K9 Money Tour Third Bullet Nov. 18th

This site is fast becoming a favourite of mine for tournaments. With 16 minute levels you really can afford to sit back and wait for some cards to come your way. That was really lucky for me in this game because I had very few playable hands early on. With only 10 runners this was like a monster SNG, a $5+50 buy-in and $50 added, top 3 places paid.

My earlier victory at 5th Street had mellowed my mood somewhat, and with such poor cards I was happy to sit back and wait it out and hopefully hit a rush towards the end. That`s pretty much what happened, I see no need to go into any great detail over the hands, except one which I`ll discuss in a minute. I managed to edge into the money with a 3rd place finish, taking my K9 results here in four tourneys to two 4th places on the World Tour and a 1st and a 3rd in the Money Tour.

Right onto the hand I mentioned; With 5 players left, myself and another the short-stacks. If I remember correctly I was on the button, UTG calls, short-stack moves all-in, I have AQos and also push all-in. SB calls or makes a small raise, BB folds and UTG calls the raise for a four-way pot with 2 all-ins. I forget the flop, maybe it was J-7-7, but it doesn`t really matter in this instance. SB raises enough to put UTG all-in, he thinks for a while then folds.

The cards are turned over (you can see what`s coming can`t you?) SB has KQ, short-stack has 88 and I have AQ. No-one has hit the flop, fortunately for me the turn is a Q and the river is of no importance. Short-stack is busted out and I gain enough chips to hang onto 3rd place when my nemesis MurryTheCat bubbles out.

So we come across that old chestnut of poker etiquette, the check-down. I have to say that if I`m in this situation I will always check it down unless I have, or feel I have the best hand in which case I see nothing wrong with shutting out any other players who still have chips.

Now in this case the short-stack was eliminated, but what if the Q hadn`t come. I would still have had chips, as would the short-stack. Even worse what if the player who was forced out would have beaten us both? Even, even worse, what if the short-stack had gone on to win the tourney!

I just don`t understand why a player would risk keeping 1 or maybe 2 players in the game in this way. If the side pot was dry, this is a definite no-no. And as the SB was chip leader I really think he could have afforded to risk a small amount of chips in a side pot anyway, for a better chance of bursting the bubble in a single hand.

K9 International Tour 17th Oct

The next round of the International Tour was held at Vegas 24/7 Poker who kindly stepped in after another sponsor backed out. This is another site that has a very good blinds structure and I was very glad it has. My cards were extremely cold early on, the only half-decent hand I had was AJ suited and I decided not to play it after an all-in raise from a player in early position. I may well have been ahead but I saw no reason to risk all so early in the tournament.

I did eventually hit a few hands but it seemed I would fall short of the top 10 placing I needed. However with only 430 chips left whilst in the BB an early position raise saw everyone fold to me and with QJos I pushed, my opponent typed it`s yours; called and turned over 5s 2s!!! Justice prevailed and I doubled up, more folding till the next BB when I`m dealt 8h 4d. Amazingly the chip leader simply calls and allows me to see a flop which comes 4 4 8. I check he bets I call. Turn is a K, I check and he bets again, this time I push in the rest of my chips and he calls giving me a decent stack to survive a few more rounds with.

Going off topic for a moment here it never ceases to amaze me how many big stacks will give a weak stack a free flop. In the example above I had about 600 chips left after the blind, my opponent had at least 15,000. Now I may have decided to make a stand anyway, but I could have risked waiting a few more hands and may have folded if he had raised, Bad poker on his part IMHO though.

Ok back onto the game, well to cut a long story short - Too late comes the cry - After a long battle for the bubble position I managed to hang on and claim 6th place and win a free entry into the K9 Money Tour Event on the 19th Nov.

K9 World Tour Team Event 16th Oct.

An extra facet was added to this game, with each player chosing a team to represent. The team with the most points at the end will receive a private freeroll as well as double points for the event.

The game was played at Third Bullet and I`m pleased to say that I finished in 4th place. I seem to do very well at this site. In the three K9 events I`ve played there I`ve had two 4th places and a win. Certainly the excellent blind structure this site employs helps me. It allows me to predominantly play the tight aggressive style I prefer, waiting for hands rather than being forced into playing mediocre cards to avoid blinding out.

It was very strange to play a K9 game where you were trying to look out for team mates whilst of course trying to win for yourself. The final table had 4 members each of Bully`s and Desser`s teams with 2 of Shaggy`s taking the last seats. Desser`s team took 1st and 3rd with a team mate of mine taking 2nd and me in 4th. We`re still waiting for the final results as to which team emerged with the most points but it will certainly be close.

K9 International Tour

The second event in the International Tour went ahead tonight at Pharoah`s Poker Palace. A very short field of just 13 runners meant I was very optimistic about securing a win and qualification to the finals. Started well enough but made a critical error soon after moving to the final table. Dealt Ks 4s in the BB, several callers but no raises, I check and see the flop. It comes 4-10-K. I check with the intention of re-raising if anyone bets, however no-one does. Turn is a 5 and I fire out a bet about 3/4 the size of the pot it folds round to K7plus2 who re-raises all-in.

Now the little voice in the back of my head says fold, unfortunately the little voice that has control of my hand decides this massive overbet is a steal and calls. K7 flips over K-10 and the river is of no help and I`m out in 9th place, no complaints, completely my own fault.

K7plus2 went on to win the event, with Hinge1980 taking 2nd place and Daddy Cool taking 3rd.

K9 Money Tour

Tonights Money Tour game was at Live Poker, it`s a site I enjoy playing at but that has one major flaw in that the blinds rise far too quickly IMO. In actual fact the levels are pretty long, it`s just that the individual hands take a while to get through.

Anyway, enough of the site review, and onto the game. The tournament started with 27 players, I started off well enough, hit a few hands and was able to pretty much double up. Then came the inevitable run of poor cards.

The final table came up pretty quickly though and my stack put me in the middle of the field. No cards for a while and I watched my stack dwindle to around 2k before catching Ad Qd on the button. With the blinds at 500/1000 I pushed all in and had 1 caller. The cards were flipped and my opponent Vypremik revealed KK. On this occasion though the poker gods chose to smile on me putting an ace on the board and taking me up to 4k or so chips.

The very next hand I have KQos and raise the minimum again getting one caller, the flop brings no help but my opponent checks. I push all-in and he folds bringing me up to around 8k.

The blinds come and go and with five players left I receive Ac Jc UTG, I decide to push and hopefully take the blinds but Vypremik again called turning over pocket jacks. This time the board brought me no salvation and I was out in 5th place.

All in all though a decent performance. I could perhaps have milked a few more chips early on but I don`t feel I made any particularly bad plays throughout the game. Perhaps the all-in was a dubious play at the end but with the blinds as high as they were any decent raise would have seen me pot-committed anyway, so no regrets there.

Anyway congratulations to Vypremik on winning and claiming both the bounties in the tourney, and well done to Philman and MurryTheCat for their 2nd and 3rd places respectively.