1. 2008-09-23 06:53:22

   Poker Weekend in Santa Cruz

   I went down to Santa Cruz again this weekend to visit Megan and help my good friend Galen celebrate his birthday. We didn't get into town until late Friday, but that was due to seeing Henry Rollins speak in Berkeley, so it was worth it (and I even had my picture taken with him -woo).

   Saturday was a lazy day until a few more friends arrived and we arrived at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium to watch the Santa Cruz Rollergirls compete with the Bay Area Derby Girls in a good old-fashioned roller derby :) I definitely recommend it when the season begins next year. We got some late dinner and hung out at a few places, but I could no longer restrain myself and broke away from the group around midnight to check out the action at the Ocean View card room.

   3-100 Spread

   I had called around 11:30pm to see if they had open seats, and "Guppy" put my name on the list and said something would hopefully come up soon. They usually have a single table going, and I arrived with a warm seat waiting for me - perfect. The max buy-in is only $100, but the blinds are $1/$3 with no crazy extra money on the button and you don't need to raise to open the pot. Unfortunately they rake $4 if a flop is taken, but you can't have everything, I guess.

   I bought in for $100 and before I could message Megan to let the group know I had a seat and was going to stay, I doubled up with against a non-believer with on a jack-high flop. Nice.

   Over the next two hours, I proceeded to flop two pairs a few times and have my top-pair/top-kicker hands hold up. For big pocket pairs, I only had aces once, and those held up, too. Somehow I had amassed about $700 in chips. I can't really pinpoint what happened, aside from being able to get paid off on the night's above average flops and not losing too much when I was behind.

   Sunday Tourney

   Coming off my great night before, birthday boy Galen and I entered the Sunday noon tourney. There were about 24 players. It's a $30 game and each player is allowed one 800-chip rebuy/addon for $20. Everybody starts with only 500 in chips and the blinds are 25/25 and blinds pretty much double, so it's crazy. But I've cashed in 75% of the games I've played in and it's fun, so whatever. Last time I kinda flamed out in 15th or so after not being able to build much of a stack, so I decided to be more gambly. Besides, I was up $550 even if I did a rebuy and lost, right?

   The first hand I'm in the "big" blind (25) and I see - yum. A middle-position player raises to 100 (20% of his stack) and one player calls. Well, I guess I'm all in. Both players call! I have the and both dominated and triple up.

   Unfortunately, shortly after seeing and "stealing" the blinds, the blinds go up and I get . I get mixed up with the other "big stack" (1200) and lose when he flops trip jacks against my top pair. Ugh! I piss the rest away on a preflop all in with and I rebuy.

   I fold for a while, but with 800 in chips and the blinds at 50/100, it's time to make a move. Somebody raises and flat calls, so I go all in with one more time and get up against and . Oops, I'm out.

   Tom, one of the gracious dealers from the previous night and the same dealer to give me all those big cards joked with me later that I thought I was invincible after that first hand and the way I ran over the table the previous night. I think he was right, and decided to consciously think about that the next time I had a good win right before going to another game.

   Dealer's Choice

   I shrugged it off anyway, cuz Galen was housing and made it the 2-table mark. I bought in for the Texas Hold'em, Crazy Pineapple, Omaha Hold'em high or high/low dealer's choice game. It didn't go as well as last time. It was primarily an Omaha game this time around (95%), nobody was tired or drinking, and it took me an hour before I even split a pot. I definitely haven't played as much Omaha as those guys, and the cards didn't go my way. I lost some "educational money" and hopefully I'll get them next time - maybe during an evening session ;)

   Recap

   Plenty of pokering and up $400 later, I'm pretty happy with the weekend. Oh, and it was fun hanging out with all my friends, too :p Check out the Ocean View Card Room. All the employees are great.

   UPDATE

   Galen ended up taking 7th. At one point he was done to 700 but battled up to 5000. He found under his hands and an opponent who had him covered re-raised. Galen called and the flop came up ragged and unsuited. Galen decided his opponent was playing big cards and pushed all in. Opponent rolls over and Galen wins! Wait, no, the came on the river. WTF?! :p

   Posted by Jason M at 2008-09-23 06:53:22

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Comments on “Poker Weekend in Santa Cruz”

1. • Posted by AceOfJames g 2008-10-09 07:35:03
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   • Those 500 stacks get you used to playing short stacked! :)

2. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-09-24 03:04:21
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   • huh?

3. • Posted by Teresa g 2008-09-23 18:53:46
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   • crazy jason