Tournament

Pauly Drama informs me that he’s going with Badblood to a club before the tournament. I guess this is some pre-tournament regimen that Blood conducts when a big tournament is going to happen. Like others, I thought that Blood would hit the gym to get some lifting in before the tournament.

Derek suggests that since I’m a Mexican, I should eat some Mexican food before the tournament. Thus, we stroll on over to O’Sheas Casino for a bite. Derek had Subway and I had a chicken burrito with all the trimmings. And thus my friends, a pre-tournament regimen is born for The Rooster (Also, a moment of silence and pour some drink out of the 40oz for my homie Derek…his burrito streak for lunch every Friday ended on this trip).

We arrive to the Venetian and bloggers are everywhere. I arrive at table 17 and find some tough players. You have read the epic tale of Al and me HERE or Al's version HERE.

Notes to self about this table that I have to make. There were a handful of better players than me here.

F-Train had won this tournament before and plays a lot more no limit than myself and is probably one of the better guys at talking through a hand.

GeekandProud plays a lot of no-limit, is math oriented, and is a bit straight forward placing his bets. Will value bet a lot more than pushing all-in.

Biggestron was in full effect with his snowball. I knew when he had a strong hand he was going to want to play pots. I suck post flop in no-limit so push was my take with this guy if I had a hand.

GCox I knew that if he started to get cards I would be in for a long night. He tends to put a crap load of pressure when he has a big hand. Put pressure on the guy that needs to make the decision is how he plays.

Waffles who I know only from online play tends to be patient and bets big when he has a hand. I haven’t played enough with him but he also seemed able to lay a big trap.

Carmen was at my table and when she catches it can be a long day. She has that check like; I have nothing then can come over the top on you.

Joe Speaker was to my left and all I kept thinking about was that he was trying to trap me. He’s a patient player and is no rush to get his chips in. He’s going to wait until someone makes a mistake and I knew he was eyeing my stack (yes, I did get caught in a monster trap he set).

The table was fun and I was able to dodge and weave to the final table.

I was a bit sad that Pauly Drama went out in 11th place because as much as he’s owned my ass as of late at the no-limit table he’s always been one of my biggest supporters.

So we make the final table and I measure everyone up a bit.

1. The Rooster – That’s me!
2. Otis – Tough and very solid player that I’ve played with many times before. A thinker and always picking up information. I need to stay away from him as much as possible and can’t let him pick up reads.
3. Kuro Kitty – Never played with him before but was told he made the final table the last time.
4. Schecky – Follows the poker scene for work and I read about him on Pauly’s blog all the time and a solid player. Try and stay away from him.
5. Columbo – Always sticking around and another thinker…he’s going to be looking at betting patterns and trying to build a puzzle out of the flow of the game.
6. Grubby – Tough very experienced tournament player who bubbles a lot live from what I’ve read in his blog. Never scared to put the chips in the middle with any two cards to bluff here and there but also to race.
7. Miami Don – Makes a living playing cards and gambling. Super solid player and take the best of Otis, Grubby, Columbo and a bit of his own style and you got Miami Don. I’ll try to stay away from him.
8. Instant Tragedy – Don’t know much about his play. Seems like he’s willing to gamble a bit put plays solid poker.
9. Change100 – Solid player who will push when she feels like she’s got the best of it. Follows the tour also and has probably learned a lot from that. Try not to play too many hands with her.
10. Drizz – A solid player that doesn’t bluff much. Willing to gamble a bit. But this isn’t his favorite or best game…that game you get four cards.

So I look to my left and there is Miami Don, Change100 and Grubby. Of course I’m a bit upset that Miami Don is put right to my left. But the good thing is that I have more chips than him and Change100 so I can put a little pressure with big raises on them. Grubby on the other hand is willing to gamble so that kind of scares me a bit.

Columbo is to my right and he’s a solid player so if he bets big I will just fold.

Cards are in the air for a bit and I start to catch like no tomorrow. Yet, when I don’t have a hand I can feel Don is starting to pick me apart with his reads. He’s let out a huff when I come in with nothing. He wants to call but he’s just not getting a decent hand to call with. Thus, I start to bet sporadic to try and throw off the scent.

I can’t play the post flop game or pots with Don or Change100 so I’m kind of in a bad situation and have to just keep putting the pressure on.

I knock everyone’s favorite blogger, Drizz with my jacks.

Change100 and Instant went down. More because they were a bit short to put their game to work which is always a problem when you come to the final table and are pretty much in a push mode.

I can’t get a read on Grubby and he and Don play so different that it is mine field for me to avoid. Don gets knocked out and now I only have to worry about Grubby to my left for now.

About here someone asks for a chop. If you read previous posts I don’t chop for a few reasons. Now I wanted as many people to get paid in the tournament so that is why I started to float the idea that the top 20 should get paid, plus we were looking at another three hours of play if that wasn’t done. So I really didn’t want to chop anymore. It is not that I’m a bad guy but I thought the whole 20 payout was good for everyone and enough chopping.

I’m not sure where it happened. But Grubby lost his traction somewhere. He was a big stack but he lost a big hand and went card dead. It was odd because Grubby tends to make hands happen…any two cards can be a winner for Grubby, he’s always flinging chips in and out of pots. I’m thinking he might have been thinking of Mr. Cashman or something. But Grubby’s good run ended when I knocked him out.

Dear BeJesus…Columbo just wouldn’t go away. I was really impressed again by how much class this guy has and his ability to stay relaxed even when he’s missing his flight, taken a bad beat, and how he can keep his mind working at the next task and not go too much on tilt. But finally he was knocked out and able to catch his flight. Also, for the record, I would have to put Columbo’s wife as one of the sweetest and hottest blogger wives around. Sorry Columbo I had to say it.

Schecky was impossible to read. He bet from all kinds of angles and wasn’t scared to push. Never really followed the same betting patterns and was willing to play pots even with the huge blinds. He was the chip lead for a long while and he played it well but he lost one big hand to Otis if memory serves me correctly. I didn’t play many pots with him the whole night and I wanted it like that.

Then we were down to three.

Kuro Kitty was a big pusher and I ran into his AK with my 2-3 suited when I pushed and he instant called with six players left.

I look over and Pauly tells me that I have to have heart. Don’t get down on myself. I have to admit; those words couldn’t have come at a better time. That took the wind out of my sails but Pauly’s words kept me going.

Down to three the talks start for a chop. Otis and Pauly explain to me that it is best if I agree. I don’t know how these things are conducted or what the break out is going to be but I trust Otis and Pauly. Of course Otis sees that I’m still not in total agreement as I say, I have the most chips. He then tells me that we will take the “off the top” and give it to the winner. I’m really not sure what that lingo means but in the end if the winner got a bit more I was fine with that.

I was able to win a big pot back from the Kuro Kitty but he was just an awkward player for so many reasons. I think that he was stealing the blinds a lot and just hanging around…hanging around like Teddy KGB would say. Even when I would raise and say, “you go home Kitty, this is no good for you.” He would look at his cards and push me off of good solid hands.

Kitty finally lost a race with me and then there was TWO.

posted by Joaquin "The Rooster" Ochoa @ 7:25 AM