Royal Poker Blog

31st

I busted out 31st of 109 players in WPBT Event #3 last night on Poker Stars.

My starting table was quite fun with both Al and Pauly present!

Level 1:

Basically the only hand I played was a raise with AQ UTG. I found no callers at this extremely tight table (for the first hour anyway).

T1490

Level 2:

I find K9s in the BB with about 6 limpers. The flop is K high, but all diamonds and it's checked around. The turn is a non-diamond 9 giving me top two. I bet 1/2 the pot and get one caller. The river is another non-diamond. I throw out a slightly larger bet and get called winning a decent pot.

T1740

Level 3:

I triple the blinds with 99 and get two(?) callers. The flop is 88x (smaller) and I bet the pot. I'm instantly called by one player. The turn is a 7 and also makes a possible diamond flush. I make another solid bet and get raised. At this point I have almost 1/2 my stack in the middle and cannot call. I'm ahead or behind. The instant call on the flop smelled like a bigger overpair - I guessed TT and folded. That hand hurt and I'm not sure if I made the right play.

Very next hand I get 99 again and triple it up. I'm pushed all-in by the button. If I fold I've only got ~T600 left so I make the crying call hoping for a coin flip or even better a smaller pair. The raiser has AK and my 99 holds up without improving.

T1740

Level 4:My small raise with KK only buys the blinds.

T1500

Level 5:

Pauly moves all-in UTG and I find JJ in middle. I push all-in over him and my JJ holds up against his AT.

Later I push all-in with AK on a re-raise and take it down.

T3075

Level 6:
I win a small pot with A4o when I catch a piece from the BB.

At this point the aggression level ratchets up on our table. I never catch a real hand and every time I'm in a spot to make a steal with a medium ace it seems that someone has already pushed.

T3675

Level 7:

No hands and no good steals. My VP$P is about 0% this level. YUCK!

T3075

Level 8:

I find JJ again in middle with a raise already in the pot from a big stack. I don't love my JJ here, but I'm one of the lowest stacks and I can't pass this up. I'm likely ahead of the raiser and maybe a big favorite.

Nope - they have QQ

Flop is QQx

It's not easy to be drawing dead after the flop when you have a pocket pair...especially against another PP. I'm out in 31st.

Summary

Once again a fun WPBT event! I played well and had a chance to money and make a 3rd consecutive final table. It was not to be though...

Thanks to Iggy for setting another one up!

Check the WPBT standings. Your buddy Royal should still be on top!

WPBT Event #3

Don't forget about tonight's NL Hold 'em Tournament!

Details: Tonight Wednesday, March 30th
$20 + $2 - No-Limit
Poker Stars- Private tournament tab
Password: thehammer

I'm about due for a last place finish so come get a piece of old Royal.

Almost close...

Just finished 30th of 1400+ in the Full Tilt WSOP Freeroll. First place was an entry in the 2005 main event...

I ran good most of the tournament and hit trouble when I raised on the button with crap and continued to push through the turn. TT vs. AJ was my eventual downfall several levels later.

SirFWAGMan and Derek as Pauly both posted solid finishes as well.

Dammit, with 50 players left I knew I could win this....sigh

The one good thing is a loss here means I still should make the june WPBT Vegas tournament. An entry in the WSOP main event would probably kill any earlier Vegas trips.

I'm currently in first place at the work NCAA bracket competition. There's a sweet 48 beers available to the winner...so this is a no holds barred slug-a-thon! Once Utah knocks off Kentucky I should be in solid shape to take down the C2H5OH.

Swimming

Little Royal and I have been taking dad and daughter swimming lessons at the local community center. The first 10 minutes of session one were pretty rough, but now she's having a blast. My only real concern is that she's too fearless. She'll jump into the pool and even wants to climb down the stairs by herself. I struggle with that aspect of parenthood maybe more than anything else. How do I let her get some bumps and bruises without seriously injuring herself? I guess like anything else you simply do your best.

----------------

I planned on writing more above until a teething toddler distracted me. Now dad really needs to get some sleep.

I'm still working out the details of the June Vegas trip. As of now it's looking like me and four friends. I've tried to convince Mrs. Royal to come along too, but she's not too keen on messing up little Royal's routine two weekends in a row (we're flying to my sister's wedding the following weekend).

Full Tilt

Like many of the poker bloggers I've been trying my luck at Full Tilt Poker this week. I played there some when they first went beta. However I never bothered to deposit until the recent WPBT HORSE event. I'm not a true bonus whore like others, but since I usually play the small limits it only makes sense to attack the bonus opportunities. The initial bonus at Full Tilt is huge...and virtually impossible for a player like me to reach. Maybe if I really push I can clear over half the $600 sitting in my bonus account.

Even with that I still find the site fun. Heck, how often do I get to sit $0.50/$1 PLO with Phil Ivey? That's an easy one, never...at least not until yesterday. As a poker fan you can't beat this site. Eric Seidel stopped by to wish the final two tables good luck during the HORSE event, damn that's cool! I just won't be able to make this my permanent home until they attract more fish players.

I'll second or third or whatever the motion to have Full Tilt reward Iggy for setting up this event. DuggleBogey and Chris Halverson hit on this topic earlier in the week. The winner of the event also probably deserves some cool Full Tilt swag to help promote the site, hint hint Hank!

NCAA Tournament

Awhile back I got a few free bucks deposited into my Intertops account. Every so often Intertops Poker offers these free "Bet-on-poker" tournaments where they give you $5 free at their sportsbook to place a bet on yourself to win the poker tournament. I play in the tournament, but always forget to make the bet.

Anyway fast forward a few months and I've got $10 free to burn in my account. I place a prop bet on Illinois to not go undefeated in the Big Ten regular season. A last second 3-pointer from Ohio State fills my account with $35. I then proceed to lose $20 on Kansas in the Big 12 tournament. My last $15 goes into a parlay taking UW Milwaukee plus points and Pacific plus points. Obviously I didn't need the points and my $15 is now over $50. I then took $10 of that and went with a parlay of Arizona - 5.5 and UAB plus points.

I've now got over $80 and we're just getting started baby!!

I'm still riding a pretty good high after winning the first ever WPBT H.O.R.S.E. event! A win against impressive competition always means more and this one feels extra special. Thanks to everyone for all the nice comments!

Preparation:

Even though I'm no where near the versatile poker player that Felica and others are I did feel good going into this event. I played a fair amount of O8 and Stud Hi/Lo last year and even dabbled in Razz with some local buddies following the WSOP coverage on ESPN. I thought the three low games would offer me some advantage over a group of mostly hold em players and that turned out to be the case...even though hold me ended up being my key format.

Saturday night I invited over some friends and we ran a couple of HORSE tournaments. Special thanks to A.I., Dozer, Little Feller, Bossman, Chips McGee, The Mexican, and Mrs. Royal for putting up with my belligerent antics and offering some valuable preparation. We used the same blinds as Full Tilt and I increased the starting chips counts to give everyone more play. These practice tournaments ended up being very important because I was comfortable during the WBPT event. I knew what was coming next, if there were blinds involved and how the antes worked.

Tournament:

I really want to add more specific information here, but it looks like Full Tilt has email hand histories disabled. Please someone help me out here if I'm just missing something obvious...

Levels 1-5

Nothing exciting happens for the first hour. Our table is pretty tight and the only game where we see much if any re-raising is hold ‘em. I scoop several multi-caller pots in both O and E and bring my stack up to around T2000.

Levels 6-10

I lose ~600 in chips in a couple of Razz hands that look promising and head South around 5^th street. Other than that I get blinded and anted to death. I float from between T600 and T800 in chips without ever getting involved in a serious pot. During this time there ~70 players left and I'm near the bottom in chip count. This trend continues and I'm the shortest stack left alive with ~50 players left.

Level 11

Now it is time to catch some cards or go to bed. At this point I'm really wishing this was NL HE so I might have a chance at stealing the blinds. I do have the advantage of a tight player image, though desperate on the short stack, since I've played virtually nothing the last hour. I make a steal attempt from one off the button with Kx and miraculously everyone folds. This brings me back up to T1300. Two hands later I catch AQ, 3 bet and catch my A on the flop. I don't quite get to double up as my bet on the flop is not called. The very next hand is KK and my raise takes down the blinds. Two hands later I'm moved to a different table and catch KK in the BB. Somehow everyone reads my strength and no one calls the BB. Oh well, I'm now T3000 and back to middle of the pack with around 40 players left.

Level 12 / 13

I get good cards during both O and R. I play them aggressively and hit T12000 moving near the chip leaders.

Level 14

Stud: My pocket kings hold up against pocket jacks and I'm over T20000. I'm now in second or third overall and start to push with any decent door card or position. I believe we get down to two tables at this point. I'm in the money!

Level 15

We're at two tables and I don't remember playing a hand during this round of E.

Level 16

The card drought continues and I fold, fold and fold some more. I chip stack slowly bleeds down 30% to T20000. Finally with a minute or two left in the round it's folded to me on the button where I pickup AQ. I raise and get called from a blind. The flop hits my ace and the blind bets out. I raise and it gets 3-bet back at me. I call and then raise on the turn to put them all-in. The blind is on KK and doesn't catch the 2-outer to stay alive. I'm now around T40000.

You can read the other side of this hand at Riding the F Train. I pretty much agree with the assessment over there. It's so damn hard to let KK go, especially considering how short stacked they would have been by folding to my raise on the flop. The button raise looked suspicious even though I had not played a hand in around 15 minutes while being one of the biggest stacks at the table. I'm not going to fold if the blind 3 bets it back at me pre-flop and in fact I might even cap it. I just don't see this hand ever playing out much differently considering our stacks compared to the size of the blinds.

Down two one table.

Level 17

O8: I call a raise with A357 double suited and catch the nut flush with a live A3 low draw. I get a raise in on the flop and the low hits on the turn or the river. I get called down the last two rounds and scoop a really nice pot.

Levels 18-19

Another player down at this point when two of us call his all-in raise. I have 99x (J I think) and end up catching a Q on the river to suck out against his starting AA. MOON STOMP and I are significant chip leaders at this point and we pretty much take turns cutting the others up.

Level 20

Stud Hi/Lo: mstephans is busted out in third when I raise with 234 and catch 56 by sixth street, Scoop! That leaves me heads up with Moonstomp. The rail is alive with stories of how Moonstomp had a single chip left much earlier in the tournament and now he's chip leader at the final table. We're actually pretty even at this point...

Hand of the Tournament:

-Once again my best recollection without a hand history.-

I'm dealt A3(5) and MS has a J on the door. I bring-in and call his complete. 4^th street is another 3 for me, and giving me 3 to the flush, and like a 9 for MS. I call his bet with 5^th street bringing a 2 and I think a big card (K?) that does not give MS a pair. I'm still thinking my 33 might be good and with the backdoor flush, gut shot, and low I call his bet. Maybe even a raise was in order here, but he could be on anything since this is heads up. 6^th street is junk for me. It does not improve my flush or complete my low. However it also does not pair the board for MS. I don't like calling on 6^th street, but there are too many chips in the pot to get away at this point. The river is a beautiful 4 and I get to put in a raise with my wheel and scoop!

This hand gives me a ~2:1 lead and more importantly seems to crush Moonstomp's spirit. I run over the rest of E including taking 5 or 6 pots in a row at one point and 7 or 8 of 10. These are all relatively small pots, but they add to the chip lead and continue my momentum.

Level 21

Hold ‘em: First hand of I get T6 in the BB and MS raises. Considering my momentum I ponder a re-raise and then decide to fold. He show's 88...whew!

Second hand is AA in the SB. I limp and get to check raise the flop. My bet on the turn is not called.

Third hand is 55 in the BB. MS limps I raise and he folds.

Fourth hand: ?

Fifth hand is TJ in the BB. MS limps I raise and he calls. The flop is K J x (3 I think). He bets, I raise, and he 3-bets. Damn, does he really have the king? I call and he checks the turn (another 3 maybe) with less than 2 BBs left in chips. I'm probably bringing him all-in either way and this check seems really weak. I bet and MS folds a huge pot with only ~T7000 chips left. I'm guessing that was the correct lay down, but it sure makes the 3-bet on the flop look like a big mistake.

Sixth hand my Q2 is dominated by Q7 MS doubles up.

Seventh hand we 4 bet the flop when I have AT. The flop is QTx and the rest of Moonstomp's chips go in. I'm feeling pretty good until he flips JJ, damn not another double up. The river brings my A for two pair and I'm the champ!

Overall Impressions:

-Starting chip stacks were too small or the blinds went up too fast. Not as bad as Choice Poker, but still too fast.

-I found myself hoping to get to O, R, and E. The low games seemed to give people problems and I felt very comfortable playing those games. Stud was my least favorite of the five.

-HORSE is a blast. Of course it helps to win!

-Derek played absolutely great! He was fearlessly aggressive and while sitting to his left I only played the goods against him. I was / am very impressed.

-Eric Seidel stopping by to congratulate the final two tables was a nice gesture. I don't care for Full Tilt's slow bonus system, but the pro players are a neat concept and I'm sure I'll continue to play there in the future.

-Thanks to Iggy for once again setting this up!

How about we do this again in a few weeks?