Bubble Boy Goes to Benson

Well, apparently I’m a bit behind on my blogging, so here's a long one to keep Charles off my back (for a couple days anyway)...

I made my way out to Benson on Saturday, to try my luck in the $500 buy-in tournament they hold every 2-3 months. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, there are several things I don’t like about the tournaments out there. First and foremost, they allow smoking inside. This is pure torture for a non-smoker like me, and is the primary reason I don’t play out there more often. I can only assume there are many others like me, but I’m also sure there are some smokers who wouldn’t play if the place went to non-smoking. Second, they habitually start all tournaments at least an hour later than the scheduled time. Maybe they do this on purpose, so that their “captive audience” plays craps or blackjack while they’re waiting, or maybe the regulars just know they start late, so they show up late, thus creating a domino effect. Lastly, it’s simply a long drive. It’s close to an hour each way, which is a lot farther than I’d prefer to travel for a poker game.

Those things having been said, there are several things I like about the place. The people there are very friendly, and make you feel at home. I have yet to run into one of those “buttheads” that seem to pop up occasionally in the Raleigh games. They really take care of you. They usually have a nice barbecue meal waiting for you, and the ladies working the kitchen will offer to cook you a burger or anything else they have available. The facility is nice, and fairly out of the way and secure, with lots of parking. Overall, the players are fairly loose and bad, though there are several very good players (Jody G, Chris Bell, Stone, among others) who are regulars. The tournaments are pretty well-organized (except for the starting time), and the dealers are usually pretty solid.

As far as the tournament goes, I don’t remember exactly, but I think there were about 85 entries. The $500 buy-in gets you $4,000 in chips, and you can rebuy ($300 for $3,000 in chips) right away, or anytime your stack falls below $4,000 during the first six levels (20 minutes each). After the rebuy period, all players then have the option of purchasing an additional $6,000 in chips for $400. Unless you have accumulated a very large stack, this is usually a good purchase.

I picked up a few decent hands early, stole a few blinds, and slowly built my stack up to just over $12K by the end of the rebuy period. About the only hand of note to this point was when I busted a kid when I raise with 10-10, and he calls with A-K. Flop comes 10-7-2. I check my set, and he checks behind. I suspect he has A-K or A-Q, so I’m hoping for a big card on the turn. Sure enough, the turn brings a K, and I lead out with a little bet. He raises, and I decide to take a little chance and just call. A 7 comes on the river, boating me up. I hesitate for a moment, trying to make it look like I’m debating making a bluff. I then announce I’m putting him all-in, he takes a good minute or two before calling, and I take about $3K from him on the hand.

A killer hand for me comes just after the rebuy period. I’m in middle position with A-A. I raise, and a guy in late position re-raises. I re-raise, and he pushes in. I assume he has K-K, but he turns over J-J. Extremely weak play on his part. Nobody in their right mind could think that a guy who makes the third raise pre-flop has a hand worse than J-J! Anyway, you know what’s coming. I lose about ¾ of my stack, and it’s back to the drawing board. I continue to play (I think) very good poker during the next few hours, and build my stack back up again. During this time, a couple hands stick out. I made a nice bluff, re-raising all-in with 9-4os against a big stack. He was getting around 2:1 on the call so it was extremely risky, but I just knew he was going to lay it down, which he did.

The other hand came when I had a suited K-2 in the big blind. It folds to the small blind, who makes a fairly large raise of about 4x the BB. This guy way playing fairly tight, but for some reason I felt he was bluffing. One of my strengths is reading people, and I tend to trust my instincts, especially in tournaments. I’ll call a large bet with ace-high if I think it’s good, and I’ll lay down a straight if I think it’s not. Of course I’m wrong sometimes, but I’m right more often than not. Probably the greatest percentage of chips (or money) I lose is a direct result of not listening to “that little voice,” but I’m learning to trust it even more often. Anyway, I call his raise, and the flop comes Q-6-2, giving me bottom pair. He makes a pot-sized bet, and I simply feel like I have the best hand. I call, the turn brings a 3, and he makes another big bet, about ¾ of the pot. I can’t imagine the 3 helped him, so if I though I was good on the flop, I’m not folding now. Again I call, and the river brings an 8. Our hero hesitates for just a second before shoving a huge bet out there – about twice the size of the pot! One of my first thoughts is “What the hell did I get myself into.” I actually stood up and walked around for a minute, which is something I don’t ever remember doing. I replay the action in my head, and simply can’t put him on a hand that beats me. To me, that river bet is an obvious bluff, and although the call would have crippled me if I was wrong, I went with my instincts. I call and turn over my hand. He looks at it, smiles, and turns over 10-7, announcing “Nice call.” Whew!

I continue to scratch and claw for every chip I can get my hands on, and before you know it we’re down to two tables of five players each. The tournament is paying nine places, with ninth paying something like $2,800, and first paying around $30K. Blinds are $3K/6K, and I have around $70K in chips - a little below the average but still in good shape. I get moved from one table to the other after the 11th place guy gets knocked out, in order to even out the numbers. I end up sitting to the left of the largest stack remaining, a guy they called “Crazy Mike,” an older guy with Coke-bottle glasses who was sitting on over $170K. I hadn’t played with this guy before, but a couple people told me he lives up to his nickname. It became clear very quickly that he was the “table bully.” He raised or re-raised at least half of the six or seven hands played since I sat down. I knew that this was a guy that I could trap in the right situation.

That situation came sooner than I expected. I’m the big blind, and it folds to His Craziness in the small blind. He looks at me, then makes a big show, waving his hands and loudly announcing that he’s all-in. I look down at A-Jos, a hand that I’ve probably folded at least a half-dozen times to a raise or re-raise during the tournament. Interesting situation. If my goal is to make the money, then it’s an easy fold. There are a couple short stacks, and I’m a good enough player to outlast at least one of them if I decide to go into the deep-freeze. My goal is not eighth or ninth, however. I came to win, and this is a golden opportunity. If I call and win, I have over $140K, and all of a sudden I’m the chip leader. The only question in my mind is whether or not I’m a big favorite. If I thought he had a small pair and we’d be racing, then I’d fold immediately. Every instinct I had told me I was way ahead, so I only thought for a few moments before calling. Sure enough, he turns over 9-8os, and I’m about a 2:1 favorite. We’ve all seen this movie before, so the ending should come as no surprise. The flop brings a 9, the turn and river are blanks, and I’m in the car driving home before Mikey can stack my chips. As is so often the case, no good play goes unpunished.

A missed opportunity, to be sure. 9-10 hours of solid play and tough decisions comes down to one hand, and I leave with…no money. If you took a sampling of poker pros, I’m guessing their opinions would be split on whether or not to call in that situation. Some would never put their tournament life at risk, even if the cards were turned up, and some would call in a heartbeat. I’d probably make the same call again. That’s one of the interesting things about this game; there’s almost never a single correct play in any situation.

I’d like to hear everyone’s opinion. Assuming your goal was to win the tournament, what would you do in that scenario?

See ya at the tables…
Rick