A Tale of Two Queens - Escargot '03
By Adam Bachrach
ESCARGOT is an acronym for Extraordinary Southern California Annual RecGambling Outing and Tournament, which is a special poker weekend that has been held every year since 1998. For me, it is just another great reason to break away from work and play some live poker with lots of my online poker chat friends. Last year was my first trip to LA to play in ESCARGOT. I had a blast even though I did not get to any final tables in the three tournaments that were played in 2001. This year I was determined to do better as I returned to the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California home of this great series of events.
Immediately after I arrived at the Bike I felt excited to be playing again in such a big poker room that had so many games and limits to offer a poker player. Plus, there was no question that this club and so many of their employees had been waiting for our special poker playing group to return for its annual getaway. Rick Cloward, head of Poker Operations and the rest of his staff rolled out the red carpet for our group. I would like to thank Rick, Donna Milligan (player service manager), Denny Williams (tournament director), Kim Washburn (artwork on our ESCARGOT badges etc.), Kelly O'Hara (marketing dept), Ron Cramer (temporary tournament director), & Ron Gramman (assistant tournament director) who all put in many hours assuring we all had a fabulous time. I also would like to recognize several floor persons that did a wonderful job including Sam, Scott, Peter, and my personal favorite Frank Von Ark. I really appreciate the efforts of the entire team, which have cut down the abuse in this casino dramatically by enforcing the club's recently enacted no abuse policy.
Also I truly enjoyed playing with Robert Turner, Rick Nebiolo, Kyle Minnis, and of course my good buddy Marc "the Occupant" Gilutin (assistant event organizer) who all prop at the Bike club. In addition to this lively crew at the Bike, I have to give a warm thanks to Steve "BIA" Nissman, Chris "Ploink" Straghalis, Jerrod Ankenman, Lou Krieger (originator of this outing), and Russ Fox our own RGP event organizers and planners. Without all these individual's labor of love this yearly outing simply would not be possible! It certainly is amazing just how many people it takes to run a successful operation and series of events like ESCARGOT.
Okay, now that I have done my best to say thank you to everybody let's get to poker content and my return to ESCARGOT! This year's activities included three special private tournaments, Pot Limit Half Holdem/Half Omaha High Only, Limit Texas Holdem, & NL Holdem Shootout to Match play. The following are my ESCARGOT 2003 tournament memories.
Pot Limit 1/2 Holdem 1/2 Omaha High Only - $60 - Buyin
I am still learning a lot regarding Pot Limit strategy so I was very excited about playing in this event. Whereas, I have found my best tournament success playing No Limit Holdem and limit structured events, this was a fun departure from the standard events I normally enter.
I would some up this event as a "tale of two Queens" as I was dealt two Queens in the Holdem portion of this tournament twice. As you might imagine these two hands were very pivotal in my overall success in this contest. But the first big hand I was dealt came in an Omaha round when I was dealt AAK2 with one Ace suited in hearts. In this hand Andrew "the Randomizer" Prock who sat on my immediate right had already put in a full raise. I immediately reraised the pot and then Andrew reraised me allin which I easily called knowing I had his stack covered. The table chuckled as Andrew turned over his AAxx hand that was also suited in smaller hearts thus his Aces were naked. As fate would have it the flop came with three hearts and poor Andrew was out of this tourney and I had joyfully doubled through.
This joy turned out to be short lived. Soon afterwards in a Holdem round Jerrod Ankenman in early position made a full size bet. Everybody else folded to me in late position and I looked down to find my first pair of Queens. I studied Jerrod for a couple minutes knowing he plays a very solid game of poker. It was early in the event but I decided that I probably had a good chance at being in the lead so I re-popped the pot for another full raise, which also eliminated any other callers. Jerrod did not hesitate to go allin and at this point and I called with my bigger stack. As we turned our cards over he exposed his AKd and I knew I was in front but wondering if I could hold on. Sadly on the flop a King leapt off the top of the deck. And to add insult to injury and second King came out on the turn without any of the two remaining Queens on the river.
Yes, I went from hero to almost zero in just one hand. Now I was faced with mounting a comeback with a very short stack that was somewhere around five or six times the big blind. It was not time to panic but I certainly could not wait around too long looking for a premium hand either. I waited for a while then I decided to make a stand in the small blind with 710o. After everybody folded to me I thought if I raised the pot that I could likely steal the big blind from the rock himself, Russ Fox. On the surface if was a fabulous plan until Russ smooth called my raise. Now I knew I was in trouble with such a crappy starting hand.
Fortunately I got a J7x rainbow flop so I actually felt I might have the best hand. But knowing that Pot Limit is a trapping game and that Russ normally plays very solid cards I paused for a minute then checked. Thankfully Russ also checked in turn after I acted. On the turn came another real small card that seemed to be a real air ball. Again, after a slight pause, I checked and so did Russ. On the river came a magical 10, miraculously changing my horrid starting hand into a solid two pair. I lead out with a $500 bet and Russ raised me right away. After committing more than two thirds my stack with this hand I automatically called. Russ showed A10 or a pair of tens with an Ace kicker. He was shocked to see my two pair, tens and sevens and wondered why he did not raise me again preflop. Suddenly I had doubled through and I was back in the hunt for another RGP event win.
From this point leading up to the final table not a lot happened, except for an incredibly loud Chinese New Year celebration. Yes the Bicycle club had hired two costumed Dragon teams with lots of ear-piercing drummers to boot. I was grateful that these festivities did not last too long and that they did help wake me up a bit as I had been playing poker now for about fourteen hours straight! During this time period my stack did not grow or shrink substantially and I was happy to make it to the last table. As I looked around at the other stacks I figured I was about the third smallest stack. Of course I would have loved to have a bigger stack but my past experience had shown me to be patient and not force my move too early without good cards. Ten players remained and yet only nine where supposed to be paid, we already agreed to allow the ninth player $15 extra dollars from off the first place money so they would get back their full $60 entry fee. I was open minded to allowing some money for tenth place but at least one of the bigger stacks nixed this idea so we played on for the money.
We did not have to wait long for some of the other short stacks to try and make a move. Nolan Hee pushed in and sadly was beat soon after the final table play began. Now we were all guaranteed at least our money back so I was real excited! As I patiently waited I kept getting dealt some really poor starting hands. Fortunately throughout my drought of playable hands other smaller stacks started taking stands and before I knew it we were actually down to five players including myself. Unfortunately now I had the smallest stack of chips but I was not yet desperate. Again some deals were discussed but with almost no chips Sabyl and I as the small stacks strongly suggested we play on. And play on we did when no agreeable deal could be made. I start chanting "let's play" "let's play", and play on we did.
I was in the big blind when we continued to play and we were playing Omaha. Lou Krieger limped in and Sabyl also called in the small blind. I found a real cheese ball hand of 1010107o and was happy I would see a flop for free. As I wondered how a flop could possibly hit my hand a Q103 rainbow flop came out. Sabyl checked and so did I hoping to trap Lou or Sabyl later with my set of tens. Lou bet the pot and Sabyl instantly laid her hand down. I immediately reraised allin with my smaller stack and Lou had to call just a few more chips. My hand was the best after this monster flop I had once again taken a muck magnet (non playable hand) and turned it into gold. Now I had vaulted from the smallest stack right back into contention.
Sabyl was also making several plays at the pot and winning many uncontested pots with pre-flop raises. By now her stack had grown substantially and she was a force to be reckoned with at this stage in the game. We were playing Holdem and in late position on my right as everybody folded to her, again she popped the pot. I found AQo so I re-popped the pot allin with another pot sized raise thus shutting out the other players. Sabyl reluctantly called my raise with her bigger stack. When she turned over 78d we all understood her reluctance to call my raise. The flop brought a Q7 and another small card like a 4. Sabyl keep asking for the dealer to pair the board and when it did I was so tired I thought I was done until the dealer pushed me the pot with a bigger two pair.
Soon after this hand Lou Krieger made a pot sized raise under the gun. Peter "Foldem" Secor suddenly reraised with another pot sized bet and it was folded to me. Once again in the little blind I stared at a pair of Queens. Now I was faced with a huge decision to make whether or not to reraise allin or fold this hand. Naturally thoughts of me losing with two Queens earlier in the tournament flashed in my head. This was followed by other bad memories of playing two ladies in other NL HE events. On the other hand, I knew if I won this hand, I would unquestionably be the new chip leader and in the driver seat. As I started thinking about what hands Lou might have raised with I thought he might have pushed it with an Ace with a big kicker and perhaps Peter might have a smaller pocket pair or be on a semi bluff steal of sorts. After what seemed like an eternity, I decided to push my hand and I raised allin pushing the pedal to the metal. Lou folded his hand with out a second thought and Peter now had to call my raise as he already had around three quarters or more of his stack in the pot.
Well luck had come back around full circle for me in this tale of two Queens. Peter turned over KQo and no evil Kings showed up on the board therefore I became the big dog on the block. After my second pair of Queens prevailed, I seemed to steam roll over the rest of the table. Peter was just about out of chips so he had to take a stand and was eliminated. Then I beat Lou Krieger's pocket deuces with my pair of nines. Then the game changed back to Omaha and when Mary Massey had to take a stand soon after when I believe I was holding KKxx and her hand did not improve enough to beat mine.
Ironically, it was now heads up between Sabyl and I, the previous short stacks when we were five handed. Even though I had her out stacked at least six to one she put up a valiant fight. I was a bit more patient with the hands I would play because we had chipped up to one bigger denomination set of chips and the blinds were only one and two. Eventually I played a hand in the big blind where I flopped the nut straight and Sabyl had flopped three pair which never improved and I was the new champ. I was overjoyed to win another RGP (rec.gambling.poker) event, especially playing pot limit a game that continues to intrigue me.
Limit Holdem - $60 - Buyin
I played a solid tournament but as the blinds went up, I raised preflop with A5h and got it heads up with Mr. Bob who just called my raise. The flop came with an Ace and two spades and I bet when Mr. Bob checked. On the turn came a four of spades giving me two pair and I raised Mr. Bob when he came out betting and he just called me. Sadly a fourth spade came on the river and Mr. Bob came out firing and I called leaving me with only two $100- chips as he flashed QxJs and took down the pot. After I lost this hand, I never recovered and moved in soon afterwards losing my final two chips.
NL Holdem Shootout to Match Play- $100 - Buyin
I played way too loosely in the beginning of this tournament when I saw several other players at my table gamble it up from the start. Although I played the flops strongly when I felt I was beat, I still managed to burn way to many chips up in the process. By the time I tightened up, we were down to three players and I was by far the shortest stack. The Ed "Pizzaman" Pizzarello and Nolan Hee kept up the heat on me and I could not best either opponent ending my final try for some more tournament prize money.
I would like to congratulate Russ Fox and Johnny Davis the winners of the Limit and NL shootout events. In addition, thank Barry Tanenbaum for an amusing and insightful speech at our closing ESCARGOT banquet dinner. Finally, I would highly recommend to anyone who has not been to ESCARGOT to check it out next year!
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