Back in the Black

Finally, some tournament success. During my last trip to Vegas, I played in five of the Sahara dailies and missed the payout every time. After busting out very late and near the money of a very large field the other night, my confidence and attitude took another hit. I walked it off, got something to eat and then headed to the room. For whatever reason, the free Wi-Fi hotspot from the monorail wasn't working and I didn't feel like paying the motel and it was too late to catch a bus to McDonalds to logon, so I spent a little time perusing newspaper want ads and such, but I was a bit stir crazy. I decided to take another shot at the Sahara 11pm tourney.

A bit smaller field, this time only 112 players entered and 97 of them bought the add-on (I did not). Still a prize pool right at $5k, paying 10 places. During the early going I was able to accumulate a little over 2K chips simply playing straight forward and only showing aggression when I had either the goods or position. The table captain across from me was by far the most active player, talking other into and out of pots at will, but he suffered a couple of suckouts and his chips went up and down like a roller coaster. Still, he outplayed several people after the flop and I was pretty certain I would have to deal with him at some point. I made an early mistake laying down a pair of eights to him when the board came all cards seven and lower and he re-raised me on both the flop and turn (last bet would have committed me to the pot). I flashed the eights and he showed A-7, but since it was early, I thought that there might be a chance later to take advantage of his aggression which was likely stoked by my laydown. I got that chance just before the break with a pair of tens that caught a set on the flop. I was in position and smooth-called his flop and turn bets and then made a smallish river bet after his check and took down a nice sized pot. Maybe I could have extracted more, but I surely thought there was a chance he would try to push me out one more time.

During the early going, I noticed that the table captain did not even look at his hole cards in the big blind when six players limped and then all checked the flop and turn. This sort of nonchalant play is prevalent in bar poker, but I hadn't seen it much in these smaller vegas tournaments. A little later, I saw him check all the way to the river with the small blind without looking. He ended up with a pair of eights, which was good for the pot, and likely would never had gotten a call, but the play seemed to be very counter-intuitive. Nearly everything I have read about tourney poker suggests being very aggressive with the blinds. He was moved to another table before the second break, but we were re-acquainted at the final table as I drew seat 5 and he drew seat 6. Marvelous, I was going to get a chance at some point to test his resolve with the no-peeking big blind strategy.

On the second button pass, the entire table folded through the button, so I asked him "If I just limp, are you going to even look," and he responded in the negative. I looked down anyway and saw a pair of fives. I was pretty sure that if I was raised, he'd look then call with anything that included at least a face card and try to outplay me after the flop. Since most boards are trouble for small pairs, I decided to limp and see what happens. I was at a delicate chip stack status with an M around 12 and three very vulnerable small stacks I wanted to see removed before getting foolishly involved in a big hand. The flop came all big cards and I checked. He didn't look, then the turn paired a Jack. I couldn't see how a bluff would help here. Either I was ahead and he'd fold, or he he'd look and find something to bet with (even a draw would scare me). So, I checked and he didn't look again. The river seemed safe, but I still didn't bet. He checked and then turned over an 8 and an A - no pair, and my small pocket held up. Had I bet before the flop, he surely would have raised me back. Had I bet at any other time, he might have decided to semi-bluff a draw, or even just outplay me, and I would have likely had to back down. On one hand, his play cost him a big blind, but on another he kept the pot small and gave him a better chance at a decent payout. I think this might be a decent strategy late in tournaments, if you are deep enough stacked to be able to give up the hand regardless of your holdings.

It turned out that the two of the next three button passes, we were folded all the way around to my small blind and I looked down at 10-6 and then 10-7 offsuit. I called, he never looked and we went to the river without any action. I won one of the pots, when I caught a pair on the river, but he won the other when neither hand improved. Maybe he could have taken both of them easily, but at what risk? Why get involved in a decent sized pot at this point of the tournament, unless you can trap and stack them? We knocked a couple of players out, and then with 6 remaining we made a $650 save, which brought me back into the black for poker so far. The save loosened up the play and a couple more went out, and then with 3 remaining, and my M sinking below 10, I looked down at pocket 5's in the small blind. No limping this time, I need to win this pot right now. I push and he looks at his hole cards and insta-calls with pocket 9's. He made a set on the flop, so I went out before the remaining money - but, I still took a little better than 3rd would have paid anyway with the save.