Taken out with three strikes

I played in the big stack $340 entry event at the Venetian Saturday. It's my favorite event of the week. You receive $12,000 in starting chips (versus the normal $7,500); the blind levels increase more slowly; and the field is far stronger than the rest of the week.

Today there were 112 players, with prizes paying down to 13th. First place a cool $9,800 - and a chop of the first four places would be around $5,000.

It took me a while to find my footing. On my left was General Custer - a very nice man who looked like he has been playing poker more than 30 years in every casino in Nevada. He had long flowing grey hair with a beard and mustache that would do Custer proud, and a hat that looked vintage cavalry from the 19th century. A dark vintage blazer, blue jeans, and high heeled cowboy boots completed the ensemble.

He played with panache and mixed his style very well. In the beginning he was a virtual patsy, folding his button, limping into the pot, and giving up his blinds - but then he began to make some moves.

Within a couple of hours, if anyone wanted to see a flop at our table, they were going to pay dearly for it. Raises were met with re-raises, and re-raises were met with all-ins.

I am beginning to recognize the local regulars - good tough cash game players who look down at the rest of the poker world, and who feel they have nothing new to learn. I can feel their eyes smirking knowingly at some of the stuff I do. One of them caught a big pot off me in the early stages – it saved his tournament life in fact.

I held 99 in mid position, and opened for $300. (blinds were only $50/$100). He called as dealer, and we were heads up.

The flop came 752 rainbow. I bet $350, and he called. The next card was an 8. I bet $800, and he called again. The river was another deuce, and the action was on me.

I had seen him play two hands down to a showdown already. He was a typical cash game player who believes in milking a hand till the end. Which is fine in a cash game, where you theoretically have an unlimited supply of chips, but in tournaments, you live in the short run – and you better be right most of the time if that is how you play.

He had lost almost half his stack already. On one of these two occasions, when he had a sizeable investment in the pot, he had made a big bluff bet on the river, and had been called. He mucked without even showing.

Meanwhile, his buddy beside him had busted early. These guys get demoralized if they lose a hand they should have won. His buddy had picked up AA in first position. A short stack in mid position had gone all in with 63 suited in clubs. (Yes you read correctly)

Everyone else got out of the way, and the old timer was happy to call the bet for about 1/3 of his stack. When the flop came 63x, the short stack was well on his way to doubling up.

Now with a large starting stack and blinds still small, there is plenty of time to regroup and play small ball poker, waiting for the right hand to make a move. But a guy came very late to the table (a full hour and a half after we began) and ended up in an all-in encounter on his very first hand of the day. Old timer had QQ and newbie had AK. The old timer saw a flop of K9x and shoved all in - for no good reason that I could see. Newbie called and quickly doubled up.

I say all this because I want you to know the context and the table vibe when my 99 hand came up.

After the river 2, I felt I had to make a bet. I had been uncomfortably out of position this whole pot, forced to make betting decisions before my guy. So I bet $2,000 (the pot was around $3,300 at this point. He thought for a long time and shoved all his chips all in.

I had conflicting information. Was this a last gasp attempt to win a hand he was doomed to lose (say with A7 or something), or had he flopped a set, or made quad two’s ??

I decided to call, and he showed a starting pair of sevens, giving him a full house of 7’s and 2’s, and more than 1/3 of my stack. (I had been doing well to that point)

Ach, I felt I had been outsmarted. Which is true. The guy put on his dark glasses, after several verbal high fives with his buddies at his end of the table, and he settled back into a long run, content that his tournament life was no longer in immediate jeopardy.

Anyhow, back to the grind for me. I played my normal game and watched the monitor for updates on the size of the field.

As time goes by, the average stack size increases, and the number of survivors decreases, and the number of active tables in play consolidates down. They try to keep 9-10 players at all tables all the time (until they get down to 20 or less). So as a result, you can find yourself moved around from time to time.

At 7 pm, after seven hours of play, we were down to 31 players, and I had an above average mid size stack of around $55,000. I was moved to a table where the lady at the opposite end had a stack that would choke a large horse. Her raises were usually monstrous, so that if you played a hand with her, there was a risk you were going to be all-in whether or not you wanted to be.

As a result, she was running roughshod over everyone.

She was guzzling beers straight from the bottle, and sounded like she had had a few too many. Loud and in form. Deadly.

I decided I would keep a low profile for a couple of orbits, and size up whose stacks I could go gunning for. Conveniently, three of the four players on my left were very tight, and their blinds were ripe for the picking. The dominatrix would have to commit to a hand in early position whenever their blinds were in play. So I had an edge there.

I picked off several pots, and my stack increased to $80,000 or so. Doing well, all things considered. I picked up QQ in late position. The blinds were $2,000, $4,000 with a $500 ante. Dominatrix made it $17,000 to go from first position, which meant (even she) had some kind of hand.

I decided to call, not raise, and everyone else folded. The flop was A102 and she instantly said all in, and just as quickly my cards hit the muck. Strike one.

A while later, I held AS 6C on the dealer button. My RHO limped in to the pot and I flat called. It was a three player pot, as the small blind folded. The flop was AC 7C 3D.

The BB and my RHO checked and I bet $13,500. The BB folded, and RHO called. The turn card was a scary ten of clubs, and we both checked. The river was a red king, which I felt had not changed anything.

RHO now bet $20,000 and I called. He turned over A8 unsuited. We both had a pair of Aces, but his 8 out kickered my 6, and he took down a pretty big pot. Strike two.

In retrespect, I might have taken down the pot pre flop with a big bet - maybe even an all-in. Ironically, it seems to play small ball you often have to put your whole stack at risk when you judge weakness everywhere else.

I suppose I also could have folded to his river bet, but that seems too tough to figure out.

I was down to $30,000 or so, definitely below average. Not long after I picked up JJ in mid position, the boozy lady was in the big blind. I needed a double up, and she was usually a willing customer when someone else tried an all in move.

"All in" I announced, and everyone folded to her. Finally, after an unusually long wait, she called and turned over 32 suited in hearts !!

Everyone at the table gasped. Even she had gone too far. We had seen her call all-ins with 109, K3, Q7 even, but 32 !!

The flop was an unsuited but still highly toxic 654.

Can you believe this??

Nothing else came on the turn or the river, and I was busted when my all in bet with a pair of jacks was called by 32 suited and the lady flopped a straight!

Strike 3 - tough game. I was busted just before we got down to two tables.

The lady was playing like a drunken pork chop, and she was crushing everyone. (She won the whole event by the way)