you please jump down to the section entitled “Busting Out”? Thank you. -Ed.

Screwed

The day started out ominously. It was Friday and I was going to lose vacation again if I didn’t take a day off. I’ve “taken” 4 days off so far this year but this time I decided that the Mrs. and I could enjoy a day together before I went off to the poker tournament later that night.

Well, we didn’t have a very good day off, which put me in a fairly “off” mood. Then I checked my email and I see I had a comment from Hank about my missing the Gourds concert the night before. It said:

11th commandment: thou shalt not miss a Gourds show in your hometown.

Verily I say unto thee, you will be punished by bad beats until you repent.

Great, now I’m screwed.

Arrival

The tournament started at 7pm and I was meeting up with Dirk to carpool. The club allows cigars in one of their rooms, coincidently the room with the side games, so in preparation I went to the tobacco store near my house in search of a cigar. The store, which is about 20% bigger than my walk in closet, has changed a bit since I was last there. They’ve basically gone to 90% cigarettes and move to more expensive cigars. I was looking for a simple Aurturo Fuente 8-5-8. I didn’t see them and asked the woman there and she asked me to spell “Arturo” so she could look it up on the computer. Ok, not exactly an expert…Thankfully I remembered where another store was and was able to pick up a couple and I was set (and I come to find out they have a great selection).

I make it to Dirk’s and we head to Dave’s house to convoy. We make a roundabout way down the the venerable Minneapolis Club, despite taking the freeway during the time leading up to a Twins game and an Elton John concert. My friend Jason was playing in this too and we met up at the registration desk.

It’s a $100 buyin, NLHE tournament. They were going to limit it to 120 people, but they didn’t quite fill up this time. The clientele is mainly people in the finance industry. There’s some big money in the room. There’s also a lot of “friends” who are poker players.

We sign in and hit the bar. A Macallan 12, neat, is in my hand a couple of minutes later and then the food spread opens up. We grab a bite and look around.

This event draws a lot of repeat visitors, so a lot of faces were familiar. In addition to that, many of the people have been at Pete’s or Dirk’s home games. Due to this I, Mr. Introvert, spend some time shaking hands and making some small talk with people.

It’s around this time that we check out the table assignments in detail only to find out that Jason (2s), Dirk (6s) and myself (8s) were at the same table.

Great.

We also noted that one guy that made the final table at the last Mpls Club tourney, and has played at Dirk’s home tourney was at our table. We’ve dubbed him the Suckout King (SOK). He is a huge calling station, but has this huge ability to suckout on you. He also plays about 90% of the hands so you never quite know what he has. He’s also very aggressive. He tends to overplay hands, but he always puts you to the test early, so it makes it tough to play against him. He’s in the 4s.

The 5s is a totally newbie. He has to be told how to play, deal, etc. Every hand. He knows what beats what, but he doesn’t really know “how” to play.

There were about 105 people who made it this time. They tried doing 8 person tables, but ours ended up with 9 crowded around a table. The upside was that he was one of the sponsors and when he showed up late he bought the table a round.

Macallan #2 coming my way.

Start

The cards are in the air and on the third hand Jason and SOK get involved in a hand where SOK tried to put Jason all in. Jason folded, deciding that his hand probably wasn’t good enough to go broke on the 3rd hand (it was a tough laydown).

I misdeal on my second deal. Flipped over an ace while dealing it out.

Our table was really tight for a long time. We started with T1000 and nobody was too willing to risk much for a while. Our table actually had a good number of people who knew what they were doing. I’m holding pretty even for a while, then drop down a bit. I’m doing OK and feeling that I can hold my own here.

Because Dirk was at our table, we had two decks going to speed up the action. He like a well run game, and he always provides it, even when he’s not technically running it. We saw a ton of hands compared to a lot of other tables. We are able to grind out a couple people who probably would have lasted longer had we just had 1 deck.

Dirk proceeds to stay alive, doubling through SOK, through a huge suckout. Dirk had him dominated, QJ vs J6 (IIRC), and SOK, of course, flopped a 6. Dirk resucked a Q on the river and stayed alive.

We saw that Sunglasses Guy from Pete’s home game was there too. He was the only one in the room with sunglasses. He also had zero emotion and would not speak at all. He seems like a nice guy and he made the final table, but these games don’t really warrant sunglasses. Oh, and they’re social events, smile a little in between hands or something, everybody else is being social and it’s a little offputting to not be social back. Just a thought.

Jason busts before the break. I don’t remember the details. I have trouble enough remembering my own hands much less anybody else’s. Oh, and I didn’t have my notepad. So, yeah, I need to remember to bring that if I’m going to give decent reports. Sorry ‘bout that.

We make the break and we have 6 people at our table. They try to rebalance them when you get down to four (and I use “try” becuase they don’t that great a job of it, but it was much better this time that last). Shortly after that, we lose the guy between Dirk and I and we’re down to 5.

Dirk is on a smallish stack in the SB when it’s folded around to him. He raises 3xBB or so and I look at my cards and see A♥J♥. I look at his chips and reraise him all in. He thinks for a second and then calls. He flips over A7o and my hand is looking really good. It holds up and I knock him out and we’re down to 4. I’ve got a pretty good stack now and when I’m moved to another table I’m the big stack at the table.

Misplaying a Big Stack

I move to the new table with the big stack and everybody mentions it. I sit to the left of Dave, one of our group. Dirk basically becomes the TD and starts coloring people up. I’m the only one at our table who gets a yellow, 1K, chip. The table starts talking about the intimidation chip.

I proceed to totally misplay my big stack for at least a half hour.

I did not push anything at all. I did not try to represent anything. I totally misplayed the whole situation. When I sat down, I had people on edge due to my stack, and the table was very passive. It was ripe for plucking. There were many times things were folded around to the blinds who would passively play the hand.

I wasn’t getting any real cards, but with a big stack at a passive table, I didn’t really need cards. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it and adjust until it was too late.

Losing Half My Stack

Finally I’m getting blinded down a bit, but still with my yellow chip. Unfortunately, there are two others with ones now too. I’m UTG and see ATo and decide to try to buy the pot right there. I look around and raise enough to put the two small stacks all in.

I stare in shock as both call.

I flip over my ATo and wait for the others.

AJo

AQo

Can you say “Dominated”?

Two ways?

The flop brings a T and I’m suddenly way ahead. Turn is a brick and I’m feeling good.

Until the Q hits on the river.

I lose about half my stack on that hand and double up a short stack.

Busting Out (Opinions Please)

A bit later I’m down to T1400 and the blinds are 200/400. We’re down to three tables of 8. They pay the final two tables and I am not the shortest stack in the tourney, there were at least 2-3 others with less than me.

Here’s where I need help from you more experienced tourney players…

Blinds 200/400. UTG+1 has T600 and pushes blind. One caller (probably around T2000) and I look at 66. Damn. Ironically I didn’t really want too see anything so I wouldn’t risk going broke.

I struggled for a bit. I show Jason (who’s sweating me), my cards and give him a look. He has one of those pained looks that was exactly what I was feeling.

I called. Pot is now T2400.

Guy on my left raises T800, which coincidently is exactly what I have left. He is either the big stack or close to it at the table, probably close to T3000-T4000. Blinds fold. The original caller calls and I’m looking at being all in with pocket sixes. I’m getting better than 5:1 on my call (if my math was right) and my hand may still be good. Of course, if I’m wrong, I’m out just short of the money.

What do I do?

I called.

I lost.

I think it got down to the river though, but there were about 25 draws on the board and I never improved.

Original short stack busted too so I went out in 23rd, 7 short of the money.

The question is: Given stack sizes, closeness to the money, etc, should I have just folded pre-flop?

Side Games

After busting out I went to the side game room to see what was happening. One table was in the middle of a SNG. The other had 7 people, 4 of which were from our group. It was like that scene in “Rounders” where all the people are playing at the same table in AC. I decided to pass on the games and went back to watch the final tables.

Dry Side Pots

Here’s one thing that bugs me every time at these things: People don’t know basic tournament strategy. I’m not a MTT player by any means, but when it gets close to the money, I know the strategy is to not bet into a dry side pot. Don’t drive out others that may help bust out a small stack.

Time and time again I saw people betting into dry side pots which sometimes caused a short stack to stay in when one of the other guys would fold. I don’t understand what people are thinking. They are so intent on winning one hand that they loose sight of the bigger picture: knocking people out and getting to the money.

sigh

Overview

I had a great time again, and this time I feel I played pretty well, at least for most of the time. I totally misplayed a big stack and it cost me. I had the opportunity to steal a lot, but I got weak and waited for cards.

I never did get a chance to enjoy the cigars that I went out of my way to get, or play in any side games. This time most people left after they got busted out. I think part of it is that the tourney is on a Friday night and people are tired. Last time it was in the middle of winter and people have nothing better to do at night than stay warm in a nice private club. This time a couple groups made their way to Canterbury after they busted. Next time I may drive myself so I can leave if I’m out and game conditions aren’t good. I didn’t really need to stay up until 1am and could have been home 3 hours earlier.

With a first prize of close to $2500, I’ll be looking forward to the next one, even if the overall competition is getting better.

Gourds

(Yes, this is in the “Poker” category because a couple poker players turned me onto the Gourds and if you don’t listen to them you’re missing out big time.)

Yesterday Scott kindly informed me that my favorite group, The Gourds, was going to be in Minneapolis on Thursday night.

Effing.

A.

Last summer I went to a Gourds concert for the first time after hearing, oh, about 3 songs. Scott and Hank said that I had to go because they are awesome. I must admit, it was an incredible experience and I ended up checking their web site periodically to see if I could catch them coming to town again.

A few months ago I missed one of my other favorite bands, the Old 97’s (who Scott also introduced me to), by one day. This time, it was the same day, but I really couldn’t make it on such short notice. The Gourds kind of sneak into town, blow people away, and leave. I checked the site about a month ago and this date wasn’t on the list, so it must have been a recent addition.

I’m fairly pissed that I missed them, it would have rocked.

sigh

Poker

I finished off the Party reload hands last night and was up for the run of 700 hands. I know, it’s results oriented, but it’s always interesting to see how you do when playing the bonus. Last night I 3 tabled 100NL and finished the night -$1. Woo hoo! Anyway, it was a profitable run of 700 hands, which is a terrible sample size, but it was still a good time had by all.

Tonight (Friday), I go to the Minneapolis Club for another tournament. $100 buyin, NLHE, 120 or so people. Scotch, cigars, cards, and investment bankers at private club can make for an interesting night. Last time I finsihed the night -$20 or so after splitting a side game SNG. Tonight I plan on doubling up early (and then tripling it, see Tilt for specifics), or busting out and getting in the lucrative side games. I’m not going to be reckless, but I’m going to be more aggressive than I was last time where I limped along until the break with a shortish stack and couldn’t do anything with it.

Poker

After a dismal start to the week’s poker trails (see previous post, here’s a summary: -$150 in 175 hands), Tuesday brought a nice reversal. I was three tabling the 100NL at Party and sitting about even (+/- 10BB at each) when I was able to almost double up at one table. Wednesday I was up another $70 plus I placed 3rd in only my 3rd SNG this month for another $40. So all in all, I got back to my winning ways, which is nice.

One hand that frustrated me was a KK hand. I was raised on the flop and was bet into fairly big on the turn after I checked and I got weak. I figured I still had the best hand, but I was 3 tabling and watching “The Shield” and didn’t have GameTime+ running, so I wasn’t really sure what he had done in the past. He ended up raising me on the river when I led out and I just called. His AKo did not improve and my cowboys took down a $180 pot.

I think my play here is a little suspect. I’ve come to realize that top pair is not really a good hand. The flop was ragged and rainbow, so I didn’t think it hit him, especially after calling a 3xBB preflop raise. The flop was jack high and I couldn’t put him on JJ. I figured maybe AJ, QQ, or QJ. I was a total calling station until the river when I decided to throw out a bet, and then called his min raise. I was totally prepared to lose 75% of my stack on that and was shocked when the pot was shoved my way. Just when I think I’ve got some aggression figured out I pull something like that. While I won the hand, I could have probably won more or bought it earlier. I got a bit lucky and was paid off, but it’s not a good way to play.

Bonuses

I’ve been a bad bonus whore this month. I’ve hardly cleared anything. I have played only about 20% of the hands I played last month (when I had my best month ever). I’m still up for the month, so that’s good. Of course, up is up and much better than being in the red. Real life has just taken more time this month, and that’s fine because it’s been “good” real life and not just bad things that have popped up to take time away, so I’ve got that going for me.

WPBT Satellite Review

Now that I’ve had some time to digest the tourney a bit and looking at the hand histories, I’ve come to like my play from last night. I had decided earlier that I was going to be more aggressive and actually try to win. I was not going to play my normal weak/tight game. I wanted to win this and did not want to limp into the later rounds with a small stack. MTTs are not my strong suit at all. I’m much more of a cash game player and a smallish SNG player. The only MTTs I play are the blogger ones.

I stole a decent number of blinds early. Now these aren’t huge pots, but I was setting up a different image than I normally have. I’ve played with a lot of you before (most notably, I seem to always have Bob at my table and he has a propensity to bust me), and my writing shows that I’m a fairly weak/tight player. I was aiming to change that this game and it more or less worked.

This, of course, bit me on the ass on one hand and I got knocked way down. I was down to T160 at one point. I doubled up twice in a row and another time a couple hands later which put me in a position where I had room to breathe and get back to playing real poker instead of Poker Superstars II “push or fold” poker.

I did less calling and more raising, which is a change for me, but seemed to work. I was able to buy a couple pots where I am pretty sure I didn’t have the best hand. Some of these weren’t huge either, but helped keep me afloat and had me at about an average stack for most of the time.

The hand I busted out on was a weak play. I raised pre-flop and then checked the flop to give a free card. A bet on the flop could have represented strength due to the pre-flop raise which may have driven the other guy out. Instead, I reverted back to weak/tight Chris and checked my missed flop. When I caught my card on the turn, I was beat due to being in what we call in the business, a dominated position.

My lack of MTT experience definitely shows through in these tournaments. I generally last to around the break, but usually have a small stack. This time I was about average (a bit below, but not bad), and felt I was playing well. I just picked the wrong time to play weak.

Big congrats to Bob, nice job, especially making a comeback after I pw0ned you early on I’m glad the hand made you pay attention.

BTW, sorry for not being on IM. Like I said, I was having dinner with my family and it was tough enough to pay attention to the game without having to deal with IM.

Party Reload

Last night I finally desposited to take advantage of the Party reload. I then proceeded to lose $150 at the tables. In 175 hands. At least I’m off to a great start.

GamesGrid

I’ve only checked a couple of times, but I have not found an open seat at a game I want to play in, so I haven’t actually played there yet (get waiting lists and I’ll give it a try). That being said, I did cash out my $500 last night and the money hit Neteller in 20 minutes.

20 minutes.

Full Tilt, you could learn something from that. That’s even faster than Party does it. Now maybe it’s because I haven’t played yet, after all they didn’t have to do anything to determine if I was cheating or anything, but even so it was pretty impressive.

While not quite Key West, I was playing in a bit of a distracted way during the tourney. My brother, who lives 4 houses away, was grilling for dinner on Sunday night. I brought my laptop over and connected up via wireless. I then proceeded to camp out on his deck in the chilly Minnesota spring night to eat dinner with the family with my laptop sitting on the table. It was a little distracting trying to not totally ignore everybody while still playing in the tourney.

I am definitely using that as my excuse for not winning.

Highlights of key hands follow.

Lost most of my stack EP when I limped with Q♥J♠, Flop: K♦Q♦T♠, turn K♠, river 9♦. caught a straight on the river. The turn, however, filled up other guy (simms34). He bet T150, I raised to T500, raises to T1000 and I just call. I’m down to T240.

I then proceded to double up 2 hands in a row and I at least had a little breathing room.

Level 3 (25/50), and I get A♣K♣ on button, I have T585. BobRespert (to my right) raises to T150, I call. The two of us see a flop of A♦6♣3♦. Bob bets T250, I push my last T435 and he calls. The turn and river bring 3♠5♠ and MHIG. Bob is down to T820 and I’m back up to T1245.

Couple hands later I (T1245) have A♦7♦ and limp. The_Venetian (T1125) and Bazkar (T1550) are in the blinds and come along. Flop is Q♣J♣7♣. Checked to me and I toss out T100 with my bottom pair. Venetian calls. Turn is 7♠ and I’ve got trips. Checked to me and I bet T300 into the T350 pot. Venetion check raises me for a T675 raise. I insta-call and the T♥ on the river is meaningless and I knock out The Venetian. I’ve got around T2300 and sitting good.

I love a couple smallish hands along the way to get me around T1900 or so at the first break where I’m about 22nd. During the break I pack up and run home to get setup just in time to get dealt the Hammer on my first hand back.

About 10 minutes after the break I get K♥J♣ UTG+1 and raise to T400 (blinds are 75/150). I’ve got T1545 and was feeling frisky for some reason. Dragonystic (T2300) calls and everybody else folds. The flop of T♠5♥3♠ misses me and weakly I check and it’s checked behind me. The turn is the J♥ and I push the last of my T1145 into the pot (T1025). He insta-calls me and I’m not liking it. He flips over AdJd and IGHN in 42nd.