Good Reason to Crow

joaquinochoa: “i have a hand to break a hand”

joaquinochoa: “told you all..The Rooster is bring his agame...I just read a book”
joaquinochoa: “on how to play this game”

Phtnm: “hope it wasnt sammys book”

joaquinochoa: “I play with sammy...he says I’m the best”


Managed to finish 10th (out of 42 runners) in the “Saturdays with Pauly” PLO tourney ($10+$1). Only the top five spots paid, so while I bubbled the final table I didn’t get close enough to the money for it to hurt too badly. Saw a bunch of familiar names/avatars at my tables, including Haley, IronGirl, Gracie, and PokerKat. All in all a fun way to spend Saturday afternoon.

Did not surprise me to see joaquinochoa -- a.k.a. “The Rooster” -- end up on top. He was at my starting table, which held for the first hour-and-a-half or so, and, as Pauly says, he was a “cagey mofo” pretty much from the start.

That chat above began as the first hand was dealt, and right away the Rooster was involved in a high percentage of hands -- just looking at the hand history, I see him playing 8 of the first 10 (and winning 4). His stack fluctuated between 1,000 and 3,000 for most of that first hour, but I knew he had a clue after seeing him take some reasonable chances as well as make a couple of big folds. (In fact, with reference to him I see I wrote “good player” here on my scratch paper sometime during Level 5.) He hung on, and once the tourney got down to 12 players or so I noticed the Rooster at the other table having built up a nice lead.

Meanwhile I was ultra-tight during the first couple of levels -- mostly out of fear of being the Gigli, though I also wasn’t picking up much worth playing. Had a spot in the middle of Level 2 where I limped from the button with . Five of us saw a flop of , and I watched the Rooster from EP bet out 60 into the 150-chip pot. I was preparing to come over the top when the player to my left beat me to the punch, raising to 240. I thought a bit and let my middle set go. Didn’t get to see a showdown there, but with 15-minute levels I knew I didn’t have to take unnecessary early risks.

Finally picked up some chips in a BB special-type hand in which I flopped the nut straight, then had a player bluff reraise me, doubling me up to almost 3,000. Picked up another small pot at the beginning of Level 4 and I was up over 3,700 -- and in the chip lead! Still very early, though (only three players had busted, actually).

When we reached the first break I had 3,715, putting me 6th of 28 left. Bled some chips, slowly, eventually settling back into the middle of the pack. Then towards the rear. At Hand No. 84 I was dealt , had one caller to my preflop raise, and took the hand without a fuss after a ragged flop. Next hand went similarly after I flopped top two. I was back up to 3,765, though by now the average stack size was up above 4,200. I was 8th of 15.

I frittered away chips again, then with 11 left found myself dead last. On Hand No. 107 I pushed with 9-8-7-6 and all folded. Our table was five-handed, which made things tough for the short stack as those 200/400 blinds were coming around fast and furious. Down to just over 2,000 chips at Hand No. 112, I decided to shove from UTG with . Folded around to the SB who with nearly 6,000 decided to gamble with .

When I first saw my opponent’s hand, I thought I might be a modest favorite, though in fact with both of us being double-suited (and not sharing suits) we were almost exactly 50-50. Then the flop came all , and suddenly we’re talkin’ 98-2. The longshot runner-runner didn’t materialize, and I was toast.

Played well, overall, but became too complacent during that middle stretch. Then when I did finally get active it had already gotten (too) late . . . .

Lesson learned. Gonna have to wake up earlier if I hope to catch the Rooster.