I arrived in Las Vegas yesterday! I got up at 4:30AM, left at 6:00AM, and arrived here around 3:30PM. I decided to just jump right in and play the $75 Orleans Hold 'em tournament at 7PM last night.
The tournament starts with stacks of 7,500 and blinds at 50/100. Blinds go up every 20 minutes for the first hour and every 30 minutes thereafter. I got off to a slow start, playing some small pots early and losing most of them. The players at the Orleans are locals that play very well on average, so it was a tough tournament!
I had J♠ J♥ in the small blind at the 50/100 level when an early position player min-raised to 200. Three players called, leaving me in a tough spot. Do I re-raise with my excellent but vulnerable starting hand? I decided to only call for several reasons. First, the stacks were very large on average for the size of the blinds, so I stand to win a large pot for a small investment if I flop a set. I also don't want to build a large pot preflop with such a vulnerable hand out of position. The flop came K♣ T♣ 4♠ and I had an easy check-fold.
At the 100/200 blind level my stack had been whittled down to 5,800 or so. I raised to 600 from the cutoff with 4♠ 4♦ and the big blind called. The flop came 8♣ 5♥ 4♣. He checked. I didn't think he caught any of the board and I was willing to gamble to give him a free card to let him catch up a bit, so I checked. The turn was the K♥ and he checked again. I decided to bet 1,000 b/c I needed to start building a pot. He called. The river was the K♣ and he checked a third time. I bet 2,000, hoping he had a king or a flush and would pay me off. He did call and then mucked when he saw my full house.
A while later the blinds were 150/300 with a 25 ante and I looked down at 6♣ 6♦ in the small blind. Four players limped, so did I and the BB checked. The flop came 4♥ 4♠ 3♦. I decided to put out a feeler bet of 1200. Only the button called. The turn was the 10♣ and I checked. He checked behind and the river was the 3♥. We both checked and he showed 7-5 for a missed straight draw that I wished he'd hit b/c it would have given me a full house! Regardless, I dragged a nice little pot.
At the 200/400/50 level, I saw a free hand from the BB with 6♠ 5♥ after only the button called. The flop came 6♥ 4♥ 3♥ to give me an open ended straight flush draw. I bet 1200 and the button called. The turn was an offsuit Q, I bet 1500 and he called again. The river was an offsuit 3 to miss my draws. We both checked and he showed 8-6 for a split pot (We both had two pair sixes and threes w/ a queen kicker).
After those hands the table got off of my back and stopped playing back at me as much as they were earlier. Either that or the blinds were getting high enough that people decided to stop playing as many speculative hands. But I just sat back stealing the occasional pot and mostly folding. I raised a limper w/ A-Q and caught a Q-4-3 flop to win a small pot. I folded 10-10 when a player moved all-in for a little over half of my stack. He had been pretty tight and I felt like I was either flipping a coin or I was crushed. He told me later that he had A-K.
Before long, we were down to two tables from the starting field of 57. With blinds of 600/1200/200, I limped A♦ 5♦ from the SB after four limpers and the flop came A♠ 7♥ 2♦. I checked and the first limper bet 4000. I had only 12,000 left in my stack and I didn't want to fold. Calling seemed too weak out of position, so if I wanted to raise, all-in was the only move. He thought for a minute and folded A-3 faceup! A few hands later, I was in the BB and the button raised to 3600. Exactly 3X the BB. He had one hand on his cards until it folded to him and it looked to me like he changed his mind about something when it folded to him. So I decided to reshove on him before I even looked at my hand. The K♥ Q♦ that I saw made my decision much, much easier. He thought for a long time (which was a show I think) before folding and I dragged another nice pot.
The blinds went up to 800/1600/300 a few hands later and the tight player in the cutoff raised to 4000. I looked down at A♣ K♥ on the button and reshoved all-in for about 28K. The SB, with 15K in his stack, snap called w/ J-J and the cutoff folded. The board came Q-J-8-Q-9 and I dropped to around 13K.
Right before break I went through the blinds, the other table lost a player to combine us to the final table of 10, and I drew the BB seat. I was pretty pissed off at having to go through the blinds twice in a row, but it happens I guess.
Upon returning from the break, the blinds were 1000/2000 with a 500 ante. I had K♣ 10♣ in the BB and would happily have gotten my paltry 12K in the middle, but we had two limpers and a big raise in front of me, and in live tourneys that raise means a big hand. So I folded. Looking back, I think I should have gambled. The next hand it folded to my SB and I shoved 10♥ 9♦. The BB was priced in w/ 6-2 since the pot was 17K and it cost him only 8K to call. Unfortunately, he flopped a 2 and knocked me out of the tournament in 10th place. The tournament only paid 5, but overall I feel good about my showing.
I need to go to HR in the Rio today to get my paperwork squared away. I'll blog again tonight or tomorrow morning (I hope).
Good recap
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