Hello all! This will be the 1st of many detailed write-ups Im going to do about live tournies that I play. I'm gonna select 1 or 2 tournies from each series I play where I will take notes about hands played and write about it on my blog.
This entry was from the Hollywood Poker Open at the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. This tourney was a $345 buyin that got 211 entries paying 27. 1st was ~$14.6k. We started with 10,000 chips and the blind levels were 30 minutes.
Each hand will begin with what the blind level was, what my approximate stack size was, then the action, then an analysis of my play if needed.
Hand 1: 25-50, 10k. MP opens to 125. CO, BUT, and SB all call. I call with KJo from the BB. Flop is T97hh and everyone checks. Turn is a black 8 and the SB leads 250, I call, everyone else folds. River is the 7h and SB bets 1300. I fold. I hate KJo in a multiway pot like this but, since I'm the BB and I close the action, preflop is a super easy call. Flop wouldve been a pretty easy fold given I would have to play the hand OOP with a gutshot, but everyone checked. Turn is obviously a great card for me as it gives me the 2nd nut str8. I find no value whatsoever in raising the turn lead from the SB as I dont mind keeping other people in the hand behind me who are either drawing dead or very thin. Had the SB checked, I wouldve bet myself. Once the 7h comes on the river and he overbets the pot, all I can hope for is a chop. Hearts and FH draws both got there and QJ still beats me. If he's bluffing here, it's pretty ludicrous and he deserves the pot!
Hand 2: 50-100, 9k. 2 MP limps, I raise 89hh to 450 from HJ. BUT & SB call, both limpers fold. Flop is AQ3hhh. SB checks, I bet 900, both fold. My preflop raise is clearly not a standard play. I love doing this is live tournies with all sorts of hands, 89s included. I didnt like it when the button called as I wanted to play the hand HU or 3 way with the limpers with me in position. Flop is standard as we flopped a non nut flush and need to protect/get value from our hand. (note: limping behind preflop wouldve been fine)
Hand 3: 50-100, 10k. I open AA EP to 250, get 2 callers, EP and BB. Flop is 762cc. BB checks, I bet 500. EP caller raises to 1500 with 2700 back. BB folds, I cram it and he calls off with J7cc for a pair + fd. I win the race. Not much to talk about here as postflop is very simple given villian's small stack size. Had we both been 10k deep, I probably wouldve reraised to 3500ish to try to get it in on the flop.
Hand 4: 75-150, 15k. I open AA in MP to 375 and just the SB calls. Flop is K73r and we both check. Turn is a 5 and SB check/calls my 550 bet. River is 3 and SB leads 1125. I raise to 3k and he folds. Betting this flop would be my play 80% of the time but I checked it this time since there are so few hands in his flatting range that I have to defend against. At most he has 5 outs, but more likely 2 or worse. Im going for 2 streets of value if he has some sort of value hand, so checking the flop is fine as long as I bet both the turn and river. When he lead the river, it caught me off guard, but the river raise is super easy given how strong and under represented my hand is.
Hand 5: 75-150, 16.5k. After 1 limp, I raise AQo to 525. SB, BB and limper all call. Flop is A87ss and it is checked to me. I bet 1200 and they all fold.
Hand 6: 100-200, 17k. MP opens to 450, SB calls and I call AQo from BB. Flop is AJ3cc, Sb and I both check. MP bets 750 and Im the only caller. Turn is a J and it goes check/check. River is a K, and I check/fold to MP's 2200 bet. MP Villian in this hand is Scott Schwalich (who got 14th in this year's Main, congrats Scott!!) who I am friends with. This changes the dynamics of the hand slightly since we have a good idea of how each other play. Preflop I should have 3 bet looking back, but it was early and I wanted to keep things simple. Just check/calling the flop is pretty easy vs a competent opponent. We dont want to c/r and get ourselves into a swelled pot on a drawy flop where we're not sure where we are. Had Scott bet the turn after the 2nd J hit, I wouldve folded. He has to be scared that a J is in my range and for him to bet that card means he has one himself or better (or a huge draw). I absolutely hated the K on the river. The most likely hands I put him on given the action were QQ and KK. (He also could have AK and was just fearful of the 2nd J, but was not worried once I checked a 3rd time.) After I checked and he bet such a healthy amount, I just knew I had to be beat. (Note: he told me later he had QT for rivered broadway, a hand I had not considered.)
Hand 7: 100-200, 16k. UTG limps, I raise Q9hh to 700 in MP, just the limper calls. Flop is AKx and the limper check/folds to my c-bet. Once we get to the 3rd or 4th blind level, I dont like limping behind unless Im on the button or colse to it. Any hand I want to play, I prefer to be the raiser. It makes taking down the pot postflop on boards like this one so much easier.
Hand 8: 100-200, 17k. UTG limps, I limp UTG+1 with ATss. 2 other limps + BB brings us 5 way to a 732 1 spade flop. We all check. Turn is the 7s and I bet 600 and the SB and BB call me. River is the Jh and we all check. SB has Q2o and wins. (BB had worse spade draw.) I HATE my overlimp here. Just folding probably was the smartest play, but raising wouldve been way better than limping. Postflop is pretty cut and dry.
Hand 9: 100-200, 16k, I raise 88 to 500 UTG and get 1 MP caller. Flop is T66 and he folds to my c-bet.
Hand 10: 100-200, 17k. MP raises to 475, and I call from the BB with JTo after 1 other caller. Flop is J38 with 1 heart and we all check. Turn is 6h and we all check again. River is 7h and we all check again and I win the pot. My plan was to lead the river for value, but the backdoor heart and str8 possibility made me change my mind to just check/calling.
Hand 11: 100-200/25, 18k. EP opens to 475, CO calls, I call BUT with QJss, SB also calls. Flop is A73ss. Raiser checks, CO bet 1600 with 8kish back, I fold, SB c/r's allin for 6k. All fold. Flop is def interesting here. Had the CO bet smaller or if he had more chips behind, I prolly wouldve just called. Also it makes a big difference that an ace is on the flop. I like flush draws a lot more when I have 1 or more overcards to go with them. I also was concerned with exactly happened, there were 2 people behind me who could throw a monkey wrench in me seeing the turn for cheap.
Hand 12: 150-300/25, 17.5k. I open HJ to 750 with Q6cc and just the BUT calls. Flop is A75 with 1 club and we both check. Turn is 6 and we both check again. River is a 3 and I check/call his 1200. He has J7s and wins the pot. One thing to note in this hand is that I had been beating up on the villian in this hand pretty badly so far. I didnt bet the flop because of this, I wanted to try to either hit something or try to check it down. I just didnt see him giving up against me once again. His river bet is pretty interesting though, nice bet by him!
Hand 13: 200-400/50, 15k. MP opens to 900. Folds to me in the SB and I 3b QJo to 2200 and he folds. Villian in this hand is Scott. I told myself b4 I even looked at my cards that this was a great spot to 3b given my stack size. He cant just call, he pretty much has to fold or 4b, making my decisions really easy. (Note: villian had me covered this hand)
Hand 14: 200-400/50, 15k. CO opens to 1000. I call from the BB with 86ss. Flop is T86cc and I c/r his 1125 bet to 3k and he calls. Turn is 6 and we both check. River is 5c and we both check. Preflop here is pretty suspect. My reason for calling was that villian in this hand was VERY active and seemed ready to play a big pot. I wanted to try and just flop something big a nd try to win a big pot. 30 minute levels, you cant just sit around, gotta try to make something happen. Flop is easy since we have to protect our hand on this board. Turn I checked since he's drawing dead (maaaaaaaaybe 2 outs) most of the time and I want him to hit his flush or str8 draw on the river. I went for the river c/r because I thought he most likely hit a flush or just had a busted str8 draw and he might bluff.
Hand 15: 25-500/50, 18k. I open QJcc UTG to 1200. SB (16kish) calls, and BB (18kish) 3b's to 4200. I fold, SB folds. The reason I included this hand is because I almost felt like 4b jamming allin. SB in this hand was pretty bad, and I think the kid in the BB knew this. It seems like such a great spot for him to make a move. (He later told me he had 99, who knows?)
Hand 16: 250-500/50, 16k. EP (12kish) opens to 1100, EP (15kish) calls. I call from BB with KTo. Flop is T8x and we all check. Turn is J and we all check again. River is a K and I lead 2100, preflop raiser raises to 5600, I call. He has AQo for the nuts. The big mistake here is preflop. We avoid so many dirty spots like what happened when we fold hands like this when stacks are less than 30 BBs. Villian in this hand is a competent young player who I thought would bet AQ on turn when it was checked to him. I still find it very bizarre that he didnt. Thats why I called river.
Hand 17: 300-600/75, 8.5k. I open jam ATs in MP, all fold. Once I get this short, I find it's important to show what hands I jam, even when everyone folds.
Hand 18: 300-600/75, 9k. CO limps. I jam KTo from the SB, all fold. CO was a very loose passive player who is never trapping here, free chips.
Hand 19: 500-1k/100, 7.3k. CO opens to 3k, I 3b jam from the button, he folds! New table, havent had many hands. Easy 3b push for me, cant believe he folded.
Hand 20: 500-1k/100, 12.5k. UTG limps, I jam AKdd from MP, all fold.
Hand 21: 500-1k/100, 14k. CO opens to 2500, BUT calls, I 3b jam T9o from SB and they both fold. CO villian in this hand is very aggressive, Ive played with him before in other tournies. The BUT caller was the same guy who had folded to my 3b jam in hand 19 getting ridiculous odds, so we know he have fold equity with him!! By the way, BUT folded 99 face up! Clearly this isnt a standard play, it's hard to find spots like this, but they are there against the right villians if you pay attention.
Hand 22: 500-1k/100, 21k. I open HJ with A9o to 2200 and the CO and BB call. Flop is J76 and we all check. Turn is 7 and we all check again. River is a Q and it checks to CO who bets and we fold. I hate opening light with a 20 BB stack, but A9o in the HJ is just too strong to not try to steal. The reason I didnt c-bet (note: it woulda worked Im pretty sure given the action) is that it's just too big a risk in a 3 way flop. If i bet 4500 here and lose the pot, Im back to where I was. HAd it been HU, I am c-betting here every time.
Hand 23: 600-1200/150, 15k. I open jam CO with KQdd and all fold.
Hand 24: 600-1200/150, 16k. MP limps, I iso jam ATo from SB, all fold.
Hand 25: 800-1600/200, 20k. I open shove KJo from MP. LP iso reshoves and I lose the race to his 88 to bust in about 50th place.
Hope you enjoyed it everyone! There's more to come, hopefully with better results!
-Jerry
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