CPMG Tournament Recap (May & June 2011)

I'm still playing catch-up, as these tournaments were held several months ago. 

May 28, 2011 - CPMG Team Tournament ($80) - Dave W's House in Lorain, OH

I have to say, this is probably the CPMG tournament that I look forward to most every year.  Not only is the team concept fun, but the tournament is preceded by a pot-luck cookout where everyone gathers for great food and socializing.  In the 2010 CPMG Team Tournament, I finished 4th out of 48 runners for a nice individual cash, but Yosh (44th), Dana (21st) and I - collectively known as "DD's and the Spotted Dicks" (?? - Yosh's idea) - fell just short of a team cash.  This past summer, I initially had to decline when Doug Poker approached me to join him and Special K on their team.  They eventually got someone else, but that person canceled a couple days before the tournament and I ended up joining them after all.  I think Dana had her kids or was working that night, which is why (along with $$ reasons) we didn't form our own team.

After chowing down on some fruit, donuts and some delicious bacon-wrapped scallops made by Tom Gross, I was ready to repeat my success from the prior year en route to a nice pay day for myself and team "2 Goofs & A Rufe."  I'm not sure why, but prior success in a tournament always seems to give me extra motivation to repeat or improve on my performance.  That said, I drew a decent opening table that had (seated clockwise to my left) Steve, Nicole, Hip Hop, Malcolm, Eskimo, Matt G, Karl "MF" Tsu and reigning POY IV champion Jac T-way.  While the first few levels were relatively quiet, I did manage to chip up a bit to 16450 (from a 15k starting stack) by the end of Level 3.

Grinding... (photo credit, Data)

Then came the train-wreck.

Sitting on a stack of about 10k, Eskimo raised from UTG and I 3-bet him from the hijack, holding KK.  After a brief pause, Eskimo elected to use his consultation chip, which allowed him to talk about the hand and seek advice from 1 member of his team for no more than one minute.  He stepped away from the table and returned after a brief conference with Nick Kavouras, only to announce he was All-In.  Obviously, I'm not folding in this spot, especially since it's Eskimo (who had been very active) and I had him covered by about 5-6k.  To my surprise, however, he turned over AA and avoided the suck out to double up.  To this day, Eskimo is quick to remind me of his "consultation chip bluff" as if it was some type of accomplishment.  Granted, it would have been if he had gotten me to call with a far inferior hand, but I had Kings.  I'm insta-calling there against 99% of the CPMG.

Fortunately, I doubled up on the last hand before break with AK > Steve's A9 and had 10700 when play resumed with 300/600 blinds.  I didn't last much longer after the break, however, and busted in 28th place when my TT fell to Jen's AK during the 500/1000 level.  Since Special K busted minutes earlier in 29th, it meant that "2 Goofs and a Rufe" was out of the running for a team cash.  At least Doug Poker finished strong for a 4th place payday.  You can read his 2011 CPMG Team Tournament recap here.

June 11, 2011 - Ang's Birthday Tournament ($30 with 1 re-buy allowed if you bust before break) - Julie's House in Fairview Park, OH

20 players, 10k chips to start.  The field was predominantly female, save for me, Meat, Data, RR Dave and a few others.  It was Ang's birthday and several rounds of shots were being poured amidst a handful of players.  This made for an interesting tournament, to say the least.

Opening Table (seated clockwise to my left): Cheryl, K-Tina, Jen, Julie, 2 dudes I didn't know (Ang's friends, I think) Ang and Meat.  I was glad to have position on Meat, who very active from the outset.  The tournament started painfully slow for me, however.  I was card dead and bored, but still managed to chip up to 12775 at the break.  Afterward, I went on a pretty sick run that put me in position to not only make the Final Table, but win the tournament as well.  First, I knocked out the birthday girl to increase my stack to 18300 (AK > AQ).  Then I won a race (KQ > JJ) against Cheryl, who was short-stacked and moved AIPF.  The very next hand, Tommy (?) - who had just sat down with a big stack of chips after getting moved from the other table - opened for a raise preflop.  I look down at AA and 3-bet him, which he called.  On a Jack-high Flop, Tommy bet, I raised, and he called.  To my surprise, Tommy led out again on the Turn and River, and I ended up calling both times.  I was shocked when he turned over J8o for a measly pair of Jacks, but was more than happy to drag the 20k pot.

With 34875, I went on cruise control until the 2nd break, after which my good fortunes turned sour.  On the 2nd hand after break, I made the mistake of 3-betting Julie preflop.  Clearly, she wasn't happy about this and moved in (probably out of spite) on a Ten-high Flop.  I was 90 % sure that we both had AK, but a flush draw was possible and I held red cards on an all-black board.  I can't remember the details of the hand that crippled me after that, but I'm pretty sure that I had AK again and dumped even more chips to Julie.

Lesson learned.

When we drew for seats at the Final Table, I was one of the shorter stacks but wasn't in desperation mode quite yet.  A few people busted before I picked off Data trying to steal my BB from the Button.  I had K4o, but I had been anticipating a steal attempt from him and moved in.  Sure enough, he folded and I added some much-needed chips to my stack.  Eventually, we got down to 5 players and Jen (who was quite drunk) and I were the short stacks.  I barely had her covered in chips when she moved All-In from UTG and I made the call from the BB.  It was her AQ vs my 88, and my pocket pair held up to knock her out on the Bubble.

With 4 players left, I built my stack up to 80k, which was pretty close to what Data and Julie were sitting on (260k in play due to 6 re-buys before the first break).  Meanwhile, Gambling Mom was barely hanging on with only 2 or 3 Big Blinds.  I could have easily folded until she busted or blinded off, but I stuck to my "play to win" philosophy and called a 3-bet All-In from Julie after I was the initial preflop raiser.  It was my 99 against her AK, and she won the race to knock me out of the tournament in 4th place ($90 payday).  Not bad, but I should have done better.