CMPPA Event #5

Saturday was the fifth event of the Central MN Poker Players Association (CMPPA). I ended up at a table with 6 very solid players and two weaker. It was very fun with blinds being 30 minutes and starting with 15,000. It was a nice change from a normal bar poker game. It also helped that I had a nice card rush early to become the chip leader. One of the weaker players is very tight and plays very few hands. When I am on a table with him, I will usually raise his big blind because if he doesn't fold preflop he will after the flop unless he has caught something. I did raise his BB the first two times around and won both pots. The third time there were some early position limpers that I didn't think would fold so I decided not to raise preflop and called with 6-8 offsuit. It got to him and he raised to 3 times the blind. Two players in front of me called and player behind me I could tell was going to call, so I decided to call and play cautiously. Flop came Q-5-7 rainbow. Everyone checked to BB and he bets out 600. I decide to call and see one more card. Turn is a 9. Bingo! I check. He bets out 1200. I reraise to 5200. I am happy to take pot down now with the size of the pot. He calls. I am know thinking he must have a set. I wasn't expecting a call. River is a 3. I move all in and he calls all his chips. I turn over straight. He shows a set of 9's. What a great turn card for me. I was a little surprised that he called the river bet with only a set, but he must have thought I had two pair. I did end up with most of the chips of the other weak player when I flopped a straight and he flopped two pair. He made a nice lay down at the turn when I pushed all in. I was afraid of a flush. He thought I had a set. The interesting thing is I put him on tilt when I wouldn't show him my hand. He asked if I would show if he folded and I said absolutely not. He didn't last much longer as he thought I had bluffed him out of the hand. I did make the final table much later in the day with a mid size stack and was feeling very confident. This is when I may have made my only mistake of the day. I am still not even sure if I missed played this hand or not. I am the small blind and look down to pocket aces. Everyone folds to me so I just move all in. I am happy just to take blinds in this position. BB was not paying attention and didn't notice that I had pushed in and announces raise. Someone tells him that I had moved all in and he calls and shows pocket 7's. I think he thought that I was making a move on him. Turn is a 7 and he has me covered by 1000 in chips and I am knocked out in 10th. I would have been close to chip leader had I won the hand. I could have played the hand slower and I think he would have folded after the flop. It was a valuable lesson learned. I assumed that he fold to my big bet. I didn't think he would have a hand in that position. On the other hand I will take the 82-18 percent preflop anytime. It was a fun day that ended with a very solid final table that included two runner runner suck outs, but that will have to be for another day.