PokaPaloma Takes 2nd Place in No Limit Hold Em Tournament

July 3rd, 2010 by PokaPaloma

Last night I played in a no limit hold em tournament in Hopedale, MA. Placed second to a good player, one I had not played with before. In fact, I have a lot of respect for all the players at the final table – minus one drunken dunce that lucked his way to the final table. 
Symbolizing Drunken Poker PlayerIf you’ve been playing poker for a while, you know the type—and—the frustration you feel as each player tries to take him out and he keeps lucking out on every hand he plays. You know him…You flop a flush and a fourth card of that suits falls on the Turn or the River, and he turns over the Ace.

Anyways, in celebration of the Fourth of July Holiday, the payouts were doubled and we recieved 5K more chips (15K) than usual. So it was kind of deepstack, but, the blind levels were the same as usual (15 minutes).  

It was a new venue for me. Same ‘ol Eastern Poker Tour poker players with the exception of a handfull of unknowns. $20 Buy in. Buffet.

Heads Up

Blinds were $20K/$40k. I was outchipped 2.5-to-1 (485k to 190k). I was not discouraged by being down that much. I knew that I could recover, and, indeed, had on several occasions recovered to emerge the victor. Given the hour of the day (11:45 pm), I did feel that my opponent would be shoving All In as frequently as possible.

First hand…

I am the Small Blind. Hole cards are 5s 3c.

Five of Spades Three of Clubs
Nothing to defend. I folded.

Second hand…

I am the Big Blind. The Small Blind limps in.

Five of Hearts Four of Hearts
I check my option with a whispy, “At least they’re suited.”
Flop: Nothing special. Two clubs and one red. We both checked.
 
Turn: 4c. I shove All In with the pair of fours. The Small Blind turns over 2 clubs. I’m drawing dead against his flush. .
 
River: Doesn’t matter.

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