I have been meaning to hit the bar poker circuit for quite some time. I’m your typical house player: I know what beats what, somewhat know what I’m doing, and just enjoy playing. I’m not an odds guy, I don’t analyze what my payback will be, and typically only have 1 rule that I try to live by: Don’t Play Trash. But I finally was able to make it to a tournament. I hit up Saba’s in Shakopee. Interesting place, this Saba’s. If anyone has been to downtown Shakopee lately, it’s the typical bar for a type of place: smoky & a melting pot of whites, blacks, Indians, Mexicans, Chinese, Russians, & I’m sure there was somebody from Portugal. But that’s what’s great about gambling.
Tournament field had 48 strong, 6 tables of 8 people. Come to think about it, I couldn’t even tell you how many chips each player started with. I guess I should have counted. It was at least $1,000, but it could have been $1,500 or even $2,000. Anyway, stacks looked the same so tournament started. It was a nice mix at the table: the slutty little 23 year old blonde that was probably homecoming queen, the go-tee guy missing sleeves that was sporting the “World Poker Store” hat, the chubby 40 year old woman who most likely watched 20 hours of poker a day while eating Blue Bunny New York Vanilla, the visor kid who thinks he’s the next Mike McD, the nice quiet older guy next to me, and another of the same next to him. We were missing a spot so they got blinded in and the table had 7. I start out a bit slow, just wanting to see how people are playing. Slutty girl plays just like she was 19 and on her first weekend at St. Cloud State by being very aggressive, Ice Cream girl chases a few flushes & straights, and Mike McD vocally analyzes each & every play of his. I stay cool & quiet for a while, mostly because I wasn’t getting the cards. I limp in on a small blind call and get beat by slutty girl once. And I slow played Ice Cream girl with a set of 4’s and took half of her stack and check raised World Poker Store hat guy with a set as well. Basically, treading water, waiting for the kill. I’m not trying to be Mike McD guy, but one of the rules he said that I do try to play by is the goal of winning one big hand an hour. Well, it happened with slutty girl. Dealt 10-9 suited, I call. Flop comes up 6-7-8, not suited and no flush possibility. Slutty girl is first to act and instantly goes all in. Scares everyone out, but I had her covered and call, knowing she couldn’t have me beat and her only way of beating me was catching something on the turn & river. She turns over a pair of 5’s, doesn’t draw a 5, 9 or 10 on the turn, and her night is done as I nearly double up with one swift kick to her uterus.
I pretty much tread water for the next 20-30 minutes, as Ice Cream girl goes out next, with me having nothing to do with it. The rest of the table was pretty steady, minus Mike McD spouting off his odds before each play. Two more people from a different table get brought into our game, one medium stacked and one very light. Light guy lasts probably 3 hands, and I make my next big score as a big blind getting dealt J-7. Able to see the flop for free, a J-7-4 gets tossed out. I raise the big blind, and new guy raises all in. I have him covered, but barely, so make a decision to go all in since the worst thing that can happen to me is I get to go home and go to bed. He flips over A-J, and draws dead with no ace, so I double up again. I go from middle of the pack to the table chip leader. Mike McD says to me “I like you. You don’t get greedy & are patient.” Well, I got that going for me, which is nice.
With the table now at 5, they bring in a woman from another table named Mercedes to join in on ours. Not quite at my rule of “Never playing poker against a guy named after a city,” but perhaps “named after a car” should be tossed in as well. Mercedes, Thunderbird, Mustang, Intrepid, Trailblazer, Mitsubishi….all potential poker nemesis’. Mercedes acts like she knows what she’s doing and quiet guy #2 to the left of me gets knocked out as his chips simply slowly leave him. They then move 5 of us to a different table and 1 (World Poker Hat guy) goes to a different table. At this new table, I notice two things. 1: There’s 16 people left, so in my first run, I’m already top half. Not horrible. And 2: I’m now at a table where the other 7 all know each other. Not a big deal, but obviously a sign that they all play Bar League Poker. Anyway, not two hands in, I get dealt pocket 8’s. I raise heavy, trying to get anybody thinking of catching a card on the flop out. Works for all but 1 guy. Flop comes up Q-Q-4, two of them clubs. He checks, and I feel like I may get him, so I check as well. Out comes a 6, not a club. He bets all-in. I have 2x as many chips, so it would cripple me if he got me, but I’m sensing he’s on a flush draw. I call, and he turns over Q-7. I’m suddenly down with only an 8 to save me. River comes….and 8. First bit of luck of the night. Said player is pissed, saying “I played that perfectly.” You know what, he did have me fooled. But it won’t be the last time he gets burned on the river. I just say “I got lucky” and accept it as that. Lucky, but lots of chips in my stack.
Very next hand: Pocket Jacks. I raise 2x big blind, which is a big amount by this time in the tournament. I want anybody with with an A, K, or Q out of here. Guy next to me goes all in (has about ¼ of the chips I have) and guy next to him goes all in (has about ½ the chips I have). Guy next to me (original quiet guy to my left from previous table) has A-K. Guy next to him as pocket queens. I’m suddenly down….but flop sports a Jack. Next two cards draw dead and in two hands, I knock out 3 players. Luck yes, I’m not going to complain. With the most chips at my table, I do play a few hands I probably wouldn’t earlier in the night, but mostly get trash and do a lot of folding considering my chip stack. Two other guys get knocked out (Mike McD being one of them) by others at the table, and they move in the remaining people at the other table so there’s 8 of us left at the final table. One of them is World Poker Hat guy, and another is a Russian guy named Alex sporting a Russian soccer jersey and a “No Limit” poker hat. Apparently, Alex is a final table regular and has the biggest chip stack (I’m 2nd).
Tangent time: what’s the deal with poker gear? Is it an intimidation thing? Is it because Mike Matasow sports a “Full Tilt” poker jersey? I realize why those guys wear them: money. But why would anybody buy poker gear?
Anyway, three guys get knocked out rather quickly with the blinds being $1,000-$2,000 and they were short stacked in the first place, so in about 3 minutes from the start of the final table, I’m guaranteed 5th place, which earns points in the Bar Poker League standings (top-8 earn points, you get 5 guaranteed for participating, after that, it goes 100-75-60-50-40-30-20-10). Me and another guy trade some chips back & forth, me losing big on pocket 6’s to his pocket 8’s, and me winning on K-Q over his A-10 and catching a King on the flop. I also earn praise from Alex KGB with laying down pocket 6’s in another hand in which he raised pre-flop, him sporting pocket 9’s. “Berry good laydown. Well played.” So I got Alex’s attention, at least. Well, blinds keep going up, chips keep getting exchanged, and suddenly, there’s 3 of us left. Top-3: not bad for a first time. Alex takes out guy number 3, so it’s me & him left. He has me 2 to 1 in chips, and a few folds by both of us in heads up occur. Then I get dealt A-J, action on him. He puts me all in. I figure if I’m going out, I’d rather have some ammo in my gun, so I call. KGB flips over A-10. Flop comes up empty, turn tosses over a Jack, and I double up. We exchange chips a few more hands, and then I get dealt pocket 2’s. Nothing great, but unless he has pocket something, I’m ahead of him. He’s small blind and calls, so I’m thinking he has at least a decent card. Flop comes 10-5-3, two clubs & a spade. He raises. Thinking he wouldn’t be playing trash and unless he had a J-10 or face-10, I figured I had him, I guessed that he was on a flush draw. I put him all in. He instantly calls. Once again, I guess incorrectly. Alex flips over a 10-5. First thing this makes me wonder is why would he call at 10-5 pre-flop. Anyway, he had me in a different guessing neighborhood. 4 comes out, so I’m down to my last card. Yet, just like the last time I guessed incorrectly, out comes a DEUCE on the river! Saba’s Tuesday night poker tournament goes to Scoops. Alex, surprisingly, takes it in stride and just says well played. Perhaps not well played, but the guy does get it. Anything can happen in poker and no reason to get pissed off at other people for playing what they played. He was the one that played 10-5 in the first place and got lucky on the flop. Sometimes luck goes back the other way.
It’s 1AM at this point (tournament started at 9PM) and I’m exhausted. I take my $50 Saba’s Bar & Grill gift certificate for winning, say my goodbyes and leave. It does make me think about people that play in the World Series of Poker and other tournaments. Yeah, you’re not running and doing a lot of physical activity, but I can see how a poker tournament would be very mentally draining. Sitting, waiting, having to be patient. It is definitely a draining experience. And the bottom line is that it’s luck. You can know all the odds and all about reading people & stuff, but eventually, you have to get the cards. This is why it will always be unknowns that win the World Series of Poker. At some point, everyone can learn the odds. But reading people is interesting. I never thought much about it, but just by playing in a bar tournament teaches you things. I learned that I have to make decisions at a slower pace. For the most part, I know what I’m going to do, but I make the act so quickly when it comes to my turn. By just being a bit more patient & waiting another 10-15 seconds to make my decision would help. And watching people does help. On my one pocket 6 laydown of Alex, for some reason, I just sensed that he wasn’t just holding A-J or K-Q…he had a pocket pair and it was better than mine. Hard to explain, but I just had that sense.
But I can cross “Win a Bar Poker League Tournament” off my list of things to do in life.
