Trying to make do

I went to the International for a change last night, but the change of venue didn’t help my poor recent form. I played the ROE £60 tournament, followed by a spot of £1/£1 cash. The evening was notable only for a complete dearth of hole cards - I think I’ve probably never had a more motley collection of starting hands over the course of a long session.

I did my best with what I had, and here is how the tournament panned out:

Hand1
I raise in the cut off to 300 with KQ and the BB defends.

Flop is all rags

Check, Check.

Turn is an Ace

When BB checks again, this seems a simple spot to take it down representing the Ace so I do with a bet of 500.

Hand2
I check my option in the BB with AQ65 double suited in a 5 man pot 1k pot. I flop the nut flush and check. Steve leads from UTG for the pot and gets a caller. I check raise to 3k and only Steve calls. We get all the money in on the turn and Steve has an inferior flush, and misses his one out to the straight flush and I eliminate him. Up to 14k in chips now.

Hand3
I raise 9♥10♥ in mid position to 800 (blinds 150-300 now). Button calls.

Flop is an unpromising QsAc2h.

I nonetheless take a stab at it and take it down with a 1200 bet.

Up to a high point of 15k.

I miss a few Omaha flops here and there, and am inactive for a few orbits, to drift down to 10k

Hand4
Folded to the button who raises to 1200 at the 200/400 level. I call in the BB with 22 (we are both fairly deep)

Flop KQ9 (suits irrelevant)

Check, Check

Turn is the 8, and I bet 2k and he calls after some consideration.

River is the 7, and I fire a bet of 3.5k leaving only 3k behind figuring this must look fairly strong.

He tanks for ages before somehow finding a call with Q4 - sigh. I remember this guy from when he won this tournament before Xmas, and remembered that he doesn’t like folding too much. Picked a bad opponent here for such a move I guess.

Hand5
The whole table limps for 400 and I figure this is a good spot to get my 3k remaining chips in with AQ24 double suited. I get one caller and out-run JJT9. With all the dead money this gets me back in business with about 10k.

Hand6
2 limpers, I make it 1800 on the button with 2♦4♦ and all fold to get me up to 12k.

Hand7
Serial Omaha raiser makes it 2k from UTG at the 300-600 level and I re-raise to 7k with AKQ8 from the cutoff. He shoves for 3k more and I have to call, before finding out I am in serious dung as he has AKK9. I am actually leading by the turn, but a 9 on the river gives him a better 2 pair to cripple me. I think I was a bit unlucky there that he had such a big hand, as he had been raising frequently.

Hand8
I get the last of my chips in with TTJ8 against 2 other players. However, once someone pots the A33 flop, I know I am pretty much drawing to a ten (or indeed drawing dead), and I don’t get one in any case. I bust out in about 17th place out of 35 runners.

On a side note, the Baron excelled himself by busting out after about 4 hands, rebuy included!

The cash was also uninspiring, despite a promising start. I ended £250 in the hole, mostly due to some questionable over aggressive bets, which led to me having pot odds to call with the worst hand (eg open ended straights), and failing to get the required suck outs. I also managed to get myself all in at one point with AQ, verses AK and KK which is a bit of a disastrous spot. This was down to my refusal to ever give the Baron credit for having any sort of hand pre-flop.

My final £80 went with a frustration call with QJTx on a KT3 board. I had pretty much had enough at that point of looking at dismal hole cards, so was relieved to go home.

I’m out again tonight, at the round of each cash game at the LC.