Southern Poker Championship Nightly... cont.


Continued from previous post...

So after a few days I finally got over to the Beau Rivage to play Texas Hold'em pokerin the tournament everybody else has been playing in the last couple of weeks. Minus the guys who went to the Bahamas for the PCA, ad the guys that solely play poker tournaments online.

The tournament is a rebuy tournament (one rebuy or add-on in the first three levels). I must have built up a stack as he then got a big stack to bully the table wining those hands from me. I rebought after the AK hand. Here’s my hand of the new year, and considering I didn’t even see it to the river, it left a big impression on me.

The Baton Rouge player limped from EP (100-200 blinds), which was unusual for him as he usually came in with a 3.5x or larger raise. Then, a tight-ish player in middle position raised to 675. He was called by the other guy at the table who I thought was a good player (he and the Baton Rouge guy were the two I was keeping an eye on), then the person next to him called. I looked at 7-4 of clubs.

Granted I had just rebought but the odds were too juicey for me to find a fold there. I thought for sure the big blind was going to call, and was fairly confident UTG would call too. Big blind folded. UTG said “I wouldn’t fold 7-2 here” and called. I laughed to myself as I almost had that hand and figured I needed to smash this flop with some low cards.

Because I would have to hit the flop so precisely I checked in the dark wanting to act last (potentially). Also, my stack was so short and everybody else in the hand had so much that I knew I would have no fold equity when I did move in I would have to take a ride with what the table gave me.

I regretted it as soon as I saw the flop AJ10 two clubs (ace one of them). I had more than enough money in that pot to chase the club draw. Either miss or go home. Then the following occurred. Baton Rouge shoved. The tight-ish player who raised shoved. The other solid player shoved. The last player in the hand shoved. Action to me… Uh, what?

I stewed and laughed to myself. Did my check in the dark save me? I went over what the other four players could possibly have all shoving. I was pretty sure somebody had a higher club draw. I wanted to call, but was I even live. If I runner runner for trips likely I lose to a full house. If I hit my club I’m second best at best surely. Being the shortest stack I was in bad shape.

I really wanted to find a reason to call but couldn’t. So much so that I was cursing myself for not already having my chips in the pot and checking in the dark. Granted, I’d probably be drawing dead but what’s the point of calling off a quarter of my chips preflop without being willing to die by a flop giving me four to a flush.
So, I found a fold.

Here were the hands. Baton Rouge turns over Q9 with one club. I expected to see a lot more coming. The preflop bettor showed AA for top set (no clubs obviously). Nice hand. The next guy KQ for nut straight—no clubs. Aargh. The next player either had a set of jacks or Jack 10, I forget. I thought I was facing odds as improbable as a school like Butler winning the NCAA tournament. In reality, they were more like the odds against a franchise like the Saints winning the SuperBowl or the Red Sox winning the World Series.

You've probably guessed the inevitable conclusion to this hand but to know for sure you'll have to read it next time...

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