Poker At The Garage Mahal
Thursday, March 10, 2005
The scene was set for some capital poker action Wednesday at the Garage Mahal. That's what we call my buddies garage where we usually play. He's got 2 huge tables, a full size fridge, and cable which helps when a good game is on while we are playing. As for Wednesday there was a chinese buffet spread, a fridge full of beer and drinks, and 22 hopefuls buying in $100 each. I was in a great mood as I didn't have to pay the buy-in, but would still be playing. I had worked a deal with the guy running the tournament such that he would pay my buy-in. I worked the previous 2 Wednesdays dealing at one of his cash game tables for about 4 hours each night in order to pay off my buy-in. It was a sweet deal cause dealing - for me - is fun and it goes by quickly. Fortunately, since I didn't have to drop $100 up front, I was not too bummed when I finished up in 11th place, thus not in the money (top 5 paid with 1st getting $1000).
Nothing too dramatic happened for me last night. A trend I'm starting to see way too much of - especially online, but also last night - is getting J 5 os in the big blind. There was a point in time that I didn't even have to look at my cards when I was in the big blind. I knew it would be J 5. That is not a good feeling, though in rare occasions if there is not a raise, it can make for a nice big blind special. Unfortunately that didn't happen last night.
Going into the tournament, I thought I would be extremely comfortable with the starting stack (10,000), but in fact, I was quickly put into recovery mode after a bluff that didn't pan out. With AJ os I played a K high flop strong with a pot size bet. I got one caller, but with 2 of the same suit and a potential straight draw I put him on a draw. The turn brought nothing and I put out another strong bet. When he called I no longer liked my chances. I knew he was playing top pair and was not going to go away. It was early, so possibly an all in bet on the river would cause him to think about folding, but at that point I was not ready to be the first to go out. Plus I knew the guy and knew he is willing to call an all-in with no rebuy opportunity with top pair. So, on the river, I checked it and folded when he put a nice size bet. He played it right, I played it weak, and he was paid off on it. He showed me the K however which helped me justify my check on the river. That play wiped out about 1/3 of my stack and set the tone for my night. I didn't see another face card for an hour, though I did strong play two 10's in the hole and took a nice pot when rags flopped.
Wanna mention one random hand before moving on. I was getting pretty low stacked and a guy to my right had been consistantly pounding my big blind. I knew if I was too aggressive, at some point he would wake up with a big hand and call me. On the hand in question, he of course raised my big blind of 1200 another 2000. I was holding K 3 os and decided I was no longer going to let him bully me. With blinds and antes out there, plus his bet, I felt like I was in a good position to play this one strong. I pushed all in and he didn't take very long to say, "fold", flipping over 7 2 os. He was trying to bully me with the hammer and I called him on it. He never once raised my big blind again that night. Nice! Moving on...
Alas, with only 1 person needing to go out to combine for the final table, I was staring at a weak stack, a K 9 of hearts, and a decent size pre-flop pot with the blinds, antes, and limp callers. I decided to push and try and take the pot there which could help if we combined. I also knew that I might be that guy who helped make the combine possible by getting knocked out. I ended up with one caller, who held A Q os. I had a good feeling about my chances since we were not sharing any cards, however nothing showed up to help my bad beat chances. I was out and the game quickly moved on without me. I went home and started watching the latest WPT event, though I only made it about 10 minutes in...it's o.k. though cause I have it DVR'd. How friggin on fire is Lee Watkinson at this point. Dude made two final tables in a row. Looking forward to seeing how he does when I watch it this weekend.
Looks like the only poker playing I'll be doing is at the HORSE WPBT event this Sunday. I'm looking forward to it, though I'm not so sure of my chances. Glad it's a cheap buy-in so I won't feel bad if I'm out first. Though I've played all the games before, I've never played them in this style, so I'll probably feel a bit out of my league...sort of like this guy...
On a tangent, can you imagine that dude going "all-in" on that behemoth of a woman. I imagine she'd be quickly asking for an "add-on" to that small stack. I feel like I was just writing script for a bad B-movie there so I better stop now. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Full Tilt tourney. At last check this morning, there were 26 entrants, so it should be a good time.
One more quick thing before I go...I just wanted to thank Pauly for his comment on my recent post. I don't get many comments these days, so when I do, I like to give props. I appreciate it.
See you all at the tourney on Sunday.
posted by TripJax @ 1:49 PM,
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