O-Poker

I can definitely say that last week was best poker week ever. On Monday, I won my WSOP seat on Full Tilt Poker. I didn't play much until Sunday, when I played the $530 on Pokerstars and busted out in the 2nd hour. I was severely short stacked early after my QQ ran into A10o and the guy caught two tens.

After busting out of the PS $530, I was debating on signing up for the Pokerstars $200 2nd chance tourney at 6:30 PM or the $200 $200K Guarantee tourney on FTP. It looked like there would be a decent overlay in the FTP tourney, so I signed up for that one. Six hours and $29,000 later I am glad I did.

I owe a large part of the victory to my wife. I rarely play the big Sunday tourneys because I have a 4 year old daughter and an 8 month old son. It wouldn't be fair to her or the kids to play the Sunday tourneys all the time. (I play on Sunday during the day about once every 2-3 months.) I had gotten up early with the kids and after their naps I asked Veronica if she minded if I played a tourney. She reluctantly said it was OK. Thanks!!

(Some of the hand histories didn't get saved on my hard drive. I have requested the full tourney Hand History from FTP. I think that the last hand before a table closes/you are moved doesn't get saved.)

I love playing against hyper aggressive players in tourneys that don't know when to slow down, especially if I have position on them. A had one of them (that happened to chip leader) seated to my immediate left early in the tourney. He had a ton of chips and was trying to push people around. He always bet the flop and if he wasn't raised, he bet the turn big. I'll call this guy (HACL)

Key Hand 1 (Blinds 200/400 w/50 ante)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355102
I had been flat calling (HACL) with some mediocre hands and re-raising him out of pots when this hand came up. I think he was getting frustrated with me. I was dealt J10o and flopped the nut straight and called his minimum bet on the flop. Every time someone had only called his flop bet, he bet the turn harder. A heart came on the turn, making a flush draw possible and I raised him. The river brought a 5 and he basically put me all-in. I raised my remainder and he called with Q5 for two pair vs. my straight.

Key Hand 2 (Blinds 250/500 w/50 ante)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355106
I was dealt 77 in MP. HACL makes his usual minimun raise to 1,000. I call, BB calls. The flop comes Q27 with two spade. HACL bets 1,500. I raise to 4,000. BB folds. HACL calls. The turn is the Ace of Spades - making a flush possible. I know that there is no way that HACL has the flush. He would have been all-in on the flop with a flush draw based on how he had been playing previous hands. HACL checks, I go all-in. He calls without thinking very long. He had J7 - no spade, only 4th pair. I guess I had gotten him so frustrated that he didn't believe that I had a hand. I really don't know what he was thinking.

Key Hand 3 (Blinds 300/600 w/75 ante)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355107
It helps to get AA and get allin preflop against JJ.

Key Hand 4 (Blinds 500/1000 w/125 ante)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355109
This was probably a questionable call on my part, but here is my thinking. (Dealt AK preflop)
I had been stealing a lot of blinds and had folded a few hands to big re-raises preflop. I raised to 3k from early position. Nemo had been re-raising my blind steals more than most. He went all-in and I really didn't think he had Aces or Kings. He would have raised less and tried to trap me into betting. I put his all in bet as 77-QQ or AK-AJ. I had 39k chips and if I called and lost, I would have 19k chips. If I folded I would have 36k chips. If I called and won, I would have 60k chips and be chip leader or 2nd in chips. I decided based on his hand range, the call was worth the risk. He turned over AQ and my AK held up.

I think by calling that hand it also made players less likely to re-raise my steal attempts without a big hand.

Key Hand 5 (Blinds 600/1200 w/150 ante)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355112
I made a preflop call (QJo in BB) that I wouldn't normally make late without chips - but I had a lot of chips. UTG raises to 3,200. I flat call. The flop is perfect - JJ5. I check. UTG bets 4.5k. I call. Turn is an ace. I check. UTG checks. (I think this helped disguise my hand - I had been mixing it up between raising with made hands and check/raising made hands.) The river is the 4th Jack - giving me quads. I bet 7,500. UTG thinks and calls with 1010.

I am very happy with the way I played this hand. I think I got maximum value here.

Key Hand 6 (Blinds 3k/6k w/750 ante) - SUCKOUT ALERT!!
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355120
I am kind of embarassed by this hand, but I will try to explain my reasoning for the call.

I had been raising a lot. Yumbolt had come over the top all in several times. He was making a disportionate amount of preflop all-in bets. I raised my standard 3x BB (18k) with JJ and he immediately goes all-in. He had shown down A10 and AJ on previous hands with the same all-in preflop bet. I just felt that there a better than 50/50 chance that I was ahead. If I lose the hand I am at 45k. If I win it, I am at 230k and have a great shot at the final table. I made the call and got lucky to flop a set vs. his QQ. If it had been earlier and smaller blinds, I definitely would have folded. I just thought there was a better than 50/50 chance I was ahead and if I won would be in prime chips position with 24-25 players remaining.

Key Hand 7 (Blinds 6k/12k w/1.5k antes)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355124
I was very lucky to get dealt AA in the BB against KK when we were down to 12.

Key Hand 8 (Blinds 8k/16k w/2k antes) - HUGE BLUFF on the Final Table bubble
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355126

10 players remaining. I have been selectively stealing blinds, but have a relatively tight image. I am dealt 25s in the SB. It folds to me and I raise to 48k. BB calls. The flop comes 932 and I figured the flop missed the BB. He would have re-raised me with any pair based on his past play. I went all-in and he thought forever and folded.

Key Hand 9 (Blinds 8k/16k w/ antes) - 10 players remaining - final table bubble. (EDIT - got HH from FTP)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355329

I called the preflop raise because he was raising from the SB with just about anything. His check on the flop threw me off - it was bugging me that he didn't bet the flop, so I checked to see what he would do on the turn. The turn brings a 2 giving me a pair and OESD. He immediately goes all-in - big overbet (no way he has a 5.) I am pretty sure he has a big ace or a flush draw. It just feels like he is trying to buy the pot. If he happens to have me beat, I most likely still have 10 outs.

Give the situation (5 players at tables), my hand, and the board, I felt like my hand was the best hand. I got lucky that he didn't hit his flush.

This hand assured me a good payday . I moved onto the final table with 730k chips and 2nd place had under 400k chips and looked to take it down.

Not much eventful happened for a while. My stack dwindled a little after being pretty card dead, some failed blind steals and missing a flop with AK.

Key Hand 10 (20k/40k blinds w/5k ante) - Final 3
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355148

Milkman had been extremely aggressive once we got 3 handed. It almost looked like he was happy with 3rd place money and didn't care if he went out. He had knocked one guy (in 4th I think) out with his A4 against AQ. He made a 3xBB raise from the SB preflop and the BB went all-in. Milkman and BB were about equal in chips and Milkman called and spiked a 4. Milkman also made a questionable preflop call with Q3 for half his stack earlier.

I went all-in on the Ace Flop with KK because I felt he would have re-raised me preflop with any ace. If I checked the flop then he was going all-in. I bet all-in on the flop hoping that if he happened to have a weak ace, he might fold it. He folded.

Key Hand 11 (20k/40k w/5k antes) - Heads up.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?355151
I played this hand horribly. I should have bet the river hard.

Key Hand 12 (25k/50k w/ antes) - Final Hand

I flop a pair on a non-scary board and we get all the chips in. Only problem he has AA!! GG me.

I think the main reason that I did so well in this tourney was that I remained focused and played the players a lot more than my cards. (Of course, getting AA against KK with 12 players remaining didn't hurt.)

It was nice to have a cheering section during the tourney - Loopy, his wife, and Matt and his wife.

My biggest online tourney cash before this was $8k, but that was over 1 1/2 years ago, so this felt great. Hopefully, I can ride the hot streak for a while.

Feel free to let me know if you think I played a hand poorly. I am open to suggestions on how to play some of these hands differently.

cmitch