Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Things got started a little late and a few didn’t get their bounties. The Bonus Nazi, Stacey, didn’t allow some people to get their “On-time Bonus” because they were tardy. She will now be the official Bonus Nazi. Her chant is, "No Bonus for You!!", so be punctual next time!

We had 16 players including: Mike Baaaa, Jim, Michael Allan, Carol, Henry, Stacey, Cindy, Alper, Clara, Jeff, Brad, Nick, Todd, Armando, Toby, and Justin. We used my program to randomly pick a head for a bounty and it was Apler. Whoever knocked out Alper, got an extra $5 from the pot.

Everyone but one added on and we had 13 rebuys. Henry and Jeff used both their rebuys and their add-on before the break. Only 7 people got the “no rebuy bonus” of 5,000 chips.

After the break, the chips were up to 506,000 in play.

I played tight, and managed not to rebuy. After the bonuses and add-on I had 32,500 chips. The average was 31,600. The blinds in round 4 are 400/800 so my M was greater than 20 and my Q was about 1. I was happy with this situation; I thought I had a shot at a final table.

For those that may not know:

M = the ratio of tour stack to cost of an orbit. > 20 is where you want to be.
Q = the ratio of your stack to the average. A Q > 1 is where you want to be.

You can learn about Q and M, inflection points, zones, , what they mean and how to play with these in mind in this book (links don't work since I shamelessly copied from Amazon):

However, you should read this book first.

These two books have really helped me and I am less of a donkey since I have read them.

Nick knocked Justin out in the 4th round. Nick had 77 and Justin A7. Justin loved the A on the flop, and the 7 on the turn. Nick loved it more and Justin was out in 16th.

Toby was out in 15th. Not sure what happened, but the father and son duo, had an early night.

The notes say that Armando flopped Quads and Nick rivered a straight flush, but I don’t believe it. If this is true, leave a comment. Armando was out in 14th.

Todd had a smallish stack of about 18K. He jammed his 47d when he saw a A73 flop. Henry looked him up with AJd. No help for Todd and he was packing in 13th.

Stacey ended Nick’s night when her AQ out paced the Jimmy (KQ). Nick was out in 12th..

Baaaaa played the dreaded KJh against Brad’s A5h. They got it all in when Brad hit a 5 on the flop, but Baaaaaa got lucky and found a J on the turn. Brad was out in 11th and we were at the final table.

The chip stacks were as follows:



I was in big trouble here. My M = 5 and my Q = 0.6. Very bad spot. No calling any more, no limping either. It’s either all-in or fold out of the blinds.

I was lucky to win the blinds a few times and catch an occasional limper out of position. I managed to climb to a Q ~ 1, but stayed with an M between 5 and 8 as the blinds went up. It’s like walking a tight rope, one wrong read or beat and you’re a big stain on the floor and spoiling the circus.

As play continued, Jeff was our first final table casualty. By the way, Jeff was even more generous than he was last time when he brought me the Mickey Mantle Ball. He brought me a Mickey Mantle “official” bat. I am rigging up a cool spot for the bat and will include a picture when I have it hung up. I have heard that poker players are the most generous and giving people around. Jeff has convinced me! Thanks man.

Carol raised to 12K and Jeff moved all-in with QQ. Carol called and showed AJs. Jeff was a 70/30 favorite. Jeff dodged Aces until the river. Jeff was out in 10th.

Clara and Mike Baaaa basically tangled with the same situation as Jeff and Carol. Baaa had KK and Clara had AJ. The flop brought a J, giving Clara three more outs. The turn was a K and Clara was in trouble. An A on the river didn’t help and Clara was out in 9th.

The next elimination had some 3 way action. Baaa who had the biggest stack, then Carol, then Alper. Alper pushed pre-flop. Mike and Carol had him outchipped and checked the all spade flop. Baaa bet the 6s turn. Carol took a looooooooong time to call. I didn’t get suspicious, but she was inducing another bet. Carol had turned the nut flush. The board paired on the river and Mike and Carol checked it down. Mike mucked, and Alper was out in 8th. Carol got a $5 bounty.

Cindy and Henry went head-to-head with another AJ vs. KK mega match. Henry caught an A on the river and Cindy was out in 7th.

Stacey jammed her 51K stack in early position. I looked down and woke up with a hand, KK. I immediately called. Stacey flopped a J on the flop and I began to sweat as she picked up 2 more outs. I managed to get comfortable on the couch. Stacey was out in 6th.

Now we were on the official bubble. We safed out for a 5th spot. We took $5 from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. There was a 3 way pot and Carol pushed with 99 and 17K, Henry went all-in for 51K, and Baaaa called. The board ended up as 44AJT and Carol was out in 5th. She got the bounty too.

Henry and Baaa would clash. Henry flopped middle pair with 95 and Mike called on the draw with JQ on a T96 board. The turn gave Mike the Straight and Henry was out in 4th.

At this point, I had about 116K in chips. Michael Allen had about 100K and Mike Baaaaa had about 300K. Unfortunately for me, Mike A lost an all-in with Baaa with A6 vs. AJ. No 6 for Mike A and he was out in 3rd. Baaa and I were heads up with him having 390K and me with 116K.

We played it out. With Blinds at 5000/10000 it didn’t allow me any mistakes. I fell to about 50K, doubled up, and managed to climb to about 150K. A cold deck brought me down again to around 50K. I pushed with JQo and Mike called with 79d. A 7 on the flop ended it for me and Mike took it down.

Thanks to everyone that brought food. We now freeze the Jackpot and put that into the POKER CHAMPIONSHIP. The POKER CHAMPIONSHIP is scheduled for August 11th at Noon.

Pre-evite signups include: Mike Ba, Rico, Joe, Kitty, and Jeff and I responded on the evite for the, The evite is sent, so respond because I can’t take anymore than 26.