Well I cashed out of Poker Stars in June (I also cashed out of Full Tilt, but who knows whether I'll ever see that money, which Phil Ivey might have blown on craps for all I know).
First a friend from Auckland wanted to play NLHE with me for play money. I gave him 400,000 chips so we could play at the high-stakes (!) tables; to be honest after playing for real money the pretend stuff doesn't really cut it. He and I were just about the only two players who ever folded pre-flop but he made it a bit too obvious when he had a big starting hand. It was a bit of fun I guess.
I had no cash left on Stars but I did have $32 of tournament money. There's a $215 single draw WCOOP tourney next month and I wanted to see if I could qualify for it, but there were no decent satellites scheduled so I fired up some micro badugi tournaments which I find blissfully stress-free, and now have a cash bankroll (if you can call it that) of $66. In my first few attempts I "bricked out" and thought I might exhaust all my T$, but I snagged a first and a second in quick succession as well as a bunch of fourths.
Hand 1
This hand came from a tournament I played last night. Only three paid. I was virtually dead and buried but hit a seriously jammy two-card last draw. From there I completed an unlikely victory, overcoming a five-to-one chip disadvantage to beat ShakirR in just 23 hands of heads-up play. I rode my luck a bit, but was very pleased with how I played heads-up.
PokerStars Game #65602422527: Tournament #420513185, $3.00+$0.30 USD Badugi Limit - Level X (500/1000) - 2011/08/06 6:20:54 ET
Table '420513185 1' 8-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: catfishapila (5420 in chips)
Seat 3: Kadorci (2965 in chips)
Seat 5: ShakirR (16285 in chips)
Seat 7: bobina10 (5160 in chips)
Seat 8: plutoman20 (1670 in chips)
catfishapila: posts small blind 250
Kadorci: posts big blind 500
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to plutoman20 [2d Ac Th Ks]
ShakirR: folds
bobina10: calls 500
plutoman20: raises 500 to 1000
catfishapila: folds
Kadorci: folds
bobina10: calls 500
*** FIRST DRAW ***
bobina10: discards 1 card
plutoman20: stands pat on [2d Ac Th Ks]
bobina10: bets 500
plutoman20: raises 170 to 670 and is all-in
bobina10: calls 170
*** SECOND DRAW ***
bobina10: stands pat
plutoman20: discards 2 cards [Th Ks]
Dealt to plutoman20 [2d Ac] [As Kd]
*** THIRD DRAW ***
bobina10: stands pat
plutoman20: discards 2 cards [As Kd]
Dealt to plutoman20 [2d Ac] [9h 4s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bobina10: shows [9c 7h 2s Ad] (Badugi: 9,7,2,A)
plutoman20: shows [2d Ac 9h 4s] (Badugi: 9,4,2,A)
plutoman20 collected 4090 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4090 Rake 0
Seat 1: catfishapila (small blind) folded before the Draw
Seat 3: Kadorci (big blind) folded before the Draw
Seat 5: ShakirR folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 7: bobina10 showed [9c 7h 2s Ad] and lost with a Badugi: 9,7,2,A
Seat 8: plutoman20 (button) showed [2d Ac 9h 4s] and won (4090) with a Badugi: 9,4,2,A
Hand 2
Four paid this time. I had a very ugly-looking tri hand here and never expected it to be good. With four left I grabbed a slender chip lead only to get rivered and lose nearly half my stack. Shortly after that I was dealt a pat 8-7 but ran straight into a dealt number seven and my promising position turned into a min-cash.
PokerStars Game #65640416707: Tournament #420514609, $2.00+$0.20 USD Badugi Pot Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2011/08/06 22:48:49 ET
Table '420514609 2' 8-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 3: plutoman20 (1485 in chips)
Seat 4: MasetheShark (5945 in chips)
Seat 5: R0B_45 (3775 in chips)
Seat 6: minoti_123 (5985 in chips)
Seat 7: ROMA1207 (8020 in chips)
Seat 8: xbelieverx (13790 in chips)
plutoman20: posts small blind 100
MasetheShark: posts big blind 200
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to plutoman20 [7h 4s Ks 5d]
R0B_45: raises 400 to 600
minoti_123: calls 600
ROMA1207: folds
xbelieverx: folds
plutoman20: calls 500
MasetheShark: calls 400
*** FIRST DRAW ***
plutoman20: discards 1 card [Ks]
Dealt to plutoman20 [7h 4s 5d] [6h]
MasetheShark: discards 1 card
R0B_45: discards 1 card
minoti_123: discards 1 card
plutoman20: checks
MasetheShark: checks
R0B_45: bets 2400
minoti_123: folds
plutoman20: calls 885 and is all-in
MasetheShark: folds
Uncalled bet (1515) returned to R0B_45
*** SECOND DRAW ***
plutoman20: discards 1 card [7h]
Dealt to plutoman20 [4s 5d 6h] [Td]
R0B_45: discards 1 card
*** THIRD DRAW ***
plutoman20: discards 1 card [Td]
Dealt to plutoman20 [4s 5d 6h] [9h]
R0B_45: discards 1 card
*** SHOW DOWN ***
plutoman20: shows [9h 4s 6h 5d] (3-card: 6,5,4)
R0B_45: shows [9d Ac 5s Js] (3-card: 9,5,A)
plutoman20 collected 4170 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4170 Rake 0
Seat 3: plutoman20 (small blind) showed [9h 4s 6h 5d] and won (4170) with a 3-card: 6,5,4
Seat 4: MasetheShark (big blind) folded after the 1st Draw
Seat 5: R0B_45 showed [9d Ac 5s Js] and lost with a 3-card: 9,5,A
Seat 6: minoti_123 folded after the 1st Draw
Seat 7: ROMA1207 folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 8: xbelieverx (button) folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Hand 3
This one is straight out of the good folds file. In this crazy six-way family pot I might have been better off drawing two. I was pretty sure at least one of my opponents had at least a smooth seven here. I was short-stacked for most of this tournament (I'm getting used to that!), playing patiently but aggressively with the chips I did have. I was excited to get dealt a pat 8-6 on the bubble with four remaining but unfortunately I ran into a pat 7-6 for my second straight short-handed monstering.
PokerStars Game #65642470004: Tournament #420512840, $2.00+$0.20 USD Badugi Pot Limit - Level II (20/40) - 2011/08/07 0:32:08 ET
Table '420512840 1' 8-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: plutoman20 (1550 in chips)
Seat 2: Lady Debbi (1180 in chips)
Seat 4: dark tetris (3460 in chips)
Seat 5: skinlan (1660 in chips)
Seat 6: METATR0N (1420 in chips)
Seat 7: BJW..26974 (850 in chips)
BJW..26974: posts small blind 20
plutoman20: posts big blind 40
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to plutoman20 [8s 4h Qh 2c]
Lady Debbi: calls 40
dark tetris: calls 40
skinlan: calls 40
METATR0N: calls 40
BJW..26974: calls 20
plutoman20: checks
*** FIRST DRAW ***
BJW..26974: discards 2 cards
plutoman20: discards 1 card [Qh]
Dealt to plutoman20 [8s 4h 2c] [Kh]
Lady Debbi: discards 1 card
dark tetris: discards 1 card
skinlan: discards 1 card
METATR0N: discards 1 card
BJW..26974: checks
plutoman20: checks
Lady Debbi: checks
dark tetris: checks
skinlan: checks
METATR0N: checks
*** SECOND DRAW ***
BJW..26974: discards 1 card
plutoman20: discards 1 card [Kh]
Dealt to plutoman20 [8s 4h 2c] [Qc]
Lady Debbi: discards 1 card
dark tetris: discards 1 card
skinlan: discards 1 card
METATR0N: discards 1 card
BJW..26974: checks
plutoman20: checks
Lady Debbi: checks
dark tetris: checks
skinlan: checks
METATR0N: checks
*** THIRD DRAW ***
BJW..26974: discards 1 card
plutoman20: discards 1 card [Qc]
Dealt to plutoman20 [8s 4h 2c] [Ad]
Lady Debbi: discards 1 card
dark tetris: discards 1 card
skinlan: discards 1 card
METATR0N: discards 1 card
BJW..26974: bets 120
plutoman20: raises 170 to 290
Lady Debbi: raises 170 to 460
dark tetris: folds
skinlan: folds
METATR0N: folds
BJW..26974: raises 350 to 810 and is all-in
plutoman20: folds
Lady Debbi: calls 350
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BJW..26974: shows [2h 6c 3s 5d] (Badugi: 6,5,3,2)
Lady Debbi: shows [4s 6h Ac 7d] (Badugi: 7,6,4,A)
BJW..26974 collected 2150 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2150 Rake 0
Seat 1: plutoman20 (big blind) folded after the 3rd Draw
Seat 2: Lady Debbi showed [4s 6h Ac 7d] and lost with a Badugi: 7,6,4,A
Seat 4: dark tetris folded after the 3rd Draw
Seat 5: skinlan folded after the 3rd Draw
Seat 6: METATR0N (button) folded after the 3rd Draw
Seat 7: BJW..26974 (small blind) showed [2h 6c 3s 5d] and won (2150) with a Badugi: 6,5,3,2
