2023 Year-End Weatherford Tournament

Despite finishing in fifth place this year, you could consider how I did a success. I began the tournament right in the middle of the pack with $4,500 in chips. We had 13 players qualify, but Troy wasn't able to attend. Therefore, there were $54,000 in chips at play and I was sixth out of 12 players. Even though I didn't really move up the ranks that much, I would consider it a success because I never got above $5,000 in chips throughout the tournament.

Any time I would win a small pot, it would dwindle down back to where I started or even a little below. At one point I was even down to about $3,000 in chips while we were still at two tables.

The play was very different from the normal Thursday night tournament as there were no rebuys and everybody was playing extremely conservative. The only hand that got out of control between two large stacks was Randall and Danny, who were the two big stacks at the time. Randall had pocket aces and Danny flopped top pair and a flush draw. The money went into the middle and Danny wasn't able to hit a better hand on the turn or river. At that point it was Randall's tournament and we were all just playing for second place.

I was hoping to outlast Scott F., who was very close to me in chips as we were on life support at this point in the tournament. While in the big blind at the $400-800 level, I was left with $2,000 in chips. Scott, on my left, had called the blind and only had $2,200 remaining. Randall raised it up to an amount above both of our starting stacks and I looked down at 8-6 offsuit. Although I knew I was beat at the time by higher cards, I figured this was a good enough hand to try and double up (or even triple up if Scott came along as well). We did end up going to the flop three ways and I hit the six. However, that didn't hold up and Randall hit one of his high cards on the turn or river. Because I started with less chips than Scott, I ended up in 5th and he got 4th.

Had I known how things were going to work out, I could have folded pre-flop and I would have moved up a spot in the standings and made an extra $150. However, if Scott had won the hand and I was left with only $2,000 in the small blind, I most assuredly would have still finished in fifth and not have had a chance to get myself back in the game. Pretending that my 8-6 had won, my stack would then have been at $8,800 and Scott would have been out of the game. With four players left, my stack would still have been below the average ($13,500) and I would have still needed to be in the fold or go all in style of play, but I could have worked with what I had and possibly gotten back into it.

It is disappointing that I wasn't able to get my name on the plaque again and I have to wait another year for the next opportunity. I've made great strides in the last few years with increasing my win totals and hourly rate. So hopefully I can build on that success and become even better over the course of 2024.

2023 In Review

Although not as financially successful as 2022, this past year was a great one for me in the world of poker. I ended up profiting $4,530 for the year and finished at $21.42 per hour.

The largest single session win in 2023 was late in year when on December 7 I won $1,205 at my local Weatherford cash game. It was a great night and everything seemed to be going my way with draws and coolers. My biggest loss in the year was my first one when I dropped $800 at WinStar on New Year's Day.

I don't think I established any goals last year for myself, but finishing with the second most winnings and second highest hourly rate (not counting a small sample size in 2009) would have most certainly exceeded any goals I could have set. I also finished with more than 211 hours of playing time. This was by far the most I've ever played in a single year, with the previous high being nearly 183. As my children get older and they can watch themselves a little more, I've found additional days and times to play in Weatherford or at local poker clubs, like the ones in Aledo or a new one in Burleson that I've yet to give a chance.

Looking ahead to 2024, I'm hoping to meet the similar success I've had in the last two years with highs in profitability and hourly rate, but that is certainly going to be difficult as I already put myself in the hole almost $1,000 after only four sessions at WinStar and in Weatherford. It will be an uphill climb going forward, but I've got the End of Year Freeroll Tournament in Weatherford coming up on Saturday that hopefully will get me back on the profitable path.

I'll write something up on the End of Year Freeroll Tournament soon. Hopefully I can get something in writing before the tournament happens on Saturday, but I will definitely provide results and possibly have a few examples of hands that took place during the tournament or cash game.

WinStar Grind Part II

And the high of doubling up after some grueling hours of play were quickly dashed by a second trip two days later that resulted in catastrophe.

It was an evening of K-2, K-4, and K-8 offsuit. I got those three hands more times combined than other hands total. However, the only three hands of consequence were the following ones.

While holding A-7 suited under the gun, I limped for $3, along with a handful of other players. The flop came out A-6-5 with one of my suit. The small blind led out for $15, which was about the size of the pot. I called expecting to see a turn and if I improved I would hang around. If I didn't I would get out of the way. If folded around to the button, who raised to $45. The small blind then re-raised to $115. With it now $100 to call and me obviously being in second place at best and third place at worst, I elected to fold and become a spectator. The button contemplated for a bit and finally made the call. The pot now had $260 in it.

The turn was a seven and made my stomach twist. The small blind moved all in and the button made a quick call, but made it sound like he knew he was beat. The small blind had A-5 and the button had 6-5. Had I stuck around to the turn I would have tripled up with my better two pair. I made the correct decision at the time, but it still hurts to know what I would have won had I been a terrible player.

That leads me to one of the most infuriating hands I've ever been a part of. A young woman sat on my right and bought in for $300. She made it clear she was not a regular casino card player as she didn't know many of the house rules about the betting line. Within 20 minutes of her arriving I was dealt A-Q offsuit and raised it up to $15 after a few players limped (the young woman included). Nearly the entire table called and we went to the flop with seven players and a pot of $100.

The flop was A-9-2 rainbow. It checked to the young woman and she led out for $15. With top pair and a very good kicker I elected to make it know that I was sitting on something pretty good and I raised it to $65. It folded back around to her and she didn't take long to make the call. The pot was now at $230.

The turn was a 6 that did not give any flush draws. The young woman to my right checked and I thought about it for a few seconds. I was still very confident I had the winning hand and I wanted to make a decent-sized bet that would be called by worse aces. If she was doing a great acting job with A-9 or A-2 then I would give her props and let the river dictate what happened next. She didn't take long again and started counting out the $90 in $10 increments. She finally stacked up enough and moved it forward (again I emphasize she wasn't aware that she could speak her actions and speed things along). The pot was now at $410.

The river was a jack, making a board of A-9-2-6-J. She took now time and pushed forward the rest of her chips, even having to leave behind about $30 because she didn't say all in and hadn't included it in her initial push of the chips. It didn't matter though as what she pushed out there originally had me covered by about $10.

My first impression was I obviously was beat by either a flopped set or two pair (and had played me for a fool) or rivered two pair with A-J. I couldn't see what she could be holding that I beat other than A-10 offsuit or A-X suited. However, there was now $535 in the pot and I had $125 left. I only have to be winning 1 out of 4 times to make the crying call, which I eventually did. I didn't like it though.

She showed J-2, which means she called me down for a raise on the flop and nearly $100 on the turn with bottom pair. I was livid and gut punched from how lucky she had gotten to hit her two pair with such a terrible hand. I would have definitely handled A-J a lot better.

With my final $100 I should have hit the road as my mental state was not in a place that was going to do anything productive, but instead I put it in play and tried to make something good happen. After a few limps that went nowhere I got 10-9 offsuit in the big blind and after a guy two seats to my left raised it up to $16 and got five callers, I elected to try a squeeze play and went all in for $85. It worked so well, I got two people to fold and was now against four opponents. With $450 in the pot I was praying for a miracle flop. It came out jack high and I never improved from there. The original raiser eventually went all in and got called by one player. He showed A-J for the best hand and I went home very, very, very upset.

WinStar Grind

I took a drive up to WinStar last night having been inspired by some friends recently posting their gigantic winnings in a text thread. I figured if they could have such success then why not me. While the evening ended in a profit, although not as large as my buddies, it was a struggle in the beginning to get there.

I arrived and sat right down at a $1-3 table at 8 p.m. and didn't have to wait long to get something worth playing. I was dealt pocket aces and raised it up $15 after one or two limpers came into the pot. I was called by at least two players. The flop came out with two spades and I made a continuation bet of $25. Two opponents called and the turn was another spade. I made one more bet of $40 and was called by both players again. At this point I was going into check-call mode. The river was a fourth spade and I didn't hold the ace of spades. The second player bet and I had to fold. The other player folded also, so we didn't get to see his spade, but I'm sure he had one. That meant I was now down $80 after only the fourth hand at the table.

Within 30 minutes of sitting down I then turned a straight that gave someone else a flush. And after another 30 minutes I lost with pocket queens and pocket jacks on back-to-back hands.

It took 75 minutes to win my first hand, which was a double-up with pocket kings against a crazy gambler that would move all in blind. He happened to look at his hand this time when he shoved my pre-flop raise. I didn't hesitate to call. The flop came with two aces and I thought I was surely dead, but he said he was likely way behind without knowing I didn't have an ace. That made me feel really good about my hand. But it ultimately didn't matter because a king came on the river giving me a full house. I showed and he showed the case king. He didn't show his other card, but I suspect it was a suited face card.

Another 15 minutes went by and I won my second hand of the night, which got me back to even, which was now $400 as I had added an additional $100 to my initial buy-in since things were going so poorly.

I hovered between $400-500 for most of the night once I got back to even. I would win a pot that put me up and get a little confidence to play more aggressive, but then get knocked down a peg and go back into conservative mode as I really couldn't afford to lose anything on this trip. Playing scared is not the recipe for success, but it was a priority last night.

Willing to hang around for a few more hours, the table dynamic changed pretty drastically when most of the big money winners left and we were six-handed for about 20-30 minutes. I was planning to leave since most of the money had left the table, however, then they broke up another $1-3 game and we got three new players, two of which were holding $900 and $800 each. That enticed me to stay a little longer and see what I could do.

As it was coming up on midnight I was dealt pocket jacks on the button when it had been straddled under the gun. Once the new players from the other table arrived, the straddling became pretty frequent and at least half the hands were $6 to come in. Something in me said to just call with the jacks and see what the final three blinds did before committing more chips. Whatever spider-sense I was feeling, it paid off as the big blind, who was only sitting on about $100, raised it up to $52 total. That bet was called by two larger stacks (one of which was a little less than my $500 starting stack and the other was the chip leader). The other players folded around to me and I decided now was a good time for a large raise and make them think I was doing a squeeze play.

I re-raised another $200, leaving myself approximately $250. No matter what the flop was, I was likely moving all in with the next bet if called. The original raiser called for his final $50. The other two players struggled mightily with the play I had made, but both ultimately folded. They didn't end up showing their hands, but they claimed to be holding pocket fives and pocket eights. Neither hit the board and my jacks would have beat both of them.

I tabled my jacks and the short-stacked opponent flipped his wrist to show a single ten. I didn't know if that meant he had pocket tens, ace-ten, 10-9 suited, etc. The first card in the window was a ten and I immediately was on high alert. I quickly looked back at my opponent to see if he was going to show a pair of tens in his hand, but he wasn't showing the second card yet. The turn was a random card below the ten. The river was a king. So now I was waiting to be slow rolled by a king-10 or pocket tens. Yet, it never came. He mumbled something in a foreign language possibly (English was his second language and he was wearing a mask), but never showed the other card. I scooped a $300+ pot and was now up $305 for the evening.

I played one more round and folded everything as I was determined to leave up and healthy. The only real mistake I made for the night was when holding A-K suited I flopped top pair on a K-6-2 rainbow board and made a continuation bet of $50 after raising pre-flop to $25 (again it had been straddled) and got two callers. One opponent thought for almost a minute but finally folded. The other player immediately folded. The first guy said, "Good bluff. I folded a six with an ace." If I had made a smaller continuation bet that would have likely enticed him a little more to play one more street and he was drawing to two outs. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I bet so big on the flop when there was about $80 in the pot and I came out firing $50. Normally when I hit and make a continuation bet I keep it a little under half the pot. Making it $40 probably gets at least one call and maybe even has him try something goofy on the turn.

The takeaway from last night is that no matter how bad things are going, they can turn around at any point. You just have to be patient and keep making good decisions. Don't let bad luck or a bad beat dictate poor decision making. Also, I need to take more time thinking out my bet sizing. That is one area I haven't improved as I make decisions and take action very quickly and need to slow things down.

Such A Disappointing River Card

With the kids at camp this week and Joanna going out for a girls night, I elected to try and win a little money at WinStar. It was ultimately a profitable night of $110, but I spent most of the evening on the defense and trying to break even.

Playing $1-3, the first hand I got involved in was with A-6 where I flopped middle pair with the six. I was against one opponent who I had just seen get called in a bluff and decided to play it out to the end. It turns out he had a straight on the turn and I started $75 in the hole. From that point on I was trying to get back to my starting chip stack. The lowest I ever reached from the initial buy-in of $300 was about $120.

For the first four hours of the night I only got one pocket pair (nines), which ended up winning a small pot. I eventually got aces in the small blind, but nobody called and the big blind and I ended up chopping. I never saw A-K once.

After struggling for four to four-and-a-half hours I finally started making some headway and got to about $340 when I held K-Q suited and put it all in pre-flop against a smaller stack holding tens and got called by another guy with the other pair of tens. I ended up flopping three of a kind and with all the tens accounted for by my opponents I went from $130 to $340.

However, I immediately lost about $100 of that when I held a beautiful hand that didn't hold up at the river. With some newly acquired chips and a little confidence, I elected to make a raise in middle position with 9-8 offsuit to $13. I was called by four players and we went to a flop with $65 in the pot. The flop was 4-6-7 with two hearts. The big blind who was playing with about $90 in front of her bet $20. If I hit my hand I wanted players along for the ride and didn't want to inflate the pot for those on a flush draw, so I elected to not raise. I called, as did two other players. There were four of us going to the turn and $145 in the pot.

The turn was a beautiful black 5, giving me the nut straight and letting people holding a lone eight in second place. The big blind female who bet the flop decided to slow down and checked the turn. I decided to check the turn and see if the river was a non-heart. If so I would bet the river and fight it out with anyone holding a lesser straight. If it was a heart I could likely let the hand go since it would be obvious someone had hit their flush. The two players behind me also checked. Pot was still $145.

The river was the worst heart in the deck. It was the three. This now put a straight on the board with three hearts. The big blind went all in for $69. I was so dejected about my ultra-straight now being second (or third, or even fourth) best I wasn't thinking clearly. In a fit of small rage I said call just to see if she was trying to bluff us off a made hand on the board. I thought maybe she had flopped two pair and was now representing the flush. The player to my immediate left called the all-in, which at that point I knew I wasn't going to be good. The last player folded.

The female big blind did have the king-high flush. The player to my left had the eight for a better straight than what was on the board. Had the river been a brick (or even better a non-heart three), I would have certainly busted the guy to my left since he'd have thought an eight-high straight would be good enough.

That was certainly the most disappointing hand of the night. It was a struggle for most of the evening to get anything going as I continued getting hands like 9-5 offsuit and 7-2.

Royal Flush And Got Paid

It is truly rare to see a royal flush get paid off in Texas Hold'em simply because it is likely nobody has anything good enough to look you up when you bet it on the river. Yet, last Thursday night at my local tournament game I was able to knock a guy out while holding the best possible hand in the game. Lucky for me, my opponent held the second nuts.

It was during the tournament and after winning the hand I had a great lead going into the no-rebuy period, but the river had the 10, jack, queen, and king of clubs on the board. I held the ace of clubs for the royal. Troy was stuck with the losing end of the straight flush with the nine of clubs. I put him all in for his final $3,000 in tournament chips, but he almost folded. Had the rebuy period been over, he probably would have.

Troy talked about folding a straight flush, but said he would never be able to bring himself to do it in this situation, so he called and I got to show my amazing hand. Of course, seeing how I get no respect among my "friends" out in Weatherford, they all said, "Nice river Matt," and we moved along.

This was my second royal flush in a live game. It was nice to make some tournament money on the hand. I ended up finishing first and added a top place finish to my stats for the year.

2022 Year-End Weatherford Tournament

I started the year-end tournament with high expectations since I was second in chips and had cashed a whopping 63.3% of tournaments throughout the year. Unfortunately I was second out of the tournament and came in ninth place. I had increased my starting stack in the first hour and after dropping one player and going to the final table I was feeling good about my chances. There were a few players, including John F. Sr. and Randall W., on a short stack. John is notoriously tight and Randall is a tough opponent as he has no fear when making bets, so if they were to go broke I would have been very optimistic about getting back on the championship plaque.

Unfortunately I made two bad plays that cost me nearly everything. The first was when I had pocket 8s in early position and raised it up to $800 when blinds were $100-200. I was hoping to just take the pot right then and there, but at worst I would see what the flop brought if I got called by one or two players and be aggressive. However, Danny S. in the big blind re-raised to $2,400 after everybody folded and I elected to defend and see if I could hit a set on the flop.

The flop came 10-9-3 rainbow. Danny made a continuation bet of $2,400. Narrowing down his range he could have two high cards or any pocket pair. I thought there was a solid chance I still had the best hand or could draw to a backdoor straight if I got the right turn card and elected to call. The turn was an inconsequential card that was lower than my eights, but not close enough to help my potential straight. Danny made a down bet of $2,000, with $10,000 in the pot, and I decided it was still too good to not call.

The river was a king and the betting went check-check. Danny showed queens and I lost about half my stack with the lower pocket pair.

The real blow came a few hands later when I got pocket aces and raised it to $600. I got called by three players and the flop came 9-8-2 rainbow. I was second to act and made a continuation bet of $1,000 after it was checked to me feeling like that was a very safe board to bet small on as I wanted some action to get my chip stack back to an above-average amount. I was called by only one player (Wes M.).

The turn was the king of spades, putting two spades on the board. There was some kind of spider sense going off at this point and I didn't like the spot I was in any longer. I honestly don't know what changed between the flop and the turn that got me on high alert, but I no longer felt comfortable with where I was in the hand. We went check-check on the turn and saw a low third spade on the river.

I checked to Wes and he bet $2,400. I nearly made a begrudging insta-call but stopped short of saying call. The noise that came out was more of a, "I gughhhh." Wes thought I had called and nearly flipped his cards over instantly. I stopped him from showing and said I hadn't called yet. His immediacy made me feel even worse about my hand and I wanted to let it go. I even said what I had and told everyone I didn't like how things had turned out for my hand. I didn't hold the ace of spades, so having the blocker to the nut flush made it even worse to call.

I finally decided to call, but immediately regretted my decision. If I had waited a few more minutes and thought things through I might have talked myself into folding, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking Wes was trying to bluff a pot his way since I had shown such weakness on the turn and river bets. He showed pocket 2s for a flopped set.

That left me with only $1,800 in chips and I went all in a few hands later with A-6 offsuit hoping to just pick up a few limps, double up and get back in the fight, or move over to the cash game. Unfortunately I didn't hit and lost to two pair.

The cash game was much more forgiving and I ended up winning $870 from that. I cashed $100 in the tournament, so I nearly made four digits for the night.

It was extremely disappointing to not win the year-end tournament as I thought I had a really great chance of getting on the plaque for the second time. Let's hope this year is as successful as last and the year-end tournament has better results.