I went down to Foxwoods last Thursday for the Foxwoods Poker Classic, specifically to play in Friday's event, which was NLHE with an $1100+100 buy-in. I had never played in a large live tournament before, nor one with anywhere close to this big a buy-in, so I approached the day with all sorts of emotions tumbling through my head, although, surprisingly enough, nervousness was not one of them. The tourney started at 10am with 545 players, which meant that only 50 would make the money. We started with 5,000 chips, and the blinds began at 25 + 50, with each level lasting 50 minutes, so there was plenty of time to be patient and wait for a good hand before getting involved in a pot. In fact, I was amazed at the general tightness of pretty much all the players, not only at the early levels, but throughout the whole event. There was not a lot of tricky play going on and minimal bluffing as far as I could tell. Also, I had expected a dearth of chit-chat but that was also not the case, as most of the players seemed like they were there to have a good time and hopefully win some dough.
As for the play, well, I don't think I've ever been so card-dead in my entire life. In the first level I think I played one pot post-flop, and that was from the button, and I folded to a check-raise on the flop (and the raiser showed me top pair). Pretty much every time I had a speculative hand (one that I would raise with entering an unopened pot but not call a raise with, like AJ off or KQ or a small pair) someone would come in for a raise in front of me and I'd have to let it go. Eventually my table was broken up, and when I got moved I finally got to see a few flops and win a couple of pots. I called a standard raise in the big blind with KhQh, bet a Q-high flop on every street, and was called all the way down by the raiser with JJ. I got to see a free flop with A7o in the big blind and check-raised the button on a A-7-3 rainbow flop, causing him to fold. At the first break I had about 5700 chips, which I was happy with considering how few pots I had been involved in. Shortly thereafter I got moved to another table, and through the 3rd and 4th levels I really didn't make much headway, ending with about 5000 chips. I pretty much stayed at that level for quite some time, and then finally doubled up to about 11,000 late in the 5th level. Right out of the next break I got AA UTG, raised, and everyone folded. Then later in that level, I had become short stacked, and doubled up when I pushed KK behind a raise and beat AK when I turned the case King (good thing too, as of course an Ace came on the river). However, the card-deadness continued, and soon after the dinner break, right after a hand when I had pushed Q-10 off with my extremely short stack and amazingly tripled up, I pushed all-in over the top of an UTG raise with AQ off and was knocked out when his QQ held. Overall, I was content with my play, given both the lack of cards I got and the extreme tightness of my opponents. I finished about 83rd out of 545, which I was extremely pleased with considering the fact that it was my first major tournament.
As for the play, well, I don't think I've ever been so card-dead in my entire life. In the first level I think I played one pot post-flop, and that was from the button, and I folded to a check-raise on the flop (and the raiser showed me top pair). Pretty much every time I had a speculative hand (one that I would raise with entering an unopened pot but not call a raise with, like AJ off or KQ or a small pair) someone would come in for a raise in front of me and I'd have to let it go. Eventually my table was broken up, and when I got moved I finally got to see a few flops and win a couple of pots. I called a standard raise in the big blind with KhQh, bet a Q-high flop on every street, and was called all the way down by the raiser with JJ. I got to see a free flop with A7o in the big blind and check-raised the button on a A-7-3 rainbow flop, causing him to fold. At the first break I had about 5700 chips, which I was happy with considering how few pots I had been involved in. Shortly thereafter I got moved to another table, and through the 3rd and 4th levels I really didn't make much headway, ending with about 5000 chips. I pretty much stayed at that level for quite some time, and then finally doubled up to about 11,000 late in the 5th level. Right out of the next break I got AA UTG, raised, and everyone folded. Then later in that level, I had become short stacked, and doubled up when I pushed KK behind a raise and beat AK when I turned the case King (good thing too, as of course an Ace came on the river). However, the card-deadness continued, and soon after the dinner break, right after a hand when I had pushed Q-10 off with my extremely short stack and amazingly tripled up, I pushed all-in over the top of an UTG raise with AQ off and was knocked out when his QQ held. Overall, I was content with my play, given both the lack of cards I got and the extreme tightness of my opponents. I finished about 83rd out of 545, which I was extremely pleased with considering the fact that it was my first major tournament.
Not so pleasing was what happened to my wife the following day in the $530+70 shootout. Early on, she had check-raised a very loose-aggressive player all-in when she held KQ on a AKQ flop, and he pondered what to do for about 5 minutes before finally mucking his hand. Soon after that she got to see a free flop with 23o in the blinds, and bet the pot when the flop came K-3-2, getting one caller. The turn was a 4, and she bet again and was called again. The river was the ultimate scare card, an ace, and she smartly checked to the caller who bet a measly 200 chips, and she called to find out he had Ace-5 and had turned a wheel after having called a pot-sized bet in a tiny pot with only a gutshot on the flop. A few hands later, she limped in UTG for 50 chips with QQ, got a couple of callers, and then the same loose-aggressive player she had tangled with earlier reraised, making it 600 to go. Since Mel only had about 1800 chips in front of her, and she knew the other player (who thought she was bluffing on the previous all-in) was probably raising with Ace-rag or total trash, she pushed all-in, and after the other player announced "I want to see what you have this time", he called her with his Ace-6 suited, said "oooh, good hand", and then of course flopped an Ace to knock her out. The worst part about the hand was that her opponent then started laughing after the Ace flopped, an utterly classless reaction from an utterly terrible player, and an unfortunate early end to the tourney for my wife.
Later in the day my wife's parents came up to the Woods and we were able to enjoy dinner with them and spend some time playing slots and chatting. It was a fun, but expensive, weekend for sure.
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