A Rare Weekend

For maybe the first time ever, I played in two different home game tournaments on the same weekend.  The first was the October SFPT get-together; the second, an eight-person buy in at Oscar's friend Josh's birthday party.  Both went fairly well, though not obviously in some ways.  A couple of quick recaps:

I ended up winning the SFPT tournament, besting an eight player field.  I will admit that I was catching a lot of flops and turns, so the amount of skill required to take home the win wasn't as much as it seemed.  Still, a few things went right.  Namely, early in the tournament, I had donked off a lot of chips before the first elimination, and suddenly realized I really wasn't focusing as I should be.  I got back into the game more at that point, mentally, and the big takeaway is that I actually made the realization before it was too late.

One had stands out, partly because of how I played it, and partly because of who I played it against - Tina.  Pre-flop, there were three players left, Kim being the third.  The flop came J/4/9, and Kim checked.  I also checked, and Tina, short-stacked, moved all-in.  Kim quickly folded, and I just as quickly called, flipping two pair J/4 to beat Tina's pair of nines.  It was exactly what I hoped would happen, and for once, the trap worked perfectly. 

Discussing the hand a couple days later, Tina commented something along the lines of "of course you trap, you love to trap!"  My reply: "yeah, but the difference now is I know when to pick my spots."  She agreed, giving more credence to the idea that I've come a long way.

I ended up playing Ray heads up, and though that battle took a little while (blinds got to 700/1400 for the first time in SFPT history), I was able to prevail.  I made a good lay down early on when I folded top pair after the river; Ray's reaction (motherfucker!") told me he had me beat.  Other than that the play was pretty standard.  I made out good on one semi-bluff holding king high, and the final hand saw Ray's nines lose to my A/Q off when a queen hit on the turn.

The tournament at Josh's party was interesting, and a bit of deju vu, but not in a good way.  Thanks to my apparent illiteracy, I arrived late, reminded only by Oscar's timely text.  To my surprise and happiness, the other seven guys agreed to blind me out until I got there, and I only missed two hands (and one blind).  The deja vu part came when I came inside, said happy birthday to the man of the hour, and sat right down to start to play with no chance to prepare.  Thanks to running late and being embarrassed by that fact, I had the same nervous/anxious feeling that I had when playing my first "real" live session and tournament, and after busting the tournament and moving directly to the cash table at Turning Stone back in April.

But, I also had that experience, and knew how to mentally combat the feelings.  After folding my first hand, and taking my turn as dealer on the next, I stood up and went to get a drink, making sure to concentrate on breathing and calming down.  The result wasn't immediate, but it worked, and a couple hands later I was back to normal.

Knowing only two of the other players at the table (Oscar, and his friend Clint, whom I've played with before) made for an interesting time, but a very good experience - unlike the SFPT, the aspect of the unknown was much better practice for me.  I made one bad laydown post-flop when a guy to my left raised, and the guy on my immediate right shoved all in; I had A/Q on an A/10/5 board. 

The problem with the fold was that my rationale was SFPT-based: if someone already called, let them fight it out.  But, this was a winner-take-all freezeout; I should have called there and saw what happened, because being out in 7th is no worse than being out in 2nd.

It turns out I would have won the hand with my aces. Oh well - it's a good lesson for next time.  File it under "know your tournament structure".

I ended up out in fifth when I chased a straight and missed (adjusting to my "first place or nothing at all" strategy that I realized one hand too late) for most of my stack, and was eliminated when my pre-flop shove of pocket queens lost to a pair of aces in a three-way pot.  I had no problem with that hand in particular - pocket face cards while short-stacked is a no-brainer shove.

One other item of note: the player two seats to my left, John, was from the get-go a very aggressive player, raising almost every pot at least 3 times the big blind.  He won a lot of pots that way, and later claimed when talking to Oscar and I, "I only bluffed twice all night".  Oscar had an immediate and I think accurate retort: "Yeah, and one of them is right now."

Learning to deal with aggressive players is, I think, something I need to work on.  I don't have a lot of experience in that regard, as most of the SFPT regulars are conservative by nature.  I feel like I adjusted well to John's play once I realized his raises were going to be commonplace.  Had I hit my straight, not only would it have won me a big pot, it also might have changed his approach regarding raising when I was still in the pot ahead of him.  So, I'm not upset - it just didn't work out.

Recapping the weekend from a profit and experience point of view:

Buy-Ins: $20
Winnings: $40

Bracelet Hunting Update: $30 added, $80 total ($10 set aside for Add-Ons for Ally for the November tournament)

Race to 10k Update: 4.75 home game hours, 133.50 total home game hours, 243.50 total hours

WSOP-E

My Twitter stream keep tempting me with links to live poker - before it was the EPT, and now the WSOP Europe.  Yesterday I took the bait and watched a little of Event 5, a 2,000 Pound NLHE tournament. 

Right away, I was right back in the swing of things, watching, learning, and putting myself in the pros shoes in terms of the decisions they made and whether I agreed or would have played differently.  It was a good feeling to be back in the proverbial saddle, if even from a distance.

Twitter hit me with the links again today and again I clicked, this time based on my experience the day before, the need to kill some time, and the final-table presence of one of my favorite pros, Erik Seidel.  The 8-time bracelet winner is one of the quietest and most unassuming, yet funniest and most intelligent pros on the entire tour and has been from some time.  He is one of the members of the very short list of pros I look up to.

I watched the tournament on and off, around work and the memorial service/wake for my Great Uncle John.  It was 2:15 eastern time when it finally ended, Seidel losing heads-up in his quest for a ninth bracelet.  Not the result I wanted to see, but good poker nonetheless.

I learned a few things about heads-up play in the process, and a couple about tournaments in general, but mostly I watched how the players conducted themselves at the table.  That kind of thing facinates me for some reason.  I see people all the time who act like complete jackwads when they play live, yet there are guys like Seidel who are so low-key one would think them acting quiet because they are out of their element and thus terrified.  Nothing can be further from the truth.

I'm still trying to determine by "table image", what I want to be known as.  There are cases to be made, even within my own personality, for at least a couple of different approaches.  Maybe it depends on my mood, or the situation.  As I have already written, I won't be taking things too seriously.  Just how verbally and demonstratively I "don't take it seriously" remains to be seen.

Back in The Rut

So here I am once again.

Not only have I not played at all since SFPT September, I don't even have the motivation to do so.  What's worse, I am a full issue and a half behind on "Bluff".  That might be somewhat excusable given I have been reading a lot of books lately, but this next item is what really surprises me:

EPT London is going on right now.  I knew this ahead of time, but when the opportunity came to take a look and watch some live coverage, I declined, in favor of continuing to listen to XM Radio while I worked.  Even a couple months ago this would have been something I jumped at, racing home from the Rec and logging in right before even checking email.

Now?  Not interested, and I don't know why. 

I think part of it is that I have been away from poker for so long.  Reading and watching are fine, but I have been distracted with so many other things lately, I haven't been willing to focus on poker (to be fair, the distractions have not all been bad things; in fact, few of them are, so maybe "distraction" isn't the right word.  Perhaps "occupied" is a better classification.)  However, the November Nine is coming up soon, so I'm betting that will rekindle my interest at least a little bit.

Another part of the problem is one I have discussed many times already: I feel like I have plateaued.  The only way to get away from that is to play, and I haven't had that opportunity at all.  I'm not whining - if i wanted to make it happen, I could.  But there are other more important things in my life.  As much as I love poker, I'm not about to jet off and leave my wife and daughter behind so I can play.  How much of an ass would that make me?

Answer: a big one.  The biggest.  And I'm not doing it.  There is a solution I will find, a balance I can strike.  Stay tuned.