The first annual KGB Millions...

...well, maybe not millions, but there was a bracelet.

Sadly, the author did not take that particular piece of jewelry home. There were 10 players, and I ended up finishing in 7th. Believe me, I was NOT happy about how I played in the slightest. While I do think that taking down all the info to blog about it hurt my concentration a little, I don't want to use that as an excuse. I got felted because I was only half-focused, and I once again ignored my read and what I believed to be a tell. Ugh.

Anyway, since my cash-game homies wanted to be famous, here you go, guys. Let me introduce you to the principals:

Seat 1: Mike - Part of Team Ballin'. I first met him in AC back in May, but I had never had the chance to play against him before. He had lost a few bucks at the tables there...and that was all I had to go on other than a pre-game scouting report of "he's aggressive". I hate to admit this now, but Brendan (my roommate) and I had a side bet as to who would go out first, and I guessed Mike due to his aggressive nature.

Seat 2: Brian - Solid player, but a guy who craves action...sometimes to his detriment. He knows the right plays and in general is pretty good at changing gears and mixing up his play. But, where he gets into trouble is his "inklings"...which usually translate into fairly loose calls with, oh, how do I say this charitably? Umm..."less-than-premium hands". Yeah, that's it. I'm going to regret giving this advice I'm sure, but dude...less calls, less hands, more re-raises. That's all you're missing.

Seat 3: Matt - Just met him that night. Drank nine beers during the course of play.

Seat 4: Other Rob - He's the "other" Rob because a) I also just met him that night, and b) He wasn't hosting. He turned out to be a solid, quality player.

Seat 5: Joe - One of the two tournament specialists at the table. Remember my post from a while back where me and my two friends finished 1-2-3 in a $1 SNG? He was the zombie dude who just wouldn't die.

Seat 6: Rob - Our gracious host. Rob KGB is, by my estimation, the best overall player at the table. His knowledge of odds and the proper play to match them is unmatched by any of the rest of us there, and he has the courage to go along with it. I'm not going to regret giving this advice because I've already done it, but he rarely loses because of outright mistakes...when he does lose, it's due to going on tilt and/or talking himself out of hands he'd probably win otherwise.

Seat 7: Me - You know about this guy by now. Crap tournament player, overplays medium-high holdings, has a super-aggressive reputation even though I really don't play that many hands, etc and so on. The "maniac" of the home game.

Seat 8: Al - The other tournament specialist. To an even greater extent than Joe, he will go into what we call the "beserker rage" when he's down some in chips...before you know it, he's doubled up twice and right back in the hunt. He used to sarcastically be called "Action Al" due to being a tight player - especially by this game's standards. Honestly, he plays just enough hands, and plays them well. He has an amazing talent of folding when the other guy has a monster, and often extracts the maximum when he has one. Like Rob, when he loses, it's because he's probably beaten himself. Is WAY too hard on himself, and has to learn to recognize sometimes that losing doesn't mean you played incorrectly.

Seat 9: Brendan - My roommate, as mentioned. Considering he has only intermittently played for a few short months, he's astonishingly good. No joke, he's made me look like a rookie more than once in our home games. Great actor (in terms of portraying false tells), great at spotting tells...just a little too tight-passive at times.

Seat 10: Niko - Another good, solid player. He has a reputation of ALWAYS hitting his straights and flushes, but that's because he has the stones to play the drawing hands in the first place. If you really watch him, you'll notice that he's good about only drawing when he has the correct odds (or close to them) to do so. He does an excellent job of taking advantage of his reputation, too.

So, without further ado, I'll get into the notable "TV" hands. I know this is going to be long and probably tedious reading if you aren't a) my friend or b) someone who played in this game, so I'll try and be as brief as I can.

Hand 1: Robbie KGB takes down a big pot right away, at Joe's expense (and Brian's somewhat, but he bailed on the turn). The board was 8-5-5-5-J, and Rob showed 4-5. Yep...quads on the first fucking hand.

Hand 5: Rob loses this one, but not a lot considering the board was K-K-K-Q-6, and Brendan had A-K. That's right...that's the SECOND time quads were hit within five hands.

Oh, by the way, this game was sloth-like for the first few hours. By the time we were three hours in or so, we had only played like 25 hands. With the usual home-game stuff (rabbit-hunting, people not realizing it's their turn, etc), I suppose that was inevitable. It made it a little weird in that the blinds had gone up and up and up, and we were playing maybe 3-4 hands per level. This was the first time we've done a home-game tournament though, so we'll figure it out for the next time. Anyway...

Hand 7: The good guy takes down his first pot, catching two pair with 7-6 off-suit.

Hand 8: Had middle pair with Q-10, but couldn't stand the heat of Mike's $80 bet with three flush cards out there.

Hand 10: Rob KGB loses to Other Rob. Other Rob calls 4X BB raise pre-flop, and then calls Rob's flop and river bets. The board was J-10-2 (all spades) - 4-2. Rob shows A-8 off-suit, Other Rob had Q-10.

Hand 11: I accidentally exposed a 4 when I folded the State Patrol hand. That helped out Rob quite a bit, as he ended up having 4-4! Matt and Mike play a fairly big pot, which is taken down by Matt's king-high flush.

Hand 12: Rob isn't so lucky this time - his A-Q is beaten by Matt's 4-3. His call of Rob's pre-flop raise is likely partially due to the fact that he was 2 beers in at that point. Rob is now steaming.

Hand 13: Mike takes control with this one. I call with 10s-7s, a couple of other limpers are driven out along with me by Joe's raise up to $200. Rob goes in the tank forever, but goes away (he showed me 9-9). Niko then enters the tank, and eventually comes to the same conclusion. Mike goes all-in for $315 more, which Joe calls. Joe shows Ad-Ks, Mike shows 9s-8d (see what I mean about the aggression?). The flop comes 7-6-5, the King on the river is obviously no help to Joe. Joe is below $500 in chips, so he is the first to utilize the one re-buy.

Hand 15: I build up my stack at Niko's expense. I call with 6-5 in the SB, Niko and Matt are along for the ride. The flop is a gorgeous 6-5-2, to which I immediately fire out $80. Niko calls, Matt bails. I get another $200 when a 7 hits on the turn, and the river was a 9. We both checked it down, and he showed A-7.

Hand 16: I get A-K on the button, and call Rob's raise along with Al and Brendan. The flop is 10-4-3 rainbow, and my continuation bet takes it down.

Hand 19: Rob, still steaming, goes all-in with 9-9. Brian makes what I think is an excellent fold with A-Q. If he had lost, his stack would have been crippled.

Hand 20: Rob wins again with 8-8, Brian had made a "very bad call", but didn't stick around to the river. Matt did with 6-4, having paired the latter on the flop.

Hand 23: Mike takes it down when Brendan calls his $250 raise with Ah-Q, only to see it lose to Mike's J-9. The flop came out all-hearts, so Brendan would have taken it if one more came out.

First Break - Going up to 50-100. This was the leaderboard at the time:

Mike - 2560
Other Rob - 2535
Me - 2285
Matt - 1975
Brendan - 1630
Al - 1600
Brian - 1480
Niko - 1390
Rob - 1375
Joe - 705

Hand 25: Other Rob takes over the chip lead as Mike's $200 raise is called, but he folds on the flop of 8-4-2 to Rob's $400 raise. It ended up being a great fold, as OR showed K-K.

Hand 29: Mike takes it back by calling Joe's $300 raise, then taking it on the flop with a continuation bet.

I win hands 30 and 34, and all of a sudden it's looking real good for your boy.

Hand 35: For the second time today, someone with a pocket pair lucks out as the third of that denomination is accidentally exposed. Joe goes all-in for his last $760, Matt calls. Having seen the third Jack go bye-bye, Brian wisely folds J-J. Joe's A-Q beats out Matt's 4-4 when a Queen comes on the flop. Unfortunately for Brian, if that Jack hadn't been shown, he'd have won as the board was K-9-10-Q-9.

Hand 39: Fucking Niko. I call with Ks-8s, and Niko immediately goes all-in for his last $815. Matt goes all-in for $700, and Mike calls. Niko has A-8, Matt 8-7, and Mike A-J. Mike's Ace plays on a board of 10-5-5-K-6. Dammit, dammit, sonofabitch. Matt and Niko are felted in 10th and 9th.

Hand 40: I get A-K, and raise to $300. Mike and the Other Rob call. The flop was Q-10-8, two diamonds. I raise to $500, Rob re-raises to $1250. Well, shit. With only one diamond and a gutshot straight draw, I'm not risking my tournament life here.

Hand 41: Joe heads to the rail in 8th. I wasn't expecting that one, that's for sure. I'm splashing around with 3h-2h, Mike calls. Joe bets $400, Mike calls. The flop is 8-8-7, two diamonds. It's checked around, turn is the King of diamonds. It's checked again, and the river is the 4c. Joe goes all-in, and Mike calls. It was a gutsy call on Mike's part with 5-5, but he had the best hand - Joe shows A-Q. If Joe had went all-in on the turn, there's no way Mike could have reasonably called him, I think.

Hand 42: Rob puts his name in for the Laydown of the Night competition that seems to be going on. Brendan goes all-in for $1,010. Rob counts his chips and thinks hard about making a stand, but elects to fold his 7-7. Brendan is courteous enough to show his J-J.

Hand 43: Brendan doubles up through Mike - Brendan held A-Q and paired on the flop. Unfortunately for Mike, he had to call with Q-Q, and was a bit unlucky. Still, he could afford it, dammit.

Hand 46: Three hands later, Brendan's stack is crippled. This hand DEFINITELY was a television hand. Rob limps in...Al goes all-in for $725, Brendan goes all-in for $2090. Everyone else bounces, as you'd imagine. Rob shows The Weapons of Mass Destruction...Brendan shows Q-Q, Al shows 7-7. Immediately, Al starts berating himself (dude, it's getting late in the tourney, you're short-stacked, you had to make a move. He could have been limping with 3-2, for fuck's sake). Flop is 10-9-6, no help to anyone. Wouldn't you know it, but the turn is a 7. The river is a Jack, sending Brendan out. Al is STILL berating himself despite tripling up, and now Rob is absolutely spitting fire that his bullets didn't hold up. He told me afterwards that he would have won the tournament if he had won that hand, and honestly, he's right. I'd be pissed, too.

Hand 47: Yep - your hero crashed out of the tournament in 6th place. You will be shocked and amazed to know that it was from overplaying a medium-high holding. I wake up with 10-10, and bump it up to $600. Mike can't get his chips into the pot fast enough. The flop is 5-4-4, and I'm only thinking of that rather than what Mike is possibly holding. He bets $500, and like an idiot, I call. He's leading into the pre-flop raiser on a nothing board...what could he have that I was ahead of? I know he's aggressive and all, but I had barely played a hand all night...out of 47, I think I was seriously involved in the 5-8 range. The turn is a Queen, and I go all-in. He insta-calls, and of course shows A-A. I couldn't believe that they showed up in two consecutive hands, but I should have known I was beaten. I head to the rail, and deservedly so.

Hand 48: We're dropping like flies - Brendan is out in 6th. He goes all-in with 9-9, Other Rob calls with K-J. Sure enough, a King comes right in the door.

Hand 51: Brian doubles up through Mike. They had limped in, and saw a Qs-7c-5h flop. It's checked around through the turn and river, which are Ac and 5d. Mike tries to steal it for $500, Brian goes all-in for his last $930. Mike is pretty much pot-committed and had to call. Mike shows A-7, Brian shows 8-5 to the shock and laughter of the whole table. Long story short, Brian had his A-A cracked in Atlantic City by some douche-rocket that called a huge pre-flop raise with 8-5 off-suit.

Hand 52: Other Rob loses a decent amount of chips to his namesake when the Polish/Russian dynamo hit trips with his A-5.

Hand 55: Three hands later, the aforementioned dynamo is WAMBOOZLED and out in 5th (incidentally, Al does an amazing solo Chad Ford and Lon McEachern act). Brian opens for $500, Rob goes all-in. Brian calls with A-Q, which has A-J dominated. A Queen on the flop ends the tournament hopes of our host.

Hand 58: A further three hands later, the tournament all of a sudden finds itself Rob-free. Mike opens for $1000, Al and Other Rob call. The flop is Js-10d-7d. Mike bumps it to $2000, Other Rob is all-in for $1450 more. Mike calls and shows Kh-Jh. Other Rob showed Qs-Jc. The turn and river were no help, and Other Rob became the bubble boy in 4th.

Mike was pretty much a lock to at least make the money, but Al really caught fire after catching lightning in a bottle with that third 7. As for Brian, he wasn't in a ton of the "TV hands", but he kept his gambling tendencies in check and really picked his spots beautifully. He earned his spot in the money, that's for sure. At this point, the stacks looked like this:

Mike: 11,515
Brian: 3,510
Al: 2,475

Hand 62: Brian doubles up to make a contest out of it. Mike raised Brian's BB to $800, Brian goes all-in. Brian's Q-10 is comfortably ahead of Mike's 10-7, and as a big middle finger to the poor chip leader, Brian gets top two on the flop of Q-10-9. The turn was a 6, making it interesting...but a King fell on the river.

Hand 67: Al's tournament ends with a solid 3rd-place finish. His all-in is called by Mike, who must have been stoked to finally be dominating a hand after the last 3-4 times when he was on the other end of it. A-Q vs. A-10, and the Queen ended up playing.

Sadly, there was no Shana Hiatt or other gorgeous women to bring out the money and the bracelet (yes, Rob bought a bracelet online for the occasion). That said, luckily (as it was late and I was exhausted), the heads-up match didn't last long. Brian made it more interesting on Hand 70 when his K-6 held up for another $1000 in chips, but it was all over two hands later:

Final Hand - Hand 72: Mike goes all-in, Brian calls. Again, Mike is dominated, K-Q to Q-J. The flop is Q-10-9, and the turn is an Ace. The river is a King, winning the bracelet for the proud member of Team Ballin'.

All in all, it was a fun time and some good poker was played. Sooner or later, I want to get one of those bracelets as well and host the Pot-Limit Omaha event. THAT should make some interesting reading, anyway!