the daily 10am at Red Rock

I decide to go and play the 10am daily tourney at the Red Rock today. Hadn't played a tourney since the Venetian DeepStack. We started with 30 people. A little smaller than I had expected for the weekend. It pays out about 4 people depending on if there were any rebuys. I forget what we start with but I believe it was around 6k or something. The blinds are 30 minutes long so it makes for a relatively quick tourney and first place is usually over 1k. If you can get past all the chop propositions that start when it gets down to 6 people.

Play starts and I limp around for the first 15 minutes or so with nothing big to talk about. The play is pretty standard. normal 3x the BB raises, being the Red Rock the 10am is usually a bunch of locals so it makes for good tourney play. The blinds are 25-50 at this point and I'm in the BB. The guy who plays every pot limps as do 4 other people. I look down and find AKos. I raise it to $300. The guy who plays every pot calls and then the next guy re-raises to $1200. The other limpers fold and I decide that I don't want to flat the call, which is what I should have probably done, but with the other guy behind, if I flat it I know he is calling so I push all in. I have them both covered by about $1200 so I could still play if I don't catch. The guy folds and the raiser insta calls. I figured he probably had 10's or something like that so I was willing to race. He turns over QQ. surprised he just limped for the 50 pre-flop as there hadn't been much raising going on. The board runs out and I don't catch an A or a K and I get crippled.

I use the small stack to my advantage and take down several pots with all in pushes and chip up to over 3k. Here is where I get lucky and end up having 2 people tell me how bad I play. I'm in the SB and a guy in early position raises to $300. the blinds are 50-100 at this point. 3 players call and I look down at 6h7h. I like playing suited connectors and I like the 4-1 odds I'm getting. If I hit the flop I'm golden if I don't I can get away. The flop comes down 9 10 2 with 2 hearts. I check and the original raiser bets out $500. One person calls and I just flat the $500. Figure I'm probably the only one on a heart draw at this point and if I hit an 8 I might be good. The turn is an 8c. I check it here and the original better bets out 1k. the other guy calls and I move in for an additional 1200. Both guys call. The Q hits the river and at this point, I believe I'm dead. A jack has me beat here. The original raiser moves all in which makes me think that is what he had and the other guy folds. He turns over Q 10 and I turn over my bottom end of the straight and rake in my pot. At which point both guys in the pot start in saying how I should have never been in the pot etc... I just stack my chips and don't say anything. I know I didn't play it wrong and if I did, so be it. No use in getting into an argument here.

Play continues and moves relatively slow. We are down to a little under 20 people. We are now at 200/400 blinds and I'm UTG and here is where I get lucky. I meant to raise it to 1200 but accidentally grabbed two orange chips and dropped 2200. The guy next to me moves all in for a little over 4k. One other guy moves all in for less than the 4k. I start smiling and say I guess I got caught but I can't fold for 2k more. I had 7s 5s. I call and I know I'm dominated. The first guy shows pocket 10s and the other guy has A Q. The flop comes 4 6 8 rainbow. I just sink into my chair and I dodge any type of runner runner catastrophe and my straight holds up. I take down the pot and everybody just kind of sits there stunned that I won. One guy says how could you call the all in? Instead of being silent I tell him that it was 2k to call into a 10k pot and I already had 2200 invested. I had enough left that calling the 2k wasn't going to cripple my stack. I said that had I bet the 1200 I had intended to bet, I might have folded. But I was priced in and got lucky. I didn't slap my hands or yell or any of that crap that most idiots do when they suck out. I've learned that when I get lucky like on this hand I don't react or jump up. I just stack my chips and be quiet. No use in twisting the dagger that was just thrust into someone. I just wish that more people would do this.

After that hand I got moved to the other table where the chip leader resides. he has probably about 60% of chips in play at the moment. We are now down to 14 players and I limp a couple of pots and mostly fold. Right as we are breaking down to 1 table, I get involved in the last pot for the table. I think the blinds are still 400/800 with a 50 ante. I make it $1700 with 2c2s. the guy next to me shoves all in for 6k total. Everyone else folds and I decide that the guy had something like A Q or A J and was trying to buy it. I call. I know its about a 50/50 flip but I was willing to race at this point. He turns over A Q and in the window is an A as the flop comes A 10 4 all clubs. Neither of us have a club so I'm looking for a 2. The turn is the 7c. Now I need a 2 to win or a club to chop. The guy is starting to stack his chips back as the dealer throws down a 2 and immediately apologizes to the guy. I don't understand that. Aren't there 2 people in the hand here? I didn't see you apologize to me when you dealt an Ace on the flop. I was the favorite pre-flop. HE got lucky on me. Yes I sucked out here, but I was the favorite and ahead when all the money was in the middle. So the best hand won after all. plain and simple. I racked my chips and moved to the final table. Now I've played this tourney 3 times now and have made the final table all 3 times. the 2 previous times I managed to cash 4th for a min cash and get my buy in back both times. With the previous knock out we are down to 8 people.

I limp a couple of times and don't hit or get re-raised and have to fold. I end up being around 12k when the fatal hand was dealt. I'm in the SB and 2 people limp. we are still at 400/800. I just call as I have 7 7 os. The BB pushes all in. Everyone folds and I know I'm ahead again but do I want to race again. considering I've lost 4 races and sucked out the river on the other. I count out my chips and find that I'll have a little over 5k if I lose. I call. I turn over 7 7 and he turns over A Q. The dreaded A Q. And of course an A in the window with 3 spades. I'm drawing dead to a 7 as he has the Q of spades. I stack my chips and give them to him before the river as I know a 7 isn't coming and of course it doesn't. Sucks. hate making the right calls and my hands not holding up. But its poker.

I end up down to my last 3k when i'm in the BB and there is one raise and one caller. I look down at 7 10 of spades and figure now is as good as ever. I move all in and the original raiser moves all in and the other guy snap calls. the raiser shows 7 7 and the snap caller showed A Q. I don't understand that. you have 2 all ins and you snap call with A J or A Q. The fact that some people are willing to risk their tourney life on non made hands is just laughable. They see that and can't fold it. The flop comes A 4 9. The turn is Q which brings 2 spades so I'm drawing dead to a spade. Can it fall and I get real lucky here? Survey says........NO!! So the A Q wins again and I'm shown the door. I should have finished higher in this tourney but the poker gods decided to humble me I guess.

Live to play another day I guess. Back to the grindstone and looking forward to next weekend as its mine and the wife's 4 year anniversary. We are goind down to the Flamingo for the weekend. Should be fun. Looking forward to relaxing at the pool and sleeping in a hotel room. for some reason I always sleep better when we stay in hotels.

Until next time....