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MBL Tournament, Final Week

I’m not going to the 2006 World Series of Poker after all… at least not on the Miller Brewing Company’s dime. The last two MBL tournaments were held this weekend. I never got going in the second tournament, finishing in 371st. But I actually lead briefly in the first tournament with 182 players left!

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My first pot win shows just how much of a donkey-fest these freerolls can be. The blinds are at 20/40. With three limpers ahead of me, I raise to 100 with AJo. Two of them call.

***** Hand History for Game 33752916 *****
2006-03-05 12:20:06.631 - 2006-03-05 12:22:10.423
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 0: helwoman ( 860 )
Seat 1: JoseRijo27 ( 800 )
Seat 2: schneids ( 800 )
Seat 3: cstalts ( 655 )
Seat 4: kevkev60614 ( 1000 )
Seat 5: knockout187 ( 1440 )
Seat 6: mindless ( 860 )
Seat 7: cali79 ( 3430 )
Seat 8: Crow ( 1055 )
schneids posts small blind [20].
cstalts posts big blind [40].
** Dealing down cards **
kevkev60614 folds.
knockout187 calls [40].
mindless folds.
cali79 calls [40].
Crow folds.
helwoman calls [40].
JoseRijo27 raises [100].
schneids folds.
cstalts folds.
knockout187 calls [60].
cali79 calls [60].
helwoman folds.

** Dealing Flop ** [7♣ 5♠ K♣]
knockout187 checks.
cali79 checks.
JoseRijo27 checks.
** Dealing Turn ** [5♦]
knockout187 checks.
cali79 checks.
JoseRijo27 checks.
** Dealing River ** [7♥]
knockout187 bets [110].
cali79 calls [110].

There’s two pair of low cards on the board, and no one has shown any strength up to this point. I don’t believe either of these guys has a five, seven, or king, but I do think that one or both has ace-x. I’m willing to call here.

JoseRijo27 calls [110].
knockout187 shows [Q♦ 2♦] Two Pair [7♥ 7♣ 5♠ 5♦ K♣] .
cali79 shows [Q♥ 3♦] Two Pair [7♥ 7♣ 5♠ 5♦ K♣] .
JoseRijo27 shows [J♦ A♥] Two Pair [7♥ 7♣ 5♠ 5♦ A♥] .
JoseRijo27 wins 730 from the main pot .

They both have queen-high!? What were they thinking? Those chips were simply a gift from heaven.

Ten minutes later, my pair of queens hold up against an all-in-er, and I have 2000 in chips. Twenty minutes after that, I go all-in with Big Slick after an ace flops. An equal stack calls. Even with four spades on the board, I win the hand to go to 4775. That’s good for 13th place at the first hour break. A pair of Jacks that hold up move me to sixth place. Then, I call a short-stack’s all-in move with a pair of sevens in the small blind.

***** Hand History for Game 33805324 *****
2006-03-05 13:16:02.12 - 2006-03-05 13:17:18.338
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 0: shhmady ( 145 )
Seat 1: poposmob ( 1165 )
Seat 2: swimmergal ( 2560 )
Seat 3: pokeher ( 675 )
Seat 4: lutz07 ( 5275 )
Seat 5: Marina ( 1905 )
Seat 6: bb420 ( 1380 )
Seat 7: JoseRijo27 ( 7015 )
Seat 8: mjones ( 1585 )
Seat 9: ccmateo ( 3300 )
JoseRijo27 posts small blind [200].
mjones posts big blind [400].
** Dealing down cards **
ccmateo calls [400].
shhmady folds.
poposmob folds.
swimmergal calls [400].
pokeher folds.
lutz07 folds.
Marina folds.
bb420 folds.
JoseRijo27 calls [200].
mjones raises all-In [1185].
ccmateo folds.
swimmergal folds.
JoseRijo27 calls [1185].
** Dealing Flop ** [3♣ 7♠ K♥]
** Dealing Turn ** [5♣]
** Dealing River ** [4♣]
mjones doesn't show.
JoseRijo27 shows [7♣ 7♦] Three Of A Kind [7♠ 7♦ 7♣ K♥ 5♣] .
JoseRijo27 wins 3970 from the main pot .

That hand puts me in first place for the tournament! There’s nowhere to go but down from here. For the next hour, I slowly bled chips. The blinds are so large so fast that someone goes all-in every hand. It just doesn’t seem to make sense to gamble with nothing.

At the second hour break, I’m 37th out of 43, but I have enough chips to make a last stand. KQo looks as good as any hand I’ve seen in ages, so I push.

***** Hand History for Game 33834326 *****
2006-03-05 14:06:47.188 - 2006-03-05 14:08:01.851
Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 0: SF64 ( 31121 )
Seat 1: SgtStedenko ( 6961 )
Seat 2: JoseRijo27 ( 4190 )
Seat 3: spivey22 ( 7078 )
Seat 4: VicRomano ( 1360 )
Seat 5: 3fan ( 7115 )
Seat 6: Mellyn74 ( 3920 )
Seat 7: EdAk ( 3065 )
Seat 8: beemerrider ( 4702 )
Seat 9: 1Sock ( 10120 )
beemerrider posts small blind [1000].
1Sock posts big blind [2000].
** Dealing down cards **
SF64 folds.
SgtStedenko folds.
JoseRijo27 raises all-In [4190].
spivey22 folds.
VicRomano folds.
3fan folds.
Mellyn74 folds.
EdAk calls all-In [3065].
beemerrider raises all-In [3702].
1Sock calls [2702].
** Dealing Flop ** [8♣ K♣ A♣]
** Dealing Turn ** [7♣]
** Dealing River ** [Q♥]
EdAk shows [7♠ 8♥] Two Pair [8♥ 8♣ 7♠ 7♣ A♣] .
1Sock shows [J♥ 5♠] No-Pair [A♣ K♣ Q♥ J♥ 8♣] .
beemerrider shows [A♠ J♠] One Pair [A♠ A♣ K♣ Q♥ J♠] .
JoseRijo27 shows [Q♦ K♠] Two Pair [K♠ K♣ Q♥ Q♦ A♣] .
beemerrider wins 1024 from the side pot #2 .
JoseRijo27 wins 3375 from the side pot #1 .
JoseRijo27 wins 12260 from the main pot .

This was insane! I have the third-best hand after the turn, and then river the queen! There’s four callers and four clubs on the board, but no one has a flush. I have new life and am in tenth place.

But as the river giveth, it also taketh away (and more so). I push with AJo, and a big stack with KT calls. The river card is, as you might guess, a king. I finish in 27th place.

Last Updated: Mon, 06 Mar 2006