Dead Money tournament...my goals, the fun and my mistakes.

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to play in a satellite with nice deep stacks and levels set up for those who like to play poker. The week before I went I thought of some goals I wanted to accomplish. Everyone there knows that I can be aggressive and if I get chips...LOOK OUT! Here was my gameplan...play tight aggressive, get a feel for the table and then start making moves against those that you can make them against. We had two lunchboxes, and I mean that in the nicest way, who I had to watch closely. My other goals were this, I wanted to knock Tex out very baddly, not because I don't like him-far from it-because he is one of the better tourney players at the table besides Davey. Again, I wanted to knock him out, I did not want to see anyone else do it. I also wanted to get into it with Geno and WildBill. I wanted to outlast Davey and Parfait, two of three that I wanted heads up. So there we have it, I know that the other guys had ideas on what they wanted to do but I wrote notes to myself about how each of them played from my many sessions of watching and playing with them, in a way...it helped.

So I tried to play tight aggressive, I was in the hi-jack seat on the first hand and almost everyone limped to me..."YOU CANNOT LIMP TO ME, WHEN I AM IN POSITION!" I wanted to play tighter but I looked down at 9-5 clubs and raised about 5 times the big blind. Everyone folded around to me. Davey, wanted to see how a master played so I showed him and we had a chuckle. I did try to play tight aggressive and my clues as to what the others were doing fell right into line, it took a while but my reads became good and I was happy.
The day went well and we talked about the different guys who we've played with, Big Mike going to jail, Flyboy, the old 5-5 no limit game where you could buy in for whatever and listening to the stories of the local boys, most of the table were from Houma. We watched the game and I did call the Arizona Cardinals that day and forward into the superbowl. Basically it was well worth the trip and the experience was like none other.

Well, one of the lunchboxes is getting hot and heavy and involved in a lot of hands but is not showing down many of them. He is up and than he starts to lose a little bit, I have him covered in this hand...I open from position with A2clubs and get two callers, the flop is all clubs...he bets into me, I call the other player folds. The turn is a blank, he bets into me again, I min raise and he shoves. Now I have him beat but can he have a set here, or does he have a lesser flush and thinks I'm making a move on him. I try to get a read, just in case the board pairs and he shows a set for the full house. He is stoic and seems like he wants a call, must have a flush. I call he turns over 9-7 clubs, I show my hand and we shake hands as the river bricks out. First one out caused by me, I proceed to put lots of pressure on the table. Tex is getting into hands with good hands and cannot connect, I see the frustration but I also see the calm before a storm brewing in him. He raises and I believe the blinds are 50-100, to $1000, he threw the wrong chip out there. Everyone folds to me in the big blind I look down at a couple of 8's, normally I put him on a big ace and I don't want to race, but he is short stacked, and he is my primary goal. Now, I only made this play to tell him to fold but alas he did not. I say "All In." He contemplates and eventually calls, I think he had AK or AQ. He missed, I have more chips. YES! I KNOCKED TEX OUT! I DID! YES! At the same time I felt bad, I do consider him a friend. Well I got involved with Geno three times and went 2-3 against him, he ended up finishing right outside the mula. I only bluffed you once Geno, if you had a pair on our last head to head you had me beat, the one where you took a while to fold. I got involved with Wild Bill and could not get him to go away. I can't remember the hand that well but there was three to a flush on the turn and he bet into my flop raise, I contemplated and talked out loud on what he might have and raised him BIG on the turn and he called. I gave up when the fourth flush card hit. He showed Ad 8c for the winning hand, he had me the whole way but I could not get him to go away. Maybe he'll talk about it but it twisted me up for a minute. Davey went on a long run and made me fold some good hands because he was to my immediate right, good meaning K 10 suited, q 10 suited, junk like that, LOL! We really did not get into many confrontations. Parfait got smacked around by the other lunchbox, Robert, hope I got that right, he's a cool cat, the cards worked well for him and he chipped up against the likes of Parfait, Geno, Davey and eventually me.

Finally my mistakes, well not plural I just kept making the same mistake over and over again and it kills me! We got three handed and i was short stacked, well I chipped up twice, had both of the other two smashed but could not do anything because after playing for eight hours I believed that both Joe and Robert would eventually start making moves against me. Alas, I was wrong everytime, they were card racks but I stayed in there with second and third best everytime...that is what cost me this satelitte. I was not outplayed. I gave it away. Do I sound arrogant there? Sorry, I really am not trying to but I am telling the truth I messed it up for myself...I got involved in two huge pots when I had the worst of it because I did not believe he could have the hand that he eventually showed me. LOL!

So, I have rambled on long enough, it was a great time and I hope Davey, Wild Bill or Geno set one up again, heck maybe play one of those every other month...this time for the cash...

Well until next time...

Stay nice as rice and mello as jello!