Caesar's Tournament #1

Continued from last post.

So while waiting for everyone to arrive in Vegas I bought into one of Caesar's daily $65 +5 tournaments and was put into the 4 seat. Right off the table appeared tight and I won a couple of multi-way pots when the flop bricked out and I was the only one to lead out into it. I did, however, spew some of those chips back over the next few hands, as I kept being aggressive with rags but when those same players came back over the top I knew I had to clear way.

About twenty minutes into the first level was one of two hands that I want to recap in a little more detail. I squeezed out 9s,10s in late position and called the raise to my immediate right. Another guy called from the 1 seat and we went in 3 handed. Flop brings 3,10,10 and visions of chips flying my way fill my head. 1 seat checks, 3 seat puts out a pot sized bet, I call and the 1 seat folds. Turn bricks and 3 seat puts out a bigger bet. I stare down the board, hoping he'll guess I'm chasing an ace, maybe put me on big slick. Finally, I can my bad acting and announce a raise and am called instantly. Could he have hit with a pair of 3s? No way, he wouldn't have led into a 3 way pot with them. River brings another brick and he weakly leads out for something like 300 into a pot of 3000. I jam and he folds his A,A face up and I rake it in.

Cracking the painkillers has left me the table chip leader and I try to take advantage by getting involved in a lot of pots, hoping the tight play will continue and I'll be able to apply some pressure with my stack. Unfortunately, I give a bunch back as I get caught raising my A,x when I flop an ace, only to see a raise and a re-raise behind me and fold thinking I'm outkicked at best or have run into two pair or a set, only to see the showdown and see that I would have been good. This sticks with me a bit as my biggest criticism of myself as a player is that I give my opponents too much credit sometimes for being on bigger hands. I dig back in and only a couple hands later, during 50/100, with two limpers already in the pot, I find A,A in middle position. I raise to 350 and get four callers, not my ideal scenario with the painkillers. Flop comes Q, 7, 4 rainbow. Check, check and my friend from the 3 seat leads out. He's on the shortstack now, with not much left behind. The pot is around 2000 or so and my stack is not much more than that. I jam it in. The 5 seat to my left insta-calls. Checkers both fold and the 3 seat shoves his small stack in as well. He flips over 4,4 for a set of 4s. To my left the 5 seat flips over Q,Q for a set of Qs. I'm down to one of the remaining aces to stay alive, as the 5 seat has me barely covered. Neither comes and I'm bounced. Not my best moment and I'm left thinking about aces being cracked and how I could have forgotten how often it happens. The lesson, as always, is that some nights the painkillers make the pain even worse.

Next up: Wild Bill's poker bender and another Caesar's tournament.