560 7-Game MTT at Horseshoe Hammond

file name:
560 7-Game MTT at Horseshoe Hammond

$560 7-Game MTT

The structure is awesome. 20k starting chips with 60 min. levels.

Unfortunately, late registered about 30 min. (My preference is to register the day before if possible, but had plans until 9:00PM (when registration closes) both days during Chicago stay. Sadly, late registering equaled reg table draw.

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First table lineup:
seat 1
very involved with the televising of chicago charity poker on tv
he mentioned he was 2nd in the event last year
seat 2
hero
seat 3
asian guy - immediately moved off our table when new table created (he played exactly 1 hand)
older guy – replacement seemed to value bet often
seat 4
larger guy - had nickname
seemed to be very loose early on
got pissed calling off a big bet in PLO
he steamed and kicked something behind rafters; sadly, it was a metal chair and he was hurting really bad.
seat 5
20ish person, seemed like online guy
seat 6
30ish asian person; knew seat 1
not sure of strong skill level
seat 7
anthony - talked a lot to himself about "non-standard" plays that people made
card accidentally flipped up when he was mucking his hand; was pissed and had to leave for 1 round
seat 8
40/80 HORSE guy (saw him playing short handed when was checking out cash games the night before)
eventually got the read that he was rather aggressive in all of the games (particularly limit games) by end of level 2


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Hero played relatively tight during the 1st 2 levels.
A good point someone mentioned (and agree with):
In mixed-limit MTT's limit games (at least early on), it's really just about value betting (thin and otherwise) and getting max value (ie: like a cash game).
It does change once limits increase a ton, but it is sound advice.

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Needless to say, hero didn't really have many spots with playable situations at all for the first 2 levels. Literally, hero did not voluntarily enter the pot...
Hero was really trying to watch what people were doing. Sadly, the table draw had maybe 1-2 weak spots at best (maybe seats 4/6).

Hero talked with a friend who visited the tournament area. He promptly was "forced to leave" about 15-20 min. later by tournament staff.

End of level 2: 19000ish

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Hero was not involved in the hand, but hero saw a 5 bet cap in stud 8 (bet + 4 raises). It was important to get this distinction out of the way versus the standard (bet + 3 raises = 4 bet cap as is standard everywhere except this property)

Another weird rule at this property: A player is not allowed to ask to see another player’s hand (even if it’s mucked) unless there is fear of collusion.

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level 3:
stud hi:
ante: 25; bring in: 50; limits 100/200


*I did not write down all up cards, so I'm trying to guess them as best as possible.

other dead cards: 7, 9, 3, T
(xx) 8
(qq) 4
(xx) T
(xx) 5

(limped around; no completion on 3rd street)

(4 players to 4th; 3 small bets)
(xx) 89 (2 suits) <---
(qq) 3J <------------
(xx) TK <------------
(xx) 56

K bets
56 calls
89 raises
hero tanks/folds


Analysis:
Complete misplay. Hero had just watched a stud hi video a week earlier with the exact same situation.
Hero should just have turned hand face up and raised/capped on 3rd with overpair to all other boards.
Just because it turns a 3 door card face up, it doesn't mean that players know which overpair (or rolled up trips) hero has.
Hero magically folded 4th street facing bet/raise.

At the end of the hand, 1 person took it down when 4 flush became flush on 6th or 7th. Another guy had high 2 pairs.

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Hero actually won first pot in stud hi:
split pair (q7)q (hero had highest door card)

hero raised on 3rd and got 1 caller (not the bringin)
hero picked up 2 pair on 4th (q7)qh 7s
hero led out and villain folded when villain bricked on non-connected/related 4th street card

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NLHE:
hero: dealt JJ
1 limper (seat 6)
hero: raised 3x pot
5 (button): calls
6: calls

flop (950, 3 players):
A73 rainbow
6: checks
hero bets 550
5: calls
6: folds

turn:
A73 3 rainbow
hero: checks
6: bets
hero: folds

Analysis:
Spew!
Hero apparently is so rusty in NLHE that he bet a WA/WB situation where he's never getting called by worse.
Hero tried to rectify mistake by check/folding turn on a blank. Hero probably should have thought about c/c, but it's debatable.

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NLHE:
hero dealt 98s

5 folds:
hero (on button): raises to 250
5 (BB): calls


5JJ rainbow (pot: 550)
5: checks
hero: checks

5JJ6 (hero has flush draw)
5: checks
hero: checks

5JJ6Q (flush draw does not get there)
5: checks
hero: bets 325
5: "I guess I hero call"
5: shows QT and wins pot

Analysis:
Hero knew villain was competent. Since hero's range was wide on flop, hero checked it back to go for delayed cbet.
On turn, hero decided to check back with a huge draw. By default, hero should bet with increased equity...not sure why it was a check in this case.
On river, hero isn't really going to win very often (if ever) with 9 high. Bet sizing seemed ok to rep a slowplayed J hoping villain would call.

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PLO
hero called in bb: 9765 rainbow

flop:
523 rainbow

checks around

turn:
523 7 (backdoor flush)

hero called 400 into 2000 with just 2 pairs

river:
523 7 4 (no flush completes)

checks around

One person showed down 64 for nut straight on flop.

Analysis: Calling turn bet could be really questionable multiway. There may have been some implied odds to call and/or maybe bluff some rivers (backdoor flush hits on river), but it might be super thin with this many players.

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PLO:

folds to seat 7
7: raises 3x
button calls
hero called in sb with JT87 (87 suited)
bb folds

Th 8x 5h
hero bets 1000 into 1200

2 players fold

Analysis:
This is pretty much a bet/fold scenario (unless player is bad).
I don't like many turn cards and would prefer to end hand now.

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--------------
dinner break was prompt at 6:00PM, although there was some time left in the level
hero's stack had plunged to 16425

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As a side comment, the "tournament directors" were announcing that turbo mtt series would start at 6:00PM.
They encouraged multi-tabling/eating at the tables so people would compete for player of the series title ($50k for regular + turbo point series leader; $30k for turbo series)

Unfortunately, was actually preparing for an 8:00PM dinner based on talking with some of the floor people yesterday. So, it was weird to have  a snack around mid-point of level 4, then dinner ~1 hour later.
Instead, time was used to review some NLHE literature and tried to reverify/write down some of my reads to reinforce for future reference.

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After dinner break, we finished level 4 and proceeded directly to level 5.

There were no real interesting hands of note during this level until we got to stud/8. Unfortunately, it was a lost hand history, but at least got half the pot.
(IIRC, hero was drawing with 1 other player for low while 2 players were battling it out for high. The 6th street low held up for the low end of the pot against a live opponent.)

I developed some reads on original table:
5: NLHE: seemed competent and floated IP often
6: NLHE: raised tp/medium (J) kicker on axx board
7: seemed aggressive post flop in PLO
8: definitely made some smallish bets (tournament size betting) in big bet games (ex) PLO: bet 40% pot s pfr oop with weak king/no flush draw)

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S/8

approximate door cards:


(xx) (3 folds)
(as 3s) 5s <------ hero raises
(xx) 2 <--- bringin   | call
(xx) 6 <---- call | call
(xx) 5 <---- call  | call

hero was 3 suited and completed with 5 door after bring in + 2 callers.

4 players saw 4th street.

(as 3s) 5s 7x <- hero bets
(xx) 2j <-------------fold
(xx) 69 <--------------fold
(xx) 4q <--- check ------fold

Hero bet again and everyone folded.

Analysis: Seems standard when everyone bricked 4th for low/combo draws and hero caught decently well.

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NLHE (100/200 w/ 25 ante):

hero dealt 99 on the button

seat 8 raised 2.5x bb (500)

folds to hero
hero 3bets to (2100)
8: calls

(pot: 4400)
A72 rainbow
8: check
Hero: heck

A72 9 (backdoor flush draw)
8: bets ~1/2 pot (2200)
hero: calls

(pot: 8800)
A72 9 5 (off suit)
8: tanks
hero: bets all in (about 3/4 pot)
8: tanks, folds

preflop: debatable to 3bet
flop: learned my lesson: WA/WB (although closer to bet here b/c more overs can fall on the turn)
turn: standard (villain draws to 2 outs; raising now is bad)
was trying to setup stack sizes properly; thus debating whether to raise now
river: standard to ship; unfortunately, hero image may be too tight from other games; villain sadly folded

[During the level 6 break, seat 4 stopped me (with another person from different table) and was like "did you have aa in that spot". Obviously, hero didn't answer because he was still at my table. It was kind of ironic, but I think completely standard, IMO based on the way it played out.

Hero is back to starting stack around 20k!

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End level 8: 18425 continuing in PLO

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Level 7:

PLO:
hero dealt: 7653 in bb

folds to seat 6:
7: limped into pot in CO
button: calls
sb: calls
hero: checks

(4 players)
flop: 752 rainbow
sb: checks
hero: bets 3/4 pot
button calls
sb: calls

(3 players)
turn: 752 t (2 tone)
sb: leads
hero: folds

Analysis:
Flop: Standard
Turn: It could go either way. There's a decent chance hero could be behind, but sb could have been leading with combination of:
pair + turned FD
sets
sb seemed tight (although capable of making moves as he tried to bluff river with naked nut flush blocker (ks with as on board)), but it seemed to be more for value than anything.

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LHE
hero: dealt 99

exp. player
limped
folds to hero
hero raises
villain calls

flop:
q 7 3 (2 tone)
hero: bet
villain: raises
hero: calls

turn:
q 7 3 j
hero: checks
villain: bets
hero: calls

q 7 3 j q
hero: checks
villain: bets
hero: calls

Analysis:
Hero is not sure if standard or not (I'm guessing not)...villain was older and straightforward from previous experience.
The raise preflop should have had me folding the flop and/or turn.

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Hero's table breaks (last ones to register were first ones to break)
Hero gets moved to new table, but 2 of the players from my previous table (3 and 6) are moved to the new table.

1: younger player; seemed competent in many of the games
2: hero
3: same as 1st table's seat 3
4: relatively quiet; did talk about mid-high stakes cash and mtt (ex) talked about PS's WCOOP 2010 ME, so I was concerned).
5: talked a lot about internet poker and seemed competent in most games
5: made funny comment that the mixed game players were the ones who were the most entertaining usually; NLHE players generally just "wear hoodies and don't talk"
6: relatively quiet player
7: same as 1st table's seat 6
8: seemed like a NLHE fish who didn't quite understand many of the other games (including PLO). He had suspect bet sizing in NLHE. PLO had leaks pre/post flop.

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stud hi

2: completed
3: 3 bet
folds to hero; hero calls

2: (q9)q275 (1 suit)
3: (xx)t752 (2 suits on 5th)

On 4th-6th street, the action went:
hero (2) checks
3: bets
hero: calls

hero gets 2

2: checks
3: checks behind

hero accidentally says "i have queens", not realizing he actually had queens up and saying that.
3: showed kings and thought he won the pot.
Ultimately, hero wins the pot.

Analysis:
Unsure (probably?) if should be folding on 5th (once calling 5th, iirc, it’s kinda bad to fold unless it’s obvious hero is beat). (Additionally, hero ignored the fact/impression that he was a relatively tight/straightforward player.)

Stud Hi Simulation ?
600,000 trials (Randomized)
Hand Equity Wins Ties
q9q27 30.37% 182,218 0
kkt85 69.63% 417,782 0

I felt bad and apologized multiple times not saying I had queens up (ie: i mispronounced my hand, but showed my cards.)

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s/8

{Note: Not sure of 1's hand other than it was a high only hand.]

1: had high board showing (xx)KJ48
hero: (8)4584(K)
4: (xx)Qd Js Ad 9d (xx)

hero was checked to on 4th/5th and bet with the only low draw (and some odds of scooping)

hero acts first on 6th
6: folds 6th

7th:
hero bets
4: thinks for about 45-60 sec., then raises (no pair on board, 3 flush)
hero tanks/calls

villain shows nut flush
hero mucks

Analysis:
Hero's line on 4th/5th/6th b/c hero has low draw + pair against 2 likely high hands.
Hero has chances to scoop (best case scenario) or get 1/2 of other 2 player's bets with only low hand.

7th street is questionable bet. Hand strength (low 2 pair) is not really great against a likely high hand.
Hero was trying to rep a low + and hope to fold, but fold equity is really low in stud/8 b/c there were so many bets + most people don't believe you have a high hand too.
The pot is unfortunately too big to fold on 7th even though hero is very likely beat.
7th street line probably should have been check/call.

Hero's stack: 11k

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Hero has no playable hands with "resteal stack of M = 10" (250/500 blinds, ante 50 in NLHE)
hero's stack:
8875

limits: 600/1200 in LHE
(L = ~2 in flop games; so hero can see 2 hands to conclusion)

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level 9:

stud hi (no dead Q/A)
(xx) Q <--- raises ----- calls
(Ax) A <---- hero 3 bets

(xx) Q 5 <--- checks ----- folds
(Ax) Ah 9h <--- hero bets

Analysis: Hero play is standard line for value.
Hero’s stack: 9475

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table breaks again

NLHE 300/600
6375 stack


table 3 reads:
1: hero
2: internet player
3: internet player
4: internet player
5: younger person unrelated to players in seats 2-4
6: player in seat 3 from previous 2 tables
7: older person; no reads
8: "live player" and seemed weak-tight

NLHE hand before getting dealt in b/c hero starts in sb, so was skipped and got some more water :) )
folds to 3 in CO
3: ~30k
4: ~30k
3: raises to 1500
4: raises to 4k
folds to 3
3: raises to ~8k
4: folds

Later on, when all 3 were talking about "value betting/getting value from "q high", hero can conclude they were bright internet players.

PLO:
hero dealt: k853 (93 suited)

button limps
sb: completes
bb (hero): checks

flop: [3 players, 1800 in pot]

k73 (2 flush; hero has no flush draw)
1: checks
hero: bets 1550
button: folds
1: calls

k739 (2 flush)
1: checks
hero: bets 2600
1: calls

k7395 (flush completes)
villain checks
hero immediately checks behind
villain shows nut flush (and no other pairs)
hero mucks

1825

Analysis:
Hero betting for value on flop and turn are standard.
On the river, a check behind is super standard on the river. Hero will not get called by worse ever.

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hero's stack: 1825

At 10:00 to go in level 10, tournament clock was stopped. Unsure if they drew a card to determine how many more hands to play before bagging up, or if it was a "set number of 5".
At my table, it would be 4 hands of PLO and 1 hand of LHE.
Survival meant bagging chips and going to day 2. There would be a redraw of tables.

PLO (blinds 300/600)
folds to button who limped
Hero ends up folding random trash in the small blind and lost another 300.

1525
open fold QTT8 (T8 suited) on button
open fold KT99 (KT suited) in CO
fold 9842 rainbow against raise/reraise from seats 5 and 8

LHE (400/800 blinds; 800/1600 limits)
folds to hero who raises all in with KK
3: 3bets
4: 4 bets
3: calls

(3 players to flop - main pot: 5775; side pot: 3250)
J84 rainbow
v1: check
v2: bet
v1: fold villain 1 has AKo J849A

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Hero had very mixed feelings. It would have been nice to bag chips for the first time in my MTT career!
Additionally, if hero doubled up in that spot, 5775 is a good place to start with ~L just around 1 (which means hero can show preflop aggression and can commit on turn.)

Hero out around ~94th/159

Overall, the field seemed very tough. There were not too many soft spots.

On a positive note:
A 20-something, male, Asian 2+2 player with a twitter account did take down the 7-game MTT.
A possible improvement: Day 1 was only a 12 hour/10 level day. It should have been 14 hour/12 levels, IMO.
If there was role reversal, it turned into a 21 hour day 2 (2PM-10AM) - fun times for my 1PM CST flight! Money bubble broke just before midnight.

Report:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_5eLbXGZxNObE1IaFl4VGhUOGlPNF92WS04RWFDdw/edit?pli=1#

PLO Cash Gaming at Horseshoe Hammond

1-2 PLO 300 max

I played about 1 hour
1st table
sat down 5-6 handed, table broke after about 5-6 hands

2nd table

seat 9: loose/somewhat competent player
didn't raise AAJT (AJ) on button
got pissed about 762 two spade flop with
9 was holding: 9985 (no suit)

9 also bet/folded straight on 3 flush board
Qx Jc 9c 3c Ks with nut straight

guy in seat 6
younger guy in 20s
raised often preflop (maybe 6-7 times whether IP or OOP)
seemed to play cbet flop, then check/fold turn/river

ex) hero floats (in seat 8)
6: raises
hero: flats with AT95

953 2 clubs
6: bets close to pot
hero called
953q
6: checks
hero: checks
963 q 7 (no flush completes)
6: checks
hero: bets 3/4 pot
6: folds rather quickly

----
hero straddled 2 times early on at table
in BB - hero raises AA54 ds (a5)(a4)

raised pot
(4 limpers (hj/co/but/sb)
raised pot
dealer - says 16
other guy (who i talked to after hand) said it should only be 14. I think he was right, tbh. I felt bad about it because I legitimately thought it was 16 too, but he was a dealer and mentioned "if the dealer calls a number, that's what stands".

1 guy was saying it should only be 8 all the time (which was wrong)

In any event, hero bet into 1 caller and he folded.

Live Poker: Cleveland Casino Open Date in May!

Cleveland Casino
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/02/cleveland_casino_will_open_fir.html

After a delay from its original 3/26 opening, it looks like it will open the week of 5/14. This is very exciting...although i'll lose a week+ due to the WSOP. In addition, I'll need to get used to playing live NLHE cash (longer sessions) again though. I've played a couple brief (1-2 hour) sessions, but nothing substantial for about a year in cash game setting.

Online Poker Cash Game Update

Cash gaming:
I've been grinding 25plo and feel more comfortable in situations now. The player pool seems more diverse and there seems to be new players all the time.
I've also played some 25nlhe.
I haven't really played much PLO8/NLO8, but when I have, it's been at 25 or 50.
I've also mixed in some stud, stud/8, and razz. This is in preparation for the Chicago Poker Classic 7-game MTT on 2/26/2012.

MTTs:
During the Christmas season, I played some HORSE, NLHE, and PLO MTTs in prep for the live poker fun coming up at the end of February.

In March, I'll probably be shifting my cash game time to some combo of
NLHE (15-20%): Cleveland casino prep
PLO (60-70%): continue improvement
PLO8 (15-20%): preparation for 2012 WSOP

Is this a really a post about jazz?

After taking the plunge to post onto Craig's List on 1/1/2012, I've been fortunate to get 2 specific hits! (There were a lot of people (7-10) wanting keyboard player, but they wanted everything from rock to funk. I got a smooth jazz group too, but was not interested.)

Group 1: An existing quartet (female vocal, guitar, bass, drums). Ages are a good mix too (2 20-somethings, 2 40-somethings). Everyone seems solid and working hard to get ready to play some gigs.

Group 2: I found a drummer + trumpet player. The drummer met a bassist at a local jam session.
The drummer and bassist are both "cruise ship" veterans and definitely were well versed and experienced. I felt kind of comfortable, although a little rigid to trying to do more "advanced" stuff (changing harmonies is a big example).
It's put a fire in me to try to spend more time delving into jazz music theory and learning/working with different "substitute harmonies".
I'm not sure how serious this group will be to try to get gigs, nor am i sure if they will even be in Cleveland long term.

Online Poker Update: MTT Tournament Series!

Merge's Poker Maximus
PLO/PLO8 MTTs - guaranteed tournaments now are free of antes! The structure is really deep though.
I was looking a little closer at the tournament structures in Merge
Poker Maximus MTT schedule - http://thepokermaximus.com/poker-tournaments.html

[DST will have passed already, so add 1 hour to times found on the poker maximus website.]
Day     Date    EST     MTT
Sat     3/17    5:00PM  $22 PLO 6-max
Mon     3/19    7:00PM  $109 PLO
Tue     3/20    7:00PM  $60 PLO
Fri     3/23    7:00PM  $33 PLO 6-max
Sat     3/24    5:00PM  $60 PLO

Thu     3/15    9:00PM  $11 PLO8
Thu     3/15    9:00PM  $60 PLO8
Thu     3/15    10:00PM $33 PLO8
Mon     3/19    7:00PM  $11+R PLO8

Daily MTTs: No Antes!
For PLO & PLO8 MTTs, there are no antes! (There had been some suggestions/complaints for a while, so I'm glad the change actually happened.) Also, the new structures are very slow (see below).

12:30AM $3.3 PLO8
3:00PM $5.5+R PLO8
5:15PM $11 PLO
7:00PM $11+R PLO
7:20PM $3.3 HO (PLHE/PLO8)
8:00PM $11+R PLO8
8:15PM $5.5 PLO8
8:30PM $11 PLO8
10:45PM $6.6 PLO

Blind Structures:
5k starting chips for Poker Maximus (3k starting for 10:45PM MTT) w/
15 min. levels
sb      bb
10      20
15      30
20      40
25      50
30      60
40      80
50      100
60      120
80      160
100     200
125     250
150     300
200     400
250     500
300     600
400     800
500     1000