Wednesday, May 11, 2005

C'mon and play a free roll! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Played in the Las Vegas Vegas freeroll last night. It was a warm up for the WSOP satellite tonight. Both are over at Noble Poker. I hadn't played any of the tournaments at Noble so it was worth seeing how it would work.

I was seated with the infamous DrPauly on my right. Go read his latest trip report. Good stuff.

My hour was very uneventful. Got 10 10 a number of hands in but didn't see a flop. Defended some blinds, blah, blah, blah. I was ready to contact live support to see if they could get us some drinks but I don't think they would have liked that.

I did bluff at a good pot with 10 7 off in the small blind. Only me and the BB saw the flop of Q 7 3. I bet out my mid pair and was called. Turn was an A. I bet it out to see where I am. Roughly a pot sized bet. He calls. But I am not sold he has anything. So I push on the river and he folds. Whew!

I get lucky when I raise it up in mid position with A J suited. I have learned not to play this hand too aggressively. Too many people play it like it is A K. I like to think I understand the hand as a good position play but then again, what do I know? I raise it and get called by my immediate left. Flop comes 4 5 2. I push all in. I figure maybe he has an ace. He calls and shows 6 6. Either he had a great read on me or was willing to gamble. I catch my J on the river for the big suckout.

I then bleed away half of my chips as I try to steal some pots. I avoid the guy slow playing his A A but he still gets some chips off of me. I get a feeling of "Screw it!" coming over me and just about push all in with Q 7. But instead wait one hand later when I get K Q suited. I give a standard pre flop raise and get called by the big stack in the big blind. Flop comes 8 9 J. All diamonds. All the wrong suit. I push anyways. Unless he has a diamond, he really can't call this. He doesn't and I get some chips back.

I push a pot when we both had a king high straight and are each holding K J. Second time in the tourney this has happened with me. At the break, I am sitting with 2710 which probably put me in the middle of the pack of about 86 left.

I get A A on the third hand. I raise it up with one caller. I bet half the pot on a J high flop but he won't bite. I then get moved. Damn, I liked that table. I get put with one of the biggest stacks in the tourney. They have 3xs my chips. And they are trying to bully.

I donate chips on a tilt play by another person at the table. He just lost a big pot and pushed all in pre flop. I had A 10 and figured he had no pair so I called. He shows K 9. Hits his 9 on the turn. I hate when people play crap and get lucky but what can you do. That is poker.

New table. Seem to be weeding out the sit outs now. I give half my chips away on another pathetic steal attempt. In the BB I see the free flop of 4 4 2. I bet out and get called and the re-raised. My Q 7 looks pathetic here so I am out. With just over 1000 left, I have no choice but to push with any decent looking hand. I need a double up soon.

With A 9 diamonds in late position, I make my move. I get called by the BB with K Q. 10 9 J on flop and I am done. That was painless.

Other thoughts about Noble
There are some interesting hands that I have seen at Noble that I haven't seen elsewhere. Like lots of quads. Got beat by them again yesterday. It seems like every session, I lose my nut flush to quads, or my full house goes down. Thankfully, I have noticed betting patterns and I am not dropping a lot of cash on them. I also have quite a bit of success with 10 10. Flopping sets or filling straights. Even with over cards on the board, they seem to hold up. I guess it doesn't hurt to have such bad players chasing their flushes all the time. In one instance yesterday, one of the biggest fishes I have ever seen, was at my table. I was about to fold my 10 10 to him when the board was showing 9 J K 5 4. I had raised preflop and he just called. I bet the flop and he raised. I checked the turn and called his bet. I checked the river and was about to fold to his bet. Then I reviewed the notes again. Besides having a good pot out there, I realized that this clown may not have the J or K. There is a good chance he had a failed flush or straight draw so I have to call. Sure enough, he missed his gut shot straight. That was worth pumping up the pot on. If he bets preflop he may be able bluff it away. But he has no clue what his table image is. Beautiful stuff.

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