The Poker Moth

Back on the Ante-Up horsey today, and I managed my first cash (at the fifth attempt). Final table, in fact; I just got bumped out in 7th, running KQQTss into a slowplayed AA33, SAD FACE. I very nearly didn’t play, as I was on the verge of quitting for the night, but when I saw that Stars had added Ante Up MTTs in no-limit Omaha hi/lo, it became clear that I had no choice. Ante-up tourneys in NLO8? New BEST THING EVER!

Yeah, I made the final table at my first attempt, so I’m obviously going to say that, but they really are fantastic. Ante-up is a beautiful structure in bog-standard hold’em, but you still need to hit the occasional flop. In Omaha/8, that’s not so hard to do, and it’s… gorgeous. I was chipped up for most of the tourney, although there was one point where I came perilously close to being knocked out; a turdjuggling flump called my pot sized bet on the flop with a gutshot wheel draw, then called my mahoosive overshove after he completely missed the turn, (and I still had the nuts with top set), but he obviously hit one of his four wheel outs on the river to scoop me. That took me from being among the chip leaders to a perilous shortstack (often a fine line in Ante Ups) which was deeply annoying, as I’d have been all but untouchable if I’d won that pot, but hey. I managed to finaigle my way back into contention with a couple of races, although I never fully recovered, and things took a turn for the worst again around the final table bubble, where I ended up pretty flop-dead, and frequently out of position against a totally unbluffable chipleader, which meant I had to batten down the hatches for a while until the bubble burst. That took about four hours (approx), and by the time it did, I was running on empty. Probably my own fault for being a bit too passive/payout conscious. Oh well.

Anyway, it ended up being a healthy (if not spectacular) payday, but it was also the funniest tournament I’ve ever played. I was in actual, factual fits of laughter for huge portions of it, largely because of a table expert who was slagging off all and sundry for playing “loose”, while he was folding 75% of his hands preflop despite getting odds in excess of (for instance) 500-1 on the limp. And then there were hands like this one (from the eternal final table bubble) -

Seat 3: dermoth (32750 in chips)
Seat 4: Seat 4 (16340 in chips)
Seat 5: Seat 5 (42962 in chips)
Seat 6: Seat 6 (171337 in chips)
Seat 8: Seat 8 (37823 in chips)
Seat 9: Seat 9 (22170 in chips)
dermoth: posts the ante 800
Seat 4: posts the ante 800
Seat 5: posts the ante 800
Seat 6: posts the ante 800
Seat 8: posts the ante 800
Seat 9: posts the ante 800
Seat 9: posts small blind 5
dermoth: posts big blind 5

That’ll be 4810 chips in the pot to begin, then.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dermoth [Ac 9s Ts 8d]
Seat 4: calls 5
Seat 5: calls 5
Seat 6: calls 5
Seat 8: calls 5
Seat 9: checks
dermoth: checks
*** FLOP *** [As Qs 7c]

Not a great flop; top pair and ropey runner runner straight possibilities versus almost guaranteed flush and low draws.

Seat 9: checks
dermoth: checks
Seat 4: checks
Seat 5: checks
Seat 6: checks
Seat 8: checks

Things had got very trappy by this point. Seat 6’s enormous stack and loose betting range, combined with the payout structure (which at this stage offered a 10% payout jump for tenth place, followed by a 33% one for reaching the final table), meant that people were checking a lot of strong holdings on the flop, and check-calling with draws. Anything less than an overpot bet was likely to be called, and my hand certainly didn’t merit that kind of strength.

*** TURN *** [As Qs 7c] [Th]

I make two pair on the turn and pick up a straight draw, but I’m out of position, and all an information bet is likely to tell me is that I’ve got four decent outs and am very, very vulnerable. If I make my straight, I’m not happy; it will either complete a low draw or 700 different broadways, depending on which end hits. Check!

Seat 9: checks
dermoth: checks
Seat 4: checks
Seat 5: checks
Seat 6: checks
Seat 8: checks
*** RIVER *** [As Qs 7c Th] [7h]

Lows and flushes miss, but I’m still losing to AQ, KJ, AA, QQ, TT, and now any hand with a seven in it. So I check and hope for a free showdown.

Seat 9: checks
dermoth: checks
Seat 4: checks
Seat 5: checks
Seat 6: checks
Seat 8: bets 5

No, that’s not a typo. This is the kind of thing that happens in Ante Up tournaments. Seat 8 bets 5 (five) chips into a pot containing 4810 (four thousand, eight hundred and ten) chips. It’s worth remembering that we’ve been in this tournament for three hours at this point, and the original field of 250+ runners is now down to just 11. And one of those eleven survivors – theoretically one of the eleven best players in the tournament – has just made a bet on the end, into five players, offering them odds of 962-1 on their call.

Seat 9: folds
dermoth: calls 5

OK, yes, this looks like an extremely passive response, but I’m not fond of making raises that will only be called by hands that can beat me, which limits my options in this spot to calling, folding, or making a similarly pathetic raise, to, say 275, or something. I’m obviously not folding with odds of 962-1, and I don’t fancy any kind of reraise because a) there are still three players to act behind me, including the chipleader, b) my hand’s pretty weak, and c) how can a minbet possibly be anything other than an attempt to keep the action alive and provoke someone into reraising? So, yeah. Just a call.

Seat 4: calls 5
Seat 5: folds
Seat 6: folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Seat 8: shows [6s 9d Ad Kc] (HI: two pair, Aces and Sevens)
dermoth: shows [Ac 9s Ts 8d] (HI: two pair, Aces and Tens)
Seat 4: mucks hand
dermoth collected 4845 from pot
No low hand qualified
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4845 | Rake 0
Board [As Qs 7c Th 7h]
Seat 3: dermoth (big blind) showed [Ac 9s Ts 8d] and won (4845) with HI: two pair, Aces and Tens, and then fell off his chair laughing.
Seat 4: Seat 4 mucked [4d 6c Td Qh]
Seat 5: Seat 5 folded on the River
Seat 6: Seat 6 folded on the River
Seat 8: Seat 8 (button) showed [6s 9d Ad Kc] and lost with HI: two pair, Aces and Sevens
Seat 9: Seat 9 (small blind) folded on the River

I am aware that this kind of funny will only appeal to the nerdiest of poker nerds, but my god, I’ve never seen anything like it in my entire poker career.

Dear PokerStars;
Please run this tournament ever day. Ty,ty.
Moth.