Turning Stone Trip

Day 1 Recap:

As most of you know I came down to Turning Stone yesterday with Moe, Robbie (Tex_North), Deadraw and Bro (Bruno). We left Ottawa around 400pm ish after stopping for some food. After some solid prop betting the whole way here (I was in for $45 to Robbie but broke even) we arrived around 7:30pm. After getting in our room etc we arrive at around 9pm to start playing in the poker room.

I have been so unsuccessful in previous trips here, I sometimes really doubt that I can actually be a winning cash game player but being here for 2 days I know I am going to put in several hours at the cash tables. I was really set that I was going to play 200 max and not set foot near 100 max but after waiting I chose to sit down at 100 max.

I folded for the first orbit and pretty much just observed my table. It was the typical 100 max table with some ok players and some really really bad players.

The first hand I played, I called an $8 raise from a LP player with ATo on the button. We were heads up. The flop came KJ5 with 2 clubs. He checked to me and I figured it was a good time to bet so I bet $10. He flatted and the turn was a Qc which was good and bad but I decided he would not check a flush draw on the flop so I was good and I bet $25 and he thought for a while and folded.

The next hand I played I opened for $12 with JJ UTG. Mouthy local guy who said he could outplay everyone flat called me in MP. Everyone else folded. The flop came KT5 with 2 clubs. I fired $20 at the pot and he flat called me....the turn was a 2s. Well now I had to assume I had the best hand I bet $30, he folded and we got in a heavy debate about what I had. I think I named about 10 different hands. I finally settled on a big pp below the K and then said I had A high.

The last hand I played at 100 max, I was in the sb, there was a raise in front to $8 and 3 callers. The button who had about $350 in from of him re-popped to $25. I still hadnt looked at my cards but I kept telling everyone I was going to put on a squeeze with any 2 cards. After the button repopped, I looked down at KK. I instantly said "well this looks like a good spot for a squeeze play". I pushed all-in thinking the overbet would scream small pair. I really thought the button had AK, AQ and with his stack he wouldnt fold, It was about $100 to call. It folded back to him and he thought about it forever. He kept telling me he had the best hand. I told him if he did he would have called already. He finally folded AdKd face up and I mucked my hand.

Shortly after this our table broke but it was wierd because there were alot of players on the waiting list. I could not find another seat but then the same table opened up as a $200 max table so I sat down with $200.

We were playing 5 handed at first and about the 2nd hand in I raised to $6 on the button with 78o after it was folded to me. Both blinds called and the flop came 459 rainbow. The BB bet out $11 and I flat called hoping to hit a well concealed hand. The turn was a 6s and it put 2 spades on board. The BB checked to me and I bet $20. He flat called and the river was the 9d. He checked again and I was nearly certain I was still good so I fired $25 ( I wanted to get called). He called with Ks9s and I showed my gutshot and explained how I suck at poker but I like to gamble.

The only other significant hand until the last hand was an EP raise to $10 and 3 callers. I was on the button and already thinking of re-popping with any 2 and the cutoff made it $30 well this really cut down my range I could 3 bet with but I look down at KK again and make it $125 to go leaving myself around $125. Everyone folded and I actually showed the KK this time.

The last hand of interest was pretty funny. I think I had bled back down to around starting stack after set mining and missing. I was on the button with 6c8c and by now I had realized that this might have been the weakest game I had every played in. I had only shown premium hands. THere were 5 limpers to my button and I raised it to $7 knowing that really noone will fold but I am going to see the flop for sure and I am certain noone has a clue what I have. The flop came 357 with one club which is about the best I could hope for. Even funnier was the fact that it checked to me. I loved the fact that I was getting a free card with such a concealed hand so I checked. The turn brought the Ad which put 2 diamonds on the board. Again it checked all the way to me. I really did not want to bet here because I couldnt really call a check raise with one card to come so I checked and the turn was the 4c. GIN!!!!!!!! Then things got really interesting. The SB came out betting $30 and the cutoff called. I was thinking "wow can I go a buy lottery ticket right now". I kept thinking how much can I make here. I literally tanked it for a good 2 minutes and decided to raise $90 on top. The SB without hesitation called and I was kind of upset he may have called more because he obviously had a 6. The cutoff thought for about 30 seconds and also called. I hate slow rollers so I tabled the nuts right away and the SB showed me 6h4h for a flopped a straight. The cutoff didnt show. I am not sure what everyone thinks here but I had about $180 total, The SB had about $140 and CO had me covered. Bruno thinks shoving was a better play....I am still not sure

For the first time ever I let everyone talk me into leaving. We were all up money (except DD who is down just a small bit) and we were hungry and needed to get ready to play the tourney today. It was a great night for all of us:

Robbie +$270
James +$180
Bruno +$400
Me +$340
DD + some great memories

The tourney starts at 10 today...wish us luck!

Day 2 Recap

So after writing my long blog for Day 1 we settled into the tourney area to find 354 players in the tourney for a 27k first prize in a $300+40 buy-in.

My table was completely stacked but it was only 6 max so i got to know each player well.

Seat 1 - was an australian dude who says he plays 4-5 large live mtts per week. (About 150 per year). This guy was one of the most solid players i have ever played with live

Seat 2 - definitely the weakest player at the table. Likely a cash game player (not they are weak in general but just dont get that calling raises with 68o and dying on a 26T board is probably a -ev play in a tourney

Seat 3 - he was a turning stone player who regularly played all their big tourneys and there dailys and he also travelled to foxwoods regularly

Seat 4 - me

Seat 5 - known as Roothlus omn stars, i missed his name. A very nice kid who definitely is an online player but very solid

Seat 6 - also a stars player who regularly plays the $220 heads up game. Said he was up from New Orleans but i didn't catch his screen name.


The 6 max tourney was overall an awesome structure. 5k in chips, 40 mins blinds starting at 25/50, 50/75, 75/150 etc. There was so much play and it seemed like you were always in position. My table was so solid and quickly everyone respected each other. We half joked that they may break our table and we will all have 5k in chips still. It seemed that way for awhile as no one was short.

I played in so many pots in the first 3 levels but i also luckboxed a bit hitting 2 sets. Unfortunately the boards didn't look great as both had flush and straight draws on them. I also flatted a raise with 66 on the button and the flop came A86 with 2 diamonds. Seat 3 player wss the original raiser and Seat 1 had checked on the flop. Seat 3 bet 600 into a pot of 600 and i made it 1600. He got upset and called me an "acehunter" and open folded KK. I showed him a 6 and mucked the other one.

At break I built up to about 8k and felt great. After break i really started to run well and abused the seat 2 player calling off his 3 barrel bluff with KJ on a J brickish board. That got me over 10k and i started running over the table.

At one point i raised 7 consecutive hands when i was not in the blinds. On the 7th hand Roothlus said he was sick of it and pushed all-in. Lol, i had AK and called, he had 55 and i won the won the race. This brought me to 15k. I then really started putting the pressure on, if there was a raise no one could call in front of me because i was re-raising again. All the other stacks were short except seat 1 who took turns abusing the shortstacks with me. I really saw no hands and built to over 24k without showing a hand down and playing preflop. A new player was in seat 3 by now and he seemed pretty tight. Blinds were 100/200 and seat 1 raised to 600. Button shoved for 2600 total. I was in the sb with 88 and made it 5500 total. Seat 1 got very upset with me and was even more angry when the button showed 99.

In the meantime another 20kish stack had joined seat 5 but on the last hand before break he doubled up seat 4 in a big hand. I ended the break just over 20k and felt great.

It turns out the lunch break really threw me off. I think in retrospect, i should have done something different than i did but its over now.

The 2nd hand back from break i looked down at 2 black aces which looked so pretty. Raised to 850 (blinds were 150/300 with 50 ante), i got no action but the table was still complaining about me raising all the time. I decided to show this time. About 3 hands later it had been 2 hands since i raised and i opened to 850 with QTo. The seat 1 called on the puck (i hated playing this guy oop) and the bb called as well. The flop came 237. We checked al the way around and the turn was an 8. It checked to me and i bet 1300. The puck made it 3500 to go and said he had around 10k back. Something inattentively told me to shove but i couldn't pull the trigger and i folded.

The hand that I could not get out of my mind turned out to be the turning point hand....I usually will always ask the BB how much they have before I play my SB. It gives me a chance to think about what I am going to do before I look at my cards. I did not do this in this case and I did not put enough thought into the hand. In 6 hours of playing I had not made a single mistake and in 20 seconds of lapse judgment I made a fatal mistake. Since this hand I have discussed it with pretty much everyone. Most of the experienced MTT players I talked with said they did not hate the play but the result was just brutal. So here it goes:

I have about 18k and the BB has around 11.5k. The blinds are 150/300 with 50 ante. It folds to me in the sb and I raised to 850 with 97o. Not a terrible starting hand but not a hand you want to limp with. The BB said "raise to 2900 total' before he could finish his sentence all my chips were in the middle. I knew I could never make a play like that thinking about it for even a second and I knew he had to be huge to call. Well he was pretty huge you could say as he called faster than I could even get my chips in and he turned over KK. I literally felt sick to my stomach as the dealer counted out the mess of chips after the board read A3376. After all was said and done I had around 6200 left. Its really hard to explain my intentions on this hand but this kind of stuff has worked for me so often in the past its hard to stop doing it even though in the long run it is not a smart thing to do and especially in this situation.

I really tried to calm myself down and I knew all I needed was one or 2 breaks to get back to where I was. I really did compose myself and stayed focused on the game. The first hand after this mess I pushed from the button with KsJs and the blinds folded. I did not make another move for another 2-3 orbits so I was chipped down to around 5100. Seat 3 opened UTG to 900 and I looked down at AK and instantly my chips were in the middle. It folded back to him and he insta-called which made me feel a bit sick but he only had QQ so I was in good shape until I completely bricked the board and finished around 110th out 354.

I went back to the room and called home and surfed the net a bit only to have Robbie and James walk in the room 20 minutes later so our whole room was out of the tourney.

Onto the cash games I went. It was around 6pm and I played until 7am with a small break for dinner so I cannot possible explain every hand (although sadly I remember every hand). I blew through a quick $200 before dinner. I made one bad bluff representing a big hand and got called by 4th pair but to be fair to the guy I might have called with K high the bluff was that bad. I then thought we were going for dinner so I limped with 77 UTG and UTG + 1 raised to $10, 4 players called and I shoved allin for $90 total. UTG + 1 instacalled and I figured I needed a 7 which I did not get and to make it worse, an A hit on the turn. He showed AQo and I lost another race....It was a gamble but hey its better than playing blackjack as I was ahead and there was dead money in the pot.

After dinner I sat at 100 max and was in for around 150-160 and had about $150 in front of me. I felt good and my table was so bad it was kind of funny. I called a $10 raise with 77 in a 4 way pot and the flop came AdTd7d. Basically the hand checked all the way to the button who bet $30, the BB made it $80 and I pushed for about $140 total. He called and asked him if he had a diamond and he said no, and again I figured I was coolered into a set over a set but instead he showed AT. Well we know how this one ends and I am out another buy-in.

I finally break free when I decide to die on JT on a Jx9s7s board against 2 other players and I get my whole stack in basically on the flop. Again the turn is an offsuit Ace and I figure I am dead again to the Ace high flush draw except the guy shows Ks6s and he bricks the river and I am up to $240. I get moved now to a new table and have Deadraw sitting next to me.

Its around 3am at this point but I finally feel like I am getting somewhere. I won a fairly small pot with some pathetic hand like 75o and had to show it down and the very next hand I get QQ. I raise to $15 in the cutoff re-raises to $45 total and leaves himself $40. This guy looks tighter than Duncan but I know I cant just call here and the button also flatted in between us. I am not good enough to fold QQ at 100 max preflop although if it was an hour later I would have against this guy. Of course he has AA and I lost a big pot. After plugging away for another few hours I got my stack over $300 again just winning small pots and calling some really bad bluffs with 4th pair and Ace high it was around 6am. I really had the table where I wanted them at this point chatting into everyone. I actually value bet 3rd pair on a hand because I was so sure I was good and I talked this guy into calling after he was so sure he was beat. The guy was on permatilt because of that hand and donated $400 into the game after that.

Around 7am I made a horrible call on a 29JJ7 board with A9. Everything told me this guy had a J and was not bluffing but for some stupid reason I called anyway. On the whole trip about 30 hours of poker, this was the only river call I made where my read was off so I was pretty happy with that. I told Robbie to make me leave and he left himself (wtf was that anyway). Robbie came back 20 mins later and said lets go and I said ok after this hand. I raised to $12 with JJ and got 2 callers. The flop came T94 with 2 spades. I bet out $25 and a tilty internet kid shoved for $55 more. I called anyway even though its probably not a great call. The turn and river were both spades and he said "good call, I have Ac4c" so I win a good pot and end up around $475.

In the end I lost about my tourney buy-in ($340) but I was very happy with how I played and as always I learned a lot playing with different players and by talking poker the whole way there and the whole way back with some of jackseven's best players.