On Saturday I played poker for the first time since September. I decided to play the $500 "High Roller" (High Loller, as my friend Ben Greenberg nicknamed it) tournament at the latest Colorado Poker Championship in Black Hawk. The structure was excellent, though that didn't stop me from playing an all-in pot twenty minutes in with QhTh against 88 on a 984 two hearted flop. I lost and re-entered.
I played some of the tightest poker I've ever played in Black Hawk at my second starting table. I wasn't dealt much and there were actually a couple excellent players there, which is a pretty rare circumstance for Black Hawk. I won one pot with a limped AQ and another with a limp/reraised AA when everyone folded preflop.
At 200-400 a misclick hand came up, which is a common occurrence for Black Hawk. One of the really good players raised to like 1050 in early position and a wild but experienced (for Black Hawk) older guy put in 1600 chips meaning to call. He was forced to raise. I had pocket tens on the button and made it 4050. I knew if I flat-called the misclick raise the first guy would probably reraise when it got to him and I'd be in a tough spot. It was tempting to go for that and then back-shove, hoping to win 9k without a showdown, but I had close to 100 big blinds and didn't see enough reason to risk them all in a marginal situation. With my tight image I knew the first guy would fly away unless he had a monster. He folded but the older guy quickly called (not a surprise). The flop came AA6 with two hearts. He checked, I bet 3500 and he made it 11k. I thought I probably had the best hand and called. The turn came a 9 and he shoved all-in having me slightly covered. I folded.
Shortly after I lost another 10k with JJ against AK and was down to half the starting stack. At 400-800 blinds the older guy (who was playing most hands) raised in late position and I shoved 19k with 88. For some reason the small blind, who'd been playing tight, decided this was a good spot to call off half his stack with 77 and I doubled up.
Sometime later the good player raised early and somebody called. I put in a squeeze with AA in late position and both called. The good player strangely led a hefty 10k on a low flop then folded after I shoved 21k more. Shortly after, the table broke.
I got involved in a big hand at my new table right away. I raised 66 in late position with only the big blind (who had a big stack and appeared to be a loose recreational player) calling. The flop came 964 all diamonds and he checkraised my 3300 bet to 11k. I called and the turn was an offsuit ten. He now bet 20k and I shoved for 56k total. He folded.
I don't recall much happening over the next couple hours other than the blinds steadily rising. I was moved to another table and watched about twelve hands before min-raising a KJo in middle position. The older guy to my left who hadn't played a hand since I sat down shoved for 9.5 BB. Everyone folded and I ended up calling after a minute in the tank. I shall have to ask my professional friends about this call. In any case, it was a hand that showed my rust as I think this would have been a 10-second decision for me back in the day. The older guy had AA and the board ran out K97J7.
This reduced me to just 20 BB but I was able to get some back shortly after by raising an AJ, getting called in two spots, then check-shoving an A high flop with my opponent quickly folding. I may have won a small pot or two before raising KK in early position with only the big blind (who was young, loose, and big-stacked) calling. The flop came 876 and he check-called my bet. The turn was a 7 and he led about half the pot. I slowly called, then called another decent-sized bet on a Q river. He had Q9 and I took down my biggest pot of the day.
Sometime later a good player raised in late position and I three-bet like 2.7x his raise from the big blind with pocket queens. He called and the flop came 854. I made a smallish bet and he called. The turn was an ace and we both checked. I figured he had pocket nines or something. The river was a queen and I decided to make a small bet leaving him apparent fold equity. He obliged and set me all-in. I obviously called immediately and found I had been very fortunate, as he held pocket eights.
I was able to chip up pretty steadily after that as we were approaching the bubble and I now had an above-average stack. Unfortunately a good young player with a lot of chips got moved to my left so I couldn't pillage to my full heart's desire. I reached the money (13 players left) with an average stack of 400k and blinds at 8-16k.
With twelve players left I was moved to the other table and soon picked up an attractive AQcc on the button. I made it 33k with both the small blind and big blind calling. This wasn't the scenario I'd envisioned, as the stacks were relatively shallow and both blinds were young players (not typical Black Hawk fish who like flat-calling bets with 20BB stacks). The big blind was my friend Bryan Devonshire, a longtime pro with over $2m in live winnings who now lives in the Wet Mountains. Devo and I had just swapped 5% before I was moved to his table. The flop came Q98 with two hearts and I bet 50k after both checked. The small blind folded and Devo made it like 127k, sitting on about 400k.
I thought he would just move all-in with a draw. I also thought he wouldn't have an in-between hand like Q5 or K9, as his small checkraise would leave me fold equity to shove with a draw of my own. That basically left big hands and bluffs, though I was a little worried he might be inducing with a KQ or QJ.
I felt like the few hands he'd be calling with preflop would be cards in the exact region of the flop. I'd have expected him to 3-bet with most aces and all pairs and fold most other hands. That didn't leave much left. While I did think it was possible he could be bluffing with K6s or maybe a 76 or T7s straight draw, two pair or a straight seemed more likely so I folded.
It was going to be a long night of wondering but Devo was gracious enough to send out a tweet that he had been "owned by @gnightmoon." When I read that I felt a surge of confidence, as I easily could have been busted on that hand but instead I made the final table of ten, albeit as the shortest stack. I ordered a Fat Tire at last call (1:40 AM - we started at noon) and talked with Devo and the 88 guy about Little Bear Peak.
There were a couple quick casualties and I found myself 8/8. I managed to pump my stack up a bit with some scary but correct shoves and reshoves before winning a huge race with AKs against 88 blind on blind. Just a couple hands later I won another huge race, this time with QQ against the same guy's AKs. Not only did these pots give me a shocking chiplead, but they also eliminated one of the best players I've ever encountered in Black Hawk.
I lost a decent chunk with A5s against a short stacked BB's AJs, then doubled through the big stack's KK with AT all-in preflop as it came A99A5 to regain the chiplead. I then busted Devo with KQ against 33 and went into 4-handed play with a strong chiplead.
The button (the guy who had doubled me up pre-money with the set of eights under my set of queens), who had been playing well, raised to 100k one hand. I made it 270k in the small blind with 7d6d. He called with around a million behind. The flop came KQ5 which I hated, feeling like the hands he'd likely be calling with would be KJ/QJ/JT sort of hands. I decided to just shut it down and check-folded to a small bet. He showed 8h6h. Although it would have sucked to drop another 250k on the hand, I think I should have given it a shot.
A couple hands after that I lost a 3.2m race with TT against the second biggest stack's AQ, then shoved Q9 for 11 bigs on the button and lost to the small blind's 55, who had ten bigs. I was all-in the next hand with K9o and lost to the big blind's aces to finish 4th. Although I am still one of the biggest losers in the history of Colorado tournament poker, it was a blast to run deep in what had been a real house of horrors for me. As bad as some of them play, I think I've overrated my ability to outplay the locals with crap hands in crap positions. Playing a more solid game was instrumental to my success in this one.
