My first live casino tournament $35 freezeout + LONG STORY

[Spuddy]

Hello everyone

I played in my first live tournament at the Shooting Star casino just outside of Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was yesterday, July 4th.

It was a $35 tournament, that had 40 people signed up. 4 tables with 10 players occupied.

Starting chips were at 3 000, with blinds at 25-50. Blinds raise every 20 mins-30 mins.

Most of the players were all older, very few young people. At my table was all old aggressive players, who'd raise and play anything. Seeing as this was my first live casino table event, I was going to play conservative and "watch" as to how things are done.

First hand is dealt, I see K of diamonds , Q of spades . I fold it, not knowing want to expect. Play goes on, with about 3 limpers and one raise from a hippie looking dude.

Flop: Q 7 2 , at this point I go.... grrr why didn't I play this, especially when the turn comes with another . The loose play continues, pot builds to about 2 000 and a guy shows A 2 . At that point, I realised that I have to pick my spots and continue the conservative play. I furthered realised this conclusion, by watching numerous pots, min betted, or raised 3 X BB and seeing 5-6 people pre-flop.

So blinds raise, blinds raise, and after what seemed like an eternity we are on first break and I haven't even played a hand! So I go on my first break, kinda going "maybe this isn't for me, I'll grind it out and see what happens". So slowly my stack is being blinded away as this loose play continues at my table. I was honestly wondering if I should have loosened up as well or at least tryed a steal, but figured there wasn't much a point with a table full of stations. I was seeing call downs with middle pairs, chases and ace highs every time!

So, I finally get comfortable with my table, and decide on the strategy I'll play. However, I still didn't see any sort of hand, the KQ first hand was the best I had seen, other than that nothing else even worth touching.... every combination of 2-6, 2-7, 9-3 imaginable! My stack was hovering around 2 000 at this point!

Then they decide to move me to another table... I was fine with this, UNTIL! I get to the table, there's this HAMMERED donkey. Just reeked of alcohol, he was loud and rude. Besides, playing stupid (which I liked) he was getting lucky. Including on a Q 3 2 board, the guy bet all in and he callled the OVERBET with 9 4 to hit runner 9 runner 4. It was tremendous, because I knew if I got in a pot with him, I'd be in good shape. So he was just incredibly hammered, and just as lucky too! I knew if I could pick up a hand, I was in great shape.

Blinds raise again, this time to 200-400, I decide to limp in the small blind with 7 8 for pot odds, 3 limpers behind, the drunk BB min raises so I have to call. Flop brings A K 10..... and I'm done with the hand.

First hand I see all day, is 3-3. I decide to just limp. 3 other callers, flop comes with 3 overcards, something like K 10 7. Just ugly. One guy min raises I fold, and the turn brings a 3 and the river another 3. At this point its about 2 hours into this tournament, I haven't won a single hand and I'm crushed!

So this bring my stacks to 1100, with the 200-400 blinds. I look down to see Q Q , no brainer here. I push. Drunk guy calls, and so do another 3 players! AHHHH!! Here is my chance to quadruple up! and win my first hand!

Flop comes: 8 5 5 , then all chaos breaks out one of the callers move all in, another caller calls, and drunk guy decides he is all in as well. So theres now three players all in, and my QQ is looking dirty.
Turn is a 9 and the river is a 2

Drunk guy has: 3-4 (No dim )
One caller has: A-8(No dim )
One caller has: 10-10 (No dim)

The annoying drunk is eliminated and I quadruple up! I was shocked my Queens held up! I actually have some chips to play which was nice.

For the next little while, having confidence after winning a pot and a tight table image. I steal some blinds and small pots. Whether it was betting 3 overcards on the flop with 6-6 or just going with reads. I build my stack up to 11 000.

I then come in for the standard 3 X raise with K dim 10 dim . There are 2 callers behind me.
Flop comes: Q 4 2
I check-raise here to a young talkative player, who was somewhat predictable.

Turn brings a 8 of diamonds , very dirty card. I decide to bet, and he pushes all in. I'm instantly feeling terrible. I hesistantly lay it down, and he shows A 10 Again this makes me feel good! And only builds my confidence up more. He then tells me he wanted to go all in pre-flop with that hand (This is important later)

I then slowly keep playing solid, building my stack up again. I then reach the 10 000 mark again. Then the young player and I have another confrontation. He raises UTG to 3.5 X the BB. I looked down and see Q-Q. Now, I asked him how much he had left. He seemed somewhat confident that he wouldn't mind a call, but would rather not see a call. I remmeber the fact he wanted to go all in with A -10. So I had to at least think whether it was an Ace-rag I was dominated. I just quietly stared at him for a little bit, decide to just call the bet, and bet the flop.

Flop comes: A 7 8.

I bet out a little bit, he pushes all in. I fold, and he kindly shows me his A K. I really thought about this one hard, and I would have gone broke here, if I didnt think very hard about his hand. Again, my confidence built up and I continued to build my stack.

We were now about 3 hours now, and I have an average size stack. They bring this one lady over to our table. She instantly starts some table talk. She had all of our stacks covered at the table. She played every pot for the next 10 hands. I then win a nice pot off of here with A Q, slowplaying the flop and value betting the turn and river.

She then precides to let the whole table know that they are table players, and that her other "table" was better. I later found out she was playing every hand at that table, flopped a straight flush and full house on rags! Absolutely tremendous. She went broke soon after.

My next big hand was 8-8. Raise pre-flop, this loose player called.
Board was: J-J-4.
At this point, I bet out. It was possible he had a Jack, but I thought he'd check raise if he did, because thats how he played other hands. He checked, I bet. He flat called.

Turn was a J.
He bets, and I pushed all in. He calls instantly. He has 7-7 and drawing dead.

Final table approaches with 10 players.
Pay out for Top 5
1. 478
2. 267
3. 160
4. 105
5. 53

I enter the final table about third in stack size. I'm comfortable with the stack and my image.

The final table was all chaos. As soon as the blinds reached 800-1600 it was pure madness, practically every hand was all in. I decided to sit back and wait, steal a blind or two when approiate.

Play goes to 7 players. One short stack in SB, and medium stack in BB. I am on the dealer button. I see AA. I figured the short stack was going all in here no matter what, and with the loose play the BB would call with any ace, or king. I pushed all in. They both call. K J for SB, and A K for the BB. My aces hold and I'm in the money.

I continue solid play, picking a pot up here and there. One players knocks out the 5th, 4th and 3rd players in about 4 hands. And we are heads up. His chip stack was 5 to 1 on me at the start. Blinds were HUGE. 3000-6000 with a 500 ante. I had about 25 000, and he had 125 000 ish. My read on him was that he was the best player at the final table. Very solid, and knew what he was doing. I was completely card dead, best hand I saw was J-10 of hearts. We played about 20 hands HU, before the blinds just quickly made my stack small. It wasn't long before I exited in a cool second place.

Overall, it was a unique experience. One drunk guy, One pissed off lady, and a second place finish for a cool $267.

I was happy with the way I played, and thought overall I did very well!

Thanks for reading this guys!

[eejit101]

nice job. now play the fucking league

[PShabi]

Nice work. Nice report too.

[melioris]

congrats.

[Spuddy]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

[Robbie Robb]

Very well done report. I don't know if I'd have my wits about me to remember such detail from my first live tourney. I think I'd be too nervous. My report would probably go something along the lines of:

I'm here. Cards are just about to be in the air. Oooh. Pretty cards. D'oh!

[Spuddy]

I was definately nervous for the first few hands, then settled down. Then got nervous Heads up. But overall I remained cool, and just studied what other people were doing!

I remember it in detail, because its all I could think about last nite! Was this 4 hour tourney. I wanted first, and really thought if I could have done anything different. Looking back, no there wasn't.

[Nikita]

Definitely a great report. And congrats on the 2nd place.

[Talking Poker]

Well done, nice report.

I can't BELIEVE you layed that K high flush down! I'm impressed.

[Spuddy]

To be honest, the way the play was going it only made sense that he had the Ace of diamonds or a set..... Plus, I was picking up so many small pots that if I folded I still had lots of chips to mess around with. It honestly felt like he was chasing on the flop! I basically felt that if I layed it down I'd be fine. It would have left me with 1 500 chips or so...... whereas the fold left me with 6 000, and he I knew he showed me his cards with a little bit of table talk. Which is exactly what he did!

[lightfungus]

Good stuff. You did a good job surviving the initial shock of live.