2007 Gulf Coast Poker Championship

[CobaltBlue 662]

Wasn't sure whether I should start a new thread, but following Double D's lead...August 29th - After driving for 4 hours, I arrived at Holiday Inn that night and then headed over to Beau Rivage to register for the next day's event. The initial registration process was a little convoluted. First, I walked from the parking deck across the shopping/restaurants/casino to the poker room where they informed me that I needed to go to the convention area, which was up some escalators. Upon getting up there, I discovered that I was going to need a Member's Card. Registration for that was back down the escalators and on the other side of the casino. After getting the Card, I head back to the registration desk. Apparently, they didn't allow registration with cash, so I had to go to the cashier's cage in the tournament/convention room to get chips. Took those back out and got registered. I was very impressed with the tournament room setup though. I met up with Greg (bull) and had some gumbo downstairs. After that, I decided to sit in a 2/5 NLHE game for a bit. Not much of anything happened. Most of the players were the young/good variety, though they liked to "teach" at the table too much. Game broke after a few orbits. I briefly met Derek (FRDD) and his girlfriend and headed to the hotel to sleep.August 30th - Having not played live poker in a little over a month, I was fired up. The tournament was a $300 buy-in with I got AA in an early hand, picked up a couple of callers who folded on the flop to give me a small cushion. Don't recall anything of significance happening for the first level or two. However, during the 3rd level, I decided to limp with KcQc in MP and we saw the flop 5 ways. Came down Js Ts 9h. Checked to me, I bet, guy raises, folds, he verbally announces that he's not folding, I go all-in, he calls and shows KsQs. "You're free-rolling," I sadly mutter. He says, "I'm going to win!" The 6s promptly peels off on the turn, and I'm bounced. I head down to get some lunch. After that, I go back to the poker room and decide to sit in a 2/5 NLHE. I'm much happier with the line-up. It appears to be full of older loose-passive donkeys...with some bad loose-aggressives thrown in for good measure.The first hand of note, I pick up QQ in the BB and raise to $40 after 4 limpers. All of them call. The flops AK6. Checks around. Turn 8. Checks around. River 3. I check/call a small bet. UTG shows K3s. I happily put some more money on the table. A little while after, I pop pre-flop to $25 with AdQd in EP and pick up an MP caller and blind caller. The flop is Qs 7s 6c. I bet $50, MP calls. Turn 2h. I bet $130, MP calls. River 4c. I check, MP bets $180, I call. MP shows 6s4s. Obviously not happy, I take a short walk to calm down.The next interesting hand, I hold 77 on a board of 7d5d5c8d7s. I manage to get some money out of KdJd and 54o and win a $500 pot. Several hands later, I'm sitting on $1000. I look down at AcKc on the button.The loose guy (MP from before) had straddled and a couple players had limped. I make it $100. Straddler calls and everyone else folds. Flop Qh 7s 6h. He checks, I bet $150, he calls. Turn Jh. He checks, I check. River 7c. He bets $200, I fold. He "kindly" shows me a 7 and notes that he made a full house on the river. This leads me to conclude that he called $100 pre-flop with 76s...but whatever 7x he had, it's pretty ridiculous.Skip forward an orbit. I'm down to $800. I limp with KhJh in EP (not a play I'd make in a typical game). 4 limpers behind. BB makes it $30. I call and so does everyone else. Flop Qs Th 9h. BB leads for $50, I call, different MP raises to $150, folds to BB who calls, (seeing almost $400 already in the pot) I go all-in. The MP snap-calls (I have him covered by a tad). The BB (who has me covered) thinks for a long time before finally calling. MP shows J8o (he's drawing dead). I was pretty sure that BB had QQ...and as he calls for a paired board, he shows it. I plead, "Please don't pair the board." Turn Q. The $2400 pot gets pushed in his direction, and I walk from the room, dazed. I'd played for 4 hours, gotten all of my money in with the flopped the nut straight twice...and lost both times. I met up with Derek and Jennifer again and convinced them to have sushi. I hadn't had some in a while, and I figured it'd be nice to practice some Japanese while eating some of my favorite food to take my mind off of the disastrous start. Derek was very kind in offering to pay.Not content to finish with a losing day, I went back to my hotel room and played a bunch of MTTs online. I got pretty far in the 6-max $30k ($100+9) on FT. I was chip leader with 100 left and had one of the top 3 stacks with 11 left. I ended up getting it all-in against the guy in 2nd who barely had me covered. I held AA. He held KK. He flopped a K and I got bounced. The cash was enough for me to break even on the evening...but still not a particularly happy event.August 31st - Determined to do better in Event #2 ($500), I got off to a good start by hitting quad 7s and making a decent starting cushion. I wasn't particularly impressed with my table line-up. The two younger guys that I was worried about were directly on my right, which worked out great for me. I built up from 2.5k to 5k over the first few hours before taking a big hit when I ran AQ into KK. Down to 1.8k, I ended up more than tripling when I picked up AQs against AKo and 99 and managed to catch a miraculous flush on the river. From there, I outlasted everyone at my starting table. I was pretty happy that I didn't have to move tables until around the dinner break. That's always something that seems to hurt me in live tournaments...I develop reads/image...and then have it destroyed with an inopportune table break. My dad had shown up that afternoon, so we had dinner at a steak house downstairs.After we got back, I intended to bully on the bubble, but there just weren't opportunities, so I was nursing a middle stack (20k) when I finally got moved. My new table had a bunch of big/loose stacks on my left, so I was a bit handicapped. After making it into the money, we were down to around 40 (of 606 starting). A short stack moved in from UTG, I moved over the top all-in, and another guy moved over the top of me. I showed AK. The guy that had me covered showed AK. The shortie showed KQ. Board Qxxxx. I was distressingly crippled. Down to 4.7k with blinds of 1k/2k and 200 ante, I moved in with A7o. Somehow, I got a guy that had played with me earlier to fold TT, and I got another guy to call with A5o. My hand held and I essentially tripled. The very next hand, I shoved AKs from UTG and picked up a caller in AJo. I doubled. The very next hand, it folded to the SB who raised, I shoved TT, and he called with A8o. I doubled. So I went 20k->4.7k->48k in the span of four straight hands. Soon after, I got moved again.Down to 27, my new table was a bit of nightmare. The two biggest stacks in the tournament were on my direct left. Early after the table assembled, the old guy with monster chips on my direct left open-raised from the button. The BB, a middle-aged guy with a ponytail and mustache, continually bitched about folding a pair, and warned "Catfish" that he didn't like his blind being attacked. Fast forward two orbits, I've folded every hand. A guy in MP limps, and I look down at AQo in the CO. I pop to 9k (blinds still 1k/2k). The SB is a very large woman who had been playing quite tightly/oblivously and had managed to build a giant stack. She tried to complete from the SB before being informed that there was a raise. After being told she'd have to leave her completion in the pot, she decided to call the raise. The ponytailed BB loudly announced that he was going all-in. The limper folded. He started yelling about how he warned everyone to not mess with his BB. So I'm sitting there trying to calculate the odds and put the puzzle together, and he's essentially yelling at me in a very arse-holeish way. He kept giving me really mixed signals with the things he was saying...telling me I was probably 17% and "Do you really want to call off your tournament with junk?" and "You're getting 2-1." After about a minute of this circus, I finally fold...but not particularly happy with that decision at all. Finally, the nightmare table breaks for the final 18. I get position on Catfish and the ponytailed guy is at the other table. However, I'm starting to get quite short. The opportunities to ship are few and far between, so I finally get it in with QJo when it folds to me in the CO. The button calls with 88. The board comes Q7883. I'm out in 17th for a payday of ~$2k. Obviously, I would've liked to have done a bit better, but it's my biggest live tournament result ever...so I was pretty happy.I saw the ponytailed guy the next day. He informed me that he'd held QQ. It's still a close fold.August 31st - If I hadn't busted in 17th, I wouldn't have been able to play Event #3 ($500). That tournament started quite well. I kept hitting the nuts and getting paid off and built my stack to 9k within the first few levels. From there, I went really really card/situation dead. After getting pretty short, I got it in with AK against JJ and hit a board of JT9Q2. Sitting in decent shape at that point with 14k, I watched MP raise to 1800 with blinds 400/800. SB called, and I shipped it in from the BB with AKs. The raiser folded, and the chick in the SB thought for a long time before finally calling with JJ. The board bricked, and I was left with 2.6k. A couple of hands later, I got it in with ATs against J9o/ATs/T2o. Unfortunately, the guy with J9o (who had 1.4k won), and I was down to 800. I don't recall ever being recrippled like that. Two hands later, I go in with 65o against a raiser who I figured would give me protection. He has AA and I get bounced, busting with around 90 left (685 started).September 1st - Now confident that I do know how to play live MTTs, I go into Sunday deciding that I'm going to accumulate chips so that I can absorb coin flips. Despite building a small quick cushion, I'm down to 1.4k rather quickly after flopping a flush and losing when a guy rivers a better flush. I start having to ship my chips in rather regularly (once or twice per orbit) and don't get callers for a long time. Finally, I run AK into AT and hold. Then, I knock off another guy with AK over 66. At that point, I had a little breathing room (7k w/ average 4.5k), so I started picking off small pots by outplaying opponents post-flop. This was particularly fun when my opponents kept showing me the hands they were mucking. Finally, with blinds 150/300 and ante 25 (they'd just gone up from 100/200 ante 25), I mistakenly open-raise to 600 with QhTs on the button. As a friend noted, "Worse things have happened." The old man in the BB calls. He has me covered by a tad, and we're definitely two of the biggest stacks at the table. There are around 200 left in the tournament. Flop Tc 4h 3h. He donkbets 1200. I think for a while. I know he's got something, but I feel like I've probably got the best hand. I don't want him to draw. A normal raise would probably commit me, so I decide to shove. He thinks for a bit and calls with Ad4d. I'm shocked...and slightly terrified for some reason. Turn 4. River x. I'm out. He justifies to the rest of the table, "He was playing too many pots," as I walk away.All in all, I'm happy with my performance during the series. I caught a few breaks and suffered a few pretty terrible beats, but that's the game. I also enjoyed meeting Greg and Derek. Hopefully this will be an annual event.

[leftygolfer 7]

Good read.More importantly, how was the gumbo, sushi and steak house?

[CBass1724 1]

Congrats on the trip and awesome report!

[krup24 0]

good read, sounds fun

[Acid_Knight 2]

Finally, with blinds 150/300 and ante 25 (they'd just gone up from 100/200 ante 25), I mistakenly open-raise to 600 with QhTs on the button. As a friend noted, "Worse things have happened." The old man in the BB calls.

It's not like you had 45o after all. If you flop top pair, you're often good here.Nice report. Very enjoyable read.

[CobaltBlue 662]

More importantly, how was the gumbo, sushi and steak house?

Gumbo was decent. I'm not a big gumbo person generally, but when I'm not particularly hungry and the sandwiches are $8, I'll go for a $4-5 bowl of soup. The sushi and steak were a bit on the expensive side, but they were quite tasty.

[ForRealDD 0]

nit

[Acid_Knight 2]

Gumbo was decent. I'm not a big gumbo person generally, but when I'm not particularly hungry and the sandwiches are $8, I'll go for a $4-5 bowl of soup. The sushi and steak were a bit on the expensive side, but they were quite tasty.

I got a good place for sushi with reasonable prices next time you're out here.