This particular tournament is a double edged sword as far as these things go. On the one hand it is a TON of poker to play before you even get close to the money. Typically on the Saturday 25K, the largest of these dailies, it will be 10 hours or more before the bubble bursts. Then when we are in the money, it's typically a pitiful min-cash for another 2 hours or so before final table time. The field is also inevitably packed with decent regulars, especially the deeper in the tournament you go.
On the positive side - the price point can't be beat at $60 with a $50 add-on - though the rake approaches 30% after you factor in a 1K chip bonus for $5. You can also re-enter for each following flight of registration, which increases in price as the afternoon progresses. I believe these re-entries are juiced as well. This means for the most part it doesn't play like a re-buy event, players can find a fold under pressure. Sometimes. Click here for format details.
I also, believe it or not, sometimes really want to play a lot of hands, if I feel that I'm rusty or I have another more important tournament coming up. In this case there's the LAPC and also my own home game's Tournament of Champions next Saturday. In this regard, there is no better value than the Quantum.
In the spirit of improving my game, I planned to work on staying focused, upbeat, patient, optimistic and most importantly - to remain oblivious and neutral to any anger that might come my way for the way I was playing.
It is a real thing at the poker table, a weird kind of entitlement that players have that no one is supposed to raise their blind. And if they do, they aren't supposed to keep doing it. Well I'm sorry, if I think it's profitable to target you, I'm going to target you. If you are a soft spot at a table full of sharks, I'm going out of my way to get into a pot with you. Players also get angry if you appear to be doing this.
I have had a difficult time over the years cultivating a fearless attitude towards players potential anger. At times I have literally thought to myself, 'Okay I already 3 bet this guy and got away with it, I think I'll just call or fold so he doesn't get all worked up.' That mental attitude, the attitude of gracious conciliation, is a terrible one to have at the poker table. I have to be utterly fearless and ruthless with my chips - while of course being pleasant, kind and affable in my behavior.
With my add-on that I got as soon as I sat down, I was at over 100 big blinds to start, and I'm happy to say after two 2 hour levels I still had over 100 bigs at the break and had quadrupled my stack.
That's right, hour long levels - in a $60 tournament. It remains this way for six hours, to allow people to keep registering. If you are looking to get experience in live tournament poker quick, this is for sure one of the best options in the country.
Shortly after the break I found myself in a hand with a super friendly older gentleman who had struck me as the very best kind of country fellow. I found myself limping on the button with a low suited gapper, and he led out on the flop QKJ rainbow. The three other limpers in the pot folded and I flat called. A blank rolled off on the turn and he checked. I carved out a half pot sized bet and put it forward, he called rather quickly - a good indicator of a hand of medium strength. The flop had for sure hit his range, but I was hoping it wasn't top two pair.
The river was also inconsequential, he checked and I bombed it with a 3/4 size pot bet. He grimaced and groaned, took a minute and finally said "I think you have me" and slid his cards forward. I dragged a sizable pot (which also had 3 extra big blinds not to mention all the antes). There is a reasonable chance he had 2 pair, but more likely the hand was AK, AQ or AJ. Older home game players who have played a TON are savvy enough to not want to stack off with just top pair. I was fairly proud of myself for formulating a plan (I'm never counting on hitting the board with low speculative cards) and sticking to it. GG me.
Literally 2 hands later a different older fellow who was fairly tight, also to my left, opened for 5x UTG +1 I was in the hijack. Such a large open is not unusual in this tournament, even in the later stages, but it does raise the possibility that we are looking at a strong over pair. I had JJ and my plan was to flat and set mine, but when the one caller to my right was a seasoned regular in the cutoff, I decided to push - about 75 big blinds, to get rid of him (he had been speculating a ton in position).
I ripped, the raiser insta-pushed his chips in (about 30 big blinds). I knew that he had AA, KK or maybe QQ. Best case scenario AK, but his range had likely narrowed past that based on the blur that his chips became as they were shoved past the betting line.
It came around to the capable regular who sighed and tanked for about 30 seconds before he announced 'Call'. Fuck. He had me covered, I had about 2/3 of his stack size.
Disregard that I called him capable. He turned up KQo. The speedy shover had AA of course.
Turned a Jack and boated up on the river. Ship it.
I like my isolation for a chance to go heads up and drag 30 bigs. Absolutely horrific call by the regular, though he did stay in the tournament for awhile longer as he was able to grind his remaining chips back up a bit.
What I don't like about my move is that the initial raiser has a super tight opening range from early position. He opened large, which is also an indicator. Oh well, it worked out. I think a better line would've been to flat in position and hope to flop a set and release if I didn't.
Now I was back up over 100 bigs.
I took a hit a little bit later from the player directly on my right, a younger fellow that I've played with before. He's from Jersey and sounds like it, but he's nice enough. Lol. He told me he was strong with his big bet on the river, but I tanked a bit and called with marginal showdown value. I should've known that he was betting for value, and I also should've remembered that he opens very wide in position. His cards were low but suited and he connected well with the flop and improved on the river.
We were just past the second break, over four hours into the tournament when this took place. Believe it or not, people were still calling very wide despite a lot of over raising pre-flop. I had been card dead for awhile and figured I could flat a 4x on the button since there were 4 or 5 limpers and the blinds.
I had Ah6h, the blinds came along and the board flopped 6x6. Both of the regulars I mentioned previously were in the hand and the one that called with KQ earlier donked. The other regular immediately to his left and my right raised it up! There were a ton of chips out there at this point, I waited a beat or two and then pushed.
KQ guy tanked for a bit, and finally released. The guy on my immediate right grumbled about being pot committed (he wasn't) and threw the rest of his chips in. I had him covered by a bit but not a lot.
He turned up KK. Another case of emotions getting the better of an every-day player. A clear fold in a vacuum.
So now I had an ass-load of chips as we approached the end of registration. I was one of only two players at my table that had been there since noon. The other fellow was down at the other end, and he was a very loose passive player who had rivered himself into a big stack several times. We were about even in chips for a lot of the tournament.
Sadly, almost all of the players who now surrounded me were decent or better players. There was still a fair amount of limping, but 3 bets and squeezes started to appear more and more frequently. I took a few stabs in position, but typically I would get 3 or 4 callers and completely whiff the flop, so I didn't c-bet a whole lot.
It's tough to make things happen when you are card dead and at a table full of every-days. After registration closed and we took a 20 minute dinner break, 6 hours into the tournament and most likely about half way to the finish line, I took a few small hits, but also dragged some pots. I tweeted after the dinner break that I had 135 big blinds, this was a math mistake - I realized after the tweet I was closer to 70 bigs, having doubled my calculation for whatever reason. Still 70 bigs is a lot, well above average, and I was able to keep my head above water as the levels sped up from 55 minutes to 25.
Finally, much to my relief, our table broke. The loose passive fellow had found the raise button and I have to say I didn't think much of how he got his initial chips, but I was impressed with how he used them. Needless to say he made everyone's life difficult at the table, including mine, as he was limping into every pot and then outplaying people post with an aggressive mix of bluffs (that he eagerly showed whether they worked or not) and value betting.
But alas, my new table had the two tournament chip leaders sitting right next to each other and immediately on my left. Sucky sucky.
They were fearless and super active, and without cards I had basically zero hope of getting involved with them, so I didn't bother. I shut it down as the bubble approached, and enjoyed the show of them stealing pot after pot. When we got to three 9 handed tables bubble safety was proposed (only 24 would get paid) and much to his credit, the biggest of the two stacks said 'Absolutely not. I have to use the bubble as long as I can so I have the best shot at getting in the top 3.' I really admired this, though it was easier to do so being a mid-size stack that was in very little danger of busting.
There was a ton of grumbling and some berating ("We are going to chop anyways, why deny three people their chance to break even?') They did have a point, but I've come to realize, the game is filled with people who make a living on the felt - and as long as someone is friendly (as he was) and has a very good reason (he absolutely did) I don't think other players should say much about it.
The floor eventually stepped in and put the kibosh on the grousing. And we played on.
The bubble period lasted another hour and a half.
I was so inactive, not by choice, that I got whittled down quite a bit. I was around 30 bigs when the bubble finally burst. I really didn't want to walk away with nothing after 10 hours of play, so I'm happy enough with my decision to play it safe - though I wouldn't hesitate to get my chips in with 10's or better, AK and AQ as well, especially against the aggros.
With a guaranteed payout of $275 I then set my sights on climbing the ladder. I was utterly card dead, at the worst time of course, but I did manage to make one jump to $385 by the time my 4 1/2 big blinds stack finally got called by one of my shoves. Me 99, he 66 and another 6 on the river of course.
All in all I'm very happy with my play. I can't help but feel a little disappointed that I was unable to make any maneuvers against the big stack bullies on my left. I just didn't have the gumption that close to the money after so many hours. I'll give myself a pass for this - I'd much rather have almost 4 Benjamin''s in my bank roll than not.
I am eagerly looking forward to my TOC - the field has a couple of very good players, but the rest I should be able to handle. I doubt I'll get another tournament in before that, but you never know.
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