I decided to take the 1 1/2 hour trip to Foxwoods and enter the weekly no limit hold em tourney. It usually pays out about 20K for first. It is a $150 buy-in with $60 rebuys for the first hour. When I got there, I realized I had 4 hours to kill. I checked into my room and headed straight for the poker room. The lines were long for cash games, so I decided to play in an Act 1 satellite for a seat into the NEPC 5k event at Foxwoods in April. Buy-in was $60, and the top 3 people won a seat into an Act 2, which is valued at $150. When I first sat down, I thought to myself, "Why did I enter this? I’d have been better off putting up the $150 for an Act 2!" Oh well! Without any major confrontations I made it to the final 3, and 5 minutes later I was already entered in an Act 2.
Here is where my day started getting exciting. With 4 people remaining, me and another guy, a foxwoods regular, were on the shortstacks; we each had 1100 with 100-200 blinds when the following hand came up. It was folded around to me in the SB, and I looked down to see J 6 offsuit. YESSSSS! I love these hands. I announce, "I'm all in,” and not even a second later, I hear "I call!" SH-T! Nice hand, sir, you caught me. To my amazement he flipped over K
7. I stare in amazement and say, "K 7?" He responds with "J 6?" "Well ahemm, I pushed in sir." As I say that, the flop comes down, and its a very nice flop for him: K 7 4. The turn is an 8. He’s clapping and hooting and laughing, but I know I’m still alive. He obviously doesnt. The river is a 5, and I stay seated and say "straight!" In utter disbelief, he stares at the board. He then gets up and procedes to kick over a chair. On and on he goes about what a bad beat he took. I laugh and tell him that's what he gets for playing K 7. The funniest part of all is that if it’s not suited, he doesnt play. Some players will never learn.It's tourney time now, and I build a nice stack early. I take a rebuy in the beginning, and then I triple up when I’m all in on a 8
4J
flop with the Q10. A 9 came on the turn, and I raked in the pot. For a while, I have nothing playable, and then this hand comes up. I look down at AQ in second position. The blinds are 150-300, and I have 3k in chips. UTG limps, and I raise to 900. Everyone folds and UTG calls. The flop is Q J 5, and he moves all in. I quickly call, and he turns over the K5! If I can just dodge this moronic move by him, I double up, but unfortunately, I do not. An ugly 5 on the turn sends me to the rail. If this was online, I would berate my opponent until I felt satisfied. In person? It's NH sir, shake of the hand, and I’m out.The lines for the cash games aren’t so long anymore, so I sit down in the 5-5 NL game. I really like this game because it has no maximum buy-in. With small blinds and no max, it creates a fun game. I buy in for $1k, which is slightly below average. I look over the table, and it immediately seems like it could be an easy game.
I scoop some small pots and build my stack up to about $1200 when the following hand happens. I have 44 in mid position and call. The next guy raises to $60! I know he has a big pair at this point. Surprisingly 2 others and myself see the flop. I am calling here to hit a 4, because I think I can bust him if I do. I miss the flop, I am done with the hand. The flop comes a very lovely 4 6 10 rainbow. Now most people would check in this situation, being first to act. I love to lead out in these situations, because if I check-raise, all it does is show him I have a monster. By leading out, I disguise my strength and get him to raise to the point where he commits himself. So I bet out $125 into a $240 pot. He thinks and then raises $300 on top of it! It’s folded around to me, where I announce, "all-in!" He calls and shows QQ, and just like that, I have about $2600! The player proceeds to tell me what a bad player I am. Bla, bla, 2 outer, etc. I dont even bother explaining it to him. I shrug and say nothing instead.
Things are going great. Mr. K 5 from the tourney sits down, and I just know I’m going to take him down in a huge pot. He has $600 or so in front of him. 10 hands after he sits, the following hand comes up. I call a small raise in the SB with 6
8. 3 players see a flop of 7 10 2. I lead out for $20 and am called by Mr. K 5. The turn card is a 9, and I bet $60. He raises me to $200, and I push all in. He calls quickly and shows 7 9 for 2 pair. Dodge this, dodge this! The river is a blank, and revenge is sweet. 1 hour later, I call it a night, up $2400 overall: +$2220 from cash game, -$210 for tourney, and +$450 for Act 3 seat.I hope you enjoyed my first blog; there are many more to come!
Joseph Ward (A.K.A. LatestLines2) is a 22 year old professional poker player, living in Revere, MA. You can watch him play on PartyPoker as tknight31, on PokerStars as JoeWard, and on UltimateBet as LatestLines2.
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