Trip Report
by AlwaysAware
It was less than a year ago that I started to play poker and read this
newsgroup.
Though I have enjoyed or learned something from most posts or posters,
some things were beyond me and I knew it,
while other things were beyond me and I didn't even realize it....
what unaware?....
how can that be when I am "alwaysaware"? (grin)
oh yeah, I wasn't "alwaysaware" back then, I used my real name.....
anyway.....
Three months ago I went back and re-read Patri's WSOP trip report.
When I first read it last May, I thought he was a good writer and a
great story teller.... I loved how he called KQ that this guy was
playing a trash hand... what a sense of humor I thought he had... cuz,
I thought he was kidding (KQ sounded good to me limit/NL, KQ who
wouldn't play it?) Wow, what an enlightened understanding I got of how
far I had come since May of last year.
Then a few days ago, I was re-reading a hand by hand played trip
report from.....never mind (do your own research :) When I first read
it a few months ago, there were certain "plays" that the writer opened
for debate that I didn't fully understand even after reading the
responses... BINGO.. the recent reading was crystal clear.... again, a
reflection on how far my poker knowledge is coming along...
Today, I re-read a posting of mine on playing AJs in a NL tournament,
and even I could now answer my own pondering... maybe not as well as
some (or most) of you... but still.... I now better understand what I
didn't then....POSITION......
And the point of this post?
heres, a clue....title, or ATLARGE Trip Report Part II....
With ATLRAGE coming up,
I have been thinking about my play in the NL tournament at FARGO
I came in 17th(?) out of 70-80(?) players, by playing super tight and
getting lucky
Back then I didn't know AK "was a hand, you could call a raise with"
and in the first level alone folded it three times when Jeff Calkins
put in a small raise, (on my left he was) but I now recognize that as
an attempt to steal (and quite successful he was I might add - grin)
If I knew then what I know now.... I could have been a chip leader
early on and done so much better (or busted out much earlier...but we
will address that issue any other day)
So anyway,,,, the point of this post?.....
ATLARGER's WATCH OUT, ALWAYSAWARE IS COMING TO PLAY!
Yup, that's right...Not only will I be playing the pocket rockets (AA)
and the cowboys (KK), I've added nutnopair (AK) to my playable hands
(smile)
joan
who will now only be playing tight, instead of super tight - smile
The Widow Sees A Ghost... or, ATLARGE Report Part III
*** WARNING: This Post Contains Poker Content (a rarity for me :) ***
Due to even MORE problems with my vehicle, this time a dislodged vacuum
hose, rendering it undrivable (at least to AC) I finally give up and
drive "the land boat" i.e. the suburban. I miss the smoker ;-( Even
though "the boat" has a kick ass stereo system I drive in silence,
thinking about how to outplay Scott (and others), thinking about
various NL tourney situations. Since this is a parkway there are no 16
wheelers and I am the biggest thing out there... it is nice to rule the
road... (well, nice until I stop to fill the gas tank....ouch!) but it
gets me in a "ruling the table" fame of mind.
After three hours I give in and turn on the kick ass sound system. An
hour later I arrive at the trop, find an excellent spot to park "the
boat" and proceed to the poker room. I am immediately paged and look
over at the podium and see Llew, my roommate for the weekend. She gives
me a key to the room, I go eat dinner, then get my stuff and head to
the room. I have promised myself not to play any limit ring games
until the no limit tournaments are over. I want to stay focused... I
want to win... I do not want to be distracted in trying to make the
necessary adjustments from/to limit/no limit. I go to bed.
I believe that everything happens for a reason. I wanted to go to the
smoker, cuz I wanted to meet people, to know faces, to be able to hang
out and say hi to someone.... but alas, it was not to be. I take this
as a sign to continue with my focusing plan. I avoid everyone on
Friday. I walk the boardwalk, I review my plan, I continue to think
about NL tourney scenarios. At 2PM I sign up for the Trop monthly NL
holdem tournament, and disappear yet again... absolutely NO
DISTRACTIONS (grin). At 4PM I wander to my table and who do I find?
Raydon - oh no (smile) one of my favorites but starting at the same
table will either be good news, as he is very aggressive and tries to
rule the table early and often busts because of it. Or, it will be not
so good, as he will become a chip leader early. Also at my table is
Jason Viriyayuthakorn, he came in 3rd at the final event of the USPC
this last December, (Daniel N. had mentioned him in an article in Card
Player magazine). I am actually excited about this. I want to see how
he plays, I want to play him. I realize that this may mean an early
exit for me, but still I am glad for the challenge. It is also now
clear to me that these two must exit this tourney early, or they will
be too dangerous later. I approach Jason, introduce myself and
congratulate him on his win at the Taj. I want him to know that I know
who he is. I want him to wonder if I can play. I kid him that I do
not like that he is on my left (2 to my left). He kids back, that is a
good thing, I could now trap him...hmmm., thanks for the idea Jason :)
I don't have any playable cards. I wait. I look down and see the KQ of
clubs. I want to play it...damn Patri for educating me (smile).. I
muck... turns out it would be the winning hand on a huge pot (never
mind that I would have had to chase it to the river) I secretly curse
Patri (just kidding:). I start to get cards, I am raking pots. Jason
has been crippled. Raydon is hurting. I am the big blind, Jason fingers
his chips and I think, oh great, can't play my Q3 now. But, he just
limps as do some others. The flop is Q high. Can't bet it with a 3
kicker, it is checked around.. The turn is another Q, which I check
(what was that about a trap Jason?:-) Jason bets out 120 a little more
than 1/3 of his stack. It is folded around to me. I raise it. He
immediately releases his hand saying if you waited that long to act you
must have something. He probably also saw my hand shaking. I certainly
did, and it surprised and annoyed the hell out of me. I thought about
smooth calling but if he had a middle pair that hit on the river, I
could be in a world of hurt. A few hands later, Jason pushes all in
with a short stack, 205 I believe. Raydon makes some comment about
what kind of hand is needed to take him out or get the job done some
such....but I am not paying attention to Raydon (I learned long ago to
ignore him :-)... I have the J10d. I am only thinking that I like the
odds on this hand, it is folded around to me and up to me to "fight"
him. With no help I rethink my hand. If I call and lose it will not
hurt me, I am chip leader and after all I did just take 135 (120 bet
plus limp call of 15) from Jason. My only concern, my biggest concern
is if I lose - what Jason can do with those chips... he is
dangerous....very very dangerous... I hesitate. I then think it is only
me and him. If he wins he only gets my chips no one elses. I finally
decide that my goal upon arriving at the table was to take the players
out and this may be my best shot at Mr. Danger. I call. I don't
remember what happened as Jason didn't turn his cards, so neither did
I... but I believe a ten hit the river. Jason asked if I got any of it
and when I turned my cards he mucked his. He probably had A high (or
72 off and trying to steal). Someone later told me that Jason was
moaning in the pot limit game that "she played J10, Can you believe
it?" (Smile) Well, it was suited....(Bigger Smile) Later, Jason
thanked me for taking him out early as he made a killing in the pot
limit game. I asked for a percentage.... haven't seen any check yet....
but I'm an optimist (grin).. In the event you are reading this Jason,
my address is:
I then get pocket K's which I decide to slow play. I know the danger,
but I am learning how to read the players. The flop has a K and I get
action, I check raise and I am called. It is now heads up. He checks.
I bet. He calls. He checks the river card and I say no way... I put
the number of chips he has left in the middle. He hesitates and says he
has to call. He has top and middle pair and a seat on the rail. (Slow
playing here definitely got me all his chips. First it got him to play
a trash hand, and secondly it gave him no indication I had a hand until
the check raise, at which point I think he had fallen in love with his
two pair flop)
At this point someone nicknames me the widow. A player unknown to me is
now all in (a short stack), I have a decent hand though I remember not
what is was. I decide not to call him down and comment that I will
probably regret it later in the tournament. I do. Turns out he is one
of the eventual winners that chops four ways, Stevan G.
Congratulations! Play well at TOC. Now, had I known at the time it
was him I would have called, just cuz.... but that is a long story. He
and I then traveled many tables together but alas, never another
opportunity to take him out, looking forward to "widowing him" next
year :)
The Tournament progresses, Greg Pappas makes a comment that if he had
my chips he'd have the table cornered by now. Greg is short stacked,
but not for long. My chips fluctuate, by the second break I am down to
1800 (from 4000). I look at the structure sheet and see that the
blinds are 500/1000 with 100 antes. I panic, well not panic, if you
knew me you would know not much phases me,... not muggings, not being
at home during a break in, not even street lamps that sail through my
car window as I am driving. I seek Raydon, as I am the big blind and
have no time, he tells me how he would play it. I return to my table
and discover that the blinds are 100/200 and the antes are 25,
whew!...but it is a wake up call. I need to do something soon or I will
be in real trouble. I have a great image, I have only shown down
premium hands, I don't play a lot of hands. It is time to take
advantage. Of the next five hands I play three. I now have about 4700
(of the total chip count of 47,500), there are 13 players left. I am
about even with Greg Pappas, and the guy to my right is not too far
behind us. There is a player at the other table that has a mountain of
chips....many many players are short stacked. I have gotten healthy, I
have had healing hands. The guy on my right makes the comment that he
always makes it this far, but never in the money I also look at my watch and realize that I have been playing my A
game for 4:41 minutes, wow really impressive for me. This should have
triggered a bell in my head (warning you are looking at your watch),
but if there was a ding, I clearly did not hear it. I get AQs utg, I
decide I will finally try a steal, I raise it to 600. Greg clearly
thinks it's a steal, and is probably thinking a utg steal(?),as he
hesitates and then mucks his cards. Everyone folds to the
big blind, the guy that "never makes it in the money" he calls,
hmmmm....and then says "I check the flop", before the flop is ever
flopped...now this really throws me off, is he trapping me? (mistake
#1, giving him too much credit, he is not a player) The flop comes Q 3
x, I have top pair with top kicker, guess what I do?...... ....
Nope....that would have been the correct move. I now make mistake #2, I
check behind him, d'oh....... a 3 on the turn, and he bets out 1000. I
ask how many chips he has left, 2700. I then call. River is a K, he
bets 1000. I hesitate, then push all in.....powerful move (egad) What
was I "hoping" for?, that he would fold, of course, believing that I
had trip K's. Well, the hesitation before pushing all in was pretty
clear evidence that I don't have trip K's. Greg Pappas then whispers to
his neighbor, I don't know if this is good or bad... I have played well
and If I have a hand, 7000 chips in my hands would be damaging... If I
have bungled this hand the chips in his hand are not a threat, he can't
hold them for long. He waits for me to turn my cards, it was my action,
I am forced to muck or show. I can't bring myself to muck in the event
that by some miracle I have beat him. I show AQs.....he then shows 36
off, and he wins with trip 3's. I could not have misplayed this hand
any worse than I did, I lost the maximum I possibly could on this hand.
Had I bet or pushed all in on the flop, I probably would have won this
hand (36 he's gonna fold, if he doesn't he is a donkey for playing
bottom pair, and if I then lose, no shame in pushing all in with the
best hand) My next hand is KJ, I am the big blind, I don't have enough
chips to wait for a better hand, I call all in and lose. So close, I
was playing well, I should have placed, perhaps won. I have experienced
first hand, why they call me the widow :)
The interesting part is I feel no different from when I took Jason or
the other 12 out...it is a feeling of "oh, well" no emotion... only one
regret.... I go to the room to get a FARGO hat for someone, I am gone
about 8 minutes. I look at the guy who had my former chips....they are
gone - he is now under 3000 and only minutes later busts out in 9th
place. I wander over to the pot limit game and Tiger says I heard you
took a bad beat, I smile and say you heard wrong, it was suicide.
I played that hand in such a way that it was impossible to survive. I
could have stopped at ANY point including just calling the river and
still had more chips than I had 9 minutes earlier. Why? any thoughts...
anyone been there?..... No longer able to sustain an A game?....
greed?, thinking only of getting ALL his chips?.... Fear of success?
Inability to think? inability to recover after being rattled by "I
check the flop," before the flop was flopped? So, close yet so
impossible. Or did I just need to chant I will not see ghosts... I will
not see ghosts.... If I get trapped so be it, but I will not see
ghosts....
*********************************
Actually between the time I wrote this and posted, I have found my own
answers, recognized my own demons. In a nano second I have gone from my
A game to my BJ&E (bad judgment and ego) game. Any of you that played
on funcom.com this summer have witness my BJ&E game first hand. This
is where I make a betting mistake and instead of releasing the hand,
ego steps in and I say "I had the best hand before misbetting, and it
WILL improve. If It doesn't I will just bulldog my way through and YOU
WILL FOLD!" Never worked there either :) I had one regret immediately
after crashing and burning, Greg Pappas who will be at the upcoming
NEPC, witnessed this train wreck. I felt it gave him too much
information about my bungled steal attempt... now that I understand my
own warped logic in playing this hand, I am not worried that he will be
able to "use It against me", in fact it may even help me to "trap" him
at some point (he never reads rpg - so not worried about posting
this....sssshhhhh, no one tell him, ok?:) I now have no regrets.
Better to have happened now than in a big important tournament, gives
me important information with which to patch the holes in my game....
Joan
btw: the way to outplay Scott is to avoid him in the ring games and
pray he is not at your table during the tournaments :) It worked well,
God answers prayer!
