~~Bridgie's Daily Poker Blog ~ Sept 13

I know its been awhile since I've written a Daily F**king Poker Blog, but hopefully this edition will make up for my truancy.

Today's contest of choice was the Pot Limit Omaha Hi affair which drew 570 peeps. It was one of those days where my disciplined play was particularly sharp and had to be because on most occasions my cards sucked. That said, I didn't play very many hands but won a lot of those that I did play.

There was one hand near the end of the first hour that I played, where the flop was 3-3-J with two clubs. I had a draw and when no one bet I was happy to get the next card free. What I didn't know at the time was that the dude in Seat 5 was slow playing J-J hoping for some action to get him a nice pot. The turn card was the 8 of diamonds so no flush. Again Seat 5 slow played it since he was first to act and he had to be disappointed when once again with 5 players, it checked around. The river was the Ace of clubs making the possible flush. This time Seat 5 was having no more of it so he bet the pot. When it got to me (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my draw was to A-A...hehe) I decided to just call to see if anyone else would donate. The next dude to play was the big stack and he raised (must have made a flush)! After the others folded it got back to Seat 5 and he was giddy so he re-raised! Well, by now, if I called I was all in, but I had Aces full and the only hand that could beat me was 3-3 and if that beats me then I'm ok with that (but not without some choice cussing!). I typed in the dialogue box. "If this loses, oh well, I have to call". The pot was over 52K which was a nice stack to take into the break.

In the second hour, they were dropping like flies, but I wasn't because my cards continued to suck and I kept pre-flop folding. I was at a table with a guy named meberagman (ragman for short) and another guy named alnorg (al for short). Ragman had the stack and was abusing Al, but then Al would make it up off other players then lose it back to Ragman. Eventually the table broke up and me and Ragman went to the next table together, but Al went to a different table. I was playing about 1 or 2 hands per lap around the table and was winning enough to stay out of danger, but I was definitely not approaching a so called big stack status. That was Ragman's job. Soon we were down to less than 20 players and I was able to scarf a nice pot getting me in position to make the Final Table. Soon we were on the Final Table (my 20th...*struts*) and who should be there but Al! And that sonofabitch had the most chips! Ragman was way up there, too, and I was in 5th place going into the FT with 187K in chips.

The FT was more of the same for me...a lot of pre-flop folding. But one by one, people started dropping including Ragman, who's aggressive play finally caught up with him and he went out in 8th. At the second break there were 7 of us left and I was in 4th place with 188K. We were giving Al a hard time, but truth be told he was playing good and had the most chips (was up over 800K at one point). The guy in Seat 1 asked him if wasn't he the guy who almost went out on their original table? I asked Seat 1 why the hell didn't you knock him out? Seat 1 said he was set up to, but they broke up the table.

Soon we were down to 5 left and at one point I noticed that I was the short stack at the table. I still had well over 100K so wasn't in immediate danger, but nevertheless, the short stack is always a target in those situations. Then came the key hand. The flop was 10-10-A. I had 10-A in my hand for a nice full house. I slow played it to make sure no one was rat-holing A-A on me and sure enough it checked around. The next card was a 7 and I lobbed out 30K, the minimum bet, and Al called. The river was a 6 and again I lobbed out 30K and Al raised to where if I call I'm all in. He typed in the dialogue box "Its now or never Bstrd". And I typed "yup" (still hadn't called). Then I typed "I got a boat" (which prolly made Al shit his pants) and finally I called and took a nice chunk out of his stack. It got me to over 400K, with Al and Seat 1 at over 500K. It was anyone's game at that point.

A few minutes later I knocked out Seat 7 putting her in 5th (but she was still the low ho so that was good!). Then I knocked out Seat 4 putting him in 4th and it was just me and Al and Seat 1 and we were all pretty even though I think by then I had eked out a narrow lead at that point.

After that it was all Bridgie as the cards I hadn't been getting all day now were coming to me in droves. Add that to the fact that I had been folding so many hands pre-flop (including at the FT) that whenever I bet in the final three, it skeered those guys and I took some pots with nothing but a smile on my face. Al was next to go and again it was me knocking him out in 3rd place. When it came down to me and Seat 1, I started with about a 2 to 1 chip advantage. One of the first things he told me at that point was that he sucked at one on one. I told him I was glad to hear it! We traded some pots back and forth for about 10 hands with no significant change in the size of our stacks and of course no change in the chip lead. Then there came a hand where the flop was 10-9-5. I had a J-Q-K combo in my hand meaning a J, Q, K, or 8 would give me the nut straight (that's 13 outs for those keeping score at home). I felt pretty good about that so I bet the minimum. But Seat 1 raised (he had 10-9) so I just called. Next card was a K giving me the straight. I checked, he bet, I called. River was a blank so I had the nuts. I bet, he raised, I re-raised, he re-raised all in. Game, set, match.

*BstrdBridgie exits stage to thundering ovation after getting his second multi-table tournament win*