Man, bad beats suck. Unless you’re the one handing them out…
I played a no-limit hold-‘em tourney online last night, a freeroll (free entry) for 2000 participants. The top 100 would receive entry into a tournament Sunday afternoon, from which the one winner would receive entry into a live WPT event in
During the course of the tournament, I tried a new style of playing. Usually I’ll play just about anything, as long as I’ve got some paint (face cards) in my hand. K4? Sure, why the hell not? Well, last night I decided to play only legit hands – pocket pairs, high suited connectors, and nice overcards with at least an ace involved. And you know what? It worked.
There was no money involved in this tournament, or else I probably would have cared to finish it out and actually win it. I was in the top 10 for most of the night, and never below the top 250 after the first 30 minutes. But freerolls have a funny way of enticing players to do stupid things. Like go in with nothing because “hell, it’s free. What do I care if I lose?” Well that’s what happened last night, and I benefited from others taking that attitude.
I went all-in 5 times before guaranteeing myself top 100. In those 5 times, I made 3 full houses, one straight, and one two-pair hand. And none of them cheaply. I love winning hands cheap when I play live, because you get this mystique of “wow, he’s lucky. He’s really pulling cards tonight”. Online, it doesn’t matter. People usually shrug off a bad beat on the river like nothing, so it’s not as damning.
I’ll admit, although I handed out my fair share of bad beats last night, I also suffered three of my own that made me question my strategy. And all within 5 hands of each other. Late into the tournament, I had 67k in chips, or roughly 3.5 times what everyone else at my table had. I was also #2 overall out of about 300 remaining. And I got dealt pocket 7’s on the button. Wow.
I pushed the 1200 big blind to 5k, trying to force out the marginal hands and draw in people who thought they could beat me. I got one person to call, and we got a flop of Q55 rainbow. Figuring the caller, who was also the big blind, probably had a couple of overcards, or maybe a suited connector, I pushed the bet to 10k. He immediately raised all-in, and since it was only another 3k, I was getting nice pot odds and called. Then he flipped up his pocket 5’s, and I just laughed. I had a mediocre two pair up against four of a kind ON THE FLOP. Oops.
After that debacle, I still had about 52k in chips, still well above double the rest of the table, and I got AK suited spades. Couldn’t lay it down, even after such a horrific hand just once deal before. I pushed the bet to 5k again, learning nothing from the mistakes of the previous hand. If there’s one thing I know now, it’s that it is better to win a small pot than lose a big one.
I got called by two players, and the flop came 6QK, two hearts and a club. I had top pair and top kicker, but I checked it. The first caller made the minimum bet, which told me that he probably had the king, or maybe a queen. The other player folded, and I just called. 4 on the river did nothing, but this time I bet. There were now 3 hearts on the board, and while I held 2 spades, I wanted to make him sweat. He called. Last card was the 8 of spades, giving me just kings with an ace. He bet all-in, a little over 5k, making me thing he was trying to steal the pot because I had made him think I was on a flush draw. I called and showed my AK, only to have him show his K8, UNSUITED no less! Bah!
Don’t worry, I got my revenge, though not on him directly. The funny thing about these freerolls that have no monetary prizes is that there’s a sense of camaraderie at the tables late in the game. After spending 4 hours with a bunch of people you have never met, you hate to be the one to bust them out. So once the tournament gets down to about 110-120 players left, people start tossing away all their hand so that the low players at the table can get the blinds and survive to see the top 100. Well, at our table, there was a guy with about 1400+ chips left, and he got blinded into the pot (blinds were 1500/3k). I was the small blind, meaning that I didn’t have the option to fold my hand to him; since he put less into the pot than I had, in actuality, I'd already called.
I had 10-J of hearts; he had 9-J of clubs. Flop was Q-5-K, three hearts. I’d already won the pot; all that was left was to play out the hand. Next was a 7 of diamonds, then the 9 of hearts. Not only had I busted a guy out when I had planned to fold to him, but I’d done it with a straight flush on the river. Not that it mattered.
Finally, my last hand. Once the top 100 are settled, things get crazy. EVERYONE goes all-in on anything, hoping either to win or get busted out and go to bed. I refused to take this approach, and only went in on actual hands. I got AK suited and made it with 70k in chips. That was nice, as I almost TRIPLED up and got vaulted into 1st place. Eventually, I fell back to 5th or so, with about 175k in chips. Then I got dealt KK. No doubt about the move this time, especially with the chip leader at my table (400k in chips… wow.) I went all-in - he didn’t hesitate to call. So of course, when I flipped my KK, he flipped his AA. Oh well. I’d already got my seat, and couldn’t improve my standing, so I took my 35th place finish and my seat Sunday, and went to bed.
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Contrary to popular opinion, I do not focus only on the Red Sox and that team to the south that shall remain nameless. I am a fan, first and foremost, of baseball. Then the Red Sox. Then the Braves, then just about everyone else NOT from
Listen, I love the Sox-Yanks rivalry, but is it really in the best interest of Major League Baseball to promote these two teams so heavily? There are kids in the
Baseball needs to find a way to promote teams individually to their respective audiences. When
Maybe MLB should just make the Sox and Yankees a traveling road show – have them travel to other Major League cities and play the home team for one series, then play each other for one series in the home team’s park. Now THAT would boost attendance…
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So, I feel as though I’m recovered from the weekend series enough to discuss it with some legitimacy. But it took awhile to come down from those last two games. And yes, I realize I’m doing exactly what I just lobbied against, but I’m from
Does anyone else feel like we’re going to see that clip of A-Rod clearly mouthing “F*ck you – Bring it on M*ther-F*cker” to Jason Varitek like 1000 times between now and when the two teams inevitably meet in the ALCS? And did that fight just ensure that Fox’s ratings for the ALCS will double what they were last year? Christ, even I had to stand up and laugh. That was a fun fight to watch, but there wasn’t even one punch thrown! Where was the intensity from last year? Where was Don Zimmer flailing around like a beetle that just fell from a branch and landed on its back?
I’m looking forward to the last series’ between these teams in September. Something tells me that there will be a lot more on the line than most people think. If Mike Mussina ends up shutting it down, and Kevin Brown’s back does what Kevin Brown’s back ALWAYS does, and Jason Giambi’s “intestinal parasites” don’t go away (c’mon everybody, don’t be naïve. He needs a reason to cover for his decline from coming off the steroids. It’s pretty obvious. The trip to
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The trade deadline is Saturday. I’m expecting to see Randy Johnson, Steve Finley, Kris Benson, Orlando Cabrera, Livan Hernandez, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, and maybe even Larry Walker, Preston Wilson, Jeff Kent and Roger Clemens move before the deadline. How many of them do you think the Yankees would purchase if they needed them? Hmm… how about an actual center-fielder in Beltran, a first-baseban who can hit and play the field in Delgado (or maybe bring back Tino martinez), a true second-baseman in Kent, a right-fielder to compensate for Sheffield’s shoulder bursitis in Walker, and three starters to compensate for the loss of Moose, Brown, and the useless Jon Lieber by getting Benson, RJ, and bringing back Clemens for one more go-round.
It’s not totally out of the question. The Yankees don’t have much to offer in the way of prospects, but with this team, they could probably ship a couple of starters (Contreras, Lofton, etc.) and just offer to pay their remaining salaries, meaning that the D-Backs, Rockies, Astros, etc. would get a free player for the rest of the season. That’s tempting to a smaller market team.
No, I’m not serious about all of those players ending up in
Thank God
posted by Big D @ 12:00 AM
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