GOOD crop, BAD harvest

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/11/2010 (5460 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Harvest Poker Classic in Regina was once again a huge success on the Canadian Poker Tour. There was plenty of action — maybe a little too much.

The first tourney I played, I did something I don’t think I’ve ever done before: I didn’t win a hand. Every pot I played I was either outdrawn or out-kicked, leaving me with a short stack and losing a race when I finally went all in. I have to say that was frustrating. I paid $1,100 and I didn’t win a single pot. Actually, that is kinda funny, come to think of it.

One night we decided to play some cash games. As the game was about to break, six of us decided to do some flips. Basically, everyone put in $200 and the dealer dealt us a hand face up, then a flop, turn and river — whoever won the hand would take the money. We did about four of these and then we started doing $400 flips… then $500, until we decided to do one final one for $1,000. So five of us anted up $1,000 and let fate decide the outcome.

Lucky for me, after being down about $4,000 doing these ridiculous flips, I won the big one and managed to leave without too much harm done. Did I say how much fun that was? Putting your money in and having no control over the outcome isn’t the most intelligent thing to do, but it sure is worth the rush!

The next day I was off to the main event, and with a first-place prize of nearly $60,000, I was hoping to have a better showing than the previous day. I started off well and managed to have an above-average stack for the entire day. As the day ended and we bagged our chips I was sitting in good shape with 67 players remaining.

After a good night’s sleep, I was back at the table for the final day. After knocking out a player early I found myself with 21/2 times the average with 50 players left. Things seemed to be going smoothly when I raised with the ace of clubs and 10 of diamonds and was called by one of the weaker players at the table. The flop was jack-high all diamonds and I fired a continuation bet. My opponent looked as if he was going to fold and then reluctantly called.

I wasn’t sure what to make of this, but it seemed really weak, so when the 2 of hearts fell on the turn I fired a second barrel. Again, he seemed as if he was going to muck and then called. The river was the queen of spades. Since I had nothing but ace high I decided to bet and hope he would fold a small pair or whatever he was calling me with. Well, he snap-called me with AQ no diamond! Could he have played the hand any worse? He didn’t three-bet pre-flop — fine. But after playing his hand so passively, why did he call the flop or turn bet? If the ace or queen of diamonds comes, is he thinking his hand is still good? Too bad for me, as I was sent back to below average.

With about 34 players left I raised with 9-9 and was called in two spots. The flop came down 6-4-3 and I checked with the intention of check raising all-in. Well, I got my wish as one of my opponents went all in himself and I called. He tabled 5-5. So, I was dodging a 2-5 or 7. Unfortunately for me, the turn was a 5, the river didn’t help, and I was eliminated.

So I was unable to break through in Regina, but as they host tournaments twice a year, I will most definitely be back to try to redeem myself.