Delaware Park Winter Classic HORSE 2012 - Trip Report - Cactus Kev
My poker pal Ron Lyons shot me an email saying that he was planning on playing in two Delaware Park Winter Classic tourneys this January -- a H.O.R.S.E. tourney and an Omaha-8 tourney. I decided to play in the HORSE for sure, and the O8 maybe for the following week. Ron picked me up around 12:30, we drove up, grabbed a late lunch, signed up, and the tourney started at 4pm.
Once everyone had paid and registered, we got a final count of 107 players. Not too bad. They paid the top 13 finishers. 13th got $259, all the way up to 1st, which received $3891 and the trophy (shown below).
We started with T10000 in chips. Played eight hands of one game and then switched to the next game in rotation. In case you don't know the HORSE games, they are Hold'em, Omaha8, Razz, Stud, and Eight-or-Better Stud. Levels went up every 25 minutes.
Surprisingly, Ron and I both got assigned to the same table, and even when they broke out table later in the tourney, we still wound up at the same table. LOL
I made some adjustments to my gameplay based on my poor performance in last year's HORSE tourney, and it certainly helped. By the second break, I had almost doubled my stack to T19200. At the third break (which was the 30 minute dinner break), I had exactly T30000 and we were down to just 49 players. I had one bad hand in Stud-8 where I made a Full House on the river, but wound up losing to a higher Full House, with the sole low raising every chance he got. I think I lost around T6000 on that hand.
After the break, I kicked up my game and was determined to make it to the money. Sadly, Ron wasn't catching any cards and was being blinded and ante'd to death. He won two in a row to get him off life support, but then busted out shortly thereafter.
I was able to make it to the fourth break with a total of T53000. We were at Level 13 and there were 31 players left.
After the break, I got involved in the weirdest wildest pot of the night. The game was Omaha-8. The blinds were huge, something like 6000-12000. I was dealt A248, with my Ace-Four being suited in hearts. Somebody raised, I re-raised, and it was re-raised by a third player! We both called and everyone else folded. Unbeknownst to me, my two opponents held A347 and A247.
Well, the flop comes 35T, with one heart (so my Flush potential is pretty weak), but I have a decent shot at the nut low. I bet, lefty raises, and everyone calls.
Turn is another 5, but it's a heart. Not happy that the board paired, but at least my Flush draw is alive. I am thinking a Seven of Hearts would be a perfect river card.
Well, the river is ANOTHER FIVE! Yeeeesh. No Flush. No Low. I am thinking I am royally screwed. Anybody with a Five in their hand, or any pair in their hand, is going to scoop this pot. I check, lefty bets, the other player slowly calls, and I think I'm toast. But hey, the pot is huge and I'm not going to fold, so I reluctantly call.
We all turn over our cards. I'm looking morose and then all of a sudden everybody starts yelling at me that I scooped. I saw lefty's Three and was thinking he had a Full House, but then I realized he has to use TWO CARDS from his hand. So everybody is playing the three Fives from the board, and my Ace Eight winds up beating both their Ace Sevens for high!!! Unbelievable!!!! I raked in a HUGE amount of chips, and now had an excellent shot at going all the way!
I play more smart poker and we finally get down to 13 players and we all make the money! We play two tables until we get down to just eight, and then they collapse us all to the final table. They do a chip color-up and we take a 10 minute break. I count my chips and I have T222,000. Sweet! I am the second largest stack at the table.
The payouts are:
- $3981 plus trophy
- $2335
- $1557
- $1148
- $863
- $713
- $584
- $454
My goal is to play smart and let the other players knock out the smaller stacks. People start playing tighter, so I'm able to steal a few antes/blinds. I get paid off beautifully when I'm the big blind, lefty raises, everyone folds to me, and I look down to see Pocket Aces! Oh yeah. Raise it right back at him! Amazingly, he RE-RAISES!! I re-re-raise, and put him all-in. He turns over Jack-Eight offsuit!?!!??? Huh? I like my odds, but I've seen Aces cracked many times. Fortunately, my rockets hold up and win a boatload of chips, plus I knock somebody out.
Well, four players are knocked out now and we are down to just me and three others. Sadly, the other three have MUCH larger stacks than me. I need to catch some cards in order to have a shot at moving up the ladder. I'm playing smart and tight. We switch to Stud-8. I get crap and keep folding, folding, folding. I finally get dealt (Q5)A. Not a great start, but the Ace is a good scare card. A Deuce brings it in, the other two fold to me, and I decide to make a semi-bluff steal. I complete to T20000 on my scary Ace, figuring that the odds say the bring-in dude has crappy cards. He calls. Drat. I get an Eight, he gets a Nine. I bet again, and he calls. I get a Four and he gets an Ace. Grrrrr. I check, he bets, and I call. On Sixth Street, I get a Deuce to make a low, and he gets a Jack. The cards are now:
Me: (Q5)A842
Him: (??)29AJ
He bets, I raise, and he calls.
I get a lame King as my final down card, and practically all my chips are in the pot. He bets and puts me all in. As I call, he says "I caught the Wheel". He got a lucky river card to give him the perfect low (A2345) to knock me out. Sadness!! No trophy for me.
The tourney boss takes me over to the cashier and I get $1148 in casino chips, which I promptly cash in. With my initial buy-in of $150, I made almost $1000 profit. Nice! That can help pay for all my car repairs! LOL But it was a long long event. We started at 4pm and I busted out at 3am. Ummph. Eleven hours of poker is pretty draining. That's my longest session yet.
Anyway, Ron drove us home and we passed the time playing "Name That Tune" from songs playing on his classic rock satellite radio station. I think he won by two points by the time we got home. Hit the sack around 430am and slept 'til practically noon. No work today for me! LOL
--Cactus Kev