Bond18 - Around the World in 90 Days: Day 51

Posted by Bond18 | Filed under Bond18

Yet another $1,500 No-Limit tournament… how thrilling. Even though I made an effort to get to bed early, I couldn’t fall asleep until 4AM. Most nights, a little under seven hours of sleep has carried me through beautifully, but today my head is aching and I’m feeling the stomach sickness I normally get when I don’t have enough sleep. Noon is too early for a poker tournament.

After we get to the Rio, I find my seat in the Brasilia room. Half the table hasn’t shown up when the cards get in the air. Only a couple hands in I’m already involved:

Stacks: 3,000, blinds 25/50, I hold 4c-5c in the BB. We’re six-handed.

Pre-flop: UTG raises to 125, HJ folds, CO calls, button calls, SB folds, I call.

Flop: 6c-5h-Qc

I check, UTG bets 375, CO folds, button folds, I raise to 950, UTG calls.

Turn: 3c

I go all-in for 1,900, UTG tanks and folds.

Not long after the hand one of the late players shows up, Shaun fucking Deeb himself, a few seats on my left. Deeb starts by playing a pretty LAG style and even tables a three bet bluff in a blind vs. blind hand where he had Q-high for pure air. He later tells me he thought he had a flush draw. A few hands after he shows up, I’m involved again:

My stack: ~5,000, UTG+2: ~3,600, blinds 25/50. I hold Qs-Js in MP2.

Pre-flop: UTG limps, UTG+1 limps, UTG+2 limps, MP1 folds, MP2 limps, I limp, HJ limps, CO limps, button limps, SB completes, BB checks. LOL live poker.

Flop: 4d-Td-Kc

Checks to UTG+2, UTG+2 bets 300, I call, the rest fold.

Turn: 7h

UTG+2 bets 400, I call.

River: 9h

UTG+2 bets 300, I raise to 1,400, UTG+2 folds.

Just a few hands later, I’m involved again:

My stack: ~6,400, button: ~4,000, blinds 25/50. I hold Ad-Ks in the SB.

Pre-flop: Folds to the button, button raises to 200, I re-raise to 650, BB folds, button calls.

Flop: Tc-Td-Qc

I bet 800 (I don’t really like this bet, very little folds that wouldn’t have just given me free cards anyway) button raises to 2,000, I fold.

A few rounds later, I get involved with the same player in the three-bet hand, though he has since won a considerable pot:

My stack: 4,325, HJ: ~9,500, blinds 50/100. I hold Kd-Qh on the CO.

Pre-flop: Folds to the HJ, HJ limps, I raise to 400, folds back to the HJ, HJ calls.

Flop: 9c-7s-3c

HJ bets 500. From watching him play I know the only type of hands he leads with are one pair type hands trying to find out where they are. I decide to float and try and take it away on the turn since I think he folds to further aggression there a ton.

Turn: Td

HJ thinks about it then bets 1,100, I shove for 3,400, HJ goes into the tank. After a while of thought he says “I think I’ve got too many outs to fold, I call.”

I tap the table and tell him nice call then table my hand. He turns over 8-7o. Shit, right read with the wrong turn card.

River: Jd

Oh wow, that is ever so dirty. The HJ seems very annoyed and goes completely silent for quite a long time after sliding me over his chips. I feel like a donk, but I’ve got a stack.

Just an orbit later I’m involved with the same player, who has since regained a few chips:

My stack: ~9,000, SB: ~5,500, blinds 50/100. I hold Ad-Qc in the BB.

Pre-flop: Folds to the SB, SB raises to 450, I call (given our history and what he views as an absurd bluff, I perhaps should just three bet and try to get it in here).

Flop: 2d-6h-Td

SB bets 650, I call (I think I have the best hand here a ton.)

Turn: Qh

SB thinks then fires 1,600. I’m left with the decision to raise small and let him do something spewy out of spite, or jam to represent another semi-bluff. I decide to make it 3,600 (but given stacks, I think cramming is probably better after the fact) and the SB thinks it over and folds. Not long after the hand I realize how stupid just making it 3,600 is, and start getting annoyed with myself for being a moron.

Only three hands later I find myself in a weird spot with Deeb:

My stack: ~11,000, MP1: ~2,000, Deeb: ~7,000, blinds 100/200. I hold A-Ko on the CO. Deeb has a very aggressive image and has shown two bluffs, and recently showed down Kh-5h after being the pre-flop raiser.

Pre-flop: Deeb raises to 500 UTG, folds to MP1, MP1 is a tight mid-30s guy who has 1,500 in blue 500 chips and a few hundred more in blacks and greens. MP1 makes it 1,500, folds to me on the CO. I lean over and ask Deeb how much he has, and he tells me it’s about 7,000. I announce all-in and it now folds back to Deeb. Deeb thinks things through out loud and decides I pretty much always have A-K here since I needed to check his stack size before I did anything (he’s kind of right, lots of people will just make their move with A-A/K-K because they aren’t concerned with the stack size) then calls all-in. MP1 also calls all-in. Deeb tables J-J, MP1 K-K and I flip up my A-K.

Flop: 3-8-Q

Turn: T

River: T

My stack plummets from 11,000 down to 4,000. Just an orbit later I get my opportunity to do something retarded with the remains of my stack:

My stack: ~3,800, UTG: ~3,600, UTG+1: ~2,200, blinds 100/200. I hold J-J in the BB.

Pre-flop: UTG raises to 550. UTG is a young guy who seems pretty recreational and has big headphones on. After he raises, UTG+1 goes all-in and UTG blurts out “Yes!” It folds around to me and I think it over. I turn to UTG

“Got a big hand huh?”

He stalls, not aware that I’ve spoken to him under his headphones

“Huh?”

I decide UTG could be doing this with A-K (because I am a retard and feeling sick today, which is no excuse to play awful) and move in. Now UTG goes into the tank.

“You ask me if I got a big hand…maybe you got the big hand?” After a minute of thought UTG announces call and tables Q-Q. UTG+1 shows T-T. Damn, my bluff almost worked.

Flop: 2-4-8

Turn: A

River: A

I slide over all but 225 of my chips and I see Deeb shaking his head at me. I mean Jesus, how fucking stupid am I? The guy said “Yes!” out loud, what other indication do I need that he has a big hand?

I end up making a run with my 225 chips and, at one point, get it all the way back to 3,500 just surviving all-ins pre-flop. I even manage to outlast Deeb in the tournament, even though he took all my chips. I don’t ever play anything close to an interesting hand though and, in the end, I cram A-To over a late-position raiser and get called by his T-T, leaving me with just a few hundred after I lose. I’m so short I shove J-9o and the BB calls without looking and finds Ad-6d, which holds up to beat me.

Some people say after you have a big score you’ll inevitably play bad in your next tournament. I don’t buy that shit at all. I don’t know what went wrong with me today, but writing it off like some sort of score-induced hang over is the easy way out. There was the exhaustion and feeling sick to my stomach, but I’ve dealt with that on other days without playing like such a massive moron. After such a considerable success, it’s frustrating to return to so many bad habits.

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