Jason B. – 16 points
Matt – 15 points
Tom – 10 points
Justin – 8 points
Scott – 7 points
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Jason B. – 12 points Matt – 11 points Tom – 10 points Justin – 8 points Scott – 6 points Jason J. – 0 points Jason B. – 11 points Tom – 8 points Matt – 7 points Justin – 6 points Scott – 2 points Jason J. – 0 points Matt – 7 points Tom – 6 points Jason B. – 5 points Justin – 5 points Scott – 2 points Jason J. – 0 points
Justin – 4 points Tom – 4 points Matt – 3 points Scott – 2 points Jason B. – 1 point It has been decided to wait to start the 12 week points league for at least 3 more weeks. The first week for points will be Wednesday, January 28. So far we have 6 players committed to playing for points during this time. If anyone else is interested in participating, please let us know. If you have any questions or are wondering how this particular point system is going to work, please let us know. Happy New Year everyone! Anyone out there thought of a resolution to help you improve your poker game? My resolution for this year is to try to get paid off more when I know I have the best hand either on the turn or on the river. Lately I have been getting upset at myself when I know I have the best hand on the turn and not making the person(s) that are drawing to a better hand pay more to see that river. Also, on the river, when I bet too much and the person folds or bet too little when they would pay me off for more. It is really an easy thing, I just need to think through it more and not get so excited when I have a monster. So, think of a resolution that will benefit your game and best of luck to you all in 2009! Charity Poker Tournament This past weekend I participated in a local fundraising poker tournament to help raise funds to purchase hockey equipment for a local hockey club. The tournament was hosted by TJ’s Charity Poker Room. This was a twenty dollar buy in tourney with unlimited add ons the first hour and fifteen minutes. There were 41 entrants on this particular evening. The tournament was well run and dealers did a nice job of keeping things moving. Tight-Aggressive and Playing Position I started the tourney with a tight-aggressive type of play, only playing "good" hands and raising when deciding to play. This strategy was working very well for me throughout the first couple of blind levels. Because of the way I was playing, I was able to start to change gears a little bit and loosen up just a little at a time. For example, if I was on the button and there were 4-5 limpers into the pot, I would use my position to raise and take down the pot right then and there with pretty much any two cards. I figured that if no one was willing to raise with the hands they had, they must have not been strong enough to call a raise with them. This helped me pick up some dead money to help increase the size of my stack. Crippled Things were going very smoothly when I was dealt Q-Q on the button. It was perfect because there once again were like 4-5 limpers in the pot already. I raised about six times the blinds and got one caller. The flop came rags with no real threat of a straight or flush. The caller had only about 1,500 in chips left in front of him and I bet all-in. He did not think too long and called. He had A-K off suit. I liked my position, but was surprised he made the call with still enough chips to make a move at a later time. Well, sure enough, the turn card was the Ace of spades and he drew out on me to take the pot. I was now crippled and contemplated an add-on. I decided against it for a couple of hands and had about 1.5 blinds left in front of me. I then was moved to a different table and decided to buy 2 more add ons for charity. I still was pretty short stacked, but had enough chips to still value other players out of the pot if needed. Hanging Around and Making the Final Table I hung around for about the next hour or so, going all-in with premium hands and winning the blinds, just so could pay for another orbit around the table without losing any more chips. I was fortunate enough to make the final table of 10. I was the short stack. The first hand that I was dealt was A-Q off suit, under the gun. I pushed all of my chips in the middle. Everyone folded to the big blind. He tanked for about a minute and called with 7-7. It was not looking good for me until a river 8 completed a straight for me, doubling me up. I was still one of the short stacks at this table. Again, I was patient and was able to make it to the final 5. The tourney paid out the top 4. Making the Money Still the short stack, I had 2 options here. One, start to push with any above average hand and take my chances, or two, hope that 2 of the bigger stacks wake up with a big hand and can knock a player out. My goal at this point was to make the money. Well, sure enough, the chip leader went all in, seriously over betting in relation to the blinds and was called by the player that was 3rd in chips (probably an even worse move considering the amount of chips he had left and me being short stacked). The chip leader’s 8-8 held against A-Q, and I found my self back dooring my way into the money. Patience Pays I all of a sudden started to catch some hands. I went all in one time with Q-10, and was snap called by Q-J. I turned 2 pair and was able to fade the river for a nice double up. A couple of hands later I was all in with A-K vs. A-Q. My A-K held for another double up. I was now all of a sudden second in chips, and was creeping up on the chip leader. When my K-Q held up against another players Q-J, I was now heads up. Heads Up Going into heads up I was 2nd in chips, but was only one decent sized pot from being even. There was plenty of play left for sure. I had played against my opponent before, and he was pretty good. He seemed to make very correct poker decisions at the table. There were 2 very key hands heads up. The first, we were about 5 hands into heads up, pretty much just swapping blinds back and forth. I was dealt 5-5 and decided to just limp. My opponent checked. The flop came 8-9-X. He checked, I checked. Turn came a 6. He checked, I bet 5,000, and he raised to 15,000. I thought for a few seconds and it felt like to me he was on some type of draw, but was not sure of anything. I called, having now picked up a straight draw. The river was a 5! Kind of a scary board with 3 to a flush and 4 to a straight and once he checked I checked behind, fearing a raise. He showed 2 pair, 9’s and 8’s, and I somewhat smirked when I rolled over my river set. My opponent kind of laughed and started to give me "the speech" about how I called a raise on the turn. I made some friendly comments back to him and we both laughed the hand off. The final hand of the evening. I was dealt A-Q off suit and raised 4 times the blind. My opponent immediately called. Flop came Q-J-10. I had a commanding chip lead at this point. I checked, he bet 15,000. I immediately raised all in for his final 18,000. He said out loud that he knew I was going to do that and then started to talk himself through what I might have. He mentioned a draw. With only 4.5 blinds left, he called with J-4. The turn and river blanked and I won! First Career Win It was very satisfying to win. This was my first tourney win. My highest finish up to this point was 4th and a couple of other top 10’s. I felt like I played well on this particular evening. I was patient and survived my all ins. I was helped by some impatient play by the big stacks as well as running into some big hands when my opponents had slightly less. Overall, it was a great time and it was nice to finally take down a tourney as well as help some people purchase some much needed hockey equipment. |
