How I Won Sunday's Oaks Tournament

Image via WikipediaHow I Won Sunday's Oaks Tournament

Overall, I was very lucky. Yeah, I used a few moves from my Tournament Poker book. But, the truth is that I don't recall having such a great run of luck at a poker tournament.

It didn't start well, as on the second hand of the event, I flopped top pair holding K-Q but my opponent flopped a set of 7's. From that point on, my luck changed for the better...much better!

Here is a summary of how I won:

1. I put a couple of bad beats on my opponents.

K-Q versus A-K. The flop was K-K-7. I bet out in the big blind and one player called. I check raised all in on the turn. My opponent thought for a while and called with his A-K. I hit my Q on the river taking down a big early pot.

When we were down to three tables, I raised with 9-9. My opponent moved all-in with J-J. Flopped the 9.

2. Key flops hit my hand hard.

I had pocket sixes, and hit a 6 on the flop. My opponent missed but he made a continuation bet. I won a decent sized pot when he folded.

I called a raise from the button with T-9 offsuit. My opponent was aggressive and had a big stack, as did I. The implied odds in these situations make it the right play. If you don't take these risks, it is a mistake.

The flop was K-Q-J....I moved in after he bet out. He called with K-J and did not improve. A huge pot for me.

I limped with T-2 in the small blind. The big blind called. The flop was T-7-2. I bet out and the big blind, with a decent sized stack moved all in. I called. He had J-T and did not improve. His over sized push all-in was an awful play (this is not online poker:-) )

When it was three handed, the button raised my big blind 2x's. I called with Q-4 clubs. I would have called with any two cards given the implied odds. The flop came with three clubs. He was aggressive so I checked and raised him all-in on the flop. He called. I don't know what he had, as I didn't bother to look. I knew I would win.

He had a huge stack, as did I. It made me the big chip leader. It was a bad pre-flop play on his part.

3. Timing of my big hands

I had K-K and raised. Another player moved all in with A-K. He did not improve.

A player moved all in with 8-8. I called in the big blind with J-J and won.

Timing in these situations is key to building a chip stack. And, having your hand hold-up, of course.

4. The hands I lost were to players pushing with much smaller stacks.

When we were down to three tables, I had a big chip lead. So, I could gamble a little more with the big stacks.

For example, I could call with K-7 in the big blind against an opponent who was desperate and moved all-in with A-5.

5. I did not experience that bad beat that cripples your stack or knocks you out.

This is the way we all get eliminated, right?

6. The tough calls were easier since the pot odds were present for me to make the call a no-brainer.

When you have a big stack you don't want to get hurt. But players push with a wide range of hands when they don't have a big enough stack compared to the big blinds. I had one tough decision when I player with a big stack moved all-in with a big stack. I thought about folding until unrealized that I had to call given the odds.

I called and he had K-J. I had raised with an A-8. I called since I was getting 2-1. Neither one us improved and I added quite a few chips

Summary

Frankly, I did not play extraordinary poker. Things just worked out for me. I was able to steal in late position more often since the players to my left tended to be very tight or afraid of being knocked out due to my big stack.

But, the reason for my win was, well, I give credit to the luck granted to me by poker gods. Good thing these gods don't require attendance in anything other than a poker room or I would go to hell.

Limit Poker: $15-$30 Cash Game--A Very Interesting Hand

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Limit Poker: $15-$30 Cash Game--A Very Interesting Hand

I got knocked out of the Oaks $120 buy-in tournament today when a player beat my pocket Aces. He moved all-in on the flop with his flush draw. I called. He hit his flush on the turn. Oh well.

Since I was out early, I decided to try the $15-$30 cash limit game.

Here is the Very Interesting Hand

Everyone is playing rather loose. I get dealt 9-9 on the cut-off.

5 players call. I call since no one is going to fold for one bet. The button raises. Everyone calls.

There are 7 players in the hand.

The flop is 5s-7d-9d.

The big blind bets into the raiser and the big field. I call. The button raises. The big blind calls. I call. Everyone else folded. Three of us take the turn.

The turn is a 2c.

The big blind checks. I check. The button bets. The big blind now check-raises. I call. The button calls.

The river is a Jd, potentially giving someone a flush.

The big blind checks. I bet right away. Why? I am sure no one has a flush. My bet will make it look like I have a flush. And, if the big blind has a straight he may fold since he is an "observant" player.

The button calls. The big blind is not happy. He takes a while to make a decision. He folds.

I show the set of 9's. The button shows a set of 7's.

The big blind had the 6-8, which gave him a flopped straight. He folded since he was sure I could only be in the hand with a flush draw.

A big win for me!

For the entire session of limit cash, I ended +$800.

Sunday at the Oaks: Tournament: Survive or Go For the Win?

At the Oaks on Sunday

I entered the Oaks Sunday event. It had over 100 players, with a $125 buy-in and one $100 rebuy.

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To start, I had a good seat in that the players to my left were super tight. I was not able to pick up any tells on them since I was in seat 10 and the dealer was in the way.

There were a couple of good players at the table but no one who I would call in the top 10%. One player liked to bluff or overplay his hands. A couple of others were transparent in that they never bluffed, and would move all-in on the flop or turn if they had a good hand and wanted to shut out any drawing hands.

I was building slowly thanks to the tightness of the players to my left. I could steal blinds by raising from the cutoff or button. I never got called. I did have a Q-x and J-x, so there was some flop potential.

A key hand was when I had pocket 9's under the gun. Since it was early in the event, a raise would not thin out the competition, so I limped. One tight but tricky player raised. I called. The flop came all rags under 7. I checked and he bet the pot. I moved all-in and he folded. I figured if I'm beat, I'd get lucky or rebuy.

Another round and I got dealt pocket Kings. The second most aggressive player at this table raised. He had a bigger stack than me. If I re-raised, he would fold so I called. One other player called. The flop came 5-3-2. The pre-flop raiser overbet the pot. If I called, I didn't have enough chips to protect the pot on the turn, so again, I just pushed all in. No one called.

The final round before the rebuy period ended and I got dealt pocket 8's under the gun. I limped, another player limped, and the guy who overplayed his hands raised about 4x's the limp bet. Both I and the limper called. The flop cam A-8-4 all hearts.
The pre-flop raiser bet half the pot, and I moved all-in. The other player folded but this guy insta-called. He had A-7 and no hearts.

Now I was the chip leader at the table with $15,000 and the blinds at $100-$200.

A solid player raised in back position and I called on the button with Qh-Jh. There was $1,700 in the pot. The flop came 8h-7h-3c. My opponent moved all-in. I thought I might have 15 outs. If I won this pot I would move my stack size to $23,000. If I lost I would still have about $7,000. I called.

My opponent had pocket 10's, and one 10 was a heart. Another player who was watching broke my new poker rule and says to me, "I like your hand." At that moment I knew I had lost. The turn was no help. He again says to me, "I like your hand." My guess in the Old West poker players never would say something this stupid or they'd be shot. The river missed me, and I was down to $7,000.

The break came and I got moved to a new table. I always like to project a tight table image when I join a new table filled with players who I've never seen before. Outside of one player, I didn't know the players.

I joined the action finally because as the blinds went up I needed chips! I had to steal blinds and antes to stay at 10 or more time the big blind. A couple of times I had to make an all-in move under the gun with A-x. Everyone folded both times.

I was not getting any help from the cards in my new seat. The players were being knocked out as I waited. In early position I found Kh-10h, and raised. Another player moved all-in and it was only double my bet so I called. He had pocket 9's and I hit my K to knock him out.

A few hands later a player moved all-in and I found A-J in the big blind. This looked like a monster to me so I called. He had pocket 9's. The flop came 10-J-10. The turn was a J, and the river a 9. He lost to my bigger boat.

It was down to 19 players and 15 were going to get paid. I was in middle position. The tightest player at the table was a woman and she raised pre-flop 3x's the big blind. I found pocket 9's. What to do? If I moved all-in, she may fold. But, I just had this gut feeling she had a huge hand and pocket 9's had been losing at this table.

Of course, I had just posted that you have to be super aggressive to win these events. I looked at the clock and I had been playing for almost 5 hours. Somehow the thought of 5 hours and driving home with no cash out, got in my head. I folded. I wanted to survive.

Was it a mistake?

In retrospect--yes. Because I ended up going out 15th and cashing some money back but it was a losing session. I left with $165, for a loss of $60.

Hopefully I will learn from this mistake. It's a move of a survivor rather than a winner.

Sunday results: Tourney and Heads-up

Oaks
$225 buy-in
131 players NL poker

I took the first round off to get some lunch. The next two rounds went well, and I was up to about $8,000 from the starting $5,000. I wasn't getting premium hands but finding opportunities to play--you know--maybe I should call them "Negreanu" hands--since they are two cards which might end up being something. You know 5-3, 9-8, etc. The implied odds were good and yes, I even was willing to call small raises.

For the fourth round, a new dealer sat down and proceeded to give me A-K twice, A-Q, J-J--and all turned out to be losers. The pocket Jacks hand was tough. A tight player in early position put in a three time raise. I had position and called. My stack was still big enough, not to have to push. The flop came all rags. My opponent pushed all-in, slightly over-betting the flop.

Here we go again...this reminded me of the day before. I studied my opponent for some clue. He looked up at me and did not quickly look away. I find that if players look at you, and quickly look away in that situation, they have A-K. This guy did not, so I put him on a premium pair. Given that tell and his being so tight for the past 90 minutes, I folded.

He proudly showed pocket Aces.

I was back down to $4,000.

As the blinds increased and my stack slowly declined, I was planning to move all-in with my no-look blind steal. However, the problem was that other players were getting desperate and pushing in before me.

I was now down to $2,400 and we were down to 60 players. The blinds were $150-$300 plus $75 ante, and they about to double. I was on the button. The player under the gun moved all-in for $8,000. I found A-6. In this situation, I have to move all-in and play the weak Ace. After I moved all-in, so did the small blind. The first opponent had Kings, and the next one had K-Q. I hit the Ace on the turn.

With about $8,000, and on the next hand I was dealt pocket 10's. A player with about $2,000 moved all-in, and the next guy called--the guy with pocket Aces from earlier. This player had been hitting so many big pairs--he had already been dealt pocket Aces twice, pocket Kings twice, and pocket Queens once--and had about $15,000.

Again, he is a tight player who had been getting great cards way too often. I figured he either had a medium strength hand or setting a trap with pocket Aces. I dismissed the Aces since he had already been dealt that hand twice. I decided to get him off his hand by moving all in. To my surprise, the big blind called all-in. And, yeah, that same player had pocket Aces AGAIN!

We went to the flop. My 10's against 4's, A's and K-Q. The flop came with Ace and two rags--but they were all hearts! I was the only one with a heart! But, no hearts after the flop, and I was on my home.

Full Tilt Heads-up
I bought into the $1-$2 NL cash game--heads-up again--for $150.

It's amazing how many tables there are with just one player. And each one of those players is at multiple heads-up games. Anyway, I sat down to play some guy with an aggressive name. I can''t recall it now.

The first hand he raised, and I folded.
The next hand, I raised, he re-raised, and I folded.
The next hand, he raised and I folded.
The next hand, I called and he raised, and I folded.
The next hand he raised, and I was not going to fold again! Yes, I had awful cards but at some point, you have to take a stand. And, this time I had something....

I had A-5 and I called. The flop came Ace high. I check called his 3/4th size bet.
The turn was another rag. I check raised all-in his 3/4 high size bet. He insta-called and showed A-K. Oh, well...the river was a 5! The spoils of playing online poker:)

We played another 5 minutes--and it was normal play--maybe he did have a few strong hands from the start. I left ahead $139.

Saturday Poker at the Oaks: Doh!

Special $330 buy-in at Oaks.

Played well. Got some luck.

6-7 on the big blind. 5 callers.

Flop A-5-8. One player bet the pot of $600. The small blind called. I called. The turn was a 9...bingo. This time the guy bet $1,200. The small blind moved all in. I looked at the board a second time. Yeah, I have a straight. I moved all-in. The small blind had A-10.

I called a big cut-off raise on the small blind with A-J. Flop came J high. My opponent bet on flop, turn, and river. River completed both flush and straight. I called. He had pocket 5's.

I also slowed played top pairs with weak kicker three times, and someone always tried to steal the pot on the river. I called the river bet each time and won. I wanted to keep the pot small.

Another hand...player raised pre-flop to $1,900. Big blind $600. I called with pocket 10's. Flop came 5-3-2. He moved all-in. It would cost me $7,000. I thought a long while. He seemed to be trying very hard to get me to call, so I folded. He flipped over pocket Queens. Phew!!

Built up to $27,000..from $6,000.

After break, they moved an older guy to the table. He had more chips than me. But he was making all-in moves. One time he showed nothing when he had K-5. I figure I would trap him.

It was $400-$800, with $100 ante. I had K-J in middle position. Not a hand I want to go broke on. I raised to $2,100. Yes, this is a small ball bet size. Only the older guy in the big blind called.

Flop K-9-2. He checked and I checked. I knew he would bet big on the turn, so I would trap him and move all in.

The turn was a 4. He grabbed a bunch of chips and bet $7,000 into the pot of about $5,000. I moved all-in. He asked for a count. It would cost him $9,000 to call.

He called. He turned over K-Q. Doh!

Finished in 26th place.