Gargoyle's League, Season 13, Game 3

Played in Game 3 of Season 12 of Gargoyle’s on Friday. I started the game in 1st place, so that was pretty cool.

10/J and limp/call. We got to the flop with 3 players. Flop is K/J/x. Joey bets like 80% of the pot and the other player folds. I stop to think. If Joey has a King, I don’t think he’d be leading for 80%. Based on this read, his most likely hand is Q/Q or J/X. I raise to like 3x of his bet and he folds.

I look down at A/Kc from the small blind. It’s raised by someone with no callers so I 3-bet and take it down.

5/6c and I decide to see a flop. Flop is 7/8/9 rainbow. I lead for pot and get 2 callers. The Turn is a queen I believe. I bet again and get raised. I call. I believe the river was inconsequential. I check, villain bets, I call. He shows 10/J for the flopped better straight. I love this game. I think I lost the minimum here.

A little while later I find myself with K/K and 3-bet. Called by Kyle. I bet the entire way and Kyle calls me down. My Kings are good and I have a nice stack that’s over 20,000.

A/7s and flop 2 7’s. I lead out and Joey calls. The turn is a Queen. I see Joey check his cards and get a flash of a Queen. He bets. If he had 2 pair on the flop and improved to a better 2 pair, I might be doing pretty well. I call. River was inconsequential. Joey bets, I call. He shows Q/7 for the turned full house. FUN GAME! I think I lost the minimum again.

I 3-bet with K/Qc against Jim. He folds.

I lead for like 3x with Q/Jd from the big blind. It folds around to Jim who shoves. As it’s heads-up, I call. He shows two black 9’s. Flop is A/x/x, 2 diamonds. Not a bad flop for me. However, I don’t improve and Jim takes the hand down. Not great as I lose about 40% of my stack and am down to 9,000 (Starting stack was 10,000). Looking at the numbers like this, it might have been a bit of a loose call. Let’s check the odds calculator:

Looks like a good call with 48% equity against 51%. Pretty standard flip.

The very next hand I’m in the small blind with 7/7. Shardul raises to 1,600 from the button. I call for 1,400 more. Big blind calls for 1,200 more. Flop is 7/8/3 (I think), 2 diamonds. The board has straight and flush possibilities, but I doubt I’ll be called if I bet. I decide to check-raise and check. It checks around. (Face-palm). The turn is the 6 of hearts, adding a heart flush draw to the board. I stick to my strategy. Joey bets 3,000 which is about 60% of the pot. Perfect. Shardul thinks for a minute and then calls. Ugh. I have 7,300 total, so even with a shove I’ll only be increasing Joey by 4,300 or about 30% of the pot. If he was drawing to either a straight or flush he’s getting pretty good odds. Joey instantly calls. Shardul looks surprised and folds. We show and Joey is surprised to see me with a set. The river is the 4 of hearts… to give Joey a straight…and me the boot in 21st place. Ugh.

According to an odds calculator, Joey was only 18% to win there, so it’s good that I got it all-in good, but it sucks to lose to a draw, especially for my tournament life. I really felt like I played well, even though I didn’t play a ton of hands and probably limped too many.

After this game I’m in 4th place and Joey has taken 1st 2 months in a row. Yes, the Joey that hit that straight against me. He’s going to be hard to catch.