Thanks Bill Allan for a wonderful tournament!!
First, there was BARGE. This was my type of party. BARGE represented to me a gathering of expert poker players who were willing to talk about and demonstrate the ancient secrets of card play. Talking about the levels of poker seemed to me as a rare event indeed. Most feel uncomfortable talking about the hidden secrets. These lessons do not come free. I paid for these lessons. Poker lessons are not like hiring an instructor, but lessons learned through the school of hard knocks. All these events gather some of the best and FARGO 99 is no exception. School is in now session.
Geeting There....
I booked my flight from PHX to PVD through CIN. I used to fly Delta
enough to almost guarantee me a first class seat. Now I am in "steerage
class" with a full airplane, and in a middle seat between two rather
large individuals. I arrive at PVD at 2115. My bags come out at 2200. I
was a bit nervous but everybody on the flight was waiting for his or her
bags. Get the bus for the off-site Car rental. It does not matter, Avis,
Hertz or Thrifty. All the cars are off site at PVD. Okay, now it is on
to Ledyard Connecticut.
The Check-in into Two Trees Inn I believe this was the best of times and the worst of times for the gathering of RGP. FARGO was the best poker, and the best of friends. Foxwoods hotel was the worst of service. Because the Foxwoods casino has a monopoly as the only hotel for miles, the lack of service shows this fact. When the Mohegan Sun opens their hotel, I believe this will all change.
After 6 hours sitting in a middle-seat, my back is a rigid board. I walk into the Two Trees Inn as if I had a broomstick up my butt. I am carrying a garment bag, my golf clubs, and my laptop computer. There are no Bell Hops to help me. The young lady at the desk is talking to a fellow employee on the phone, and does not even realize I am in line. I start to check in. She looks hard for a room. She is pressing all sorts of keys and finally after 10 minutes she finds a room. I get my key, and ask for some help. It is clear now that I am listing to right heavily and grimacing in pain. She gets me a cart from the backroom. I am on my own.
Because I travel 200 days a year, I am accustomed to much better service at certain hotels. At the Bellegio and Mirage, I always get an upgrade. With ATLARGE, I got a suite at the Tropicana. I weave my way through the Two Trees hotel to find my room. I get inside to find two full size beds rather than the king I thought I had reservations. I go back to the front desk to explain the error. "Sir, you only requested a king size bed, there are no guarantees." "You are lucky, you got a room at all!" Obviously, Foxwoods is not goaled for customer astonishment.
I actually get settled into my room at midnight. I have a golf outing tomorrow .. so I had better rest
FARGO-GO The Fossil-Man set up a great golf outing. This was fantastic! Nolan and I challenge the world to a best ball skins-game. I am a 20 handicapper and Nolan needs a scientific calculator to count the strokes for the first three holes. We get offers from scratch golfers like Herbie Allen. This could be a very expensive lesson in public relations.
I am in trouble. I cannot even turnover in bed. I get up at 0500 to sit in the bathtub for an hour to loosen my back. It is downstairs to on to the golf course.
We all get together and we pair against Mark "Oldie" Oldenburg and Bruce Kramer. Bruce has just started to take up the game and Mark Oldenberg is a 12 Hcp. We have a chance. I tell Nolan; "Get me close and I can putt." I will eat these words.
We negotiate $10 per man per hole. We decide to not play Skins but to half holes. That means no carryover.
The first few holes are uneventful. Mark Oldenburg puts the team on the green in regulation and we have to make a miracle put to save par. This looks like trouble. We are behind. Nolan, an avid believer that pressure sharpens the game. Now the pucker factor is so high that nobody could drive a nail past my butt. We press the bets on the fourth hole. After a Nolan hits a good drive, I put us 3 foot from the hole for a downhill putt for birdie. This will make us even. Nolan pushes his putt slightly to the right and with a little bit too much speed. It leaves a tough putt coming back for par. I am thinking, "this putt moves right, I will take it out of the hole to the left." Very bad mistake as the ball takes a full toilet bowl flush around the cup. I should have never taken the shot out of the hole. The team is devastated.
We spar back and forth until we get to a par three. Nolan "runs it up because we are behind" Dalla negotiates wagers with the reluctant Mark and Bruce who are killing us. We agree to closest to the hole, and press the bets. We would be even if we pull it off. I hit a shot into the water. Nolan hits a good shot just off the green. Bruce, the new golfer, hits a beauty on the green just short of the hole. We are in trouble.
We press the bets on 18. We will leave either $60 or a "C-note" behind. Mark hits a hook into the trees. Bruce hits a short one. It looks like $60 and it is going to be a piece of cake. Mark then hits a great shot but just over the green and our team hits two bad shots. Nolan's shot is at least playable. I hit a 4 wood 210 yards three foot from the cup. Oh no! It is another 3-foot downhill putt for the money! We sink it and leave only $60 down.
Eric "Elrasio" Holtman (Jaeger) agrees to collaborate with me. I have the stud, Eric takes the Hold'em rounds.
I will let Eric talk about Hold'em. On the stud side, things are uneventful. With only Raydon, Herbie, Oldie, and did I say Greg Pappas passing through our table -- things were pretty mundane - NOT!!! Steve DelBarro also played an excellent game of raising Raydon, and forcing moves. Stud is not my game and I stayed patient picking my spots.
WARNING "BAD BEAT STORY!!!"I have rolled up Kings and a player to my left gets two pair by 6th street. I have a diamond flush showing. I see Jacks and Threes on the board. Well Jacks and Threes are dead Lets Rock! The player slows down thinking that I am no longer bluffing the flush. The river comes he bets, I call. He had a pair of live eights in the hole and gets the case 8 for the full house. I get a runner flush. A three-of-a-kind and a flush in the same hand! Boy what a GAME!!
Eric and I drain the stack to only a few chips and then rebound to 2700T. One hand is of particular note. Sometimes we raise for strength, sometimes we raise to get money in the pot, and sometimes we raise for information. Greg Pappas brings it in with the 2c. I raise with the 3s showing and K-K in the hole. Greg re-raises asking; "do you have a pocket pair?" I reply with more chips; "Maybe & Maybe not?" Greg makes one more raise and I re-raise. Greg calls with a remark "I got jacks!". I catch paint he catches cold. He bets I raise he folds. He advertises his jacks & I advertise K-K.
Mark "Oldie", my nemesis from the golf outing, wins the tournament. There is a late hand that determined their fate. Mark is down in chips but I have only a medium stack at this point. Mark makes an excellent laydown of split queens to my raise of a Kc door card. I had Kc/Kd Ac.This would have cost Mark (and Bruce Kramer) their stack. As it is the laydown provided the opportunity to win.
In a rush of cards I have not seen in a long time Mark goes from chip starvation to chip leader. I could conclude that Mark got lucky. This would be an incorrect assumption. Oldie created the opportunity by not burning his chips with good but bettered hands in previous rounds and waiting for two back-to-back hidden pocket rocket hands. These hands played against two of the most aggressive players at FARGO Raydon and Greg Pappas. It was a sight to watch the smallest stack grow to the largest stack.
I learned in the Pairs Tournament a second lesson. When a bear meets a human the first time, the bear and the human fear each other. The bear does not have the logic "I am bigger and stronger" like the human. The human knows that the bear will win and knows the outcome will be painful if not fatal. Then the bear senses the fear and knows who is weaker at that point. Expert players are the bear. They see a strong board but sense the fear after three betting and push for the kill. Expert players like Greg Pappas, Raydon, Herbie, Steve Burrell, Scott Byron, Matt Treasure, and others do not just play cards. They play people. This is how Raydon gets away with playing 6-4-3 and developing two pair to the river. (Infamously called a "Ray" in Atlantic City) They watch their opponent and sense weakness or a draw, and that weakness has not developed into strength. They also sense the confidence a player has though they show a weak board.
The Pairs Tournament ends for us with the team in 7th place. Our team landing only two places out of the money. Things break up at 2030 for us. We started at 1400 and ended 6 ½ hours later at 2030. The smoker started at 2000 and I thought it was too late, so I did not show up at the Smoker. I have to appoligize, because usally when I make a committment I attend no matter what. But the long time sitting on a chair caused my back to act up and it was time to sit in the bathtub for awhile.
I call it a night. I woke up at 0500 and ended my day at 2200. This was a very full day for me.
We start with 1000T and the blinds go up qt the half-hour. This is worth traveling 2300 miles and getting poker lessons for only $65.
I played weak tight. Which I know is completely dichotomous to my usual approach to the game. I just was not going to get taken out with two pair or a Broadway straight. You know somebody calls a three BB bet raise with Q-10 and the flop comes A-K-J. Things look good for you're A-K suited until you "trap" and put "the fool all in." This was not going to happen to me this year.
I get a hand Ac-Kc and raise 4 BB. The flop comes K-9-7 suited in spades. I bet 200T and I look at a 600T raise. I surrender.
I get one interesting hand. A-A on the button and I raise 4BB and get called all in against the BB. Things are looking good. I show A-A and the BB holds their cards. The flop comes, the turn the river no possible flushes or straights ..he has A-A too!! Damn!!!
A table opens up and somebody must move. I immediately draw the Ac to move to a table with "Infamous Al," "Raydon" and Steve Burrell. Now I am looking at a half a stack against strong players and big stacks. I am defiantly holding my ground. I get a hand at the 50-100 level of K-Qo late. I raise 300 and I am called. The flop comes Q-8-3 with the 8-3 suited. I go all in and the BB passes. Infamous Al calls out "K-Q offsuit!" Nice call. .
I go around the table at the 100-200 level for two rounds and blind into a bad position with the large stacks. I decide to make a stand against Raydon's raise 3BB (600T) with Q-J suited. Steve Burrel the BB calls the raise. I could triple up or go home this hand. Raydon does his "all in .. no need to move the chips .. I am all in .. You see that I am just isolating Dave .. All in ... " Steve looks and calls all in. This is a very a big hand. A-A against A-A!!! I get a Queen but it does not develop into two pair or a flush. IGHN.
I ask the dealer named Jason; "If I live straddle a kill, do I have to put up 6 chips or 10 chips?" Jason replied "I don't know, nobody has ever straddled the kill before!"This is perfect play. The locals do not know what is going on and only think "This guy is an idiot!" Ploink calls over the Floorman over and asks the question. The answer of course is 10 chips.
Now due to some foolishness that Eric "Jaeger" Holtman can only testify, Eric gets stuck with the first live straddle of a kill. The entire table including the weak tight locals transform into a gambling mood. Instead of three seeing the flop , now 7 see the flop raised sometimes re-raised for three bets. The game now is quite lively.
I burn a rack getting the game loose (live straddles of a 10-20 kill) and I burn a rack playing suited connectors and low pairs for a 5-1 against 11-1 pot overlays on the flop. Then my aggressiveness pays off! I get 2-2 on the button 3 bet pre-flop to me. I make it four bets and I am called by 6 players! What a GAME! The flop comes Jd-7h-2h. I have a set. Tom McHugh and a local have A-J suited. A second local has second pair but can not give it up because of the previous action. It comes 6 players three bets on the turn. I am thinking two have top pair and two are looking for the flush. One has second pair when the 9d comes on the turn I am now looking at Jd-9d-7h-2h with my set. We have one drop on the turn with the 0 (thus I am thinking A-7) and three bets again. The river is uneventful with the 3c. I bet Tom raises a call I re-raise and every calls. The showdown shows the two A-J suited and my set. I am now no longer down two racks but up a rack!
Fate is funny thing. Not just 5 hands later I get As-Js and make it three bets late. Tom McHugh, bets pre-flop, a local playing mid raises it, and I make it three bets. The blinds call. There are now five players left pre-flop and three bets. The flop comes Jc-7c-7s. Tom checks, the local bets, I raise, Blinds drop Tom calls, and the Local calls. We all see a blank on the turn. The turn provides no help for the flush or at least trips turning into quad sevens. I am still in a fair position. I am reading Tom for a possible non nut flush draw. I read Kc-Jc Maybe Tom is slow playing X-7 but he shows no excitement of drawing to the current the nuts. I read that he too is afraid of my playing A-7 late. I read the local for A-Ko maybe A-K of clubs. Tom checks, local raises, I re-raise. Tom smooth calls and the local calls. The River shows the A. I have two pair and I bet. Tom raises and I call expecting Tom and I splitting the pot by the local with A-K. Tom shows 7-7 Quads!!! Oh NO!!! Beautifully played Tom!!! I read Tom raising the turn with any seven, not doing so, and slowing down because he fears the A-7 from me (given the previous hand). Boy was I wrong!!
The game goes well into the night. The last hand is my A-K with A-K-6 suited on the flop. I bet, Bud raises, I re-raise, Bud re-raises. I give it up. "Okay Bud last hand -- show it!"A 6-2o. What a Game!! I go 400 down and 400 up to leave 125 up.
I burn a half a rack trying to push the table. These guys have never seen so many pots 4 bet pre-flop. I can tell the dealer for the Sun does not like this aggressive play. He has a small stack and thought he would get into a weak tight game he could push around. It is an entirely different story. He is talking it up and really nervous. I just hope I get cards.
Nolan Dalla joins the game in the Big Blind. The bets come to him and he announces he wa raising without looking at his cards! Two players drop and Peter Cadles calls him. Nolan then offers to check it down before Peter looks at his hand. Peter sees he has 6-3 suited and takes the offer. (Smile). Nolan turns over A-A!! LOL
An opportunity comes, not perfect but an opportunity. I three bet 10-10 and the flop comes 8h-9c-10c. The dealer raises a bet into him and I make it three bets. A little old lady that acts as if she has never seen three bets cold and raises again! This looks like trouble. She quickly grabbed her chips with confidence and that worries me. The dealer is talking it up, " I have a big hand and I am going to crack something.." I look at the dealer and fire back the chatter but little does he realize that the problem is not he it is the little old lady! I read him for Ac-Jc suited and the real question is "what is a good enough hand to reach for 4 bets before I get three into the pot?" I am talking it up with the dealer but thinking about the little old lady. Okay I lay down a set of 10's. She has the Q-J, maybe suited. The showdown demonstrates I read the dealer right. But the lady had 8-9 offsuit!!! Four bets from a weak tight player with that board with two pair!!! I look at Nolan Dalla and say; " I have to adjust what I think a player thinks is a good hand in the future!" LOL
At the 5-10 ring game Fold'em and I two bet preflop. I have a pair 6d-6c. The flop comes 6s-10c-10h.That gives me a full house. Fold'em and I go three bets. The turn comes 10d. Fold'em checks and I check. I want to slow down, and two I am thinking quads. One the river comes a blank. I bet & Fold'em raises. I call. Normally I would go to the races but a string of bad beats has me a tame as a teddy bear. It is quad tens. Making this the 4th time I have taken a bad beat with quads!!!
ADB Iceman
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