No Limit Poker Charity Event

Saturday March 19. 2005.
Charity No Limit Texas Hold Em Event in Lowell, Ma.
Sponsored by 4 Aces Charity Poker

This was my first "official" tournament. Buy in was $75 for $2000 in chips. 2 re-buys allowed within the first hour (only if you busted out), $40 = $1500 in chips. There were about 150 players and the event started with everyone huddled around one sheet of paper with the seat assignments (typed in tiny font). That was the first indication that the tournament was probably not going to be run super well. I was assigned to seat 1 at table 10. Our table did not have a dealer and only had 8 players (the other tables have 9 or 10). Blind structures started at $50/100 and moved up every 20 minutes (by the way their website said blinds usually start $5/10 for $2000 chips). Since we didn't have a dealer and blinds were set to go up so quickly, I figured we were probably going to play less hands than other tables at each blind level. We were given our tiny stack of chips (something like 17 chips, $500x2, $100x5, $50x10) and were told seat number 1 (me) would be the dealer...and this is when I was introduced to the know-it-all super star at my table when he grabbed the deck, opened it up, and tossed the cards all over the table to "mix em up". Great, can I deal now dude?

To my left in seat number 2 is a very talkative guy-type-of-guy who refers to everyone as "kid" and "boss". He was a nice guy and one of my favorite people at the table. Seat 3 is a quiet kid who took his re-buy after the first couple of hands and left the table within the first 45 minutes. Seat 4 is a grandma aged woman whose son is a dealer at the tournament. Seat 5 is another quietish kid named Mikey. Seat 6 is the know-it-all control freak ("I'll hold all the mucked cards" "Dude I'll split up the pots"). Seat 7 is a guy who I SWEAR TO GOD was right out of Mike Caro's "Book of Poker Tells" (he had the moustache, glasses, haircut, and was pulling all the classic tells). Seat 8 is my least favorite player at the table; this guy had no class, berated other players, threw the cards when he dealt, and let us all know when he folded the winning hand (which seemed to be every other hand).

We start and I immediately pick up A,Kc. I call and the flop is no help to me. Two players stay in, I fold. It's a betting showdown. The river brings an A and one of them takes it with a pair of As (weak kicker). It's clear that for most everyone at the table any A is golden and any face card is pretty sweet too. There are a lot of calling stations which makes it near impossible to bluff (because people are calling with any face card and winning pots with high cards) but makes it easier to milk money with winning hands. I'm pretty happy with my play so far and only regret one hand that happend right before the break. I was in the BB with garbage and everyone else folds except for Mikey. The flop comes A,K,x. We both check to the river where I pair 4s. I check it and Mikey fires $1000! I'm thinking this guy is trying to buy the pot (if he wanted a call why would he check to the end then fire out $1000?) so I immediately call and he flips over an A. I acted too quickly and my 4s were not worth a call of $1000. Even if he hadn't had As he could have had a pocket pair or paired the turn card (which was a 10). It was the only time all night I felt like I made a stupid mistake. Other than that hand I played tight, caught a few good hands and by the break I had doubled up.

After the 30min pizza break we get a new players (we lost 4 before the break). Seat 3 is a dude guy about my age, seat 4 is a guy in his late 30s/early 40s who reminded me of the singer of US Maple (have you ever seen High Fidelity? Well remember the strange guy who wanted to buy the rare Zappa album? That was him), seat 6 is a passive aggressive middle aged woman wearing a lighthouse sweater, and seat 7 is another kid about my age, kinda goofy, nice enough guy. After a couple of hands (this is about 2.5 hours into the tournament) we finally got a dealer, making things run a bit smoother.

Soon I find myself in the BB with A,5o and in serious need of more chips if I want to survive these blinds. I catch top two pair on the flop, I bet and it's folded to the moustache guy who calls. The turn is an A and I make a full house. I go all in and he calls (I've got him covered, but not by much). He shows trip As and I take the pot.

I take a few more pots before I'm knocked out by the lighthouse lady. I'm in the SB with 10,Jd. I call the BB and the flop comes Q,K, x with two hearts. Boss next to me had just gone all in a couple of hands earlier scaring everyone out of the pot. He tells me "Kid I was on a flush draw, I had to push my chips in". So at this point people are less inclined to call a big bet because the blinds are so big ($1000/2000) and nobody at the table has a stack worth taking risks with. I push all my chips in (about $7000 more) with the open ended straight draw and lighthouse lady calls almost immediately . She flips over A,9h for the nut flush draw (which I'm still not sure is the reason she called...there is a good chance she called because of her A...but I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt). The next card is the Jh, giving me a pair but completing lighthouse's nut flush ( just to add salt to the wound, the river was a 9 completing my straight). The goofy guy looks up at me at gives me a "holy shit dude, what the fuck, that's crazy, sorry!" comment. I stood up and shook lighthouse's hand. She thanked me (I think for doubling her up...not for the hand shake). I wished the table good luck and left. There were side games going on at this point but they were $25 buy-in tournaments with the same blind structure! No thanks. I would have rather played a cash game.

I would not go to another event by 4 Aces (make sure to stay away from them www.4acescharitypoker.com). The tournament was disorganized, the blind structure was set up to get the event over with as quickly as possible, and the floor people were no help with questions. Before entering the next tournament I'll find out what the blind structure is and learn as much as possible about the hosting company.

Regardless of my opinion of 4 Aces, I left happy and was glad I went. I lasted three hours (which I think was pretty good with the fast blind levels) and was overall happy with my playing. I've learned a lot since the last tournament I played (The Cupcake Classic) and will hopefully now be even more prepared for the next one.