Tao of Poker

Monday Night Limit Tournament at Foxwoods

On Monday nights Foxwoods has a Limit Hold'em Tournament that cost $65. The entry fee is $15 and $50 goes to the actual prize pool. Since one dealer was sick, they wanted to close the event to just 200. But they signed up 211 and had to make several of the tables 11-handed. Which made me wonder... what is the difference between 10 and 11 man tables when evaluating starting hands? Feel free to send me your opinions!!

Anyway, with 211 in the tournament that meant $10,550 in the prize pool! $3,500 would go to the winner and the tourney paid out 27 places (20-27 got 1% or roughly $100). This was Limit with no rebuys, not to be confused with the monster Tuesday night No Limit Tournament with unlimited rebuys the first two rounds and add-ons as well. I don't particularly like rebuy tournaments, which I'll discuss at a later time.

While on line I bumped into Tom from Vermont. I felt bad because during my last trip to Foxwoods on 12.23.03, I seriously trashed him on my blog even suggesting that I would shoot his dog if he already wasn't dead. When I shook his hand, I was bombarded with a wave of guilt. Tom is really a nice guy. Seriously! And I felt horrible than I wrote what I wrote. Alas, what was done was done (and of course ethically I will not take down that blog) and I hope he doesn't check out the Tao of Poker. I tried to change his name and where he's from... yes, Tom from Vermont is neither named Tom, nor from Vermont... but anyway, we made some small talk and I told him about my Miami and dog track adventures. He offered to let me and Derek cut in front of him, but I told him it was OK. Anyway, Tom from Vermont is a skilled player. He's in his late 50s or early sixties and plays in the No Limit Weekly tournaments all the time. He told me that he sometimes plays in the Limit ones when he has the chance. Anyway, that night he was killing my $2-4 table, he almost made the final table at that night's No Limit tourney and came in 12th place. He told me his best finish was 9th one night and walked away with a couple of grand! I wished him luck and got back in line with Derek. We all had different table assignments and when I sat down I learned that I was sitting at an 11 person table!

Seat 1: Old guy 1
Seat 2: Ethnic Guy (looked like Fez from That 70s Show)
Seat 3: The Geek (young kid with glasses)
Seat 4: Old Guy 2 with a New England PATS hat
Seat 5: Middle-aged Guy with a porn mustache and a beret
Seat 6: Old Woman (in her 70s)
Seat 7: Middle-aged Guy (looked like Bill Cowher)
Seat 8: Pauly!
Seat 9: French Guy (looked like Leon from The Professional)
Seat 10: Young kid with sideburns and a wicked Boston accent
Seat 11: ???? Random Guy ???

Level 1: Blinds $25-25, Betting: $25-50... First hand I am the little blind with Q-Jo. I limp in and raised a bet in front of me when Qs-Js-3d flops. Pauly just flopped top two pair!! I raised and two callers. Nothing of interest falls on the turn. Old Guy #2 with the PATS hat bet $50 and I raised him to $100. He calls. On the river a spade hits and I don't like that at all. I was hoping he held A-Q or something like that. He checked and I bet $50. He just calls and turns over 8-4 spades! I was so pissed getting river'd like that. The very next hand, I'm on the button with A-Qo. I come in for a raise and five callers. I caught an ace on the flop (with two small hearts) and after the turn (Kd) its me and the old guy in the Pats hat. I caught another ace on the river, but that ace also was the third heart. Did I just get fucked again? He turned over 3-4 suited and my semi-monster A-Q did not hold up. The French guy next to met started a barrage of insults to the far end of the table.

"What kind of crap is that? Winning with shit on two flushes like that?"

He shook his head and said what I was thinking. Two hands into the tourney I was down $500. You start with $2000 in chips and I was down to $1500 and it was not even 7:10pm!!

The French guy was the table bully. On the next hand his A-K lost to a K-4 when the old lady in Seat 6 caught a 4 on the river. He raised pre-flop and she called him. The French guy turned to me and said, "We're playing monster hands and we're losing to shit! I thought this was a tournament? Not some low limit game!"

He made sure he tried to get into the heads of the old guy with the PATS hat and the old lady. He would mutter very loudly at times, "Who plays K-4?" When other players won pots with shady starting hands, you knew he would have a comment ready! He nicknamed the kid at the far end "The Geek" after he raised up the pot one time pre-flop. "I don't like the Geek. He takes his time before he bets. I'm sure he's read every book." Well, the Geek was doing pretty well and held a fair amount of chips.

By the time the third level ended, there was a race for $25 chips and a ten minute break. I mucked every hand I got after those two bad beats. I threw away some decent hands (Aces-medium kicker, and a couple of connected facecards like Q-J or K-J). Yeah, I was rattled and decided not to risk anymore of my chips and play tight as hell. I was down to $1200. The French guy was moved to another and our table had just eight people left when the guy next to me got knocked out by the Geek. I found Derek and he wasn't doing so well. He won a few pots and lost a few more.

Level 4: Blinds $100-200, Betting: $200-400... I'm in late position and I get A-Q suited spades. I call and find myself in a four way pot with Fez, the Geek, and my nemesis... the old guy with the Pats hat. I flopped a straight when Ks-10h-Jd hit, but lost when Fez caught runner-runner of hearts to catch a nut flush (he had an A-2)/ Disgusted I did not play any more hands at that table and saw my stack down to $200 by the end of the fourth level.

Level 5: Blinds $100-$300, Betting: $300-600... I got switched to another table and found myself behind the button. I saw six hands and only saw one decent hand A-7o, but decided not to play it and go "all-in" when a guy in front of me raised. Just before the blinds got to me I was moved to another table up front. I had two grey chips and the floor manager makes you carry the two chips in a tray... house rules. Anyway, I got moved all the way up to the front (in the middle of the casino near the roulette table) and took my time walking up there. I walked by my brother's table to see how he was doing. I sat down just behind the button again at Table 1, Seat 1. I saw a couple of hands and had to muck them all.

Level 6: Blinds $200-400, Betting: $400-800... I had to make a move. There were guys at my table with huge stacks of chips. I still had a meager $200. Not even enough to cover a little blind. I see A-5o. and want to go all-in. The guy in front of me raised and I got scared off. The next hand: Q-J suited! I was ready to go all-in but two guys in front of me raised!!! I got scared off again and waited it out. A Queen fell on the flop and a Jack hit on the river and I would have won with two pairs and got 3 players to call my $200. I would have had $800 if I had balls!! Alas, the next hand... pocket 10s. I go all-in and a guy behind me raised which was a bad sign. I lost in a three way pot to a guy with pocket Kings. Just before the river was dealt I looked up and saw Derek standing just outside my table. He just got knocked out and I was next.

We figured out that there were seven tables left when we got knocked out so I estimated my placing somewhere in the high 60s... perhaps I was 68 and Derek was 69th? Anyway, I lost $65 and only played four frggin hands all night! Q-J, A-Q twice and 10-10... none of them held up.

Jay played for almost another hour (I got some food... a slice of Chocolate Cream Pie while I waited for Jay to finish) and was knocked out when there were five table left. I estimated he was in the mid 40s... perhaps 45th out of 211. He played well. Alas, none of us made it into the money. There was a long wait for $2-4 and $4-8 tables and it was 10:30pm so we decided to head back to the city and call it a night after an eleven hour stint at Foxwoods.