Haven't written one of these in a while

NickyOD

So I thought I'd post one. The IPT is back in Limerick. Tongiht was the first night of the IPT tournamwnts at the Greenhills hotel in Limerick. These are €50+1R satelite tournamens to the Limerick open. I think there was about 55-60 entries. 2 won a ticket tro the Limerick open and there was also cash for the top 8 finishers.

I didn't really draw a great table. There was a lot of players I knew but more importantly knew me, which I thought would mean I wouldn't get much action with my big hands. I made an ok start getting my chips up from 4500 to 5600 with a couple of small pots. Then I lost 1750 with AK against a shortstacks QQ and blinded right down to 2800 by the time the blinds went up to 150-300. Then I won a small 3 way pot with 44. I really needed to treble up though if I was to have any chance of making a rush at the final table. My oportunity came when I got Aces under the gun and i limped in. I had only 3600 with blinds 200-400. To my delight the player 2 to my left made it 1000 and then both the small blind and big blind went all in. I had both slightly covered. Bang!! I'm all in and the first raiser calls me. He had JJ. Other hands were AJ and AK which makes my Aces a very strong favourite. I was actually quite lucky to be up againstst these 3 hands. My aces held up and I was off. Up to 12500. At the end of this level I take my top up and have 17K well above average.

after the blinds the first hand I played was AJo. The player on my right who was shortstacked limped in and I made it 2200 one from the cut off. All fold to the shorty who calls. Flop was 9-T-Q and he goes all in for 1800. I call. He has K-T which is great beacuse I have 14 outs and I hit an 8 on the river.

I think I was up to about 24K when I picked up pocket Tens on my BB. Tight player made it 2000. Blinds were still 300-600. I call. Flop was J-T-X 2 hearts and I have the Ten of hearts. I bet 1500 pretty sure he was coming over the top of me. Amazingly he banged it all in for a huge amount and naturally I call. He has 2 black Aces. Diong ding ding!! Turn is the 8 of hearts so now even the Ace of hearts is no good to him. river is the dirties Ace of ****ing diamonds I've ever seen. ****ing one outer!!! OUCH!!!

That left me with 7500 and the blinds went up to 400-800. Winning that pot would have made me the clear tournament chip leader. I blind off a little more before I make a move int he small blinds with A-3 suited. Only UTG had linped in but A-3 is well ahead of his range. Earlier he called an all in with Q5 off his blinds. He sees any pot with any paint even for a raise and probably plays any 2 suited cards. The BB folds and to my disgust UTG calls me with AK, but I hit a 3 on the turn and end up making a flush. Aaaaa..... and poker karma is once agains restored.

After this double up I went card dead for a while. I raise a pot with KQ and missed and when the blinds went to 800-1500 I was in trouble once against with 9.5K. Then I picked up Aces. I don't think I've seen aces in a live game all month and now I get them twice in an hour. The player on my right limped in and I tried to feign weakness by taking a long time to go all in. It folded back to him and he put me on the steal and called with K-T. I double up.

My table gets broken and we're down to the last 18. I had about 20K in chips and pushed a few times to stay alive as the blinds climbed to 1500-3000. I had only 25K when and EP player made a minimum raise to 6K and 2 shortstacks went all in behind him. It was 3500 to me in the BB with JQ meaning I'm getting serious value and the EP player can't reraise me. I call. Flop with Q-9-X. I check and the preflop reaise makes it 10K. Now I made a very bad move here. I should have folded but I wasn't really sure what the player had and I eventually put him on TT/JJ. I had a bad feeling about the hand but I said to myself that the pot was so big that I would only need to be right a small percentage of the time for folding to be the wrong play. I went all in and was called. EP had Aces. I hit a jack on the turn and win the 4 way pot busting 2 players. Lucky lucky lucky!!!

After this hand there was no stopping me. I started to play some poker I was actually proud of. I raised UTG to 9K with JJ and only the BB called me. FLop was K-6-X and he went all in for 18K. I figured him for a stop and go play and called. He had A7 and my Jacks held up. I think I heard him say it was a strange call from me but I thought it was pretty transparrent he was making mmove. As the players with bubble block tightend up I raised a lot of pots and stole a hell of a lot of blinds. I bullied my stack up to 102K and was the clear tournament chip leaser. Then UTG went all in for 17K with blinds 2000-4000 and it folded to me in the SB with A4. Kevin is a decent player and I figured he had the balls to make a move here when he had to, with a big range. I called and the BB folded. Kevin had J-To. Flop came A-Q-J then J-X. Doh! Incredibly the player on my right said he folded AJ!!! If my good call had worked out there I'd have bust Kevin on the final table bubble and taken a huge chip lead but it wasn't to be. Finally the bubble popped and we were down to 10 at the final table.

I had 82K and was second in chips to a player with 85K. There were a few players crippled and a few players between the 45-60K mark. I think I took the blinds once before 2 players busted then I made a terrible mistake getting involved in a pot with 3rd in chips. He is a fairly very tight player. The only pot I saw him raise earlier was with KK, but at the same time he called off over half his chips to a big reraise with 66 in the BB and flopped his set. This played on my mind a little but at the same time I should know now that this player only raises preflop with big hands.

He raised in MP to 18K blinds 3K-6K. Folded to me on my BB. I look down at AQ of spades and I get sick. I actually considered straight folding my big blind and I really should have. Eventually I called but I told myself I would only consider staying in the pot if I flopped a spade draw or the Ace. The flop was Q-J-X no spades. Ugh! I check and he goes all in for 38K. I really don't know why but the word "call" flew out of my mouth when I knew all along it was wrong. Alarm bells were ringing but I didn't have the discipline to fold TPTK. I had a great oportunity for a major confidence boost and to show my real class at this table and make a fantastic laydown. He had KK. I lose and my stack is pretty much ****ed. Sigh!

I mange to be lucky enough to double up with TT against 55 and bust a player and after I steal the blinds a couple of times I'm back up to 65K with blinds still 3K/6K but climbing to 4K-8K shortly.

By now I had a good read on the player who had come to the table as chip leader and it was pretty obvious he was quite happy to have the table image of a muppet who raised pots continuously with complete bollocks. He raised it up UTG with K-5 soooted after which I picked up the read I needed for when he raised with ****e again. Since he was on my right I didn't want him raising. I wanted to be the one making the moves. So the next time he did it I went all in over the top on the button with J-9 suited. Surprisingly the shortstack in the SB who earlier made the terrible fold with AJ called me with Q6!! The muppet not surprising folded his garbage and the shorty won with Queen high.

Eventually with 2 blinds left I went with pocket 5s after the muppet who in fairness was very determined put in half his chips UTG preflop with QT but he flopped a ten and I went out 6th for a measely €200. If it wasn't for that bad call with the AQ I think I had this one int he bag. 2K would have sweeeet! Oh well.

Culchie

Good Report, I love reading these.

I like the limp play with Aces at that stage in the tourney, you got great value from them.

Nice call with the A4 as well, when you knew a good player would be making a move.

The AQ hand ... well, at least the sirens were going off, which is the main thing, it's amazing how many times instinct is correct.

gg

careca

Culchie wrote:

Good Report, I love reading these.

i was just going to say the same thing. More of these excellent reports please.

Good memory Nicky, don't think I would remember half the hands I play in a tournament and I might only be there for one/two levels

califano

NickyOD wrote:

Since he was on my right I didn't want him raising. I wanted to be the one making the moves. So the next time he did it I went all in over the top on the button with J-9 suited.

Yeah i was reading it earlier with a mug of tea and a croissant. Well done
but was there any need for this move?. You did go against what you thought above?. You had a whole orbit before the blinds got back to you.

Tipperarymike

Its bad enough everyone in the Greenhills knowing I folded the AJ on that hand but putting it on the world wide web really makes me look a lot worse. I know I am a plonker!! I still dont know why I made that fold, like you said the guy utg seems more than a decent player and i thought he chips left behind which had me covered, well thats my logic and I am sticking to it!

The hand where you ran into the KK was more than unlucky , I figured that guy for maybe a very strong ace esp as he had made the raise with a third of his chips, so when you had tptk it wasnt going to be an easy laydown unlike AJ! I got lucky with my Q 6 against your J9 but really the options were getting fairly limited and I think I was in the small blind that time if I remember rightly.

After you left I ended up splitting the prize money with the chap with the baseball cap, Gordon I think. When it came to heads up I must have had about 190k or so of what was in play and ended up looking at K 10, I thought it was a pretty decent enough hand, though one likely to be called by a medium strength Ace, however my smartness rebounded when he went all in for another 40k ish and I called , and I was half right about his hand , though he had two aces not one. So that doubled him up and but me on the backfoot. I got a few decent starting hands and got a few walks, but still wasnt really in a position to push. Then I got K J and raised it about half my stack ,thinking it was time to jam post flop, but got raised all in , so seeing as I had planned to move anyway it might as well have been then. Gordon turned over eights so I wasnt that far behind really, though still needed help on the river, which came a ten and gave me a straight. I think that was the last hand we ended up playing.

Though its easy to say this when I got some cash from the night, I have to say its a very well run tourny and a great set up and one I will try again, though without the AJ fold maybe!

thelifeofryan

can anyone tell me what the prize structure was like and what time did it finish up?

Jaden

It has all the hallmarks of a NickyOD post.

* A "It's tough being famous" story.
* A disguised bad beat story.
* An "OMG, I'm such an idiot" story.
* A "Some Assclown....." story.

These posts are half the reason I read this board.
Good work.

fixer

NickyOD wrote:

I really don't know why but the word "call" flew out of my mouth when I knew all along it was wrong.

This is my biggest failure in tourneys. I always seem to have one brainfart moment where I *know* I am making the wrong move but my chips seem to have a mind of their own.

Culchie

Also known as a visit from "The Stupid Fairy"

DeVore

Jaden wrote:

It has all the hallmarks of a NickyOD post.

* A "It's tough being famous" story.
* A disguised bad beat story.
* An "OMG, I'm such an idiot" story.
* A "Some Assclown....." story.

These posts are half the reason I read this board.
Good work.

LOL.

Yeah, Nicky's always quite honest about when he's played poorly rather then only when the opposition plays poorly. Always a positive sign in a player. I like reading his reports too and is it just me or do they seem longer now that he doesnt have an office job

DeV.

azzeretti

NickyOD wrote:

After this hand there was no stopping me. I started to play some poker I was actually proud of. I raised UTG to 9K with JJ and only the BB called me. FLop was K-6-X and he went all in for 18K. I figured him for a stop and go play and called. He had A7 and my Jacks held up. I think I heard him say it was a strange call from me but I thought it was pretty transparrent he was making mmove. )

Yep, i did stand up and say it was a strange call:D However, afterwards, on reflection you would have been mad not to call. I had only come to that table two hands previous and was a bit pissed off and tired. I really should have checked there, but I reckon you still would have bet out. Either way, at the time I didn't have you on JJ and I was surprised at that raise from that position (I find it hard to call a reraise with JJ so usually would limp in EP-MP, depending on the table etc). Kinda thought you were chancing a steal, oh well;)
Can you explain what you mean by "stop and go" and how you might have come to this conslusion after my playing two hands at this table?

RoundTower

NickyOD wrote:

after the blinds the first hand I played was AJo. The player on my right who was shortstacked limped in and I made it 2200 one from the cut off. All fold to the shorty who calls. Flop was 9-T-Q and he goes all in for 1800. I call. He has K-T which is great beacuse I have 14 outs and I hit an 8 on the river.

Nice report, and obviously you played this hand fine, but that's a lot of outs.

5starpool

RoundTower wrote:

Nice report, and obviously you played this hand fine, but that's a lot of outs.

3 too many I would imagine....

NickyOD

RoundTower wrote:

Nice report, and obviously you played this hand fine, but that's a lot of outs.

4 8s. 3 Kings and 3 aces. 10. :rolleyes: I was counting the 3 jacks and that would still have been only 13. Wow I'm clever.

NickyOD

Tipperarymike wrote:

Its bad enough everyone in the Greenhills knowing I folded the AJ on that hand but putting it on the world wide web really makes me look a lot worse. I know I am a plonker!! I still dont know why I made that fold, like you said the guy utg seems more than a decent player and i thought he chips left behind which had me covered, well thats my logic and I am sticking to it!

The hand where you ran into the KK was more than unlucky , I figured that guy for maybe a very strong ace esp as he had made the raise with a third of his chips, so when you had tptk it wasnt going to be an easy laydown unlike AJ! I got lucky with my Q 6 against your J9 but really the options were getting fairly limited and I think I was in the small blind that time if I remember rightly.

After you left I ended up splitting the prize money with the chap with the baseball cap, Gordon I think. When it came to heads up I must have had about 190k or so of what was in play and ended up looking at K 10, I thought it was a pretty decent enough hand, though one likely to be called by a medium strength Ace, however my smartness rebounded when he went all in for another 40k ish and I called , and I was half right about his hand , though he had two aces not one. So that doubled him up and but me on the backfoot. I got a few decent starting hands and got a few walks, but still wasnt really in a position to push. Then I got K J and raised it about half my stack ,thinking it was time to jam post flop, but got raised all in , so seeing as I had planned to move anyway it might as well have been then. Gordon turned over eights so I wasnt that far behind really, though still needed help on the river, which came a ten and gave me a straight. I think that was the last hand we ended up playing.

Though its easy to say this when I got some cash from the night, I have to say its a very well run tourny and a great set up and one I will try again, though without the AJ fold maybe!

Nice one. GG. I made the move with the J-9 because I knew Gordon couldn't call me. The player in the BB only seemed to play Kings and Aces and you had only a quarter of my stack I think so even if you call me I'm getting the pot odds to gamble heads up with you with J-9. Well played. nice result

NickyOD

azzeretti wrote:

Yep, i did stand up and say it was a strange call:D However, afterwards, on reflection you would have been mad not to call. I had only come to that table two hands previous and was a bit pissed off and tired. I really should have checked there, but I reckon you still would have bet out. Either way, at the time I didn't have you on JJ and I was surprised at that raise from that position (I find it hard to call a reraise with JJ so usually would limp in EP-MP, depending on the table etc). Kinda thought you were chancing a steal, oh well;)
Can you explain what you mean by "stop and go" and how you might have come to this conslusion after my playing two hands at this table?

I can't remember how many players were at the table but like you I often limp with JJ UTG if it is 9/10 handed. However when the blinds are big and its near the bubble everyone is playing much tighter so you should really only open for a raise if you decide to come into a pot.

You should have folded preflop though. You can find a much better spot that calling a UTG raise with A7 even if you are defending your blind.A "stop and go" is when you are out of position to a raiser facing a preflop call for large % of your stack. You call then push on the flop. I would do this a lot especitally in Sit n' Gos with small to mid pairs if I beleive the raiser has over cards and I want to avoid racing him. I actually put you on a middle pair with the play you made.

azzeretti

To be honest I might have pushed pre flop. I had less than 10XBB at that point and although I would have had another round ahead of me I would have been pushing soon anyway. If anything I am more dissapointed with my terrible post flop play but as soon as I pushed I knew how bad it was. I had a pretty large stack just before I got moved which was cut when a calling station at the last table got lucky. Was kinda on tilt too.
I didn't even know this tourney was on, I was working in Limerick all week and happened to be staying in the hotel - passed a couple hours anyway!