*WARNING* Very long and sloppy post.
So me and a few friends went to Vegas last weekend, Fri night through Mon. morning. Only got the chance to play in this one tournament Sun @ 7pm, right after hitting the Bellagio buffet (big mistake).
Tourney is $100+20 for T1500. There is one add-on/rebuy allowed for $90+10. Blinds are 40 minutes long, and we had 50 people playing. Caesars also runs with 9 handed tables for their tournaments.
So, essencialy a T4500 event, 40 minute blinds:
25-50
50-100
Break
100-200 (25)
200-400 (50)
Break and Race off $25
400-800 (100)
600-1200 (100)
Break
1000-2000 (200)
2000-4000 (400)
Break and Race off $100
3000-6000 (500)
5000-10000 (1000)
I don't like some of the jumps, but I like the 40 minutes. I get Table 36, seat 8, and there's only 5 of us at the table to start. The other 5 tables look full. Myself and 3 others rebuy right away. The one seat starts with just his T1500.
Lots of dead blinds, and I'm able to steal a lot of the blinds the first 20 minutes. I show nearly every A I get. The 3 and 4 seat seem pretty good, especially the guy from Canada in the 4 seat. So I'm already getting a good feel for the night, and my stomach is finally starting to settle when the 6 seat shows up. A talkative tourist that isn't too good. Sweet. He does not rebuy right away.
Tourist raises to 125 in MP, and I'm on the button with 5
3
and a dead BB. I call, SB folds and we're HU.
Flop: Q
4
2
. Tourist bets 100, I call. Turn: A
. Tourist bets 200, I raise to 700, he pushes. His A
Q
does not fill up on the river, and I stack him for the first time. Tourist rebuys, and blinds go up to 50-100.
Next orbit, I'm in the BB with K
Q
. Folded to Tourist who hems and haws with chips and limps. SB completes, and I raise to 600. Tourist calls.
Flop: K
T
3
. I lead out for 600, Tourist calls. Turn: A
. I bet 2300, putting Tourist all in. He gives a dramatic shrug and calls w/ KJo. MHIG again, and I knock him out twice.
We're still shorthanded, but a table is about to break when I pick up A
J
in the BB. Seat 1 limped UTG, 2 more limpers. I pop it to 800, and Seat one pushes for 700 more. I know this guy doesn't have it in him to do this with AA/KK. My call shows he was just fed up with my aggression as he tables A
J
. Alas for him I'm running hot, flopping a flush draw and spiking that third
on the turn. But he didn't rebuy yet, so he still has T3000 coming.
A table breaks, and we're 8 handed finally. I say it's time to tighten up a little, as we're nearly full and I've tripled up already. So of course what that really means is donk off 3000 chips chasing a flush draw against the new player in the 9 seat.
Folded to hero in SB w/ K
Q
. I raise to 600, BB calls.
Flop: 9
7
2
I check, BB bets 600, I call. Turn is a blank, and I check/call 1500. River is a blank and I check/fold. I was thinking A9, TT or JJ. Supposedly he had KK, but I get mad at myself for that hand, and tighten up.
I'm UTG+1 and fold ATo. 9 Seat min-raises, and good Asian Canadian is shortstacked and calls. Flop is T
6
2
. Canadian bets out for 40% of his remaining stack, and 9 seat raises AI. Canadian thinks for a while and calls with T8o. 9 Seat has a KJ flush draw that misses. Damn, if I played my hand I would have taken out a dangerous opponent rather than seeing him double up. Damn.
Last hand before the first break is wild. Missed the PF action, but it'sa 3 way AI on the T
9
6
flop. BB has T
9
, MP has A
8
, and 9 seat has 9
9
. 9 seat hits 5 outer on the river with a 6
, and knocks out 2 players. He has T16000 I beleve, and decides not to rebuy. I suggested he should, but no one ever listens to me.
I end the break w/ T14000, having been up to T18000 at one point. I'm second at the table in chips, with Canadian guy catching up. I think we're at 4 tables now. Don't remember much action in the next couple levels. I stay pretty much even, and I think I hit the next break w/ T19000. Down to 3 tables, and I haven't been moved.
Start round 5 w/ 99 in MP, so I open for 2200. LP is shortstacked and pushes for 2000 more when BB re-raises AI for 12000 or so. I fold my hand only to see LP with A
7
and BB with 8
8
. Bummer. Snowmen hold up.
A little while later that same BB guy is SS again, and pushes in EP. I have AKo in MP and re-raise. I lose my first race vs. 55.
A couple orbits later, I have 66 in the BB and call a button open raise from the 6 seat. Flop is 644, and I check the flop. Turn is an A, and I check/raise the turn, which is called. River comes and I put the guy AI. He thinks for LOOOOONG time and I eventually call the clock, hoping that will favor a call. He does call, and I'm back over T20,000.
We get down to two tables and the Canadian is on fire, accumulating quite a nice stack. Again I don't recall any more hands here, but I make the final table with a mere T9900. Not good.
We redraw seats, and I get my same seat! I like that karma, but Canadian guy gets the 7 seat. He has a big stack and is aggressive. That's going to hurt my chances to make many moves. We're only halfway through level 6 (600-1200 (100)), but we take a short break.
Oh, payouts were only top 6 with 50 players:
1st: $3,575
2nd: $2,070
3rd: $1412
4th: $1129
5th: $753
6th: $471
While we're on break 1 player mentions to me we should give something to 7-9. I can't argue with that with my SS! Another player says the same thing to me when I get back to the table, but says the 1 seat didn't like the idea. Since I'm the SS, I have the other guy bring up the idea, and after a little debate and explaining, we get $200 each for 7-9, taking 300/200/100 off of 1st-3rd payouts. Nice agreeable group. At least I'll break even.
Action starts out heavy, and I'm just folding. Canadian guy to my right is raising 70% of the pots. Sigh. He finally folds a hand and I get to push with something and pick up the blinds. Again, I forget some of the hands, but Canadian guy knocks out a SS player with 7
2
from the BB making a flush on the river. It was a good odds call, especially with his stack. I enjoyed the river
anyways.
I manage to keep folding and picking up a very occational blind when another player is knocked out. Canadian guy has 30-45% of chips in play I think. So we're down to 7 when he open raises in MP. I have AKo and push with no so good a feeling. He calls quickly, saying "sorry for the suckout" over and over and over.
Well, board comes Q Q 7 2 7, so a suckout of sorts, but hey, I'm still alive.
A few hands later, I still have T20,000 and we're still 7 handed. Blinds are 1000-2000 (200) Seat 1 pushes for 14000, and Canadian guy calls in SB. I have A9o. I fold. Seat one shows KJ, Canadian guy A7s. A high holds up, and my 9 would have played. Damn.
So we're down to 6 and I survived the $200 payouts. I'm in the BB and pick up TT. MP guy with a good stack opens for 3.5x. Canadian guy in the SB raises! Dammit. I tank for a bit and eventually fold. MP guy folds too. I think it was Ax vs AK/AQ.
Canadian guy is really pouring it on now, but proceeds to double up 2 shortstacks (neither one me) in one orbit. Bummer. I'm still holding on, but not loving life. Same orbit, and I'm in the BB again when it's folded to Canadian guy in the SB. He puts me all in again. I get lucky and look down to A
A
. He has J
J
, but my hand holds up, and I have ~50k and some breathing room.
We make it to 5, and one player is extremely short stacked. There's one guy with a decent lead (9 seat) and me and 2 others are now basically evenly stacked. Blinds are now 2000-4000 (400), and the SS has under 15k. We break, and I figure as soon as the SS busts, I'll propose a chop. Well, back from break another player proposes a chop, but the SS wants an even 5 way chop. The four of us want nothing to do with that so we play a couple hands. Nothing happens, but then we do offer him a (I think) generous deal. We'll give him 4th place money ($1129 vs $753) and chop the rest. He wants nothing to do with that either, so we play a few hands.
This SS plays very tight. I'm in the BB w/ J
T
. Seat 9, tight/solid I think, raises UTG, and SS pushes for 13000. I make the call for 9000 after think about not wanting to triple this guy up. UTG calls.
Flop: 9
8
4
Check/Check and turn is 7
. Nice. River I believe was another
. But my straight is good. SS had KK, no spade. He is knocked out in 5th for $753.
Now everyone wants to really chop, but I have 40% of chips in play! They bring up the point about the $200 chops for 7-9 that was helping me out at the time, but I was willing to chop anyways. We basically worked it out that we'd chop, but they each game me $120 or so.
I took home $2197, and I believe they each got around $1749. The only bummer is that Caeser's gives out a W2 for any payouts over $600. Lame. I tipped the FT dealer 20, the dealer that dealt the first 30 minutes of the tourney 20, and left $97 at the cage for all the dealers.
I was really happy with my play in the begining and end of the tourney. I feel I made some big laydowns in the end, and gave myself a chance to get back in it. Then I was lucky enough to catch a couple breaks for that to actually happen. I like the 40 minute levels, and play in the begining and FT was pretty good, but it gets tight in the middle. Still, a nice tournament that they run daily at 12pm and 7pm. Pretty nice floor people, and decent to good dealers. I like how their tournament room is separate and in the back of the main room. I believe Sat/Sun these typically get 100+ players, so that would be nice too.
I'll probably play another one of these next time I'm in town, and probably play one of the Bellagio tournaments too.
Linear Mode
