Encore Club $15K NLHE (T15,000)
Due to some non-poker obligations, I wasn’t able to make it down to Lincoln City this weekend to play the Chinook Winds Fall Coast Classic main event ($540 buy-in and a $100K guarantee). I thought about going down just Friday for the 6-Max NLHE, but with a buy-in of just $115, it didn’t seem worthwhile for five-plus hours in transit, considering that the 6-Max I bubbled last spring only had about 140 entries (SM wrote me and said they got 145 entries yesterday). So I was pleased when I got the text from Encore announcing a $15K for Friday night; not only did I not have to drive so far, but just the guarantee was bigger than the 6-Max (though I do love short-handed play….)
I didn’t get much early in the game, made a few calls and folds in the first 45 minutes and I was down 1,000 (blinds started at 100/100 with 25-minute rounds).
Hand 18 [8s 7s] UTG3 T14,000 100/200
Called 200 multi-way pre-flop, then another 800 on [2h 7d as] flop, but folded to a bet of 1,900 on a non-spade, non-7 turn.
Hand 21 [jx jx] BB T13,000 200/400
Action folded around to CO, who bet 1,200. I 3-bet 4,000, he thought about it and called. The flop was jack-high and uncoordinated, he shoved all-in and I called and flipped over my set. He looked kind of sheepish with the [ax qx], and I doubled up.
Hand 26 [8x 8x] UTG4 T26,900 200/400
I opened to 1,200, getting 3 calls. The flop was [7x 9x Jx], it was checked to me and I bet 2,500 to take the pot.
I had 30K going into the first break, the end of re-buys (the structure for this game allows live re-buys at any time, and has an add-on for another T10K). I’m on a no re-buy, no-add-on kick at the moment. It means I don’t have as many chips as I could have at this point in the tournament, but even though most of the players would do both the single allowable re-buy and the add-on, I’d still have 50BB coming back after the break, it maximizes my ROI, and it just means that if I do get short it happens at an earlier time in the tournament, which I’m okay with.
Hand 30 [kh qh] UTG1 T30,200 300/600/100
A costly hand I got into with a reg on my immediate left. I raised to 2,000 and he was the only caller. The flop was [ts 8h 5d], and I bet 2,500 on my air. He called. [7x] on the turn and I shot another barrel of 4,000. [7x] on the river and I gave up, he bet 12,000 and I folded.
Hand 35 [as jh] CO T20,300 300/600/100
Raised to 2,000 and took the pot.
Hand 37 [8s td] UTG4 T22,600 300/600/100
Didn’t play this one, but kicked myself when the [th td 8h] flop hit.
Hand 38 [ac js] UTG3 T22,500 300/600/100
AJo is a little lower than I like to play normally at 10-handed tables, and there was a lot of action ahead of me, then the guy on my left made a 4-bet, so I was feeling good about being out of the hand.
Hand 43 [as jh] BB T22,100 400/800/100
What was I just saying about AJo? Three times in less than ten hands has to be some sort of record. Anyway, I called a raise pre-flop, the board was [qx 9x 8x] and I bet. By the time action got back around to me, there were two all-in stacks about my size. I called it off on my over card and gut-shot draw, the guy on my left tabled [kh qh] (the hand I’d had when he took 8,500 off of me) and a smaller stack down the table had [qx 9x], which ended up taking the main pot.
Two hours and five minutes, 43 hands. 132nd of 159 entries. -100% ROI.
Otherwise, this week’s gone relatively well. In addition to winning my games at Players Club and Aces Full the other day, I chopped a Final Table $1K. And though I missed the Chinook series, there’s a 6-max during the Tulalip Poker Pow Wow on Monday, with a Seniors tournament on Tuesday, and what should be a big $540 two-entry-day main next weekend.