Here I will keep a collection of stories from my various poker sessions.

Today I finished 11th in the Last Frontier tournament, which pays the top ten places. I know, that hurts. I was feeling good about how I was playing, and I don't feel I made any mistakes. When down to 11 players, I was dealt J-J in the big blind. The player on the button raised the minimum, and I decided to just call to see the flop. The flop was A-A-6. I checked, and he made a substantial sized bet. I didn't think that if he had an ace that he would bet it, so I decided then that I had the best hand. I just called, hoping to get him to go all in on the turn. 4th street brought a 5, and I checked again. He pushed all in, and I was glad to get my money in. That was until he turned up A-3 of diamonds. He had played the hand well by betting the flop, which threw me off. I didn't hit my two outer, and I was hurting. The very next hand in the small blind I had 2-4 of hearts and limped in. It was just me and the big blind, who checked.

Now, you might be wondering why I played this hand this late in the tournament. Remember, that implied odds are very important in tournament hold'em. The player in the big blind was very loose and aggressive. I knew that if I flopped a hand, I would have a good chance of getting him to double me up with the worst hand.

---Key point #1: play mediocre hands only with players that you can get the maximum value from. These include suited connectors and small pairs (6's or less).

The flop came down Q-4-3. I checked, and he did the same. The turn paired the 3's, and I bet the minimum of $3,000. He reached for chips, and raised me all in. I knew for a fact that I had the best hand, because if he had any pair on the flop, he would have bet it, based on the type of player that he was. I quickly called, and when he said, "good call" I was excited. He turned up K-9 offsuit, and only a king or a nine would give him the pot. So, of course, the nine hits the river and I was out of the tournament on the bubble.

~~~April 23rd, 2005~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have some good news for anyone who might care. I won the Last Frontier tournament again this week. This is my three-peat for overall firsts, and my second win in three weeks. This time first place was $2,905 (Check the "My Achievements" tab above for the third poster).

The first key hand of the tournament occurred quite early. I was dealt A-K offsuit in the big blind of $200. Player A, a loose/passive player raised from middle position to $700. I had seen this particular player raise preflop with hands like K-J and A-7, so I was confident that my A-K was a big favorite to anything standard that he might be holding. Now for the tricky part. Player B in the small blind re-raises to $3,000 total. Now, normally I would just call with my hand now, because I don't like to put too many chips at risk with this hand early in a tournament. But I was considering a couple things. First of all, I was not worried at all about the original raiser, so no matter what he does, I will feel comfortable putting my chips in against him. Now, for the re-raiser, I started thinking about what he might have. Player B was a considerably tight player for raising pre-flop. He had shown hands like A-Q and A-K, and I knew that he would re-raise with either of these hands. Also, I believe that he would re-raise with a hand like 10-10 or J-J, which I am not in too bad of shape against. I decided that moving over the top was the right move.

I had played with Player B many times, and I knew that he would give me respect for a big hand, especially when I come over the top of two raisers. So, when Player A folded, and it came back around to Player B, I was not surprised to hear him say, "Why do I always have to be at your table, you do this to me every time!" I was sure now that he didn't have A-A or K-K, because he wouldn't take a second to think about it. He hesitated for about 10 seconds (it always seems like longer when you have all your chips in the middle) and finally said, "Oh well, send me home," and called. He turned over Q-Q, which I didn't feel too bad about, but of course, it's not good to be on a draw for all your chips. The flop came 10-2-4. Absolutely no help. The turn brought a 3, which improved my outs, giving me a wheel draw. The river brought the Ace, and I had almost doubled up and eliminated a player from the tournament.

I held my own until we were down to two tables, which is the time that everyone is playing super tight in order to make the final table. I held K-K one hand and doubled the $1,000 big blind. The player in the big blind pushed all-in for about $8,000, which was about half my stack. I called of course, and he showed A-10 off suit. After he won the pot with an Ace on the flop, I started to get a little worried that I would go out on the bubble again. I decided to try my hardest to not be shaken.

There was a player to my right who had been raising in unbelievable amounts throughout the tournament. I had played with him a couple of times in the $10-20 game, and felt that he was a smart player, but a borderline gambler. For instance, when the blinds were $200-400, he would go all-in on the button for over $20,000 just to steal the blinds, which is just ridiculous. I was hoping that he would make such a move when I caught a big hand. I had my chance while we were down to two tables.

The blinds were $1,500-3,000 and it was he and I in the blinds (my big blind). It folded around to him and I was sure that he would raise. He made it $7,000 to go, and I looked down at the 6-7 of clubs. This hand goes under the principle of my Key Point #1 of playing for implied odds. I knew that a favorable flop would make me a lot of chips. I called the extra $4,000 with my $17,000 stack. The flop came K-8-6 with two clubs. With my pair and a flush draw, my hand is a slight favorite against any single pair that doesn't share one of my cards, even A-A. The player checked, which I thought was odd. Anyway, I bet out $3,000, and he quickly check-raised me all-in. I felt I had to call with the size of the pot and the stage in the tournament, and the fact that I was more than likely about a 52% favorite. He turned over K-10 off suit, and with the Jack of clubs on the river I doubled up to well over $30,000 in chips.

---Key point #2: Draws can be very profitable, but I recommend only putting all your chips in with them late in the tournament, when a large chip stack is necessary to make the top places. Also, remember that sometimes drawing hands are still a favorite on the flop against some hands, such as my pair and a flush draw. My outs were a 6, 7, or a club, which totaled 14 outs (9 clubs, 2 sixes, 3 sevens) with two cards to come, being approximately 56% by the rule of 4 (multiply your outs by 4 after the flop, and cut that percentage in half after the turn with one card to come). Granted this doesn't make me a huge favorite, but when it counts that late in the tournament, sometimes you need to gamble to make the money.

That was the last of the excitement until we were at the final table. I sat tight while three players were eliminated, and got on a rush. I got 10-10 under the gun, and tripled the big blind. A player in late position moved all-in, and I called. He showed 7-7 and we were down to six. Then next hand, in my big blind, I was dealt K-K and a player moved all in from mid-position. I called, and he showed A-Q. Again, I eliminated another player. The very next hand I was dealt Q-Q. The button player moved all-in, I called, and his A-K showed no improvement. After we were down to four players, the next thing I knew I was heads up with a player that I had played with many times before.

He offered me a handshake in congratulations for us being heads up. The dealer mistaked this for being a deal for chopping the prize pool. He asked, "Chop-chop?" and we both immediately replied, "no." I was sitting at about $80,000 and he had well over $200,000. I felt confident that with my background playing against him, that I would be able to chip away at him. I started winning a lot of pots, and when I showed a 4-5 high that I check raised him with on the river of a hand, that seemed to be the one that worried him. He asked, "You wanna chop?" and I declined. A few hands later I won the tournament with my Q-J against his 5-7 with a Q-6-3 flop. With the straight not coming, we shared a congratulatory handshake and I celebrated with my friends that were hovering around the final table.

~~~May 12th, 2005~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just felt like I had to share this story with everyone. I got up early Wednesday morning to go play some $10-20 hold'em. When I got to the casino, the $10-20 game hadn't started yet, so I bought into the $3-6 game for $100. This game was unbelievable, with nothing but amateurs and a couple that had to ask the dealer what blinds were. Anyway, in about two hours, I was up to $500. Finally, the $10-20 game started, and I took the $500 to the table.

For the first hour I couldn't get a hand to hold up, and I almost re-bought for another $500. The next hand gave me a good pot when I held JJ and flopped quads, which also held up for the High Hand for an additional $300. I started getting on a rush like I never had in that game before. Every pocket pair I held gave me a set on the flop. 77: flop is Q-Q-7. 33: flop is A-6-3, with two people in there with A-K. QQ: flop is A-Q-9. KK: flop is A-K-10. AA: the board is A-9-3-K-J and someone is in there again with AK and another with K9. I would raise with K-10 suited and the flop would be 10-10-3, and I would get check-raised on the turn. I would raise with QJ and the flop would be A-K-10 rainbow. I was just getting paid off with every hand I hit, and with my table image I had acquired, I was able to steal a lot of pots, too.

Anyway, the short story is that I cashed out over $1800 from my initial $100 investment, in addition to my $300 high hand. This would so far be my record for that cash game. And then to top it off, I went out last night for my birthday party (21!), got drunk, and made another $600 in another $3-6 kill game. How sweet it is...

~~~May 17th, 2005~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just got back from Spirit Mountain and the Top of the Mountain Series. Event #1 was going good, until I ran into a situation that seems to haunt me in almost every tournament. Early in the rounds (I think the blinds were 150-300) a player raises under the gun to 1,200. I look down at KK. I decide to make it 2,500 (I had a decent size stack, like 16,000 maybe). He then re-raises to 4,000 total, which is just a little over the minumum raise. At this point, I am almost certain that he has AA. In fact, looking back on it, I have never had a better read that someone has had AA preflop. I am thinking right there that I should fold, but like an idiot, I call. The flop comes J high nothing. He bets out maybe 4,000. I thought for a little while, the whole time thinking "he's got aces, get rid of this hand!" It is almost like I lost control, and pushed all my chips in. He called immediately of course, and you probably know the rest of the story. I second guessed myself and it probably cost me placing in the money. This is the third time that I have been busted with KK vs. AA in a good sized tournament, and each time I am getting more and more mad at myself for KNOWING they have aces and still committing all my chips. It is something that I will continue to work on, and I don't see that happening again soon.

Event #2 was a rebuy tournament, and I played much better. Although, I did make a couple mistakes. The blinds were I think 1,000-2,000, and it folded around to the player on the button, and I was in the BB. He fiddled with his chips for a few seconds, and stacked out what looked like was going to be a raise, then just called. An alarm went off in my head, and I told myself that he probably was slow playing something. The small blind folded, and I looked down at J-6 off and checked. The flop was J-5-2 all spades, and I had no spade. I checked, and he immediately fired 2,000. He bet so fast that I thought it might be a bluff. I raised hiim to 4,000. He thought a few seconds, and called. The turn paired the board deuces, and I bet out 5,000. He thought for a minute, and raised all-in. I knew I was in trouble, but it was only another 2,200 for me to call, and I did reluctantly. He turned over AA with a spade, and my jack didn't hit the river. I guess this is another time that I made the mistake of second guessing myself when I think that someone has a big hand. In this situation, though, I thought he had a big flush draw, especially when he just called my check raise. Then once I bet the turn, and he went all-in, I was almost certain he had me beat, but it just wasn't enough of a raise for me to fold.

Later in the tournament, when the blinds were 1,500-3,000, a player in the cutoff seat moved all-in for about 9,500. I was in the small blind, and I looked down at AA. I asked the dealer to count it, and took my time, because I wanted the BB player to think I had a weaker hand, just in case he had something. I thought for a little while, and finally called. The BB folded, and we showed our hands: AA vs. KQ of diamonds. The flop came A-10-2 rainbow with one diamond. The turn was a nightmare card: the 7 of diamonds. He could hit a J or a diamond that didn't pair the board, and the 9 of diamonds hits the river. This hand took about half my chips away, and with that pot, I would have done much better in the tournament. That player suddenly started getting on a rush, winning pot after pot, and all I could think was, "he should be gone right now." I tried to let it go and move on.

With all of that going on, though, I still fought my way back to the final two tables. This was a real money tournament, where all you have to do is make the final table, even with a single chip, and everyone is started off with the prize pool divided among the final 10 players. I struggled to stay in the game until we were 12 handed. I had 42,500 chips with the blinds at 4,000-8,000 with a 2,000 ante, and it folded to me in middle position. I looked down at 10-10, and shoved all in. Fold around to the small blind who looked at his hand, and immediatlely let out a gasp and stood up from the table. He started counting his chips, and it looked like he had about 75,000. He looked back at his cards, then stood up from the table again and walked over to the other table to see if anyone over there was all-in. He was thinking about surviving to the final table, not making a ton of chips. He literally thought for about 3 minutes, until someone at my table asked the dealer to put him on a minute clock. I didn't like this, because I wanted him to take time for his decision. Of course, I didn't want him to call, because there was enough in the blinds and antes to steal that I would be able to survive a couple rounds of the button. I knew he must have had AK, because with AA, KK, or QQ he would have called already. And if he had AQ, AJ, or even JJ he would have mucked immediately, just because of the type of player that he was. After all this was over, he finally said "call" and pushed in the stack. Now the player in the big blind calls for time, and looks down at her cards, and immediatly says, "call. "OH MY GOD" I thought, I'm toast. I stood up, knowing that I was slaughtered. The flop came Q high, the SB checked, and she pushed all in. He immediatly turned AK face up and mucks, and she throws over KK. With no help, I was out in 12th place. I found out as soon as I was knocked out that 11th place was getting $500 for a consolation prize, with the top ten players getting $3,470 each, so I officially went out on the bubble. Anyway, I had a buddy in the tournament that made it to the final table, and we were getting 10% of each other, so I took home $340. It was very frustrating to work that hard, for about 10 hours (the longest tournament I've ever played in, anyway) and come so close yet so far. I know I need to work on the mistakes I made, so I don't have to put myself in those situations deep into the tournament. I guess that's the game, and there will be other tournaments.