Third time's a charm

I played in the Goldstrike tourney Friday night -- zip. I tried again Saturday night -- zip. But today I made the final table. When we were down to five players someone suggested a chop and so we did. This was a $90 buy-in, 20 minute levels, five tables and your usual mix of tourists who are mostly clueless and locals, some of whom can play.

When the blinds were 200/400 with a 25 ante, I held ♠A ♣K under the gun and raised to 1200. There was one caller. He had an average stack, as did I. The flop was ♥K ♦J ♣6. I bet 1500 and he called. The turn was ♣2 and I checked for pot control. I didn't want to go broke on a TPTK type hand. The villain checked behind. The river was a rag that couldn't have helped either of us, so I bet 1200. Now the villain, an internet-type player moved all in for 9000 more. What the heck?

Usually I lay hands like this down, but something didn't add up. If he had a set, why not bet something on the turn? Then why make this massive overbet on the river? Finally, I called and he showed ♣Q ♥J for second pair, so-so kicker. Nice try, buddy. I suppose he read my check on fourth street as weakness. Also the river bet was small relative to the pot, so he figured he could muscle the hand away.

At the final table the average stack was 19,000. I had around 27,000 so was sort of in good shape, that term being relative. The table played tight. A typical scenario was someone raised and everyone folded. I was looking to steal, but never really had the chance, not to mention the fact I was card dead.

On one hand, a small stack moved all in for 4700. I was in the small blind (blinds were 800/1600 with 100 antes, so there was already 7800 in the pot when it came to me. It would cost me 3900 to run with her. Guess what? I was getting exactly 2:1 on my money. I re-raised to isolate (I didn't want the BB to join the party) with ♥A ♦10 and was unfortunate to run into A-A.

The table still was playing tight, so I took a shot and raised to 4000 with another A-10, this time both spades. It folded to the big blind who moved all in. I knew I couldn't call that, but took my time to make it look good, then folded. The villain showed K-K, whew, good thing I didn't call (Our stacks were about the same).

My stack dribbled down due to these two fiascoes and the normal blind/ante attrition. When I had 10,000, I picked up 2-2 and moved all in. Everyone folded, thank goodness. Then I moved all in again with ♣A ♣J and was called by a player with 8-8. I flopped an ace and doubled up to move back up close to 30,000.

After that I had chips to work with and when we chopped, I had worked it up to 44,000, about average. GG me.


I loved this guy's tee shirt. He was playing at the Goldstrike today. His name is Brett Pelham and he was nice enough to let me take a shot of it.


Third time's a charm
Originally uploaded by dave1smith