I Won First Place Last Night
Posted on June 17, 2006 by Ching under Poker.
So I finally win first place at poker after being in a rut for so long. I didn’t do too well at first session. I was hoping to place in the top 16 and qualify in the ten o’clock invite session. Brian had qualified for it at Heroes last week so he was already in. I usually don’t like having to play in the open side so whenever one of us doesn’t qualify we just go home. Brian doesn’t care either way because if we go home, he has WOW waiting for him.
Neither of us did well. I think my only consolation was I outlasted Brian after having been the one to get knocked out first the last few times we’ve played. My knockout hand was actually pretty exciting. Blinds were at 2K and 4K. I am sitting in the small blind position with a total of 7K in chips after posting my 2K blind. Sandy is sitting across from me. It goes fold, fold, call, fold, fold, fold, back to me. I should’ve known better than to try and steal the pot with Sandy calling but I was feeling pretty ballsy right then. I had a feeling I could get big blind to fold if I pushed all in and I could sense Sandy had a mediocre hand and she just wanted to see the flop for 4K.
I decided to push in my remaining 7K in chips for a total of 9K all in. It is only 5K more to call for big blind. He thinks for a moment and he folds just as I predicted. Now the action returns back to Sandy. She thinks about it for a long time which confirms my guess. She has a mediocre hand. If she had a strong hand like A K or A Q or even pockets she would’ve called much quicker. She reluctantly calls and, before even seeing her A 2, I knew I was beat. I wanted her to fold because I knew that my puny 9 10 would not hold up. I just wanted to steal the pot.
The first card of the flop is a 9 which gives me hope because that puts me in the lead. The other cards come and they’re 9 and A. Set! Nice! The A makes me uncomfortable because that gives her 2 pair and the tides could turn very quickly. I chant, “No ace! No ace!” as the dealer reveals the turn card. It’s an A. Slap! I get a set and she boats over the top of it. Incidentally, the second A gave me a boat too but it was a smaller one.
Anyway, I didn’t mind getting knocked out because I put myself in that position. Besides that Sandy is a great sport. She doesn’t gloat like other people tend to do. She is super nice and she went in with the best hand so it’s not like she called my all in with 7 2. Anyway, what a rollercoaster ride! That was probably the most exciting hand I’ve had in a while.
After I got knocked out and went over to Brian and proceeded to tell everyone about my “exciting” knockout hand. We stayed for the late game this time because Brian was on the invite. He and Dill, who is always on the invite because he plays poker a lot and places a lot, were assigned to the same table. Bill just happened to be on the open side last night, too. We were assigned to the same table. Alan (aka, “The Professor”) sat between us.
The second session was actually a lot of fun. Brian didn’t get a chance to switch to the open side because he didn’t get knocked out of the invite game until after break. He had to sit and wait for me. I went all in a few times after he got knocked out. As luck would have it, I ended up prevailing each time instead of losing and actually started to build a hefty stack. Once I had the chips I decided to start playing to win instead of trying to leave. I felt bad for Brian because he had to wait for me. Having been knocked out before him a few times, I know how boring it can be. Specially if you don’t bring anything to do.
Our table was actually a lot of fun. They were all good sports about it. I actually bluffed a guy out of a pot by going all in with 6 7. What was worse was he wanted to play really badly because he had his favorite cards, 8 9, and they were suited to boot! Bill was laughing because whenever we’d play together he’d always hear other people say, “She never bluffs. If she bets, she’ll usually have something good.” He would just shake his head because he knows better. He’s busted me on some bluffs before.
For instance last night, I raised pre-flop with A J. It’s a decent starting hand and if it’s fold, fold, fold, with only one other person in the pot, why not try to steal it? My mistake was that I was trying to steal the pot from Bill. Flop came Q 2 3. Bill checks and I immediately go all in. The key to winning hands is if you raise pre-flop, you have to continue the aggressive play.
Bill initially put me on a decent pocket pair because the Q didn’t scare me off. That is what I wanted him to believe. I only had A J. I missed the flop completely. I wanted him to think I had something and fold. Bill thought about it and after much scrutiny his gut told him to call. It was a good call because we all know I had nothing. As soon as he called, I knew I was beat. My mind told me that he would not have called if he didn’t get a piece of that flop. If he got a piece of it, no matter how small, he’s got me. Much to my relief, he reveals an A J which is the same hand I have. It was a split pot.
My point is, Bill has witnessed me try to steal pots many a time. He knows I can play pretty wreckless and pretty aggressive if the mood strikes. It’s important to shake it up a bit sometimes. You don’t want to be predictable. Of course, if you’ve played with me a few times I can’t help if you know my style of play no matter how spontaneous I try to be.
Anyway, the semi-aggressive semi-tight play worked for me last night. It took me all the way to the final table and helped me win first place. But don’t feel bad for the guy I bluffed into folding his favorite hand. He took second. =)
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