Friday's Tournament

Just posting a quick reminder about the $40 buy-in tournament at Jon Shilling's at 3508 N Elm St at 6:30 tomorrow ... Just in case anybody was by the website and wanted it listed at the top of the page ... lol ...

December 10th Holiday Inn Tournament

I'm getting word that Mike Pacat and Amy Roehrich split 1st place yesterday at the Holiday Inn ($50 buy-in) Tournament in Fargo. They both walked away with around $1,125!! Toby Roehrich also made the final table out of a field of 100 people!

Congratulations to those 3!

DPT Invitational

First off, congratulations to Jon Rubis for making his 2nd straight final table for the DPT. Also congratulations to Aaron Diedrich who was still playing when we left Bismarck. Jon finished 10th after a roller coaster of a 2nd day, after a day 1 that saw him run out to a nice chip lead before coasting to the end of the day with a stack about 50% above average.

Unfortunately for me, I was done on day 1 ... and this after getting out to a great start. Through the fist coupled orbits of the first round, I bled off about 1,500 in chips before I was dealt pocket 8's and was in a 5-way raised (to 200) pot preflop. The flop came out 838 and I did my best to hide my excitement. The preflop raiser bet out 1,500 and I called, and the turn he bet 3,000 and I moved all-in for 3,750 more. He eventually called with QQ and I double up to around 17,000. At the 100/200 level I made a few moves and by the end of the 200/400 level I was up to nearly 30,000. During the 300/600 level though, thing took a bad turn. I got involved in a pot that I shouldn't have and ended up with a monster draw and tried to push around a short stack. Unfortunately for me the short stack had flopped a set and didn't even think twice about calling all-in. It was a 4-way raised minimum pot to 1,200 that I called out of the blinds with 49d. The flop came down 2 diamonds Q68 and a guy bet 1,500. I called, and when the turn brought a 7, I moved in on him. He called and showed 66. No straight card, no diamond came and I was down to around 21,000. I then had QQ and smooth-called in late position a raise to 2,200. Unfortunately so did a limper, and when a flop came out 676 and he bet out I reraised and discovered he called with A6. I was soon down to 7K at the break, and coming back to the first hand of 400/800 in the BB. I proceeded through a series of hands to work back up to 11,200 in the first orbit of blinds. I was again in the blinds when 4th position, Mark Berger, DPT Player of the Year, raised to 2,800. I knew he had a big hand, I put him on AK. I looked down at 88, and just called - knowing he was coming with if I went all-in. The flop was 653, and I decided to let him continuation bet, which he did for 3,000, and I moved all-in for 8,400 total. He thought awhile and eventually called 5,400 into the 17,400 pot. An A came off on the river and my tournament was done.

Very disappointed, especially since there was a series of decisions I could have easily made that would have definitely affected the outcome of my tournament. Yes, cards are cards and some of the turns that they took were definitely bad, but I typically try to play to eliminate as much of that as possible, and my decisions didn't bear that out.

Jon on day 2 survived after slow-playing AK on a AJ9 flop (raised preflop, 1 caller), and moved all-in on the turn T. Unfortuantely the preflop caller was holding KQ, but a Q came to save him. He eventually got back to around 60K when Nick Thomas made it 14K to go from the button at 2K/4K, Jon moved all-in with AJd, and Nick called all-in (42K) with QJc, and caught clubs. Short stacked moving into the final table, he moved his stack up to 45K with KK and AJ blinds pick ups, but then ran into a limper (AA) when he had A4 in the blinds and his day was done.

Aaron Diedrich had a very up and down day. At one point he was looking to become a mostrous chip leader, but his AA got cracked by TT after the money went in after the flop. A T for Toby Croteau came off and Aaron was down to 20,000 at 1,500/3,000. He moved up to around 30,000 before the break and hung around that size for quite awhile before making a move on Tami Perry. Aaron rasied all-in with 86c, and Tami woke up in the BB with AK. The flop brought 2 8's and Aaron doubled up and moved to the final table with just under 70,000 (98 entrants - 98,000 average).

Mitch is hoping to bring the DPT back to Fargo this spring, and we will look forward to the tournament as the structure allows for absolutely true poker play.

The Year in Review for DRP

Well, what a year this turned out to be!

This year our participants included a WPT Poker Stars Carribean Adventure 2nd place finisher, at least 4 or 5 HPT final table participants, 4 of the 6 major tournaments in Fargo-Moorhead (Roger Tangen - Dead Money, Pete Bushey - Doublewood, Chad Ransom - Harwood, Corey Eslinger - Playmaker's) were won by charter members of DRP or individuals who played in the tournaments, a major Dakota Magic Weekend Warrior tournament winner (Jon Shilling), and of course the DRP Main Event Champion (Jason Kramer) who was also the Player of the Year for DRP.

I realize not all of the better players in the Fargo-Moorhead area play in our group, but as good as 'home game' groups can get, this is a damn good group. Fortunately we're mostly here to have fun, and this has always been the intention with our payout structure - to encourage participation and keep the people coming back.

This year our attendance ballooned to see our largest crowds and largest prizepools. Totals for this year, nearly equaled the previous 3 years combined in terms of pools. We branched out and brought in many new, good players around the area, and the word spread quickly. For the time being, we are going to be going back to a 'home game' atmosphere - at least until spring starts.

Obviously our attendance cannot continue to grow much beyond what it has been. Logistically, no matter where we play, 30-32 is about the max. With this in mind, the coming year will hold more tournaments - but with a bit of a different flavor. There will be various Championship Events in Hold-em, PL Hold-em, H.O.R.S.E., Stud, Razz, and Omaha. With the increase in number of tournaments, the other tournaments are mostly going to $40 buy-ins, but there will be a couple $60, an $80 Championship, and a $100 buy-in. We will be having a meeting at the December 15th game with about 6 of the charter members to discuss some details that I have come up with. We will try to tweak structure, dates, etc., as we go along to benefit the majority of people.

This coming year, the Points Championship will be just top 10. Discussions have occurred that led us to make this decision. Mainly, it is based on the feeling that the top 16 included too many people and the top 10 lose a benefit of playing good poker throughout the year. With this in mind, most people in the top 10 will have to participate in a fair number of events to qualify. Doing rather well in 3 of the bigger events may still get you there, but 1 good showing at the largest will probably not. All Championship Events are rated the same for points, there will, however, still be the increase in points for number of participants at the event.

We will also try, during the coming year, to foster more a social atmosphere for the games. During the first couple months, with holding the tournaments at homes, we will see if this helps. Cash games, Friday nights, Saturday nights, snacks provided, etc., will all be ideas that we will try to use to encourage a more social game.

Any and all ideas are always welcome,

We will see on the 15th at 6:30!

Corey Eslinger

2006 DPL Fall Championship Recap

Well, I'm starting to recover. You can't win them all, right? lol .... you can only try.

It was a great tournament, and I thought it allowed for quite a bit of play. As most of you know, I haven't played a lot of big tournaments, and therefor my scope of reference in the past was limited to tournaments in which I had played and never had accumulated chips. This tournament started out quite eerily in the fact that within the first orbit, I found myself with 7,000 in chips. Obviously still very early in the tournament, but definitely not the start I wanted. Over the next hour and a half, I was able to build my stack up to mid-teens respectable stack. One of the best hand was A9c UTG. I limped and the flop T86 - 2 clubs, I led out 900 and was called in 2 places, turn was the 2 of clubs, and I led out 1,500 and was fairly surprised when both opponents folded.

After the break, I began to build a pretty decent stack into the twenties, where I hung around for quite awhile. Eventually I started to get some good cards. I ended up with KK vs Mark Lawson who called a preflop raise, nothing hit on the flop for him and he folded to me. Towards the end of the 8th level, I went on a mini-rush. Had JJ and raised from 1,600 to 5,000 and had 2 callers. Flop hit 772 and neither called my post-flop bet. Then I called from late position a raise to 5,000 from the 2nd position. Unfortunately, we were also called by the button which complicated my planned pot steal after the flop. The flop came Q73, 2 hearts, and the raiser checked. I proceeded to bet 8,000 with my pair, and the button and the originial raiser folded (rather perturbed). (The contents of this hand have not been revealed to protect the innocent :-) ... lol) So at the 2nd break I was up to a very nice 41,500 ... which put me towards the top 10 with about 49 remaining in the tournament.

After the dinner break we came back and I had 2 hands in a row that I took down called preflop bets with a postflop bet of my own. One of the hands was KK, the other I'm drawing a blank on. I was now up to almost 70,000. I soon ran it up to just under 90,000 before things went terribly wrong. With AKs I raised from 3,000 to 12,000 and was called from the SB. Flop was JTx, and he checked. With 27K in the pot, and him only having 27K or so left, I bet 25K. Hoping he hit nothing, but even a J or T didn't have me in too bad of shape here .... unfortunately (after undue, drawn-out theatrics) he called with TT - a flopped set, and no Q came to save my ass ... I was down to 50K. From there, I couldn't stop the bleeding until consecutive, uncalled all-ins with 56h and JJ to bring me back from 24,500 to 36,500. I then had KQ and raised to 12,000 from 4,000. The BB went all-in for more than I had. I went into the tank, and looked at the clock. We were just about to go to 3,000/6,000 which meant I would have only 4x the BB if I folded .. and the blinds were only 2 hands away. I decided to call because of past events with this player, feeling he wasn't that strong and I was in decent shape. It ended up a coin flip when he showed 55. I Q on the turn and a K on the river, doubled me up to 75,000 .. where I stayed until we went to 2 tables.

Starting at 2 tables, the rush began. With an AK that 2-paired on the flop, with an 87 that 2-paired on the flop and turn, with JJ, with KQh, I proceeded to balloon my stack to 308,500 as we went to the final table. I even had AA (only time during the day) in the BB ... and had called a short stack's all-in blind ... wow ...

As we went to the final table, I won one of the very first hands with KQ. I had raised preflop and was called, and when the flop came low paired with an even lower card, I led out with 36K. After I was called, I was prepared to shut down, but the K on the turn saved me, and although there was no further action I won a very significant pot off the 2nd in chips going to the final table. I know had almost 3x as many chips as the next closest. However, after that, things shifted, through eliminations some stacks grew up, and when I raised with A8 and ran into a short stack AK, and raised with QJ and ran into a short stack A8, I was back down to around 300,000. Things stabilized for me at that point, just picking up the occasional pot as chips flew around the table. Eventually I built my stack to 400,000 after winning about 60,000 off of Cory Solberg when I caught a pair on the flop against his AK.

Coming back from a short break, we were now at 10,000/20,000 and I was UTG. KK again and I raised to 60K and Cory called from the BB. J35 flop and he pushed in, and I called. He showed QJ and with a 3 on the turn to take away 3 outs, he blanked on the river and I moved to around 600,000. On the very next hand though, the worst thing happened. The next in chips, eliminated 3rd in chips and his stack grew to about the same as mine.

After a couple of hands 3-handed, that's when the fateful QJh happened. Normally I would check-raise all-in at some point in time during the hand, but I felt my opponent would call with whatever pair, and after the Q on the turn and the 2nd K on the river ... I convinced myself I was ahead ... unfortunately. I would have still had around 400,000 had I not made the call ... about a 2-1 dog, but with 10,000/20,000 blinds ... plenty of room.

One mistake is all it takes in tournament poker, and I made it at a very bad time. We'll just have to try again :-)

I could feel the sand between my toes ...

Through 10 hours, I was able to play great poker, survive one coin flip, go on a massive rush, and it all came down to the same hand I won the DPT event 2 weeks prior ... QJh ...

I flopped a gutshot and flush draw, turned a Q, and then when the river brought a 2nd K, I somehow convinced myself I had the best hand. Unfortunately it was not the case and my opponent did have a K.

It's a hand I'm sure to relive over and over .. especially considering I could fold and still have around 400K against my opponent's 800K ... hindsight is always 20/20 and I had trusted my gut all day ...

Things really seemed to be going my way, and I'm very disappointed in the outcome, although I did receive a few consolation prizes. I will be playing at the DPT Invitational this coming weekend and hopefully the hot streak will continue.

Honestly, I think I have to gain a little bit of perspective on today before I can write more about it ....

We'll talk soon ...