Trip Report
by Jodi Neufeld
(From her blog: http://www.noninetofive.blogspot.com/)
Matt and Ivy picked me up bright and early and we left Brooklyn for AC. The
first thing Matt told me when we got in the car was that the gas gauge was
broken (permanently stuck on "E"). He then informed me of something even more
hysterical: that I would be playing the H.O.E. tournament when we arrived at
the Taj. I hadn't planned on playing this event. I've had historically abysmal
results in limit hold 'em tourneys. My Omaha game is so-so on a good day. And
before this weekend, I had played Stud O8 exactly once in my life. Overall, not
a lot of reasons to play a $120 tournament involving these three games.
We arrived just as the tournament registration was finishing up, and since I
couldn't check into my room until noon I decided I might as well pass the time
reuniting with fellow ARGErs at the poker table. Matt finally convinced me by
offering to take half my action. I told him it was a lousy investment,
outlining my reasons from above, but the long drive and lack of breakfast must
have addled his brain because we ended up making this deal anyway. After a mad
scramble to get a Taj card, I signed up for the tourney and took my seat. I was
about to play my first H.O.E. tournament.
I played at so many tables in this tourney that it's hard to recall who was at
each one. Please yell at me if I forget you or get this wrong. Players I
remember from my first table were Kenny, Matt, and Laurie Caulkins. Laurie had
a nice set of chopsticks from her recent trip to China as her bust-out prize
and I eyed them covetously. I don't remember any hands from this table, and in
fact the most memorable thing that happened was Ivy Janet bringing us all a box
of sinfully delicious Krispy Kream doughnuts. Mmmm,
doughnuts.....argharhgahrargh.
I found that the rotation game format really kept me paying attention in this
tournament. Having to think about a different game every half hour or so kept
things interesting, and I really enjoyed it. (Anyone know of any rotation
tourneys online?) I found that my Omaha game was on par with the players around
me, and I muddled through the Stud rounds without spewing too many chips. My
basic strategy in Stud early on was to fold almost every hand except the ones I
was 100% sure were playable, pinpoint the players at my table who seemed to
understand the game, and watch them play theirs. (I also saw a fair number of
examples of what not to do...)
My stack remained healthy through most of the early rounds. As the blinds
increased, I started to worry more about the fact that I would not be able to
make it deep in this tournament without winning some Stud hands. The pots in
Stud were the largest being played, and I needed to get my hands on those chips
sooner or later.
My first huge pot was not in Stud, but in Omaha. One player limped and I limped
behind with A4xx double-suited (sorry I don't have more precise hand
histories). The flop came with two low cards and one diamond. I held the Ax of
diamonds. The turn paired the board, and I donked along to the river, where I
hit my flush. I called one bet, as did the limper behind me, and when we turned
up our hands I was up against a smaller flush for the high and ended up with
half the low as well.
I was accumulating chips nicely and never had much concern for my chip stack.
Until I was moved yet again and found myself with Jeff Caulkins and Bill Chen
on my right and Rob "ActionBob" Hwang on my left. And oh, good, the Stud round
was beginning.
Bill wonders if he'll make it to his speech on time.
I don't know much about Stud O8, but it seemed to me that as long as I went for
the low, I could sometimes back into a decent high and still win. I scooped two
huge Stud pots at this table, both with two pair. How could this be?? On one
hand, no one had a low, so and on the other my two small pair were good. Is
this common in Stud? My only other experience with split games is Omaha, and
two pair are rarely good for the high in that game.
Stacking my chips, I looked up and saw that Jeff had a pair of chopsticks as
his bust-out prize just as Laurie had. I wanted them. During the Hold 'Em
round, I looked down at two red sevens. Jeff was short-stacked and called my
pre-flop raise. The flop came ten-high and he moved in. I wanted those
chopsticks real bad so I called. Jeff showed two overs (ace-jack, I think?) and
got no love from the turn or river. Jeff was out and the chopsticks were mine!
Woot!
Now I had a serious stack, and entered my favorite part of a tournament: the
part where I have chips and start raising like it's going out of style. During
the course of this tournament, someone gave me the nickname, "Raising Station."
I took that as a compliment. I was able to steal some blinds/antes/pots during
the next few rounds (and to be fair, I was also getting smacked with the deck)
and built my stack even bigger. One by one, players were getting knocked out
around me (and sometimes, *by* me!). I started to think I might have a shot at
going really deep in this thing.
The raising station (center).
Thank goodness I've built up my tourney stamina online during the past few
months, and thank goodness that the deeper you get in a tournament, the less
the specific game matters. Nine hours after we began, I found myself at the
final table. The blinds were insane, and any given hand could turn the short
stack into the chip leader (and vice versa). I made this swing a couple of
times myself as we remained eight-handed for nearly an hour. Then there was a
rapid series of bust-outs and we were four-handed: Rob "Suddenly" Catlett, Bill
Chen, Gabe DeVitto, and me. It was approaching 8pm, when the banquet was
supposed to begin, so we had a pitiful number of sweaters. They were busy
admiring the Poker Stars ice sculpture upstairs.
Since I was a moron and didn't record any of this sooner, I have no remarkable
hands to report. Bill busted fourth, followed by Rob, and that left Gabe and me
to duke it out heads up for the trophy and the money. After some brief
confusion, Gabe and I decided to switch to NLHE, since it would make everyone's
lives easier. After several hands, I thought it would be sporting to mention to
Gabe that I'd won the Fossilman heads up NLHE event at FARGO in October. Upon
hearing this he decided to come over the top of me on most of my (steal?)
raises and put me in some very tricky situations. The blinds were 5K/10K and
there were only about 150K chips on the table.
Gabe had the chip lead and I held KQo. I raised and he pushed all-in. I only
had about 3BB in my stack so I called and he showed ATo. The flop treated me
well: KQx. No help came for Gabe and I was back in it. We traded the chip lead
back and forth and played heads up for about half an hour. By 9pm it was all
over, and I had emerged victorious, scoring my first official ARG tournament
win. This meant several things:
- I was a HOE champion (NOT a champion HOE).
- I got a fascinating plaque.
- I was in the running for "Best All-Around."
- I owed Matt Matros two thousand bucks.
So apparently the theory still holds true that I should play any tournament
Matt tells me to (I always win them). Apparently I am also a good investment.
Interested? :)
I don't know why I even went on so long about this frigging tournament since
the real fun began once it was over. Gabe and I sashayed over to the cashier to
collect our winnings and then set off to find the banquet. Ten hours of playing
makes a girl hungry! The food was excellent, and we even made it in time to
hear Bill and Jerrod speak. After feasting in celebration of my victory, I met
up with Ivy Janet and we headed over to the Showboat for drinks. Then we found
Matt, Kevin, and Buckshot and continued the fiesta in the Taj's lounge. The
conversation was great and the company was even better. It's so nice to have so
many friends gathered in one place. It just doesn't happen that often, and I
really feel blessed when it does.
After one last late-night cameo in the poker room, and some pit game nonsense
with Steve and Ivy, it was time to retire. My awesome roomie Joan and I
recounted the evening's adventures and then got some shut-eye in preparation
for the next day's event: No Limit Hold 'Em.
Saturday Night Fever
I got a decent amount of sleep and woke up ready to play the NLHE event. I went
downstairs to buy in (Taj card at the ready this time) and then grabbed some
breakfast with Rob "ActionBob" Hwang, Steve "Buckshot"
Benton, and Chris O'Connor. The service was slow but the food was decent,
and after loading up on eggs, home fries, rye toast, and coffee, I headed over
to the poker room.
It will come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I consider NLHE
to be my best tournament game. I felt relaxed and ready for action as the first
hand was dealt. Coming off of a four thousand dollar win helped a bit to boost
the ol' confidence as well.
As the first cards were in the air, Jeff Caulkins found his seat at the next
table over. You may recall from my last post that I won a lovely pair of
chopsticks from Jeff the day before.
"Ten dollar last-longer?" he said to me. I quickly agreed.
I got few hands during the first couple hours and hovered around 1K in chips,
winning most of my hands by living up to my new moniker ("raising
station") and stealing blinds or whole pots. Still, after having 150K in
chips in front of me the night before, my stack felt woefully small, and I was
wondering if I'd get to experience that again at any point today.
My first chance came when I was dealt KcQc in early position. I raised it up
and got called by the short stack and by the woman in the big blind.
Unfortunately, once again I do not remember the specific action. I know the
flop had two clubs and a queen, and I know the river was a third club. The
short stack was all-in on the turn, and I bet the river and got called by the
big blind. I won the side pot and was ready to rake in the main pot with my
king-high flush...when the short-stack rolled over Ac9c. Sigh. Nice hand,
sir.
I was moved to another table and found myself across the table from none other
than my breakfast buddy Buckshot. ActionBob was hovering behind him, and I soon
realized that Steve was more interested in busting out of this tourney and
going to gamb00l it up with Rob than he was in accumulating chips. This was
good information to have when I was dealt AQo in middle position. I was
short-stacked at this point and moved all-in. Steve went into the tank. He
said, "I have two over-cards," so I knew I had the best hand. I then
reached into my bag of tricks and did what I could to induce a call. (Sorry, I
won't reveal exactly what that entails -- if you were there, you got
to witness something truly special. j/k). In the end, Steve's desire to
bust and go gamb00l it up probably induced his call more than anything I was
doing, and he rolled over AJ.
"Don't worry," I said, "the suck-out is coming." This
always seems to happen when the player who is behind wants to bust out (ie,
players online who have to leave the tourney and are trying to dump off their
chips). For once this didn't happen and I doubled up. Woot!
I was moved to another table, this one over by the wall. The wall is actually
mostly windows that separate the poker room from the hallway (read:
smokers' paradise). There was actually a crowd, some smoking, some not,
pressed against the glass watching this table. Apparently there isn't much
to do in New Jersey at noon other than watch a $120 poker tournament. Feeling
like a fish in the aquarium, I sat down and took stock of my new table. Players
there that I recall were Eric, Stephanie Sommers and TracyB. Others I
remember are Matt Hawril, Jeff Caulkins, Bill Chen, Dave Fruchter, and 8-2
Chris. (Again, please yell at me if I forgot you).
Tracy had a sweet clock as her bust-out prize, and Jeff had another prize from
China, this time a kick-ass wine cozy which was a miniature embroidered,
traditional Chinese garment. I wanted it. I also wanted to win our last-longer
bet! Soon I had my chance at both. (Jeff, let me know if I get this hand
wrong.) I think I had pocket sixes on this hand, and Jeff had two overs (I
think KJ). He was very short-stacked and pushed all-in. The price was okay and
I had a decent stack behind, plus there was a Chinese wine cozy up for grabs
and two red Taj chips with my name on them. I called and my small pair held up.
For the second day in a row, I had knocked Jeff out of the tournament. Nothing
personal, Jeff -- you just have to stop bringing such kick-ass bust-out
prizes!
8-2 Chris pouting because he wanted the wine cozy.
So now I had chips. Here is the part of the tournament where I have chips and
start raising like it's going out of style. Unfortunately, today was also the
day I decided to misread my hand. I was on the button and on a steal with Ad
6d. The small blind folded and the big blind, whose name I don't remember
but who plays very solid, called my raise. The flop came Kd Qd x. Beautiful! I
lead out with an almost pot-sized bet. The big blind pauses thoughtfully, then
moves all-in. Wonderful! I look back at my cards to check on my two
diamonds...and see that Lord Voldemort has transformed them into two
hearts!!! Cursing He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and my own fricking stupidity, I am
forced to muck and surrender a huge chunk of my stack. Now I need chips again.
So anyway, steal steal steal, I hang around for a while. I'm dealt Qd Jd.
Wary of suited cards (and dark wizards), I check the suits carefully and limp
under the gun. Usually I would raise, but I felt like mixing it up, getting
lucky, and doubling up in brilliant fashion. Alternatively, there was still
time in the day to go to the spa with Ivy, so busting would be fine with me
too. Dave Fruchter obliges me and raises, and I call. The flop comes 8d 9d 9x.
I check. Dave, who has exactly two thousand chips left, bets a thousand. I
raise and put him all-in. He shakes his head, thinks for a bit, and
then...mucks?? I shrug and take down the pot.
The blinds are huge and I steal some more. Eric is getting sick of my
"raising station" ways and starts to push back at me. I'm dealt
QJo in the big blind when Eric raises under the gun. (I apologize once again
for the lack of blind or stack sizes. Suffice it to say that the raise
represented about one third of my stack.) I knew I had the worst hand but
decided I might be able to outplay him with a stop and go. If he had a big
pair, I would head to the spa. The flop was not bad: 2 3 4 rainbow. Not great
if he had an ace, which he very well might, but I thought he might even fold an
ace if I did this right. I pushed all-in for another 2800, which was about two
thirds of his stack if I remember correctly. He thought for a long time and was
muttering things like, "I raised under the gun. Under the gun! And you
called...and then you pushed in on that flop..." etc etc. He seemed
indignant that I would be so aggressive when he had raised under the gun.
Eventually he mucked his cards. A la Chao Jiang: "I like play
pokahhhh."
Eric beats himself up for folding a winner.
Eric was to get the better of me in the end, though. With the blinds up yet again, I was short-stacked yet again after losing a coin flip to Bill Chen. We were about twelve players from the money when I picked up A4o in the small blind. It was folded around to me and I raised (big surprise). Eric didn't surprise me when he moved all-in. He had me covered, but I needed chips, and my goal was to win this thing, not finish 18th, so I called. I was surprised when he turned up A8o. The flop came ace-high, but the rest were low cards and there was no split pot. I was out of the game in 32nd place.
Just like the day before, even more fun awaited me away from the poker tables.
I first headed over to Red Square, a bar at the Tropicana. Matt, Ivy, Kevin,
Rob, Steve, Dave Fruchter and his wife Leslie were all there and on their
second round of appletinis when I arrived. The drinks kept coming and the
conversation was lively, ranging from poker to politics, mixed with lots of
laughs. We had an eight o'clock dinner reservation at Cuba Libre, but
before that we decided to engage in some karaoke antics upstairs. I think we
scared the crap out of everyone else in the place with our fervor for this art
form. After showing everyone my very convincing Cher impression and ripping the
hell out of "Love Shack," I had worked up an appetite for some Cuban
food.
We all trooped down to Cuba Libre and met up with the Kuznicks for dinner.
Someone ordered mojitos for the table, but I couldn't drink mine because
it was way too sweet. I enjoyed some sweet potato and ground beef croquettes as
an appetizer, followed by the "El Churrasco", a delicious steak with
garlic potatoes and yucca fries, washed down with a spunky 2006 Coca-Cola.
Richard Brodie, eat your heart out.
Matt and Ivy were moving from the Taj to another hotel, so I helped them move
their car after dinner. We had an unexpected adventure at the new hotel, which
had its parking garage on the second floor. This garage was only accessible by
a car elevator. Since I obviously lived to tell the tale, we can laugh about
this now, but it was pretty touch-and-go as we maneuvered the car into the
elevator and rode up to the second floor. While I'm glad I can cross
"drive car in elevator" off my lifetime to-do list, I'm also
glad I will probably never have to do this again.
Back at the Taj, I decided to check out the action in the Poker Stars
hospitality suite, since no pink chip game was going in the poker room. Up in
the suite, a rotation game had sprung up, $1/$2 HOE. Since Kevin and Steve were
hanging around, I knew this could get silly pretty fast, so I grabbed a seat
and joined in.
While I was there, Goldie was kind enough to bring me an ATLARGE hoodie, which
I had been wanting all weekend. Now would be a good time to add my own
accolades to those expressed on the ATLARGE listserve, because Goldie did a
fantastic job of organizing and running this event. Thank you so much for all
you did, Goldie -- your energy and your dedication are just amazing. And
thanks for the hoodie!
The biggest pot I won in the rotation game was one where I decided to straddle
blind (hold'em round). Of course it was capped pre-flop, and on every
street, and on the river the board was like J T 9 7 3. The pot was huge, but
then Chris O'Connor bet the river and two people folded. I looked at my
hand and saw I had a seven. I didn't see how I could fold for one bet,
even with Steve behind me. So I called. Steve mucked a nine face-up and Chris
confessed with a grimace that he had absolutely nothing. I won the pot with my
pair of sevens. Thanks for the "protection," Chris!
We ended the poker action with a NLHE sit-and-go. We had ten players, including
Kevin, Joan, Rob, Steve, Chris, Kenny, Matt Ivester and others. By employing my
typical "raising station" strategy, I quickly had everyone pissed
off. Kevin had the misfortune of running into one of my real hands, KK, and
busting. He got another chance at me when Kenny had to leave unexpectedly and
Kevin took over his stack. Too bad I had AA this time. And that's how I
was able to bust Kevin twice from the same tourney. ;0)
Eventually it came down to Steve, Matt, and me. We traded the chip lead around
for a while, and Steve was rivaling me for the title of "raising
station." Finally I picked up AK against one of his crazy over-bet
all-ins, and I called. He turned up 34. I rolled my eyes. It was my deal and I
stared at the deck in my hand, knowing somehow that I was about to get outdrawn
by this monkey. Sure enough, the turn paired him up and I was reduced to a very
grim stack of chips indeed. I didn't last much longer and ended up
finishing third for a profit of $20. Woot!
After this I meandered down to idly observe one of the most absurd things you
could ever see: professional poker players handing their hard-earned money back
to the casino in a pit game. Kevin, Rob, and Steve played three-card poker
while I rolled my eyes and inhaled second-hand cigarette smoke. Kevin of course
had to go and turn a nice profit, so he learned nothing about the folly of pit
games. We swung by the poker room to see if there was anything interesting
going on there but didn't end up playing. After some more late-night
meandering it was time for bed. I had decided to shoot for Best All-Around
Player, which after my poor showing in NLHE meant that I would have to kick as
in the next day's tourney, a game I had never played before: Seven Card
Stud.
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Only a final table finish would do in Sunday morning's Seven Card Stud
tourney to win me Best All-Around Player. I took my seat and saw to my dismay
that we would be starting with only 1000 chips and that the blind structure was
very fast for a stud tourney. I was either going to have to miraculously pick
up this game or get very lucky early on in order to have a shot at the title.
Unfortunately, neither of these happened and I donked off most of my starting
stack by chasing crappy draws, putting too much faith in one pair, and
basically looking like a moron at the poker table. I hate looking like a moron
at the poker table. It's not something I'm accustomed to and
it's not fun. Fortunately the company was enjoyable, and I still managed
to have a good time despite my obvious lack of skill or experience. I did make
one good bluff, but of course I can't tell you what it was! j/k
In the end Bill Chen put me out of my misery with trip jacks over my measly
pair of sevens. To give you an idea of how poorly I was playing, despite the
fact that I looked up from my split sevens and saw that Bill himself had one of
my remaining sevens as his door card, I went ahead with the hand anyway and was
just hoping to pair another one of my cards by the river in order to beat him.
Merrily I donked along and called him down to the bitter end. Then I passed my
chips across the table and put my last ATLARGE tourney of the weekend to bed.
Except for this pitiful showing in the stud tourney, I was extremely pleased
with my playing for the weekend. I even added a few new plays to my arsenal, so
next year I'll be more dangerous than ever. Watch out!
After the insane blinds did their worst to Kevin and Matt, we headed over to
P.F. Chang's with Ivy for a tasty Chinese repast. We enjoyed dumplings,
spicy scallops, and other delights as we waxed nostalgic about the great
weekend we'd just enjoyed. Our waiter also gave us an expert demonstration
in mu shu pancake wrapping.
After lunch it was time to say goodbye and head back up the Jersey highway to
Brooklyn. I can't wait for my next ARGE event (I will likely skip BARGE
since I will be going to Ireland in August, but stay tuned for updates -- I
am working on a plan that involves cloning or supersonic travel, whichever I
can get a permit for.) The pressure will be on since I have now won big at both
ARGE events I have attended. I'll be ready, so you should be too!
I am considering trying to win a seat in the WSOP but can't decide what
the best satellite route is. Any recommendations? I generally prefer supers to
double shoot-outs and would not want to invest more than a few hundred dollars
in this. Also if anyone is interested in investing in my road to the Series,
let me know.
Similarly, I will be trying to play more bigger buy-in events and more live
tourneys. I enjoy them a lot and think there is some element of surprise that
gives me an advantage in a live game. If anyone is interested in backing any of
these exploits, shoot me an email.
For now it's back to the grind, limit hold 'em on UB, some deep
stacks and 180-person SNG action, and a big Sunday tourney when I feel like it
(although not this week because it was my birthday and not next week because
it's book club day). I am also still in the hunt for my first score in the
Friday night tourney I've been playing. I'm just biding my time,
boys. Your money won't be safe from me much longer.
One hand to finish things off. This is from the Sunday Million Guaranteed on
Stars from last week:
PokerStars Game #4265024157: Tournament #20354660, Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2006/03/12 - 16:45:38 (ET)
Table '20354660 4' Seat #5 is the button
Seat 5: hotcookie42 (1695 in chips)
Seat 7: chanukya (2050 in chips)
Seat 8: IROCHIMA (2670 in chips)
LUHMAN: posts small blind 15
chanukya: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hotcookie42 [Ac Ad]
IROCHIMA: calls 30
hotcookie42: raises 90 to 120
LUHMAN: folds
chanukya: calls 90
IROCHIMA: calls 90
*** FLOP *** [5s 4h 6d]
chanukya: checks
IROCHIMA: checks
hotcookie42: bets 330
chanukya: calls 330
IROCHIMA: folds
*** TURN *** [5s 4h 6d] [7d]
chanukya: bets 300
hotcookie42: calls 300
*** RIVER *** [5s 4h 6d 7d] [2d]
chanukya: checks
hotcookie42: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
chanukya: shows [Jc Jh] (a pair of Jacks)
hotcookie42: shows [Ac Ad] (a pair of Aces)
hotcookie42 collected 1635 from pot
I realize this is not the best flop for my hand, especially after my flop bet
gets called and the turn puts four to a straight on the board. Does anyone fold
on the turn? After thinking through the hand a bit more, it seems to me that
calling is probably the worst option. If my opponent has made his hand,
I'm probably going to have to call his river bet (unless it's all-in)
now that the pot is so large. Raising would probably be better, because if he
does have a set or a straight, he might reraise here and give me a better idea
of where I stand. If he is drawing, my call doesn't put any pressure on
him. Checking behind on the river seems like a no-brainer to me -- anyone
value betting here?
Also, anyone disagree with the way my opponent played his pair of jacks? I
think the pre-flop call is okay (unless he knows me, in which case he should
definitely reraise!). I think his call on the flop is as bad as my call on the
turn, and for similar reasons.
People play spectacularly badly in this tournament. Every week I am amazed at
the many creative ways that they take my chips. (Please read
"creative" in its most pejorative and sarcastic sense.)
Play good!
I heart wine cozy.
