Hey everyone I thought I'd post this, just so everyone can get a feel on what to expect in a live poker tourny. I know many of you have played them plenty of times, but I thought I'd share the experience, and I kept track of everything that happened at the table.
Well on my birthday me and my buddy took a trip up to the casino in the UP (Upper-Penninsula) of Michigan, well here's my story (it probably will be quite long but I'll try to keep you interested), there was exactly 100 people in the tournament, 10 tables, with 10 people on each one, and the buy in was $20 with $10 re-buys and add-ons, 600 in starting chips, and blinds started off at 25/25 SB and BB, and it proceed by moving too 25/50 in the next level, and this was a Pineapple Poker game, which means you are dealt three cards facedown, and you discard one of the three cards before the flop, which therefore increases the chance that someone is holding a monster hand. The rest is played just like
Texas Holdem. However the first two rounds were limit holdem style, each level was 20 minutes long. And during the first two levels there were unlimited re-buys. Well anyways I started off the tournament with 600 chips (this is what everyone started with), instead of getting involved in every hand I decided to lay low and start picking up reads on other players, it didnt take long to notice that some of these players didnt have a clue what they were doing and wouldn't fold there hand. There were a couple solid players at my first table, the guy next to me was a very solid aggressive player and I respected his game. Other than that it was donkfest. Well anyways in level 2 I finally pick up a decent hand with QQ. I decide to limp in and 5 others call, flop comes out AQ10 all different suits, this lady bets out and I raise, I had a read on her as being very inexperienced and not having any clue what she was doing type of player, well I get 2 others to call my raise including that woman. Next card was a 10, I was delighted to see this card because if anyone had a straight, I knew for sure I was getting paid off with my full-house, anyways this woman bets out again, I quickly raise the other guy calls, and the woman calls too, next card is an 8, so the board now reads AQ10108and there are no flush possibilities, The Lady bets out and I raise her again the guy behind me folds and she calls. She flips over 105, meanwhile I flip my Queens over for the boat, she than proceeds to tell the table that she got screwed there, meanwhile I'm sitting there and in my mind thinking...How did you get screwed there...LOL! That ended up being the only hand worth mentioning in the first couple of rounds. I elected to do a double-add on at first break for another 1200 in chips, at that point it was time to move to the No-Limit portion of the tournament and I had about 4000 in chips so I was sitting pretty good. Now during the No-Limit portion of the tournament I was not picking up crap I folded almost every hand and the blinds were at 50/100 by the way, most of my hands consisted of something like J53 or something like that. And at my table this guy made so many all-in moves it wasn't even worth trying to throw out any bluffs, I mean this guy was moving in with the KQ, the 33, and what not. Meanwhile the guy next to me (that solid aggressive player) is doing quite well, he took a few pots of this guy who was moving all-in a lot, his stack looked to be around 10k. Anyways I continue to not pick up any hands until the next level when the blinds are 100/200, I'm on the cut-off seat and I pick up AhKh and raise 3 x BB to 600, and the BB calls (this is a new guy at the table), and this guy has a mountain of chips probably had to be chip leader with about 18k, and I have about 3800 or so, anyways the flop comes out Ac9h6c, so not a bad flop for me I decide to bet out 900 in chips the BB calls my 900 and this is after he checked to me, the next card is a 2c, and he leads out an all-in, I'm thinking wtf, and I decide to lay down my hand, he mucked his cards but later he told me he had the K-high flush after I told him my hand. I was surprised he led out the all-in, but given the strangeness of play I was seeing I would not have doubted it, plus he may have thought, that I thought he was just bluffing. Anyways now im down too 2200 in chips or so and fold a couple of times when finally I pick up the pocket rockets AA, and instead of raising them when the blinds were 200/400 I decided to just push all-in, given the tables reputation I figured I'd for sure get a call, well I ran into a perfect situation, I got two callers, the flop came out something like K62, with two suited cards, one guy lead out a fairly big bet of about 3000 chips but I still wasnt too worried, and the other guy folded, the guy who bet flipped over AKos, and my aces held up thankfully. So my stack was about 7k now, so I still felt I needed to pick up the aggressiveness as my M (stack to blind ratio) wasn't great. So the blinds moved up too 300/600 and I started using my tight image, From the cut-off seat I pushed all-in with AKos and stole the blinds and antes (yes there were 100 antes at this point), I than stole another pot on a 4 x BB raise with AQs, well anyways I picked up 99 on the button, and some lady in front of me who's play I became very familar with (a tight-aggressive) type player minimal raised to 1200, I decided to call for two reasons, I had seen her throw in this same bet with AKos before and I had position after the flop, also the SB called (that solid aggressive player), he played quite a few hands though so I wasn't too worried about him, the flop came out 842 all different suits, SB checks, and that lady bet out 1500, I saw it as a continuation bet with AQ, AJ but I thought about it for a while, she had about 7k in chips about the same as me, and I decided to make a very aggressive move and trust my read, I went all-in. SB folded (he knew I was very tight), and the lady thought about it and mucked her cards and I took down the pot. I now was up to about 11k and there are about 18 players left and the top six are paid. Suddenly I got the cold run of cards, I was picking up true garbage, and this table was very aggressive at this time, I didn't dare get involved with rags, and the guy who I mentioned before as having the big mountain of chips continued adding pots with his super-aggressive style. My buddy was also still in the tournament and he had about 9k in chips and he joined my table, I know my buddy as being a tight player, but I told him if he gets in my way I will go after him...LOL. Anyways I continued picking up garbage and my buddy suddenly caught super hot cards, first he picked up rockets and beat this guy with KK on an all-in pre-flop. He later called some guys all-in with KK vs. the other guys 99 and that held up. He suddenly developed a pretty good looking stack at about 20k. Meanwhie I fell down to about 9k, and believe me I really wanted to play given my stack to blind ratio but I just couldn't, people were just donking it up and I really didn't want to get involved with crap cards. Anyways I think I stole one pot when the blinds were at 500/1000 and I maintained my 9k in chips. Finally the final table arrived, that solid aggressive player was still in the tourney with about 15k and that guy with the monster stack was still in with about 27k, and my buddy was at the table with about 18k in chips, with me being 7 out of 9. The guy who had the short stack who had about 3000 in chips caught the hottest run of cards ive ever seen, he picked up AA twice in a row and won each time, and suddenly he was right up in my neighberhood at about 8k. I felt desperate for a hand and continued getting total garbage. Finally I picked up a reasonable hand with AJs, and there were two callers who acted before me, both of whom were aggressive players, I felt it was time to make my stand, I moved all-in, and one aggressive player said to me you want to gamble i'll do it, so he called and flips over AJos (granted this guy was a new player and had about 25k)...LOL. We both ended up splitting the pot. Which still boosted my stack up to a reasonable 10k. Anyways that Lady who I talked about earlier (that tight-aggressive one who i pushed with 99) got knocked out so there were 8 people left and I was 7 out of 8. I stole one pot with J10s on a 3x BB raise and everyone folded. But the blinds came through me so I really didn't win or lose anything. I remained at 10k and the blinds were still 500/1000, I picked up AhQh on the cut-off seat and I decided to raise 2.5 x BB to 2500, the guy in the BB had a pretty big stack at about 27k and he just called. Flop comes out AdAs6h, and I figured here we go baby (I gave a quick disgusting look at the flop like I missed or something), he stares me down for a couple seconds and looks at the flop, and says IM ALL-IN!!!!!!!! I almost jumped off my seat, it was like boom-boom, I immediately said I call and the whole table knew what i had, given this guys super-aggressive style I didn't even have to think for a second about what he had. I flip over my trip Aces, and he flips over 44, and I'm thinking wtf is this guy thinking, anyways the turn comes an 8h, and the RIVER comes a 4. I immediately reacted with shock, he made his full-house, and I got up and walked right out of the poker room in disgust and I mean in a hurry, I could not believe it. My whole tournament ended on a two outter in the deck. This is funny because last time I went to this same casino and my tournament ended with the EXACT same result, where I bubbled in 7th place off of a bad beat where I flopped a set of 2's and some person with AA called and nailed an ace on the turn. Well I ended up going back to the table and telling everyone good game and shook everyones hand, my buddy ended up finishing 5th and winning about $200. He was very supportive of my bad beat and decided to give me my money back which I thought was nice. I ended up watching the rest of the tournament and saw that guy who gave me the bad beat get first place. That solid aggressive player finished 6th, and he later told me he thought I played very well and I told the same too him, I had more respect for him than anyone else at the table his game was solid and its obvious he plays quite often. That guy who I mentioned as to having a mountain of chips took 3rd, and the guy who was short stack at the final table continued his hot run of cards to get 4th. Everyone else I probably didnt mention at all. Anyways I really had a fun time and I guess thats all that counts, it sucks that I had to waste about 3 hours of my time for that to happen but experience only makes us all better. Thanks for listening to this long a$$ post, you made it to the end if your reading this...LOL. :lol: :lol: :lol:
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