Fwd: Hand 1, APC Satellite

Play during the qualifier moved along ... with 5,000 in starting chips
and blinds starting at 25/25 and increasing every 40 minutes, there
was a lot of chance to play ...

I was seated at a table of mostly tight players. There are two
Austrailians sitting three and four positions to my left that are
talking to each other in that very disturbing and abrasive RGP style
-- calling each other or themselves "donks" at every possible turn.

We've played for a few hours and I'm one of the more mildly aggressive
people at the table.

>From sixth position, of nine, I'm dealt A7s, with blinds at 75/150.
There is one caller in front of me already so I call. This is a bit
weaker than I'd normally play, and for the last several years, I've
only been playing in pots with pre-flop raises (be it from me, or
someone else) -- I'm just starting to re-experiment with flat calling
plays,.

This is a side-effect of reading Harrington -- he doesn't really talk
about it directly, but uses it indirectly in both his examples and
some basic strategy plays.

The button, the mouthier of the two Austrailians, calls. The small
blind folds (for reasons beyond my imagination since his pot odds are
7-to-1), the big blind checks.

The pot is 675.

The flop is:

Ad 10d 5h

I've hit top pair with a weak kicker.

Everyone checks to me in penultimate position. I've got top pair, but
a bad kicker. I bet 350 as a testing bet. The good news is I might
get this pot right now ... the bad news that anyone who calls me may
well have me beat.

The mouthy Austrailain calls, the other two players fold.

The turn is 4c.

I check with the intent of calling if the guy behind me bets, but I'm
not keen in leading out if I'm not sure how strong his hand is. He
checks too.

The river is 8s.

I bet 500. The mouthy Austrailian says "raise," matches my bet, takes
some time thinking and then throws in 1700 more. This makes the pot
4100.

Whoa. Not what I was expecting.

The straight pot odds right now are a little better than 2-to-1. That
MIGHT be worth calling. Gotta figure this out ...

So for the first time for anyone at our table, I go into the tank.

Let's see, what's he holding?

He's a pretty aggressive player. The fact that he called, rather than
raising, pre-flop is an indicator ... He definitely would have raised
a big pair, definitely AK, AQ, and almost certainly AJ.

If he had AT, he could have been slow playing by checking on both the
flop and maybe the turn. So AT is a possibility.

He's not playing any of the freak straights out there, so those are out.

How about trips? He doesn't have AA, if he did, he would have raised
pre-flop. He doesn't have TT for the same reason. He'd shove a hand
like that like hell pre-flop.

4's, 5's and 8's are all possibilities. I haven't seen him playing a
lot of pairs. But having said that I haven't seen him playing a lot
of anything, really, when he takes down a hand he usually doesn't show
it.

But all these hands don't make sense to me. Any of those pairs, he
would've raised with -- he definitely would have wanted to isolate, or
maybe even take the pot pre-flop.

So, let's see, busted flush? Could he be on a flush draw and missed?
If that's true, I made a mistake by giving him a card on sixth street.

The bet feels big to me. It feels too big, in fact. When you bet on
the end, and you have a hand, you want to collect more chips. He's
seen me check on fifth street a couple of times when I could have made
a value bet.

This isn't adding up.

His stack is pretty small, if he loses this, it's going to hurt him in
a big big way.

My original inclination was to fold. Now I'm not so sure. Between
the pot odds and his betting behavior, I can't see doing it now.

I look and look.

I call.

He turns over Jd 7d. He had a straight draw and a flush draw and
managed to miss them both. I pull in a pot of 5800, over 2500 of
which is his. It's essentially the fatal blow to him that ultimately
puts him out of the tourney. Which is good, because I was damn tired
of hearing him rattle on. But more importantly, it showed a really
nice, smooth chain and train of thought.

I could be playing better, but I'm playing well. I definitely have a
shot at the seat.

--
m.