Wednesday night I played at one of the Eastern Poker Tour’s No Limit Hold’em tournaments and finished in second place.

The Hand That Did Me In AKA How I Did Myself In
Once again, I’m remembering the ONE hand that I couldn’t let go of…that I played like a donkey and lost a ton of chips. That night, the cursed hand for me was Ah Qh. I lost 2/3 of my stack on that one – something like 108K. We were down to 3 – 4 players at the final table. From the Small Blind, I opened with a 35k bet. The blinds were 6000/12000. The Big Blind called. The Flop was 9 2 6 rainbow. I bet 35K and the Big Blind insta-called.

Hummm. I felt uncomfortable with how quickly he called. Time to slow down? Did he have trips? I didn’t think that he would act that quickly with a simple pair and such low cards on the board. The Turn was a black K. I thought I had two moves…All In or Concede by checking. I wasn’t very confident that he had trips, but, the bottom line is that I couldn’t fire a third bullet. I chickened out. I had tanked longer than I usually do and thought that that had given away the weakness of my hand, so, I checked.

Had I thought it through correctly, I would have realized that I had priced myself in. Hee Haw…
So, the better move WAS to go All In at that point. [Later the Big Blind said he would have folded his 9s had I gone All In when the K came on the turn.] The Big Blind went all in for his last 32K. I had to call with such a big pot. At least I had 6 outs.

River: ? Don’t remember. Nothing that improved my hand.

Final Hand
I was heads up in the Big Blind with 3c 4c. I pushed All In (out of order…ooops). Got insta-called by the Small Blind who turned over  Ah Kd.

Flop: Kc 7 d 10h
I’m crushed. Need runner runner 4s to survive. 

 Turn: 4d
Oh – a little blip of a heartbeat. There’s one of my runners…a little light in the tunnel.

River: 9h Dun..dun…dunnnn. And I’m out in second place.

Last night, I won my third No Limit Holdem tournament at an Eastern Poker Tour tournament. The best part of the night is that I played like I want to be playing. I increased the number of hands I play, self-corrected mid-hand, quickly rebounded from mistakes, and practiced almighty patience. Patience is really hard.  

The Final Table started with 10 players. I came to the final table with a comfortable number of chips, say, in the high end of the middle range. Eliminations went along at a normal pace…as the blinds rose…the All Ins increased…and there were fewer players.

We started heads up with my opponent having me outchipped by about 50K – 60K.

Big Blind’s hole cards on left. My hole cards on right.

Final Hand
Blinds were up to 4000/8000. I was in the Small Blind. How many chips? Errr… We kept passing them back and forth. On this hand, I had my opponent covered.

I had just won a little flurry of hands. I looked down at Qs 5h and decided to move All In, playing the mini-rush so that I could steal the blinds. Big Blind called. G U L P… He had Js 7c. I lucked out with a 5 coming on the Flop, on a board that was a mish-mosh rainbow.

Clink.

So, feeling great after my win on Wednesday (PokaPaloma Wins Another No Limit Holdem Tournament), I decided to play a Sunday night (April 25, 2010) Eastern Poker Tour No Limit Hold’Em tournament. I placed 13th - and – there were only 15 runners in total. I played like a DONKEY, barely lasting 80 minutes and that’s counting the 20-minute dinner break. Oh how quickly we spiral…

My biggest mistake was not taking into account the level of two of the players at the table. One had never played before and barely knew which hand beat which.  I should have remembered that new no limit hold’em players would march into hell with any pair and would have no awareness of what other players might be holding and no appreciation for what was showing on the board. So, I stupidly bluffed off 4800 chips in a 200/400 hand when one of the newbees clung to her 9s when there was a potential straight and flush on the board. Shaking my head – my mistake.

Final Hand
Blinds had just raised to 800/1600. Only two of us in the hand; the Small Blind and me, and, I was under the gun. I had a small pair with a total of 3100 chips. The Small Blind had A 8 offsuit with mega chips. The Small Blind won when an 8 came on the flop and I was unable to improve. I nearly begged the guy not to call. Pathetic. Couldn’t wait to get home.

The Small Blind went on to win the tournament. Kudos to him.

What about you? What donkament play have you made lately? Use the comments section to share your tale.

As I tweeted earlier this week, I took down another Eastern Poker Tour (EPT) no limit hold’em tournament Wednesday night. I had won my first EPT no limit hold’em tournament (PokaPaloma Wins EPT Event) just two weeks ago.

The best part about this win is that I played the way I want to be playing. I played position. I played the player. I isolated. I three-bet. I shoved All In. I don’t always play to my ability and vision. Wednesday night, I did – and that makes this win very much more satisfying.

Final Hand

My hole cards

My opponent’s hole cards

Blinds were 20K/40K. When we started heads up, I had my opponent out-chipped 2:1. We played a few hands, exchanged some chips, and then I noticed his stack was slowly creeping up. Soon, all he needed was one double-up to be even. Since getting to the final table, I had not been getting any cards that I wanted to play, so, when J 7 came, I shoved All In. I figured the likelihood that he also had a face card was slim and he would fold. He called in a heart beat and my heart sank into my stomach.

Flop: 8 6 ? rainbow

Turn: 5
I have an open-ended straight. A 4 or 9 will complete my straight. He’s got a Pr 5s.

River: 4
I sucked out on the River when the 4 gave me a 8-high straight. Runner Runner to the win! What a luckbox!

Even more fun about this is that I was the bounty for the night. Since no one knocked me out, I got the extra 50 points.

I played in a local no limit hold’em tournament Wednesday night. I was doing great until I called a 6500 All In re-raise when the blinds were at 300/600. 

There were eight at the table. Two players had  limped in before me. I raised to 1200 on the Button. The Small Blind folded, and the Big Blind re-raised All In for 6500. The action was folded over to me. I had A 10 off suit, 4.2K behind and knew that he had nothing. I called him and he turned over 8 9 clubs.  So, you know how that worked out… His 9 got paired on the Flop and I lost that big chunk o’ chips. 

So then I went into rebuild-the-stack mode. Played cautiously for a while, lasted a little longer and was not able to get anything going.

Final Hand
My final hand, blinds were 400/800. I was in the Small Blind and limped in with Q 5 off suit and 1600 behind. The Big Blind limped in as well. Four players were in the hand. Flop came 3 Q 5 rainbow. Two Pair for me! WOO HOO! I had a chance to gain some momentum. I checked just to see who was going to raise me All In. The Big Blind raised to 3600. The player in middle position folded. The Button called 3600, and of course, I was all in for 1600. I was pretty excited expecting to win ~6000 chips. The Turn was a blank, and the River was a 10. Still looked safe to me – even when the Big Blind slapped down A A – then the Button turned over Q 10 & my Q 5 was squashed.   

So you might be shaking your head about that 6500 call earlier on.  It was a lot of chips —but— I am working on expanding the number of hands I play. I have been playing so tight at these Eastern Poker Tour No Limit Holdem tournaments. I need to loosen up. Maybe next time I’ll play A 10 – only for smaller stakes. It’s all good…part of the learning process. Now I know the kinds of hands the player that was in the Big Blind plays and the *moves* he makes.

I placed 7th in one of the Eastern Poker Tours’ No Limit Hold’em tournaments last night. It was the first night at a new venue. There were twenty one runners. We went to the final table with seven as the eighth player was one of two busted on the bubble hand.

Five of us were way behind the two chip leaders. I was not the shortstack – maybe two had fewer chips than me. I lasted one round, then at the beginning of the second round, I was on the Button with A Q off suit. I went All In and got beat by a Pr Deuces. Oh yeah…

So last night I played in another Eastern Poker Tour no limit hold’em tournament. I thought I was going to be out early after my two-paired A K got busted by trip deuces when the blinds were $300/$600. It brought memories of the last two Mondays to my brain and agita to my stomach.

I had busted out early Monday (4/5/2010)  night when I slowed played Qs from the Button and the Big Blind hit 2 pair on the flop with 6 2 off suit. Ugghhhhhhhhhh. History repeats itself!  Did I learn nothing from the previous Monday’s no limit hold’em tournament? I slow played Qs from the Button and the Big Blind hit a Big Blind Special with 5 3 off suit and a board that made him a straight. I was out.

Back to last night… I practiced patience and took a few chances and slowly built my stack back up. Didn’t get any suck outs, wasn’t sucked out on (after the trip deuces). I was lucky too. Got a few pairs (10’s, 5’s, 9’s) along the way that held up when I was All In. And then there were 16…and then there were 8… and finally down to 2.

Eastern Poker Tour's Champions Jacket

I emerged the winner. Received an EPT Champions Jacket and a Free entrance into a $30K Event in August. Winner of that can take $9000 cash or a $13K WSOP Main Event package. I’ll be playing for the WSOP Main Event package

So what was the key to last night’s win? Well some luck for sure…but I loosened up my play, played more hands, took more chances, acted opposite to what this group has grown to expect from me.

I played in the Eastern Poker Tour’s Central Mass division’s no limit hold’em tournament at Pinz in Milford, MA last night. Learned the same ‘ol same ‘ol lesson about slow playing.

In total there were 34 runners. I busted out in 25th-ish.  Up until the last hand, I had been doing pretty well, slowly gaining in chips.

My Final Hand
Blinds were 300/600. I was in the Button with ~ 12K chips. Hole cards were Q Q.
I called 600. Small Blind called. Big Blind checked his option.

Flop: A 6 2 – all diamonds
Small Blind checked. Big Blind checked. I checked.

Turn: 4 clubs
Small Blind checked. Big Blind bet 1600. I raised to 3200. Small Blind folded. Big Blind put me all. I called.
I didn’t think too long. I knew that he didn’t have an ace. He always bets those pre-flop. I knew he didn’t have diamonds. I felt safe.

He turned over 5 3 – which made him a straight. I turned over my Q Q. 

Lesson learned – again!  Had I bet pre-flop, he would have folded, and I would have won the pot. I let him get there…beating head on table…bonk…bonk…bonk.

River: J ?

Yesterday I played in a no limit hold’em tournament in the Rhode Island Tour division of the Eastern Poker Tour. Usually, I play in the Central Massachusetts Tour division, but Central Mass does not have Saturday tournaments.

I came in 3rd out of about 45… results are not posted yet. I’m particularly pleased because when we were down to 21, the blinds were at 3000/6000, and my stack was down to 8000. I made quite a comeback to reach over 200K at one point at the final table.

My Final Hand
Blinds were 20,000/40,000. I was on the Button with 150K stack. My hole cards were Q 10 spades. Small Blind and Big Blind both called…I thought I might be in a little bit of trouble there.  The Small Blind had A 10 off, and the Big Blind had rags. Neither of us improved on the Flop, Turn, or River, and the Small Blind took it down.  I was out in third.

Final Hand of the Day
After I busted, a male and female remained. The female had about 2x as many chips as the male. The male did a good job winning some of her chips so that they were about even. They jousted back and forth for about 30 minutes shoving All In, folding pre-flop, raising high in the few hands that they actually played down. Then the male went All In and the female called. They turned over:

Male: 6 7 off suit

Female: 10 4 off suit

I was stunned at her call…she had invested 4 hours of her afternoon staving off some pretty savvy players… and she called an All In with rags… huh? 

Flop turns an open-ended straight for him and a 4 to pair her 4. Turn does not complete his open-ended straight, and doesn’t improve her hand. River is an unbelievable 4, and the female wins the tournament with trip 4’s.

Still shaking my head over that one…back and forth…back and forth.

Played at one of the Eastern Poker Tour tournaments last night. Sat at a table with a guy named Bill Clinton Not the one you’re thinking of, but, an affable guy all the same.

Points are awarded for positions 1 – 16. I bubbled in 17th. Needless to say, everyone was glad to see me go. It was one of those “Nice to see ya, don’t let the door hit you on the way out” situations.

Final Hand
Blinds were 1000/2000. I was in the Big Blind holding A Q off. Everyone folded to the Button. He called. Small Blind called. I checked my option.

My plan was to bet 5000 on the flop, then call the All In of the Button or the Small Blind. Pattern that had developed throughout the night was that when I was in a hand with either of them, they would go All In on the flop in order to push me off my hand.  In case neither one went All In on the flop and both folded when I went All In on the Turn, I bet the 5K on the flop so I’d at least sweeten the pot by that much.

Flop: 6 J 7

I bet 5K. Button mulls it over and goes All In. Small Blind immediately folds. I call. Button has me covered, so, I’m out if the A Q doesn’t hold up.

Button shows 9 8 off… on a straight draw.

Turn: ?
River: 8

…and I’m out. Ouch… that door smarts…

Curious note about the final hand… The guy who won the hand was the same guy that busted me out Monday night. We were both in the same positions – and – the blinds were the same! Only difference is that this night we were in those positions at the same table from the beginning of the tournament.

Button
He had been tangling with me all night. The very first hand we split, and that angered him to an unusual and surprising extent. He had Ks. (I had 10s.) Board made a wheel… Everytime I was in the Big Blind he either raised a gargantuan amount or called, then went All In on the flop…usually pushing me off the hand because I didn’t have the cards nor the promise of a hand.  

Small Blind
Solid player. Did push me off the Big Blind twice…I wasn’t sure that he had a hand that beat mine…but at those moments, I decided it wasn’t worth putting my tournament on the line…and he had not exhibited any reckless behavior.