Yesterday was again a full schedule of tournaments that actually ended well, with final tables in three different tournament formats: PLO (Pot Limit Omaha), 90-player SNG (Sit and Go) and a standard Hold’em tourney. I also had a 20th place finish in one of the Hold’em tourneys which was nice but I don’t like to just make the money, I like to go deep and push into the better payoffs found at the final tables of these things. The day started off badly, bubbling the 100+9 satellite tournament that would have put me into one of the huge Sunday tourneys where the notable players make their livings. After playing very strong Poker and cruising into the final 9 players, my cards started to dry up and with several shorts (short-stacks) at the table I was forced to fold to alot of all-ins while I played a basic waiting game. Unfortunately, with the blinds and antes steadily increasing, you can’t afford to do that for very long. Soon I was right there with them, picking my spots to push with sub-optimal hands (and occasionally some monsters) and rebuilding my chips up to a respectable level. We got down to six of us with the top 4 winning seats. The player to my left opened for a big raise after I folded in first position and the next player repopped him all-in which he insta-called, flipping over AA. The opponent tabled QQ, putting him in great position with dominant odds, only to have a flop come with two Queens in it giving his opponent Quads six-handed! I’d like to say I felt sorry for the guy, but all of a sudden I was back in contention, albeit as the table short stack. I didn’t really mind this, as my play was greatly simplified: I would push when I caught a great hand or when I felt the table dynamics would allow me to bluff-down a pot. Time and time again I stole the blinds, only to have them put back in the pot rapidly with our short-handed table. Finally, I was dealt JJ in the Big Blind which is very powerful here, and had the button limp in as well as the small blind. After a short think, I pushed all in and saw the button immediately fold. Great, I though, the Small Blind would have to call off almost 60% of her stack with a hand that she had originally limped in with, usually indicating a weak Ace or King or connector type holdings. After typing, “Sigh” in the chat box, she eventually called with….AK. Wow, two monsters at this point in the tournament both in the blinds, and she had accidentally concealed her own strength (I’m sure this wasn’t a play, given her reluctance to put me in with AK and then to call with it given the circumstances) by weakly playing her strong hand against the short stack. Alas, the king comes directly on the flop and I’m bounced out on the bubble. “Sigh”.
After that, I forced myself to refocus after I ranted for about a half-an-hour to my wife about my bad run with Jacks (I had also went out of a tournament in 6th after taking JJ up against KQ with my opponent catching four flush board cards to send me to the rail in a previous tournament…argh). I played well in my very next tourney, posting a top 20 finish which lessened the sting a bit, but feeling renewed I decided to register for a PLO tournament where they start you off with a double-stack (3000 in chips) which allows you to work your stack and accumulate chips with more leeway than the usual 1500 provides. I started off slowly but soon I was vacuuming chips at a rapid pace, even pulling them in by bluffing occasionally, not exactly a common feat in Omaha. I found myself in the top 5 for most of the tourney, finally finishing 8th while simultaneously final-tabling one of the 90-player Sit-and-Gos with a 4th place finish and even a final table in one of the $2 Super Satellites (which only offers a seat to first place). All in all, a good recovery from a disappointing finish and a much more enjoyable end to my Poker day.
