The first is taken from the money bubble of Party’s $55 buy-in $6K Gtd Crazy Stack Turbo. Ordinarily ICM might normally suggest a fold here, despite the colossal pot odds.
However there was a microscopic stack already forced all-in on the other table, so I decided to call for value with my mighty 6-3o. I would only bubble if I lost my showdown AND he won his, and he might well have to contest a multi-way all-in.
I estimate I’ll be the bubble boy one-third of the time or less. The upside of the gamble is that about 20% of the time my hand should scoop a monstrous 53,840 pot, which would place me among the chip leaders with a monstrous 2.7bb. Oh yeah, you gotta love the Crazy Stack! :)
***** Hand History for Game 9748762214 *****
NL Texas Hold'em $55 USD Buy-in
Trny:55474213 Level:18 Blinds-Antes(10,000/20,000 -500)
Monday, October 18, 22:36:08 BST 2010
Table $6K Gtd Crazy Stack Turbo (2044591) Table #2 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 7/10
Seat 1: ( 20,798 )
Seat 2: ( 71,062 )
Seat 3: ( 15,015 )
Seat 4: Button ( 27,342 )
Seat 5: LiquidEyes ( 17,280 )
Seat 8: BB ( 97,129 )
Seat 10: ( 29,870 )
Trny:55474213 Level:18
Blinds-Antes(10,000/20,000 -500)
Seat 1 posts ante [500]
Seat 2 posts ante [500]
Seat 3 posts ante [500]
Seat 4 posts ante [500]
Seat 5 posts ante [500]
Seat 8 posts ante [500]
Seat 10 posts ante [500]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to LiquidEyes [ 6s 3c ]
Seat 10 folds
Seat 1 folds
Seat 2 folds
Seat 3 folds
Button is all-In [26,842]
LiquidEyes is all-In [6,780]
BB calls [6,842]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5c, Qd, 4d ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7h ]
** Dealing River ** [ Ts ]
LiquidEyes shows [ 6s, 3c ] a straight, Three to Seven.
BB shows [ Qc, 9c ] a pair of Queens.
Button shows [ Ah, Ac ] a pair of Aces.
Button wins 20,124 chips from the side pot 1 with a pair of Aces.
LiquidEyes wins 53,840 chips from the main pot with a straight, Three to Seven.
Ouchy Ouchy
A not-so-great suck-out. The following beat was not remarkably improbable, but a very painful way to bust out of a big game with big money on the line.
(I’m permitting myself one ‘whinge’ this month so here it is! Skip to the next hand if the idea of losing $5k on the turn of a card makes you queasy.)
I had an average stack of 22bb, at a tough table in bwin’s $100 rebuy. 21 players remained from a big initial field of 577, the prize pool a mouth-watering $130k.
I picked up Kings in the SB and was pleased to see a raise from EP. I jammed and was called by both the big blind (who had me covered) and the original raiser!
If I won this showdown, the huge 65bb pot would catapult me to second position in chips. Fingers crossed...
The situation could not have been much better: both players revealed A-K offsuit, and I was a 72% favourite to treble up. It was difficult not to get excited about the prizes on offer at the final table – $2k minimum for tenth, $12k for third, $25k for the win...
Then came the almighty kick in the gut. I was immediately drawing dead on the A-9-3 flop. SICK.
Best not complain too much, as I was on the right side of several coolers earlier in the game (KK v QQ etc). October could have been a killer month if I’d final-tabled that bad boy!
A quote from The Poker Mindset seems applicable: ‘If you don’t like the rules, don’t play the game.’
Backdoor Of Doom
I believe the following hand to be the single worst bad beat I have witnessed to date. Thankfully I was in an observational capacity and not the victim.
You’ve got to laugh when they hit their 1.6 percenters. (61-to-one against – just managing to pip my own worst beat to the post.)
I mean, what was this guy even doing in the pot with K-Jo, apart from providing comic relief?
NL Texas Hold'em $33 USD Buy-in
Level:11 Blinds-Antes(250/500 -50)
Friday, October 01, 01:41:15 BST 2010
$5K Gtd, Table #1
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 9/10
Seat 1: Seat 1 ( 26,486 )
Seat 2: Seat 2 ( 5,873 )
Seat 3: Victim ( 10,344 )
Seat 4: Donk ( 113,583 )
Seat 5: Seat 5 ( 22,945 )
Seat 6: Seat 6 ( 8,686 )
Seat 7: Seat 7 ( 13,839 )
Seat 9: LiquidEyes ( 24,075 )
Seat 10: Seat 10 ( 38,328 )
Trny:55021643 Level:11
Blinds-Antes(250/500 -50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to LiquidEyes [ Jd Jh ]
Seat 7 folds
LiquidEyes raises [1,200]
Seat 10 folds
Seat 1 folds
Seat 2 folds
Victim raises [3,200]
Donk calls [3,200]
Seat 5 folds
Seat 6 folds
LiquidEyes calls [2,000]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3s, 9h, As ]
LiquidEyes checks
Victim checks
Donk bets [10,800]
LiquidEyes folds
Victim is all-In [7,094]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Th ]
** Dealing River ** [ Qs ]
Donk shows [ Jc, Kd ] a straight, Ten to Ace.
Victim shows [ Ac, Ah ] three of a kind, Aces.
Donk wins 3,706 chips from the side pot 1 with a straight, Ten to Ace.
Donk wins 24,988 chips from the main pot with a straight, Ten to Ace.
Victim finished in 18th place and received $50 USD
Funny Flip
When you run well, you run well.
The donk who backdoored the straight in the previous hand somehow made it to the final table. Unfortunately I would be his next victim.
This one’s not really a bad beat, but it is quite an interesting scenario.
We are five-handed. Despite his huge chip lead, the donk open-limps under-the-gun (of course) and I complete the SB with 8-7s (clubs). I am second in chips, with a healthy 39bb to his imposing 100bb.
The flop comes 7-6-5 with a club and two spades. The action goes check-check-check.
I seem to be quids in on the turn, which brings a beautiful Nine of clubs. I have spiked a straight, albeit a rather obvious one, and it seems unlikely my foe has T-8 for the nuts. (Indeed he did not.) However I have also picked up a backdoor flush draw, and best of all, the villain raises my lead bet!
I would appear to be ‘freerolling’ – a situation that is more common in Omaha than in Hold’em – meaning my opponent probably has the same made hand, but I have additional outs to scoop the pot. It’s a dream situation as potentially I can induce him to make a big mistake by getting all his chips in with no possibility of scooping the pot, but a very real possibility of losing it.
I three-bet, and he shoves. Hallelujah! At worst, I’m expecting to split the pot. Except...
He flips over A-8s in spades. He ALSO has a straight with a flush draw – in a different suit! Must admit, I never saw that one coming.
It’s a funny kinda ‘flip’: we each have precisely 50% equity in the pot, but 59% of the time we’ll chop the pot. 20.5% of the time I will bust out of the tournament; 20.5% of the time I will take a (slight) chip lead.
Well, you already know what’s coming on the river. :( Cool hand though.
NL Texas Hold'em $33 USD Buy-in
Level:17 Blinds-Antes(1,000/2,000 -200)
Friday, October 01, 03:12:49 BST 2010
$5K Gtd, Table #1
Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 5/10
Seat 4: Donk ( 201,901 )
Seat 5: ( 72,018 )
Seat 7: ( 54,232 )
Seat 9: LiquidEyes ( 77,799 )
Seat 10: BB ( 29,050 )
Trny:55021643 Level:17
Blinds-Antes(1,000/2,000 -200)
Donk posts ante [200]
Seat 5 posts ante [200]
Seat 7 posts ante [200]
LiquidEyes posts ante [200]
BB posts ante [200]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to LiquidEyes [ 7c 8c ]
Donk calls [2,000]
Seat 5 folds
Seat 7 folds
LiquidEyes calls [1,000]
BB checks
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7s, 5c, 6s ]
LiquidEyes checks
BB checks
Donk checks
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9c ]
LiquidEyes bets [5,500]
BB folds
Donk raises [11,000]
LiquidEyes raises [30,500]
Donk is all-In [188,701]
LiquidEyes is all-In [39,599]
** Dealing River ** [ 9s ]
LiquidEyes shows [ 7c, 8c ] a straight, Five to Nine.
Donk shows [ 8s, As ] a flush, Ace high.
Donk wins 124,102 chips from the side pot 1 with a flush, Ace high.
Donk wins 158,198 chips from the main pot with a flush, Ace high.
LiquidEyes finished in 5th place and received $340 USD
The Best Hand I’ve Had All Day
I have to include a fantastic hand I saw on the idiot box.
The show was the PartyPoker Big Game on (UK) channel 5, which is a high-stakes, deep-stacked cash game. The hand in question features Neil Channing and Andrew Feldman.
The blinds are £25/£50 and Feldman posts the straddle of £100. It’s folded round to Channing on the button who calls with 4-4.
The blinds both complete (with complete junk) but Feldman, who has picked up pocket Kings, is having none of it. He makes it £600 to go.
Channing (deep stacked and in position) calls, and the blinds fold.
The flop comes a draw-heavy 5d 3h 4d, and Feldman checks to Channing, who bets £700 with his flopped set. Feldman calls. So far, so standard.
A Turn For The Worse
The pot is now £2800. Christmas appears to have come early for Feldman, who spikes an offsuit King on the turn for a higher set! He donkbets £1700.
Channing appears puzzled (perhaps just a spot of Hollywood) remarking, ‘you have Ace-King?’ After a while he flat-calls.
The river brings a Six of diamonds, completing a ton of possible draws. Feldman checks.
Channing thinks for a while and bets £3500 into the £6200 pot. Feldman visibly hates his hand!
The commentators debate the merit of Channing’s ‘ultra thin value bet’, with his set on such a horrid board – but it becomes clear that his bet may actually win the hand for him...
Agony
Feldman complains about how ‘sick’ the situation is. ‘Unbelievable. The best hand I’ve had all day and...’
Channing enquires, ‘why, what have you got?’
Feldman replies ‘you KNOW what I’ve got... top set.’
Channing shrugs and replies, ‘really? Oh, ok. Nice hand.’
Feldman agonises more and more, and the commentators are amused that Channing’s value bet may in fact bluff Feldman off the best hand – though they note that it might indeed be a correct fold against Channing’s range.
‘How can I run so bad! I turn top set... the best hand I’ve had all day... and then a BEAUTIFUL six of diamonds comes on the river.’
The pot is £9700 and it’s £3500 to call. Eventually Feldman tosses his cards into the middle of the table, face up. Channing takes the pot.
Seeing that Feldman folded the best hand, of course Channing can’t resist showing his cards. He flips his Fours and shrugs, ‘hmm, I guess that was a good river card for me!’
Feldman, smiling through his teeth, looks like he is going to throw up.
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