Day 6 - Moving in and a rollercoaster at the Orleans

Today was pretty eventful.  I have now moved into the place I will be living for the next seven weeks.  I love having my own room again!  The guys I was crashing with are cool and all, but when you're sleeping on a thin mattress pad on the floor it always sucks.  After getting moved in, I decided to play another of the $75 daily tournaments at the Orleans casino.  Again, this tournament starts with 7,500 chips and blinds at 50/100.  85 players signed up and the tournament would pay the top 9.

At the 50/100 blind level, I was dealt Q♣ Q♦ in late position.  The older gentleman to my right had limped in for 100 and I raised to 400.  He called and the flop came 10♥ 6♥ 4♣.  He checked, I bet 800, and he called.  The 2♥ hit the turn and he bet 2,100 to put me in a tight spot.  It might cost me all of my chips to find out whether I had the best hand or not.  I stared him down for 20 seconds or so and folded.  I think he probably flopped a set, tried to slowplay, and decided he had to protect his hand when a third heart hit the board.  The only hand I could legitimately beat here is A♥ 10x, which even has 14 outs to win on the river.

Still at the 50/100 blind level, I was dealt 6♠ 6♥ in middle position.  I decided to limp, hoping to start a bunch of limpers that might pay me off if I flopped a set.  The player to my left had been uber-aggressive and raised to 350.  I called hoping to trap him if a 6 came on the flop.  The flop came 10♦ 7♥ 3♦ and I check folded to his 700 bet.

At 75/150, I received A♥ Q♦ UTG+1 (UTG stands for Under the Gun and is the name given to the person acting first preflop.  UTG+1 acts immediately after UTG).  UTG limped and I raised to 600.  The limper was the only caller and the flop came K♦ 4♣ 3♠.  He checked, I bet 1000, and he folded.  Yay, my first pot.

At 100/200, I was in the SB (small blind) and four players limped in.  I looked down at K♠ K♣ and tried to look calm as I attempted to decide how best to play my monster.  I decided to raise to 1500, hoping to get only one caller.  To my surprise, the player who limped UTG, now re-raised all-in!  I have seen  this move before and it often means pocket aces.  But I'm just never getting away from kings preflop, so I called his all-in for slightly less than I had (about 5,500).  He turned over Q♠ Q♣ and I just needed to dodge a two outer.  The board came 9♦ 8♥ 6♥ A♥ 4♦ and I knocked him out to raise my stack to around 12,000!

I then went on a painfully dry run of cards where I was only dealt a couple of playable hands, but I received those on hands where the pot had been raised and even re-raised.  By the time we reached the 300/600/50 (50 ante) level, I was around 7,500 chips.  I was dealt Q♥ Q♣ in early position and raised to 1,500.  The girl to my left moved all-in with no hesitation.  I thought I might be behind, but neither one of us had enough chips for me to seriously consider folding.  I called, she showed A♠ 8♠ and I just needed to dodge an ace.  The board ran A-8-2-K-J and she doubled up, leaving me with about 3,000 chips.

A few hands later, the blinds had moved to 400/800/75 and a player on the button raised my BB to 2,000.  I looked down at Q♦ 4♦, which is garbage.  But I was too short to fold and shoved for 2,675 total.  He had a painfully easy call and flipped over A♠ 7♥.  The board ran 7♦ 7♣ 6♦ K♠ 9♦ and I doubled up when my flush beat his three sevens.

I managed to tread water for a while and the blinds went up twice more to 600/1200/200 where my rollercoaster ride began.  I had about 6,000 chips and I was the BB when the aggressive button (who had recently lost a giant pot) raised to 3,500.  I had folded to this move a couple of times already and I was waiting for an opportunity to take a stand.  I looked down at A♠ 4♠ and shoved all-in.  He was pot committed and called with K♣ 7♠.  The board ran J-5-2-5-4 and I doubled up to over 13,000 chips!

The very next hand the same player shoved all-in preflop for about 2,500.  I was in the SB with A♥ J♣ and had an easy call.  He had Q♦ 5♦, but the board came 7-4-7-5-7 and his full house doubled him up.  Again on the very next hand, a player in middle position raised to 3,600 and the maniac from the last two hands pushed all-in again.  I had A♣ A♦ and re-shoved all-in over the top of him.  The original raiser thought for quite a while, and for a while I was sure he was going to call too, but he finally folded.  The maniac flipped over K♠ J♣ and the flop came 8♥ 5♥ 3♦.  The player in the ten seat said, "It's over", to which I quickly replied, "Not yet".  The dealer then put the K♣ on the turn and the J♠ on the river for an ugly suckout to cripple my stack.

I called myself all-in for 2,500 chips two hands later with A♠ 8♠ after the maniac raised and an old lady to my right called.  The flop came A♥ A♦ 4♥ and the lady moved all-in after the maniac checked.  He folded and she flipped over 10♣ 10♦.  The turn was the 8♣, which gave me boat and ended matters, but I think I was the only one who noticed because the table let out a roar when the 10♠ hit the river.  The dealer even marked the board for her full house.  I got it corrected, of course, and dragged a nice pot to more than triple up!

Two hands later I was at it again, shoving all-in from early position with A♦ 10♦.  We were still at the 600/1200/200 level!  The girl to my left called with A♣ J♣ and I was in trouble.  The girl commented that diamonds were good to me earlier and the board came Q♦ 7♦ 4♥ 9♦ 6♦.  Diamonds were good to me again as I doubled up to over 18,000 in chips!

Around this time a monster stack was moved into our table; he must have had 60,000-70,000 chips!  Right away he called a raise in the BB and lead out for an oversized bet on the flop to take the pot.  He was playing hyper-aggressive and raised to 3,500 from late position on my BB, which I was anticipating.  I looked down at A♦ 6♦ and decided to send a message to him to stay away from my BB.  I shoved all-in.  He asked the dealer for a count which made me feel a lot better.  It was 15,000 more to him and to my shock and chagrin, he called!  I was even more shocked and a lot more happy to see his hand.  K♠ 7♣.  Yes, really.  For once, the idiot was not rewarded as the board came J-9-5-2-10 to double me up over 37,000 in chips!  And by the way, it had only been about 10 minutes since I was at only 2,500!

Right before the break I was moved to the other table.  Only 18 players remained and my stack was right around the average.  After the break the blinds were 1000/2000/500 which made my 40,000 chip stack shrink considerably.  I was dealt A♥ K♥ UTG and raised to 6,000.  The BB called and we were off to the flop which came Q♠ 5♦ 4♠.  My opponent bet 7,000 and here is where I think I made a mistake.  I should have pushed all-in, but I couldn't shake the thought that he had called with A-Q or K-Q and I was drawing thin.  I folded and he showed J♠ J♣.  So I folded two overcards to a 7,000 chip bet with 24,500 in the pot.  I would have been an underdog to win, but I was getting good odds from the pot, plus he very well may have folded the best hand to an all-in raise.

I was down to 26,500 chips a few hands later and I raised to 6,000 with K♣ J♠ UTG.  A late position player moved all-in on me for 18,000 more and I was getting 31,500 to call the 18,000 more.  I couldn't find a fold and called.  He turned over A♠ A♦ and the board came 8-5-3-2-7 to knock me down to 2,500 chips.  Next hand I was eliminated in 16th place when I was all-in in the BB and took my mighty 5♦ 3♥ into 9♥ 9♣ and the board came Q-8-5-6-9.  Tough finish, but a wild tournament that was a lot of fun!