River Rock Tournament

Well I managed to sneak in a tournament while I was in Vancouver for the weekend. I didn't know if I could get away but as soon as I got to Richmond (suburb of Vancouver) I grabbed a tournament schedule at the River Rock Casino and plotted which one I would somehow get to. I mean I could play cash games but every time I went into the old poker room there was always a huge wait (not different now).

I entered the Sunday noon 50.00 plus 10.00 buy in. 88 players max and it filled up. They only take registration an hour before the tournament begins. My thoughts on the new poker room. Very mixed. Its smaller than the other one which was upstairs. This one is across the street in its own venue. They do have drink service and food service now(which I guess is new). I mean they had both at the old one of course but originally when they opened this they didn't (thanks Shaubs)

This tournament you only get 2500 in chips and there are 8 tables of 11 to start. The blinds start at 25/25 and go up every 20 minutes. All those are negatives. I really hate 11 player tables and chip level and frequency of blind increase are too fast but it is what is so time to make the best of it.

The only hand I lost at showdown in this tournament was my last one. I won every hand that went to the river and if I was calling an all in I always had the best hand and the law of averages held up for me. Of course I also got bet off some hands.

My day started great. I felt confident at my table. I certainly was one of the oldest perhaps with the exception of an older Asian guy at the other end. Third hand in I got dealt pocket 3's. I limped (all limping soon ended) along with about 3 others I think. Flop comes A34 two hearts. Short Hair Lady (SHL) bet the other 2 limpers folded. I thought about just calling but with the texture of the board I decided to raise. SHL took a lot of time looked at me and folded. That's okay good start.

A few hands later I got dealt KJd. SHL (yes her again min raised). I decided to call. Flop comes 10d 9d 3c. Okay so I have a flush draw, gut shot straight flush draw and a straight draw. SHL throws out a bet (can't remember exactly how much) but I call. Just the two of us. Turn brings a Jack of spades. Okay so now I have top pair along with all those other outs. SHL bets (pretty big bet this time). I think it was about 600. Remember we only got 2500 to start although I have about around 4000 now if I remember right. I am trying to put her on a hand. AK maybe (Who knows). I thought for awhile and decide to call. River brings a Queen of hearts. I have the straight to the Queen. SHL checks and I pondered a bet and decided to just check in case she had AK and was going to check raise. She flips over pocket 9's for flopped trips and I turn over my hand. She goes wow the river killed me and then others pointed out that I had flush and straight draws from the flop. I don't think she liked my call on the turn but I did. Would you have made that call??

I was suddenly the chip leader at our table. A couple orbits later something strange happened. I got dealt pocket 9's UTG. I raised about 3.5 X the BB. I got one caller a young guy(YG). Then it came around to the SB and BB. SB folded and then something weird happened the dealer started the flop when she realized the BB hadn't acted. I saw the first card of the flop and it was a face card (not good for me). The dealer realized her mistake (before all 3 cards got exposed) BB says not to worry I was folding anyways. Dealer called the floor and the floor said reshuffle including the burn and reflop. Well then the flop comes 955. Yep I flop a boat. I check and YG who I think loved the original flop also checks (said later he had AK) and so do I.Turn check check. River I bet a tiny teezer bet and he folds. I show my boat and then someone said he saw 2 face cards in the original flop and YG looks pissed.

A few hands later our table got broken down and I proceeded to to go really card dead at the new table. I think we were down to 50 players at this point.
At the new table I had an older guy (OG) who had huge stack to my right (not great). he also smelled like he had been smoking weed all morning. Anyways a few hands after I joined the table the guy had lost some of his stack when he picked up pocket Aces. The board came 7557. When he decided to push. He got snap called by someone who had called his preflop raise with suited connectors 7,8. The river didn't help him and he stormed off not realizing or not caring that he still had chips. Aces bit him in the butt.

The table I was at was super aggressive. A couple times I raised preflop only to be reraised and I let go of my hand. Once I had AJ suited and a guy who just had JJ in the previous hand and lost this time pushed all in on me. I had him covered but it would have left me crippled if I called. Was he on tilt though?? I decided to fold. He turned over KK . Good fold.

A couple orbits later I get KK. I raised it up only to get reraised by a Young aggressive guy. I decided to push . He pondered for a couple and called. He had QQ. KK held up and a nice double up.

We got down to 3 tables and my chips were dwindling. Not a short stack but not huge either. A couple times I had raised preflop only to have people go over the top and push on me. Not liking my cards that much I folded.

We were down to 19 players (6 at our table) when I dealt A,10h. Now A 10 is not a huge hand but 6 handed with 2 folds already I thought might be good enough and I was one off the dealer so I bumped it just over 3 X BB. I had thought about pushing but I wanted the ability to get away from it if need be. My bet was about 35-40% of my stack. The dealer folded as did the SB. BB shoved. Now the BB had been doing this a lot. If it had been the dealer who shoved I would have folded as he was a super tight older guy. The BB was another YAG. Lots in this tournament. Folding I would still have around 6000 chips but blinds were at 400/800. I took a long time and finally called. He had AK so I was basically drawing to a 10 or 3 hearts. I got a heart on the flop but the turn and river bricked and I was out. Really disappointed. I thought I played well except my last call. I had bet thinking I can get away from this and then didn't do that.

The tournament only paid top 8 with the first paying between 1500.00 and 1600.00. That would have been nice.

The Poker room at the River Rock was incredibly busy and certainly could be larger.

I just read that the Edgewater casino which is downtown Vancouver on the old Expo site just expanded their poker room which is a great thing. Next time over I may check it out. I had been in the old one upstairs and it was pretty small. Of course this in the casino that is going to be replaced by that new mega complex that I wrote about here