Ten-Twenty-Five Live

I played about two hours of 10-25 NL at the Rio yesterday. The table wasn't full of spewmonkeys but I wasn't anticipating a lot of tough decisions. Mostly it was just a boring game. I say that, but I did actually bluff my entire $5K stack on my first hand.

Let me tell you another story first though. There was this wealthy Texan at the table who, when I first sat down, was on the phone placing sports bets. That's always a good sign. I later changed seats and ended up with him on my immediate left, meaning I was privy to the next two phone calls he made.

The first was to a woman named "Becky" whom he seemed to select somewhat arbitrarily from his address book. He hadn't seen her in a few months but turns out she was available for dinner on a few hours' notice.

His next call was a voicemail that I'll attempt to transcribe to the best of my memory: "Hey Jimmy, this is Dicky. Happy 20th birthday. That's a bit one. I'm sorry I won't be able to make it for your party tonight, I'm going to be tied up. I've got a little present for you, though- it's $50- you're mother will have that for you. You're growing into a fine young man. Hope you have fun."

Anyway, that big bluff I was talking about: I opened to $75 with AKs in late middle position and got 3-bet to $300 by a familiar-looking player on the button. I couldn't place where I'd seen him before, but he was young and serious-looking, which isn't a good sign. I assumed he was an internet pro whose face I'd randomly seen in a picture or something, but now that I think about it, I may actually have played with him at Foxwoods. It makes a huge difference which he is, but at the time, I was thinking internet, so anyway...

He 3-bets to $300, and I decided to make it $800 and fold to a 4-bet (he had me covered). He thinks for a while and calls. The flop comes down rags with two of my suit. I bet $1200, planning to unhappily call a shove. My hope was that he would just call and then I could shove the turn. That's exactly what happened. He tanked for a while but folded what was probably TT-QQ. I doubt anyone else at the table would make that fold, but then I wouldn't have 4-bet anyone else either.

So I made $2000 on my first hand, but I later misplayed a hand pretty badly and cost myself most of that profit. A new player had just joined the table, an older black man who seemed to be a regular in the Tunica games. He bought in deep enough to cover my nearly $7K stack.

I got AKs UTG+1 and raised to $75. Only the new guy called out of his BB. The flop came 862 and gave me my flush draw. He checked, I bet $125, and he raised to $400. I called. The turn was an off-suit 3, he checked, I bet $525, and he raised to $2000. I folded.

My turn bet is just atrocious. With less showdown value, it might be OK, like if I had a ten-high flush draw or something. But even then, I'm primarily relying on bluffing him off of bluffs, which assumes he's capable of check-raise bluffing the flop against an unknown early position raiser. With AK, I beat his bluffs anyway, so there's little value in betting and risking getting blown off a strong draw.

I ended up nearly dead even on the session and didn't play any other interesting pots.

WSOP $5K 6-Max

It was down to the wire whether I was going to play this, but I managed to cash my check about 10 minutes before the start of the tournament. I ran down to the registration and found a line out the door. It was moving quickly, though, and I managed to register and get to the table at 12:04. The tournament was actually late getting started, so I hadn't missed anything. In fact, I was the first one there. Apparently we were in an overflow room they'd just opened up.

The next player to arrive was a guy I instantly recognized as Shaun Deeb. Two European guys, at least one of whom seemed to be an aggro Scandi, gave us the four we needed to start.

While we were still 4-handed, blinds 50/100, Scandi opens for 250 UTG and Shaun makes it 700 on the button. I find AK in the SB and 4-bet to 2400 planning to puke if Shaun shoves. They both folded quickly, but still, you know it's a tough table when you're cold 4-betting in your second orbit.

Things got a bit better when an older guy joined and started limping into pots. Early on, he open limped his button vs my BB, Shaun folded, and I checked with A4o. The flop came A34, I checked, he bet 150, and I raised 550. He called. The turn brought a 2, not ideal, but it's not real likely he has a 5. I bet 800, and he folded.

Next orbit, limpy old guy limps in for 100, Shaun calls 100, I make it 550 with T9o on the CO. Old guy calls, Shaun folds. The flop comes KQJ. Guy checks, I bet 1000, he raises to 3000. Against a better player, I'd probably just shove now, but live fish don't work like that. They don't think as much as they should about their stack size relative to the pot, but they do get scared by all in bets. So I raise to 7400, he shoves, I call, he has AT. I don't draw out to the chop, so I'm busted within half an hour. Fun.

Hilarious 1K Single Table Satellite

Most of the money I brought to Vegas came in the form of a cashier's check, which apparently needs to be verified by the bank before I can cash it, so I'm pretty much broke until tomorrow. What else to do than play a 1K Single Table Satellite for the WSOP, then? Those are always a hoot.

The table looks perfect: one wannabe hotshot guy about my age, one middle-aged Israeli, 7 middle-aged white guys. A few of them are talking about having played 10-20 tournaments in the series, but they all suck. The two slightly less terrible guys are on my immediate left, but whatever.

I don't play a hand for the first hour, they are all splashing around a little bit but no one's playing big pots. Blinds 100/200, I have a little less than the 4K starting stack. Action folds to me in SB with hotshot in the big. I open limp, he raises to 825, I shove, he moans and groans and tells me how tight I've been, eventually folding an Ace face up like it's the greatest play ever. I casually show him a deuce, and the table goes wild.

Next orbit folds to me in the small, I open to 1200 with TT, hotshot shoves A9, my hand holds up and he's crippled.

Next orbit it's 150/300 he shoves for 1100 UTG action folds to dude in SB who calls. I shove in 8K with KJ on my BB, SB folds and says he had 76s. I get there vs. 55 to eliminate hotshot in 10th.

Button makes a small raise, I shove JJ in SB, Isreali goes on and on about he has the best hand but he's gonna be conservative and folds 66 face up. I show my JJ cuz now I want some fold equity on my shoves.

We play for a while, nothing much happens, eventually Israeli is getting sort. At 300/600, he shoves from early position for 3600. Action folds to me in the BB and I actually have a bit of a decision with AT. He seems to "get it" a little more than the others and recently lost a pot so I call. He has A6 but hits his 6 on the turn. Board is TT76 so I've got 8 outs on river but can't get there. I pass him his chips with no whining/fanfare.

This pot constitutes about 20% of the chips in play, but I'm still the chipleader even after losing it. I make a small CO raise with 99, SB shoves, naturally I call, but he has AQ and wins the flip.

Now I'm short, and a few hands later I shove 43s for 5x or so. Israeli goes on and on about he's gonna play to win and shoves over the top with KJo in the CO. He's ahead unimproved through the turn, then I bang a 3 on the river and he gets pissed, even though I'm in way better shape than he was with A6 and it's a smaller pot. I don't say a word, and eventually a few of his buddies come over and he recounts the story for them about the guy who goes all in with 4-high. I just shake my head.

Some other crap happened, I won some pots with pre-flop raises/shoves (and pots were tremendous at this point), I lost another flip to the Israeli, my AKs loses to 55, and then blinds are 600/1200. Israeli opens to 3000, guy to his left shoves 6400 total, Israel thinks for a while, which is funny in its own right, and finally folds!

There was also a hand, not involving Isreali, where the Button shoves for like 4BB, the SB reshoves 6BB, and the BB folds AQ face-up.

Action folds to me on Button, I shove 7BB or so with K9, Israeli wakes up with JJ in SB and holds up. Now I've got 1800 total, so there's no such thing as fold equity. I fold 73 and 72, and then I post the BB for 2/3 of my stack. CO shoves, I call blind, he flips K7, I have 74. Lovely. His hand holds, and I go out in 6th.

I Hate Good Players

Full Tilt Poker, $40/$80 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $34,593
Hero (BB): $22,437
UTG: $19,010
CO: $22,366
BTN: $8,180

Pre-Flop: 8 6 dealt to Hero (BB)
3 folds, SB raises to $320, Hero calls $240

Flop: ($640) 5 4 5 (2 Players)
SB bets $420, Hero calls $420

Turn: ($1,480) A (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $666, SB calls $666

River: ($2,812) K (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Results: $2,812 Pot ($3 Rake)
SB showed 9 Q (a pair of Fives) and WON $2,809 (+$1,403 NET)
Hero showed 8 6 (a pair of Fives) and LOST (-$1,406 NET)

This isn't really all that fancy or anything, and obviously my range on the turn is quite wide, but a lot of people just aren't capable of check-calling down with Q-high. I'm glad I didn't bluff the river, because I'm pretty sure he would have called.

Final Tabled the Stars $300

Maybe I haven't forgotten how to play tournaments altogether? I went into yesterdays' session resolved not to LAG off too many stacks in my tournaments, and while I didn't entirely keep that pledge, I did play a pretty disciplined game in the Stars $300. To wit:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $300+$20 Tournament, 1250/2500 Blinds 250 Ante (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP (t127213)
Hero (CO) (t79552)
Button (t84040)
SB (t67653)
BB (t142860)
UTG (t76565)

Hero's M: 15.15

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q, Q
UTG bets t5575, 1 fold, Hero raises to t12222, 2 folds, BB raises to t32500, 2 folds

Total pot: t32769


UTG was by far the most active player at the table, and I'd been 3-betting him quite a bit on the final table bubble. Here I was going to fist-pump-snap-call if he shoved, but the cold 4-bet from the much tighter BB sent me packing without much thought.

Immediately after that hand, I was moved to the other table, where I made this slightly more questionable fold:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $300+$20 Tournament, 1250/2500 Blinds 250 Ante (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t226479)
MP (t160520)
Button (t42353)
SB (t213820)
Hero (BB) (t61025)

Hero's M: 12.21

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, A
1 fold, MP calls t2500, 1 fold, SB calls t1250, Hero checks

Flop: (t8750) 9, 7, 8 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP bets t7500, 1 fold, Hero folds

Total pot: t8750


This might be a bit too tight, but my thinking was that this guy's limp was a little suspicious to begin with (remember, I am brand new to the table, so no read), and I don't think he's potting it with just anything. In particular, I'm not sure how many worse pairs/weak draws are in his pre-flop limping range, and I don't think he's betting with air. Even if I am ahead of his betting range, I don't think I'm ahead of his range for calling a check-shove, and the hand will be tough to play if I just check-call. Maybe I should have led out?

Anyway, I went on to make the final table only to be eliminated in 9th when my 77 lost to AKs all in preflop.

FTOPS $500 Main Event

Standard tournament garbage. Congratulations, though, to my long-time reader and former student Diego, who made the final table! Diego, why oh why did you back out of our staking deal?!!?

Obviously I'm planning a check-raise here, but given his bet sizing, I actually think I might be better off just calling:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG+1 (t5040)
MP1 (t8905)
MP2 (t7335)
CO (t6325)
Button (t6880)
SB (t7750)
Hero (BB) (t10280)
UTG (t2575)

Hero's M: 137.07

Preflop: Hero is BB with J, 8
4 folds, CO bets t150, 1 fold, SB calls t125, Hero calls t100

Flop: (t450) 6, 8, Q (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, CO bets t200, 1 fold, Hero calls t200

Turn: (t850) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: (t850) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets t700, Hero raises to t1980, CO raises to t3910, Hero calls t1930

Total pot: t8670

Results:
Hero had J, 8 (flush, Queen high).
CO had A, 4 (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: CO won t8670


That one was far less annoying than this:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $50.00 BB (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($7653.50)
MP ($1972)
CO ($9506)
Button ($4900)
SB ($5025)
Hero (BB) ($5075)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 10, K
3 folds, Button bets $150, 1 fold, Hero calls $100

Flop: ($325) 5, Q, 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Turn: ($325) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $222, Button calls $222

River: ($769) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $555, Button raises to $1655, Hero raises to $4703 (All-In), Button calls $2873 (All-In)

Total pot: $9825 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had A, 9 (flush, Ace high).
Hero had 10, K (flush, King high).
Outcome: Button won $9822

Villain is usually a short-stacker, though he occasionally buys in full. He's definitely borderline scared money when he does, but I still can't see how this isn't a shove on the river (even though I had a sick feeling when he raised and had to force my fingers not to be weak-tight). The only thing is that he may be weighted towards the nuts because of the flop check, which he's far more likely to do with Ace-high than with a random suited connector. But given what he had here, it seems plausible he would play 98s or 65s the same way. I don't know though, come to think of it, he probably still has more combinations of Axs pre-flop then lower flushes. Ugh, maybe this isn't a good shove either.

FTOPS Event 11: $200 PLO8

I always look forward to the PLO8 events, but I couldn't get anything going. The opposition was beyond awful:

Full Tilt Poker Game #12159019788: FTOPS Event #11 (84242375), Table 41 - 20/40 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 14:20:39 ET - 2009/05/11
Seat 1: babbelz (1,028)
Seat 2: Sensor (8,220)
Seat 3: dav713 (4,859)
Seat 4: ayyaahh91 (4,755)
Seat 5: nrock23 (7,886)
Seat 6: thegrizz1111 (3,986)
Seat 7: Greengoz (5,000)
Seat 8: TPackage1 (4,531)
Seat 9: Foucault (4,735)
nrock23 posts the small blind of 20
thegrizz1111 posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Foucault [9s Ad 2d Ts]
TPackage1 folds
Foucault raises to 80
babbelz calls 80
Sensor folds
dav713 calls 80
ayyaahh91 folds
nrock23 folds
thegrizz1111 calls 40
*** FLOP *** [6d 6c 8d]
thegrizz1111 checks
Foucault checks
babbelz bets 170
dav713 has 15 seconds left to act
dav713 raises to 400
thegrizz1111 folds
Foucault has 15 seconds left to act
Foucault calls 400
babbelz raises to 948, and is all in
dav713 calls 548
Foucault calls 548
*** TURN *** [6d 6c 8d] [9h]
Foucault checks
dav713 bets 600
Foucault calls 600
*** RIVER *** [6d 6c 8d 9h] [3h]
Foucault checks
dav713 checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
dav713 shows [Jc 6h Qc Jh] three of a kind, Sixes, for high
Foucault shows [9s Ad 2d Ts] two pair, Nines and Sixes, for high and 8,6,3,2,A, for low
dav713 wins the high side pot (600) with three of a kind, Sixes
Foucault wins the low side pot (600) with 8,6,3,2,A
babbelz shows [2s 3c 8c Ac] two pair, Eights and Sixes, for high and 8,6,3,2,A, for low
dav713 wins the high main pot (1,592) with three of a kind, Sixes
Foucault ties for the low main pot (796) with 8,6,3,2,A
babbelz ties for the low main pot (796) with 8,6,3,2,A
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4,384 Main pot 3,184. Side pot 1,200. | Rake 0
Board: [6d 6c 8d 9h 3h]
Seat 1: babbelz showed [2s 3c 8c Ac] and won (796) with HI: two pair, Eights and Sixes; LO: 8,6,3,2,A
Seat 2: Sensor didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: dav713 showed [Jc 6h Qc Jh] and won (2,192) with HI: three of a kind, Sixes
Seat 4: ayyaahh91 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: nrock23 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: thegrizz1111 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: Greengoz is sitting out
Seat 8: TPackage1 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: Foucault showed [9s Ad 2d Ts] and won (1,396) with HI: two pair, Nines and Sixes; LO: 8,6,3,2,A


The flop was a really awkward spot for me, and I'm not at all confident that I played it well. Even with my huge draws, I should probably fold with a bet and raise in front me from competent players. Since neither of these guys managed to have trips, though, it worked out OK.

Here I managed to run a bluff, which is pretty rare in PLO8. I just don't think the guy check-calls anything too strong on the turn:

Full Tilt Poker Game #12160227503: FTOPS Event #11 (84242375), Table 70 - 80/160 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 15:31:59 ET - 2009/05/11
Seat 1: NoNotReally (6,997)
Seat 2: Foucault (3,974)
Seat 3: Cardsharps_net (4,982)
Seat 4: pycb (3,764)
Seat 5: Shivalingus (6,164)
Seat 6: ColdBryan (7,386)
Seat 7: clarsonx (5,030)
Seat 8: Magik4678 (3,366)
Seat 9: aabomb09 (2,405)
ColdBryan posts the small blind of 80
clarsonx posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Foucault [As 4d 3c 2h]
Magik4678 calls 160
aabomb09 folds
NoNotReally has 15 seconds left to act
NoNotReally folds
Foucault has 15 seconds left to act
Foucault calls 160
Cardsharps_net folds
pycb folds
Shivalingus folds
ColdBryan folds
clarsonx checks
*** FLOP *** [Qc 5s Jc]
clarsonx checks
Magik4678 checks
Foucault has 15 seconds left to act
Foucault bets 269
clarsonx folds
Magik4678 calls 269
*** TURN *** [Qc 5s Jc] [6s]
Magik4678 checks
Foucault bets 1,098
Magik4678 calls 1,098
*** RIVER *** [Qc 5s Jc 6s] [9s]
Magik4678 checks
Foucault bets 2,447, and is all in
Magik4678 folds
Uncalled bet of 2,447 returned to Foucault
Foucault mucks
Foucault wins the pot (3,294)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,294 | Rake 0
Board: [Qc 5s Jc 6s 9s]
Seat 1: NoNotReally didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Foucault collected (3,294), mucked
Seat 3: Cardsharps_net didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: pycb didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: Shivalingus (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: ColdBryan (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: clarsonx (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 8: Magik4678 folded on the River
Seat 9: aabomb09 didn't bet (folded)


This one I kinda spazzed out on. I didn't really want to fold for one pot-sized bet, and for some reason I decided it would be better to check and induce bluffs since he's not folding anything better. Stupid NLHE thinking to apply to PLO8. If I just pot the flop, I probably win it:

Full Tilt Poker Game #12160602843: FTOPS Event #11 (84242375), Table 70 - 100/200 - Pot Limit Omaha H/L - 15:52:05 ET - 2009/05/11
Seat 1: NoNotReally (6,489)
Seat 2: Foucault (2,673)
Seat 3: Cardsharps_net (5,718)
Seat 4: pycb (4,026)
Seat 5: Shivalingus (5,999)
Seat 6: ColdBryan (6,306)
Seat 7: clarsonx (6,950)
Seat 8: Magik4678 (3,802)
Seat 9: aabomb09 (2,105)
Foucault posts the small blind of 100
Cardsharps_net posts the big blind of 200
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Foucault [Ah 8h 4c Ts]
pycb folds
Shivalingus folds
ColdBryan folds
clarsonx folds
Magik4678 folds
aabomb09 folds
NoNotReally folds
Foucault raises to 600
Cardsharps_net calls 400
*** FLOP *** [Jc Jh 3d]
Foucault checks
Cardsharps_net bets 1,200
Foucault has 15 seconds left to act
Foucault has requested TIME
Foucault raises to 2,073, and is all in
Cardsharps_net calls 873
Foucault shows [Ah 8h 4c Ts]
Cardsharps_net shows [5s Kc 6s Ac]
Cardsharps_net: nh
*** TURN *** [Jc Jh 3d] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Jc Jh 3d 3s] [5d]
Foucault shows a pair of Jacks, for high
Cardsharps_net shows two pair, Jacks and Fives, for high
Cardsharps_net wins the pot (5,346) with two pair, Jacks and Fives
No low hand qualified
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,346 | Rake 0
Board: [Jc Jh 3d 3s 5d]
Seat 1: NoNotReally (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Foucault (small blind) showed [Ah 8h 4c Ts] and lost with HI: a pair of Jacks
Seat 3: Cardsharps_net (big blind) showed [5s Kc 6s Ac] and won (5,346) with HI: two pair, Jacks and Fives
Seat 4: pycb didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: Shivalingus didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: ColdBryan didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: clarsonx didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: Magik4678 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: aabomb09 didn't bet (folded)

Exhausting Heads Up Match

I was about halfway through last night's session, and a lot of the 6-max games I was in were kinda bad. I was at the end of a few long waiting lists, but mostly there just weren't many good games going at the time.

I'd been sitting alone, waiting for action as usual, at a few heads up tables. Really wanting to play some heads up, I got aggressive and tried to sit with a few people who were definitely going to sit out against me. They sat out. I sat with a few randoms. They mostly sat out, a few played long enough to look me up on OPR or whatever before sitting out, one played just his button and sat out (total douche move), and one played for a few minutes until I tried to sit at a second of his tables. Then he sat out on both.

I even tried sitting with a few regs who are probably better than I am, figuring I might as well challenge myself, but to my surprise even they sat out. Finally, a guy I recognized from higher stakes sat across from me at 10/20 deep. It had been over a year since we played heads up, but I've seen him as high as 50/100, and I am pretty confident he's solidly better than I am. After warning him that I not play for long, I sat in and we played one table of 10/20 and one of 5/10.

Again, I'm pretty sure he would have the edge long term. However, off the bat I think I knew more about how he was going to play than he did about me. He was extraordinarily aggressive, and I did some things to induce action that I don't think he was expecting. It takes a lot of concentration to deal with extreme aggression from a smart player, and after about 45 minutes, I was exhausted. I quit him and my other games, but I was up three buy-ins and felt I'd definitely gotten the better of him over that short match.

The thing about uber-aggressive opponents is that, at least when they're smart, you have to play very differently than you ordinarily would. You aren't going to induce bluffs just by checking and calling- you have to widen the range that you are going to check-raise, 3-bet, etc. for value and then be prepared to call down. A few examples:


Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($6980)
Button ($4060)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, J
Button bets $60, Hero raises to $222, Button calls $162

Flop: ($444) 10, 3, 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $333, Button raises to $827, Hero raises to $1321, Button calls $494

Turn: ($3086) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $5437 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: $3086 | Rake: $0.50


In this one, the "standard" play would probably be to make a big, pot committing 4-bet. Against this guy, though, my overs and nut flush draw is a big enough monster that I'm actually trying to induce a shove from him. I actually think it was a mistake for me to shove the turn (for like $2400 in reality- I had him well covered) rather than check-call. There's a chance he's trying to showdown something like 77, though he's probably calling turn with that anyway, but most likely is that he's either floating or has a monster. Obviously the money goes in no matter what if he has a monster, so I ought to have induced another bluff from his floats, especially when I turn the gutshot.

In this next one, I check-call flop with an underpair to the board, then lead into him on the turn to induce a bluff raise. Otherwise, I don't think he barrels this card; my hand looks too much like a bluff-catcher:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($8795.50)
Button ($4057.50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 6, 6
Button bets $60, Hero calls $40

Flop: ($120) 9, 8, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $100, Hero calls $100

Turn: ($320) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $188, Button raises to $650, Hero calls $462

River: ($1620) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Total pot: $1620 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Button had Q, J (two pair, eights and twos).
Hero had 6, 6 (two pair, eights and sixes).
Outcome: Hero won $1619.50


Here I check-raise the flop for value with Ace-high, then check-call to induce from his floats. Guys like this do not give up easily on dry boards:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($3620.50)
Button ($2378)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 10, A
Button bets $30, Hero calls $20

Flop: ($60) 6, 6, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $40, Hero raises to $120, Button calls $80

Turn: ($300) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $150, Hero calls $150

River: ($600) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Total pot: $600 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Button had Q, 8 (three of a kind, sixes).
Hero had 10, A (three of a kind, sixes).
Outcome: Hero won $599.50


I was actually planning on checking this down on the river or turning it into a bluff and shoving if he bet again, but he didn't give me the chance:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($9195.50)
SB ($4428.50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, J
Hero bets $60, SB raises to $220, Hero calls $160

Flop: ($440) 8, 5, 3 (2 players)
SB bets $288, Hero calls $288

Turn: ($1016) 9 (2 players)
SB bets $711, Hero calls $711

River: ($2438) K (2 players)
SB bets $3209.50 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $2438 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
SB didn't show
Outcome: SB won $2437.50


I think it's very likely he's overbetting for value, because the way he's been playing he expects to get looked up light but probably not for me to raise much on the river if he makes a normal-sized bet. If this is how he's playing his monsters, then it makes my plan to shove over a smaller bet even better.

This was the closest decision I had over the course of the match:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($4747)
SB ($4020)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, 9
Hero bets $60, SB raises to $220, Hero raises to $522, SB calls $302

Flop: ($1044) 6, A, 2 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($1044) 4 (2 players)
SB bets $744, Hero calls $744

River: ($2532) 4 (2 players)
SB bets $2754 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $2532 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
SB didn't show
Outcome: SB won $2531.50


A lot could be going on here. The thing is that when I check back the flop, it really looks like I'm planning on calling down. I could also have KK or QQ, though, so there's a chance he's trying to bluff me off those or maybe even value bet against with a worse Ace. I think as long as I also check back and then call down stuff like AK and AA, and of course if he bluffs club rivers, then this is an OK fold.

SCOOP Main Event

I played all three tournaments: the $10K, the $1K, and the $100. Each was what I expected it to be. The $100 was monkeylicious. The 1K was soft enough for the buyin, certainly weaker play than would be found at a 5/10 cash table or a weekly 1K tournament. The 10K was fairly tough, maybe even a bit tougher than I'd expected. At least at my table, the closet thing to a soft spot was P5's donkamenteur BelowAbove.

Actually, at my first table, Ahhh Snap was making life hell from my immediate left. Thankfully, that one broke quickly. I still never got anything going, and eventually lost two coin flips plus chopped JJ to Below's AJ to bust.

I got off to a solid start in the 1K, and there were a few interesting hands. This first one was against wpr101, who I see a lot at the Stars MSNL full ring tables:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1000+$50 Tournament, 40/80 Blinds (7 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t11530)
Hero (MP1) (t10850)
MP2 (t12305)
CO (t4930)
Button (t7215)
SB (t11790)
BB (t21380)

Hero's M: 90.42

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A, J
1 fold, Hero bets t200, 1 fold, CO calls t200, 3 folds

Flop: (t520) 10, 8, 9 (2 players)
Hero bets t350, CO raises to t1040, Hero raises to t10650 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: t2600

Results:
Hero didn't show A, J (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t2600


This was probably my favorite one, against this total spaz on my left who was calling every raise I made pre-flop and then monkeying around post-flop. Actually wait lemme show you why he pissed me off first:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1000+$50 Tournament, 75/150 Blinds 20 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP3 (t12200)
Hero (CO) (t11676)
Button (t3845)
SB (t9220)
BB (t5106)
UTG (t11047)
UTG+1 (t17329)
MP1 (t13090)
MP2 (t22901)

Hero's M: 28.83

Preflop: Hero is CO with 9, A
5 folds, Hero bets t411, Button calls t411, 2 folds

Flop: (t1227) 4, A, 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Turn: (t1227) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets t795, Button calls t795

River: (t2817) J (2 players)
Hero bets t10450 (All-In), Button calls t2619 (All-In)

Total pot: t8055

Results:
Button had J, 8 (two pair, Jacks and eights).
Hero had 9, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Button won t8055


Note that he's calling off more than 10% of his stack pre-flop. It's not like shoving the river here is superawesome, but given stack sizes and this guy's general spazziness, I do think it was best. So here was my revenge:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1000+$50 Tournament, 75/150 Blinds 20 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP3 (t11795)
Hero (CO) (t7485)
Button (t13288)
SB (t3124)
BB (t5505)
UTG (t13686)
UTG+1 (t21760)
MP1 (t10240)
MP2 (t19531)

Hero's M: 18.48

Preflop: Hero is CO with A, 3
5 folds, Hero bets t411, Button calls t411, 2 folds

Flop: (t1227) 4, 9, 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t450, Hero calls t450

Turn: (t2127) K (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t995, Hero raises to t3604, 1 fold

Total pot: t4117

Results:
Hero didn't show A, 3 (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t4117


I didn't hold on to those chips for long though:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1000+$50 Tournament, 75/150 Blinds 20 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP3 (t12445)
Hero (CO) (t11706)
Button (t9001)
SB (t20490)
BB (t5100)
UTG (t13031)
UTG+1 (t24034)
MP1 (t13180)
MP2 (t18127)

Hero's M: 28.90

Preflop: Hero is CO with 7, A
3 folds, MP2 bets t399, 1 fold, Hero calls t399, 2 folds, BB calls t249

Flop: (t1452) 9, J, K (3 players)
BB checks, MP2 bets t900, Hero calls t900, BB calls t900

Turn: (t4152) 6 (3 players)
BB checks, MP2 checks, Hero bets t1888, 1 fold, MP2 raises to t3776, Hero calls t1888

River: (t11704) 3 (2 players)
MP2 bets t13032 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: t11704

Results:
MP2 didn't show
Outcome: MP2 won t11704

BB was wpr101 again, I don't know who MP2 was. It's pretty obvious he has something betting into two of us on this flop, and being in position, I thought calling would be more profitable than trying to raise him off it. When wpr just calls, given his stack size, it seems very likely he has just a draw. I can't see how he wouldn't shove a made hand he wanted to go with or a strong draw.

I also didn't expect that MP2 would check a super strong hand (like KJ or better) on the turn with two of us still in the pot and a lot of draws on board. So, I went for the bluff, which admittedly probably is relying on him making something of a big fold. I really didn't expect a check-raise, but at least he gave me odds to chase. River- what can I do?

It's quite rare for me to open limp in a tournament, but I've been adding that into my full ring cash game, and this seemed like a good spot for it. Depending on who raised, I was probably going to re-raise, but this guy had been really loose passive, so I decided just to call. I was pretty shocked/pissed about what he showed down:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1000+$50 Tournament, 100/200 Blinds 25 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t12875)
Hero (UTG) (t6536)
UTG+1 (t8476)
MP1 (t20320)
MP2 (t12603)
MP3 (t13747)
CO (t27939)
Button (t12785)
SB (t24461)

Hero's M: 12.45

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 9, 9
Hero calls t200, 3 folds, MP3 bets t600, 4 folds, Hero calls t400

Flop: (t1725) 5, J, 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 bets t1000, Hero calls t1000

Turn: (t3725) 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 checks

River: (t3725) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 bets t1800, Hero calls t1800

Total pot: t7325

Results:
Hero mucked 9, 9 (flush, Queen high).
MP3 had J, 7 (flush, Queen high).
Outcome: MP3 won t7325


The same guy busted me a few hands later when I once again got 99, open shoved, and lost a flip to his AQs.

The $100 was full of terrible play, and I ran up a huge stack just playing big hands. People were strangely aggressive, doing stuff like 4-bet shoving QTo over my button re-raise (I had AK). I shouldn't talk, though, as I kind of monkeyed off my own stack after busting from the big tournies, randomly shoving JTo from the SB over a CO open from a guy who'd just called a big shove the hand before with 55. This time he had AA.

Stupid SCOOP. I am so ready to be done with tournaments for a while. Too bad FTOPS is in less than a month. I may not play that as aggressively as I have in the past.

SCOOP Event 21: Heads Up NLHE

I didn't play the $25K, but the $2500 was plenty big enough for me. Emily and I even rearranged Easter brunch plans so that I could play it, which turned out to be a huge disappointment, as I lasted fewer than ten minutes against AJKHoosier1, my first round opponent. Obviously one of the most respected tournament players online was no slouch, but he also seemed to be running pretty hot. To wit:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2500+$100 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t4975)
Button (t5025)

Hero's M: 66.33

Preflop: Hero is SB with 3, K
Button bets t100, Hero calls t50

Flop: (t200) 6, 2, J (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t125, Hero calls t125

Turn: (t450) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: (t450) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets t250, Button calls t250

Total pot: t950

Results:
Button had J, 4 (two pair, Jacks and sixes).
Hero had 3, K (one pair, sixes).
Outcome: Button won t950


This might not seem like "running hot", but the outcome of run-of-the-mill spots like this often determine the winner of a heads up tournament between two good players. The variance is through the room. This is just a standard spot where his range ought to be ridiculously wide, I turn my hand into a bluff on the river to knock out Ax and better Kx, and he has top pair.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2500+$100 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) (t3175)
SB (t6825)

Hero's M: 42.33

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8, 9
Hero bets t150, SB calls t100

Flop: (t300) Q, 10, 9 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (t300) 10 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t125, SB raises to t450, Hero calls t325

River: (t1200) 7 (2 players)
SB bets t950, Hero folds

Total pot: t1200

Results:
SB didn't show
Outcome: SB won t1200


Obviously didn't get to see his hand here, so I may just have been outplayed, but based on his timing and just generally how he plays, I'm pretty sure he had it.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2500+$100 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t4525)
Button (t5475)

Hero's M: 60.33

Preflop: Hero is SB with J, Q
Button bets t100, Hero calls t50

Flop: (t200) Q, A, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t125, Hero calls t125

Turn: (t450) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t325, Hero calls t325

River: (t1100) 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t750, Hero calls t750

Total pot: t2600

Results:
Button had 8, Q (flush, Ace high).
Hero mucked J, Q (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: Button won t2600


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2500+$100 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) (t2925)
SB (t7075)

Hero's M: 39.00

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, K
Hero bets t100, SB calls t50

Flop: (t200) 2, Q, 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (t200) A (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t125, SB raises to t440, Hero raises to t1010, SB raises to t6975 (All-In), Hero calls t1815 (All-In)

River: (t5850) 6 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t5850

Results:
Hero had A, K (one pair, Aces).
SB had 5, 5 (three of a kind, fives).
Outcome: SB won t5850


Honestly, this last one might have been a little tilty, though it's obviously a shit spot. I was trying to get him to 4-bet shove a draw on the turn, which I doubt he does.

In the $250, I draw a Round 1 Bye, which is pretty crazy considering that I'm pretty sure only one person out of the 1500+ field got one. In Round 2, I drew the curiously named Roothlus2. A quick google revealed that his last name is Levy, leading me to conclude that he is likely the brother of Adam "Roothlus" Levy. I say brother and not multi-account because he was way weaker than the real Roothlus, and I polished him off pretty handily.

My Round 3 opponent wasn't super-tough either, but he was better at making small bluffs than randoms usually are and I didn't adapt well. I never really caught the cards I wanted to play back at him, and eventually we got pretty shallow with him having a substantial chiplead. I open jammed KJs for about 12BB, he called with A5, and the flop came K52, giving me some hope of doubling back up to even, but the turn 5 drove the nail into the coffin.

SCOOP Event 17: NLHE 1R1A

This was a pretty cool event, with one of the deepest structures in the SCOOP. The buy-in sizes were a little awkward for me, though, and I ended up playing only the $200, figuring that the $20 was too small and the $2000 (effectively $6000 with the rebuy and addon) was more than I wanted to put up on a random tournament with a pretty tough field.

My opponents in the $200 were no slouches, certainly better than what I'm looking for in a $200 donkament. I was up against people like teacuppoker, ADZ, utreg, and Mattsuspect. Even though I lasted about five hours in the tournament, there really wasn't much in the way of interesting hands. It was a full ring tournament with some solid competition, so I was mostly just playing good hands and making cheap bluffs when I could. Showing pretty good discipline, considering how I usually play in these things, I guess.

I ended up limp-shoving 98s in the SB for 30BBs against MattSuspect, who (correctly) snap-called with 55. Even though I flopped a gutshot and flush draw to go with my two overs, and turned a double gutter, I couldn't get there on the river. Tournaments suck.

SCOOP Event 14: 6-Max NLHE ($5000)

I had some fierce competition in this one, but I guess that's to be expected in a 5K. There was dpeters17, Timex, psyduck, and Poker Savvy's very own Christian "charder30" Harder, but the player who ended up giving me the most trouble was a Pocket Fivers guy named Wretchy. I don't think this was because Wretchy was the best of these players- quite the opposite- but he did make hands at the right times against me (or pull off some very well-timed bluffs, in which case there's egg on my face, but I'm pretty sure he had it).

The first big pot he won off of me, he flopped top pair top kicker and I flopped the nut flush draw in a multi-way pot. Unfortunately, that meant he had my Ace dominated, so I was drawing to fewer outs than I expected, and I didn't get there. None of the rest were that clean. I think this line is actually OK on my part and may have saved me some money:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $5000+$200 Tournament, 40/80 Blinds (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t7804)
SB (t6930)
BB (t15071)
UTG (t4438)
Hero (MP) (t7982)
CO (t9352)

Hero's M: 66.52

Preflop: Hero is MP with 10, 10
1 fold, Hero bets t160, 1 fold, Button calls t160, SB raises to t777, 1 fold, Hero calls t617, 1 fold

Flop: (t1794) 3, 6, 6 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t555, SB raises to t1888, Hero calls t1333

Turn: (t5570) 5 (2 players)
SB bets t1999, Hero folds

Total pot: t5570


As long as I'm making this same flop bet-call with stuff like AA and trips, which I absolutely am, then I think this is a pretty effective way of playing TT. It has the potential to induce calls from worse and sometimes even spazzy bluffs (though hopefully not here!). It sucks, but I seriously doubt Wretchy is sophisticated enough to have a bluff here.

Then there was this smaller one where he took me off a hand. For some reason I had a feeling he was gonna 4-bet, but I sucked it up and 3-bet anyway:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $5000+$200 Tournament, 50/100 Blinds 10 Ante (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP (t6360)
CO (t8621)
Button (t14288)
SB (t16510)
Hero (BB) (t9682)
UTG (t9064)

Hero's M: 46.10

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, A
2 folds, CO bets t233, 2 folds, Hero raises to t699, CO raises to t1888, 1 fold

Total pot: t1508


For better or for worse, I probably would have shoved AQs here. I dunno, I just don't see tourney regs 4-betting without the goods very often, particularly when the 4-bet is less than all in. Then again, BelowAbove was cheering for this dude in chat, so who knows. Maybe I just don't play enough of the bigger buy-in weekly tournies to know what the regs are up to these days.

My bustout hand was another in my neverending series of "Goddammit this is not a cash game!" hands. This is maaaaybe an OK line against someone who is gonna float and bluff turns, but that's just not who I'm likely to be up against here. Even the 3-bet is pretty questionable, I think:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $5000+$200 Tournament, 50/100 Blinds 10 Ante (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP (t8670)
CO (t18710)
Button (t14753)
SB (t10410)
Hero (BB) (t8608)
UTG (t3374)

Hero's M: 40.99

Preflop: Hero is BB with 10, 10
1 fold, MP bets t275, 3 folds, Hero raises to t888, MP calls t613

Flop: (t1886) 2, 7, K (2 players)
Hero bets t910, MP calls t910

Turn: (t3706) K (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets t2222, Hero raises to t6800 (All-In), MP calls t4578

River: (t17306) J (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t17306

Results:
Hero had 10, 10 (two pair, Kings and tens).
MP had K, A (three of a kind, Kings).
Outcome: MP won t17306


With a spade, it's a completely different story and an easy shove, I think.

SCOOP Event 14: 6-Max NLHE ($500)

I made a decent run in the $500 6-max on Wednesday, and though I didn't do as well in the $5K, there were interesting hands from both, so I'm going to do two different posts.

I lost about half my stack early on in the $500, but managed to recover. Then there was this hand that really gave me a boost:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $500+$30 Tournament, 100/200 Blinds 25 Ante (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t11229)
BB (t7109)
UTG (t4199)
MP (t11233)
CO (t11561)
Button (t21931)

Hero's M: 24.95

Preflop: Hero is SB with 7, A
3 folds, Button calls t200, Hero calls t100, BB checks

Flop: (t750) Q, A, K (3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, Button bets t500, Hero calls t500, 1 fold

Turn: (t1750) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t2000, Hero calls t2000

River: (t5750) 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t5200, Hero calls t5200

Total pot: t16150

Results:
Button had 9, 7 (high card, Ace).
Hero had 7, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Hero won t16150


Not that his line makes a whole lot of sense anyway, but I'd previously seen him check the flop and lead out for half pot on the turn with a set, so I was even less inclined to believe his overbet. I doubt he's open limping AQ, AK, QQ, KK, or AA on the button, so JT is literally the only made hand I could expect him to have.

So things were going well, and I had a not-too-tough table, except for a guy some of you may know who plays under the handle teacuppoker. He's a good player who's been around for a while- I played with him in person at the 2007 WSOP, and recognized his screenname from before that. Sadly, I got into a tough spot against him and didn't play it brilliantly.

It just goes to show you how much it sucks to be out of position against a good player, when you can flop top pair top kicker and your first thought is "Shit, what am I going to do?" It's not that I was worried about getting beat, but just that I didn't know what line to take to get paid off without getting bluff out or paying off to much to the occasional better hand myself. I ultimately went for three streets of value, which in a cash game would be fine but is probably too optimistic in a tournament, even against a guy who does play MSNL and HSNL:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $500+$30 Tournament, 150/300 Blinds 40 Ante (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (UTG) (t19208)
MP (t26465)
CO (t23634)
Button (t9160)
SB (t5430)
BB (t11357)

Hero's M: 27.84

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, A
Hero bets t777, 1 fold, CO calls t777, 3 folds

Flop: (t2244) 10, 4, K (2 players)
Hero bets t1111, CO calls t1111

Turn: (t4466) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets t2888, CO calls t2888

River: (t10242) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets t6666, CO calls t6666

Total pot: t23574

Results:
Hero had K, A (one pair, Kings).
CO had 10, 10 (three of a kind, tens).
Outcome: CO won t23574


Of course, I was destined to lose a big pot here. But check-folding the river might actually have been better. The most obvious draw got there, and although I'm sure he's capable, he doesn't have much reason to turn a pair into a bluff here.

Then I fought around for a while and eventually got sort of coolered in a blind battle, though based on how passive this guy had been on his big blind, I maybe could have just called flop. Even if I do, though, I don't see how we don't get it on this turn:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $500+$30 Tournament, 250/500 Blinds 60 Ante (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t13506)
BB (t19033)
UTG (t40954)
MP (t8136)
CO (t5030)
Button (t8595)

Hero's M: 12.17

Preflop: Hero is SB with 9, J
4 folds, Hero calls t250, BB checks

Flop: (t1360) 7, 10, 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets t897, Hero raises to t2444, BB raises to t18473 (All-In), Hero calls t10502 (All-In)

Turn: (t27252) 3 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t27252) K (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t27252

Results:
Hero had 9, J (one pair, nines).
BB had 9, 10 (two pair, tens and nines).
Outcome: BB won t27252

SCOOP Event 13: Razz

Unlike most players, I enjoy Razz. Yeah, it can be infuriating, but it's also kind of elegant in its simplicity. I spend most of this tournament catching well, so even though I didn't cash, it was fun. The only really interesting hand to come up was this one, where I slow-played my hand (rare to do in Razz, because it's usually very obvious when you've improved) and check-raised the river:

PokerStars Game #26871293549: Tournament #200904132, $200+$15 Razz Limit - Level V (100/200) - 2009/04/08 16:05:02 ET
Table '200904132 6' 8-max
Seat 1: dengladelaks (6761 in chips)
Seat 2: mattutaylor (3642 in chips)
Seat 4: foucault82 (6245 in chips)
Seat 5: raconteur (4232 in chips)
Seat 6: Mitchdubai (10797 in chips)
Seat 7: skootamatta (4353 in chips)
Seat 8: ImaLucSac (3970 in chips)

*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to dengladelaks [7h]
Dealt to mattutaylor [Jh]
Dealt to foucault82 [4h 3h 7s]
Dealt to raconteur [Qc]
Dealt to Mitchdubai [Ts]
Dealt to skootamatta [Ah]
Dealt to ImaLucSac [2c]

raconteur: brings in for 30
Mitchdubai: folds
skootamatta: raises 70 to 100
ImaLucSac: folds
dengladelaks: folds
mattutaylor: folds
foucault82: calls 100
raconteur: calls 70

*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to foucault82 [4h 3h 7s] [Td]
Dealt to raconteur [Qc] [8d]
Dealt to skootamatta [Ah] [Ks]
foucault82: bets 100
raconteur: raises 100 to 200
skootamatta: calls 200
foucault82: calls 100

*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to foucault82 [4h 3h 7s Td] [6h]
Dealt to raconteur [Qc 8d] [Qd]
Dealt to skootamatta [Ah Ks] [Kc]
foucault82: bets 200
raconteur: calls 200
skootamatta: calls 200

*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to foucault82 [4h 3h 7s Td 6h] [Jc]
Dealt to raconteur [Qc 8d Qd] [8h]
Dealt to skootamatta [Ah Ks Kc] [Tc]
foucault82: checks
raconteur: checks
skootamatta: checks

*** RIVER ***
Dealt to foucault82 [4h 3h 7s Td 6h Jc] [9d]
foucault82: checks
raconteur: checks
skootamatta: bets 200
foucault82: raises 200 to 400
raconteur: folds
skootamatta: folds
Uncalled bet (200) returned to foucault82
foucault82 collected 2040 from pot
foucault82: doesn't show hand

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2040 | Rake 0
Seat 1: dengladelaks folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 2: mattutaylor folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 4: foucault82 collected (2040)
Seat 5: raconteur folded on the River
Seat 6: Mitchdubai folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 7: skootamatta folded on the River
Seat 8: ImaLucSac folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)

It says something about the quality of play in this tournament that I have a lock on 5th street in a three-way pot. When we call catch bad on 6th, I was afraid I might lose them with a bet. Plus, there's the chance that skoot will decide he has the best hand and/or fold equity and bet for me anyway.

When that didn't happen, I figure they either got there or they didn't on 7th. If they didn't, they aren't calling a bet, and if they did, one of them might bet. Or, if they missed, one of them might bluff.

It's maybe a bit of a decision whether to call or check-raise 7th, but really I think check-raise is best. It's far more likely for skoot to make a crying call (the pot odds are awfully juicy) than for raconteur to overcall.

There were about 900 players, and we were down to 130 or so when I lost most of my stack:

PokerStars Game #26879162778: Tournament #200904132, $200+$15 Razz Limit - Level XV (1200/2400) - 2009/04/08 19:51:41 ET
Table '200904132 24' 8-max
Seat 1: yellowsub86 (28272 in chips)
Seat 2: turtlman (5290 in chips)
Seat 3: mapocalyps (34210 in chips)
Seat 4: ozenc (25805 in chips)
Seat 5: foucault82 (12105 in chips)
Seat 6: cRRusher (25769 in chips)
Seat 7: .dfm.dfm. (7711 in chips)
Seat 8: oldegreybehr (13385 in chips)

*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to yellowsub86 [9c]
Dealt to turtlman [Ts]
Dealt to mapocalyps [6d]
Dealt to ozenc [3c]
Dealt to foucault82 [As 7s 3h]
Dealt to cRRusher [Qs]
Dealt to .dfm.dfm. [Jh]
Dealt to oldegreybehr [4d]

cRRusher: brings in for 360
.dfm.dfm.: folds
oldegreybehr: folds
yellowsub86: folds
turtlman: folds
mapocalyps: calls 360
ozenc: folds
foucault82: raises 840 to 1200
cRRusher: folds
mapocalyps: calls 840

*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to mapocalyps [6d] [Ac]
Dealt to foucault82 [As 7s 3h] [4c]
foucault82: bets 1200
mapocalyps: calls 1200

*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to mapocalyps [6d Ac] [7d]
Dealt to foucault82 [As 7s 3h 4c] [4h]
mapocalyps: bets 2400
foucault82: calls 2400

*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to mapocalyps [6d Ac 7d] [Kh]
Dealt to foucault82 [As 7s 3h 4c 4h] [3s]
mapocalyps: bets 2400
foucault82: calls 2400

*** RIVER ***
Dealt to foucault82 [As 7s 3h 4c 4h 3s] [7c]
mapocalyps: checks
foucault82: checks

*** SHOW DOWN ***
mapocalyps: shows [8s 5d 6d Ac 7d Kh Ad] (Lo: 8,7,6,5,A)
foucault82: mucks hand
mapocalyps collected 16680 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 16680 | Rake 0
Seat 1: yellowsub86 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 2: turtlman folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 3: mapocalyps showed [8s 5d 6d Ac 7d Kh Ad] and won (16680) with Lo: 8,7,6,5,A
Seat 4: ozenc folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 5: foucault82 mucked [As 7s 3h 4c 4h 3s 7c]
Seat 6: cRRusher folded on the 3rd Street
Seat 7: .dfm.dfm. folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 8: oldegreybehr folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)


I think the only close decision here is 6th. I'm getting a little better than 4:1. I'm thinking a deuce or a 5 will give me a win almost always, a 6 pretty often, and an 8 often enough to make a river call +EV. Those cards are all very live, so I take one off, but I can't get there.

I threw the last of my chips in with 234 vs an A36 on 3rd but lost that one as well to bust a few spots off the bubble. Still, a good time was had by me.

SCOOP Event 12: Stud/8

Once upon a time I considered myself a pretty decent Stud/8 player, but I've probably played fewer than 1000 hands in the last 6 months. Consequently, $1500 was a little more than I wanted to put behind my skillz. I did play the $150, though, and had a good time doing it. I can't say I recall a lot of interesting hands, but here's one where I play second-man-low:

PokerStars Game #26838991298: Tournament #200904122, $200+$15 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Limit - Level IV (80/160) - 2009/04/07 17:54:53 ET
Table '200904122 30' 8-max
Seat 1: xmrstyle (5557 in chips)
Seat 2: GoodOleBoy (5051 in chips)
Seat 3: foucault82 (3681 in chips)
Seat 4: mrpokejoke (5594 in chips)
Seat 5: JohnnyBax (6949 in chips)
Seat 6: Corrino (3464 in chips)
Seat 7: FODMAND (4741 in chips)
Seat 8: badbeat987 (4963 in chips)

*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to xmrstyle [7s]
Dealt to GoodOleBoy [2s]
Dealt to foucault82 [Ks Jd Kh]
Dealt to mrpokejoke [Jc]
Dealt to JohnnyBax [6d]
Dealt to Corrino [6c]
Dealt to FODMAND [7h]
Dealt to badbeat987 [Kc]

GoodOleBoy: bets 80
foucault82: raises 80 to 160
mrpokejoke: folds
JohnnyBax: folds
Corrino: folds
FODMAND: raises 80 to 240
badbeat987: folds
xmrstyle: folds
GoodOleBoy: calls 160
foucault82: calls 80

*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to GoodOleBoy [2s] [Ac]
Dealt to foucault82 [Ks Jd Kh] [Td]
Dealt to FODMAND [7h] [4c]
GoodOleBoy: bets 80
foucault82: calls 80
FODMAND: calls 80

*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to GoodOleBoy [2s Ac] [As]
Dealt to foucault82 [Ks Jd Kh Td] [Tc]
Dealt to FODMAND [7h 4c] [5h]
GoodOleBoy: bets 160
foucault82: calls 160
FODMAND: calls 160

*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to GoodOleBoy [2s Ac As] [3c]
Dealt to foucault82 [Ks Jd Kh Td Tc] [9d]
Dealt to FODMAND [7h 4c 5h] [7c]
GoodOleBoy: bets 160
foucault82: calls 160
FODMAND: raises 160 to 320
GoodOleBoy: calls 160
foucault82: calls 160

*** RIVER ***
Dealt to foucault82 [Ks Jd Kh Td Tc 9d] [Th]
GoodOleBoy: bets 160
foucault82: calls 160
FODMAND: raises 160 to 320
GoodOleBoy: calls 160
foucault82: raises 160 to 480
FODMAND: calls 160
GoodOleBoy: calls 160

*** SHOW DOWN ***
foucault82: shows [Ks Jd Kh Td Tc 9d Th] (HI: a full house, Tens full of Kings)
FODMAND: shows [Ah 7d 7h 4c 5h 7c 6h] (HI: three of a kind, Sevens; LO: 7,6,5,4,A)
GoodOleBoy: mucks hand
foucault82 collected 1984 from pot
FODMAND collected 1984 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3968 | Rake 0
Seat 1: xmrstyle folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 2: GoodOleBoy mucked [3d 5s 2s Ac As 3c 3h]
Seat 3: foucault82 showed [Ks Jd Kh Td Tc 9d Th] and won (1984) with HI: a full house, Tens full of Kings
Seat 4: mrpokejoke folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 5: JohnnyBax folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Corrino folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 7: FODMAND showed [Ah 7d 7h 4c 5h 7c 6h] and won (1984) with HI: three of a kind, Sevens; LO: 7,6,5,4,A
Seat 8: badbeat987 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)


I'll say up front that my calls on earlier streets are a little questionable, and obviously I luckboxed the river. But, when Fod 3-bets on 3rd, I'm putting him on either baby suited connectors, buried Aces, or rolled up 7's, with the former being by far the most likely. Good could have some high hands but almost always has a low, including probably some weaker hands than one probably ought to be raising in first position.

Of course I'm not thrilled to see him catch an A on 4th, but I can't freak out yet. Then he pairs the A, but he still probably has just one pair and a low, while I've now made two pair. Proceeding with caution.

Meanwhile, it's pretty unlikely Fod had buried Aces, so probably he's on a low with one pair as well. Raising when he pairs his door card is pretty alarming, but by now the pot is big, I've got two pair, and besides did he really 3-bet into a K with just a pair of 7's?

The river is neat because my value almost certainly needs to come from Fod. I've got now low, so putting in an extra bet against Good isn't worth anything. I don't want to raise Fod off of a worse high, and it looks like he might put the raise in for me, allowing me to win (half of) two more bets off of him.

In retrospect, Fod's raise on 3rd isn't that bad. With the A in his hand, his shot at beating me for high is much improved. If a raise can chase Good out of the pot (a dubious proposition against most amateurs), he greatly increases his odds of taking the low as well.

My bust-out hand is a little neat also:

PokerStars Game #26843304587: Tournament #200904122, $200+$15 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Limit - Level X (400/800) - 2009/04/07 20:02:19 ET
Table '200904122 14' 8-max
Seat 1: foucault82 (2202 in chips)
Seat 2: tilou4fun (19017 in chips)
Seat 4: get crunk (21744 in chips)
Seat 5: Iteopepe88 (3407 in chips)
Seat 6: Don_Insano (10591 in chips)
Seat 7: Mungy (9593 in chips)
Seat 8: Crisper (6932 in chips)

*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to foucault82 [6h 5d 2c]
Dealt to tilou4fun [Jd]
Dealt to get crunk [8c]
Dealt to Iteopepe88 [Qc]
Dealt to Don_Insano [9h]
Dealt to Mungy [Qh]
Dealt to Crisper [3s]
foucault82: brings in for 120
tilou4fun: raises 280 to 400
get crunk: folds
Iteopepe88: folds
Don_Insano: folds
Mungy: folds
Crisper: folds
foucault82: calls 280

*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to foucault82 [6h 5d 2c] [5h]
Dealt to tilou4fun [Jd] [4h]
tilou4fun: checks
foucault82: checks

*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to foucault82 [6h 5d 2c 5h] [9s]
Dealt to tilou4fun [Jd 4h] [Kh]
tilou4fun: bets 800
somebody is connected
foucault82: calls 800

*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to foucault82 [6h 5d 2c 5h 9s] [Kd]
Dealt to tilou4fun [Jd 4h Kh] [Ac]
tilou4fun: bets 800
foucault82: raises 122 to 922 and is all-in
tilou4fun: calls 122

*** RIVER ***
Dealt to foucault82 [6h 5d 2c 5h 9s Kd] [7c]

*** SHOW DOWN ***
foucault82: shows [6h 5d 2c 5h 9s Kd 7c] (HI: a pair of Fives)
tilou4fun: shows [7d Qd Jd 4h Kh Ac Qs] (HI: a pair of Queens)
tilou4fun collected 4804 from pot
No low hand qualified

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4804 | Rake 0
Seat 1: foucault82 showed [6h 5d 2c 5h 9s Kd 7c] and lost with HI: a pair of Fives
Seat 2: tilou4fun showed [7d Qd Jd 4h Kh Ac Qs] and won (4804) with HI: a pair of Queens
Seat 4: get crunk folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Iteopepe88 folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Don_Insano folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Mungy folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Crisper folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)


If I hadn't been the bring-in, I probably would have just gotten it in on 3rd. As it is, though, I think he has J's almost always, and I can check-fold a brick on 4th. With the 5, I'm looking to check-get-it-in, but he surprises me by checking it back.

There are a ton of "good enough" cards for me on 5th (anything 8 or lower or higher than his J), but a 9 wasn't one of them. When he bet, I got to thinking about his check on 4th- maybe he didn't have J's after all? He didn't, but I still couldn't escape with so much as half.

SCOOP Event 10: NLHE Heads Up

Edit: Fixed title. This is SCOOP, not FTOPS. Was tired and tilted last night when posting this.

I was really looking forward to this event, as I've been working on my heads up game of late. I played both the $1500 and the $150 and had reasonable tough first round opponents in both. On the $150, I just a lot of small- and medium-pots to "mild cooler" spots where I had like the slightly worse hand or bluffed into the top of the guy's range and what not. I ultimately lost the match, don't even remember how.

Match 1

The $1500 was a really hard-fought match. I got off to an early lead, then lost a few big pots, the biggest with top pair vs a set and flopped top pair vs rivered higher pair. Villain was grinding me down pre-flop, raising, c-betting, and 3-betting well. Eventually I 4-bet shoved AJ on him pre-flop. He had AK, but I sucked out, and we were back to even.

We battled back and forth for a while, and eventually I made a big call to get into the lead. First, I'll give you a prior hand that made me suspicious:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1500+$75 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) (t4600)
SB (t5400)

Hero's M: 61.33

Preflop: Hero is Button with 6, K
Hero bets t150, SB calls t100

Flop: (t300) 5, 8, J (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t175, SB calls t175

Turn: (t650) 9 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: (t650) K (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t425, SB raises to t1450, Hero folds

Total pot: t1500

Results:
SB didn't show
Outcome: SB won t1500


In this spot, my hand is almost always either a bluff or a thin value bet, so it's a good spot for a check-raise bluff. There are two problems with that: 1) It's also a good spot to check-raise for value; and 2) many players just don't check-raise bluff rivers very often, particularly not in tournaments where play tends toward the conservative. I folded, but I made a mental note, and eventually I made this call:


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1500+$75 Tournament, 30/60 Blinds (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) (t3770)
SB (t6230)

Hero's M: 41.89

Preflop: Hero is Button with 10, 9
Hero bets t155, SB calls t95

Flop: (t310) 6, 6, 8 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t177, SB calls t177

Turn: (t664) 10 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: (t664) Q (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t388, SB raises to t1425, Hero calls t1037

Total pot: t3514

Results:
Hero had 10, 9 (two pair, tens and sixes).
SB had 5, 5 (two pair, sixes and fives).
Outcome: Hero won t3514


He fought back up to about even, then we got it in with TT vs. AK. My TT held, and that was the match!

Match 2

This opponent was easier than my first but still somewhat competent. It helped that he seemed to be catching a lot of cards. He did make one or two questionable calls against me, but then he made up for it by slowplaying what I'm pretty sure was a flush and getting me to go for three streets of value with top pair only to get check-raised on the river. This one also ended in a coin flip in my favor.

Match 3

This guy was one of the worst heads up players I've ever seen. I have no idea how he won his first two matches, nor what he was doing in this tournament at all for that matter. He was just ridiculously tight and passive, letting me steal oodles of pots with min-bets and min-raises and never playing back at me. He did bluff occasionally, but always in obvious spots and never for more than one barrel. He used his position so poorly that I was calling a lot of raises out of position, which is obviously a bad plan in most any heads up match. There was never any doubt in mind that I would win this one, and after grinding him down to just 20% of his starting stack, I won a coin flip to eliminate him.

Match 4

I was lucky enough to draw another very weak opponent. He tried to make some moves, but tended to do so in a very predictable way, making it easy to catch him. Prior to this hand, for instance, he'd re-raise me pre-flop several times. Since he didn't play back at me pre-flop, I was pretty sure he'd be itching to do so on such a dry flop:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1500+$75 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) (t6423)
SB (t3577)

Hero's M: 85.64

Preflop: Hero is Button with 9, 5
Hero bets t100, SB calls t50

Flop: (t200) 4, 2, 2 (2 players)

SB checks, Hero bets t123, SB raises to t350, Hero calls t227

Turn: (t900) 4 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t333, 1 fold

Total pot: t900

Results:
Hero didn't show 9, 5 (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t900


Unfortunately, before I could turn this guy's aggression against him, he managed to cooler me twice, once with a set vs. my two pair to get himself back in the match, then with bottom two vs. my top pair and gut shot. In the latter case, I actually had nearly 50% equity, but I suppose I was due to lose a coin flip.

SCOOP Event 8: NLHE Two-Day

I was going to play the HORSE event, but the buyins just didn't line up right for me. The 10K was out of the question, even the 1K was a touch high, and the $100 was too small for me to add two hours onto what was already a potentially long session (the day's second event was scheduled to run for 12 hours before stopping for the night).

I played the $300 and the $3000 two-days, but they ended up being one-day tournaments for me. The $3000 got nearly 1000 players, and my table was about what I was expecting: a lot of solid players, no one phenomenally good, and a soft spot or two. Unfortunately, the soft spot became a problem for me. Here, my attempt to isolate him got me into to trouble:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $3000+$150 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO (t10875)
Button (t11839)
Hero (SB) (t8611)
BB (t10850)
UTG (t9775)
UTG+1 (t9900)
MP1 (t8075)
MP2 (t10075)

Hero's M: 114.81

Preflop: Hero is SB with 9, 9
3 folds, MP2 calls t50, 2 folds, Hero bets t250, BB calls t200, MP2 calls t200

Flop: (t750) 6, K, 5 (3 players)
Hero bets t567, BB calls t567, MP2 calls t567

Turn: (t2451) 5 (3 players)
Hero checks, BB bets t1450, 1 fold, Hero calls t1450

River: (t5351) A (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets t8583 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: t5351

Results:
BB didn't show
Outcome: BB won t5351


The BB was possibly my most skilled opponent- unfortunate to have him on my left. The turn is a good spot for him to bluff with a draw, but the problem with calling is that it sets him up to shove the river. I guess I could call that, too, but I dunno. I guess folding turn is probably correct. You could argue for checking flop as well, but I was still looking at as an isolation play, hoping to get BB out, and if fishy calls, I'm comfortable playing out of position against him. Too bad it backfired.

The same fish took me out a bit later:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $3000+$150 Tournament, 50/100 Blinds 10 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO (t10245)
Button (t11004)
Hero (SB) (t3982)
BB (t11770)
UTG (t8571)
UTG+1 (t10015)
MP1 (t4040)
MP2 (t8516)
MP3 (t21223)

Hero's M: 16.59

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, K
2 folds, MP1 bets t300, 1 fold, MP3 calls t300, 2 folds, Hero raises to t1111, 2 folds, MP3 calls t811

Flop: (t2712) 5, 4, 3 (2 players)
Hero bets t2861 (All-In), MP3 calls t2861

Turn: (t8434) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t8434) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t8434

Results:
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and fours).
MP3 had A, 7 (straight, seven high).
Outcome: MP3 won t8434


I lasted a while longer in the $300, but eventually bluffed off my stack:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $300+$20 Tournament, 200/400 Blinds 50 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 (t26848)
MP3 (t24581)
CO (t3799)
Hero (Button) (t16360)
SB (t17599)
BB (t8725)
UTG (t24137)
UTG+1 (t4450)
MP1 (t16052)

Hero's M: 15.58

Preflop: Hero is Button with J, K
4 folds, MP3 bets t1000, 1 fold, Hero raises to t2666, 2 folds, MP3 calls t1666

Flop: (t6382) 5, 2, 9 (2 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets t2444, MP3 calls t2444

Turn: (t11270) 10 (2 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets t11200 (All-In), MP3 calls t11200

River: (t33670) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t33670

Results:
Hero had J, K (high card, King).
MP3 had 10, 10 (three of a kind, tens).
Outcome: MP3 won t33670


Villain raised a fair bit from late position. This was the first time I'd 3-bet him, but I was fairly confident that even if he flatted a 3-bet with a big pair pre-flop, he wouldn't continue to slowplay the flop, especially not when I bet so small. I do think he'll fold some better (ie Ax) hands and also sometimes peel kinda light, making the turn shove more profitable. I wasn't going to shove just any turn, but I wanted to give myself the option. When I picked up the gutshot, it felt like a good spot.

He had the kind of hand I wanted him to have, he just happened to "suck out" on the turn. I'm inclined to say he would have folded unimproved on the turn, but then again you know tournament players and their overpairs! (Insert snarky comment about cash game LAGdonks and their crazy bluffs.)

SCOOP Event 4: NLHE 2x Chance Turbo

I hate turbos, but they are quick, so I chose to play the $15 and the $150 but not the $1500. Sure enough, within an hour I was reduced to push/fold on both tables. I actually picked up a lot of big hands in the $150, but it didn't do me any good. I was either getting no action, getting sucked out on, or losing races. The only kinda interesting hand is this one, in which I got a little FPS'y and a lot of unlucky:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $150+$12 Tournament, 60/120 Blinds 15 Ante (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) (t6871)
UTG (t3790)
UTG+1 (t3670)
MP1 (t7084)
MP2 (t3912)
CO (t4635)
Button (t11283)
SB (t3755)

Hero's M: 22.90

Preflop: Hero is BB with J, J
2 folds, MP1 bets t300, 4 folds, Hero raises to t900, MP1 calls t600

Flop: (t1980) 7, 9, 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 checks

Turn: (t1980) Q (2 players)
Hero bets t1111, MP1 calls t1111

River: (t4202) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets t2845, MP1 calls t2845

Total pot: t9892

Results:
Hero had J, J (one pair, Jacks).
MP1 had K, Q (one pair, Queens).
Outcome: MP1 won t9892


This is another one of those "good in a cash game but too fancy for a tournament" plays that I just can't help making. It's worth pointing out that I'd been 3-betting a lot (always with hands, but they never got shown down), and in a high stakes cash game people will steal very aggressively when you check flops like this to them. I'm just giving up so often when I check here. It's actually probably better to do this with QQ or KK than with JJ, since JJ actually has better equity against Villain's shoving range if I bet the flop.

The other thing that threw me off was that in the FTOPS, the Second Chance event gave every player a free rebuy that expired if you didn't use it during the rebuy period. I foolishly assumed Stars would work the same way and was actively trying to get my chips in during the last few minutes of the rebuy period, only to find that I was charged $15 when I did rebuy. Thankfully that was just on the smaller table, though I did end up rebuying on the $150 as well.

All in all, though, it was a good session. I made solid money on the cash games while wasting very little time or money on the tournaments.

The 5-card draw Event 3 would have been fun, but today was laundry day. :-(

SCOOP Events 1 and 2: 6-Max NLHE with Rebuys and PLO8

Thankfully the cash games I was playing on the side went well, because the tournaments did not. I played the $50 and $500 rebuys, but decided to skip the $5. I was thinking it might be fun to play despite the small stakes, but then I saw that there were more than 25,000 people registered for it! I have to think this is the largest non-freeroll tournament ever held.

On top of the fact that the two I did play had good structures, they were rebuys, meaning getting eliminated in the first hour wasn't in action. I was in for the "minimum" and even managed to double up in the $50 thanks to making trips two hands in a row against a loose player. Nevertheless, I dusted off my stack in both within two and half hours.

Worse, I feel like I was probably at least somewhat wrong to lose my stack in both cases. Here's my bustout hand from the $50:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $50+$5 Tournament, 40/80 Blinds (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO (t3213)
Button (t18316)
Hero (SB) (t11211)
BB (t5965)
UTG (t13562)
MP (t11473)

Hero's M: 93.42

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, A
3 folds, Button bets t240, Hero raises to t777, 1 fold, Button calls t537

Flop: (t1634) 6, 8, 3 (2 players)
Hero bets t1111, Button calls t1111

Turn: (t3856) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t1895, Hero raises to t9323 (All-In), Button calls t7428

River: (t22502) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t22502

Results:
Button had 7, 8 (full house, sevens over eights).
Hero had Q, A (one pair, sevens).
Outcome: Button won t22502

I doubt he's betting less than two pair when I check to him on the turn, especially for this amount. As much as it sucks, check-folding might be correct here.

And in the $500:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $500+$30 Tournament, 30/60 Blinds (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) (t7271)
UTG (t8125)
MP (t19938)
CO (t10487)
Button (t11836)
SB (t8343)

Hero's M: 80.79

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, Q
1 fold, MP bets t180, 2 folds, SB raises to t600, Hero raises to t1555, 1 fold, SB raises to t8343 (All-In), Hero calls t5716 (All-In)

Flop: (t14722) J, J, 10 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t14722) 2 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t14722) 3 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t14722

Results:
SB had A, A (two pair, Aces and Jacks).
Hero had Q, Q (two pair, Queens and Jacks).
Outcome: SB won t14722


Note to self: six-max tournaments are not six-mas cash games. In my defense, this guy did seem a little loose pre-flop. He called one of my 3-bets out of position with A5s. That might justify calling his 5-bet shove, but I think flatting the 3-bet is probably best. I hate doing that against very good players because it defines your hand for them for free, but I doubt this guy was good enough to take advantage of that.

In general, though, there did seem to be a strong field in this tournament. My table at least was solid, with one player I've seen before at $25/$50.

To make matters worse, I misread the SCOOP schedule and ended up missing the PLO8 events, which my longtime readers will know I really enjoy. I thought they were tomorrow, but they were actually an event starting later in the afternoon today. Oh well, at least the cash games I was playing on the side well, netting me a handsome profit for the session despite the hefty tournament buyins.

2 for 2 in SCOOP Satellites

To top off a great weekend, I played and won my second $2000 satellite to the $10,000 WCOOP main event. The first one I played, which I replayed for Poker Savvy Plus, had only 9 runners and paid one seat plus a lot cash. This one got 52 runners, paying 10 seats plus some cash for 11th. Naturally it was a very different satellite dynamic. Here are a few of the more interesting hands:

This one occurred with 25 players left. With fewer players left, or a slightly weaker hand (JJ, even), I think it would be very close. Even here, I wasn't happy with Queens:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2000+$100 Tournament, 125/250 Blinds 30 Ante (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t7802)
Hero (UTG+1) (t6339)
MP1 (t5140)
MP2 (t7681)
CO (t4490)
Button (t9135)
SB (t2515)
BB (t6864)

Hero's M: 10.31

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with Q, Q
1 fold, Hero bets t666, 3 folds, Button raises to t2000, 2 folds, Hero raises to t6309 (All-In), Button calls t4309

Flop: (t13233) 3, 8, 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t13233) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t13233) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t13233

Results:
Button had K, A (one pair, tens).
Hero had Q, Q (two pair, Queens and tens).
Outcome: Hero won t13233


On this next one, I'm pretty happy with the flat call. I think TT is too strong to fold, but not strong enough to get in pre-flop. This stage of the tournament is going to force Villain to play pretty straightforwardly, and combined with my position, I think I'll be able to realize my showdown value post-flop and avoid losing too much to better hands.

I'm actually unsure about this river bet, though. I have the best hand pretty much always, but I think I get called almost never. I'm wondering if something smaller, like 5500, wouldn't be better rather than force Villain to risk his tournament life?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2000+$100 Tournament, 150/300 Blinds 40 Ante (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO (t11648)
Hero (Button) (t12058)
SB (t7025)
BB (t6051)
UTG (t6180)
MP (t7004)

Hero's M: 17.48

Preflop: Hero is Button with 10, 10
2 folds, CO bets t900, Hero calls t900, 2 folds

Flop: (t2490) 7, 10, K (2 players)
CO bets t1200, Hero calls t1200

Turn: (t4890) J (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets t2345, CO calls t2345

River: (t9580) 6 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets t7573 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: t9580

Results:
Hero didn't show 10, 10 (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t9580


There were 12 left for this last one, and I was like 5th or 6th. Villain's raise size made me nervous, since it seemed larger than necessary, but he also may have been trying to make clear to the Button that he was calling a shove (though that should have been clear anyway).

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2000+$100 Tournament, 350/700 Blinds 85 Ante (7 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t2982)
Hero (SB) (t12949)
BB (t17050)
UTG (t9051)
MP1 (t11756)
MP2 (t13217)
CO (t19973)

Hero's M: 7.87

Preflop: Hero is SB with J, A
3 folds, CO bets t2100, 1 fold, Hero raises to t12864 (All-In), 2 folds

Total pot: t5495

Results:
Hero didn't show J, A (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t5495


Thing is, big stacks are not that much bigger than small stacks, given the blinds, and if you don't occasionally take risks like this, you can easily end up having to take far bigger risks should you find yourself short. I've cost myself a few seats in the past by getting too tight prematurely and underestimating just how long the bubble would take.

Back in Black

For the second time this year, I've dug myself out of a big old hole. Let's hope it's the last (that I need to). Here's the hand that did it:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $50.00 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($9411)
SB ($5550)
BB ($20776)
UTG ($5000)
Hero (MP) ($5444)

Preflop: Hero is MP with K, K
1 fold, Hero bets $150, 2 folds, BB calls $100

Flop: ($325) 5, 6, Q (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $222, BB raises to $950, Hero raises to $5294 (All-In), BB calls $4344

Turn: ($10913) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($10913) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $10913 | Rake: $2

Results:
BB had K, 5 (two pair, tens and fives).
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and tens).
Outcome: Hero won $10911


I actually thought for a bit on the flop about whether I wanted to ship it in or just call and look for a non-club turn. I think based on his bet-sizing he has clubs pretty much always, and most of the time he'll have other outs that will make him basically a coin flip with me (either a 5, an A, or a straight draw). That would seem to argue for a call, since I have position and this information about his hand.

Truthfully, though, I think a call gives him the advantage even though he's out of position. He knows his hand looks like a flush draw, and if I just call, he'll know that I'm looking for a non-club turn. So he has pretty much the same information that I do, but he also knows which other cards help his hand, which I do not.

Take this case, for instance. Say I just call. What if an Ace turns and he shoves? I could end up getting bluffed off the best hand. Better to suck it up, get it in, and hope I've got his kicker covered!

It was one of those nights where things were just going well. I was getting a lot of decisions right, even those I usually get wrong:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (4 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($1880)
Hero (SB) ($2047)
BB ($1005)
UTG ($5521)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, A
UTG bets $35, 1 fold, Hero raises to $123, 1 fold, UTG calls $88

Flop: ($256) J, J, 10 (2 players)
Hero bets $188, UTG calls $188

Turn: ($632) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $410, Hero calls $410

River: ($1452) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $4800 (All-In), Hero calls $1326 (All-In)

Total pot: $4104 | Rake: $2

Results:
Hero had A, A (two pair, Aces and Jacks).
UTG had A, K (one pair, Jacks).
Outcome: Hero won $4102


Actually, I wasn't getting everything right. I made some big, questionable river bluffs in a heads up match. But, even that crazy image paid off eventually:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $6.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($2983.75)
Button ($2026.25)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, A
Button bets $15, Hero raises to $55, Button raises to $149, Hero raises to $444, Button raises to $852, Hero raises to $2983.75 (All-In), Button calls $1174.25 (All-In)

Flop: ($4052.50) 2, Q, 4 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($4052.50) 7 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($4052.50) 2 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $4052.50 | Rake: $0.50

Results:

Button had K, A (one pair, twos).
Hero had A, A (two pair, Aces and twos).
Outcome: Hero won $4052


This was really the first time we'd gone to war pre-flop, too. I mean, there are times when it might be reasonable to stack off 340 BBs to me with AK pre-flop, but this wasn't one of them.

Bay 101 Day 1 Results

Day started with something like 136 players and 20,000 chips each. I spend most of the day in good shape, never amassing a huge stack but maintaining near or above the average. Then I made a big move on Joe Sebok on the very last hand of the night:

Daniel Alaei was on my immediate right, with Joe seated to his right. The two had been openly joking about how ridiculously tight a youngish Asian player across the table from us was. That player caught the big blind on the last hand of the night. Joe made a joke about going all in blind pre-flop to steal from him.

Blinds were 400/800/100, and Sebok open raised to 2200 with 30K behind. I thought that especially on the last hand of the night with a super tight player in the BB he could have almost anything here. Alaei called, and I was pretty sure that since he knew Sebok knew he knew the guy was tight, he didn't have a huge hand and didn't want to get into a pre-flop leveling war. He was just calling to use his position and knowledge of Joe's wide range post-flop.

Neither of them knew a thing about me. It seemed like a great spot for a squeeze play, especially since there's a $5000 bounty on Joe, giving me an overlay in the worst case scenario where he has a hand. I make it 9000 with A3o, committing myself against Sebok but leaving room to fold to Alaei. Action folds to Sebok, who moves all in. Alaei folds, I call, and he shows me AKo.

The board comes out 7c 8c 9c Tc, and neither of us has a club. I have 15 outs to chop on the river and two to win, but it's an offsuit 4 and I get busted down to 17,400 on the last hand of the night. There's something like 50 left from today, and they are expecting close to 250 to play tomorrow.

The more I think about it, the more I like this play and think I was just unlucky that Sebok had a hand. I don't know a lot about him, but based on the information I had, I don't regret the squeeze.

Was a pretty fun day on the whole, got to play with Jerry Yang, Bill Gazes, Robert Williamson III, Maria Ho, David Pham, Annie Duke, Kenny Tran, and Freddie Deeb in addition to the guys I mentioned above. I'll post a more thorough report tomorrow, then I play again on Wednesday.

Thanks for following along!

Suicidal Bluff

Although this worked, I think it's really awful play on my part. I am representing a ridiculously narrow range (like QQ and maybe KK) and even those don't necessarily make sense. This guy was just frustrating me because he wasn't folding to 3-bets ever and was just generally being a pain in the ass.

I knew he would float a continuation bet on this flop, so I was hoping that a delayed c-bet would get me more credit. When he bet the flop, I didn't think he was all that strong, but calling with down with AJ unimproved didn't quite feel right either. For what it's worth, I think he usually 4-bets AK and KK pre-flop, and if he doesn't 4-bet QQ, he probably doesn't bet the flop either. When he just calls the turn, clubs are probably a non-trivial portion of his range. He tanked for a really long time before folding the river, though, so it seems like he did fold some kind of made hand.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO ($3963)
Button ($6018)
Hero (SB) ($4937)
BB ($2357)
UTG ($2396)
MP ($2030)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, J
3 folds, Button bets $50, Hero raises to $188, 1 fold, Button calls $138

Flop: ($396) 3, 8, K (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $260, Hero calls $260

Turn: ($916) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $720, Hero raises to $1989, Button calls $1269

River: ($4894) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $2500 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: $4894 | Rake: $3

Results:

Hero didn't show A, J (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won $4891

Great High Stakes Poker Bluff by Tom "Durrrr" Dwan

I'm not much for watching televised poker, but from what I've seen, if you're going to watch anything, High Stakes Poker is the show to watch. Although I didn't see this hand go down, I heard it discussed quite a bit by Aaron "aejones" Jones and Rob "Bobbfitos" Eckstut on the latest 2+2 Pokercast. PokerNews commentator picks up on just about every complex detail that Aaron and Rob covered on the show, so I don't have much to add to his commentary. It's just a fascinating hand that shows how a total sicko like Dwan can run circles around event world-class players like Barry Greenstein and Gabe Kaplan (who, from what I've heard of his commentary on the hand, didn't seem to get that Dwan was turning his pair into a bluff). So I definitely recommend that you have a look at Daniel Skolovy's recap and commentary:

"Now although even an amateur could read Barry's hand, it takes a real pro to have the stones to bluff into seven people and continue on the turn.

durrrr is that pro and Barry should know that, and thus should know that when his hand is as faceup as it is, durrrr has the potential to recognize this and bluff him off of it.

Which means you get into a leveling war of he knows that I know that he knows and he should be thinking just high enough to know that durrrr knows his hand and can thus bluff him off it, which could turn this from a fold to a call/shove."

Worst Pair, Worst Kicker, Value Bet

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($1905)
Hero (Button) ($1104.50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 3, 2
Hero bets $30, SB calls $20

Flop: ($60) K, 3, K (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $44, SB calls $44

Turn: ($148) 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($148) 4 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $88, SB calls $88

Total pot: $324 | Rake: $0.50

Results:

Hero had 3, 2 (two pair, Kings and threes).
SB had 8, A (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: Hero won $323.50


Not even a thin value bet, really. Just a small illustration of why it sucks to play so passively and predictably from out of position.

You Could Have Been Value Betting Worse I Think?

I was playing a decent but not great player heads up, and the match had been close, with first him then me having the upper hand, until I tried to bluff him off of trips:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($2045.50)
Hero (Button) ($2488.75)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8, Q
Hero bets $30, SB calls $20

Flop: ($60) J, 10, 10 (2 players)
SB bets $40, Hero calls $40

Turn: ($140) 3 (2 players)
SB bets $100, Hero raises to $333, SB calls $233

River: ($806) 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2085.75 (All-In),

SB: sick... you hit the flush?

SB calls $1642.50 (All-In)

Total pot: $4091 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero had 8, Q (one pair, tens).
SB had K, 10 (three of a kind, tens).
Outcome: SB won $4090.50

SB: i am not good enough to fold trips

Foucault: evidently not


Of course it's not generally a good idea to try to bluff someone off of trips, and if the river hadn't flushed I wouldn't have attempted it. It's not that I was trying to represent a flush but rather that the flush coming in makes it a very good time for me to make a huge shove if I have a full house, most likely JT or JJ. The huge shove is designed to polarize my range, so that it won't matter that he has trips (except for decreasing the combinations of boats I could have). Basically, I am either bluffing or have him beat.

Here's the very next hand, where he once again can't lay down trips:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($4090.50)
Hero (SB) ($1000)

Preflop: Hero is SB with J, K
Button bets $30, Hero calls $20

Flop: ($60) 10, Q, 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $40, Hero raises to $120, Button calls $80

SB: also you could have been value betting worse I think?

Turn: ($300) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $200, Button calls $200

River: ($700) 4 (2 players)

SB: like any T?

Hero bets $650 (All-In), Button calls $650

Total pot: $2000 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Button mucked 9, J (three of a kind, nines).
Hero had J, K (straight, King high).
Outcome: Hero won $1999.50


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($3353.25)
Hero (Button) ($1717.25)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, A
Hero bets $30, SB raises to $120, Hero calls $90

Flop: ($240) 4, 2, 7 (2 players)
SB bets $140, Hero calls $140

Turn: ($520) 6 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $222, SB calls $222

River: ($964) Q (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1235.25 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: $964 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero didn't show A, A.
Outcome: Hero won $963.50


This wasn't a good value shove by me, but it did show me that the table dynamic had shifted as a result of his snapping off that big bluff. Now, he was going to give me credit on my shoves.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($2656.75)
Hero (Button) ($2410.75)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, J
Hero bets $30, SB calls $20

Flop: ($60) K, 4, 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $40, SB calls $40

Turn: ($140) A (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $90, SB calls $90

River: ($320) K (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $250, SB calls $250

Total pot: $820 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero had K, J (three of a kind, Kings).
SB mucked 8, 8 (two pair, Kings and eights).
Outcome: Hero won $819.50


In this hand, I show him that I can value bet thinly (on the turn, here, nothing thin about the river) in a spot where he thinks I'm going to have a polarized range (hence his calldown with 88- he assumes I either hit the A or am bluffing in a common spot).

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($2261.75)
Hero (SB) ($2805.25)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, K
Button bets $30, Hero raises to $111, Button calls $81

Flop: ($222) 7, 10, 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $169, Button calls $169

Turn: ($560) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $425, Button calls $425

River: ($1410) A (2 players)
Hero bets $2100.25 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: $1410 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero didn't show Q, K (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won $1409.50


This time, the big bluff works. Given the texture of the board, I think it's very likely that he raises flop or turn if he has two pair or better. Something like a pair and busted draw is more likely for him. And even if he does have two pair, I think it's now plausible for him to think I can shove Aces up, so his weaker two pair may not be good. Pretty much the only thing I'm worried about here is that he himself rivered Aces up. Otherwise, I expect this to work.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($1889.50)
Hero (Button) ($3175.50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 3, 3
Hero bets $30, SB calls $20

Flop: ($60) 2, 6, 3 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $40, SB raises to $120, Hero raises to $269, SB calls $149

Turn: ($598) A (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $376, SB raises to $1590.50 (All-In), Hero calls $1214.50

River: ($3779) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $3779 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero had 3, 3 (three of a kind, threes).
SB had K, 5 (high card, Ace).
Outcome: Hero won $3778.50


And that cleaned him out.

Deep Run in the FTP 750K

The first few levels of this tournament were pretty uneventful, but eventually I won a coin flip to get up to an average stack. Then I floated for a few hours, through the bubble, on twenty big blinds or so.

This was maybe the most interesting hand I played, fairly standard but important example of structuring the betting so that you induce bluffs/bad value bets and get in the last bet:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 200/400 Blinds 50 Ante (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t12150)
UTG+1 (t13040)
Hero (MP1) (t12835)
MP2 (t7320)
MP3 (t4812)
CO (t13968)
Button (t12210)
SB (t24562)
BB (t9137)

Hero's M: 12.22

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with K, J
2 folds, Hero bets t800, MP2 calls t800, 5 folds

Flop: (t2650) Q, 3, 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets t800, Hero raises to t2985, 1 fold

Total pot: t4250

Results:
Hero didn't show K, J (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t4250


I picked up some hands, ran up a stack, and managed to get this nit off of what he claimed (and I'm inclined to believe) was AJ:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 600/1200 Blinds 150 Ante (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t65491)
UTG (t26612)
UTG+1 (t13580)
MP1 (t14358)
Hero (MP2) (t42063)
CO (t25154)
Button (t69958)
SB (t41386)

Hero's M: 14.02

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with K, 6
3 folds, Hero bets t2400, 3 folds, BB calls t1200

Flop: (t6600) 10, J, 3 (2 players)
BB bets t4800, Hero raises to t21000, 1 fold

Total pot: t16200

Results:
Hero didn't show K, 6 (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t16200


With my big stack, I stole blinds for a while then got about 1/3 of my chips in with 99 vs 44 and lost that to get kinda short. Sitting on less than 10BB's, I got 99 in the BB and joked to my girlfriend, who was watching at the time, than I wouldn't be folding this "unless that guy goes all in then that guy goes all in, then that guy goes all in..." which of course is pretty much happened:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 1200/2400 Blinds 300 Ante (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t44934)
SB (t69419)
Hero (BB) (t20218)
UTG (t108206)
UTG+1 (t76830)
MP1 (t95893)
MP2 (t23256)
CO (t68860)

Hero's M: 3.37

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, 9
2 folds, MP1 bets t6000, MP2 raises to t22956 (All-In), 2 folds, SB raises to t69119 (All-In), 2 folds

Flop: (t56712) 2, 8, 4 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t56712) 7 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t56712) 7 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t56712

Results:
SB had A, J (one pair, sevens).
MP2 had K, A (one pair, sevens).
Outcome: MP2 won t56712

Sadly, SB's atrocious call chased me off of the winning hand.

Another simple but important thing I was doing when short was raising less than all in even when I had a hand that I wanted to shove pre-flop. By raising 25-33% of my stack, I was occasionally able to get people to make some awful post-flop folds:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 1200/2400 Blinds 300 Ante (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP3 (t77968)
CO (t4029)
Hero (Button) (t26818)
SB (t105506)
BB (t76230)
UTG (t83293)
UTG+1 (t56640)
MP1 (t66412)
MP2 (t74410)

Hero's M: 4.26

Preflop: Hero is Button with J, A
6 folds, Hero bets t7200, SB calls t6000, 1 fold

Flop: (t19500) 4, 10, 6 (2 players)
SB bets t7200, Hero raises to t19318 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: t33900

Results:
Hero didn't show J, A (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t33900

This outcome is so much better than getting either a call or a fold pre-flop. People are very willing to suck if you just give them the chance.

My short stack ninja'ing accumulated a good deal of chips for me, despite getting a walk with QQ in the BB, and eventually I got JJ in against A8s to double. Sadly, it wasn't too last. A few orbits later, I lost a coin flip with AQs to 99, bustin in 118th place. This marks the third time this year that I've run well into the top 1% of one of these huge field Sunday tournaments, but I still don't have anything to show for it.

Fourth time's the charm?

Holy $%^& I Bluffed a Tourney Donk!

From yesterday's Sunday Million:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $200+$15 Tournament, 600/1200 Blinds 100 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) (t30683)
UTG (t23180)
UTG+1 (t69583)
MP1 (t45234)
MP2 (t42249)
MP3 (t22891)
CO (t38571)
Button (t32005)
SB (t14539)

Hero's M: 11.36

Preflop: Hero is BB with 3, 5
5 folds, CO calls t1200, 2 folds, Hero checks

Flop: (t3900) 5, 9, 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets t2400, Hero calls t2400

Turn: (t8700) K (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: (t8700) J (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets t4800, Hero raises to t26983 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: t18300

Results:
Hero didn't show 3, 5 (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t18300

Hell, maybe I just had the best hand anyway.

There was also this:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $200+$15 Tournament, 1000/2000 Blinds 200 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) (t37483)
UTG (t57104)
UTG+1 (t76633)
MP1 (t92084)
MP2 (t57631)
MP3 (t36141)
CO (t25460)
Button (t28135)
SB (t20528)

Hero's M: 7.81

Preflop: Hero is BB with 3, 3
5 folds, CO bets t6000, 2 folds, Hero calls t4000

Flop: (t14800) Q, 9, 6 (2 players)
Hero bets t31283 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: t14800

Results:

Hero didn't show 3, 3 (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t14800

I don't use the stop-n-go very often, but this seemed like a good spot. The guy was almost certainly not folding pre-flop, and on a flop like this, he's likely to fold a hand that he would not (or should not, anyway) if he could see my cards. Note that he's only got like 18K behind.


I ended up going quite deep, making the top 200 (out of 8800), on a coin flip:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $200+$15 Tournament, 12500/25000 Blinds 2500 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t723763)
Hero (BB) (t515200)
UTG (t1486381)
UTG+1 (t618409)
MP1 (t264735)
MP2 (t489035)
MP3 (t337651)
CO (t1006328)
Button (t405851)

Hero's M: 8.59

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, K
3 folds, MP2 bets t61000, 3 folds, SB raises to t721263 (All-In), Hero calls t487700 (All-In), 1 fold

Flop: (t1108900) 6, Q, 2 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t1108900) Q (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t1108900) 7 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t1108900

Results:
SB had J, J (two pair, Queens and Jacks).
Hero had A, K (one pair, Queens).
Outcome: SB won t1108900

Don't Make It So Obvious

Also, don't raise 52s in middle position.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($1033)
UTG ($1233.55)
MP ($3131.75)
CO ($1000)
Hero (Button) ($1150)
SB ($2026)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q, A
1 fold, MP bets $30, 1 fold, Hero calls $30, SB calls $25, 1 fold

Flop: ($100) K, 6, 9 (3 players)
SB checks, MP checks, Hero bets $44, 1 fold, MP raises to $3060, Hero calls $1076 (All-In)

Turn: ($2340) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($2340) A (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $2340 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had Q, A (one pair, Aces).
MP had 5, 2 (high card, Ace).
Outcome: Hero won $2337

Elaboration

On my recent post, "Defining His Range Into Oblivion", tce left a comment that I felt warranted a new post:

This is a tantalizing post with some really interesting ideas that need more meat. Can you say more? In my experience, trying to blow someone off an Ax hand is just too disruptive to my bankroll. Many players are just too stubborn and will chk-call all three streets. I finally learned that my best counter-strategy is to simply bet the hell out of my hand when I can beat Ax. Turning 2nd pair into a bluff in the hopes of blowing someone off Ax? I dunno, I need to hear more.

It's a good question. This concept isn't just a neat way to bluff. The point is that when you have position and a good sense of your opponent's range, you have a generous edge because of your ability to make better decisions on the river. You want to have a big pot and also enough money behind for a big river bet, ideally with nothing left over in the effective stacks, to maximize that edge. Then, it's just a matter of actually making that river decision.

Against this opponent, I'm confident that in a 4-bet pot, a bluff in that spot would be very profitable. Against a looser opponent who will not fold Ax, then you will value shove more hands and bluff less.

Before I could even get around to posting that, I found myself in another heads up match against the same opponent where several exemplary hands arose. Here's one where I employ the same line for value with AA:

Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $2,937.50
BB: $2,044.50

Pre-Flop: A A dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to $30, BB raises to $120, Hero raises to $270, BB calls $150

Flop: ($540) 3 T 9 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $222, BB calls $222

Turn: ($984) 9 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $444, BB folds

Results: $984 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
Hero mucked A A and WON $983.50 (+$491.50 NET)


And an example of how one might defend against such a line:

Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $3,578
Hero (BB): $3,958.50

Pre-Flop: J J dealt to Hero (BB)
SB raises to $30, Hero raises to $111, SB raises to $265, Hero calls $154

Flop: ($530) 5 5 9 (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets $285, Hero calls $285

Turn: ($1,100) J (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets $865, Hero calls $865

River: ($2,830) T (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets $2,163 and is All-In, Hero calls $2,163

Results: $7,156 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
SB showed 3 5 (three of a kind, Fives) and LOST (-$3,578 NET)
Hero showed J J (a full house, Jacks full of Fives) and WON $7,155.50 (+$3,577.50 NET)


The point here isn't just that I coolered him. I put him on either a big hand (which would probably include KK and AA) or a bluff. No matter which he has, I can just check-call my boat and let him stick the money in by the river, since that's what he'll do with either type of hand. Not only do I induce bluffs, but I also make it tougher for him to bluff and value bet me with a line like this in the future.

Before you start feeling too bad for this guy, realize that this was payback for the last time he re-raised me with garbage:

Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $3,829
BB: $2,000

Pre-Flop: J J dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to $30, BB raises to $120, Hero calls $90

Flop: ($240) 3 2 T (2 Players)
BB bets $125, Hero calls $125

Turn: ($490) 5 (2 Players)
BB bets $365, Hero raises to $3,584 and is All-In, BB calls $1,390 and is All-In

River: ($4,000) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $4,000 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
Hero showed J J (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-$2,000 NET)
BB showed 6 4 (a straight, Six high) and WON $3,999.50 (+$1,999.50 NET)


Honestly, this is a bad turn shove by me. Against a lot of people, it would be fine, but this guy really wasn't aggressive enough to warrant it. JJ is good often enough, but my equity is so bad that I can't profitably shove. Mayyyyybe I could get away with calling and then folding the river unimproved, but folding is probably the best option.

Someone Needs to Learn Hand Reading

What a donkey. I'm never 3-betting worse for value here, and it's not a spot where I'm prone to bluff, either.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($2030)
Hero (SB) ($4011.75)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 10, Q
Button raises to $60, Hero calls $40

Flop: ($120) 10, 2, J (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Turn: ($120) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: ($120) K (2 players)
Hero bets $90, Button raises to $242, Hero raises to $666, Button calls $424

Total pot: $1452 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Button had 4, K (two pair, Kings and fours).
Hero had 10, Q (one pair, tens).
Outcome: Button won $1451.50


Thing is, I mis-read my hand and thought I had a straight. I honestly wasn't sure I could 3-bet it, because AQ is definitely in Villain's range, and I was afraid if I did 3-bet it would be obvious I had a straight such that I'd only get action from better. But really the only way K4 is good here is if I mis-read my hand.

FTOPS #21: $300 Razz

As I've said many times before, my preference in Stud tournaments is not to build big pots on 3rd street. That's generally a high-variance, low-edge strategy, and it makes otherwise large mistakes on future streets much less severe. Unfortunately, people were being stupidly aggressive on 3rd, seemingly raising at every opportunity with any three low cards, so there wasn't much that could be done to avoid it. As usually happens in Razz, I wasn't catching well on later streets but was generally priced in for slim call downs because of how many bets had already gone into the pot:

Tournament - Razz (40/80), Ante 7, Bring-In 10

Foucault (Seat 1): 3,903
cardsharkk (Seat 2): 3,588
dinho_style (Seat 3): 3,912
AK_47_JAZZ (Seat 4): 4,005
Kristy Gazes (Seat 5): 4,479
OnlyPlayRagz (Seat 6): 5,628
Jawarhalo (Seat 7): 3,613
NastyBeet (Seat 8): 2,872

3rd Street - (1.40 SB)

Foucault: 3 4 A___completes___raises

cardsharkk: xx xx T___folds

dinho_style: xx xx J___folds

AK_47_JAZZ: xx xx A___raises___calls

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 9___folds

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 4___calls___calls

Jawarhalo: xx xx 3___folds

NastyBeet: xx xx J___brings-in___folds

4th Street - (10.65 SB)

Foucault: 3 4 A J___calls___calls___calls

AK_47_JAZZ: xx xx A 8___raises___raises

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 4 2___bets___raises___calls

5th Street - (11.33 BB)

Foucault: 3 4 A J T___calls

AK_47_JAZZ: xx xx A 8 2___bets

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 4 2 K___calls

6th Street - (14.33 BB)

Foucault: 3 4 A J T 2___checks___calls

AK_47_JAZZ: xx xx A 8 2 K___checks___calls

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 4 2 K 6___bets

River - (17.33 BB)

Foucault: 3 4 A J T 2 8___checks

AK_47_JAZZ: xx xx A 8 2 K xx___checks

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 4 2 K 6 xx___checks

Total pot: (17.33 BB - 1,386)

Results:
Total pot 1,386 | Rake 0
Note: this site shuffles the hole cards.
Foucault mucked [8c 4c Ah Jc Th 2c 3s] - 8,4,3,2,A
AK_47_JAZZ: [8h 7s As 8s 2h Kc 4d] - 8,7,4,2,A
OnlyPlayRagz showed [Qc 7h 4h 2d Kh 6d Ac] and won (1,386) with 7,6,4,2,A

This one is kind of interesting from AK's perspective, in terms of whether he should jam the pot with four to an 8 on fourth against a deuce-four and my brick. I ran some simulations using Pro Poker Tools. With the generous assumptions that I could have any two non-paired hole cards 7 or worse (since I was re-raising third) and OPR any two non-paired hole cards 8 or worse, AK has 37% equity in the pot, a small edge but enough to push. If we give OPR better than an 8, AK has 32% equity, so he isn't losing much on the jam. Improving my hand to three to a 6 actually diminishes his equity by less than 1%, so I suppose this is a thin but defensible jam on his part. It sucks that I got jammed in, but I didn't expect it when I called the first bet, and after that I think I was priced in with a very smooth draw.

Tournament - Razz (100/200), Ante 15, Bring-In 30

Foucault (Seat 1): 3,884
cardsharkk (Seat 2): 1,688
dinho_style (Seat 3): 5,297
east33pro (Seat 4): 3,266
Kristy Gazes (Seat 5): 3,794
OnlyPlayRagz (Seat 6): 10,104
Jawarhalo (Seat 7): 1,838
NastyBeet (Seat 8): 6,205

3rd Street - (1.20 SB)

Foucault: A 6 5___calls

cardsharkk: xx xx T___folds

dinho_style: xx xx J___folds

east33pro: xx xx J___brings-in___folds

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 6___completes

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 9___folds

Jawarhalo: xx xx 3___folds

NastyBeet: xx xx 4___folds

4th Street - (3.50 SB)

Foucault: A 6 5 8___bets

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 6 6___calls

5th Street - (2.75 BB)

Foucault: A 6 5 8 T___bets

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 6 6 A___calls

6th Street - (4.75 BB)

Foucault: A 6 5 8 T 7___bets___calls

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 6 6 A 8___raises

River - (8.75 BB)

Foucault: A 6 5 8 T 7 J___checks

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 6 6 A 8 xx___checks

Total pot: (8.75 BB - 1,750)

Results:
Total pot 1,750 | Rake 0
Note: this site shuffles the hole cards.

Foucault mucked [Jc 6h 5c 8h Td 7s Ah] - 8,7,6,5,A
Kristy Gazes showed [7d 7c 6s 6c Ac 8c 4c] and won (1,750) with 8,7,6,4,A

Kristy was the "host" of this tournament, though I'm not sure what that really entailed- she wasn't talking much in chat or fielding questions from observers or anything. She also wasn't playing particularly well, though this is a good raise on 6th and a bad bet on my part.

Tournament - Razz (150/300), Ante 25, Bring-In 50
Foucault (Seat 1): 3,714
cardsharkk (Seat 2): 946
dinho_style (Seat 3): 6,407
east33pro (Seat 4): 1,406
Kristy Gazes (Seat 5): 6,619
OnlyPlayRagz (Seat 6): 13,754
icudonk (Seat 7): 2,590
NastyBeet (Seat 8): 4,253

3rd Street - (1.33 SB)

Foucault: 2 3 5___raises___calls

cardsharkk: xx xx 9___brings-in___folds

dinho_style: xx xx 3___folds

east33pro: xx xx 7___folds

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 6___folds

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 8___folds

icudonk: xx xx 5___completes___raises

NastyBeet: xx xx A___raises___calls

4th Street - (13.67 SB)

Foucault: 2 3 5 T___calls

icudonk: xx xx 5 8___bets

NastyBeet: xx xx A Q___calls

5th Street - (8.33 BB)

Foucault: 2 3 5 T A___bets

icudonk: xx xx 5 8 Q___calls

NastyBeet: xx xx A Q A___folds

6th Street - (10.33 BB)

Foucault: 2 3 5 T A K___bets

icudonk: xx xx 5 8 Q T___checks___calls

River - (12.33 BB)

Foucault: 2 3 5 T A K 2___calls

icudonk: xx xx 5 8 Q T xx___bets

Total pot: (14.33 BB - 4,300)

Results:
Total pot 4,300 | Rake 0

Foucault mucked [3s 2h 5h Ts Ah Kc 2c] - T,5,3,2,A
icudonk showed [6c 3d 5d 8d Qh Tc As] and won (4,300) with 8,6,5,3,A

I really wanted to fold when he bet into me on seventh. It was so clear he'd gotten there. But by that point, I was getting better than 13:1 on a call.

Tournament - Razz (200/400), Ante 30, Bring-In 50

Foucault (Seat 1): 1,509
cardsharkk (Seat 2): 1,642
dinho_style (Seat 3): 4,471
east33pro (Seat 4): 3,131
Kristy Gazes (Seat 5): 6,074
OnlyPlayRagz (Seat 6): 13,789
icudonk (Seat 7): 5,975
NastyBeet (Seat 8): 3,098

3rd Street - (1.20 SB)

Foucault: 3 6 4___completes___raises

cardsharkk: xx xx 5___folds

dinho_style: xx xx 5___folds

east33pro: xx xx 6___raises___calls

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 5___raises___calls

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 9___brings-in___folds

icudonk: xx xx 4___folds

NastyBeet: xx xx 7___folds

4th Street - (13.45 SB)

Foucault: 3 6 4 T___raises___raises to 679 (all-in)

east33pro: xx xx 6 3___bets___raises___calls

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 5 Q___calls___calls___calls

5th Street - (12.82 BB)

Foucault: 3 6 4 T 2___all-in

east33pro: xx xx 6 3 T___bets

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 5 Q 9___calls

6th Street - (14.82 BB)

Foucault: 3 6 4 T 2 K___all-in

east33pro: xx xx 6 3 T 7___bets

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 5 Q 9 J___folds

River - (14.82 BB)

Foucault: 3 6 4 T 2 K J___all-in

east33pro: xx xx 6 3 T 7 xx

Total pot: (14.82 BB - 5,927)

Results:
Total pot 5,527 Main pot 4,727. Side pot 800. | Rake 0
Foucault showed [3c 6d 4d Ts 2d Ks Jd] and lost with T,6,4,3,2
east33pro showed [Ah 7c 6h 3d Tc 7s 8h] and won (5,527) with 8,7,6,3,A

Note: this site shuffles the hole cards.

FTOPS #20: $200 NLHE 6-Max

Not surprisingly, the quality of play in this was something like atrocious. Judging from the chat and general play, I was at a table full of clowns, which was cool. My favorite hand saw a guy raise pre-flop, and get two callers, and then bet 2x pot on A44 flop. The SB tanked forever and announced that he was folding AT. The better agreed that it was a tough but good fold.

Anyhow, with that in mind, I think I am fist-pump stacking off here even for like 170BBs. I mean, do we really see this guy playing TT any differently?

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t5050)
SB (t5585)
Hero (BB) (t5115)
UTG (t5430)
MP (t4775)
CO (t4045)

Hero's M: 113.67

Preflop: Hero is BB with K, K
1 fold, MP raises to t90, 3 folds, Hero raises to t300, MP calls t210

Flop: (t615) 4, 7, 7 (2 players)
Hero bets t615, MP calls t615

Turn: (t1845) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets t1200, MP raises to t3860 (All-In), Hero calls t2660

River: (t9565) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t9565

Results:
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and sevens).
MP had A, A (two pair, Aces and sevens).
Outcome: MP won t9565

FTOPS $17: $300 Rebuy 6-Max NLHE

Given the deep stacks, short-handed format, and substantial buy-in, this was probably the FTOPS event I was looking forward to the most. Sadly, the other players at my table were giant nits during the rebuy period. I got AK on the first hand and open shoved, then shoved a more times just trying to get up a kinda crazy image, but no one would play along. I even tried trash talking in the chat box, but they kept folding anyway.

Finally I got 22 in the SB and open raised 3x. The player in the BB re-raised, and I shoved because for like 40 BB's in a rebuy I really ought to be able to get 22 in pre-flop profitably in a blind battle, but of course nitbag showed up with TT. I'm pretty sure mine was the only rebuy our table had- most players didn't even double buy initially, and at least one didn't take the add-on.

After the rebuy period was over, I tightened up for half an hour or so until the blinds got appreciable and then started min-raising a lot of hands. I'm increasingly convinced that, especially in 6-max tournaments, that's the way to go. People are already not adjusting well to the short-handed format, and smaller raises is the best way to exploit their excessive tightness. When people did re-raise me, it was usually some amont like a full 3x my raise which was way larger than it needed to be. Basically no one was calling as light as he should out of the BB, and even when they did call, they sucked enough at post-flop play that it was fine anyway.

I built up a nice stack this way, though there were two guys on my right doing something kind of similar. I was making money picking spots to 3-bet them until someone behind woke up with a hand and cold 4-bet shoved.

After a few of those re-raises, this happened:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 170/340 Blinds 25 Ante (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP (t20502)
CO (t18250
Button (t5100)
Hero (SB) (t8221)
BB (t5270)
UTG (t9409)

Hero's M: 12.46

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, A
1 fold, MP raises to t750, CO calls t750, 1 fold, Hero raises to t2000, 2 folds, CO calls t1250

Flop: (t5240) 8, Q, 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: (t5240) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets t6196 (All-In), CO calls t6196

River: (t17632) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t17632

Results:
Hero had A, A (one pair, Aces).
CO had 9, 7 (straight, nine high).
Outcome: CO won t17632

If the BB had been any good, I would have just called pre-flop and counted on him to shove over the three of us. I wasn't confident he would recognize what a good spot it was for him, though, so I had to re-raise myself.

On the flop, there was only one pot-sized bet left in my stacks. I figured that most hands that would call a flop shove would call a turn shove as well- maybe even more. Plus I give Villain the chance to bluff shove. This is exactly the kind of hand I wanted him to shove, though, and instead he drills the gutter on the turn. Bah.

FTOPS #14: $500 HORSE

I almost didn't play this because my experience with limit tournaments has always been that even if I am not doing well they take forever. At least in NLHE if it isn't going well you don't waste a lot of time on it. Well, I managed to eliminate myself in less than three hours, so I guess that's something.

There was a key Stud/8 hand I wanted to talk about, but somehow the HH file seems to have disappeared from my computer. Basically, I was the bring-in with 5(48) a player in middle position open raised with a K in the door, a loose player called with a Q, and I 2-bet. In a cash game this would be a very standard raise since I appear to have the only low hand in a 3-way pot. Arguably in a tournament one ought to be more conservative about pushing small edges early in a hand when stacks are shallow, but I was looking to go balls to the wall. They both called.

On fourth, they both caught non-threatening cards, and I caught a 7. Now I really had a monster, with a gutshot and four to a low against two players going high. The K bet, the Q called, I raised, and they both called.

On fifth, I paired my 4, the K blanked again, and the Q caught a 3. They checked around to me, I bet, the K folded, and the Q called.

Sixth brought a blank for me and an open pair of 3's for my opponent. He checked, and I bet, which I think is probably a mistake. He almost certainly has Q's and 3's, meaning that he isn't folding while I have only 6 outs for the high and am still drawing at the low as well.

What's really bad though is that I made two pair on seventh and bet again, without even thinking, into what was clearly two pair. Pretty shitty play on my part that cost me 2 BBs.

FTOPS #10: $300 NLHE

Not a lot to say about this one. Only remotely interesting hand was this one:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 60/120 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 5,090
BTN: 10,960
SB: 3,465
BB: 9,106
Hero (UTG): 4,070
UTG+1: 6,958
UTG+2: 7,021
MP1: 9,145
MP2: 7,050

Pre-Flop: (180) A Q dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to 320, UTG+1 calls 320, 3 folds, CO calls 320, BTN folds, SB raises to 1,890, BB folds, Hero raises to 4,070 and is All-In, 2 folds, SB calls 1,575 and is All-In

Flop: (7,690) 6 3 K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (7,690) 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (7,690) 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 7,690 Pot
SB showed K A (two pair, Kings and Sixes) and WON 7,690 (+4,225 NET)
Hero showed A Q (a pair of Sixes) and LOST (-3,465 NET)


There's about 4500 in the pot, and assuming I can get it heads up with SB, it will cost me about 3100 more. I need about41% equity in the pot. Against a range of TT+ AQ+ I have only 37%. However, if we throw AJ into the mix, I'm up to 45%. Basically I felt like the chance that we was doing something spazzy/making a big squeeze warranted a gamble. It's one of those very close spots where optimally cautious tournament play might dictate folding but I'm willing to push because I'd rather go big or go home than let a $300 tournament tie up screen space for hours on end.

FTOPS Event 2: $240 PLO8 Knockout

I took an early exit from this tournament on a coin flip:

Full Tilt Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Tournament, 20/40 Blinds (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (MP1) (t4925)
MP2 (t5142)
CO (t5938)
Button (t4775)
SB (t8994)
BB (t5025)
UTG (t5146)
UTG+1 (t5070)

Hero's M: 82.08

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with 10, A, 9, 2
2 folds, Hero raises to t120, 3 folds, SB raises to t400, 1 fold, Hero calls t280

Flop: (t840) 9, 10, 7 (2 players)
SB bets t840, Hero raises to t3360, SB raises to t5880, Hero calls t1165 (All-In)

Turn: (t9890) A (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t9890) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t9890

Results:
SB had J, A, A, 7 (Hi: flush, Ace high).
Hero had 10, A, 9, 2 (Hi: two pair, Aces and tens).
Outcome: SB won t9890


I was pretty sure the guy had AA, just because that's about all you'll see most people re-raise with in a spot like this. Truthfully, he ought to have AA2, preferably with a suit, to be re-raising. AA with a poor low draw isn't that strong a hand in PLO8, especially with stacks as deep as these. That doesn't mean I put him on AA2, because I'm not about to give a random that kind of credit, but that's what he ought to have.

Again, when he pots the flop, he ought to have something other than AA, but that's not a guarantee. With my top two pair and back door low draw, I was pretty sure it'd be thin but OK to get it in. I wasn't happy to see that he had the nut flush draw, but when I ran the equity, I was actually still a coin flip:

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=6010637
pokenum  -o8 td as 9s 2c  - jc ad ac 7h  -- 9c tc 7s
Omaha Hi/Low 8-or-better: 820 enumerated boards containing 7s Tc 9c
cards          scoop  HIwin  HIlos  HItie  LOwin  LOlos  LOtie     EV
As 9s  2c  Td    349    349    463      8    160      0      0  0.493
Ac Jc  Ad  7h    361    463    349      8      0      0      0  0.507

Even if we let him keep the nut flush draw and give him the A2 that he ought to have to go along with it, my equity is still pretty good:

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=6010643
pokenum  -o8 td as 9s 2c  - jc ad ac 2h  -- 9c tc 7s
Omaha Hi/Low 8-or-better: 820 enumerated boards containing 7s Tc 9c
cards          scoop  HIwin  HIlos  HItie  LOwin  LOlos  LOtie     EV
As 9s  2c  Td    348    438    382      0      0      0    160  0.528
Ac Jc  Ad  2h    312    382    438      0      0      0    160  0.472


And even if he keeps the low draw, I'm a big favorite if he doesn't have the flush:

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=6010647
pokenum  -o8 td as 9s 2c  - jd ad ac 2h  -- 9c tc 7s
Omaha Hi/Low 8-or-better: 820 enumerated boards containing 7s Tc 9c
cards          scoop  HIwin  HIlos  HItie  LOwin  LOlos  LOtie     EV
As 9s  2c  Td    453    613    207      0      0      0    160  0.699
Ac Ad  Jd  2h    207    207    613      0      0      0    160  0.301

Heads Up With a Maniac

This guy was decent in some ways but pretty insanely loose and aggressive. I don't think he ever folded to a 3-bet pre-flop (I probably should have made my raise size bigger), and there was a lot of 4-betting going on. For the most part, I just hung back, made some thin call downs, and pushed my big hands hard. He was tough to bluff because he wouldn't fold anything and would re-bluff with ridiculous frequency. I was trying to bluff just enough to ensure that he knew I hadn't given up completely.

Faster!

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($1092.25)
Hero (Button) ($2109.50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, J
Hero raises to $30, SB raises to $110, Hero calls $80

Flop: ($220) K, K, J (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($220) 4 (2 players)
SB bets $85, Hero calls $85

River: ($390) 5 (2 players)
SB bets $285, Hero raises to $1914.50 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: $960 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero didn't show K, J
Outcome: Hero won $959.50

This was early in the match- I probably would have bet the flop based on the dynamic we later established. I guarantee he wasn't folding, whatever he had.



A Little Too Thin

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($3549.50)
SB ($3023.50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 9, 8
Hero raises to $30, SB raises to $110, Hero calls $80

Flop: ($220) 2, Q, 8 (2 players)
SB bets $145, Hero calls $145

Turn: ($510) 9 (2 players)
SB bets $345, Hero calls $345

River: ($1200) 10 (2 players)
SB bets $455, Hero calls $455

Total pot: $2110 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero had 9, 8 (two pair, nines and eights).
SB had 10, A (one pair, tens).
Outcome: Hero won $2109.50



One of His Better Value Bets

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($2320.50)
Hero (SB) ($4791)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, 10
Button raises to $30, Hero calls $20

Flop: ($60) Q, 2, 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $40, Hero raises to $111, Button calls $71

Turn: ($282) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: ($282) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $245, Hero calls $245

Total pot: $772 | Rake: $0.50
Results:
Button had 8, 8 (two pair, Queens and eights).
Hero had A, 10 (two pair, Queens and twos).
Outcome: Button won $771.50


A lot of busted draws here, though maybe he bets those on the turn? Whatever, folding too often to this guy was not a good idea.



Lucky Turn

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($1794)
Hero (Button) ($3150.50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 10, 8
Hero raises to $30, SB calls $20

Flop: ($60) 2, 8, 7 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $44, SB raises to $118, Hero calls $74

Turn: ($296) 10 (2 players)
SB bets $235, Hero raises to $1002, SB raises to $1646 (All-In), Hero calls $644

River: ($3588) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $3588 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero had 10, 8 (full house, tens over eights).
SB had 7, 8 (two pair, tens and eights).
Outcome: Hero won $3587.50



Psycho Call

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($2736)
Hero (SB) ($4375)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, 10
Button raises to $20, Hero raises to $80, Button calls $60

Flop: ($160) 9, K, A (2 players)
Hero bets $120, Button raises to $260, Hero raises to $795, Button calls $535

Turn: ($1750) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $3500 (All-In), Button calls $1861 (All-In)

River: ($5472) 5 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $5472 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Button had 7, Q (high card, Ace).
Hero had A, 10 (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $5471.50


I was expecting calls from worse Aces and maybe Kings. I don't know how he talked himself into this one. Maybe he decided I could be on a worse flush draw?



Tough Fold

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($2000)
Hero (Button) ($7110.50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 5, A
Hero raises to $30, SB raises to $110, Hero raises to $222, SB calls $112

Flop: ($444) Q, J, A (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($444) J (2 players)
SB bets $225, Hero calls $225

River: ($894) 10 (2 players)
SB bets $665, Hero folds

Total pot: $894 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
SB didn't show
Outcome: SB won $893.50


I'm far from certain this was correct. It's obviously a scary card, but that also makes it a good bluff card. I don't think he has a K too often on the turn, but trips and clubs are both very possible. Ultimately the turn bet sizing is what swayed me.



Bluff It Off

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($4110)
Button ($2462)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, 10
Button raises to $30, Hero raises to $111, Button calls $81

Flop: ($222) 8, 10, Q (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $145, Hero calls $145

Turn: ($512) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $345, Hero calls $345

River: ($1202) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $875, Hero calls $875

Total pot: $2952 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Button had K, 4 (one pair, Queens).
Hero had A, 10 (two pair, Queens and tens).
Outcome: Hero won $2951.50



Turning Second Pair Into a River Check-Raise Bluff

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($6043)
SB ($3207)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, J
Hero raises to $30, SB calls $20

Flop: ($60) A, 8, K (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($60) 2 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $44, SB calls $44

River: ($148) 4 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $111, SB raises to $345, Hero calls $234

Total pot: $838 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero had K, J (one pair, Kings).
SB had 5, K (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: Hero won $837.50

I'm pretty sure he expects me to call the river almost always but not to bet very often. So it doesn't really make sense for him to check a big hand to me.



Lucky Turn

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($5693)
Button ($2275)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, A
Button raises to $30, Hero raises to $111, Button calls $81

Flop: ($222) J, 8, K (2 players)
Hero bets $166, Button calls $166

Turn: ($554) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $345, Hero raises to $5416 (All-In), Button calls $1653 (All-In)

River: ($4550) 2 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $4550 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Button had J, 9 (two pair, Jacks and nines).
Hero had Q, A (high card, Ace).
Outcome: Button won $4549.50



Not This Time

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($2478)
Hero (SB) ($2468)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, 9
Button raises to $30, Hero raises to $111, Button calls $81

Flop: ($222) J, 7, 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $166, Button calls $166

Turn: ($554) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $345, Hero raises to $2191 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: $1244 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero didn't show A, 9 (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won $1243.50


This one actually happened simultaneously with the above (we were playing on two tables).



Insane

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($3943)
SB ($4021)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, A
Hero raises to $30, SB raises to $110, Hero raises to $222, SB calls $112

Flop: ($444) 6, K, 7 (2 players)
SB bets $325, Hero raises to $966, SB raises to $2445, Hero raises to $3721 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: $5334 | Rake: $0.50


There are so many good semi-bluff hands on this board that there's no reason to ever be 3-betting the flop with air, but that seems to be what he was doing here. Best example of his over-aggressiveness.



Bluffing With the Best

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) ($6885)
Button ($2370)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 8, 7
Button raises to $30, Hero calls $20

Flop: ($60) 7, 7, Q (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Turn: ($60) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $44, Button calls $44

River: ($148) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $111, Button raises to $445, Hero calls $334

Total pot: $1038 | Rake: $0.50

He had Ace-high on this one, which makes it that much crazier of a bluff, since he had some showdown value.



Lucky River

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($6066.50)
SB ($3180.50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, 10
Hero raises to $30, SB raises to $110, Hero raises to $266, SB calls $156

Flop: ($532) 7, 5, 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $222, SB raises to $655, Hero calls $433

Turn: ($1842) 6 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $666, SB calls $666

River: ($3174) A (2 players)
SB bets $1593.50 (All-In), Hero calls $1593.50

Total pot: $6361 | Rake: $0.50

Never mind bluffs, he's value shoving worse on this river. He called me a lucky retard and quit immediately after this hand. Later he was nice though- he sat at another of my tables as I was getting ready to quit but didn't give me a hard time about it and even returned a blind that I didn't mean to post.

Just so I don't look like a total luckbox, remember that the above were hands selected to show how aggressive he was, and hence generally hands that I won. He did win a few big pots that I didn't post here. Also, there was this, against a different opponent:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($2323.50)
SB ($1692.50)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, A
Hero raises to $30, SB raises to $90, Hero raises to $222, SB calls $132

Flop: ($444) 3, 10, Q (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $166, SB raises to $1470.50 (All-In), Hero calls $1304.50

Turn: ($3385) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($3385) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $3385 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero had K, A (one pair, Kings).
SB had J, 9 (straight, King high).
Outcome: SB won $3384.50

A Rare Open Limp

I pretty much never open limp, with the occasional exception of being in very early position, usually UTG, at a full ring table. This is particularly true in tournaments, because there is so much value in stealing the pot pre-flop and stacks aren't generally deep enough to play a wide range of hands this way. In this case, though, based on the players and stack sizes behind me, I thought this would be the best course of action:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $200+$15 Tournament, 7500/15000 Blinds 1500 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (MP3) (t495306)
CO (t112184)
Button (t95700)
SB (t581685)
BB (t193605)
UTG (t345760)
UTG+1 (t293030)
MP1 (t634248)
MP2 (t277758)

Hero's M: 13.76

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with Q, K
4 folds, Hero calls t15000, CO raises to t110684 (All-In), 3 folds, Hero calls t95684

Flop: (t257368) J, 10, 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t257368) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t257368) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t257368


Results:
Hero had Q, K (one pair, Kings).
CO had A, 8 (high card, Ace).
Outcome: Hero won t257368


Basically, there was a very aggressive big stack on the button and two pretty passive players who both had small enough stacks that I'd have to call their shoves if I raised. I didn't want to play a big pot with the top stack, and I thought that since I was going to call a shove anyway, my open limp would probably induce the short stacks to shove much weaker hands than if I raised and made it clear that I'd call their shoves.

The real cost here is a reduced chance of stealing the pot pre-flop, but I thought someone would make a play often enough and regardless playing KQs with position post-flop has a posititive expectation in its own right.

This, by the way, was from yesterday's Sunday Million, in which I finished 61st out of 7513 runners. That was good enough for a modest score but again so frustrating to be so close. I didn't have nearly as many crazy suckouts as I did in my last deep run. The hand above was key, but this is the one that really catapaulted me:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $200+$15 Tournament, 5000/10000 Blinds 1000 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 (t182816)
MP3 (t206468)
CO (t187480)
Hero (Button) (t192306)
SB (t105170)
BB (t421789)
UTG (t721312)
UTG+1 (t198309)
MP1 (t136645)

Hero's M: 8.01

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8, 8
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t20000, 2 folds, MP3 calls t20000, 1 fold, Hero calls t20000, 1 fold, BB calls t10000

Flop: (t94000) 8, 9, 10 (4 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 bets t70000, MP3 raises to t185468 (All-In), Hero calls t171306 (All-In), 1 fold, UTG+1 calls t107309 (All-In)

Turn: (t619924) 6 (3 players, 3 all-in)

River: (t619924) Q (3 players, 3 all-in)

Total pot: t619924

Results:
Hero had 8, 8 (three of a kind, eights).
UTG+1 had A, A (one pair, Aces).
MP3 had 10, Q (two pair, Queens and tens).
Outcome: Hero won t607918, MP3 won t12006


Against more loose and aggressive players, I'd probably just shove pre-flop, but in this case I thought UTG+1 at least probably had a hand to call and the risk/reward just wasn't there. Obviously I'm pretty happy with the result!

For what it's worth, if I'm UTG+1, I'm probably checking this flop. If all hell breaks loose behind me or a bad turn card comes, I can fold. If just one player bets, I'd probably check-raise all-in, or if it checks through, I'd try to get it in on safe turns. Making a huge lead into three players on such a bad flop is about the worst option.

Right Line, Wrong Guy

I like this line a lot in this spot, but not against the table fish:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP ($2000)
CO ($1850)
Button ($1329)
SB ($8366)
Hero (BB) ($2197)
UTG ($2274)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, K
3 folds, Button raises to $40, 1 fold, Hero raises to $144, Button calls $104

Flop: ($298) J, A, 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Turn: ($298) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $203, Button calls $203

River: ($704) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $550, Button calls $550

Total pot: $1804 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had A, 10 (one pair, Aces).
Hero had Q, K (high card, Ace).
Outcome: Button won $1801


Most of the time that I check this flop after 3-betting pre-flop, I'm going to have something with some showdown value. And if I then bet hard at the turn and river, it will be because I was slowplaying a monster or at least pot controlling something pretty good like AK.

So, I like a similar line with a big draw, as compared to just betting the flop and then making a pot-committing turn bet. Maybe I'll get to check-raise the flop if Villain throws out a feeler bet/bluff, or make a concealed flush (since he probably wouldn't expect me to check a flush draw on the flop)- with all my outs, I certainly don't mind seeing a free turn card.

AT is exactly the kind of hand I'd expect a better player to drop on the river. But this was not a better player, and I should have known better.

How Not to Overplay Bottom Set

A few days ago I posted a hand where we were very deep and I feared I may have overplayed a small set/full house. Once again I was deep here against a pretty good player. Were I to fire a third barrel, I'd be showing a ton of strength, so much so that he could probably to fold all worse hands. More importantly, I felt that he wouldn't expect me to check any strong hand since I already had the betting impetus. Thus, not only can I induce bluffs, but I can also probably get him to value bet most hands that would have called the river anyway:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $6.00 BB (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO ($864.80)
Button ($2075.80)
SB ($603)
Hero (BB) ($2065.20)
UTG ($428.70)
MP ($2007.80)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7, 7
1 fold, MP raises to $21, 1 fold, Button calls $21, 1 fold, Hero calls $15

Flop: ($66) 10, A, 7 (3 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $44, Button calls $44, Hero raises to $199, 1 fold, Button calls $155

Turn: ($508) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $345, Button calls $345

River: ($1198) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $800, Hero calls $800

Total pot: $2798 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had K, J (high card, Ace).
Hero had 7, 7 (three of a kind, sevens).
Outcome: Hero won $2795


Also important is the fact that I think my river checks are in general far too exploitable. For the most part, if I've bet the flop and turn but then check the river, it means I'm giving up. Thus, I've been on the look-out for opportunities to bet (or raise) the flop and turn then check the river when out of position with a big hand.

Dealing With an Aggressive 3-Better

Both of these hands are against a real 3-betting fiend. He's ridiculously loose and aggressive pre-flop, especially when he has position. Even though I think he's taken it to the point of exploitability, it's still a tough and high-variance playstyle to combat. There are a lot of adjustments you need to make against a player like this, but one is just to call down with more medium-strength hands than you ordinarily would. Basically you are going to make money off of his bluffs, so you need to set him up to bluff and then be prepared to catch bluffs with weaker hands than your ordinarily would. Two examples:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 ($1000)
Hero (MP2) ($1000)
MP3 ($1316)
CO ($1035)
Button ($1000)
SB ($1069)
BB ($440)
UTG+1 ($160)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 9, 9
2 folds, Hero raises to $35, 1 fold, CO raises to $95, 3 folds, Hero calls $60

Flop: ($205) K, 10, 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $135, Hero calls $135

Turn: ($475) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $365, Hero raises to $770 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: $1205 | Rake: $3


I didn't necessarily expect a fold here, but I did think my 9's would have enough equity against his range, which probably includes a TON of semi-bluffs, to get it in.


Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($1018.50)
BB ($1088.50)
UTG ($440)
UTG+1 ($104.50)
MP1 ($953.75)
Hero (MP2) ($1177)
CO ($1417)
Button ($760)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A, J
3 folds, Hero raises to $35, 2 folds, SB raises to $115, 1 fold, Hero raises to $250, SB raises to $1018.50 (All-In), Hero calls $768.50

Flop: ($2047) 7, 3, 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($2047) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($2047) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $2047 | Rake: $3

He had Jacks here, so I lost. I'm less confident about this one, as it was my first 4-bet of the night, but I think that could also increase his bluff frequency because he knows I know he's been running me over. With a suited AJ, I'd definitely just call pre-flop. Even here, it might have been better to flat and then jam a lot of flops or something just to induce an additional bluff. But this is the kind of thing you need to do against overly aggressive opponents.

A Boat I Can't Bet

This is a pretty specific situation nearly 400 BB's deep against a phenomenal player (CardRunner's instructor/FTP red pro Eric "P3achy_Keen" Liu

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($1945)
UTG ($1015)
UTG+1 ($4483)
MP1 ($991.45)
MP2 ($3100)
MP3 ($1609.25)
Hero (CO) ($3782.50)
Button ($1000)
SB ($2473)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 3, 3
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $35, 1 fold, MP2 calls $35, 1 fold, Hero calls $35, 3 folds

Flop: ($120) 3, 10, 10 (3 players)
UTG+1 bets $90, 1 fold, Hero raises to $277, UTG+1 calls $187

Turn: ($674) Q (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $470, UTG+1 calls $470

River: ($1614) A (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $1111, UTG+1 raises to $3701 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $3836 | Rake: $3

Results:
UTG+1 didn't show
Outcome: UTG+1 won $3833


By the river, I've simply shown too much strength, on a scary board, to think that Eric is going to pay me off with a worse hand. Not to mention the fact that TT/QQ/AA are all very possible for him. Checking the turn and either calling or value betting the river might be a better line than this, given that the flush came in. On a non-club turn, I think betting is best, along with maybe bet-folding a non-club river. But with the flush getting there, it's hard to put me on anything worse than what I have by the river.

The one upside to this is that, since I folded the river very quickly (he tanked for a while before shoving, so I had time to decide that I couldn't call), he may have concluded that I had nothing and was just running a psychotic bluff. That in turn may have helped me stack him on this hand:


Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG+1 ($1810)
MP1 ($1439)
MP2 ($6505)
MP3 ($1090.20)
CO ($3129)
Button ($2052)
Hero (SB) ($2000)
BB ($1821)
UTG ($2062)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4, 4
3 folds, MP2 raises to $35, MP3 calls $35, 2 folds, Hero calls $30, 1 fold

Flop: ($115) 3, 4, J (3 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $90, 1 fold, Hero raises to $290, MP2 calls $200

Turn: ($695) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $475, MP2 calls $475

River: ($1645) 10 (2 players)
Hero bets $1200 (All-In), MP2 calls $1200

Total pot: $4045 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had 4, 4 (three of a kind, fours).
MP2 had A, J (one pair, Jacks).
Outcome: Hero won $4042

You Know You're Running Bad When

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 ($723.55)
MP3 ($1002)
CO ($928)
Button ($995)
SB ($1000)
BB ($1717.50)
UTG ($585)
Hero (UTG+1) ($1015)
MP1 ($1239)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A, A
1 fold, Hero raises to $30, 6 folds, BB calls $20

Flop: ($65) 10, 5, 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $45, BB calls $45

Turn: ($155) 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $123, BB raises to $246


This guy was a total fish, but when he threw out that turn min-check-raise against an early position raiser, I threw up in my mouth. I just knew he had quads. Anyway, I talked myself down from that ridiculous conclusion- his tiny river bet helped:

Hero calls $123

River: ($647) 8 (2 players)
BB bets $260, Hero raises to $694 (All-In), BB calls $434

Total pot: $2035 | Rake: $3

Results:
BB mucked Q, Q (full house, fives over Queens).
Hero had A, A (full house, fives over Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $2032

Check-Folding AA for 100BB in a 3-Bet Pot

At least I wish I did...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $20.00 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP ($2292)
CO ($2000)
Button ($2000)
SB ($828.85)
BB ($2773)
Hero (UTG) ($1904)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, A
Hero raises to $60, MP raises to $200, 4 folds, Hero raises to $555, MP calls $355

Flop: ($1140) J, Q, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $500, Hero raises to $1349 (All-In), MP calls $849

Turn: ($3838) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($3838) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $3838 | Rake: $3


Obviously it's not too often that I'm check-folding AA for a single pot-sized bet on the flop. In this case, though, I think I can put Villain on a very narrow range of hands. To be generous, I'd say he almost always has JJ+ or AK, and given that he didn't 5-bet, I'm inclined to weight that towards JJ-QQ. In any event, he also puts me on a similarly narrow range, meaning that if has AK he probably isn't going to bluff and if he has KK he can't bet because what can he expect action from? I thought about all of that but then said, "Fuck it, it's one pot-sized bet" and was promptly shown QQ.

2008 Year in Review

Having already posted an analysis of last year's resolutions (One, Two, and Three), I'll turn now to some year-end miscellany:

Largest Pot Won

Though I played as high as 50/100 last year, my biggest win was in a recent 10/20 heads up game. It's both the largest pot I've won in absolute dollars and also (I think) the largest in BB's, nearly 1200 of them.

Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $16,884.50
BB: $11,606

Pre-Flop: 6 T dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to $60, BB raises to $220, Hero raises to $588, BB raises to $1,225, Hero calls $637

Flop: ($2,450) 6 J 6 (2 Players)
BB bets $1,425, Hero raises to $3,659, BB raises to $10,381 and is All-In, Hero calls $6,722

Turn: ($23,212) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($23,212) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $23,212 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
Hero showed 6 T (a full house, Sixes full of Tens) and WON $23,211.50 (+$11,605.50 NET)
BB showed A A (two pair, Aces and Sixes) and LOST (-$11,606 NET)


A little epilogue here: I saw this guy sitting alone at a 50/100 table recently and took a seat. He played one hand and quit.

Largest Pot Lost

I wish I could say it was a bad beat or cold deck, but mostly it was just bad play:

Full Tilt Poker, $25/$50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $10,050
SB: $24,967.75

Pre-Flop: 4 A dealt to Hero (BB)
SB raises to $124, Hero raises to $411, SB calls $287

Flop: ($822) Q 8 Q (2 Players)
Hero bets $589, SB raises to $1,670, Hero calls $1,081

Turn: ($4,162) 2 (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets $2,575, Hero raises to $7,969 and is All-In, SB calls $5,394

River: ($20,100) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $20,100 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
Hero showed 4 A (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$10,050 NET)
SB showed K Q (three of a kind, Queens) and WON $20,099.50 (+$10,049.50 NET)


Worst Bad Beat

As it happens, those are both from December. But I had to go all the way back to March and my days in the UB 25/50 heads up game to find the most annoying bad beat, defined as some combination of long odds and big pot:

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 0: GASSITT ($4297.50) -
Seat 1: Foucault ($4500) - -

PRE-FLOP:

Foucault posts small blind $25
GASSITT posts BIG blind $50
Dealt To: Foucault


RAISE Foucault ($150)
CALL GASSITT ($150)


FLOP:

Pot: $350


CHECK GASSITT
BET Foucault ($200)
CALL Foucault ($200)


TURN:

Pot: $750


BET GASSITT ($525)
RAISE Foucault ($1650)
RAISE GASSITT ($3947.50)
CALL Foucault ($3947.50)


RIVER:

Pot: $10295




SHOWDOWN:
GASSITT:

MUCK Foucault

GASSITT collected $8594.5 from main pot with full house, fives full of jacks

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $8595 Rake: $.50

Final Board:


Seat 0: 5s Js 5h 5d Jd: full house, fives full of jacks. - Net Gain/Loss: ($3772)



Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Largest Tournament Score



Yearly Profits Graph

Thanks to you all for following along this year, and best of luck at the tables (or wherever you ply your trade) in 2009.

Happy New Year!

Misclicking for Fun and Profit

It never ceases to amuse me when my mistakes make me money. Here I meant to bet $99 on the river and accidentally bet $9. The result was inducing a huge check-raise bluff from a hand that almost certainly would have folded to my intended bet:

Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $705
SB: $1,359.35
Hero (BB): $1,230
UTG: $1,336.25
MP: $600
CO: $1,828

Pre-Flop: A 7 dealt to Hero (BB)
4 folds, SB calls $3, Hero raises to $18, SB calls $12

Flop: ($36) 3 9 4 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($36) 8 (2 Players)
SB bets $13, Hero raises to $42, SB calls $29

River: ($120) 3 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $9, SB raises to $234, Hero calls $225

Results: $588 Pot ($3 Rake)
SB showed T Q (a pair of Threes) and LOST (-$294 NET)
Hero showed A 7 (a flush, Ace high) and WON $585 (+$291 NET)


Unfortunately, I decided to flush the profits and then some on an ill-conceived river check-raise bluff of my own:

Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $998
BTN: $597
Hero (SB): $1,713.20
BB: $352.10
UTG: $1,896.60

Pre-Flop: 8 8 dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, CO raises to $21, BTN folds, Hero calls $18, BB folds

Flop: ($48) 2 J 5 (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $35, Hero calls $35

Turn: ($118) 5 (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $111, Hero calls $111

River: ($340) 7 (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $200, Hero raises to $1,546.20 and is All-In, CO calls $631 and is All-In

Results: $2,002 Pot ($3 Rake)
CO showed J J (a full house, Jacks full of Fives) and WON $1,999 (+$1,001 NET)
Hero showed 8 8 (two pair, Eights and Fives) and LOST (-$998 NET)


First off, I hate the turn call. My thinking was that his range when he near-pots it is polarized to bluffs and boats, but it's probably so waited towards boats that I don't belong in the hand anyway. Then I disregard that read on the river and decide based on his bet-sizing that he has an overpair after all and maybe I can take him off of it. Pure sloppiness on my part.

Npnpnpnpnpasd

Absolutely murdered this guy at 10/20 heads up this afternoon. He was decent but overly loose and aggressive and did not adapt well to playing super-deep. As you'll see, we had a very aggressive pre-flop dynamic going on, but it occurred almost exclusively on my button. The deeper we got, the more I kept pots small when I was out of position, since he was so willing to play big ones when I had the button. I won't give a lot of commentary on each hand but you can get a general sense of how the game went.

He started off with a 150BB lead but it didnt' last:

Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $4,000
SB: $7,053.50

Pre-Flop: T 7 dealt to Hero (BB)
SB raises to $60, Hero raises to $222, SB calls $162

Flop: ($444) 2 K 3 (2 Players)
Hero bets $333, SB calls $333

Turn: ($1,110) 2 (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB checks

River: ($1,110) 4 (2 Players)
Hero bets $895, SB raises to $1,790, Hero raises to $3,445 and is All-In, SB calls $1,655

Results: $8,000 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
Hero showed T 7 (a flush, King high) and WON $7,999.50 (+$3,999.50 NET)
SB mucked 5 6 (a straight, Six high) and LOST (-$4,000 NET)


Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $9,832.50
BB: $4,030

Pre-Flop: A A dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to $60, BB raises to $220, Hero raises to $555, BB raises to $4,030 and is All-In, Hero calls $3,475

Flop: ($8,060) 9 T T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: ($8,060) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($8,060) 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $8,060 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
Hero showed A A (two pair, Aces and Tens) and WON $8,059.50 (+$4,029.50 NET)
BB showed A K (two pair, Tens and Nines) and LOST (-$4,030 NET)


Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $16,180
BB: $4,337.50

Pre-Flop: Q A dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to $60, BB raises to $220, Hero raises to $555, BB raises to $1,125, Hero calls $570

Flop: ($2,250) A 9 A (2 Players)
BB bets $1,750, Hero raises to $3,500, BB calls $1,462.50 and is All-In

Turn: ($8,675) 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($8,675) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $8,675 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
Hero showed Q A (a full house, Aces full of Nines) and WON $8,674.50 (+$4,337 NET)
BB showed K 4 (two pair, Aces and Nines) and LOST (-$4,337.50 NET)


Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $18,454.50
BB: $6,05

Pre-Flop: K Q dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to $60, BB raises to $220, Hero raises to $588, BB calls $368

Flop: ($1,176) Q 9 8 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($1,176) 6 (2 Players)
BB bets $900, Hero calls $900

River: ($2,976) 7 (2 Players)
BB bets $2,750, Hero calls $2,750

Results: $8,476 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
Hero mucked K Q (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$4,238 NET)
BB showed 5 4 (a straight, Nine high) and WON $8,475.50 (+$4,237.50 NET)


On the one hand that's a scary river but for precisely that reason I felt obliged to call. I was playing my hand to induce a bluff so I can't very well fold to a very aggressive opponent when the perfect bluff card hits.

Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $16,308
BB: $8,195.50

Pre-Flop: A J dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to $60, BB raises to $220, Hero raises to $588, BB calls $368

Flop: ($1,176) Q 7 A (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $777, BB calls $777

Turn: ($2,730) J (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1,643, BB raises to $6,830.50 and is All-In, Hero calls $5,187.50

River: ($16,391) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $16,391 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
Hero showed A J (two pair, Aces and Jacks) and WON $16,390.50 (+$8,195 NET)
BB showed 9 8 (Ace Queen high) and LOST (-$8,195.50 NET)


This one is just fucked up:

Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $16,884.50
BB: $11,606

Pre-Flop: 6 T dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to $60, BB raises to $220, Hero raises to $588, BB raises to $1,225, Hero calls $637

Flop: ($2,450) 6 J 6 (2 Players)
BB bets $1,425, Hero raises to $3,659, BB raises to $10,381 and is All-In, Hero calls $6,722

Turn: ($23,212) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($23,212) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $23,212 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
Hero showed 6 T (a full house, Sixes full of Tens) and WON $23,211.50 (+$11,605.50 NET)
BB showed A A (two pair, Aces and Sixes) and LOST (-$11,606 NET)


Felt kinda bad for him but come on we are 600BB deep don't min-5-bet your Aces.

Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $28,557
BB: $3,931.50

Pre-Flop: 7 7 dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to $60, BB raises to $220, Hero calls $160

Flop: ($440) 2 6 T (2 Players)
BB bets $310, Hero calls $310

Turn: ($1,060) 9 (2 Players)
BB bets $780, Hero calls $780

River: ($2,620) 8 (2 Players)
BB bets $2,621.50 and is All-In, Hero calls $2,621.50

Results: $7,863 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
Hero showed 7 7 (a straight, Ten high) and WON $7,862.50 (+$3,931 NET)
BB showed 9 T (two pair, Tens and Nines) and LOST (-$3,931.50 NET)


Villain: np i win 23k in 5 bet pots np with 6T npnpnpnpnpnppasd
Villain: f'
Villain: asgkjaf'lsdf
Villain is sitting out
Villain: sd
Villain: h


The Boston Debate League had an even bigger day than I did, though, receiving a $35,000 check from the Boston Foundation. They are hands down the most prominent philanthropic foundation in the Boston area, so a grant from them is huge not only for the amount of money involved but because of the visibility and credibility that it will lend us with other members of the philanthropic community.

Now... to celebrate!

Effing Nits

I play FTP's 200 BB deep stack games almost exclusively. That's in part because I prefer deeper stacked play but also because the higher stakes regular games are infested with people who buy in for the minimum of 20 BB (the minimum on the deep tables is 50BB). There are some who do it professionally and somehow still manage not to come all that close to a good short stacking strategy but then there are these absolutely atrocious guys who buy in short and play like the loose passive idiots that they are. I constantly make mistakes them against them because I assume that they can't possibly be as nitty as they are when it comes to showing any aggression.

This isn't really an example of me making a mistake but it does go to what I'm talking about.

Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG+1: $138
MP1: $1,447.75
Hero (MP2): $1,000
CO: $1,523
BTN: $612.30
SB: $1,000
BB: $276
UTG: $1,067

Pre-Flop: Q Q dealt to Hero (MP2)
3 folds, Hero raises to $30, CO calls $30, BTN calls $30, SB calls $25, BB raises to $276 and is All-In, Hero raises to $1,000 and is All-In, 3 folds

Flop: ($642) 6