My first tournament win...

Well, this has certainly be an eventfull week in poker. The month, generally speaking, hasn't gone well. Last month was my best ever. Cashed out $2,250. Actually made $2,500, but decided to change the base amount that I keep online from $250 to $500, so that didn't count. On April 1, I had to cash $250 back in (actually kind of still on March 31 -- couldn't fall asleep when I got back from the bar that night, really shouldn't have played). Since then, I've had to cash another $500 back in, and the ship still hasn't been righted.

Wednesday was the worst. I had built back up to $750, felt good about my play again, and then ran into bad players catching amazing cards. Those days happen. They're rare, they suck, and they make you hate life itself. This time I hated life to the tune of $600. Dropping to $150 can really make you rethink your side job.

Since then, I've built back up to $650. Felt good about my play, caught good cards. Dave Faris wanted to play in A.C. on Friday, so we hit the road. Made another $150 there in 9 hours. Easiest game in the world. I really know how to beat a table full of bad, passive players at this point. It's boring, but safe and profitable.

I signed up recently for the Philly poker meetup. They had a tournament going on tonight -- $20+2, no limit -- and I'd RSVPed for it. I almost didn't go, thought about driving down to DC to hang out and play cards at Jess Barker's housewarming party. I was a little tired from A.C. last night though, didn't feel up for the drive, and the reminder e-mail said there'd be a $2-4 limit side game at the meetup. I'm not a fan of tournaments at all and don't feel my game is particularly well-suited to them, but the side game sounded worth the trip. Along the way, the real question on my mind was how I would match up with these people. They had to be decent, to have sought out a poker meetup like this. Some might be real specialists, some maybe not.

Arriving there, I found a little less than 30 people, all in a room not well designed for a poker tournament. It took about half an hour to get under way, and in that time I tried to get some modest read of my opponents. They were mostly male (3 females), a lot of college or recently post-college, a few in their 40s or so. Some seemed like real players, a number came off as dead money. As we got under way, I cracked a few jokes about trying hard to bust out first so we could get the side game started. The jokes were decently well appreciated by the crowd, many of whom were new to the group like myself.

Within the first round, two people were busted out of my table. The first was on the first hand, actually. It was folded to someone in late position, who raised it about 5x the big blind. The bb reraised and was called. Flop came 9-9-J, and after a lot of betting and raising, they pushed all in on the turn. Original raiser was on a steal, but with 8-9 had flopped his set. BB had Queens and couldn't get away from them. Can't say that I blame him, tough hit.

I took down a pot or two early on, mostly played very tight and tried to get my bearings. The top 4 positions paid out and I had no expectation of making that cut. I quickly recognized a couple of very sharp players at my table, one of whom was sitting directly to my left. Oof! No good for me. First turning point of the night was when, with blinds of $50-$100, a player bet hard from early position and was reraised to $1,000 by the small blind (we all started with $2000). I had about $1300 in front of me, looked down at AKs, and pushed in. They both called and pushed their remainders in on the flop. Original raiser had QQ, sb had 99. I hit an ace on the river to triple through, and at that point we were down to less than 15 players, so I decided to see if I could do anything with my new chip stack. I took a few shots at bluffing the pot from good position that didn't work out, a few that did, and just before we took a break and combined to one table, I was left with around $4,500.

The final table had 9 players. Both of the sharp opponents I'd noticed were still in, and had big stacks of chips. Turned out one of them regularly plays $200 buy-in tournaments online and in card rooms, the other dropped out of school to play cards full-time. I grabbed a bite to eat with the first one of them during one of the breaks. Nice guy, very sharp, much better no-limit player than me. I joked with the two of them before the final table got under way, saying that I was still trying my hardest to bust out, and it would be a real embarrasment to everyone if I won. It was genuinely humorous and they appreciated it -- it was clear to them that I was a decent player, but also no tournament specialist. Anyway, the rest of the table bears describing. Two other players from our original table had made the cut. One woman was an absolute calling station. She'd survived through calling down a couple of ill-timed bluffs with a very weak pair or King-high. The other was a man in his late 40's, tight and relatively unimaginative in his betting. Not an easy mark, but not a threat either. Of the four who joined us, only one was impressive. Though not as strong as the other two threats, he had a respectably tight, aggressive style to him. And he was sitting on my left (great, lucky me). The other two women who'd entered the tournament were still alive as well, though they were on short stacks and quickly proved not to be major threats. The last player was an inexperienced drunk who I guess had caught a lot of lucky breaks early on. His upside was a willingness to bet big. Downside was a complete lack of card reading ability or knowledge of pot odds. At this point, I judged myself capable of making the final 4 (I had a decent stack of chips, and 5 of my opponents were weak enough that I thought I could wait for them to self-destruct). From then on, I'd have to catch some real good cards to beat any of the remaining serious opponents.

I played tight, running only a few bluffs from good spots, avoiding the tough players, and looking for chances to take the drunk heads up. I built my stack up to probably $8,000, mostly from finding spots to get him to call a raise pre-flop. then knock him off when the flop hit (he was pretty easy to read). The pro's took care of one of the remaining five, but from there the hands started appearing for me. The man in his late 40s went all-in on a short stack from the button. I looked down at QQ in the big blind, called, and he turned over 97s. He hit his 7 on the flop and on the turn he had straight and flush possibilities, but my Qs held up and he was gone. 20 minutes or so later, I limped in from late position with A6s. Two of the sharps were in the blinds, but both of the women (including the calling station) were in already, so I felt safe that the sharps wouldn't try to bluff-raise and I could see the flop cheaply. It came A-6-5 and the calling station bet $500 (blinds were $200-400 at this point, so the pot was already $2,000). She only bets when she hits, and never folds when she does, so I was looking to take her entire stack this hand. She got one other caller and I smooth-called as well. Both the sharps dropped out. Turn came 8, she bet another $500, got called again, and I bumped it up to $2,000. She called, the other person folded. River brought a 7, meaning that I was vulnerable if she had a kicker of 9,4,7, or 8, but I didn't see anything from her to indicate she'd been helped. She checked, I put her all-in, and she called, turned up A-J. That put me well over $10,000, in the chip lead, with only 5 players left (me, the three strong opponents, and the one decent-but-nonthreatening woman). The sharps picked up a few pots with clear bluffs, I bluffed back once or twice and kept the chip lead, and eventually the woman raised pre-flop, I looked down at AK on the button, reraised, and got it heads up. Ace hit on the flop, she checked, I bet hard, she called most of her remaining stack. Turn was a blank, she moved all in, and I called, expecting to see AK from her. She turned over 10s and I took it down. This put me close to $20,000, in a commanding chip lead, and in the money with the three solid players.

From there I played tight (probably too tight, given my lead), mostly folding to raises, raising with strong hands instead of setting traps, etc. The young pro was dangerously short-stacked and looking to double up or get busted. Eventually, the guy I went to dinner with (who I'd decided was the best at the table), busted him with A-high against Q-high. With my chip lead, I was looking to play smart and stay in position to win it, but still didn't know how it work out. I played back at my opponents on a couple of raises when I had decent hands, didn't get much action, but stayed well ahead. Finally, the dinner guy raised from the button to $2,500 (blinds were $400-800 at this point), I was in the small blind with AK and reraised to $6,800. I figured he had a hand, but probably not a pocket pair and definitely not Aces or Kings, so I was in great shape heads up and thought I'd get a call (he was short stack at the table). The big blind called the two raises, which was REALLY surprising, and dinner guy went all in with $500 more. This gave me the chance to put the other guy all in preflop as well. I was hoping for a fold, but he said "I have to call" and turned over QQ. Dinner guy had AQs, so my AK looked alright, but not great. One of my aces was gone, as was one of his Qs. I'd need help, but had definitely played right and had fallen into a great situation. K hit on the turn and, just like that, I had won my first tourney.

Payout was $230 for the winner, so that was a very nice evening's work. The respect I earned felt real nice, especially as the host of the event (who I'd kept calling out to, "I'm still trying to bust out so we can play $2-4, man"), gave me a double-take and was like, "I thought you were trying to lose!" The final hand was a great way to end -- all three of us played it correctly, I happened to come out on top. And I have no delusions of grandeur on this one. no limit isn't my game, and I could see the two sharps making plays that I simply am not ready to execute at this point (I can see the plays, but not set them up right). I needed solid cards to win, and I happened to get them AND win a few important coin flip situations. Still, it sure felt nice winning that tournament, and I do feel that, while I'm not the best in that room, I'm not completely outclassed either.

Overall, a good night of poker. And worth a lengthy blog-description for posterity ;-)

-DK