A No-Limit Cash!
This entry originally appeared on my WSOP blog at PokerTips.org.
I finally cashed in a no-limit tournament the other day bringing my total for the summer to 1/15. We had 289 players return for day two of Event 49, a $1500 no-limit tournament. It didn’t take long to pop the money bubble at 270. I talked about it some in a previous entry, but it’s worth reiterating: it absolutely blows my mind how much information poker players give away verbally at the table. Before the cards were even in the air on day two, a player at my table announced to everyone, “I’m here to win, not just to cash.” Gee, thanks for the information buddy! Trying to figure out whether a player is one to nit-it-up like crazy before the money or gamb00l without regard for a min-cash is actually a pretty important piece of information and can have a big impact on the range of hands you play against that individual, so it was nice of him to fill in the pieces for us.
In general, I’ve just been amazed all summer at how much information players give away verbally. I think it must be social nerves or something. Tournaments are an anxiety-provoking activity and so to cope with that, some players just run their mouths and tell the table everything they’re thinking as a means of calming themselves down. That or maybe people just forget that poker isn’t a friendly, social activity; it’s people trying to take each other’s money. When the topic of conversation is poker, be friendly and social with people away from the tables. That’s my take, anyway.
So back to the $1500… before we got into the money, I doubled up a short-stack with 88 vs. his TT. That hand pretty much narrowed my decisions down to shove or fold which for a little while was pretty much shove Queens+ or fold because we were only a couple players away from the money and I really wasn’t in the mood to bubble out and wind up going the whole summer without cashing in a no-limit tournament.
After we got into the money, I doubled up, doubled someone else up to get back to where I was, then doubled up again after shoving Jack-Three suited and having the big blind tank forever before calling (”well, at least I’m live,” I thought) with Ace-Three (”okay, nevermind”). I flopped a Jack on that hand which I swear had to be the first time I’ve sucked out on anyone in an all-in pot all summer in a no-limit tournament. That’s no exaggeration either. I can’t recall one single suckout I’ve put on anyone all summer.
Having played enough tournaments to know that you have to pretty much hit at least one suckout in order to go really deep, I was starting to think that maybe it was my day after that Jack-Three hand. My table was ridiculously soft; like, restored-my-confidence-in-poker type of soft.
One guy got moved to our table with 30k in chips and said, “this is going to be my lucky table.” Ten hands later, he was sitting on 90k and opened the pot for the 6th or 7th time since arriving. I looked at King-Queen in the cutoff and re-raised all-in for 17 big blinds figuring I was probably comfortably ahead of his opening range. He snap-called with Ace-King and Suckout #2 was not to be had. That put me out in exactly 150th place for $3.4k. Although I’m still in the red for the summer, it was nice to cash in at least one no-limit event before leaving the desert.
My girlfriend got into town a few hours after I busted. It’s her first trip to Vegas, so I’m showing her around this weekend. Last night, we went to Nove (Italian restaurant at the top of the Palms) for dinner. It was absolutely awesome. The service was impeccable and every bite of everything we ordered was delicious. I could taste their basil pesto pine nut risotto in my dreams.
I think we’re gonna try to see a show tonight. I’m not sure which one yet. I’m kind of Cirque’d out, so maybe Phantom of the Opera at Venetian or something.
No more poker until early next week which will be either the Main Event or the Caesars $1k. I obviously really want to play the Main Event, but I’m not going to kill myself trying to get in. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. I’ll enjoy a weekend with my girlfriend and figure out the tangibility of the Main Event early next week.
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