Once Apon a Time… There Was a Herd of Elephants: Holdem Tourneys and Assorted Cash Game

The night started out pretty rough for me. In the first tourney, the cards just weren’t in my favor. I mean, I had some chances, but I was playing to passive. In my defense, I had a lot of those marginal hands in tough situations. I was facing some massive elephantitus. When this happens, you must showdown at least one premium hand to have some leverage for bluffing or you will get called. If you don’t show down that premium hand early on in this game then you WILL NOT have a chance at a bluff. I picked up a couple of good reads on people, but I was unable to pull the trigger when I had an opportunity. I went out in sixth place.

Tourney #1: -$10

In the second tourney I got involved in a big hand early with an elephant and a jackal. I was in middle position and the elephant had already called. I looked down at AK off and decided to raise it. Blinds were at 25 and 50 so I raised a standard $2 raise. The jackal called from the big blind and the elephant called as well. The flop came K-9-9. The elephant checked and I bet $3. When the jackal cold called with seaming little interest in the pot I new I was drawing to a 2 outer. (I think I saw a twinkle in his eye. Then the elephant called as well, as elephants do when they are obviously beat. The turn came Q of hearts. So now we have K-9-9-Q and AK is looking really moldy. When the Q came off, the elephant did the “jump up straight” move in his chair and started asking me if I still had those Aces. I proceeded to inform him that I knew that Aces were beat all to hell.

Now this is a good tell to watch for in green players. If a player has slumped in his chair all night, then sits up straight and starts chattering after a card comes off, its time to fold your hand. After his speech was over he bet $5. And I mucked putting him on a monster. Now I knew the jackal had a 9 when he called my bet on the flop so I figured he was in trouble and he knew it too. He reluctantly called the $5. The river was a blank and the elephant moved the jackal in. The Jackal showed good instincts by not calling the rest of his stack immediately, but he couldn’t lay it down so he called off his last $13. The Jackal had 10-9 and the elephant had QQ for the full house. That was a tough spot for the jackal.

I say that because almost all of our regulars would have laid down QQ after I bet $3 on the flop and got a call behind me, so it’s tough to put a guy on QQ in that spot.

After that this same player turned into a vacuum sucking up the chips of all that stood in his way. I had played pretty aggressive early on and had built my stack to about $40 and then I put it in park until this key hand for my tournament came up. Blinds were at $1-$2 and I was in early position with A-J Diamonds. I raised $5 and it folded around to the vacuum who called. The flop came 4-6-Q rainbow. I bet out $5 for a continuation bet and he called. The turn came K. So now we have 4-6-Q-K. I bet another $5 trying to represent the King. He called. The River came 8. I bet another $5 going for the “lure the sucker in move” with a small bet. This bet has won me a lot of pots on the river for a pretty cheap price because observant players realize what a tiny bet this is into such a large pot and it looks like I’m “Milking Them”. Well, that didn’t work on the vacuum, he called quickly. I mucked my cards and he showed 9-9 in the hole.

I over thought this hand. I could have won it if I played it differently… If I had it to do over I would have checked the turn and bet the full $10 on the river, but I don’t think he was folding those nines for any price. All he knew is that I have a pair of nines and I’m not folding them come hell or high water and I’m going to try to give my chips away again.

That pot tilted me and I was gone soon there-after. The vacuum went on to destroy the rest of the table, and I believe he’s the only man to ever do it by playing every single hand!

Tourney #2: -$20

So the cash game is underway. I was pretty pleased with the cash game players that hung around. It was a pretty soft table with only one Lion, five elephants and me. The only thing I would have changed would have been to put the lion to my right instead of my left.

I started off playing solid poker and doing quit a bit of pre-flop folding. I finally got a decent flop in a Pot-Limit Omaha high hand when I made a boat on the river and took the rest of the elephant’s money 2 seats to my right. I made about $16 on that hand.

Then there was the hand of the night between me and the Lion at the table. It was Pot-Limit Holdem and I limped in from the cut-off with 6-4 Spades. The Lion raised $1.50 from the button as he often does. I called. The flop came Ace Spades - 5 Spades - ?card?. I checked and the Lion bet $2.50. I called on a pure flush draw. The turn came 6 diamonds. So I paired my 6 and still had the flush draw. I checked and the Lion bet $5. I called. The river came off and I missed my flush. I checked again and the Lion bet the pot which was around $16. This bet really surprised me. I knew there was something fishy about it but I didn’t know if I had been trapped or if it was a pure bluff. I decided to give him a good sweat and see if I could pick up anything.

With any other player at that table I would have been less suspicious but this guy is capable of this move with nothing and I knew that for sure. He has done it to me several times and rubbed my nose in it. I noticed him fidgeting around a little bit rolling his eyes and even turning away from me to get a drink or spit or something. The bottom line is that he looked like “the cat that ate the mouse” so I called. And I was right! He mucked his cards and I still don’t know what he had. This was a case of knowing what your opponent is capable of and factoring that into your decision.

The very next hand I picked up A-Q of Spades and raised $1.50. The Lion called. The flop came King high all spades! I decided to lead at it because if I checked it he would know something was up. So I bet $2.50 and he called. The turn came blank for my nut flush so I lead at it again for $3 he called. The river didn’t pair the board so I had the absolute nuts. I bet out $9 and he called fairly quickly. I showed my hand and he said that he flopped 2 pair and mucked. The game slowed down and finally stopped shortly after that.

Cash Game: +$80

We played 3 games of doubles pool which was really fun. I haven’t played a lot of pool but I really enjoy it because of the competition. I’m happy to report that my team won at pool too, 2 games to 1.

Total for the night: +$50