Recap: Ante Up! CT meetup

Starting with me in the black shirt and going clockwise, the photo IDs are: Blazman (Erik), Aquaman (Chris, with an Ante Up! shirt!), Joe Unimpressed (and I was unimpressed, LOL), Loren, Jason, Harold (Jason's dad) and Ben (Jason's brother-in-law).

I had a blast playing with the Ante Up! Nationals in Connecticut. As per usual I was the first one there, but that was because I wasn't sure how long it would take to get to Jason's house from Foxwoods.

Loren, aka Captain Fink, rented a car and came in from Manhattan and stayed overnight in a Motel 6 down the street. He left New York at like 4:30 and didn't get there until almost 9. Gotta love NYC traffic. He requested we blind him off until he arrived, but it didn't take him long to get those chips back. More on that later.

Aquaman came in from Boston (he, too, got a room at the Motel 6) and showed up just before the start of the $20 SNG w/rebuys. And he brought more of the Ante Up! Ale, much to everyone's delight. Jason's dad (I met him once at Foxwoods) and brother-in-law (Ben, I think) showed up right after me, as did Blazman and Joe Unimpressed. Speaking of Joe, he came in and tossed me a package of Puffs tissues and said "I figured you might need these." I took it to mean that I'd be crying soon and threw the package back at him and laughed. But he meant I sounded like I was really sick during the show. Turns out I was just allergic to the cats at the house where I was calling in from, so I'm fine.

Early on in the SNG I tried to bluff at a pot that no one seemed interested in and Harold made the call with 55. From then on I knew he was pretty much a calling station and I'd trap him later a few times. Play during the rebuy period (first three levels) was standard, nothing too out of the ordinary, and when I flopped two pair with a big-blind special (83o) I tripled up to a massive chip lead when Blaz and Harold called my all-in after their raise and call ahead of me. Blazman rebought twice (he was the only one who had to rebuy) and that's when Loren showed up. Right away I could tell Loren would change the texture of the game. He plays for much larger stakes than the rest of us, so a $20 SNG to him is like a raindrop in the ocean. Right off the bat he was super aggressive, and clearly was the best NLHE player at the table. I steered clear of him with my massive chip lead because I didn't want to double him up. Very early on he got paid off when his Q-10 rivered a boat.

Ben stayed quiet early on and then woke up with some hands when the blinds started to escalate and he grabbed the chip lead from me.

After the rebuy session, one by one the Ante Uppers began to fall. I can't be sure of the order they went but I think Jason went first, followed by Aquaman, Blaz, Harold and Joe. I could be wrong, but when we got to the bubble it was me, Ben and Loren, with Ben having the chip lead and Loren a little bit ahead of me. With the pace speeding up I went all-in with AQo and got called from Ben, who had just lost a pot to Loren the hand before. He had 66 and I sucked out on the river with an ace to double through. Now Ben was the short stack and I had a decent lead on Loren. One or two hands later I got AQ again and Loren went all-in. I called and he had 10-10. I didn't improve and now Loren had the chip lead, something I really didn't want. But the hand that propelled me into the money and gave me a massive chip lead couldn't have worked out any better. I had been super aggressive with the button, raising just about every hand. So when I looked down at KK I thought a limp might look suspicous, so I made it 3X. Loren called and Ben folded. The flop came jack-high and I bet out about half the pot. Loren pushed, which I knew he'd do if he hit, and I turned over the Kowboys and then called. He had AJ and I eliminated him on the bubble.

It only took about 3-4 hands to eliminate Ben. I had him outchipped like 6-1 and he shoved with AQo. I looked down at 67c and gave it a shot. I flopped a 7 and a club draw. He never improved and that was it. But I needed to get lucky with that ace on the river earlier, otherwise I would've been the bubble boy.

It was great winning, but I think the best part was having Blaz rebuy twice, not finish in the money and when it was over I got to tease him, thanking him for putting more money in the prize pool for me. He had been busting my chops a LOT on FTP and on the forum, saying he was going to take my money, etc. So that felt good, especially since he might be our AIPS II Player of the Year.

Funniest line of the night? I think Joe said it but it could've been someone else. Everyone had been playing the A-10 and making references to it as "The Cosenza," and ribbing me when they lost with it, etc. So finally I said "I'm telling you guys, I'm not going to rest until that hand is named after me, like in a book or something." And that's when someone said "Well, you better write your own book then." Hilarious laughter ensued. That's OK, I can take it and I can dish it out.

As for the cash game, Loren owned the table for most of the night, even winning at games he didn't even know how to play. But here's the catch: Jason's home game is NO LIMIT all the time!!! No matter what the game is, it's no limit. That's something I couldn't believe. Omaha? No limit. Crazy Pineapple? Yep, no limit. Stud games? No limit!! But that's where I drew the line. I explained to them that NO LIMIT stud isn't even a game and if you wanted to play spread limit or just limit that was fine, but no limit was insane. They agreed and we played normal stud without an ante. So the no limit games played right into Loren's strengths and he cleaned up. Early on I splashed around because I was freerolling after my big tournament win. But then I said to myself "What the hell are you doing? It's still money and you should try to win as much as you can." So after being down as much as $48 in the cash game I decided to buckle down and take advantage of the NL games (as they are my strength as well). I pwned Crazy Pineapple and Double Flop, two games I have a LOT of experience with, and when they made it NL that was just awesome. Eventually I finished ahead $1 for the cash-game session. The tournament paid $130, so minus my one-time entry fee and I cleared $111 on the night. I can't say how everyone else did, but I'm happy with my play. There's more to say but I think I'll save it for Friday's show.

The game broke up at 3 a.m. and I thanked everyone for coming, especially Jason for hosting. He says whenever I'm in town he'll organize a game, so this could be a regular thing for me.

-- Chris

Comments

[Joe-Unimpressed]

Yeah, that was me who said that.

I was down $3 in the cash (though I was down $40 plus in the cash game at one point), plus my one buy in to the tourney. so that was much better than the first time I played at JLBsox's home.

And I would definitely have to agree. Loren was the best of the group.

And just for the record, as Jason stated, the mixed games are new for his homegame and the usual players are a WIDE range of abilities. Introducing new games was probably a big step and they wanted to keep things as easy as possible.

[Chris Cosenza]

That's cool, I'm just glad calmer heads prevailed with the stud portion of the cash games. That could have been ugly. Of course if it was no limit I would have kept you from drawing to your flush when my buried aces were cracked. 8-)

[Joe-Unimpressed]

Definitely. I remember going on the offensive when when the fourth diamond popped up (maybe not have been smart since you showed 2 diamonds- though no one else had or folded a diamond). I think I pushed the action on 5th street to, but then switched to check calling, figuring (remember stud is definitely not my game) I had the pot odds to check call (again I could be wrong). As for that Razz hand... well I just felt like getting frisky.

Plus the stud hand where I hit perfect, hitting the wheel on 5th street (though I don't think it was Stud8). Not sure if that's bad to play in stud (A2-3)

Those three hands pretty much brought be back from the brink of a complete loss on the night.

[Loren Finkelstein]

You are way to nice. It's easy to be good when you are getting cards. And it definitely helps to be playing for lower limits than you are used to. But I thought everyone was good and had a great time.

Can't wait for the next one. :-)

[Blazman]

I had fun. I was happy to donate the money Chris. Loren is good but only second best to you. No one wanted to tangle with Conscenza.

BTW, I didn't talk any smack, I know you are the best player and it was highly likely you would take my money.

-Blaz

[Chris Cosenza]

I know your penchant for sarcasm Blaz, so I'll just smile at your comments. If you were sincere thanks, but you were giving me a little guff on Full Tilt the other night, so I had a little fun at your expense. I thought you teased me on the forum too, but I can't find it so I guess I was wrong. You were very gracious and great to play with, as was everyone. It was a very fun evening, and not just because I won.

[Joe-Unimpressed]

I'm still disgusted that Chris disparaged Billy Joel! Who is that chick that lead vocals for Rush?

[Chris Cosenza]

I'll let the Rush remark go, Joe. I can understand your hostility, especially after the way you played. I guess you couldn't find any flaws in my play so you had to grasp at the Billy Joel remark. Ouch, my ego is so bruised. How will I ever recover? Perhaps I'll roll around in your money tonight. LOL!!

[Joe-Unimpressed]

Actually I believe it was YOUR money that partially got me close to being unstuck :) Ah, cosenza money. The best kind.

I'll just imagine that my tournament fee all went to 2nd place :)

[JLBSox]

For the record, we have played Stud Hi and Razz before and it was always played as Limit. I don't know who said we played Stud as No-Limit. We do however,always play our Omaha games as No Limit.

I think the best things about the home game meetup were:
1) I got to play poker with people who really take the game seriously AND were excellent people! My home game is filled with fun people, but most of them are not trying to take their games to another level.
2) We got to do it without giving a ton of money to some casino.

Looking forward to the next meetup.

[Blazman]

Chris,

Are you starting to appreciate my sarcasm? NICE!!! I think that you expected me to give you guff but I didn't. Given the variance in poker I tend not to talk smack unless I am playing a heads up match.

-Blaz

[Joe-Unimpressed]

I didn't think we played Razz or Stud no limit the 1st time I was there, but as it was only my second time, I figured other folks would know better.

[Chris Cosenza]

Someone said stud was no limit, and when I had to explain how the betting went for stud I just figured you didn't know how to play it limit. That's a relief!