Popping the PAPT cherry! (home game)

It's nice when things are slower at work. I get to come home at a decent time (which I live less than 10 minutes away from work so that helps) and do things around the house (ie, play online poker) and still have time to grab some food and head on over to the home of PAPT (Park Avenue Poker Tour - so cleverly named based on the location of its house). So, that's exactly what I did. I got home around 5:30, took care of some chores (very little) and started up a few tables to see if I can "warm up" for the weekly home game. Nothing major happened in terms of online poker. Up in two tables, down in one... net to about nothing... Got the points I needed to continue my ironman freeroll streak and headed over to the PAPT.

Well, with 9 runners and a few old school players back, it was looking to be a good night. And a good night it was. We had all 9 players intact for the first 5 levels which is pretty unusual. Naturally though, the blinds started creeping up and it soon became a push fest. The funny thing about this structure is that it's the worst when it gets down to about 4-5 handed because that's also around the time the blinds are really high in relation to the stacks. And yet, it's not quite as bad when it becomes heads up because the stacks become big enough. So, amassing chips early to survive the mid-late levels is even more important in this tournament.

Well, tonight, the House of Bad Beats lived up to its name. Anyone who thinks online poker is rigged, need just step into this house and will walk away convinced that there's nothing that online poker could bust out that doesn't happen in this House. And there were some tricky plays too. When it got down to 5 handed, JT, who was relatively short stacked smooth called the big blind. JJ, then raised from the CO to about 4 times the big blind and so it gets folded around back to JT who pushes all in. They were both relatively short in that their M's were probably around 6-8. JJ thought about it for a long time but eventually decided that JT was limp-pushing with midpair (which I thought at the time was a good read) so he called with AQ... only to find out that he was a severe underdog to JT's AK (these initials are getting confusing). But, of course, in the House of Bad Beats, AQ was gold... Q comes out on the flop and no K on the turn and the river severely cripples JT who eventually goes out few hands later.

Another funny thing about this group is that the proverbial "bubble" is nonexistent. Top 3 got paid tonight, with 9 runners and top 3 also made points for the Player of the Year award. So, I was thinking that maybe when it's 4 handed, I'll turn up my aggression factor... except no one really cares about the bubble so that's never a consideration. Regardless of the other stacks, if the hand is good enough to go all in, there's no hesitation. So, I had to reel my aggression in a little... but just a tad. I still wanted to make sure that I was stealing my fair share of pots in order to stay healthy during this time of quick and ridiculously high blinds...

Well, fortunately, tonight, the poker gods were smiling down on me. Aside from a few key steals and take downs due to proper aggression, my hands held up when they needed to in key race situations and when heads up, I dealt another massive bad beat... Q was gold tonight (along with a 9 but that's another story). Tyke (our current points leader) and I were heads up and Tyke was solidly applying pressure on me. I, on the other hand, kept trying to play small ball (even with the high blinds) and so I would limp from the small blind 90% of the time. There were several times Tyke would raise and I would have to fold. But, I felt that if I could see the flop relatively cheap, being the small blind heads up also meant I had position and I felt that I could outplay him on the later streets. Well, as I noticed Tyke constantly applying pressure on me, I just knew that it was a matter of time that I would get the cards I need to spring the trap... and it came when I was in the SB and was dealt KQ (pretty monstrous heads up, IMO). So, as usual, I limped, and like he's been doing quite a bit, Tyke raised it up another 120 (blinds were 30-60). With 240 in the pot which would be approximately a third of either one of our stacks, I decided that this is the perfect spot to spring the trap. So I said "all in" to which he quickly responded "I call." Insta-call wouldn't do justice to the quickness with which he called. And to my dismay, he flips over AK... I'm pretty much dead... until of course, the House of Bad Beat delivers! Q on the flop with no help on the turn and the river for Tyke pretty much crippled him (he didn't have enough to even double the big blind) and the very next hand, I was dealt 22 and put him all in. His 3-5 didn't come through and that was it. I finally popped the PAPT cherry and won the tournament. I still have a long ways to go to catch Tyke (or anyone for that matter) but it goes on till the end of the year so I certainly have time.

On a side note, during the heads up match, one key hand that came up when I was in the big blind. Tyke limped, I checked and we saw the flop come 2-3-5. I checked, he bet approximately a 100 into a pot of 120 and I read that as a standard c-bet... so, I decided to make a move and semi-bluff at this pot... by going all in... with 4-7o... yep, just an open ended straight draw. Didn't think he had anything but I think he mentioned that he had TPTK... that was heck of a fold and I'm glad he made that fold... because we did run it out for fun and I wouldn't have caught anything.

Also, I have a confession to make. JT, on the hand where you said you had 22 and the board came 6-7-9 where I raised you from the SB... I later mentioned that I had 44... well, I lied. I actually raised from the SB with 8-3off... so I flopped an OESD and I thought an aggressive bet on the flop could take it down. When the blank came on the turn, I couldn't fire another bullet which you immediately noticed and took it down with an aggressive bet. I seriously considered pushing on the turn and in hindsight, I probably should've. So, lesson learned for me here. Well, actually, you weren't supposed to call...

I hate giving out info on my bluffs but then again, I also aggressively bet my made hands too so in that sense, that should be a wash. Either way, good times were had by all and most importantly, I took that shit down!!!!