Quick IP Pre Main Event Wrap-UP... Weird spots...
Lots of poker to get to but going to lead with the important stuff:
Drove home yesterday morning to share my son's birthday and got to go Chuck E. Cheese with him and his baby sister. Lots of fun. My children are at the age now that anything he touches she wants to touch. So it makes my boy pretty angry when he wants to play with his new toys. When I had returned for the Main Event my wife sent me this pic. Bittersweet I think.
My son loves this dinosaur movie from the sixties my father-in-law watches with him. He knows the name of 30 or 40 dinosaurs and has wanted an Allosaurus forever. An Allosaurus? As he'll tell you it's like a T-Rex but has three fingers on each hand instead of two, Iguandon's in case anybody is interested have five fingers. I knew one day my son would have a bigger knowledge base than me, didn't expect it to be as now three year old with Yesterday, before Chuck E. Cheese we went to Toys R Us and their dinosaurs were wiped out except for one... an Allosaurus. Weird.
In the movie the dinosaur goes into the quicksand. So below you'll see a picture of his Allosaurus sinking in the quicksand of his birthday pie. Pretty good reaction at the unveil.
Nightly Success:
Had some success, chopped a nightly with Cameron Ainsworth (who played great the entire last two tables). Might have played terribly before that but I didn't see (just kidding). With about 13 left we traded 20% when we were about even in chips. At the seven player chop, he got a big chunk for first with the rest of us evenly splitting the rest. Since I was the shorty I was happy getting what turned out to be the second most money.
Weird thing happened, knowing we had 20% of each other, there was actually a reason for me to negotiate for Cameron to get more. I could give up a little bit and get it on the back side because of the 20%. To explain if we all gave up $50 that translated to (6 x $50) $300 more to Cameron. 20% of $300 = $60 (or + $10 for me and + $240 for him). I didn't lobby for that because I felt that would be pretty shady... and who argues for somebody else to get paid more. Also, the number wasn't significant to really worry about but it did dawn on me that I was in an unusual negotiation.
Also, I was at a crossroads, because I thought Cameron deserved a little more than what he asked for AND I felt like a player did some quick math to firm up the offer, did some fudging the numbers a little bit. The player said if Cameron got x we'd get y "and Change"... that wasn't really change. It was $53 a person (or almost $320 Cameron was giving away). I made them get the exact total because it felt a little off kind of hoping Cameron would ask for the "change" or half of it. They would have given it.
Cameron being the great guy he is, kept making sure if I was cool with the chop because I was hesitating and he interpreted my questioning of it as questioning it for my benefit not his. Weird spot.
Also, Kyle Cartwright playing his first nightly in two years or something had recently busted and I didn't really fear anybody but Cameron. We discussed on the break we shouldn't chop and the table was favorable to bagging first and second. However, it was late and Cameron actually was doing what Gene did this week blending a family vacation with some poker. The blinds were getting up there and I had a lot of poker left in the weekend... and I was short. Still as the shorty I was happy with it for me... but not for him. So, to make things appear even weirder it looked like the table was trying to talk the short stack into a chop that was so in his favor it was ridiculous.
Gotten to know Cameron fairly well and admire the fact he's a good family man. Not only that everytime he plays with me he seems to make the money. His friend Andy Moon also a class act and good player. Speaking of good guys and good players I enjoyed playing with Cartwright for most of the night, guy is pretty funny. Obviously, he can play.
I got lucky against him, having position on him early on and then at the final table directly on his left. I coolered him once for him to re-enter and then busted him again at the final table. He had joked with two tables left he was coming for me. I'm sure he'll get me in the future.
Mega Coolers:
I played one hand of one mega. After waiting a couple of hands for the big blind, Carwash raised me. Random dude called. I looked at AdQd in the big. That's getting 3bet in that spot. Carwash gave a speech (as usual a pretty funny one) and the random called. Flop came Jxx (two diamonds). I contemplate than the guy checks out of turn. I say I didn't check and fire out a bet (we only started with 3k). He shoves. Alright call. He's got... QJ o/s. I missed.
I think I must be making some sort of downward motion that looks like a check when I don't intend to because in another tournament the dealer said I checked when again my intention was to bet. So, I got to clear that up. Talking to gene about the hand... we think the guy got angry because he thought I was running and angle and figured his Jack was good enough. To be fair, who checks a jack to a three bettor or calls with QJ o/s anyway.
In two other tournaments, again in the big blind I got eliminated by the small. I lost with JJ to a SB middle ace all in preflop. Again, weird. He tried to raise. Threw in one chip the called it a call. I raised and he overshoved. I called. Also, in a mega, I busted with 88 in the big blind v. KK in the SB he limp called my shove. Weird thing is I waiting for him to limp a big hand based on the flow of the game vs. my blind. That one was the stone cold bubble +1. Ugh.
Mega Run Good:
In my last mega I finally ran good (it's been a while) to win a seat in the Main Event. Probably was the chipleader or close to it the entire tournament just running over people and hitting everything. I basically had enough chips that I was on crusie control with four tables left paying 12. That was fun.
Nooner Revenge:
After getting outplayed by Chris Parsons at least three times in Friday's nooner, I called off when he rivered a gut shot. He flopped top pair. The turn gave me two pair and him the gutterball. I regretted the call because my golden rule is when in doubt... fold. I don't know if he was giving off false tells or not but he did two or three things that seemed fraudulent when I was in the tank. Doubt he'll read this so I'll write it. Sometimes when people bluff their "blink" rate rapidly increases. His was so increased to almost be absurd and didn't look authentic. Strange if he was doing it on purpose as it's such a relatively obscure tell to affect. I didn't have a baseline to go by so it kind of made me want to fold.
Also, he did another thing that looked like it was purposeful. Again... pushing me to fold.
Ultimately, I called when a slew of hands beat me. He deserved my chips anyway. On my left he outplayed me steadily after recognizing I was the guy he hero called on the final table last year when I had the nuts. His pressure induced me to play pocket tens horribly to his UTG raise in one hand for a chunk of chips.
Sit N' Good:
After busting I sat down in a sit n' go and hit a two outer vs. Ryan Tepen and a three outer against someonebody else to survive til late. Somehow I got to three handed and started to run hot. I eliminated the guy in second who shoved on my big. I hadn't looked at my cards yet and asked the count so I could make my decision when I did. It looked small enough but not tiny that I was going to have to think about it. As I started to do some hand ranges in my head I saw... Wow... AA and insta-called. He thought I slow-rolled him and didn't seem interested in my explanation. Me and the other guy chopped it. Of note, it was the first sit 'n go that I can remember that I didn't do the last longer. I was so tilted from calling off in the nooner I figured I minimize my losses if I played bad. Whoops. That's $400 lost.
I'll pack in the Main Event later...
Drove home yesterday morning to share my son's birthday and got to go Chuck E. Cheese with him and his baby sister. Lots of fun. My children are at the age now that anything he touches she wants to touch. So it makes my boy pretty angry when he wants to play with his new toys. When I had returned for the Main Event my wife sent me this pic. Bittersweet I think.
My son loves this dinosaur movie from the sixties my father-in-law watches with him. He knows the name of 30 or 40 dinosaurs and has wanted an Allosaurus forever. An Allosaurus? As he'll tell you it's like a T-Rex but has three fingers on each hand instead of two, Iguandon's in case anybody is interested have five fingers. I knew one day my son would have a bigger knowledge base than me, didn't expect it to be as now three year old with Yesterday, before Chuck E. Cheese we went to Toys R Us and their dinosaurs were wiped out except for one... an Allosaurus. Weird.
In the movie the dinosaur goes into the quicksand. So below you'll see a picture of his Allosaurus sinking in the quicksand of his birthday pie. Pretty good reaction at the unveil.
Nightly Success:
Had some success, chopped a nightly with Cameron Ainsworth (who played great the entire last two tables). Might have played terribly before that but I didn't see (just kidding). With about 13 left we traded 20% when we were about even in chips. At the seven player chop, he got a big chunk for first with the rest of us evenly splitting the rest. Since I was the shorty I was happy getting what turned out to be the second most money.
Weird thing happened, knowing we had 20% of each other, there was actually a reason for me to negotiate for Cameron to get more. I could give up a little bit and get it on the back side because of the 20%. To explain if we all gave up $50 that translated to (6 x $50) $300 more to Cameron. 20% of $300 = $60 (or + $10 for me and + $240 for him). I didn't lobby for that because I felt that would be pretty shady... and who argues for somebody else to get paid more. Also, the number wasn't significant to really worry about but it did dawn on me that I was in an unusual negotiation.
Also, I was at a crossroads, because I thought Cameron deserved a little more than what he asked for AND I felt like a player did some quick math to firm up the offer, did some fudging the numbers a little bit. The player said if Cameron got x we'd get y "and Change"... that wasn't really change. It was $53 a person (or almost $320 Cameron was giving away). I made them get the exact total because it felt a little off kind of hoping Cameron would ask for the "change" or half of it. They would have given it.
Cameron being the great guy he is, kept making sure if I was cool with the chop because I was hesitating and he interpreted my questioning of it as questioning it for my benefit not his. Weird spot.
Also, Kyle Cartwright playing his first nightly in two years or something had recently busted and I didn't really fear anybody but Cameron. We discussed on the break we shouldn't chop and the table was favorable to bagging first and second. However, it was late and Cameron actually was doing what Gene did this week blending a family vacation with some poker. The blinds were getting up there and I had a lot of poker left in the weekend... and I was short. Still as the shorty I was happy with it for me... but not for him. So, to make things appear even weirder it looked like the table was trying to talk the short stack into a chop that was so in his favor it was ridiculous.
Gotten to know Cameron fairly well and admire the fact he's a good family man. Not only that everytime he plays with me he seems to make the money. His friend Andy Moon also a class act and good player. Speaking of good guys and good players I enjoyed playing with Cartwright for most of the night, guy is pretty funny. Obviously, he can play.
I got lucky against him, having position on him early on and then at the final table directly on his left. I coolered him once for him to re-enter and then busted him again at the final table. He had joked with two tables left he was coming for me. I'm sure he'll get me in the future.
Mega Coolers:
I played one hand of one mega. After waiting a couple of hands for the big blind, Carwash raised me. Random dude called. I looked at AdQd in the big. That's getting 3bet in that spot. Carwash gave a speech (as usual a pretty funny one) and the random called. Flop came Jxx (two diamonds). I contemplate than the guy checks out of turn. I say I didn't check and fire out a bet (we only started with 3k). He shoves. Alright call. He's got... QJ o/s. I missed.
I think I must be making some sort of downward motion that looks like a check when I don't intend to because in another tournament the dealer said I checked when again my intention was to bet. So, I got to clear that up. Talking to gene about the hand... we think the guy got angry because he thought I was running and angle and figured his Jack was good enough. To be fair, who checks a jack to a three bettor or calls with QJ o/s anyway.
In two other tournaments, again in the big blind I got eliminated by the small. I lost with JJ to a SB middle ace all in preflop. Again, weird. He tried to raise. Threw in one chip the called it a call. I raised and he overshoved. I called. Also, in a mega, I busted with 88 in the big blind v. KK in the SB he limp called my shove. Weird thing is I waiting for him to limp a big hand based on the flow of the game vs. my blind. That one was the stone cold bubble +1. Ugh.
Mega Run Good:
In my last mega I finally ran good (it's been a while) to win a seat in the Main Event. Probably was the chipleader or close to it the entire tournament just running over people and hitting everything. I basically had enough chips that I was on crusie control with four tables left paying 12. That was fun.
Nooner Revenge:
After getting outplayed by Chris Parsons at least three times in Friday's nooner, I called off when he rivered a gut shot. He flopped top pair. The turn gave me two pair and him the gutterball. I regretted the call because my golden rule is when in doubt... fold. I don't know if he was giving off false tells or not but he did two or three things that seemed fraudulent when I was in the tank. Doubt he'll read this so I'll write it. Sometimes when people bluff their "blink" rate rapidly increases. His was so increased to almost be absurd and didn't look authentic. Strange if he was doing it on purpose as it's such a relatively obscure tell to affect. I didn't have a baseline to go by so it kind of made me want to fold.
Also, he did another thing that looked like it was purposeful. Again... pushing me to fold.
Ultimately, I called when a slew of hands beat me. He deserved my chips anyway. On my left he outplayed me steadily after recognizing I was the guy he hero called on the final table last year when I had the nuts. His pressure induced me to play pocket tens horribly to his UTG raise in one hand for a chunk of chips.
Sit N' Good:
After busting I sat down in a sit n' go and hit a two outer vs. Ryan Tepen and a three outer against someonebody else to survive til late. Somehow I got to three handed and started to run hot. I eliminated the guy in second who shoved on my big. I hadn't looked at my cards yet and asked the count so I could make my decision when I did. It looked small enough but not tiny that I was going to have to think about it. As I started to do some hand ranges in my head I saw... Wow... AA and insta-called. He thought I slow-rolled him and didn't seem interested in my explanation. Me and the other guy chopped it. Of note, it was the first sit 'n go that I can remember that I didn't do the last longer. I was so tilted from calling off in the nooner I figured I minimize my losses if I played bad. Whoops. That's $400 lost.
I'll pack in the Main Event later...
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