“They tryin to shoot down my flight, before it lands, before it lands… But you could miss me with all that. Diss me then crawl back. I really wish yall would fall back. But gettin rich supposed to solve that…” Drake – Lust For Life.

Hey everyone. Got some people wondering where I’ve been. I’ve been playing a lot of poker actually just away from the Internet. I went to a tournament in Tampa at the Hard Rock about a month or so ago. I have the hand history from that. It was a pretty fun tournament. I didn’t get too deep but I got deep enough to post some interesting and fun hands. I’m pretty sure the blind levels were hour long and we started with 11k in chips.

My table had a good mix of people. I knew two faces from the Hard Rock in South Florida. There were also some Hard Rock Tampa players (who knew each other) and some younger kids at the table.

The first notable pot I play a guy makes it 150 preflop (at 25/50) utg. I call mis position with 78ss, another player “Art” calls. I know Art from South Florida Hard Rock and cash games. Flop comes QT2ss we all check to art who bets 650. Utg calls and I call. Turn is the Js. We all check. River Jh. I bet 1400 and utg calls and I win the pot, up to 14k early.

Theres one local at the table who has been active 3 betting preflop. I didn’t know what to make of it at first. I raised utg to 150 with KKs and he repopped me to 325. This was like his 2nd or 3rd small 3bet preflop. I call and the flop comes 56Jss. I check to him he bets 650. I was going to raise the flop (which I should have) but the guy seemed tight and I wasn’t sure what his 3bets meant yet, so I decided to keep the pot small and see what happened on the turn. The turn was a horrible card, the Ac. I checked again and he bet 750. I called. The river bricked and we check checked and he said “I have a jack.” So apparently hes reraising light preflop with JT/QJ/JK 15.5k

Couple hands later at 50/100 someone makes it 300 ep I call with 34cc and the guy from above squeezes to 1600 and shows KK. So maybe his big 3bet is actually a hand? =)

Here’s one of the most interesting hands I played of the day. It happens to be with the same guy from the above two paragraphs. I open QhKd in 2nd position to 300. One guy calls 300 then the guy from above makes it 650. It folds back to me and I decide to go with my read on the guy and pick the pot up there, or rep a big hand for postflop and make it 1650. He calls, other guy folds. Flop comes J78hh. I bet 1800 and he calls again. The turn is the 3h. Now I dont have much, lol, but I really think he’s pretty weak given my read and given how the hand has gone down so far. He had 8k behind and I had about 10k behind. I thought he would fold a ton of his range here. He tanked for a little while, asked me if I had AKhh or AQhh and after about 2 minutes he mucks saying he had a set. I highly doubt he had a set but I think he had like QJ or some kind of jack. Risky bluff, but went with instincts and now up to 16.5k

50/100 guy limps, really aggressive young kid limps, sb limps, I check 99 in the big blind. Flop 962ss. Checks to aggro kid he bets 300. I decide to play the hand a little tricky with a weird bet size and raise to 1175. He calls with about 2.5k behind. I was expecting a shove or fold. The turn is the 7s. I decide to check to induce bluffs (since im never folding.) He checks as well. The river pairs the board with a 6 and I move in. He calls and I win the pot and I am up to 20k.

We are playing 7 handed and I raise K8dd. SB calls and BB calls. Flop KQ5sss we all check. turn is Jh i bet 750, bb calls. River Tc chk chk he has JTo no spade, lose a little pot.

Very next hand I raise to 400 at 75/150 with KKhd. Sb calls and BB calls. Flop comes K97hh I bet 800 and the bb makes it 2k with 9k behind. I decide to just call here and risk the flush hitting, that’s about the only scare card for my hand. His raise is pretty strong and I want him to proceed with the action on the turn out of position. Turn is the 6d and he bets 3k. I move all in and he calls with 77. Up to 31k.

I tightened up considerably because I was getting no hands and I had a pretty comfortable stack/feel for the table. An Internet kid (I assume) raises to 600 on the button at 100/200. I have AKo in the bb and make it 2200. He makes it 5200 with 11.2k behind. I was pretty sure he didn’t have anything here. I figured he would jam made hands and he was probably just making a fancy play on the pot. So I make an easy shove even though it appears I have no fold equity lol and he mucks. 35k now.

This HR regular from Tampa I believe makes it 525 pre. He makes some weird plays kinda amateurish. I call mid position with AQo. Flop comes 552r he bets 1k, I make it 3200 and he mucks. Up to 38k. Same guy raises limper to 750. I have AA in the bb hes hijack. I make it 2700 he calls. Flop 223ssc I have Black aces. I bet 3700 he mucks it 8500 with 20k behind. Earlier in the day he raised like a mid pair on a paired board just to “see where he was at.” So I assume he was doing the same here. I figured he would go with 99+, So I shoved. He ended up mucking. I really should of just called and checked shove turn here, but I thought he was going to call with a any pair really. I probably lost 20k value in this hand but its okay. 49k.

I get moved to a new table and have about 45k. A guy to my direct left who looks like an amateur is running the table over. I raise 2nd pos with 45ss and he calls. Flop comes Q45hh I bet 2325 and he calls. Turn Th we check check, river Qs I check he bets 17k and shows me AKhh. I made it 1050 pre at 200/400.

I test the table out, try to see how the guy to my left is playing with a big stack. Hes in a lot of pots but hes not too crazy. But like the pot above, if I make a hand he is going to pay me off big! I raise QKss on hijack short stack on button calls with 5k behind, bb calls. Flop 573ss I bet 2100 ss goes all in for 5k I call he has 9Tss I fade 58k.

I raised 88 mid position, old guy in the big blind calls (apparently was bad player lol.) I made it 1525 pre at 300/600/50a probably. Flop is A23cc we both check. turn is 4c. We both check. River is 6s, he bets 3k. I didnt think he’d bet an ace on the river and I didn’t think he had a 5 without betting the turn. He turns over 35o and wins the pot.

Next hand I raise T8hh to 1525, short stack goes all in for 6k more. I call he turns over AJo and I brick, down to 43k. Another short stack moves all in for 10k from the hijack. I call on the button with TT. He has 99 and the board runs 952K7 and now I am down to 32k, Jeeeezzzz…

I get moved to a new table and the blinds are not 400/800/100a. I have a big stack to my left. First hand I open A4o to 2100 on the cutoff and on the button he makes it like 6k. I should of went with instincts and shoved and decided to muck. Guy says something about showing who’s table it is blah blah. Then I raise AJo ep he flats and floats my flop bet on dry board and I end up folding turn.

My bustout hand I have about 20k at 400/800/100a and raise AThh utg to 2k. Mid position calls and button calls. Flop comes 762h and we all check. Turn is the 7c and I bet 4800 I believe. I know this is a weird line to take, not betting the flop and betting the 7 on the turn. But I would play my big hands like this if I was planning to check raise the flop and didn’t think anyone had a 7. So I bet and the button flat calls me. Now this guy has already been in a couple pots and all I get from him is weakness here. I really don’t know anything about him but at this point there is like 18k in the pot and I have about 14k behind or something. The river hits 9. I think about it for a little and decide to fight for the pot and I really figure this guy for an 89/45/33/44/55/AJ type hands. I really feel like hes not strong at all here and I shove. He thinks for about 30 seconds and calls. I flip up my AT and he thinks for a second and then shows 55 and I’m out of the tournament. I played for I think 8 hours and was pretty disappointed how everything went down.

I should of been more patient at the last table but I was a little annoyed with how I lost my stack earlier and some pots I lost. The TT vs 99 was huge for my tournament and then I just made some mistakes in the end. I really don’t mind losing how I lost because I sensed weakness and the guy had to make a tough call, but I don’t need to be in spots in that tournament when they will give it to you either. So that’s how that tournament went. A good opportunity at a decent live score down the drain.

I’m really confident about my life game at the time and that is great considering the WSOP is coming. I will definitely be blogging a lot out there so I can tell everyone how I’m doing and what tournaments I’m playing etc. The WSOP has a sick tournament schedule but I don’t know when I will be going out to Vegas yet. The Venetian and Caesars are also running good tournaments so I will be playing those too.

Other than that I have been playing a lot of poker and doing other things. I was in two basketball leagues, one just wrapped up and now I have one left. We play twice a week but the competition isn’t very good. It’s good exercise and it’s nice to be playing in some organized games every now and then. I have also been in the gym and just been hanging out with friends/family/girlfriend.

I know some people have posted about me not blogging that much which is understandable. Don’t take it out on me. I don’t have an obligation to blog. I understand it is free entertainment but it’s not easy having something to write about all the time =) I appreciate those who come and read the blog though. Goodnight.

Also congrats to thedonator who chopped the 100r tonight on Sunday. I got deep in the Sunday Million again and busted 100th or so place AK to QQ. I lost a bunch of flips late in tournaments today and it was really frustrating. It’s poker though lol, everyone has the same complaints. So just realize you’re not the only one who feels they don’t run good. I’m sure every poker player thinks they run bad. =)