A Week of Poker in Seattle – Part 1

This week, the Muckleshoot Casino in Seattle is hosting what they call their Summer Classic. The casino is about 30 minutes south of Seattle. It is one of 3 Indian casinos within a 30 minute drive of the city.

This tournament series consists of 5 events, with the casino adding a total of $55k to the prize pools.
Weds –     $250 NL Shoot out     $4k added
Thurs –     $200 buy-in NL          $4k added
Fri –          $300 buy-in NL           $5k added
Sat –         $500 buy-in NL           $10k added
Sun –        $750 buy-in NL           $20k added
The last $12k goes to the top 3 players in a best all around player format.

Wednesday, I played the shootout. It was a quick affair. You start with 10k in chips and levels are 30 minutes. This hand happened half way through the second level. The blind were 50-100 and the UTG player made it 300. I had KK second to act and made it 850. It folded around to the cutoff who moved all in for 9000. I called and he had AA… So I sat there with 10 big blinds for a little while and then when they were announcing the limits going up to 100-200, I got dealt the A2cc and moved in for my 975. I actually got called twice, then raised, and 4 people took the flop. AQ2 all diamonds. The first guy moved all in and turned over the KJ dd when the other two folded. So I went home…

On Thursdays, there is a 5-10-25 PLO game at the Tulalip Casino that is 30 minutes north of Seattle. Well, it is more like a spread limit game. Washington State still only allows a maximum bet of $500 at any time. So most of the time the post flop bets are between $100-300 and the betting on the turn and the river is usually around $500. But it is a fun and interesting game. When I am in town, I usually play this game on Thursdays, so I went there instead of the $200 tournament. Let’s just say that I wish I had played the tournament instead…

Friday (today), I went back to the Muckleshoot Casino for the $300 buy-in tournament. It was a quick day as well. The big blow came when I flopped top two against a set. In the first level with 25-50 blinds, a player limped in early position. I made it 200 with the QJ of spades. The blind called as well as the limper. The flop came QJ4 with two hearts. The blind checked and the limper led for 600. I called and the blind check raised to 1600. The limper called and now I had an interesting decision. I was never folding, and I was really sure I had the limper beat. The blind however was representing a strong hand. That could have easily been a hand like AQ or Queens with a heart draw, or possibly a combo draw of some kind. Or it could be a set, although I thought that if he had QQ or JJ he would have 3-bet preflop and because I had both pairs, those hands were less likely. I decided to move in (the blind had 7600 and the limper and I both had about 10k). The blind snapped called and the limper folded. He had the set of JJs. Suddenly I was short stacked. Then the blinds went up to 50-100 and it was even worse.

I went bust in a 3 way preflop pot with TT vs KJ and KK. I could have thrown this hand away when I had about 700 of my 3100 in, but the blinds were about to go to 100-200 and it seemed that my overall equity in the pot was better than sitting there with 12 big blinds for a while and then gambling…

I will update the last two events on Monday or Tuesday
-Rep