Benson Tourney - Part 2

Following up on Charles’ posting below regarding the Sunday Benson tourney. I ended the day with mixed feelings. The good news is that I felt very confident going in, and that I ended up playing some of the best tournament poker I’d played in months. The bad news is that I ended up falling just short of the money, and left with nothing tangible to show for my efforts – always disappointing. I’m usually one to look at the big picture, however. Though I didn’t cash, I feel like the experience I gained will make me even more money later on.

I really like the structure of the tournament. There are rebuys through the first five levels, so the donkeys (of which there are several), end up juicing up the prize pool quite nicely. By the end of the rebuy period, the better players usually have a decent arsenal of chips. The blinds progress slowly as well. This allows for actual poker play, rather than the all-in fest thinly disguised as poker that I usually end up playing on the weekends.

I’ll reiterate Charles’ sentiments on the negatives about playing there. The main thing for me is the smoking. It’s a fairly large room, but to a non-smoker like me, well, let’s just say I might as well be playing poker in the middle a warehouse fire. It’s a bit of a drive, and it always starts late (3:00pm starting time posted, 4:00pm starting time announced, and we actually started about 4:30pm). I also don’t understand what the long breaks are for. They’ll bring food to your table, and (sadly) it’s not like you have to leave the room to smoke. For Pete’s sake, take a couple minutes to pee if you need to, then let’s get those cards in the air! The people are friendly though, and do their best to make you feel at home. The dealers are pretty good, and keep the action moving while making very few mistakes. Not to mention any names (ahem, ED FLUSH), but this is another thing I’m not used to. :-)

As for the action, I had a couple of decent hands and made a couple of nice bluffs early, pretty much doubling my chip stack. I was playing pretty tight, but stole a few blinds along the way as well. Then came the big hand: I’m under the gun with blinds at $200/400, and look down at pocket aces. I raise to $1,300 and the guy to my left pushes all-in for $3,100 or so (sweet!). The next guy calls as well, with about the same amount of chips (sweet, another caller!), and another player calls as well (wait – no more callers!). Aces may be a favorite against one, maybe two hands, but rarely would they be favored against three hands.

Anyway, the third guy who called was a very tight player, and this was the first significant hand I saw him play, so I knew he either had queens or kings. He had about $2,000 behind, so of course I put him all-in when it gets back to me. I figure if I can win the side pot it will make up for most of my loss in the main pot when I get sucked out on! The cards are turned up and the first guy has A-K, the second guy has A-J (like I said, there are several donkeys out there, and this is their king…), and the third guy has Q-Q. Somehow the board is kind to me, and my aces hold up to take down a very nice pot.

I ended the rebuy period as chip leader with $25,500. The nice thing about that was not needing to pay $150 for the 3,000 chip add-on. Sadly, as is usually the case, the chip leader midway through rarely seems to finish off the job, and it was no different on this day. I ended up getting second-best hand several times in a row, so I tightened up and tried to ride out the bad streak. It worked for a while, and once we got down to six-handed we stayed that way for more than an hour. Then a series of bad luck and bad timing spelled my ultimate doom.

It started when action folds to me in the small blind (blinds $2,000/4,000), and I look down at 2-2. I raise the big blind all-in (he has $5,000 left) he thinks for a minute before calling with 10-8os, and of course, the 10 comes on the turn. Not a bad call, he was getting a great price and had to take a chance. This guy just won’t die, by the way. He’s been all-in countless times and just keeps drawing out on people.

A few hands later I'm under the gun, look down at Qd-Jd and limp in (arguments can be made for limping, raising and folding in this situation). One other guy calls, the small blind calls, and the big blind pushes in for another $10,500. Rats! I know I’m behind, but I’m getting 2.5:1 on my money. Unless I put him on a monster, I have to call. I call, the others fold, and he turns up Ac-9c. About as good a result as I could hope for, as I’m about a 11:9 dog. Unfortunately the flop brings an ace, and I end up losing the hand.

After stealing a couple blinds, a few hands later it folds to me on the button, and I look down at Q-9os. Blinds are still $2,000/4,000 (but about to go up) and I only have $16,000. The big blind has been card-dead for at least an hour, and I figure now is as good a time as any. I push in, the small blind folds, but the big blind wakes up with Ac-10c and calls. The good news is that I spike my queen on the river. The bad news is that it’s the queen of clubs, which gives him the nut flush. Oh well.

I think that if any one of those last three hands went my way, the turnout would have been different. But, such is poker. Everyone that busts out can look back at a key hand or two and say the same thing. I look forward to my next trip out there (perhaps with a CDC suit), and with a little luck I’ll win the darn thing next time!

See ya at the tables!
Rick