Badger Win

I had my first Badger Poker first place finish last night (9/28/05). An inconsequential downside is that I have made the final table 3 of the last 4 times I have played and was well on my way to qualifying for the finals on points. This 1st place finish gives me a berth in the finals, so it feels as though all those points are, well, pointless. : )

It was a night that involved some off kilter luck. I don’t feel as though I was getting my unfair share of killer hands, but the timing of when I got them is what seemed rather fortuitous. Case in point; within the first 20 minutes I basically doubled up when a guy went all in while I’m holding KK.  Even though I am well aware he may be holding AA, and I hate going all in this early in a tournament, can I really fold KK?  (Sklansky says you fold, because why would he make this move unless he had AA?  But what I know, and Sklansky is unfamiliar with, is that reason and logic are very often not applicable at Badger Poker.) I declare “I feel like gambling.” and call. He has QQ. My kings hold up and he gets up and storms out the door.  Now, did I put a gun to his head and make him go all in?  How is this my fault (or more appropriately, not his fault)? I look forward to seeing him next week. : )

Later that hour, a guy goes all in with his last 5500-6000.  I think the blinds are 400-800 so I think it’s a little early to be making a desperation move. But my gut says that is what he’s doing. A lot of Badger players will make desperation plays with Kx, so I think my A4 may have him beat. I add in the fact that if I’m wrong/lose the pot, I’m still well over 10,000 and in OK position. I call, and I was right. He has KQ.  Not only does my Ace hold up, but I get an A on the flop, and a 4 on the river just to rub it in. : )

In the first hour, I only played 2 hands but went to break with 23,000 (starting with 10,000). That’s a little unusual.

This type of action continues, even though I am not necessarily knocking someone out every time I play. But I do usually get someone that wants to give his/her chips away. A couple of hands that I did put people out with did involve some thinking on my part.

I limp in with Q9 from early position (you can do things like this when you’re stacked well, and the table had gotten quite tight since we were getting close to points time). The flop comes Qxx. A small or big blind short stack (even though at this point everyone who goes up against me is a short stack) goes all in.  I have to do my analyzing. He has a Q, so what kind of kicker does he have? (His bet was a “I have a Queen” bet. If he had hit 2 pair, he would have checked or min bet to try to trap me. There is no straight or flush draw, so neither one of us is worried about that) Based off of his skill and style, he has no Ace, King or pocket queens (he would have raised before the flop with any of those).  So my 9 isn’t looking too shabby. It beats 7 cards (8-2) and loses to 2 (J,10). There’s a 77% probability of my hand being the best hand, coupled with equivalent drawing odds. So I call. He has Q8. Yea, baby! My cards hold up, and another one bites the dust.

I have to admit I don’t remember the specific cards on this hand.  I remember the situation. I hit top 2 pair, but there's a straight draw on the board. A shorter stack (again : ) ) makes a pot size bet. I’m sure I have the best hand, and the straight draw is an issue. I conclude my best move is to put him all in.  But he called anyway. He had a pair AND the straight draw.  My 2 pair held up, and he was upset. He did inform me later that he was upset with himself, not with me. He should have known not to make that call and he knows it.

I also made serious increases to my chip stack courtesy of a young lady who was playing loose and decided to top it off by being a calling station.  She was hitting earlier, to others chagrin, but the laws of probability caught up with her. And I was the beneficiary of those hands. Her doom hand: I raised before the flop with pocket fives.  She’s the only caller.  It doesn’t even phase me. The flop is 3-3-2. I have 2 pair. She checks to me. I KNOW she doesn’t have a pocket pair, and she always opens betting when she has hit something on the flop. So I KNOW she has nothing. I put her all in. She calls. As she’s counting her chips I comment “If she has a 3 I’m gonna shit my pants”, which cracks the table up. She has nothing (Q-7 I think). I evade the suck out. Oh well. Now I have to engage in the labor intensive task of building chip skyscrapers. : )

Final Table

I was the chip leader by almost 2 to 1 to the guy in SECOND! Needless to say, I’m the man.  For all intents and purposes, I feel I played the final table as well as it could be done. I knew that despite my lead I couldn’t start playing stupid.  Big chip leads can disappear in a hurry if one gets too reckless. Plus, there are 2 particular gentlemen that I have to make sure don’t make up too much ground. If they pull close to me, I’m going to have my hands full.

There was another “having the cards at the right time” hand. Someone went all in when I was sitting on JJ. The jacks held up. And that was part of the odd luck thing. If anyone sucked out on me last night, it was so small and trivial and I don’t even remember it.  It’s very unusual to have no one suck out on you, especially at Badger.

I may have started pounding the other players a little earlier, but I definitely started pounding hard when we were down to 3 players. One of the gentlemen I was concerned with was still around so I tried to be a little extra careful with him. But, although he’s good, it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t pound him some too.  He finished third and it was left to a lady, I believe named Janine (or some variation thereof).

I think this may have been her first heads up, especially at an event of this nature. She wanted to continue to play a tight game and was frustrated that I wouldn’t let her.  The blinds the majority of the time we played were 10,000-20,000 and 20,000-40,000. The typical chip totals for us during this period was my 500,000+ to her 100,000-200,000 (give or take).  If my read on her was that the flop didn’t help her, I’d bet the size of the pot.  And then she would fold.  She commented “I’m gonna get you one of these times.”

There’s a math problem with that, though. While in the 10,000-20,000 blinds, there is 40,000 in the pot if the small blind calls. I raise before the flop/bet after the flop 40,000, so she folds. I “clear” 20,000 on the hand. This happens 5 times in a row (sometimes more, sometimes less). I’m up 100,000.  She calls or re-raises once, I fold.  She clears 60,000 on this hand. But I’m up 40,000 over the last 6. We repeat. I’m up another 80,000 after 12 hands. And so on and so on. She’s gonna die a slow death this way. Those numbers obviously double after we go to 20,000-40,000. I have all night to wait for my favorite hands. Her 100,000-200,000 won’t last long like this.

(For those in the know, the paragraph above is so David Sklansky it isn’t even funny.)

She eventually gives up, goes all in with nothing and I call with KJ (I think).  Again, I don’t get sucked out on.

I got a final table t-shirt, a Badger Poker tumbler, and a $20 bar tab for my efforts. Oh, and a spot in the finals. : )

You can email me at lancep62@hotmail.com