O-Poker

I played 3 tourneys tonight and didn't cash in two of them but wound up taking third in the $55 6 max NL tourney on Pokerstars. It was a very long final table, especially for 6 max - about 1 1/2 hours from the start of the FT until my bustout. Three handed it became a crapshoot and I got it in with KQs vs. 66 with no help. I'm disappointed at not closing it out, but I'll take the $1k for 3rd.

Going to bed now.....I'll try to go through some of the interesting hands tomorrow.

FTP $30r - 12 players left. I'm a shorty.

EDIT: I busted out 9th.

This one if for Fuel.

I'm ahead.

I'm way ahead.

I'm way behind.

Weeeeeeee - DQB!!!!


Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: NYpokerguy ($19,970)
Seat 2: gillou8383 ($37,217)
Seat 3: riverratrwa ($59,169)
Seat 4: Bond18 ($34,938) -
Seat 5: Globalnep ($146,964) -
Seat 7: cmitch ($15,846) -
Seat 8: Annette_15 ($69,104)


PRE-FLOP:

Globalnep posts small blind $1000
cmitch posts BIG blind $2000
Dealt To: cmitch


ANTE NYpokerguy ($250)
ANTE gillou8383 ($250)
ANTE riverratrwa ($250)
ANTE Bond18 ($250)
ANTE Globalnep ($250)
ANTE cmitch ($250)
ANTE Annette_15 ($250)
FOLD Annette_15
FOLD NYpokerguy
FOLD gillou8383
CALL riverratrwa ($2000)
FOLD Bond18
CALL Globalnep ($1000)
RAISE cmitch ($15596)
CALL riverratrwa ($13596)
FOLD Globalnep


FLOP:

Pot: $34942




TURN:

Pot: $34942




RIVER:

Pot: $34942




SHOWDOWN:
cmitch:

riverratrwa:


cmitch collected $34942 from main pot with four of a kind, Fives

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $34 Rake: $0

Final Board:


Seat 1: NYpokerguy folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-250)
Seat 2: gillou8383 folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-250)
Seat 3: riverratrwa showed [As Jh] and lost with a full house, Jacks full of Aces - Net Gain/Loss: ($-15846)

Seat 4: Bond18 button folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-250)
Seat 5: Globalnep small blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-2250)
Seat 7: cmitch big blind showed [5h 5c] and won 34,942 with four of a kind, Fives - Net Gain/Loss: ($19096)
Seat 8: Annette_15 folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-250)


Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Overall, I had a decent FTOPS V. I played FTOPS #1, 3, 7 and the Main Event - cashing in Event #1 and the Main Event, coming close to the money in Event #7, and finishing in the middle of the pack in Event #3.

I satellited into all of them except FTOPS #3, as well as winning a couple of sats to Event #1. I probably netted around $3,100 - $3,200 in the four events. I won't dwell on what could have been after getting deep in FTOPS #1 and the Main Event, both of which had over 4k entrants.

I got fairly low in the 2nd and 3rd hours and managed to claw my way back.

On to some key hands from the Main Event. I welcome any comments on how poorly I played some of these hands. I played a few hands pretty weakly, especially early. I am particularly interested in everyone's thought on Hand 14.

Hand 1
Early in the tourney, sitting out (dinner,kids, some reason) probably saved me a few chips.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394547

Hand 2
This guy had been playing a ton of hands, so I decided to flat call in position with a speculative hand. I hit two pair and the turn and he couldn't fold his top pair King Kicker.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394553

Hand 3
I could have easily lost a lot more on this hand - dealt KQ in the BB. Several limpers. I check. Flop comes Q high. SB bets. I figured SB could have any two pair. I flat called the flop to see how the remaining players would react. Everyone folded. At that point I felt like I had the best hand. I wasn't sure if I had the best hand on the turn when the SB fired out a fairly good size bet, so I just flat called. He checked the river and I checked behind because I couldn't see him calling any bet that I made with a worse hand than mine.

It may look like I played this hand pretty weak, but I decided not to commit a ton of my chips on this hand when I might be behind and he might be on a flush draw. It was early enough with deep stacks and small blinds that I felt it was worth the risk of letting him catch a draw vs. playing a huge pot with top pair, King kicker. I'm certain a lot of players would have played this differently.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394573

Hand 4
I made it back just in time, from putting the kids to bed, to lose a ton of chips on this hand. I may have folded the best hand, but most likely got rivered. On the flop, I put the other player on KQ or J10 - most likely KQ. I was trapping by flat calling the turn and planned to get all the money in on the river. If I was up against J10 - oh well. The worst possible river came and he shoved. I figured that I only could beat a bluff. He most likely had KQ with a slight possibility of him having the same hand as me.

The argument could be made for shoving on the turn, but I felt like trapping was more likely to get paid off.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394594

Hand 5
This hand is not too interesting, but it is a good example of how uncomfortable some people are when playing with deep stacks. I couldn't help but to commit, "Overbet much?"
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394612

Hand 6
How not to play Jacks. This guy played this hand horribly. BB special for me. His flat calling really made me think that he had the flush draw. I thought that he hit it on the river and checked behind - probably missed a bet there. I definitely didn't put him on Jacks.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394622

Hand 7
Not a bad flop, but great turn. Too bad he didn't have a hand.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394633

Hand 8
Stand race that I won. I was relatively short and it was time to gamble for chips.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394652

Hand 9
I flat call preflop hoping to catch a set in a multi-way pot. I flop a straight flush draw with only 1 side open though. It checks around on the flop. Turn is another 4. It checks to guy in last position. He bets 1,360 into a 3,745 pot. I'm getting 3.75 to 1 (5,105 to 1,360) on my money plus the implied odds if I hit. This was still probably a marginal call, but since he had flat called preflop, I put him on a medium Ace and figured that he may or may not have a diamond. I might have folded if the orignial early position preflop raiser had bet. I got lucky on the river and got paid off.

I'm curious - standard to call this turn bet?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394657

Hand 10
This guy was getting way too active and seemed to be overbetting with speculative hands/when he missed the flop. He was betting smaller when he made a hand to dry to get others to come along. His bets on this hand screamed steal attempt or AK. I shoved and he folded. I think he go caught up too much in the bet big and get people to fold type of play (especially on the button), so much so that it cost him a lot of chips. In my mind, it was pretty much a given that he was raising or re-raising every time he was on the button.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394786

Hand 11
Perfect timing for AA. I had been pretty active preflop and my raise from late position along with a flat call from the button was too hard for a great player (JOEYTHEB) to pass on. No slowplaying for me. I didn't mind that it was obvious that I had AA. I would rather take down a huge pot preflop than try to slow play myself into losing all my chips.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394799

Hand 12
This guy had been way too active. Easy call against what was either a small to medium pair or a big Ace. I had the chips and was 50/50 at a minimum.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394865

Hand 13
Huge Hand. My opponent was a big time calling station preflop and tried to bully a lot of pots away on the flop and turn. He had a tendancy to shove all-in on flops. I really thought that he might have flopped two pair because his range was ATC. His lead out bet was strange though, since he had to figure that I was going to bet. I called the turn bet not sure if I was ahead or not. I hit my set on the river and it was obvious that he didn't have a 10. I got lucky, but the hand was pretty tough to play IMO against a guy that was in probably more than 50% of the pots preflop and had been shoving a lot with made hands.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394879

Hand 14
Absolutely horrible play by me - but I had reasons.

I think we were near the money bubble. We may have been ITM the money already.

Opponent is the same one from hand above. His range is ATC. I complete from the SB with 45, knowing that the BB isn't raising very often here.

ATC player bets pot after it is checked to him. I call with a open ended straight draw and the intention of C/Ring him all in on any turn that isn't a paint card or an ace.

The turn card is another eight. He has to figure that an eight is definitely in my range out of the SB. I continue with my plan of c/ring all in and he insta-calls with 99. I figured that the c/r on the turn would make my hand look so strong that he would have to fold a ton of hands and if he did wind up having a monster I still had 8 outs.

The flaw in my logic was the flop containing two spades along with my flat call preflop. It looked more like I had a flush draw than anything. I think this play would have worked if it had been a rainbow flop.

So was this a horrible play or a failed aggressive shot at taking down a large pot.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394897

Hand 15
Good timing for AA when really short.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394919

Hand 16
A case of being priced in. The blinds are 1,200/2,400 with 300 ante. What is the difference of having 25k chips or 19k chips at this point to me. If I am against a hand like a big Ace then I am 40/60 to win and I am getting the right price - 2.35 to 1(15,114 to 6,414). It really boiled down to a close decision and I felt like I was so low in chips that I would gamble. Really was is 25k vs 19k at this level of blinds?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394925

I won another 13k in chips the last hand before I was moved tables and the HH didn't save.

Hand 17
Pretty standard. SB vs. BB. I raise preflop with a pocket pair and he insta-shoves. I have to call in this spot. This one is for Fuel55.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394953

Hand 18
I discussed this one with Lucko. I played it way too passively on all streets. I felt like I was ahead and never put the pressure on the other guy. He hit his card on the river and checked.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1394971

Hand 19
Looking back on this hand. I probably would have gotten more value by checking on the turn.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1395108

Hand 20
I thought there was a pretty good chance I was still ahead on the flop, but couldn't really justify a shove or a call here. I figured he most likely had a pretty big draw that he was willing to get all his money in with.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1395110

Hand 21
I don't like AQ
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1395113

Hand 22
I'm a luckbox.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1395117


Hand 23
I figure that I am most likely racing. If I call and win then I am sitting on a top 5 stack with about 125 players left.

Case could be made for folding, but I think I have to take the chance calling here to take the risk to get a big stack and keep people from trying to re-steal from me.

Opinions?
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1395119

Hand 24 - Bustout Hand
Standard shove with an M of less than 4? BB was tighten than your average player.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1395126

I am interested in opinions on how I should have played some of these hand differently. Or just call me a luckbox if you like. :)

I am trying to see if I can turn nothing into something on UB.

When I first started playing online poker a few years ago (early 2003), I played at the original World Sports Exchange Poker, then migrated over to Pokerstars and eventually Ultimate Bet. After winning my way to Aruba in 2003, I started playing a lot more on UB. It had a great community that some people described as a "home game" feel. The player base wasn't huge and you really got to know a lot of the other players since you played with them daily. I had even met quite of few of them in Aruba - some are still good friends. I played a lot of tourneys and SNGs on UB in 2003 and 2004, but then things at UB started to go south. The customer service went downhill. They completely changed their tourney schedule that wiped out a lot of the tourneys that fell within the stakes that I was playing and the times that I could play. The site started crashing a lot. When I say a lot, I mean several times a week. All this led, to me playing more on Party Poker and Pokerstars. I eventually landed on FTP and play 95% of my poker there now.

I just checked the pokerdb and I have played a grand total of 6 tourneys at UB this year. I had only played 3 this year until June 30th. About a month ago, I received a "special offer" from UB. It was different than a lot of the other "special offers" that they send out. This one offered a free entry into their Sunday $200 buy-in $200k guarantee. I emailed them back asking for the free entry even though I probably wasn't going to be able to play in the tourney. They registered me for it and I promptly attempted to unregister. It worked. My account was credited with $200 tourney dollars.

My plan was to try to turn the T$200 into some real money. Shortly before heading to the WSOP, I played one of the nightly $129 bounties tourneys and donked out early. I had almost completely forgotten about the remaining T$ until the other night when I opened UB and jumped into the next tourney that was starting. It was a $20 6 max. I busted out with AK vs KQ.

This left me with T$62. It didn't look like I was going to be to successful with turning $0 in my UB account into something. I logged on last night and saw a $20 rebuy satellite to their Sunday Night(8:30 PM) $530 $75k guarantee mtt. I decided that I would spend my last T$62 on that tourney even though 3 total buy-ins is a horrible way to go into a rebuy tourney. I used all of my buy-ins up a few hands into the satellite and was sitting on about 2,400 chips with no money to add on at the end of the rebuy period. I somehow managed to have a huge chip lead by the break and wound up 3rd in chips after everyone but me added on.

I was the chip leader after knocking one player out at the final table. Then the perfect situation came up. I was dealt Aces on the button. A player in mid-position made a large raise. I raised enough to almost put him all in. To my surprise the SB (who I barely had covered) re-raised all-in. Mid-position folded. I called and my Aces held up against SB's Kings. I was now chip leader by more than double the 2nd spot with 6 or 7 players left and 2 seats being awarded. I managed to hold on to win my entry to the $530.

So, on Sunday night I will see if I can turn nothing into something. Hopefully, there will be more to this story.

I finished 2nd in the Mookie last night. I had a pretty good lead heads up against Bayne, so I felt confident that I would take it down. It wasn't meant to be though. Bayne was a tough heads up opponent and I had to constantly switch up my play. He was shoving all-in just about every time that I limped. I was waiting to set him up with a big hand. Unfortunately when I finally got AK and limped in, he checked behind. My flop bet took it down.

Bayne got about even in chips when I got all in on an Ace high flop with Ax against his set of 7s. I was able to start to regain the chip lead until we got all in with my AQ vs. his 99. (No way either of us were getting away from those hands heads up.) The board was no help for me and I was left with around 12k to his 110k +/-. I felt like I still had a chance if I caught a couple of hands - definitely didn't give up. I chipped up a little to above 20k. A few hands later, we got all in preflop again. This time my short stacked 99 lost to his A3. GG and well played Bayne.

I am guessing that I have probably made a bigger jump this week than anyone in the Battle of the Bloggers Leaderboard. I was sitting in 32nd place on Monday morning and 21st after my win on Monday night (highest ranked with less than 20 tourneys played). I am curious as to where I stand after my 2nd place last night.

I guess I let Waffles down, since he had picked me as one of his horses on BuddyDank Radio. BTW, I listened to BuddyDank radio for the first time on Monday and really enjoyed it. Great show!!!!

----------------------
How Would You Play it? (Results)

The Hand from yesterday's post
I am dealt JJ in mid position and raise to $80 to thin the field. I get 4 more callers including Lucky, Seat 5 (who is steaming), Seat 10 (in the BB) and Seat 1.

Flop comes 8d9d3h. Seat 10 opens for $200. I am 100% certain that I have him beat and pretty certain that he is on a flush draw. Seat 10 has about $200 behind. Seat 1 calls his last $135. I'm guessing Seat 1 has either a flush draw, straight draw, or 1 pair and 1 over. (Really not too concerned about his hand.)

I have a decision to make. Seat 5 is beaming like he has monster. Seat 5 has around $1,300. Lucky looks like he wants to call. Lucky has about $3,500.

I have around $2,100.

What is your play here?

A. Flat Call (and the draws a chance to catch)
B. Raise (if raise what amount? enough to put Seat 10 all-in or more?)
C. Fold

Results:

I may have steered everyone in the same direction with my "Seat 5 is beaming like he has monster" comment - not sure.

My thinking was that I only had $80 invested in the pot. I really thought I had the best hand, but wasn't sure. I decided to let it go, mainly because of the two big stacks behind me. If they weren't there I was going to put Seat 10 all-in.

I folded. Seat 5 shoved all-in. Lucky folded. Seat 10 folded instead of putting in his last $200. He said that he folded 77. Talk about a horrible fold. He had to call a little less than $200 into a $1,135 pot.

Hands:

Seat 10 - folded 77
Seat 1 - KQ (no diamonds)
Seat 5 - Ad10d

The turn and river came 5,6. Not only did the guy that folded 7s fold the best hand, but he also would have made a straight. Ace high took down the pot.

I don't regret folding. I don't like results oriented thinking. If I flat called, Seat 5 was shoving and I would have to fold. If I raised, Seat 5 was shoving and I might have called or might have folded depending on the bet amounts.

This hand really got me thinking about how you play against live bad players that don't understand the value of certain hands. It isn't a big deal in cash games, but it a tourney/sng, especially in a home game turbo format, bad players can actually gain a little bit of an edge over a better player that isn't catching any cards. If you get a good read on a poor player that doesn't understand the value of his hand, he may be giving off signals of a strong hand when he has a draw since he may see his draw the same as the nuts. I know some players that think even a weak flush draw or a straight draw is just about the nuts. Basically, you might wind up getting in bad or folding a lot of hands to these poor players if they give off the same signals (because they feel like they are all monster hands) with the nuts as they do with 2nd pair or a draw. (I'll expand more on this in a future post.)

Going into the Mondays at the Hoy tourney last night, I decided that I would play it a little differently than I had in other blogger tourneys. I like the deep stack structure and decided to play solid the first hour or so and not get too crazy with pre-flop re-raises - basically flat call a lot preflop and try to outplay/trap my opponents post-flop. A few hours later, thanks to some luck, I took down the MATH tourney. (It was my first MATH win - other than a 3 way chop earlier in the year.)

Key Hands

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187895 - Deep stack allowing me to catch a flush. The lead out of the flop made me think columbo was weak any way, since I had bet preflop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187896 - Not sure WTF Jordan was thinking - shows the level of respect I get from him. :)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187897 - I get all in with a pair and a flush draw and hit my flush. I had Papi Justify covered by quite a bit.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187902 - Pretty straight forward - BB Special.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187905 - Luckbox hand. I totally pegged swimmom95 as very weak after she bet 320 into a 1,520 pot. I raised up to 1,500 with two overs and a gutshot. She called. I hit gin on the river and she shoved with 3rd pair. I'm not sure what I would have done if she shoved the turn - probably folded.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187909 - Jacks are OK.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187910 - I liked having pushmonkey on my left. We both had big stacks and I was able to take some if his chips - with better hands most of the time.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187913 - Again against pushmonkey. I felt that there was a good chance that I was beat and checked behind on the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187915 - Jacks are more than OK. I tried my best to disguise the flopped set against an aggressive Chad. I bet small on the flop and turn hoping he would come over the top - no such luck. I thought he might actually have a hand, so I bet big on the river - a mistake in highsight. I should have bet smaller to either get a call and induce him to shove.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187918 - Jacks are OK when your opponent shows weakness even with an A and K on board.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187924 - A good sign. I was dealt KK on the first hand of the final table. No action though.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187927 - Jordan chips up.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187931 - I'm getting short and take chances. I was hoping for 2 overs against HeffMike and it worked out.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187934 - LUCKBOX ALERT!! I limped in the SB with A6. Jordan was playing very aggressive and I figured his shoving range was huge. I decided (probably not the best decision) to double up or go to bed. I caught my 6 with A6 vs. AK. Weeeeee. That was great, but the best part of this hand was that I was able to slow Jordan down in later Blind vs. Blind hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187939 - Win a race against heffmike (and knock him out) with my 77 vs. his KJ.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187942 - Jordan and I were in a lot of pots with each other all night. I finally knocked him out with my QQ vs. his A6.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1187944 - I chipped away and chipped away at FishyMcDonk heads up. He was playing fairly tight for heads up. I figured we would have to get it in with two big hands or I would have to slowly grind him down. I wound up winning the final race with AKs vs. 1010.

I had a great time. Thanks for running the tourney Hoy.

FTPDoug posted FTP's new guarantee tourney schedule on Pocketfives.com. It looks like they are adding more mid-limit tourneys just in time to warm up for the WSOP.

"Here's the list, hopefully there's a little something for everyone:

Time (ET)	Buy In	Game	Guarantee
3:00	$100	NLH turbo	$8,500
4:00	$50	NLH	$5,500
13:30	$10	PLO rebuy	$2,000
14:30	$20	NLH rebuy	$7,500
15:30	$50	NLH	$15,000
18:30	$5	NLH rebuy 6max	$4,500
19:30	$20	NLH rebuy 6max	$8,000
20:30	$3	NLH rebuy	$6,000
21:00	$100	NLH rebuy 6max	$45,000	Wednesdays
21:30	$50	Fifty-Fifty (NLH)	$50,000
23:00	$24	NLH DS 6max	$14,000
23:30	$50	NLH rebuy	$20,000

Also, you might have already noticed that the $400K has become a $500K and the monthly $500+$35 has gone from a $750K to a much nicer sounding $1 Million Guarantee."

I didn't play any cash games this weekend. I really haven't play cash games too much since I got back from vacation last week and I am trying to concentrate on mtts/winning my seat to the WSOP. I came very close to a big cash in the FTP $400k yesterday and got deep in a few other tourneys.

Friday Night
I didn't have enough W$ to enter the $1k Pokerstars WSOP satellite, so I played the 9 PM $80 sub-satellite to the Sunday $650 and wound up winning another W$650.

I played a few other small tourneys including the daily double on FTP. I don't remember exactly how I busted out of the 1st of the daily doubles, but once I did I found it extremely hard to focus on the other one. The payouts were very small in each tourney unless you make the Final Table (out of about 1,000 +/- players in each) - the real value is in final tabling both tourneys. FTPDoug has a post on pocketfives asking people's opinions on increasing the buy-ins to the daily doubles or adding new bigger buy-in DDs. I am all for them either increasing the DD to $26 (token) or adding a new DD with a buy-in of $75 (token).

Saturday Night
I played a pokerstars $27+rebuys sub-sat to the $650 again and wound up bubbling 4th out of 27. It awarded 2 seats and $475 cash for 3rd.

I also played the $109 6max mtt on pokerstars and wound up cashing 9th place - just short of the final table - cashed for $354.

Sunday
My wife was at the beach for the weekend with a friend of hers. She made it back home around lunch time. I worked it out with her to play some of the Sunday tourneys.

I played the following:

FTP WSOP 2 seat freeroll (140 +/- players; top 2 get $10k WSOP entry). I went out very early in this one when an extremely freaky hand came up. (I am not complaining about a bad beat here - I got that out of my system last week)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1162969 - AA vs. KK vs. AA - Button, Small Blind, and Big Blind respectively.

Pokerstars Sunday Million - finished around 1,300 out of 6,700 (1,080 paid) when my AA lost to AK all-in preflop. I shook it off and kept playing my "A" game in the other tourneys.

Pokerstars $650 WSOP Super Sat - I used some of my stash of W$ and played this tourney. I finished 118th out of 635 (paid 35 seats and I think next 10 spots got $650 cash). I had built a decent stack but was unlucky enough to get moved to a table with the chip leader (by about double the guy in 2nd) to my immediate left. Any time I raised preflop, he would raise enough where if I called it pretty much committed me to the pot. I wound up getting all-in against a mid stack with AQs vs. his 99 and was crippled.

FTP $400k guarantee - Finished 108th out of 2,765 for $553. I was cruising along and built a decent stack late, but the blinds started to get huge. I had about $28k left and shoved with a re-steal in late position with AJs and the button (with $78k) shoved over me. The early position raiser laid down his hand. The button had QQ. I flopped a Jack but didn't improve from there. GG me.

I felt like I played pretty good this weekend, but came up just a little short. I am probably only going to play mtts this week and try to play the 100 seat and 150 seat guarantees on FTP and PS, respectively.

It's strange, but I think that I do a lot better in MTTs when I concentrating on only mtts and not playing any cash games.

Good luck at the tables and good luck to everyone in Vegas.

Down to 25 players in a WPT/WSOPC Winner Choice $216 Satellite. I was top 4 in chips - not quite sure what the guy was thinking. I'm speechless.

Full Tilt Poker Game #2570580373: Saturday Winner's Choice (19162021), Table 7 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:41:57 ET - 2007/06/02
Seat 1: cmitch (17,090)
Seat 2: z_sheva (18,472)
Seat 3: csimmsux (11,615)
Seat 4: p5erssuck (20,578)
Seat 5: deucheman2 (10,239)
Seat 6: AceWPT (10,465)
Seat 7: Gettin Daize (6,051)
Seat 8: ooohra1 (4,170), is sitting out
cmitch antes 50
z_sheva antes 50
csimmsux antes 50
p5erssuck antes 50
deucheman2 antes 50
AceWPT antes 50
Gettin Daize antes 50
ooohra1 antes 50
cmitch posts the small blind of 200
z_sheva posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to cmitch [Ac As]
csimmsux calls 400
p5erssuck has 15 seconds left to act
p5erssuck folds
deucheman2 raises to 10,189, and is all in
AceWPT folds
Gettin Daize folds
ooohra1 folds
cmitch raises to 17,040, and is all in
z_sheva folds
csimmsux folds
cmitch shows [Ac As]
deucheman2 shows [9s 7s]
Uncalled bet of 6,851 returned to cmitch
*** FLOP *** [9d Qs 2h]
*** TURN *** [9d Qs 2h] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [9d Qs 2h 6s] [3s]
cmitch shows a pair of Aces
deucheman2 shows a flush, Queen high
deucheman2 wins the pot (21,578) with a flush, Queen high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 21,578 | Rake 0
Board: [9d Qs 2h 6s 3s]
Seat 1: cmitch (small blind) showed [Ac As] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: z_sheva (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: csimmsux folded before the Flop
Seat 4: p5erssuck folded before the Flop
Seat 5: deucheman2 showed [9s 7s] and won (21,578) with a flush, Queen high
Seat 6: AceWPT folded before the Flop
Seat 7: Gettin Daize folded before the Flop
Seat 8: ooohra1 (button) folded before the Flop

I felt like I was in a zone when I played the FTOPS #8 PL Holdem tourney. You know that feeling - when you are making the correct reads, are focused, and things are working for you. I played better in that tourney than any other that I have played in a while. I was disappointed with bubbling, but wouldn't have done anything different - sometimes things just work out that way. You can play great poker and not cash. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't be happy with your play, especially if it builds your confidence and helps improve your play in later tourneys. The FTOPS #8 got me out of a MTT funk that I have been in lately.

Below are some of the key hands

Chipping Up

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1110308 - The guy in Seat 4 had chipped up from a few fortunate spots. He flopped sets twice and had people betting into him each time. In the last two orbits he was raising way way way too much for his own good. Basically, if someone checked to him he would bet and usually fold to a re-raise. He had always raised ANY pair preflop. I felt like his preflop call was an attempt to steal the pot on a later street, because he was raising with probably the top 50% of hands preflop. The flop was pretty good for 66 (only 1 over). His flat call fit his pattern. He would have raised me on the flop if he had a Queen. He had been flat calling and then leading out big on the turn to win several uncontested pots. I called the turn figuring I was probably good. Another Queen came on the river and he insta-shoved. IMO, there was no way that he had a Queen. He was going to try and get some value for a Queen. My guess was that he had an Ace for a missed straight draw. I thought and thought and finally I couldn't put him on anything that beat me. I made the crying call feeling like I was good. Weeeeee!!! Talk about a confidence builder.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1110312 - The very next hand (perfect timing), I was dealt QQ and raised UTG. The same guy was steaming and re-raised me. I shoved hoping he would call with something like a weak Jack.

Imperium's Table

I was moved to a table with Imper1um . I hadn't played much with him, but knew that he had been on fire this year - ranked #4 on P5s and probably playing better than anyone out there right now. I decided to try to avoid pots with him since we were the two big stacks at the table. All the while, I was watching him play - trying to pick up any patterns and learn anything that I could from his play.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1110359 - This hand came up after a few orbits. I was dealt JJ and raised to 450 UTG+1. With the way that he had been playing, I figured that his flat call with position on me didn't necessarily mean a strong hand. I think he was probably re-raising me preflop with a wide range. The flop came Ks10s6h. I decided not to lead out. My hand couldn't handle a big re-raise on that flop and he was liable to re-raise with air. I wanted to see how strong he was here. I felt like he would bet big if he had a King, a set or a big flush draw. He bet 780 into a 1,140 pot. I wasn't sure what to make of it, but decided to flat call and see how he reacts on the turn. My thinking was that a flat call would tell him that I had at least a decent hand and would probably slow him down. The turn paired the board and brought a three flush. I checked again and he bet 1,920 into a 2,700 pot. I called since I had the Js and really felt like I was good here. I could re-evaluate things again on the river. The river was a blank. In his eyes my hand had to look really strong to him, so I checked to him. He checked behind with 22 and I won a nice pot. I would have played this differently against most players, but I felt like I could give him control of the hand to keep the pot smaller while still gaining enough information to decide how to proceed in the hand.

I think that hand also helped to keep him out of later pots with me. I knew that if he got involved in another large pot with me, I was probably going to be behind (unless I had a huge hand) since I had shown I was willing to call him down with an underpair on a scary board. I also figured I would be able to make some re-steals from him after that hand because of how I had played the Jacks and he would have to respect my stack.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1110401 - I wasn't involved in this hand, but I think it shows that Imper1um gets a lot of action because of people getting frustrated with his LAG style. He had been raising so much that when he raised from the button and the SB re-raised, he felt like he was probably ahead with 77. I was amazed that he was willing to put so many chips at risk with the blinds so low with a mediocre hand. I thought about this hand for a while. It shows why he WINS so many tourneys. He isn't afraid to go with his reads and get all the chips in even if he thinks he is only a slight favorite.

DQB

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1110439 - No real explanation needed here. I was the big stack at the table and was raising a lot of hands preflop. Perfect flop and let the other guy hang himself.

Too Many outs if I'm even behind

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1110491 - Hand pretty much played itself against a small stack.

My Demise

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1110540 - Unlucky for a 10k swing approaching the bubble.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1110558 - Timely re-steal on the bubble against a button steal. I obviously have to shut down if I get called or re-raised.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1110563 - I posted about this hand previously. The case could be made for laying down 1010 and leaving myself with 17k. I went with the shove because it looked like a complete re-steal from the big stack on the bubble in the big blind. He had been raising almost every hand on the bubble. He called and if my hand had held up I would have been top 10 in chips as we entered the money.

Looking back on the tourney I can't complain about a thing. Sometimes it takes a tourney like this to help kick start things again.

I worked it out with my wife to play a few Sunday tourneys since I had qualified for the WSOP 2 seat freeroll that started at 4:30. I managed to do OK in all three tourneys that I played but was a little frustrated with the results, especially in the 2 seat freeroll. (I also played the Blogger Big Game and went out with AKs vs. 22.)

My results for the 3 Sunday tourneys that I played are as follows:
(I actually played 4 - didn't do too well in the Blogger Big Game.)

FTOPS Main Event - 215th out of 3,798 for $1,234 (Hoyazo finished around 100th - nice work Hoy!!! I know you are feeling that frustration as well, but great showing.)


Pokerstars Sunday Million with $250k added - 632nd out of 10,894 for $725. (I was so punchy last night after watching the kids all morning and playing all day that I actually thought I had won more in the Sunday Million.)



and the one that really hurt....

FTP - WSOP 2 seat Freeroll - 6th out of 193 (2 seats paid). This really hurt because I was pretty much a dominating chip leader from about 100 players until about 12 players. I went out with KJ vs. AJ on a Jack high flop with 2 spades on board.




I'll try to go through the hand histories of these and FTOPS #8 (the one I bubbled) and post some of the one more interesting hands. I had Imperium (the eventual winner of FTOPS #8) at my table for a little while in that event. It was educational watching him play.

I felt like I played great Friday night (FTOPS #8) and yesterday. I am happy with my results, but wish a few things here and there had fallen differently.

I am probably going to play the FTOPS Event #8 $216 PL Holdem tourney tonight. (It depends on how rested I feel.) It got me to thinking about the differences between PL Holdem mtts and NL Holdem mtts.

I think that tight aggressive players definitely have a bigger edge in PL mtts than they do in NL mtts. The main reason is that antes never kick in. My thinking is that stealing late in the tourney is less valuable in PL holdem. The TAG players can be patient, pick their spots and re-steal from the loose players using their tight image. I think that some of the less skilled loose players will make the mistake of calling preflop raises and re-raises from the tight players because it is pot limit and they will feel like they are getting the odds when they aren't thus putting the TAG players in more +EV situations. Each round costs you less in chips in the PL mtts than the NL mtts, so the sense of urgency (that you get late in a NL mtt) isn't as great in a PL mtt. (see comparison below)

Of course, this whole concept assumes that the tight player is skilled at post flop play and isn't the push or fold late type of tight player. They will have to play pots postflop. The value of hand reading and post flop aggression goes up significantly in PL holdem. For this reason I think that PL mtts also favor cash games players.

PL (at each hour - 5 levels based on 12 min rounds)
*based on structure for FTOPS #8
Level 5 - 30/60 (90 per round)
Level 10 - 100/200 (300 per round)
Level 15 - 300/600 (900 per round)
Level 20 - 1k/2k (3k per round)
Level 25 - 3k/6k (9k per round)
Level 30 - 10k/20k (30k per round)
Level 35 - 30k/60k (90k per round)

NL (at each hour - 5 levels based on 12 min rounds)
*based on structure for FTOPS #3
Level 5 - 30/60 (90 per round)
Level 10 - 100/200 (300 per round)
Level 15 - 250/500 w/50 ante (1,200 per round)
Level 20 - 800/1,600 w/200 ante (4.2k per round)
Level 25 - 2k/4k w/500 ante (10.5k per round)
Level 30 - 6k/12k w/1,500 ante (31.5k per round)
Level 35 - 17k/34k w/4k ante (87k per round)

Difference
Level 5 - Same
Level 10 - Same
Level 15 - NL costs 300 more per round
Level 20 - NL costs 1,200 more per round
Level 25 - NL costs 1,500 more per round
Level 30 - NL costs 1,500 more per round
Level 35 - Finally catches up

I am interested in what others think. Am I off-base here or do PL mtts generally favor a TAG style of play? (I am speaking generally. Of course, there are always table/situational exceptions where a very LAGgy style would be the way to go.)