Doughboys #2

For my birthday this year, I convinced myself, and then my wife, that I should take a night for live poker. Online, I get a good number of table hours in on the weeknights and weekends as I usually play while the family watches TV and/or does homework. However, live poker is another experience all together. While you can multitable and win more playing over the internet, there is much more to the live game. Jordan, from High on Poker, catches this sentiment well by referring to internet poker as 'poker lite.'

Checking the calendar at the local cardroom, Doughboys, I saw they had what they call a Chas'em tournament coming up. Doughboys is a legal cardroom. They get by with this because the house makes no money from the game being played. There is juice and rake but it all goes back to the players in one form or another. The juice and rake cover the bad beat jackpot and Tournament of Champions. The TOC is a freeroll for the winners of 12 qualifier tournaments held in the calendar year, one per month. The rake and juice also cover the back to back jackpot and the $25 bounty on the head of the previous weeks winner. If someone wins two tournaments back to back, they take down a jackpot that climbs by $5 each week it isn't hit. The cardroom also has a security system with many cameras and a door lock with a remote. The chas'em is a low buy-in/low rebuy tournament with rebuys for the first 40 minutes (2 levels).

I arrived to find 9 players in a cash game playing until the tournament started. I sat in for an orbit and dropped $15. I lost $10 overcalling a bet preflop with 4 others only to lay it down after the flop. This was the second session I've had at this cardroom. The first was for another tournament with limited rebuys earlier in the year. There was a memorable hand from that first night. I was low stacked in the big blind with a pair of sixes. The big stack bully put a raise out for 4 times the Big Bet in 5th position. This was a common occurrence. His father on the button reraised him all in to 6 times the BB. I was sitting on about 8 times the BB and decided to push here as the blinds were moving up soon. I push and it gets back to the early position bully. He thinks about it for a while. The table points out his odds, 4 more BBs to win 17. After some time he ends up folding. I think he didn't want to suckout to knock his father out of the tournament, but I didn't say anything about it. It ends up that his father had Aces against my sixes. His son then mentions he folded a six and that he had 68o. The father deals a flop full of blanks, a blank on the turn, and peals the case 6 off the deck on the river to knock himself out and put me in a better situation. I went on to finish 2nd in that tournament. They said they had a history of first time visitors cashing, and it held true in my case. This was over 8 months ago and I'm sure I've lost any image I had before I could capitalize on it.

The cash game broke up so we could get ready for the tournament. We two tables of players to start. We all started with T$1000 and low blinds with 20 minute levels. My table had some gamble on it, which I liked. I found myself up to T$1400 when I took down an early pot without a showdown. Later, I get AQs in late position. The flop doesn't help, so I fold. The next hand I get AQh, and put a chip on top of them. Play works its way around, and we get 4 to the flop, two before me and one after. The flop comes low with two spades. By the time the flop comes out, I get this hand confused with the last one and think I'm looking for spades. First to act bets, second folds, I call and 4th calls. The turn is a spade. I think I've got the nut flush. First goes all in, I call and then look at my cards. Ugh. Now I'm hoping I can muck, but there is one card to come and the others have shown. They have the flushes I thought I had. I show anyway and am drawing dead. Rebuy.

Later in the second level, I am dealt AA. I haven't been playing a lot of hands, and the time I did raise 4x the BB, everyone folded. Because of this and since I'm still at the rebuy level, I decide I'll either win a big pot or rebuy with this hand. I limp in early position. 5 total to the flop of K56 with two of a suit. I bet about 3/4 of the pot. It's called and then raised all in. Another player calls the all in, and I push over. A player after me calls mine, and the original caller calls my all in as well. I played this hand way too weakly and am up against too many hands. I'm against a TPTK, a flush draw and a straight draw. neither of the draws hit and I'm sitting on about T$6k.

Here's a quick flashback to my first visit to DoughBoys that will shed some light on the next part of my story. In the cash game, I'm in the small blind with Kings. There are five limpers and I throw in $12 to see who is serious or pick up the pot right there. Doughboys has a rule for verbally declaring raises. If you bet, you don't have to announce it. However, if you raise, you need to say raise before the chips hit the table, or it is just a call. This is to eliminate confusion, but a lot of guys forget. In this hand, I was one of a lot of guys. Because of the rule, I limp and everyone knows I have a big hand. The flop has an ace and with that many in, I check and it's obvious I had a strong hand. Doughboy in the big blind raises and everyone else folds. Of course I do too. Thinking about this afterwards, I realize that this rule creates an angle. Preflop in late position with a low pair (sixes for example) or a drawing hand (87h) a player can throw out a big bet but not announce, knowing it will result in a limp. If the flop comes low and hits the pair or draw, it will be well disguised. If it comes high, position and the previous attempted bet may win the pot. I decide this isn't an angle I want to exploit, so I just note it and leave it.

Back to the tournament, in seventh position I am dealt 83s. I realize I have a tight image and when it gets to me with 2 limpers, I decide to steal it and throw in a bet 5x the BB. Accidentally I forget to say raise and have to pull back 4 BBs. Two of the three players after me get excited. It's easy to see that they want to get in cheap and take a shot at stacking my 'big hand' if they hit the flop hard. The small blind who likes to entertain the table calls also. The flop comes QQT. It's checked to me and I say 'that's my flop, right?' Since I was the one with the 'good cards' and the flop had no undercards, it was in my neighborhood. I bet 6 BBs and it folded down to the sb. He thought for a bit and folded, 'You aren't playing much, you gotta have a big hand.' The other two folded also. I showed down the bluff, hoping it would get me more action down the road. It didn't win me a lot of T$ but it set up future action and the table reacted thought it was funny.

When we combined to one table, there was one big stack with two-thirds of the chips in the game. He was acting like Jamie Gold*, being table captain and willing to race the smaller stacks. I was in the neighborhood of the middle stacks so I waited for a good hand and let a few of the smaller stacks get knocked out. With the rebuys and add ons added up, the pay structure was set up to pay four spots.

We were down to six players and two players had taken some off of the leader. He didn't adjust to the new balance of chips, raced one of the bigger stacks, and lost. That knocked him down to a little above me.

We lose another player and I'm sitting in 4th out of 5. The small stack is behind me and is staying out of the way. When he picks up a pot to get closer to my stack size, I start to pressure him when I get the chance (If no one else raises to him, I do) since he is waiting for a hand. Then I get AKo. I raise it up to 4 BB. I had a rockish image again and my M was getting low. The former big stack pushed and I called. I had him dominated vs Ax. The x didn't hit anything and I doubled up.

The next orbit we get it in again in the reverse role, with me having AT against his bigger stack. He won some back, but I was still up above where I was before. He went out a few hands later, finalizing a huge slide from huge chip leader to bubble boy. His grating attitude along with the drop off he had made it the 'do you believe that' story of the tournament. I'm sure that's one that will follow him around as he seems to be an ego player - one who likes to talk about how good he is.

The guy with the smallest stack went out leaving 3 of us. The payscale went up nearly linearly from $110 to $140 to $180 with a bump up to $280 for first. The difference up to 2nd wasn't much, but it was worth taking a chance to get a better shot at first. Also there is the back-to-back jackpot to consider on top of the payouts.

I was sitting on about half the stacks of the other two, who were close to even. We had a lot of back and forth play amongst us. I had A9 in the button and said let's make it 4x the BB. The BB caught my error before I placed the chips, and gave me a wide eyed look to remind me that I needed to say raise. The SB folded and the BB pushed. I could tell from his ensuring my raise was done correctly and counted that he had a good pocket pair. I thought about it for a bit and said, "If I thought I had two overs, I'd be willing to race" as I folded face up. He showed pocket jacks.

Later, a hand came where I had pocket sixes on the button. I just limp. The SB raises and the BB pushes. I think about it and come to the conclusion that one or both of them has a middle or better pocket pair. I fold, as does the SB. I was suprised by his fold. Turns out they both had an ace with the BB having the AK. Without knowing their hands, I should have picked this as my spot to push. My M was down low and I'd be pushing soon anyway. I ended up busting on an anticlimatic hand a bit later for third place. This kept my cashing ratio at 2 for 2.

Overall my experiences at this card room have been good. The players, owner and dealer have been good guys and the play has been entertaining. I'll have to make more of an effort to return more frequently.

Next up on this space, you may see a recap of December, my first month in PokerWorld.