Small Poker Tournament-Fiesta

The Fiesta 6 PM Wednesday tournament
40 Buy-In
2nd Place

This is a tournament I play in often, simply because it is near my house. I’d rate it a B-. My main concern with this tournament is the antes, which begin after the third level. That is too soon, I think. Otherwise, for a cheap tournament, it is generally pretty solid. The starting chip stack is 6,000; real nice for a cheaper tournament. Generally, the cheaper tournaments, say 25-50$ or so, offer players 1,500-3,000 in starting chips. I never play in those tournaments, because the chip stack is too low to really play solid poker. If blinds are 25-50 starting, (very standard), within an hour the blinds are 100-200. Any raise in these “short stack” tournaments means either you will be crippled for the rest of the tournament, or you need to simply push all-in. So 6,000 in starting chips is solid, but, of course, the antes mitigate that slightly.

I have played in this tournament many times and do well. I have cashed, chopped and won it more than once. I’d say, (I have only recently started recording all my poker stats) that I get to the money here about 30-40% of the time. This is a guess, but there was one stretch were I cashed it 3 out of 4 times or 4 out of 5 times. I used to play it a lot. So, I feel pretty comfortable and because it’s away from the Strip; many of the players are familiar faces. So I have a fairly solid read on most of them. The players are old and older. No women, just retirees and the occasion younger person playing for whatever reason. My presence brought the median age down to, say 55, from 60.

Here are a couple of key hands that allowed me to, once again, get to the money—in this case, 2nd place. (I was better than the winner, but that’s the way things go.) Early in the tournament, I was in the big blind. There were two or three callers, but no raises. I look down at 7,7. As you know from my last post, I play middle pair a certain way—sometimes it hurts me and other times, not so much. So, I push all-in. I have a hand, and I will “go to war” with a hand. The button hems and haws about the call, so I believe that he has Ace/Big. At least that’s what I assume he has; otherwise he’s call more quickly.

Eventually, he calls with A,7 suited, a fairly poor call, I think, although, because of the fact that his hand is suited, I am only 64% to win here. The caller I have noticed by playing with him that he takes chances far more often than other players. At any rate, the flop was no good and my 7,7s held up, although I had to dodge a spade on the river.

There were two hands, I played back-to-back the same way and it had the effect of slowing the play down—I loved doing this. I was in the cut-off or early position, and I look down at A,A, American Airlines, so I raise to 300. It was early in the tournament and the 300 represented a fairly strong raise. I was not happy when four called behind me. I have poor position. So the flop is 5,4,7 rainbow. Not really a scary flop considering the pre-flop raise. I mean, most 6,3s or 6,8s will usually fold against a raise. Since I was first to act, though, I check, planning to hammer anyone who bets. This is kind of scary, because I could be giving a free card to some players, but I am sure someone will take a shot at the top. The next player also checks, then a bet of 900. A fold, then to me. Awesome, I come over the top for an all-in. I love check raising. A fold, then the initial bettor looks at his hand, not at all happy about my move. He folds and I get 900 extra chips from this hand. I am sure that if I push all-in, he folds and if I simply bet, he might just call. I am not sure what he has, but no free cards is my rule--never.

In the very next hand, I am in the big blind and I have Big Slick. I raise from the blind and get heads up with the Secret Asian Man (I know the song is Secret Agent Man, but this is funnier.) The flop is 5,K,8. I check again, then SAM, bets and you guessed it, I come over the top for an all-in move, putting the squeeze to him. He thinks about the situation and even shows me his hand to “get a read on me,” he claims. I wish I would’ve have guessed his hand first. He calls, claiming he got a read—maybe he did. He also had Big Slick, and we split. However, these two plays made players slow down a bit against me. If they were in a hand with me, they knew it could be for all their chips.

One hand really helped me and knocked out two players. I am at the final table, but the tournament only pays to four places. So, I am still a little ways from the money. I am on the button and look down at A,10 off. The were no one in the hand except the blinds—at this point there were also a nice amount in the pot because of the antes—200 per player at this point. So I bet, like 8,000, when blinds are 1,000-2,000. The small goes all-in and so does the big—shit. As I assess the situation, I consider that a) it was only 3,000 more to call into a pot that had around 15,000 in and b) both players were short stacked and had no move other than to call all-in. The antes were eating them up. So because of the situation, I called hoping for the best. The hands were A,5, A,4 and mine A,10 all off suit. Shit, I am much better than I thought; however I am only 53% to win with the other hands are roughly A,5 21% and A,4 at 17%. I win the hand with a straight on the river, and this is a nice chip stack I rake in.

Basically, I wait it out, and eventually make the money, but with a short stack. It looks like I am destined for 4th or 3rd place. But then all the remaining players, expect me are all-in. Two of the players are knocked out and I just move up to 2nd place, but I am against a monster stack. So I was heads up was really short stacked, against a monstrous chip stack and really made a go of it for a brief moment. For example, first to hands two back-to-back all ins and folds, I have some chips. However, the big stack had a monster stack and even a double up did not alter the balance much. I look down at A,7 off suit, which is a great hand heads up. The basic medium hand in heads up is Q,7, so I am pushing with any Q, really. The big stack called with Q,5. It really was a no-brainer, for him as he was already in for 8,000 and I had about 15000 more to call. The flop teased me. 10,6,7. Whoo! I hit a 7. Nice maybe I can come back. I had jokingly asked if he wanted to chop when we got heads up. The next card was a Q and that was it. Second place. Not bad considering, I was sort of short stacked with 5 players left. The tourney paid out 4 places, there is only 35 players, give or take. Three tables with a few alternates. The table agreed that we’d pay the bubble his entry fee. But 2nd place. I am going to play in a higher entry fee tournament sometime this summer. The Venetian, the Wynn and Cesar’s Place all have deep stack tournaments. That’s my goal, sooner or later.