Winning Red Hot’s 18-Player Shootout Is As Easy As Cracking Aces
The Main Event of the World Series of Poker has always been seen as poker’s World Championship. But since its introduction 3 years ago, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament has come to be seen as the Players’ Championship, because it attracts only the best and the brightest of the poker world, to battle it out for a prestigious prize.
Friday the 3rd of April, 2009 saw the second ever 18-player Shootout to end a Red Hot Poker season. Held the night before that season’s Tournament of Champions, the Shootout brings together the cream of the Red Hot crop; those players who won their regional leaderboard, who won the Red Club leaderboard, who earned the most AT points during the season, and who found a place in the top 10 of the Championship Qualifier leaderboard.
I was invited to play for the second season in a row, after having finished third last season. I’m starting to see this Shootout as Red Hot’s version of the Players’ Championship. The winner would receive a buy-in to event #54 of this summer’s World Series, a prize that would go a long way towards fulfilling my ultimate poker dreams.
Taking my seat at table 2, I found a lot of familiar faces. I’ve played more poker than I can count with Bill Bawden, Michael Milewski, Shane St. John, and – though a late arrival – Larry Fedoruk. Alex Sally Hannay made the trip in from Ottawa to play, and quickly felt intimidated by his rivals who all seemed quite familiar with each other. Jasper Moester won the HBO leaderboard, and I knew him to be a dangerous and unpredictable opponent. Yakov Frenkel won the Windsor leaderboard, and earned more live tournament points than any other Red Hot player during the season. Finally, and probably most notably, was Sal Villaluz, who has graduated from Red Hot success to success in larger buy-in live tournaments, while tearing up the PartyPoker virtual felt all season. He was seated three to my left, and I knew that at some point I’d have to go through him if I was going to win this thing.
My plan was to play small pots, and not get into too much trouble early on. It worked right away. I raised ATs from late position, and took down a small pot when it came T-T-9. I raised with pocket tens, and slowplayed a T-x-K all-club flop. I turned a full house, bet the river, and took down another small pot. Then I open-raised with A7s, and bet the turn when the board came A-A-3-T. My chipstack was slowly growing.
I then played two hands in quick succession where, even though I won the pots, I felt like I made major mistakes. The first was when I limped from the small blind after several limpers with 73s. The flop came 3-3-8, and I checked. Jasper made a big bet right behind me and Sal called. I was hoping one or both of them had a strong 8, and would call if I raised. I did, and, sadly, they both folded. That was a missed opportunity for a lot of chips.
The next mistake hand was a bit more memorable, for the rest of the table as well as for me. Larry, after arriving late, raised from second position in only his third hand of the tournament. I was immediately on his left, and knew that he was capable of raising light there with a wide variety of hands. So I reraised. When it got back around to him, he hesitated, which confirmed my original read that he wasn’t that strong.
“I have you beat, I know that now,” I said, hoping for a fold. He called.
The flop came J-T-4, I believe, and Larry quickly checked. I still thought he had a weak hand, so I bet out 1000. Quickly – surprisingly quickly, in fact – Larry said, “I think I have to fold this,” and tabled his pocket kings face up. “How did you find that fold?” I asked, trying to represent that I had pocket aces. The rest of the table was stunned. It certainly was a tough spot for Larry to be in. Having just fought through rush hour traffic, he didn’t really want to go broke with kings versus aces moments after sitting down. I’ve since told Larry what I really had, and I may as well tell you: AKo. Wow, dodged a bullet there.
Our table was playing small pots, taking the safe route to the final table. Table 1, however, was more like a gallows, as the first 5 eliminations happened over there. The hangman’s first victim was Gary Biggar, whose top two pair were no good against Tom Brennand’s bottom set. Ian Chanonat was next out, when his pocket kings were cracked by Dan Luzi’s set of queens. Tom was next to go, taken out by George Kuzmanovic, followed by Dave Kersey, who several hands before his elimination had mistakenly folded after being reraised, when he only had a couple blue chips behind. Dave can take solace in the fact that, having won this event last season he already has his trip to Vegas secured. Alex Sally Hannay, having moved over from our table, was the next to go. The lone Ottawa representative bemoaned his luck, losing several meaningful hands with AK before finally pushing his shortstack and running into a bigger pair.
Table 2 lost its first player when Jasper, who had been tangling unsuccessfully with Sal all tournament, finally succumbed to his opponent when his A3 was no good against Sal’s AJ. Shane, riding a shortstack after losing a big all-in against Jasper moments before, was next to go, followed closely by Yakov, who tried pushing Wayne Desmarais off top pair of aces with just a middle pair and flush draw combo. But Wayne stood firm, and Yakov’s draw missed.
Meanwhile, my small pot strategy was working, but the blinds were creeping up a little more quickly than anticipated, and my stack was getting eaten by a cold run of cards. That all changed when, after action folded to me in the small blind, I pushed all-in for 3500 at 200/400 blinds. Sal, not really wanting to, called from the big blind with KQ. My AQ hit the flop hard and I got a much-needed double-up. Then, on the final table bubble, Michael shoved his short stack in from the cutoff. It folded to me in the big blind and I looked down first at an ace, knowing that I’d probably have to make the call here. My next card was a queen, and I called, in very good shape against his A9. A queen on the flop had him drawing dead to running nines, which never came. We moved over to join Table 1 at what would now be the final table.
I had about 11,000 chips, which was certainly above average. Wayne was the chipleader, followed closely by Sal and myself. Doris Edgar, the extreme shortstack at the final table, went out first when her pocket fives lost to an overpair. Larry was next to go, followed closely by Lisa Clayton, who took a chance by pushing from the big blind against Wayne’s cutoff raise. Lisa’s AT was behind Wayne’s AQ.
Somewhere in the midst of all these shortstackers getting eliminated came the hand of the tournament for me. Action folded around to Sal in the small blind. Having watched him play all tournament, and remembering how he nearly dismantled the final table of TOC X, I knew what was coming: a lot of chips in my eye. Sal hesitated for a second, though.
“I am 99.9% sure I am not getting a walk here,” I said, just to get a reaction. He hesitated still, and then, almost reluctantly but trying to feign strength, he shoved all-in. Blinds were 300/600/100, and he put 13,000 chips in the middle, having me slightly covered.
I looked down at pocket fives.
In a normal tournament, where each successive spot pays more than the last, this is probably a fold. I was healthy in chips, and could easily outlast the other shortstacks left to secure at least third place money. But this was a winner-take-all tournament. Second place paid the same as seventh: nothing. Also, I knew that if I let Sal run over me like that every time I was in the blinds, I would be dead in the water. So, knowing with complete certainty that he didn’t have a bigger pair than mine, I decided to gamble for a big chipstack, and made the call.
He showed J9o, I hit my set of fives on the turn, and now we were off to the races.
There were two nice side effects to calling and winning this hand: my most dangerous opponent was crippled, and, even though he built himself back up in the wake of this hand, he was a lot more hesitant to come after my blinds, giving me several walks. That was nice.
Bill was knocked out next, and then Dan’s A7 push lost to a rejuvenated Sal, who woke up with AK after an all-in in front of him for what seemed like the fifth time all tournament. He won every time in that scenario. George was next out, nearly equalling the second-place finish he achieved at last season’s shootout.
As three-handed play started, Wayne and I had relatively equal stacks, and held about 75% of the chips in play, while Sal was still struggling with a short stack. All this would change very quickly, as Wayne and I tangled in an enormous pot, one in which I played my “need to get lucky to win the tournament” lifeline.
With blinds at 500/1000/300, Wayne shoved from the button. Sal thought long and hard before folding what he later told us was pocket fours. I found pocket tens in the big blind, and, using the same play-for-first mentality, I called. I couldn’t believe Wayne would shove so many chips in the middle with a hand that I didn’t have completely crushed. I quickly found out that in fact he sure could, when he slammed his pocket aces down on the table.
“Okay,” I thought to myself. “Stay calm. There’s nothing you can do now.” Nothing, except believe wholeheartedly that this was my time to get lucky.
The first card on the flop was a ten. And now we were really off to the races.
After counting down our stacks, dealer Michael Bennett Leroux informed Wayne that he had only 700 chips left. I, on the other hand, now had almost 55,000. It was almost inevitable that Wayne would go out next, and I would get to play Sal heads-up for a World Series seat with a 3:1 chiplead. But nobody gave Wayne that news, as he managed to double-up and double-up over and over, until he had turned that 700 into about 15,000 before any of us knew what had happened. And then, almost completing the fairy tale story, Wayne’s AK outran Sal’s pocket pair to bust Sal out in second. So instead I had to face Wayne heads-up as he was riding a huge rush.
At this time we took a break, and I rushed out to the bathroom. On my way a couple of spectators congratulated me prematurely on my win, and shook my hand in triumph. I tried to ward off their jinxes, but, as I soon learned, it didn’t quite work.
The first hand back from the break, I found AJ on the button, and the blinds were big enough that my only play was to put Wayne all-in. He insta-snap-“It’s suited!”-called with… wait for it… ten-three of clubs. Even though I was about 65% to win here, I tried to keep calm, just like when I ran into his aces earlier, and accept what was about to happen because none of it was in my control.
The crowd behind me erupted in ecstasy and agony and shock when the flop came T-T-T.
I, on the other hand, didn’t move a muscle. I felt completely calm, completely at ease, and ready to continue the battle. I still had a very healthy stack, and knew that the tournament was far from lost. Even though I was now the shortstack, I knew that I was still in a very good spot to take it down.
Things got easier when I doubled-up back through Wayne almost immediately, my pocket fives winning a race versus his AQ. And with that I got back almost all of the chips I lost. After that I tried to play small pots with the garbage hands I was getting, but Wayne kept pushing and pushing and pushing his shortstack. Finally, in a hand that started with him having 16,000 behind and 4,000 in the big blind, I shoved all-in with my pocket tens. He was more than happy to instacall – again! – with the mighty J5s. As Michael dealt out the flop, turn, and river, I never looked at the board. I calmly stared at Wayne, preferring to learn my fate from his reaction. When he looked downtrodden after the river card was dealt, I knew that I had won the tournament.
And, come July, I would be playing in the World Series of Poker. Oh my Doyle Brunson!
The next few moments were a blur. I think I shook a bunch of hands, said “thanks” after many words of congratulations, and posed for pictures behind my chip stack, my winning hand, and in front of a Red Hot banner. Michael lent me his phone so I could call my girlfriend at home, letting her know that I had won, and that the summer Vegas trip we were hoping to take was actually going to happen. Then, exhausted and worn out after 5 hours of mental warfare, I slumped over in a chair directly behind the tournament table. When I looked up, I saw a semi-circle of standing Red Hot luminaries staring down at me, possibly expecting me to do something (Dance? Sing a song?). They seemed genuinely pleased that I had won, which made the work, study, and dedication I’ve put into getting better at this game all the more worth it.
Thanks to the Red Hot Poker Tour, RedClubRoom.com, and PartyPoker for this opportunity. Let it be known that while I’m in Vegas this summer fulfilling my dream, I’ll be doing my best to represent you three entities to the best of my ability.
Popularity: 35% [?]
Loading ...
Quick Clips
Yeah, it is surprising how many players limp for 15%-25% of their stack and then fold. Just absolutely crazy. I see this all the time.
I agree with most of this — except the bit about folding QQ? are you ever going to play that hand?
— and would like to add that getting reads on players, as well as stack size, is most important in the endgame sections of these tournaments. If someone is shoving or raising every hand, I’ll open up my calling/reshoving range against them. Don’t mind getting it in with A8 or worse in those spots; can’t count the number of times I’m shown Q7 or K4 or some such junk. But if a player has been folding for orbit after orbit, I’m more likely to make tighter laydowns.
Also, attack the limpers. You’d be surprised how many people limp for like 15%-25% of their stack, then fold to a shove. Easy way to pick up dead money, and survive another round.
I know Mikey, I’m kicking myself in the butt for that one. Where limping was great against Orlov, who was the only agressor at the table in the hopes of trapping him (and it worked!), when you’re running into situation where everyone is willing to shove in their chips, you either tighten right up or join along in the fun.
It all depends on the chipstack. I think you have to shove based on stack sizes and opportunities, and once again, pick your spots.
I played a couple of 180 player SNGs on PS yesterday and came 5th and 2nd (I started shoving near the end, had to go bowling).
I think I need to play a heck of a lot of these turbos. When you get to a certain point, these tournaments emulate this late tournament position play that I’m not used to, and will help out my play. I was picking my spots well, recognizing when the table tightened up and when the table was in shove mode, and found the right opportunities, such as:
with 60 players or so left, everyones shoving at this point, you have to join in the shove or risk blinding out.
With 20 some odd players left, look to shove if shortstacked, play tight if medium stacked (I folded QQ and A10 (would’ve both flopped boats) preflop) if everyone is shoving, big or small. But shove if you notice a scared table.
With a big stack, run over a tight table, and look for right prices to call from the BB. If you’ve been paying attention to prior shoves, note what they’ve been shoving with for future reference. These guys play a lot of these tourneys, so they’ll definitely have patterns.
In the money. 10-18 pay the same, so the first few get knocked out early due to shortstacks, but once you’re down to 12-13 players, play tightens up as people are trying to make final. If you have the stack, or need to shove, due it around here.
Final table, play tightens up, especially around 4-5 players. If you’re lucky enough to be chipleader, then push everyone around, they’ll be jockeying for position to move up the ladder. If you’re not the chip leader, try to shove before the big stack does, he’s looking to push you around, not have him pushed around.
This is the strategy I should’ve taken to the Main Event. Only difference is, the intervals are a heck of a lot longer of when and when not to shove.
Based on the antes, I usually go up from the min raise to just under the pot size to push people around when I have the stack, I usually get a good price on a shove anyway from a shortstack. Only problem is, opponents will see what you’re doing it with, and you will have to change gears for an orbit or two.
Really tough to play the late stages. Timing and luck become more of a factor, as people become more and more willing to race at this point. The trick is learning when to race, and when to outplay, and when to sit back and watch the war.
Running into cold decks is bad tournament strategy. You should read the book “Avoiding Cold Decks” by Hugh Jazz, it’ll really help your tourney game.
I find that if you keep the pot small, you can still c-bet small enough of the time — assuming you know your player and can read flop textures well — to make some chips when you’re not hitting hands. And obviously when you’re hitting hands, value bet ‘em to death. Shove a flopped straight, if need be; you might get a caller!
Small ball worked out great for me in those tourneys at first. I think I final tabled the first 4 I played without much difficulty at all. But then for some reason it was all down hill from there. Haven’t figured out why other than it seems I’ve been hit with a massive cold deck ever since. It is tough to win pots when you can’t make a pair and you get called down with A high or bottom pair almost all the time in those tourneys.
Ouch, it hurts my eyes to read this. Limping at a table where everybody’s shoving? Dude, this is the time — and I hate it as much as you do — where you have to be in there gambling, reshoving, shoving back, shove-it-in-their-faces. You can’t limp! (Never, ever, ever limp with antes in the pot, I say) Ok, if your goal is to move up the money ladder, I guess limping is fine. But if you’re goal is to final table or win, put the pressure on!
I still think there’s a lot of room for min-raising and c-betting in RC. But you have to pick your spots well. And yeah, limping along with hands that have good implied odds works well, too.
I think raising small, rather than large, is still the way to go. If they’re going to call a 2.5x raise, with whatever junk they have, they’re also going to call a 4x or 5x raise. KJo is the same as aces to those folks. So why not keep the pot small as possible just the same?
yeah, thanks. Had a buddy of mine from the states go pretty deep, as well. We were chatting it up on FB discussing strategy.
Funny thing is, he told me about a solid player at my table that was formerly at his. Well, I bluffed that guy out of two huuuuge pots that a lot of people were convinced I had AA on. It’s nice to limp raise with 45d UTG against a guy who’s been playing well. It’s scary when he calls though and you’re forced to follow through, he folded on the flop when 75% of my chips were in the pot.
I also outplayed him with AK from the BB, putting him on an underpair to the J, luckily a Q hit the river and I shoved there as well, and he took about a minute before folding. PHEW!
I think the turning point was with about 400 and change players left. A guy named Orlov came to the table and started running over it, he won like 10 pots in a row. I decided to abandond the min raises and start limping in. Of course he started raising the crap out of my limps until I woke up with AA on the SB and called an early position raiser. Now with Mr. hyper-aggressive on the BB, he decided to go for a reraise, early position folds. I think for a second with my mother yelling “call” over my shoulder. Is this a squeeze play, or does he actually have a hand. I figure with the EP of the initial raiser, he had to have woken up with a hand. I shove, he insta calls with QQ. I hit an A on the flop, and he’s dead by the turn, getting me up to 300k.
Now, Orlov didn’t slow down and proceeded to quickly double up to over 500k in chips. I knew that this is the guy that is going to give me a ton of chips in the tourney. Until they break the table down! NOOOOOOO!
If I stay at that table, I probably make Orlov go broke.
Remember my comments on my FTP deep run in the 21k guaranteed? Yeah, same mistake. For some reason, from about 350 left, until I busted, the tables I was seated at turned into shoving matches that I had to resort into limping again. I lost my patience again and a very bad timed stop and go against a solid small ball player sent me home. I let my emotions get the better of me, or else I would’ve surely made day 2 easily. I was about 2.5 hours away from getting some much needed rest and playing the rest of the tourney with a fresh mind.
Ah well, there’s always this sundays million. I’ve already qualified for the 250k guaranteed. Should be able to qualify for the million without a problem.
Played the Red Club tourney last night and realized how small ball DOES NOT work in these tourneys. You have to take more of a Red Hot approach and do a lot of limping into pots. I had every single one of my raises called by at least 4 callers last night, and not being deepstacked, my stack dwindled quickly after my KK ran into a shortstacked AA.
BTW, did I mention that I was sleeping for the first 37 minutes of the SCOOP main event? LOL.
Giancarlo, I see that you went fairly deep in the SCOOP-L event. Congrats on a nice score!
I wound up qualifying on Saturday (actually, I won two seats!) and made a deep-but-not-quite-as-deep-as-you-run. Wound up finishing 1500ish for $260. Felt very comfortable at the table, using a very small ball strategy. I only really made two hands (a couple of boats that were each good for a double-up). Made no flushes or straights at all. Just kept winning (or stealing) small pot after small pot. Until the blinds got a bit too high, I had to push with 88, the big blind snap-called half his stack with A4o, and the ace on the flop sent me home.
Such a fun tournament. I can’t wait for WCOOP!
Sure. Meet me at the east end of the Bellagio fountain around noon. Wear a yellow carnation so I know it’s you…
Thanks. I pretty much do all these things already, with some minor tweaks here and there.
I’d love to play the O8, but don’t think I’m going to be around. I’ve had some success in O8 on Party; I think my strategy works very well for the low-buy-ins, and am curious to see how it would work for a higher buy-in (where people, you know, fold a hand like A-9-7-3 rainbow… I bubbled the final table of an O8 event when a guy called a raise from the sb with that hand, and the flop came A-A-9… I think I had like A-K-2-3 double-suited, and naturally missed all my outs).
You’re my hero!
I’m going to Vegas this summer, too…wanna hang out? If you have free time in between raking in chips at the tables, that is….
It was an open limp on the button. Kind of confusing as to why he’d open limp on the button. Now that I think about it, usually only done with hands you’d fold to a reraise. Low PP, Suited connectors, something you want to see a flop with players in it.
Well, I started out protecting that hand, and by the turn I was “hmmmmm . . . “. Not going anywhere. The mistake was the river bet. Check call would’ve been the correct play, and costed me nearly my entire stack and stumped me to a sure early exit.
Congrats to Lisa who wins AGAIN! Just don’t open fold JJ and AK late in a tourney to move up down in Vegas! j/k.
Ummmmm, my name is a little different on PS. My PP is Giancarlo79 because the one I wanted was already taken. I’m not going to divulge publicly what it is, because my cash game record is a little embarrassing on PS, haven’t played in awhile though, not since pre-pokervt.
It’s similar, but shorter than my PP screen name, I’m sure you can figure it out.
I’m actually going to try and satellite for some of the weekend events. I’m a big fan of the PLO Hi tourneys. You playing Hi/Lo?
If you want a piece of advice, based on how I go through tourneys, here’s a few tips I use:
• Tight passive in the early stages keeping a close attention on peoples playing styles for the later blind levels, this is very important to take notes on the players at your table(s). Only aggression with the nuts.
• Use your knowledge of your opponents to steal blinds. Those who don’t fold preflop, don’t get aggressive with their blinds. Those that play tight, steal their blinds, if they call make sure you recognize if they get married to their hands on the flop or not. Some players don’t call unless they have the nuts.
• Stack size is huge in picking your spots.
• In Hi/Lo, don’t get married to A2. There’s those idiots that call the flop, and are potting when a 3rd low card hits the turn. If there’s only 3 people in the hand, and you have no Hi hand, you’re probably playing for 25% of that board and getting shafted. It’s nice when they do this and you have the nut low/high hand. Nothing wrong with 75%.
• Try to play as many hi pots in Hi/Lo early. There are a lot of clowns at the beginning who have an obsession with the low side. You get 6 handed pots with 4 or 5 people trying to draw to the low. I’ve made pretty pennies hitting nut/near nut hands from the high side in early stages of tournaments.
• Beauty about late mid-late stages of the game is the play gets a lot better AND tougher
• Be prepared to gamble in the late stages
• You’re not going to price anyone out on a draw in PLO, so don’t fall in love with the pot button. Value bets save you a lot of chips
• Want to price someone out of a hand that you won’t be able to let go? Here’s a cool move I use (from early position most of the time). Check raise! Only if there’s a person behind you who’s pretty aggressive. E.g. you’re on BB with 10 10 7 4 offsuit. Flop comes out 10 8 3 with 2 clubs, UTG, who’s aggressive is in hand. Check he bets, everyone calls behind and you pot it up, now it’s too expensive for anyone to call, or make it worth the call. Now all those clubbers, 98ers, 56ers, AAers, and even lowmen are in trouble! It’ll probably be a decision for almost all their chips (or at least make sure it is). Open betting wouldn’t have accomplish nothing but a lot of calls. I wouldn’t use this early in a tourney either, more middle or so. Actually, nothing wrong with the early stages, but, be prepared for callers. Early, check call is the correct play.
• Tight passive!
This is the way I play in PLO’s Hi/Lo or strictly Hi. I’ve had very good success using the tight cautious approach, and as long as a table has seen me play this way all day, sets me up for nice controlled aggression later on. Don’t overvalue AA of KK in your hand, they’re pretty much useless unless you hit a set on the flop. Beware the low pairs! So susceptible to blank sets.
Hmmmmm, I think I’m going to play. Is the $55 the low event? I consider myself a better Omaha player than Hold’em, might consider playing an Omaha SCOOP.
glgl
I’m playing the $55 PLO on Saturday. Haven’t tried to satty into the ME yet…
What’s your name on Stars?
Did he open limp the button, or limp behind other limpers?
Congrats to RH_FireBall for being the first to win a *second* WSOP package! Stunning feat….
He was in every pot, and paying off every bet…. except, of course, when I flopped a set or trips. It was very frustrating, and he was on my left until he busted.
on a side note, I qualified for the SCOOP Low Main Event. $1 million guaranteed. Wish me luck this sunday.
WOW! 20 mins and I’m out of the RC championship!
A25s flop and I’m on the BB with 34 and get into a war with Gnak and he’s sitting with the nuts! K8s limp in on the button.
and I’m thinking AK or AQ with the flush draw. Should’ve played it passively. ARG!
ah, I see. Yeah, I figure you weren’t getting called by Sal, don’t know this Jasper guy, and didn’t know he was paying everyone off.
btw, see the most recent epidsode of HSP? WOW!
The reason I chose to raise the flop was because Jasper was the one who lead out, and he was paying everybody off all night… except me! There were four cases where I flopped trips or a set, and he wouldn’t give me a chip any of those times. But his chips went everywhere else. It was very frustrating. I knew I was getting nothing more from Sal, but figured Jasper was good for another 400 or so, at least. Sigh…
awesome run Mike, looks like you played a very solid tourney.
I agree with the trip 3’s there, there was no value in that bet. Judging by your opponents, you were only getting called by another 3 or 8’s. No use in raising there, although calling would set off alarm bells to your opponents and shut down on the turn, forcing you to value bet the river and fold to a reraise on the river.