Bond18 - Around the World in 90 Days: Day 5

Posted by Bond18 | Filed under Bond18

Bari Italy, May 3^rd - I wake up with a sick feeling in my stomach. I gaze towards the curtain drawn window and it appears to still be very dark outside. I lay in bed wondering whether I should try and get back to sleep or wake up. My stomach is telling me that there will be no more sleep, so I drag myself out of bed and fire up the laptop. I still don’t have Internet in the room, so I kill some time playing simple games on the computer. I slightly pull back the curtain and realize it’s actually daylight out…hmm, damn good curtains.

I stroll up to the buffet and order a coffee hoping it’ll help settle my stomach down. There’s no clock in the room (yet again), so it takes bothering numerous elderly French people asking for the time before I find out it’s about 8AM. I take a seat at the buffet bar and order a cappuccino. The man who takes my order stares at me very seriously and seems to either be having a horrible day or just a natural dislike of me. The cappuccino he makes me is still good though.

After my drink I wander down toward the poker room to find the seating arrangements. I haven’t heard of anyone on my table, though that’s pretty much the case throughout the boat. The only semi-recognizable names in the whole tournament from the live poker scene are Soren Konsagaard, JJ Liu and Dan Alspach, plus host Mike Sexton, who as far as I can tell, isn’t playing. There is a rather amusing sign at the entrance to the poker room which reads “Poker tournament will start immediately after fire drill at 4:15 or 4:30.”

Around 9:30M, I run into the rest of my friends and we head downstairs for the tour of Bari. Bondgirl and I didn’t formally register last night as was required for the tour so we gamble in hoping they find room for us, which they somehow do. Bari is a sun-baked Mediterranean town with some serious architectural history such as Bari castle and what I think is referred to as “St. Nicks cathedral”, though it might have a more formal name. During our half-hour free time we grab lunch near the ocean and end up almost missing the bus back to the boat, catching it in the street as it’s leaving without us.

We get back to the boat around 3PM and I endure the tedious fire drill that teaches me the valuable lesson of “If boat is on fire, grab life jacket and get the fuck off.” I’m finding the anticipation leading up to the tournament nerve racking. In all my previous live tournament experience, it was a morning start time where you wake up, grab a shower and some food, then rush out the door and get to playing almost immediately. Having to spend a whole day awake leading up to the tournament is a strange new sensation.

At 4:15 or 4:30 I make my way toward the poker room and find Timex, Will and Pacman. I agree to swap 2.5% with each and then find my chair, table 6 seat 6. We start with a 10K bank with 25/50 blinds, hour levels and an excellent structure. My table is entirely unknown until the last player shows up, a young Englishman named Scott who I played with at the WSOP last year. I spend the majority of the first hour cracking jokes with Scott and discussing the merits of various new video games on XBox360. We are cultured men. I play some hands of poker too.

My first hand is against what appears to be the most aggressive player on the table. He’s mid-20’s and Canadian, and has been opening quite a few pots when the following comes up:

I hold Qd-Jd in the BB. Blinds 25/50 with 10K effective stacks.

Pre-flop: The action folds to the CO, who raises to 125. Action folds to me and I call.

Flop: 9d-7c-2c

I check, he bets 250, I call.

Turn: Jc

I debate both leading and checking, but decide he seems like the type who might fire multiple barrels. Plus, if he’s got a weak pair, he’ll check back and be forced to call a river bet if the flush misses. He opts to check behind.

River: 4s

I think it over then fire 625, and he calls and mucks when I table my hand.

The mix of players at the table is as follows; three older guys (40ish or older, yes I know that’s actually middle-aged, but this is poker we’re talking about), five youngish guys (25 or younger) and one guy who seems somewhere in the middle. A couple of rounds into the tournament I witness one of the older guys in a very odd situation; a small pot has developed, but I’ve missed the flop and turn action because I’m too busy telling Scott “Las Vegas is the only city in the world where it feels like every conversation is someone trying to angle shoot you. When a waitress brings me a napkin and says ‘Here ya go,’ in Vegas it’s like ‘What the hell is she after here?’”

The board reads: Q-T-5-7-2 and there’s perhaps 600 in the middle. The older guy (45 perhaps?) checks and the player in seat 1 fires 300. The older guy stares at it for a moment then places two black 100 denomination chips in front of him.

“It’s 300 to call” says the dealer.

“What?” asks the older guy, utterly befuddled.

“It’s 300 to call, he has 300 out.”

The older guy stares at seat 1’s bet in complete confusion, stalling for several seconds. Then he looks back at his stack, looks back at the bet, takes two more black 100 denomination chips out and places them in front of him.

“No! It’s 300 to call. Only one more.” repeats the dealer.

“What!?” repeats the older guy.

“300!” The dealer gets fed up, grabs one of the chips, sticks it back in his stack and brings the pot in. “Now let’s see your cards. Turn them over please.”

The guy in seat 1 tables KJ for a K high bluff. The older guy tables A2s for bottom pair, which is very good. This is my competition today.

A round later I find myself in a hand with the player in seat 1 who attempted the KJ bluff:

10K effective stacks. I hold A-8o in the CO. 25/50 blinds.

UTG limps and the action folds to me in the CO. I raise to 200, action folds to UTG, who calls.

Flop: Th-8s-4h

UTG checks, I bet 250 (should be a bit bigger), he calls.

Turn:7c

He checks and I quickly check back hoping to induce bluffs from missed draws.

River: 5d

Seat 1 checks and looks ready to give up. I’m almost certain he doesn’t have a 10 or anything good, so I bet in case he decides to make some spaz call, but mostly because I know I have the best hand and I don’t really feel like checking back and showing the table I’m going to isolate limps with Ace rag (which seems like an odd motivation, but really does have some value in live play.) I fire 500 and UTG folds after little thought.

For a while I don’t get into any serious post-flop spots, as does almost nobody else. The table is playing extremely weak tight, and I’m actually finding quite a few medium quality hands that I’m open raising and simply taking the blinds. I’d raised the last two buttons and have an aggressive image when the following hand comes up:

My stack: ~11K. BB: ~5K. Blinds 50/100, I hold Ts-Tc on the button. BB is the guy who can’t figure out how much 300 is. He plays a weird, loose, not nitty, but not aggressive yet still spewy game.

Pre-flop: Action folds to me on the button. I raise to 300, SB folds, BB re-raises to 700. I don’t feel good about this, but I think raise/folding 10-10 on the button for 400 more is way too weak, even if it is live. I call.

Flop: 6h-4c-3h

BB thinks for a moment and doesn’t seem thrilled by this flop. He fires out a 1,000 chips anyway. I decide to call him here and if he shoves the turn I’ll believe him since he really doesn’t seem like the type to bluff-off his whole tournament. I call.

Turn: 8s

BB checks, I check back.

River: 5c

BB checks, I check back. BB tables K-Qo and I scoop the pot.

I spend the remainder of the 50/100 level taking down blinds and watching the other players trying to get reads. Scott get’s busted and the table gets considerably quieter without our banter. My next interesting hand comes up after the blind increase to 75/150.

My stack: ~13K. Button’s stack: ~14K. Blinds 75/150. I hold 33 in the HJ.

Pre-flop: Action folds to MP1, who limps. MP2 limps, I limp, and action folds to the button, who raises to 750. The action folds back to me. The button seems like a decent player, but I don’t really know much about him. It seems a little thin, but I think with 20x implied behind, I can call profitably here out of position, though it’s somewhat close if he’s isolating a ton of hands in position. Still, the smaller raise makes me think he might have a somewhat wider range. I call and take the flop.

Flop: Ac-Td-5c

I check. The button thinks it over, stares at me, then checks back.

Turn: 3h

That’ll work. I lead out 1,600, the button mulls it over and calls.

River: Js

I stare at him briefly, then count out 3,600 and fire it into the pot (in this spot vs. someone who appears to be thinking, I think going even a bit bigger like 4,000 might be better so my hand looks more like a bluff) and he calls after a few seconds. I table my set and drag a pot that puts me at almost double the starting stack.

A few hands later I’m involved in another pot, this time with the player in seat 1 again.

My stack: ~19K, Seat 1: ~18K. Blinds 75/150. I hold Ah-Kd UTG.

Pre-flop: I raise to 400 and the action folds to MP2 who calls. Everyone else folds.

Flop: Ad-Jc-Td

Interesting flop. I feel it’s hard to bet for value against his range, and getting raised having to play a bloated pot out of position sucks hard. I also think he’s the kind of guy who might raise A-Q because “I haz top purr therefurr I raize it!” and might just spite raise me out of annoyance of my beating him in every hand we play. I decide to check and he fires out 600. I call.

Turn: 2s

I check and he checks back.

River: Qs

I’ll take it. I fire 1,250 and he quickly calls. I table A-K and he slaps the table in frustration, then mucks.

I keep finding decent hands pre-flop and taking down blinds for the rest of 75/150. My next interesting hand comes against the player two to my right, who tells me he owns part of PocketFives, but isn’t that aware of all the happenings on the site since he helps run eight different websites. He plays better than most at the table, but still has some noticeable bet-sizing leaks. He likely views me as aggressive.

My stack: ~20K, his stack: ~18K. 100/200 blinds, I hold 6-6 in the HJ.

Pre-flop: Action folds to MP1, who raises to 475. There’s one fold and I call. Everyone else folds.

Flop: Ad-7c-6d

All skill game. He leads out for 775. This seems like a spot where raising big is good since he either has a strong top pair and can continue or will quickly muck to any raise, so better to create a large pot when he can keep going. I raise to 2,775 and he quickly mucks. Damn it!

After that, I begin finding myself in spots against the player on my immediate right who was moved in after Scott busted out:

My stack: ~22K, BB: ~7K. I hold K-Qo UTG at 100/200, 8-handed.

Pre-flop: I raise to 550 and action folds to the BB who calls.

Flop: 6-6-2 rainbow

BB checks, I bet 700, BB thinks it over and calls.

Turn: 4

BB leads out 750 and I go into the tank. What the hell is this? What hand plays like this? Will a mid pair like 8-8 fold? I decide with my active and aggressive image even if he values his tournament life and I want to pull some creative move here, he’s likely not going to fold for one street worth of bluffing. If I want to pull something here I’ll have to make it 2,000 on the turn then shove any river for his last 4,000, which might work, but also seems like excessive FPS on a table where having a large stack is going to give me real advantage when the blinds kick in. I elect to fold.

The very next hand we’re involved again, but this time the blinds have been raised and we have antes:

My stack: ~21K, SB: ~8K. I hold Q-6o in the BB.

Pre-flop: The action folds around to the SB who limps. I check.

Flop: Ad-Tc-5c

The SB thinks it over before firing 275. Just from the way he’s playing I really don’t think he’s limping a lot of Aces in the SB, so I decide to float him on the flop. I also think he’s not the type to two barrel light. I call.

Turn: Js

SB checks, I fire 675, and he quickly folds.

With antes now in play on what is to be the last level of the day and the largest stack on the table, I really open things up and start raising quite a few hands, including 100% of buttons since both players on my left are very tight/weak. After having raised the button the previous hand, the following spot comes up vs. the player on my left who is too loose pre-flop and incredibly weak tight post-flop, and the BB who is the spewyish seat 1:

My stack: ~23K, button: ~13K, BB: ~10K, blinds 100/200 with 25 ante. I hold A-7o in the CO.

Pre-flop: The action folds to me on the button. I raise to 600, the button insta-calls, the SB folds, and the BB calls.

Flop: A-Q-6 rainbow

The BB checks. Again I feel like I can’t really value bet a hand like this against weak opponents, so I opt to check. The button checks it back.

Turn: 7, full rainbow

Boo yah! The BB checks. I fire 1,325, the button quickly calls and the BB folds.

River: T

I think about my bet size, and decide that, since he’s weak, value betting in a straight-forward and not too large manner is good here. I fire 2,700 and he quickly calls me. I table the A-7 and to my shock and disgust, he tables A-6o. Oh my God how does it not go in on the turn?! Especially with my fucking image?! Christ.

After that we have about 15 minutes of play left. I end up opening around 1/3^rd of pots and winning nearly every pot where I’m involved. When it’s all said and done, my chip count totals 33,075 for what is likely around top 10 in chips. Timex, Pacman, and Will all made it through with above average stacks and things are looking sweet so far. Now it’s time I got some rest.

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