Guy Accidentally Busts Me

We're about 3.5 hours into a 1K multi-table satellite for the WSOP main event. Blinds are 300/600/75. Short stack moves all in for 3600. Button doesn't realize there's someone all in ahead of him and says "call", planning to call just the blinds. I have 99 in the BB and a little under 10K in chips. I shoved, Button called with JQ. Short stack has 66 and Button ends up busting us both with a hand he didn't even mean to play.

I wonder if my better play isn't to call and shove any flop. I kind of doubt that Button was open limping any pocket pairs, so there's not much danger of chasing out the hands against which I have the best equity. He was pretty LAGgy though, so I wouldn't be surprised if he would play something like 87s or some other hand I've got in bad shape the same way. It might not matter too much in the grand scheme of things, but it probably would have won me this pot.

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.

Focking Marcel Luske

Edit: As I was drifting off to sleep last night, it occurred to me that I should have titled this post "Loosey Luske". In my defense, it was 3AM and I'd been playing Stud/8 for 8 hours, so my creative juices were a bit stymied.

Early in level 7, the Flying Dutchman joins our table, upside-down sunglasses and all. Almost immediately, he takes half my stack.

Action folds to me in middle position. I've got 8(72), hardly a premium hand, but there's nothing but junk behind me: two Queens, Marcel with a Jack, and an 8 on the bring-in. I raise, Marcel calls with the J, everyone else folds.

On 4th, I catch an A, Marcel catches a 4. I bet, he calls. Odds are good he's got a pair of Jacks (though maybe I should expect him to 3-bet that more often than call?), but I've got outs to both halves of the pot plus the A is a scare card.

On 5th, I brick, and Marcel catches a 3. I bet, he calls.

On 6th, I pair my 8, he catches 2. I bet, he raises. That was unexpected. I think for a while and can't figure what he has. A5 suited with the Jack seems most likely, or maybe rolled-up Jacks that he's been slowplaying. Somewhat less likely are 65 suited with the J or a smaller pair in the hole that's since made trips. I seriously consider folding but decide to call.

Thankfully I brick the river and check-fold. The guy on my right asks Marcel to show the suited A5. Marcel shows A5, but only the 5 is suited to the J. Obviously not a standard call on 3rd, but Marcel's almost certainly a better S/8 player than I am, so I don't want to write it off as an error. Possibly he put me on a steal and had a plan to take it away later if he didn't go runner runner runner perfect.

I could have sworn that they'd said we were only playing 7 levels, but there indeed 8, and I busted about halfway through the last level. I got it in on 5th with four to a low and a pair of Aces against an open pair of 7's and what turned out to be Kings up. They both made full houses on the river, and I missed my low.

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.

Dani "Ansky" Stern Finishes Fourth in the WSOP 40K!

Congratulations to Poker Savvy's Dani "Ansky" Stern, who finished fourth for better than half a million dollars in the special $40K NLHE WSOP anniversary event. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't even realize he was at the final table. I'd looked at an article about the final table that didn't mention him and never looked into it any further.

The field featured 201 players, including most of the best in the world, and the final table definitely represented that. Dani had to tangle with the likes of Ted Forrest, Greg Raymer, Justin Bonomo, Alec Torelli, and former Poker Savvy pro Isaac Haxton, who finished second to eventual winner Vitaly Lunkin.

Congratulations Dani!

Even Good Players Suck at Satellites

There were 61 players remaining in a Poker Stars $650 satellite, and 51 seats to be won. We were already at the point where we'd be getting our buyins back. I was in like 49th or so place with 25K chips at 1250/2500 and had a nice spot for stealing. On my right were a far too tight short stack and a guy with a huge stack who was just folding virtually everything. On my left were two stacks about equal to my own, and the guy two to my left was someone I knew to be a successful tournament player. Action folds to me on the button, I shove J9s, "decent" tourney player calls me with AT and wins the flip.

He had me covered, but barely, so it was very near to being a flip for his life. Even if he puts me on any two, which isn't correct but not an unreasonable assumption, he's only a 68-32 favorite. As a good player at this stage of the tournament, he's probably got at least a 70% chance of winning a seat if he folds this hand, and of course busting me doesn't guarantee him a seat anyway.

Thinking about this river play cheers me up a little though:

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

Hero (SB) ($4931.50)
Button ($8070)

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

Flop: ($444) Q, J, 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $240, Hero calls $240

Turn: ($924) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: ($924) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $420, Hero raises to $1444, Button calls $1024

Total pot: $3812 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Button had 10, J (two pair, Jacks and fours).
Hero had A, Q (two pair, Queens and fours).
Outcome: Hero won $3811.50

This is a pretty optimistic value bet on his part on the river, though I actually don't mind calling the check-raise. There's actually an outside chance he was betting to induce a check-raise, which I would like far better than value betting (funny how the same play can be good or bad depending on the reasoning), but I doubt that's a play in his arsenal.

Anyway, for me, leading out on the river looks really strong. Not like "set or better" strong, but definitely like a value bet. I think checking is the only option for me, and between his turn check and his small bet sizing, I'm comfortable saying my hand is good 90% of the time here.

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 NLHE Two-Day

I was not playing very well on Saturday, and it showed through in my results. I think I'm pretty good at letting bad beats and unlucky cards roll off my back, but I have a lot more trouble getting over a session where I played badly. Obviously a few mistakes can cost me quite a good deal of money, and it can be tilting to think how much could have been saved if I'd only...

Anyway, there were three key losses in these tournaments (I played the mini-FTOPS $250 as well). Here's how I busted from the $2500. I don't know for sure, and it's not particularly relevant, but I've heard that MP2 was Dmitri Nobles. I don't think this is awful, but it's not good either:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 25/50 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP2: 4,918
CO: 6,392
BTN: 2,862
SB: 6,260
Hero (BB): 4,310
UTG: 11,155
UTG+1: 2,120
UTG+2: 10,217
MP1: 11,918

Pre-Flop: (75) K A dealt to Hero (BB)
4 folds, MP2 raises to 150, CO calls 150, 2 folds, Hero raises to 750, MP2 folds, CO calls 600

Flop: (1,675) Q 2 T (2 Players)
Hero bets 660, CO calls 660

Turn: (2,995) 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets 2,900 and is All-In, CO calls 2,900

River: (8,795) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 8,795 Pot
CO showed Q Q (three of a kind, Queens) and WON 8,795 (+4,485 NET)
Hero showed K A (Ace King high) and LOST (-4,310 NET)


This one, which cost me a big stack in the $250, may look the worst, but actually I think I would play it the same again:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG+2: 8,807
MP1: 6,110
MP2: 3,765
CO: 3,755
Hero (BTN): 10,244
SB: 3,640
BB: 6,201
UTG: 5,675
UTG+1: 13,823

Pre-Flop: (120) A Q dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, MP1 raises to 240, 2 folds, Hero calls 240, SB folds, BB calls 160

Flop: (760) 7 A K (3 Players)
BB checks, MP1 bets 400, Hero calls 400, BB folds

Turn: (1,560) 7 (2 Players)
MP1 checks, Hero checks

River: (1,560) J (2 Players)
MP1 bets 640, Hero raises to 9,604 and is All-In, MP1 calls 4,830 and is All-In

Results: 12,500 Pot
MP1 showed 8 9 (a flush, King high) and WON 12,500 (+6,390 NET)
Hero showed A Q (two pair, Aces and Sevens) and LOST (-6,110 NET)


It's very unlikely my hand is good on the river, but there's good reason to think Villain is on something like AJ/KJ. The river shove is a bit of an overbet, but that may be what it takes to get a bad player off of two pair. They perceive a huge difference, perhaps not wrongly, between a lot of their chips and all of their chips. It sucks that he had a flush, but there's really very little reason to think he can call a shove here.

This one, on the other hand, is shamefully bad:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 50/100 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG+1: 8,687
MP1: 12,300
MP2: 3,795
CO: 2,115
Hero (BTN): 3,705
SB: 11,181
BB: 11,110
UTG: 9,127

Pre-Flop: (150) T T dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 300, 3 folds, Hero calls 300, 2 folds

Flop: (750) 8 3 7 (2 Players)
UTG+1 bets 400, Hero calls 400

Turn: (1,550) 7 (2 Players)
UTG+1 bets 1,000, Hero raises to 3,005 and is All-In, UTG+1 calls 2,005

River: (7,560) A (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 7,560 Pot
UTG+1 showed Q Q (two pair, Queens and Sevens) and WON 7,560 (+3,855 NET)
Hero showed T T (two pair, Tens and Sevens) and LOST (-3,705 NET)


I've seen Villain overvalue hands before, but that's no justification for this.

1K WSOP Satellite

Played the 1K WSOP satellite on Stars tonight. There were 21 runners, meaning 2 seats and a lot of cash paid out. I came into the final table in second place, and had the lead by the time we got down to 5. I was running roughshod over everyone, and with four left I had as many chips as the other three combined. I definitely felt I was the strongest of the remaining players, but there were two other guys (none of whom I recognized) who seemed to get satellite strategy pretty well and one guy who was awful. One of the good players busted the other, so we got down to 3-handed with me and the other good player in a substantial lead.

At some point the fish doubled through him, which wasn't ideal (I'd prefer the fish to bust and lock up my seat) but certainly an improvement. I took a shot at busting the now-short good player, but it didn't end well:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1000+$50 Tournament, 400/800 Blinds 100 Ante (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) (t36843)
SB (t39582)
BB (t16575)

Hero's M: 24.56

Preflop: Hero is Button with 10, 10
Hero bets t1600, SB calls t1200, BB raises to t16475 (All-In), Hero raises to t31350, 1 fold

Flop: (t34850) 9, K, J (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t34850) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t34850) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t34850

Results:
Hero had 10, 10 (one pair, tens).
BB had J, K (two pair, Kings and Jacks).
Outcome: BB won t3485


I'm not 100% sure about this call. My range for raising the button here is like top 85%, and the fish is calling way wider than he should. I doubt he ever has a hand that calls a shove. If I am BB I am shoving any two here, and while he may not be quite that wide, he'd certainly shown a willingness to take advantage of good resteal spots before.

Then again, it sucks to gamble with the chiplead when three seats pay. But fishy as SB was, he was smart enough not to play a lot of big pots. It wasn't as though I was going to sit back and watch the two of them automatically butt heads. I wouldn't have called for all my chips, but since the worst case scenario is just that I have to hack it out, I went for it.

I did indeed manage to steal and then eventually double my way back into the chiplead, thanks to some godawful play from fishy:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1000+$50 Tournament, 400/800 Blinds 100 Ante (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) (t26068)
Button (t33182)
SB (t33750)

Hero's M: 17.38

Preflop: Hero is BB with 10, A
Button bets t1600, 1 fold, Hero calls t800

Flop: (t3900) 10, 10, 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t1600, Hero raises to t3200, Button calls t1600

Turn: (t10300) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets t5555, Button calls t5555

River: (t21410) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets t11111, Button raises to t22222, Hero calls t4502 (All-In)

Total pot: t52636

Results:
Button had 7, 5 (full house, fives over tens).
Hero had 10, A (full house, tens over fives).
Outcome: Hero won t52636

Obviously I played this in a pretty non-standard way. Basically he had zero hand-reading skill and didn't like to fold. So I didn't worry about what I was representing but just tried to lay him the price that I felt would make me the most overall. On the river, I was still putting him on something less than a monster and figured he would be far more inclined to call less than all in than to call all in. Shockingly, he did the work for me with a low full house. I was also assuming that he'd be crippled whether I got the maximum or not, but that proved not to be true:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1000+$50 Tournament, 400/800 Blinds 100 Ante (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) (t53636)
SB (t6214)
BB (t33150)

Hero's M: 35.76

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q, A
Hero bets t1600, SB raises to t6114 (All-In), 1 fold, Hero calls t4514

Flop: (t13328) J, Q, K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t13328) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t13328) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t13328

Results:
Hero had Q, A (one pair, Queens).
SB had K, 10 (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: SB won t13328

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1000+$50 Tournament, 400/800 Blinds 100 Ante (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t48022)
BB (t13228)
Button (t31750)

Hero's M: 32.01

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, J
Button bets t2200, Hero calls t1800, BB calls t1400

Flop: (t6900) A, 4, 2 (3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, Button bets t3200, Hero calls t3200, BB calls t3200

Turn: (t16500) 8 (3 players)
Hero bets t2222, BB calls t2222, 1 fold

River: (t20944) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets t40300 (All-In), BB calls t5506 (All-In)

Total pot: t31956

Results:
Hero had A, J (two pair, Aces and eights).
BB had 10, 9 (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: BB won t31956

On the turn I'm hoping to get it in with the fishy short stack and get the big stack out from behind me. On the river, I'm pretty sure he hit the flush, but at this point I don't think check-folding is an option, so value betting is best. Sucks, but what are you gonna do?


Finally, I had to take yet another coin flip against the good player:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1000+$50 Tournament, 600/1200 Blinds 150 Ante (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t25662)
BB (t30274)
Button (t37064)

Hero's M: 11.41

Preflop: Hero is SB with 9, 9
Button bets t3000, Hero raises to t25512 (All-In), 1 fold, Button calls t22512

Flop: (t52674) 10, 10, K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t52674) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t52674) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t52674

Results:
Button had K, A (two pair, Kings and tens).
Hero had 9, 9 (two pair, tens and nines).
Outcome: Button won t52674


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand I snatched a bubble from the jaws of victory. :-(

FTOPS Event 13: $300 NLHE 6-Max Quad Shootout

I lasted no more than 15 minutes in this tournament and got 3-bet no fewer than four times. The final time, I raised 44 in the SB, shoved over a 3-bet from the BB, and lost the flip to AQ.

Poker Savvy's Dani "Ansky" Stern final tabled this one, but he finished a somewhat disappointing sixth. Still, nice finish!

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)

FTOPS Event 1: $200 6-Max

I donked my way out of this one with a quickness, lost my ass with QQ on a 972 board with two clubs. Worse, it was to a guy who'd previously called KJ on a J74 flop, potted the turn when I checked to him, then made a half pot bet on the river (I had KJ also). Thing is, although he was kinda overvaluing top pair, he didn't raise it on the flop. So when he did raise the 972, I probably shouldn't have lost 100+ BB's with QQ. Oh well.

April

I won and lost a lot of money in April. I finished the month with a decent though not spectacular bottom line, but given what I spent on tournament buy-ins (thank you very much, SCOOP), I'm impressed that I was up at all.

Resolution One: Keep Grinding NLHE Cash Games

Goal 1: Earn $X in NLHE Cash Games

Getting very close (to being on track, that is). If I can maintain this rate for the rest of the year, I'll be happy. And if I manage a respectable tournament score to boot....

Goal 2: Earn Supernova status on PokerStars

I'm well on track now. The SCOOP was worth a lot of VPPs, so I'm glad I grinded up to Platinum last month. Were I to hit Supernova in the next two months, which I won't, I'd be eligible for a free suite upgrade at the Palms during my WSOP trip.

Then again, this goal is going to a breeze now that Stars is offering 100,000 VPPs to their satellite qualifiers who actually play in the WSOP main event. Now I all have to do is win one of their damn satellites.

Resolution Two: Diversify My Income Streams

Goal 3: Monetize This Blog

Baby steps. In case you missed them this month, I wrote a review of Deke Castleman's Whale Hunt in the Desert and pimped some ways to get your The Wire fix. If I ever get my act properly together, I may have a few advertisers soon.

Goal 4: Get Back Into Coaching

As of last night, I'm more than halfway through my first group session. I'm very happy with how it's going, but that's got a lot to do with the individual students who comprise the group. With a well-chosen group, though, I think this model has great potential to provide affordable coaching for smaller stakes players while still getting me fair compensation for my time.

Goal 5: Market My Writing

There's a fun little development here that's a 99% done deal, but I'll wait to announce it until I know for sure. Be warned, though, that it's only going to be genuinely useful to a very small fraction of my readers. I think it's cool though.

In the meantime, check out my interview with Part Time Poker.

Resolution Three: Improve My NLHE Skills

Goal 6: Use Poker Tracker More Effectively

I played with a HUD up over the weekend for the first time in weeks, but I just didn't find myself using it much at all. Of course, as soon as I turned it off, a spot came up where I did actually want to see some numbers. All in all, though, it still feels like more of a distraction when I'm multi-tabling. I do want to at least use Poker Tracker for more self-analysis of my game.

Goal 7: Finish the Year with a 4BB/100 Win-Rate at 5/10 NL.

I'm currently at a not-too-impressive 1.32 BB/100 over 86,065 hands. The best way to get this up will probably be to play more 5/10 Heads Up, where I'm currently scoring better than 10 BB/100 over 10K hands.

Goal 8: Play 50,000 Hands of Heads Up NLHE

I've logged just under 20K hands so far, at a 4.11 BB/100 win rate. No wonder it's getting tougher and tougher to find action. Also of note: I'm currently working on a Heads Up series for Poker Savvy Plus.

61st in the FTP 750K

God I hate fucking tournaments. Been playing since 4:30, made it deep in yet another Sunday tournament, and out to another bad beat. Granted, it was a pretty thin spot, but that makes it only moderately less annoying. I had about 12 BB's, and action folded to a pretty successful Pocket Fiver in the SB. He open shoved into my K7.

A good tournament player, especially a P5'er, especially a guy who may not recognize me as a knowledgeable player, especially when the table's been active and there haven't been many steal opportunities, is going to have any two cards here. I called, and indeed he had J9.

I covered my face with my hands, then peaked through them at the screen. I was pretty sure I was going to see a J-high flop. Instead, just to ruin any suspense, it was T87. There was no running full house for me.

At least I won't have cause to play any more tournaments on FTP any time soon....

Christian Harder Final Tables WPT Championship!

My fellow Poker Savvy Plus pro Christian "charder30" Harder is at the TV table (final 6) of the World Poker Tour $25,000 Championship event at the Bellagio! According to the WPT, Christian comes in at a distant second with 7.5 million chips:

Seat 1 - Elky Grospellier - 5,955,000
Seat 2 - Scotty Nguyen - 3,275,000
Seat 3 - Shannon Shorr - 1,130,000
Seat 4 - Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 13,300,000
Seat 5 - Christian Harder - 7,425,000
Seat 6 - Ran Azor - 2,525,000

As you can see, there a few other well-known players at the table. Nonetheless, my money's on Christian to win it all. Good luck buddy!

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 20: FLHE 6-Max

I hate and suck at FLHE, so I didn't play this one. I just wanted to give a big congratulations to Terrence "Unassigned" Chan, who won both the $500 and $5000 tournaments. I had the privilege of meeting, playing with, and losing a big pot to Terrence in Barcelona. He was a very nice guy, and I've been following his blog ever since. He's also a phenomenal poker player, probably one of the best FLHE players in the world, and it's hard to think of a guy more deserving of a big win than Terrence.

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 5: NLHE Shootout

I even knew they were putting a cap on registration for these, but I waited until the last minute to register anyway. Both the $150 (at 1000) and the $1500 (at freaking 100) buy-in events were locked, so I played the $15 for a lark. I don't know if it was locked at 10K, but it got damn near that, with more than 9000 runners. I saw the field in the $1500 and was kind of glad I didn't play it, though it presumably would have been softer with a larger field.

The structure was great and the opposition terrible, so with a lot of patience I was able to grind my way through my first table with no real difficulty. I roll my eyes whenever Daniel Negreanu mentions "small ball", but against a weak field it really is an awesome strategy. No one was playing back at me ever, so I just stole like a demon pre- and post-flop without ever putting much at risk until I had a huge hand. The few times I did, I lost one big flip with AQ vs. 66 against a guy who limp-shoved on me from the SB (that one I think was mandatory) and when I reshoved 99 into KK (and probably I should have just folded pre-flop, even four-handed to a CO raise, given stacks, reads, etc.).

A very similar strategy worked well for me at the second table

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $15.00+$1.50 Tournament, 1250/2500 Blinds 300 Ante (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t39651)
SB (t131070)
Hero (BB) (t196924)
UTG (t41296)
MP (t91059)

Hero's M: 37.51

Preflop: Hero is BB with K, A
UTG bets t7500, MP raises to t90759 (All-In), 4 folds

Total pot: t20250


Towards the end of the second table, there were two hands where I got away from small ball and swung for the fences. They were the end of me:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $15.00+$1.50 Tournament, 1250/2500 Blinds 300 Ante (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t203211)
Hero (Button) (t193874)
SB (t102915)

Hero's M: 41.69

Preflop: Hero is Button with J, J
Hero bets t5555, SB raises to t17500, 1 fold, Hero raises to t193574 (All-In), SB calls t85115 (All-In)

Flop: (t208630) K, 2, 9 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t208630) K (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t208630) 7 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t208630

Results:
Hero had J, J (two pair, Kings and Jacks).
SB had Q, Q (two pair, Kings and Queens).
Outcome: SB won t208630


Although it sounds absurd since I was raising 60-70% of my hands on the button, I think I should have folded this pre-flop. This was the first time this player had re-raised me all tournament, and I was picking up chips so easily that there wasn't a need to felt him here. Obviously not folding JJ pre-flop with 30BB effective stacks and an insane image isn't going to be a huge leak, but I do think folding would have been correct here. And then a few hands later, there was the one that did me in:


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $15.00+$1.50 Tournament, 1250/2500 Blinds 300 Ante (3 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t118106)
Hero (SB) (t94614)
BB (t287280)

Hero's M: 20.35

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, A
1 fold, Hero bets t7500, BB calls t5000

Flop: (t15900) 10, 8, 2 (2 players)
Hero bets t8888, BB calls t8888

Turn: (t33676) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets t22222, BB raises to t270592 (All-In), Hero calls t55704 (All-In)

River: (t189528) Q (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t189528

Results:
Hero had A, A (one pair, Aces).
BB had 6, 8 (two pair, eights and sixes).
Outcome: BB won t189528


I'm definitely going to lose some money here, but I think it's a too optimistic to go for his stack. I'd rather check turn and then either bet-fold river (if he checks back the turn) or check-call turn and bet-fold or check-fold river depending on the card and his turn bet size.

Making Quick Reads in Poker Tournaments

My latest article, "Making Quick Reads in Poker Tournaments", is now appearing in the April issue of 2+2 Magazine. Here's an excerpt that previews the article's content:

"This article will suggest several strategies for formulating preliminary profiles of new opponents and adapting your play accordingly. It is important to emphasize from the outset that these will be tentative and preliminary, though educated, guesses. You should continue to observe your opponents actively and be very open to revising, qualifying, or even reversing your first impressions as you gather new information. If used correctly, though, these tips can help you to make surprisingly accurate assessments based on relatively little information."

Please let me know if you find it helpful, if you have any suggestions, or if I've made any blatant errors (that last one's for you, brue!).

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. :-(

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.

Bay 101 WPT Day 1AM

Edit: Important correction here. The non-bountied live pro I busted was not Bill Gazes but rather Bill Edler.

I decided to play the Bay 101 because of the combination of a nice location, great structure/tournament director (thanks Matt Savage!), and interesting people I thought it would attract, both because of the area and the number of pros who play as "shooting stars" with $5000 bounties on their heads.

At the outset, they distributed the bounties evenly, with one or two at every table in the 5 and/or 7 seats. I was fortunate to get probably the single softest bounty in the field at my table: 2007 WSOP main event champion Jerry Yang was seated to my immediate left. He was very quiet, but friendly enough. To my surprise, he made a lot of hopeless bluffs, especially in the early stages of the tournament. That's not exactly how I expected him to play, which is maybe what he was going for. I called him down correctly once with 8s 4s on a Js 8h 3s Qd 3d board.

I did some splashing around in the early going, got into pots with weak players but couldn't make anything happen and bled away about 10% of my chips in the first hour. I lost about the same in the next hour, but then just before the first break I picked up 77 in early position. Blinds were 50/100, and because the table was playing very loose, I just min-raised to 200. Small pairs are hell to play out of position in big pots, so I was mostly looking for set value.

A young, boisterous Asian kid who seemed to be a local regular rather than an internet phenom re-raised to 650. It was the first re-raise we'd seen at our table all day, and I was very sure what he had. I called, and got a nice but not perfect Tc 8c 7s flop. There was only 1300 in the pot but 16K in the effective stacks. This guy seemed like exactly the sort to overplay a big pair here, trying to "protect" his hand, and I wanted to get the money in before a scare card came off. I was afraid that if I check-raised him he might just call, which I didn't want. So I led out for 900, he raised to 2K, I moved all in, and he called so quickly that for a second I was afraid he might have TT. But he turned over AA, looked disgusted, and failed to hit his two-outer. I went into the first break with nearly 35K, well over the average of about 22K.

After the break, blinds were 100/200. I called a raise from a tight older Japanese guy who seemed not very good with Ah 7s in the SB. The flop came AJT with one heart, and we both checked. The turn brought the Qh, giving me a flush draw and the idiot end of a gutshot to go along with my top pair. To a more aggressive player, I check here, but against this guy, I decided to bet out 700 instead, thinking he'd call with a lot of draws and worse pairs that he wouldn't bet.

Instead, he raised to 3000, leaving about 3000 behind, which was pretty much the worst thing he could do. Especially from this player, this was a very strong line. I didn't want to shove, because I was sure I did not have the best hand. It was very close between call and fold. I ultimately decided to call, but in retrospect I'm not sure that was best. The river was an off-suit 4, and I check-folded. I'm still not sure whether leading out on the turn was actually better than just check-calling. Even if I also check-called the river, it probably would have cost me the same but I would have seen my opponent's hand.

I ran into a few interesting spots against Yang where his bounty influence my decision. In one, I opened to 500 with KJs on the button, and he made it 2000 from the SB with 8000 behind. Ordinarily I would fold, but relataive to this many chips the $5000 for busting him is a huge overlay. I opted to call and fold to a shove on a T74 flop with none of my suit. He told me he had KK, and I decided that even with the bounty my call was a bad one.

A little later, he had position and a somewhat deeper stack and repopped my 500 raise to 1500. I called with QTs and again check-folded a flop that whiffed me entirely. That one I think was justified.

The guy I'd busted was replaced with Bill Gazes Edler in the 7 seat. Bill wasn't actually a bounty, but because he was known to a lot of the dealers and sitting in the bounty seat, he had to keep explaining that he wasn't actually a shooting star. I don't think he actually felt snubbed at not having a bounty, but it would have been funny if he did since dealers kept assuming that and shouting for the floor when he was all in.

It was unfortunate for me that he wasn't a bounty, because I ended up busting him. The last hand before our first break, blinds were 150/300/25. Gazes Edler, sitting on about 12K, raised to 1000 UTG+1. I called with 88 in the SB, expecting him to be very strong, and Maria Ho (who had replaced Yang on my immediate left) called in the BB. I had about 20K, and she covered me.

The flop came Jd 9d 8s, and I had to think about how I wanted the money to go in. If we check to Bill, he probably bets, then I have to raise and Maria folds probably every hand worse than mine. Instead, I led out for 1800. Maria called, and Bill moved all in. I put on a show of thinking about whether to call, hoping to entice Maria in with a wider range, but she was paying no attention at all, which was actually bad for me. Either she was already planning to fold, or she had a huge hand and was doing the classic Caro "weak-means-strong" pretending to have no interest in the hand. I finally shoved in, and she quickly folded.

Bill actually had TT, giving him something like 40% equity, but my set held up. He was very gracious about it, chatting with me briefly about the hand, then clapping me on the back and saying, "Use them well my friend." Definitely left a very favorable impression with me.

There was a middle-aged Asian guy with bad teeth but a good sense of humor who initially seemed pretty fishy. In the early levels, he was playing almost every hand, often limp-calling raises out of position. As the blinds got bigger, though, he tightened up a bit, got a bit more aggressive, and started playing reasonably well post-flop. He still had his leaks, but for a while I was really overestimating how bad he was, and it cost me.

Blinds were 200/400/50, and he hadn't limped in in ages. He called for 400, and a very tight/straightforward South Asian guy named Bobby (probably not how he spells it, but I didn't ask) on my right made it 1600 on the Button. I was in the SB with AKo with 40K. The LAG had about 24K, but Bobby covered me and I didn't think I could get AK in pre-flop profitably against him. I elected to just call the raise, expecting both of them to overplay top pair if they flopped it, such that my implied odds were very good.

The limper made it 6K. Even though he was pretty LAG, he'd only limp-raised once before, and it was with KK. I thought for a long time and folded. He showed me the 6h, and I kicked myself for an awful weak-tight fold.

Towards the end of the night, I was moved to a new, tougher table. There were three shooting stars there: David "The Dragon" Pham across the table from me, Annie Duke a few seats to his left, and Kenny Tran on my immediate right. If Annie recognized me, she didn't give any indication of it, as she has in the past.

For her part, she was looking rough. It's a popular assertion on 2+2 and other poker forums that Annie is unattractive, but when I first met her three years ago, I thought she was pretty good looking for a 40-year-old mother of four. Now, though, there were rings under her eyes and a darkness in her face, perhaps a physical manifestation of the slow corruption that affiliation with Ultimate Bet was exacting on her soul.

The first time that she raised my blind, it was 400/800/100 and she raised to 2200. Kenny Tran called in the SB, and even before I looked at my cards, I was thinking squeeze. I looked down at 85s, straightened in my seat a bit, looked around, capped my cards, did some mental arithmetic, and raised to 8000. They both folded very quickly.

Kenny Tran, as I've already said, was on my right. On my left was a big, kinda doofy Italian guy whom I've seen around at Foxwoods and the WSOP. He and Kenny got into a conversation about how many players would be left at the end of the day, and the Italian somewhat off-handedly said that he'd take the under on 50.

"Ten thousand dollars?" Kenny asked.

"Book it." And just like that, a $10,000 prop bet was made. There was some quibbling over details, such as what would happen if exactly 50 players remained (technically, the Italian had volunteered to take the under, but they confirmed the accuracy of the posted number with the tournament director before finalizing the bet, and in that time they renegotiated that 50 would be a push), but there was no doubt in my mind that either man would pay if he lost.

"Cash only," Kenny said.

"Bellagio chips?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine. But just like, no check."

"Check? You're talkin' to the wrong guy, check. I haven't had a checking account since... I was born."

"OK, good."

"What about Circus, Circus? Will you take Circus, Circus chips?"

Kenny laughed, but then the Italian leaned over and whispered to him (though I could hear, because I was sitting between them), "Seriously, I'll get you cash no problem. I won't have it tonight, but a lot of people owe me money, and they will pay me by Wednesday. One hundred percent." Kenny waved him away, no problem, and I believed him as well. Like I said, he was Italian.

Maria Ho was moved to the same table I was, and despite reraising me three times at our last table, had generally been staying out of my way. She went so far as to open limp her button when I was in the BB, but I found AKs and popped it to 4K. She re-raised to 9K and change, but I had only 30ish left, so I just shipped it in. She tanked for a long time, staring at me, commenting on the tension in my neck, etc. but eventually folded. Although that is what I wanted her to do, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have minded a call either.

Two hands later, the action folded to me in the SB, where I had 99. I raised to 2500, and the Italian called. The flop came KJx with two diamonds, hardly what I wanted to see. I checked and reluctantly called a 2500 bet.

Bink! The turn was a 9, and I checked again. Unfortunately, so did my opponent.

Even worse, the river brought a T, putting four a straight on the board. I bet 4500, which he hemmed and hawed and called, only to crow about the bad beat when I showed my set.

That table broke with only half an hour left in the night, and I got moved to a new one with Freddy Deeb, Joe Sebok, and Daniel Alaei. The first hand I played, I raised Deeb's blind to 2400 with 44. He called and led into me for 5000 on an AQx rainbow flop. It seemed pretty unlikely to me that he had a super strong hand, so I called, figuring I'd turn my hand into a bluff if he checked the turn. He bet 13K, though, and I folded.

As for how the day finished up, most of you know how it went for me. There were exactly 50 players left, so the bet ended in a push. And there were more than 200 registered for Day 1B before the night was up, so I'm assuming there was good turnout today. Most likely we'll need to play down from 140 or so to 36 tomorrow, which should take roughly the same 10 hours as yesterday. Hopefully I'll still be among the 36, as tables will be 6-handed on Day 3!

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!

World Poker Tour Bay 101

I've been alternately promising Emily a vacation and insisting that I haven't had enough time for poker for months now. Finally, she offered the very appealing suggestion that we go to Northern California for the World Poker Tour event at the Bay 101 casino in San Jose. We've tacked on a few days to the end of the trip so that there'll be vacationing no matter how the tournament goes, but having a few extra days in the Bay area isn't a bad consolation prize if I don't last long in the tournament.

We flew into Oakland Saturday night and had a minor adventure at the airport. Our hotel offered a free shuttle, but the Colgate Women's Lacrosse team was already waiting for the shuttle when we got to the depot. It looked like the driver was going to need at least three trips to get all of them, and rather than waiting half an hour, we went to find a cab stand.

Along the way, a woman who seemed like a helpful airline employee (suspicious combination, I know, but in my defense I was tired) told us we could take a commercial shuttle for "about $5 each". We waited a few minutes for the shuttle to arrive, and then a driver with a thick Indian accent started to pick up our bags and ask where we were going. He had clearly never heard of our hotel, which was practically walking distance from the airport, and started his price negotiation at $20.

When I informed we were told $10, he grew irate, first at us, then at the woman who, it turned out, worked for the shuttle company and was aggressively recruiting customers at the airport. As best we could tell, she'd roped us in then called for a shuttle, but the driver didn't consider it worth his time to come out to the airport for a $10 job and was angry at her for calling him. We slunk away as the man berated her, and she shouted a meak apology and directions to the cab stand at our backs.

Yesterday we drove from Oakland to San Jose, stopping in a park to hike through a Redwood canyon. They weren't the colossal redwoods that are so famous, but they were still pretty big, and we saw some turkey-sized birds, so it was all good, though more than a little muddy. I'd upload some pictures, but this hotel internet connection is blazingly slow.

We stopped for lunch at a Chicago-style pizzeria called Zachary's just outside of Berkeley. Having lived in Chicago for four years, I can say that it wasn't a particularly authentic recreation, but it was quite good in its own right and came with one of the best mixed greens salads I've ever had.

Play starts in less than two hours, and I'm looking forward to starting the day with a big breakfast, so I better go. Wish me luck, and check back tonight for an update!

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?

/Bankroll

I think this has been out for a few days, but I just noticed that Poker Stars has posted a tentative schedule for a yet-to-be-named tournament series in April. I love the format of offering a low-, medium-, and high-stakes option for every tournament and am frankly staggered that they think they will get sufficient interest in some of these events, especially the $2000 Triple Draw.

The 2+2 MTT community is mostly salivating over this, though some are a little concerned that the smaller events will actually discourage people from trying satellite into the bigger events. I don't think they're wrong, but I still expect the big events to be plenty soft thanks to tourney donks playing with relatively deep stacks for fairly big money.

The only issue for me is how to get enough money on Stars by April to enable me to play the ones I want without busting the bankroll. I may suck it up and make a wire transfer, which I've so far refused to do on principle since Stars makes the depositor pay the wire fees. It's really preposterous- I pay enough rake in 10 minutes to cover the fees, and it's clearly in their interest for me to have money on their site.

Anyway, the schedule:

Event 1 - 2 April 2009 @ 14:30 ET - NL Hold'em with Rebuys [6-max]

Really looking forward to this one, will probably play the medium and the large.

• 01-L: $5.50 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 01-M: $55 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 01-H: $530 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 2 - 2 April 2009 @ 16:30 ET - PL Omaha Hi/Lo

I like PLO8 and will probably play the medium, maybe the large depending on what the field looks like. I'd probably even be willing to play the large if I thought I was slightly -EV.

• 02-L: $11 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 02-M: $109 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 02-H: $1,050 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 3 - 3 April 2009 @ 14:30 ET - PL 5-Card Draw

I might play the small or medium for fun, but definitely won't be playing the large.

• 03-L: $11 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 03-M: $109 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 03-H: $1,050 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 4 - 3 April 2009 @ 16:30 ET - NL Hold'em [2X Chance, turbo]

It's hard to turn down the great value that all of these NLHE tourneys represent, but I really hate turbos. In these, the tourney donks might actually have the edge on me.

• 04-L: $16.50 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 04-M: $162 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 04-H: $1,575 buy-in, $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 5 - 4 April 2009 @ 14:30 ET - NL Hold'em Shootout [10-max]

The large will probably be worth playing.

• 05-L: $16.50 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 05-M: $162 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 05-H: $1,575 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 6 - 4 April 2009 @ 16:30 ET - PL Omaha [1R1A, 6-max]

I might play the medium, but lately I've no interest in PLO.

• 06-L: $22 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 06-M: $215 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 06-H: $2,100 buy-in, $400,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 7 - 5 April 2009 @ 14:30 ET - H.O.R.S.E.

Recently I've concluded that I may not be as good at HORSE as I thought, and/or everyone else is getting better. If I play, it will probably just be the low.

• 07-L: $109 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 07-M: $1,050 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 07-H: $10,300 buy-in, $750,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 8 - 5 April 2009 @ 16:30 ET - NL Hold'em [2-day]

Juicy! The medium will be fine, but it's probably not a good idea to burn so much time on a $300 tournament. I really want to play the large though.

• 08-L: $33 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 08-M: $320 buy-in, $1,500,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 08-H: $3,150 buy-in, $3,000,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 9 - 6 April 2009 @ 14:30 ET - FL Triple Draw 2-7

If I play, it would only be the low for fun. Whenever I play this game, I always end up screwing up and getting excited about an Ace or a straight.

• 09-L: $22 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 09-M: $215 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 09-H: $2,100 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 10 - 6 April 2009 @ 16:30 ET - NL Hold'em [Heads-Up Match Play]

Nice opportunity for heads up, will probably play medium and large.

• 10-L: $16.50 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 10-M: $162 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 10-H: $1,575 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 11 - 7 April 2009 @ 14:30 ET - Mixed Hold'em [6-max]

Meh. I really hate and suck at FLHE. I'll probably sit this one out.

• 11-L: $33 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 11-M: $320 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 11-H: $3,150 buy-in, $800,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 12 - 7 April 2009 @ 16:30 ET - 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo

I like this game, but I'm probably not good enought for the large. I'll likely play the medium though.

• 12-L: $22 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 12-M: $215 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 12-H: $2,100 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 13 - 8 April 2009 @ 14:30 ET - FL Razz

Same as above, only Razz is more frustrating. Maybe the medium, not the large.

• 13-L: $22 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 13-M: $215 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 13-H: $2,100 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 14 - 8 April 2009 @ 16:30 ET - NL Hold'em [6-max]

Tight! Medium and large are both high priorities, and I might even play the low.

• 14-L: $55 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 14-M: $530 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 14-H: $5,200 buy-in, $1,250,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 15 - 9 April 2009 @ 14:30 ET - 8-Game

I'm probably too bad at too many of these games to warrant playing even the medium.

• 15-L: $44 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 15-M: $425 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 15-H: $4,175 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 16 - 9 April 2009 @ 16:30 ET - 7-Card Stud

I don't really like and suck at 7-stud, so I won't be playing these.

• 16-L: $33 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 16-M: $320 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 16-H: $3,150 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 17 - 10 April 2009 @ 14:30 ET - NL Hold'em [1R1A]

I'll play the medium, and I'd like to play the high, but it'll stretch the bankroll. We'll see.

• 17-L: $33 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 17-M: $320 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 17-H: $3,150 buy-in, $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 18 - 10 April 2009 @ 16:30 ET - PL Omaha

Meh, probably skip all of these.

• 18-L: $55 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 18-M: $530 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 18-H: $5,200 buy-in, $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 19 - 11 April 2009 @ 14:30 ET - FL Omaha Hi/Lo

I'm not much on this game, will probably skip it.

• 19-L: $55 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 19-M: $530 buy-in, $150,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 19-H: $5,200 buy-in, $400,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 20 - 11 April 2009 @ 16:30 ET - FL Hold'em [6-max]

Definitely not playing these.

• 20-L: $55 buy-in, $25,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 20-M: $530 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 20-H: $5,200 buy-in, $400,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 21 - 12 April 2009 @ 14:30 ET - NL Hold'em [Heads-Up Match Play]

I'll play the medium and maybe the low but definitely not the high.

• 21-L: $270 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 21-M: $2,600 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 21-H: $25,500 buy-in, $800,000 guaranteed prize pool

Event 22 - 12 April 2009 @ 16:30 ET - NL Hold'em Main Event [2-day]

I'll play the medium for sure. I'd really like to play the high, but I don't know if it's going to be practical.

• 22-L: $109 buy-in, $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 22-M: $1,050 buy-in, $3,000,000 guaranteed prize pool
• 22-H: $10,300 buy-in, $5,000,000 guaranteed prize pool

FTOPS Main Event: $500 NLHE

About three hours into this tournament, it was looking to be short and sweet. I shoved 33 from the SB over an aggressive guy in the CO who'd been raising most of the time it was folded to him. The BB wakes up with TT and shoves over the top, and the original raiser manages to have AA. Buuuut, I spike my 3 to more than triple up and suddenly have a nice stack to ride.

Nearly three hours after that, we're on the bubble, I open the pot with a min-raise for like the 10th time in the last two orbits, the BB 3-bets, I shove all in with my AK, and he calls it off with 88. He wins the flip, and I spend 6 hours playing to bubble and walk away with nothing. Standard FTOPS stupidness. Thank goodness it's over.

Embarassingly for FTP, although this tournament with a $2.5 million guaranteed prizepool was the centerpiece of one of their major tournament series, Poker Stars actually managed to edge them out for biggest tournament of the day with its own special $2.5 million guarantee in the $200 Sunday tournament. The tournament, part of Stars' 25 billionth hand promotion, drew over 13,000 runners.

FTOPS #22: $5000 NLHE Two-Day

I really wish FTP had found a way to avoid scheduling this on Valentine's Day. Emily told me she was OK with me playing it, which I think she would have been, but that's really all the more reason to spend the day with her. And obviously the latter is far more fun and less stressful/frustrating than buying a super-expensive lottery ticket. Long story short, I didn't play.

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 Event 12: $1000 NLHE Second Chance

This was an odd format. If you lost all 5000 of your starting chips in the first two hours, you got a free T5000 rebuy. However, if you reached the end of those two hours with chips, even if you had less than 5000, you got nothing. Essentially, it was a use-it-or-lose-it insurance policy.

I entered the tournament with the expectation that I would play mostly normally for the first hour but push hard with draws or in spots that I thought were very slightly -EV and not make any big folds. I also reminded myself not to make any big bluffs, since theoretically others should be more willing to call down as a result of the Second Chance.

As the end of the two hours approached, if I was still in the neighborhood of 5000 chips, then I'd start getting crazier, eventually just open shoving in the hopes of either doubling up or using the free rebuy that was about to disappear.

With about half an hour left to go, I had over 8000 chips when I ran into this psychopath:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 60/120 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: 6,390
Hero (BB): 8,690
UTG: 9,080
UTG+1: 14,775
MP1: 5,756
MP2: 11,176
CO: 9,055
BTN: 6,018

Pre-Flop: (180) A 2 dealt to Hero (BB)
6 folds, SB raises to 480, Hero calls 360

Flop: (960) 4 5 9 (2 Players)
SB bets 840, Hero raises to 2,222, SB raises to 5,910 and is All-In, Hero calls 3,688

Turn: (12,780) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (12,780) 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 12,780 Pot
SB showed T A (a pair of Tens) and WON 12,780 (+6,390 NET)
Hero showed A 2 (Ace Ten high) and LOST (-6,390 NET)


Maybe I should have just shoved the flop. I thought this would look stronger, but the worst case scenario occurred where he shoved a dominating Ace that almost certainly would not have called all in.

Two hands later, I found a great spot where I would have gambooooooooool shoved any two cards. Shockingly, the two Villains, both of whom were decent tournament regulars, folded.

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

CO: 12,780
Hero (BTN): 2,240
SB: 8,960
BB: 13,805
UTG: 5,756
UTG+1: 11,176
UTG+2: 9,055
MP1: 13,186
MP2: 10,287

Pre-Flop: (180) J A dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, MP1 raises to 300, MP2 calls 300, CO folds, Hero raises to 2,240 and is All-In, 4 folds

Results: 1,080 Pot
Hero mucked J A and WON 1,080 (+780 NET)


The next time I shoved over a raise, my K2 ran into AA and I got to rebuy up to 5000, which is where I ended the "rebuy period". I never got anything going afterwards, though, and within an hour I lost a flip for the rest of my chips.

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.

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.

2009 Poker Resolutions

Resolution One: Keep Grinding NLHE Cash Games

This is my bread and butter game, and even if I don't do anything to improve, just maintaining my current winrate and putting in hours will be very valuable to me. Of course I do want to get better, but my general focus will be on playing rather than doing stuff to improve (posting hands, watching instructional videos, etc.).

Also, I'm not going to worry too much about non-NLHE games. I tried to do it last year, but it didn't prove too productive. I'll play/study them when I feel like it, but it's not going to be a priority. I'm confident in my ability to pick them up quickly should that become necessary/desirable and I choose to devote all my time to it, such that I don't think I need to prioritize working on them now.

Goal 1: Earn $X in NLHE Cash Games

It's very tough to predict or control what you earn playing tournaments. With cash games, though, it's mostly a question of game selection and putting in hours. My goal for 2009 is to earn in NLHE cash games what I made playing any form of poker in 2008, so that anything from tournaments is just a perk. Hopefully this will help me to keep my focus even if I do make a big tournament score, since that won't count towards the goal.

Goal 2: Earn Supernova status on PokerStars

This shouldn't be tough, and I'm already off to a good start. Basically I need to earn 100,000 VPP's (PokerStars' frequent player reward) over the course of the year. Having earned 3200 already, I'm on course to do this by September.

Last year, I played on Full Tilt almost exclusively because they have rakeback. My understanding is that the Stars VPP program is actually worth more if you devote the time to getting into the top tiers of it, though. Plus bigger games seem to go more frequently and are maybe a little softer.

There are a couple of drawbacks, though. For one thing, I have way more money on FTP than on Stars and it's not that easy to reload. At the moment I'm mostly grinding up my balance playing 5/10 full ring games, and that's going OK, so hopefully this won't be a barrier. But I've already passed on a few potentially good 25/50 games for lack of funds.

Also, Stars doesn't have Deep tables, which are getting really popular on FTP. They do have some tables with a 50BB minimum buy-in, which helps with the short-stacking problem, but I really like playing deep. There are a lot of regulars who can handle a 100BB stack very well but make mistakes playing 200BB deep. Since the bigger games are comprised mostly of regulars, that makes a big difference.

Still, I don't think Supernova status will be tough to get, so I'm going to go for it. The next level, Supernova Elite, require 10 times as many VPP's, though, and I don't think I have any prayer for that.

Resolution Two: Diversify My Income Streams

I laid the foundation for this last year, but I really haven't capitalized on it yet. Now that I'm starting to get a higher profile in the poker world, I think there are ways for me both to generate passive income and to combine poker with some of my other interests, such as writing and teaching.

Goal 3: Monetize This Blog

I was surprised by how much I made off of blog ads last year with virtually no effort. In general do find internet ads to be tacky and intrusive, but in this case I am giving away a lot of very valuable information at no cost to you, so I hope my dear readers will understand if there are a few ads on the page. I'll try to keep it minimally intrusive, and the plus side for you will likely be a nicer layout and better content. Expect to see a new look later this month.

Goal 4: Get Back Into Coaching

I'm not going to set an hourly goal for this because I don't want to force it, but I think I ought to do some more coaching. With the right students, it is in fact very enjoyable and rewarding. Plus, Poker Savvy tells me I can offer my students a free three-month subscription, which hopefully will sweeten the value of the package without costing me any more time. I may also consider doing group sessions that lower the costs for any individual person while helping to get me an hourly rate comparable to that of actually playing poker. Expect to see more information about this soon.

Goal 5: Market My Writing

I'm still just doing the easy stuff, writing for the occasional people who approach me. I think I want to get my name out there a little bit more and publish in some more high-profile ways. I don't know about writing my own book, but I'm in discussions with a well-known player now about contributing a chapter to a book he's doing.

Resolution Three: Improve My NLHE Skills

This is a lower priority than just putting in hours. Then again, practice is the single best way to improve, so I want to do what I can to maximize the learning value of my time at the tables.

Goal 6: Use Poker Tracker More Effectively

I barely use Poker Tracker for anything beyond record keeping, and I know I'm only getting like 10% of its value. I often don't even use the HUD because it distracts me when I'm playing a lot of tables. But I want to be able to do at least some basic evaluation of my play to try to identify some leaks, such as I found with suited connectors in one of my year-end posts. Plus I want to put together a HUD layout that is truly useful for me.

Goal 7: Finish the Year with a 4BB/100 Win-Rate at 5/10 NL.

This is somewhat beyond my control because I won't play a large enough sample size (there are good players who have had 100K hand break-even streaks), but if I can maintain this win-rate, which I think is about twice what my "true" rate is now, I'll be in great shape.

Goal 8: Play 50,000 Hands of Heads Up NLHE

If I'm not going to do PLO, heads up is probably the next best game for me to get better at. At stakes above 10/20, it's often the only way to get action, and that's even more true the higher you get. Not to mention that thinking through heads up situations makes you better at playing marginal hands in general. Maybe I'll read and review Moshman's new book as well....

This is Why I Love and Hate the Sunday Million

Sorry I haven't had the opportunity to put together my 2009 Resolutions yet- they'll be coming soon...

The Poker Stars Sunday Million (which now guarantees a $1.5 million prizepool and routinely clears that by a healthy margin) is comparable to the WSOP main event for its ability to entice atrocious poker players to play for far more money than their skill warrants. Even though I'd surely have a higher expected value playing cash tables, I still play it most Sundays for some combination of nostalgia, prestige, sadism, and lottery-esque gamble.

This hand from today's tournament exemplifies a problem that I often have in the early stages. I just don't know how to read the hands of truly awful players, and while they make enough fundamental mistakes to compensate, they can for that reason be irksome. It can be tough to tell whether they are overplaying a garbage hand or holding a monster. Then to make matters worse, they always get there:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $200+$15 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (7 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t9750)
UTG (t9975)
MP1 (t8135)
Hero (MP2) (t9490)
CO (t9925)
Button (t9925)
SB (t12800)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 10, 10
UTG raises to t100, MP1 calls t100, Hero calls t100, 3 folds, BB calls t50

Flop: (t425) 4, 4, 6 (4 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, MP1 bets t100, Hero calls t100, BB raises to t300, 2 folds, Hero calls t200

Turn: (t1125) 8 (2 players)
BB bets t550, Hero calls t550

River: (t2225) 7 (2 players)
BB bets t600, Hero calls t600

Total pot: t3425

Results:
BB had 6, 5 (straight, eight high).
Hero mucked 10, 10 (two pair, tens and fours).
Outcome: BB won t3425

FTOPS Razz

Thought I'm not playing the FTOPS events as compulsively as I have in the past, I am playing my favorites. So far, though, it hasn't been too interesting and I decided to spare you the litany of bad beats. Last night I had my first cash, taking 40th in the $300 Razz. The only potentially interesting hand was the one where I lost my stack:

Tournament - *Razz* (2,500/5,000), Ante 400, Bring-In 800

Rosiepod (Seat 1): 31,063
Foucault (Seat 2): 26,248
bearw8 (Seat 3): 51,310
OnTheRail15 (Seat 4): 40,129
Crisp86 (Seat 5): 31,676
RSonkee (Seat 6): 124,685
Carmen35 (Seat 7): 38,570
DAT MOOSE (Seat 8): 67,590

*3rd Street* - (1.28 SB)

Rosiepod: xx xx 3c___folds
Foucault: 4c 6d 7h___calls
bearw8: xx xx 8d___folds
OnTheRail15: xx xx Th___*brings-in*___folds
Crisp86: xx xx 4d___folds
RSonkee: xx xx Ad___completes
Carmen35: xx xx 9h___folds
DAT MOOSE: xx xx 2c___calls

*4th Street* - (4.60 SB)

Foucault: 4c 6d 7h 2h___calls
RSonkee: xx xx Ad Qs___folds
DAT MOOSE: xx xx 2c 5c___*bets*

*5th Street* - (3.30 BB)

Foucault: 4c 6d 7h 2h 5d___*bets*___calls
DAT MOOSE: xx xx 2c 5c 7d___raises

*6th Street* - (7.30 BB)

Foucault: 4c 6d 7h 2h 5d 6s___*checks*___calls
DAT MOOSE: xx xx 2c 5c 7d Jd___bets

*River* - (9.30 BB)

Foucault: 4c 6d 7h 2h 5d 6s Td___*checks*___calls
DAT MOOSE: xx xx 2c 5c 7d Jd xx___bets

*Total pot:* (11.30 BB - 56,500)

Results:

Total pot 56,500 | Rake 0
DAT MOOSE showed [Kh 3h 2c 5c 7d Jd Ah] and won (56,500) with 7,5,3,2,A

Note: this site shuffles the hole cards.


Looking at it now this doesn't look so bad, but at the time I had an awful feeling about it. Possibly a better Razz player can escape at some point. It's hard to say, though- by the time he's raising fifth, the pot is quite big. I do have draws at a 6 occasionally people will overplay bad Razz hands, though I don't think that was happening here.

Deep Sunday Million Run

I put in one of my longest online poker sessions ever yesterday, starting at 2PM to play the $256 FTOPS 6-max knockout event (ran like ass but as you'll see I've got no room to complain), then making a deep run in the Stars Sunday Million that kept me up until 12:30 AM. I finished a disappointing 30th after losing AKs < KQ, 66 < AQ, and KT < 44. But again, I've got no room to complain. Here's a little taste of how I made it so far:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $200+$15 Tournament, 4000/8000 Blinds 800 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t336390)
BB (t147060)
UTG (t377187)
UTG+1 (t251925)
MP1 (t104582)
Hero (MP2) (t97048)
MP3 (t131592)
CO (t389095)
Button (t35424)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 8, 8

UTG raises to t21600, 2 folds, Hero raises to t96248 (All-In), 4 folds, BB raises to t146260 (All-In), UTG calls t124660

Flop: (t399968) Q, 2, 5 (3 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t399968) 5 (3 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t399968) 8 (3 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t399968



Results in white below:

BB had 10, 10 (two pair, tens and fives).

UTG had J, J (two pair, Jacks and fives).

Hero had 8, 8 (full house, eights over fives).

Outcome: UTG won t100024, Hero won t299944



Poker Tracker missed one of the dirtier ones because I was moved immediately afterwards, but I made a small raise UTG+1 with Jh 9h and was called by a guy in late position. The flop came QJ7 with one heart. I checked, he min-bet, and I called. The turn was the Th, giving me an open-ender and a flush draw. I checked, he bet small again, and I shoved. I was thinking he wouldn't have AK, QQ, JJ, or TT, or K9, but he snapped me off with QQ. No sweat though- the river was an 8 to give me the straight.

This tournament has a really shallow structure, so while there were interesting spots, they had more to do with blind stealing than anything that would translate to a good blog hand. But here's a big laydown I made with like 75 remaining:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $200+$15 Tournament, 30000/60000 Blinds 6000 Ante (7 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 (t1380264)
Hero (CO) (t1552219)
Button (t494600)
SB (t571314)
BB (t985490)
UTG (t923860)
MP1 (t2234517)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q, Q
1 fold, MP1 raises to t133000, 1 fold, Hero calls t133000, 2 folds, BB calls t73000

Flop: (t471000) 8, J, 6 (3 players)
BB checks, MP1 bets t271000, Hero folds, 1 fold

Total pot: t471000

Results in white below:

MP1 didn't show

Outcome: MP1 won t471000

This player had been quite snug. Pre-flop, I felt I was only going to get it in with AK and JJ+, so I elected to call for less than 10% of the effective stacks. If a short stack shoved, I was going to call unless the raiser came in as well, in which case I'd probably have folded.

As it stands, I just couldn't see this player betting into two people on this flop, especially given my very strong call, with less than AJ or maybe TT. But I'm crushed by AA, KK, and JJ. Guess I'll never know if this was correct, but it felt right at the time.

After playing this tournament for 8 hours (and overall, putting in a 10.5 hour session) I finished 30th and won like 13 buyins. Meh.

50K Day Ship It!

Had a decent morning at the tables but the real brag is for the Boston Debate League, which was awarded today a $50,000 grant from the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Foundation. The grant will support the BDL's work with debate programs in the Boston Public Schools over the next two years, most especially that of the League's new director (who's probably reading this- congratulations, Steve!).

Here's another random brag, this one from the Stars weekly $500. Sorry was having trouble with the converter, basically I had an open-ended draw on the turn and overbet shoved when a flush card came on the river:

PokerStars Game #21709641365: Tournament #116152197, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (100/200) - 2008/11/02 18:23:05 ET
Table '116152197 23' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: nofingclue11 (11900 in chips)
Seat 2: tiger76 (9370 in chips)
Seat 3: jesseluke82 (5480 in chips)
Seat 4: berra86 (13699 in chips)
Seat 5: lowlife039 (13250 in chips)
Seat 6: Mia_121 (9276 in chips)
Seat 7: Joao M. (10835 in chips)
Seat 8: foucault82 (8390 in chips)
Seat 9: Psychout (8600 in chips)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to foucault82 [Tc 9s]
nofingclue11: folds
tiger76: folds
jesseluke82: folds
berra86: folds
lowlife039: folds
Mia_121: folds
Joao M.: folds
foucault82: calls 100
Psychout: checks

*** FLOP *** [Qc 8s 7c]
foucault82: bets 299
Psychout: calls 299

*** TURN *** [Qc 8s 7c] [5d]
foucault82: bets 666
Psychout: raises 666 to 1332
foucault82: calls 666

*** RIVER *** [Qc 8s 7c 5d] [2c]
foucault82: bets 6559 and is all-in
Psychout: folds
Uncalled bet (6559) returned to foucault82
foucault82 collected 3662 from pot
foucault82: doesn't show hand


He pretty much can't have a flush because he's not min-raising a flush draw on the turn. It just doesn't make sense to minimize his fold equity and re-open the betting, giving me the opportunity to blow him off his draw. So it's a great bluffing opportunity when the flush comes in. The only problem is that people are stubborn, especially when they have pretty hands (which the min-raise suggests he does), so I made the only bet that I thought I could force a tough lay down. I expected it to work damn near 100% of the time, though, which is why I found it interesting.

WSOP Trip Report Conclusion

The finale of my trip report from the 2008 WSOP is now appearing in the October issue of 2+2 Internet Magazine. I must say, getting down to the final tables of this huge tournament is a pretty thrilling experience, at once exciting and surreal:

"On Day 6 of the main event, the Amazon Room was empty. Nine tables were collected in one corner of the immense room, 80% of which was utterly vacant. A single cocktail waiter patrolled between tables. Floor staff and press chatted idly as they waited for something to happen. Tensile cord stretched an oval around the 79 remaining players, so that every table was on the perimeter and observers could easily watch any of them."

If you haven't read them already, you should probably start with Part 1 and Part 2.

WCOOP Main Event: $5000 NLHE

The structure on this actually wasn't quite as deep as I expected in the early-going, but I imagine it gave a lot of play in the later stages while still keeping things moving along at a good clip. It's a tough balancing act to run a really well-structured tournament for more than 2000 players in a reasonable amount of time, even over two days.

We started super-deep, with 25,000 chips and 25/50 blinds. But blinds doubled to 50/100 and then to 100/200 at the end of the first hour. I still had pretty much my starting 25K when I raised Ad Td in MP and got called by the SB and the BB. The flop came QQ4 with two diamonds, and the SB bet out for like half the pot. He was kind of short, so I pretty sure he had a pocket pair. I kind of doubted he would fold it to a shove, so I called. The turn was the 5d, and he bet out again. This time I moved all in, and he called with 55. In other words, the turn was the doom card that gave me the nut flush and him a boat. I wasn't deep enough to get away from this, so I'm not beating myself up about it- it was just a bad spot.

I only had about 5K left at that point, and blinds were 150/300. A quiet player UTG+1 raised to 900, and I tilt-shoved with 88 UTG+2 into his AA. This isn't awful, but honestly I think folding is better. There's very little in this guy's range that he's raise-folding, and 88 is definitely behind his calling range.

It was a frustrating end to a frustrating series. Even though I'm down pretty substantially on the turnaments, the series was good for me just because it got me to put in some long sessions. Overall I'm up an appreciable amount on the last two weeks, and I feel really on top of my deep-stacked cash play. Thanks for following along!

Oh and congratulations to Shaundeeb, who won the $300 PLO rebuy. He's one of few if any players to have won both a FTOPS and a WCOOP event. Way to go Shaun!

WCOOP Event 29: $500 NLHE Rebuy 6-Max

I'm skipping past some of the other WCOOP events I played because I've fallen behind on them and don't remember much of what happened, which is because there really wasn't much of interest anyway. The $500 rebuy 6-max did produce some neat hands, though. My table wasn't soft, but that's to be expected in a big event like this. There were a few good tournament players, most notably Timex, who weren't making huge mistakes but weren't necessarily going to play great deep stack 6-max poker either.

The X-factor was Poker Stars pro William Thorson, who's been a long-time cash player on that site. I've never seen him sitting in the bigger NLHE games, so I wasn't sure what to make of or expect from him. He was definitely too loose and aggressive at times, but overall he was pretty decent, especially when we were deep. In particular, he was doing a good job of betting big, as is often called for in deep stack poker. He won a huge pot againt the table fish because he overbet the pot all the way with a flopped set.

But he was only and always betting big when he had big hands, which made him a little too easy to read sometimes. For example, he once made a small 3-bet out of the SB against my CO raise. Even though we weren't all that deep, he had priced me in to call with 98o, since I was pretty sure he didn't have a big pair. Then he bet out small on a QJx flop, and I decided to float him. Sure enough, he check-folded to a small turn bet.

My next float didn't work out so well. We were down to the last 25% or so of the field, and I was rolling along in pretty good shape. There was another of those tournament specialists on my right, and he was opening a lot of pots. Effective stacks were good for me to 3-bet him occasionally, which I'd been doing. So at 200/400, he opened to 1100, and I made it 3000 with A9s on the button. He called for something like 8% of the effective stacks. Giving him too much credit, I assumed he would pretty much only do this with a decent pair: maybe a slow-played AA/KK, or maybe something lik 88, but I didn't think he'd call out of positon with a suited connector or Ax.

The flop came QQ5, and we both checked. Remember, I was putting him on a pair, which I didn't think he would fold. The turn was a King and put a diamond draw on the board. He bet out something weird like a third of the pot. I called, putting him squarely on a pair lower than Kings that he would have to check-fold on the river. The river was a third diamond, and he requested time before finally betting one-half the pot, or about 25% of the remaining stacks. Still stuck in this mindset of moving him off a pair, I shoved all in, and he called pretty quickly with Ad 4d for the nut flush.

I'm not a fan of his pre-flop call, but I really hate myself for shoving that river. I didn't do enough to re-evaluate his range when he bet out there. I seriously doubt he's doing that with something like 88, and he's probably calling pretty much always. Thankfully I was having a pretty huge cash session, so I was still well up on the day, despite another failed bluff shove that occurred almost simultaneously at a Stars 5/10 full-ring table:

UTG+1 raised to $40, and I called in early middle position with Ac Kc. The flop came 844 with two clubs, and I called his bet. He bet again on a 5 turn, and I shoved in my stack drawing dead to his 88. I actually like this shove though, because usually he has a pair when he bets again here and even with AA he can't be thrilled when I shove into him, and of course if he does decide to call with a smaller pair I'll have 15 outs. So I don't hate this shove, even though it didn't work out here.

WCOOP Event 22: $530 O/8 Mixed 6Max

This was a great idea for a tournament format, with half the hands playing as O/8 and half as PLO8. Many people are going to be good at one game but not the other. Personally, I'm pretty strong in PLO8 but not so good at O/8. Naturally, plenty of people suck at both as well.

I got off to a nice start, playing well in PLO8 and running well at O/8. There was an awful player on my left who was giving me a lot of chips, but eventually he monkeyed his way into winning a huge pot:

Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Tournament
Blinds: t25/t50
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t6903
UTG+1: t2857
CO: t2540
Button: t3590
Hero: t12500
BB: t6035

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is SB with :ah :ks :6h :3h
4 folds, Hero raises to t150, BB calls t100 (pot was t200).

Flop: :2d :qh :7h (t300, 2 players)
Hero bets t250, BB raises to t1050, Hero raises to t3450, BB raises to t5850, Hero raises to t8250, BB calls all-in t35.
Uncalled bets: t2365 returned to Hero.

Turn: :tc (t12070, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t12070)

River: :3d (t12070, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t12070)

Results:
Final pot: t12070


I flopped the nut flush draw and the nut low draw with counterfeit protection, and this guy got it all in with me for 120 BB's with the second nut low draw and an underpair to the board: Td As 4s 4c. The board bricks out, and I lose a pot that would have put me in top 1%.

I did get him back eventually though:

Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Tournament
Blinds: t40/t80
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t7156
UTG+1: t2234
CO: t8584
Button: t8394
Hero: t5035
BB: t11526

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is SB with :6h :ah :3c :7c
3 folds, Button raises to t240, Hero calls t200 (pot was t360), BB calls t160 (pot was t560).

Flop: :js :3h :as (t720, 3 players)
Hero checks, BB bets t80, Button raises to t160, Hero raises to t1280, BB calls t1200 (pot was t2240), Button folds.

Turn: :4s (t3440, 2 players)
Hero bets t2515, BB calls t2515 (pot was t5955).

River: :qc (t8470, 2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks.

Results:
Final pot: t8470


I couldn't believe it when I scooped this pot. There was only about 1000 left in the effective stacks, but I was so sure I was smoked that I didn't even think I had good equity against his checking range. I was just hoping he would check it back and I could escape with half. Turns out he had 4d Qh 3d 5s, having called the turn with nothing but a bad low draw and two pair.

I lasted for about 6 hours, which only got me through 75% of the field or so, before getting pretty short and busting in some nondescript way.

WCOOP Event 21: $530 Stud/8

Whining about every WCOOP I play is getting old, so I'll just say that this was a pretty standard limit tournament in that I played for hours and didn't come close to winning anything. At least it was fun and interesting though because it was Stud/8, which is one of my favorite games. Here's a cool hand I played against party animal and Mathematics of Poker author Bill Chen:

PokerStars Game #20434591501: Tournament #200800021, $500+$30 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Limit - Level VI (200/400) - 2008/09/15 17:29:56 ET
Table '200800021 20' 8-max
Seat 1: Tulkaz (6061 in chips)
Seat 2: suspender (2222 in chips)
Seat 3: Bill Chen (8508 in chips)
Seat 4: **SHARX** (5134 in chips)
Seat 5: foucault82 (6384 in chips)
Seat 6: Quackers (6171 in chips)
Seat 7: Ulett_23 (13192 in chips)
Seat 8: traction1 (2721 in chips)
Tulkaz: posts the ante 20
suspender: posts the ante 20
Bill Chen: posts the ante 20
**SHARX**: posts the ante 20
foucault82: posts the ante 20
Quackers: posts the ante 20
Ulett_23: posts the ante 20
traction1: posts the ante 20

*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to Tulkaz [8h]
Dealt to suspender [2h]
Dealt to Bill Chen [Kh]
Dealt to **SHARX** [9d]
Dealt to foucault82 [Ah Td 2d]
Dealt to Quackers [5h]
Dealt to Ulett_23 [8s]
Dealt to traction1 [Qh]
foucault82: brings in for 60
Quackers: folds
Ulett_23: folds
traction1: folds
Tulkaz: folds
suspender: folds
Bill Chen: raises 140 to 200
**SHARX**: folds
foucault82: calls 140

*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to Bill Chen [Kh] [5s]
Dealt to foucault82 [Ah Td 2d] [Ad]
foucault82: checks
Bill Chen: checks

*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to Bill Chen [Kh 5s] [7c]
Dealt to foucault82 [Ah Td 2d Ad] [Th]
foucault82: checks
Bill Chen: checks

*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to Bill Chen [Kh 5s 7c] [Ks]
Dealt to foucault82 [Ah Td 2d Ad Th] [8c]
Bill Chen: bets 400
foucault82: raises 400 to 800
Bill Chen: calls 400

*** RIVER ***
Dealt to foucault82 [Ah Td 2d Ad Th 8c] [As]
Bill Chen: checks
foucault82: bets 400
Bill Chen: calls 400

*** SHOW DOWN ***
foucault82: shows [Ah Td 2d Ad Th 8c As] (HI: a full house, Aces full of Tens)
Bill Chen mucked [3d 3h Kh 5s 7c Ks Ts]


Bill of course was the rare opponent who actually understands Stud/8 and isn't going to play like a complete monkey, so I have to play this hand quite differently from the way I would against 90% of the field.

3rd street is kind of close, I actually think raising might be better. Bill's range is fairly wide there given that there's only a 9 and a deuce showing behind him. I'm definitely not giving him credit for a pair of K's, so my A-high may well be best plus I've got two to a flush and two to a good low.

I know that the A is going to slow him down on 4th. If he has K's, he isn't going to be them, and if I lead out, he'll probably fold his air and even fold K's if not immediately than on 5th street. This is one big difference from the majority of the field, who would never consider folding a pair of Kings, even though doing so in such a spot is very basic Stud/8 strategy.

If I hadn't made two pair on 5th, I would have led out, but I thought at this point he could very well be drawing dead. Against a thinking opponent, you need to use some deception, and I wanted to rep a low hand since I figured him for high anything. In retrospect, he could actually have four to a low at this point, so maybe leading out is better.

But 6th came perfectly, allowing me to rep a low and giving him a second best hand to pay me off.

OK one quick whine. On my bustout hand, I started with three to a low straight flush, which is one of the best possible starting hands. On 4th I had four to a straight, on 5th I had four to a flush, four to a straight, and four to a low, and on 7th... I still had four to a flush, four to a straight, and four to a low.

WCOOP Event 20: $1050 NLHE

Terrible starting tables have been the theme of my WCOOP thus far. Today was no exception, with no fewer than three successful 5/10+ NL players, soon to be joined by a fourth (in addition to yours truly, so I guess it sucked that much more for the other guys at the table). However, I was lucky to make some big hands and cold deck a few people, including with AA vs KK, so I left the table in great shape.

My second table was much softer. I raised a few pots in a row from late position and people just started playing back at me maniacally. It's kind of funny to watch tournament players try to deal with aggressive raising by doing stuff like 3-betting light. The thing is, this dynamic has been a part of mid- and high-stakes NL games for nearly a year now, and those of us who play them regularly are quite familiar with not only how to 3-bet light but how to combat those who do.

For a lot of tournament players, though, especially casual ones, it's more of a revelation. They get that I'm raising a ton of pots and that they should be 3-betting in position, but they're choosing bad raise sizes and bad hands to do it with and bad spots, etc.

Anyway, I picked up chips at this table from people awkwardly trying to play back at me. My third table quickly pegged me as aggressive again, and one guy in particular on my left made clear that he was going to play back at me. Again, people weren't doing a great job of it, but now they were getting lucky.

Things started off well. I raised QQ in early position, and someone in middle position made a really tiny re-raise. Even with a hand as strong as QQ, I had a terrible feeling about this. But I also knew I'd been a little aggressive, so I didnt' want to fold. I elected to call, putting like 8.5K in the pot and leaving around 14K in the effective stacks. I didn't quite have set odds, but I wanted to see what my opponent did on certain flops.

The flop came 994, which was perfect for my purposes. I checked, and he overbet shoved all in. I didn't think he'd do that with AA or KK, so I called, he showed me AK, and I dodged the bullets. That hand rocketed me up among the tournament chipleaders. Nearly four hours into the event, I had over 100 BB's. That was owing in no small part to the amazing structure.

Then I raised A8s in late position and a pretty weak player called in the SB. That would be a strong play from a better player, but against this guy, I was ready to stack off on a 854 flop. He checked and very quickly called my bet. That quick call is rarely a monster, so I was feeling pretty good about my hand. The turn was a deuce. He checked, and with less than twice the pot left in the effective stacks, my only option was to bet-call. So I bet, he shoved, I called, and he showed me A3s that drilled the gutshot on the turn. That took out about 1/3 of my stack.

I rebuilt a bit but mostly was quiet for a while after that. Then I raised 22 from MP and the aforementioned player who was trying to play back at me called. He was actually pretty good, so when the flop came KJ6, I didn't think it would hit his calling range too well. I bet, and he called. Oh well. I checked, and he checked it back. Then an A came on the river, and I just had to bet at it. He called me with AQ.

I was frustrated to see another guy calling with a gutshot and getting there, but truthfully the flop call wasn't that bad. I do think he should be betting the turn though if he is going to float the flop.

Anyway, that took about half of my remaining chips. Finally I picked up AK UTG. The SB re-raised, I shoved, and he called me with exactly what I was hoping he had: AQ. I was hoping, that is, until I saw the Q on the flop. That was the end of Ol' Foucault.

I can't really complain though, because I made a really sweet run at the cash games while I was playing the tournament. I finished with over 700 BB's on both a 5/10 and 3/6 table and up on a few other tables as well. So it was a good day, though the tournament was a bit frustrating.

WCOOP Event 19: $530 HORSE

God what a grind this thing was. There were a little over 2000 runners, and after five and a half hours of playing, I was eliminated in 665th. It took five hours to get through two-thirds of the field. That's what happens when you play a very well-structure limit tournament with split pot games.

I'm not sure how I last that long, because I was catching absolute shit and playing about the same. I wasn't getting much in the way of starting hands, and there were always a few monkeys at the table such that stealing wasn't really an option. By the same token, the few times that I did get hands, I was generally winning the pot. Still, for the first few hours I barely got above my starting stack, and the only time I passed the average was on this hand:

PokerStars Game #20386595428: Tournament #200800018, $200+$15 HORSE (7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Limit) - Level XX (160/320) - 2008/09/13 20:52:57 ET
Table '200800018 52' 8-max
Seat 1: atactor (3172 in chips)
Seat 2: Joeyhaha (3536 in chips)
Seat 3: eriholer (2275 in chips)
Seat 4: foucault82 (3386 in chips)
Seat 5: noize-boy (5099 in chips)
Seat 6: doudouc (8954 in chips)
Seat 7: GSUSLIVS (8204 in chips)
Seat 8: goldhawk (5072 in chips)
noize-boy: posts the ante 32
doudouc: posts the ante 32
GSUSLIVS: posts the ante 32
goldhawk: posts the ante 32
atactor: posts the ante 32
Joeyhaha: posts the ante 32
eriholer: posts the ante 32
foucault82: posts the ante 32
*** 3rd STREET ***
Dealt to atactor [5s]
Dealt to Joeyhaha [Ts]
Dealt to eriholer [Jc]
Dealt to foucault82 [4s 6h 3c]
Dealt to noize-boy [As]
Dealt to doudouc [9d]
Dealt to GSUSLIVS [5d]
Dealt to goldhawk [5c]

foucault82: brings in for 48
noize-boy: folds
doudouc: folds
GSUSLIVS: calls 48
goldhawk: calls 48
atactor: folds
Joeyhaha: folds
eriholer: raises 112 to 160
foucault82: calls 112
GSUSLIVS: calls 112
goldhawk: calls 112

*** 4th STREET ***
Dealt to eriholer [Jc] [8s]
Dealt to foucault82 [4s 6h 3c] [2d]
Dealt to GSUSLIVS [5d] [3s]
Dealt to goldhawk [5c] [Js]
eriholer: bets 160
foucault82: raises 160 to 320
GSUSLIVS: calls 320
goldhawk: folds
eriholer: raises 160 to 480
foucault82: calls 160
GSUSLIVS: calls 160
*** 5th STREET ***
Dealt to eriholer [Jc 8s] [2h]
Dealt to foucault82 [4s 6h 3c 2d] [4h]
Dealt to GSUSLIVS [5d 3s] [3d]
GSUSLIVS: checks
eriholer: bets 320
foucault82: raises 320 to 640
GSUSLIVS: folds
eriholer: calls 320
*** 6th STREET ***
Dealt to eriholer [Jc 8s 2h] [Ah]
Dealt to foucault82 [4s 6h 3c 2d 4h] [8d]
eriholer: checks
foucault82: bets 320
eriholer: calls 320
*** RIVER ***
Dealt to foucault82 [4s 6h 3c 2d 4h 8d] [4c]
eriholer: checks
foucault82: bets 320
eriholer: calls 320
*** SHOW DOWN ***
foucault82: shows [4s 6h 3c 2d 4h 8d 4c] (HI: three of a kind, Fours; LO: 8,6,4,3,2)
eriholer: mucks hand
foucault82 collected 2448 from pot
foucault82 collected 2448 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4896 | Rake 0
Seat 1: atactor folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Joeyhaha folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 3: eriholer mucked [Jh 8c Jc 8s 2h Ah 3h]
Seat 4: foucault82 showed [4s 6h 3c 2d 4h 8d 4c] and won (4896) with HI: three of a kind, Fours; LO: 8,6,4,3,2
Seat 5: noize-boy folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 6: doudouc folded on the 3rd Street (didn't bet)
Seat 7: GSUSLIVS folded on the 5th Street
Seat 8: goldhawk folded on the 4th Street


I had a monster hand on 3rd street. The only problem was that three of my fives were dead, which drastically reduced the high potential of my hand and hurt my ability to make a low as well. I'm still playing it, but I'm not going to raise it just yet. Once I catch good on 4th, though, I'm raising hoping to drive out the low hand behind me. Even though I surely have the better draw, I want to insure that catching an 8 will be enough to lock up half the pot. As I said, my high potential isn't much, but the fraction of a bet that I lose to the J-8 is compensated if I can get the guy out behind me or at least make him call two bets with a worse low draw.

I couldn't get him out on 4th, but I caught another scary card on 5th. Now my board is scarier, the bets are bigger, and with my pair my equity against the high hand is better, so I am losing less by raising him.

On 6th, I'm freerolling, and that miracle card on 7th was almost too good to be true.

WCOOP Event 17: $530 PLHE

I continued my poor luck with table draws and got Steve Paul-Ambrose on my left in a tournament where the field in general was a giant donkfest. Steve didn't get too out of line, but his presence alone deterred me from a few hands I otherwise would have played. You just can't play as many hands from any position with a good player still to act behind you.

Anyway, I don't think anything too interesting happened. Eventually I ran AK into AA for the last of my chips.

I was also playing the weekly FTP $300 6-max, where I fired a second barrel in a spot where I would ordinarily never attempt such a thing.

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 100/200 Blinds, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 17,658
MP: 6,912
CO: 5,030
Hero (BTN): 8,630
SB: 14,724
BB: 1,078

Pre-Flop: (300) 2 A dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, Hero raises to 530, SB calls 430, BB folds

Flop: (1,260) T 9 7 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 750, SB calls 750

Turn: (2,760) K (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 1,850, SB calls 1,850

River: (6,460) 3 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Results: 6,460 Pot
Hero showed 2 A (Ace King high) and LOST (-3,130 NET)
SB showed K J (a pair of Kings) and WON 6,460 (+3,330 NET)


Ordinarily, I would put SB on like a small-mid pair or a suited connector. However, because the BB was short and fairly likely to shove, re-opening the betting, I didn't think SB would call here with such an "implied odds" hand. Instead, I put him on big cards that could take a little more heat. There was some chance he was trapping with a big pair- it was a good spot for it- but I thought his range would be much wider than that.

When he didn't check-raise the flop, I eliminated the big pairs from his range as well as two pair, sets, and big draws. That didn't leave much except for one pair hands and weak draws. In addition, the K is a good scare card for me to bet again.

Although the bluff didn't work, the results really don't contradict my read at all. He did have a broadway hand as I suspected. It just happened to be one that could call the flop. And I was right that he had only a weak draw on the flop- it just happened to be the only one that could be improved by a K on the turn. So in conclusion, I am never wrong. I am not always right, I admit it, but I am never wrong.

WCOOP Event 16: $215 PLO 1 Rebuy/1 Add-On

I was actually only in for $400 because I didn't rebuy immediately. Only one person at my table did this, and I decided that Omaha being a high variance game, my one rebuy would be more useful to me as an insurance policy than as an immediate add-on. However, I doubled up almost immediately and never ended up using it. I ended up running pretty deep anyway. Throughout the rebuy period and the first hour or so afterwards, I played very tight. I won a few nice pots early in the rebuy period, so after adding on, I could afford to fold for quite some time, which is what I did.

Eventually I picked up Aces in a great spot and won a huge pot with a coin flip:

Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Tournament
Blinds: t50/t100
8 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t4940
UTG+1: t10930
MP1: t11523
Hero: t7430
CO: t840
Button: t8674
SB: t29202
BB: t32230

Pre-flop: (8 players) Hero is MP2 with :ks :6s :ah :ac
2 folds, MP1 raises to t350, Hero calls t350 (pot was t500), 2 folds, SB calls t300 (pot was t850), BB raises to t1750, MP1 calls t1400 (pot was t2800), Hero raises to t7350, SB folds, BB raises to t12950, MP1 folds, Hero calls all-in t80.
Uncalled bets: t5520 returned to BB.

Flop: :5s :js :tc (t16960, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t16960)

Turn: :2c (t16960, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t16960)

River: :as (t16960, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t16960)

Results:
Final pot: t16960


Aces in PLO aren't nearly the monster they are in NLHE, so with not much else to the hand, I elected just to call with them initially. I ended up getting it in with QJT9 and holding.

I'm no PLO expert, but from what I could tell, a lot of people were playing really badly. I may even have made some questionable folds because I gave people too much credit when they potted it:

Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Tournament
Blinds: t150/t300
9 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
UTG: t32987
Hero: t22900
MP1: t33260
MP2: t4865
MP3: t23062
CO: t31400
Button: t43209
SB: t31598
BB: t1730


Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is UTG+1 with :as :ad :9s :8d
UTG calls t300 (pot was t450), Hero raises to t1350, 2 folds, MP3 calls t1350 (pot was t2100), CO calls t1350 (pot was t3450), 3 folds, UTG calls t1050 (pot was t4800).


Flop: :5h :9d :5d (t5850, 4 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks, MP3 bets t5850, 2 folds, Hero folds.
Uncalled bets: t5850 returned to MP3.


Results:
Final pot: t5850


Here I check-folded Aces and the nut flush draw because I just couldn't see this guy having less than trips, and I didn't want to invest 4x the pot in such a spot.

Eventually I caught one of these guys overvaluing his hand:

Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Tournament
Blinds: t150/t300
9 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
UTG: t30862
UTG+1: t30050
MP1: t43209
MP2: t30998
MP3: t1280
CO: t31037
Hero: t20050
SB: t32660
BB: t4865


Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is Button with :kd :js :6s :th
UTG calls t300 (pot was t450), UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls t300 (pot was t750), 2 folds, CO calls t300 (pot was t1050), Hero calls t300 (pot was t1350), SB folds, BB checks.


Flop: :jh :4c :ks (t1650, 5 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, MP1 checks, CO bets t1250, Hero calls t1250 (pot was t2900), 3 folds.


Turn: :5s (t4150, 2 players)
CO bets t3600, Hero calls t3600 (pot was t7750).


River: :kc (t11350, 2 players)
CO bets t4200, Hero raises all-in t14900, CO calls t10700 (pot was t30450).


Results:
Final pot: t41150


He had AKT4, for K's full of 4's. The turn should probably a check-fold for him. Potting it again is really bad with top and bottom pair, and if I hadn't seen so many people making mistakes like this, I might have been tempted to fold top two. But I decided to call again and river the nuts instead.

This was a fun one where I turned an overpair into a bluff since I held two blockers to the nuts:

Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Tournament
Blinds: t150/t300
9 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
UTG: t4415
UTG+1: t30962
MP1: t32240
MP2: t38329
MP3: t27768
CO: t10130
Button: t18737
Hero: t37200
BB: t35360


Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is SB with :kh :jc :jh :ac
3 folds, MP2 raises to t900, MP3 folds, CO calls t900 (pot was t1350), Button folds, Hero calls t750 (pot was t2250), BB folds.


Flop: :9h :4h :5c (t3000, 3 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets t1500, CO folds, Hero calls t1500 (pot was t4500).


Turn: :8h (t6000, 2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 checks.


River: :qs (t6000, 2 players)
Hero bets t4300, MP2 folds.
Uncalled bets: t4300 returned to Hero.


Results:
Final pot: t6000


For the majority of the tournament, Andy McLeod, the eventual winner, was on my immediate left. From what I could tell, he wasn't a great PLO player, but he is a great tournament player in general and very loose and aggressive, which was rough to have on my left. I actually ran really well against him and probably didn't win as much as a better player could have nor as much as I could have from a less good player. I ended up doubling through Andy at a really crucial moment when we both held KKxx and flopped an overpair. I had a flush draw with mine, he had an open-ended straight draw with his, and my draw hit.

The last laugh was his, though, as he recovered by twice doubling through the Aces of LoneHixx (who was on his immediate left) with random garbage and ended up winning nearly $100,000 for first place.

With 117 left out of more than 1200 who started, I was in 25th place and feeling fine. Then it happened:

Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Tournament
Blinds: t600/t1200
8 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
UTG: t58291
UTG+1: t68740
MP1: t58836
MP2: t141471
CO: t49815
Hero: t84555
SB: t71922
BB: t100490


Pre-flop: (8 players) Hero is Button with :8c :9d :jc :js
3 folds, MP2 raises to t4200, CO calls t4200 (pot was t6000), Hero calls t4200 (pot was t10200), 2 folds.


Flop: :ks :jd :5h (t14400, 3 players)
MP2 bets t14400, CO folds, Hero raises to t57600, MP2 raises to t100800, Hero calls all-in t22755.
Uncalled bets: t20445 returned to MP2.


Turn: :5s (t175110, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t175110)



River: :6h (t175110, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t175110)



Results:
Final pot: t175110


I was up against KKxx, so I busted with middle set versus top set. In NLHE, that's an absolute cooler. But I wonder whether a better PLO player would have lost his ass here. Truthfully, when the guy bet out into two people, I was already pretty worried about top set. But I just couldn't see anything but getting it in and then getting it pissed.

FTOPS Event 13: $200 Rebuy NLHE

I was in for the minimum, but that's about all that went right with this tournament. For the next hour and a half, I was catching absolutely nothing. AK, JJ, and TT were the best hands I saw. I won the AK with a re-raise, my JJ ran into QQ, and my TT ran into AA when I had 20 BBs. I also had a tough starting table with a couple of good tourney regulars and Spirit Rock/Mohatma, who as many of you know used to crush the biggest NL games a few years ago. It's a shame, because this was a deep tournament (the minimum after the rebuy period was good for 150 BBs) with a great structure.

I skipped Event 14, which was Stud, because that's one of my worst games, I don't particularly like it, and limit tournaments last freaking forever.

Boring stories, so I'll give you a good one from my cash play on the side. I de-polarize my range and totally valuetown this guy:

Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $8,688.50
BTN: $3,530
SB: $4,580
Hero (BB): $6,062
UTG: $10,311

Pre-Flop: A A dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG raises to $70, 3 folds, Hero raises to $262, UTG calls $192

Flop: ($534) 8 8 6 (2 Players)
Hero bets $350, UTG calls $350

Turn: ($1,234) Q (2 Players)
Hero bets $950, UTG calls $950

River: ($3,134) T (2 Players)
Hero bets $2,000, UTG calls $2,000

Results: $7,134 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed A A (two pair, Aces and Eights) and WON $7,131 (+$3,569 NET)
UTG mucked 3 3 (two pair, Eights and Threes) and LOST (-$3,562 NET)


Basically I think he expects my triple barrel to be either a bluff or a huge hand. So I just keep firing, planning to fold if he raises turn or river but expecting to be ahead of his call-down range. After the hand he types, "Wow"which I take as a compliment. Then he goes on,

"Guess that's why I play deep." I ask if he's serious.

"You can't wait to go broke with AA this deep." Bitch you can't wait to go broke with 33! Totally confirmed my read of what level he was on. The best thing is that he's saying he plays deep because of the implied odds when he hits a set, but he's got bad reverse implied odds if I can get him to call me down like this, so really it's not nearly the spot he thinks it is.

He went on for a while like this.

WCOOP Event 11: $320 PLO8

PLO8 is one of my favorite poker games, and it's also one of the toughest to find played for meaningful stakes, so I was pretty stoked for this event. I did in fact have a good time, even though it ended in disappointment. Early on I was pretty tight passive, limping into pots when I got involved at all. PLO8 is a tough game to play out of position, so i didn't want to bloat pots, and I also felt people were going to make their biggest mistakes post-flop. I chipped up a bit like this, then went up and down for a while in the second and third hours.

One key hand gave me some chips to work with:

Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Tournament
Blinds: t75/t150
8 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t5250
UTG+1: t3825
MP1: t8670
MP2: t14616
CO: t2525
Button: t9246
SB: t4035
Hero: t4745

Pre-flop: (8 players) Hero is BB with :2c :9c :kh :ah
UTG raises to t450, 2 folds, MP2 calls t450 (pot was t675), 3 folds, Hero calls t300 (pot was t1125).

Flop: :5h :5d :4h (t1425, 3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets t1100, MP2 calls t1100 (pot was t2525), Hero raises all-in t4295, 2 folds.
Uncalled bets: t3195 returned to Hero.

Results:
Final pot: t4725

I was pretty sure UTG had AA, because that's about all most people will raise UTG. I didn't know if he would fold to a shove or not, but it didn't really matter. As long as he didn't have AA2x, I would be in OK shape. Scooping with no showdown was pretty sweet.


About four and a half hours into the tournament, I'd gone card dead and blinds were getting big. I picked up Aces in a great spot, but it didn't end well:

Poker Stars
Pot Limit Omaha Tournament
Blinds: t250/t500
9 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t8137
UTG+1: t14289
MP1: t8950
MP2: t11764
MP3: t22400
Hero: t9381
Button: t12625
SB: t8978
BB: t9928

Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is CO with :6s :jh :ah :as
2 folds, MP1 raises to t1750, MP2 calls t1750 (pot was t2500), MP3 folds, Hero raises to t7750, 4 folds, MP2 raises all-in t11764, Hero calls all-in t1631.
Uncalled bets: t2383 returned to MP2.

Flop: :4c :kc :2c (t-4381, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t21262)

Turn: :9h (t-4381, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t21262)

River: :2d (t-4381, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: t21262)

Results:
Final pot: t-4381

The guy who called me with Ax 8h 5h 2x and rivered the scoop was none other than WSOP champion Joe Hachem! I was thinking it was kind of a questionable call, but when I ran his equity against any Aces, which is probably what my range is, he's only a 60/40 dog. Even if you give me one low card, it only improves to 63/37. In related news, Pro Poker Tools is an amazing free resource that enables you to run simulations like this.

WCOOP Event 10: $215 Razz

I encountered a few straight-up terrible opponents who were doing stuff like limp-calling with a T in the door, but honestly there was less of this than I expected. At least at my table, most people were playing reasonably well. I didn't make any spectacular bluffs or call downs or anything, so while I could post a few hands, I doubt anyone wants to see my call a raise, brick fourth and fifth, and fold to a bet, or bet bet bet with a 6-5 and lose to a rivered 6-4. It's freaking Razz, just take my word for it- some annoying stuff happened, then I lost.

WCOOP Event 9: $215 NLHE 4-Max

This was an interesting tournament format, with only four players per table. My starting table actually had only three, and the other two were of course terrible. I doubled up fairly early on when a guy called my raise with 73s, flopped trip 7's, then shoved the river after I turned a boat with 99 and made two big bets. Of course a bit of a cooler for him but he made two terrible decisions as well.

So I was actually playing heads up for a bit against this giant calling station. It took some adaptation, since Stars didn't made the SB the Button as is customary for a HU match. Against this particular opponent, I found it best to call most raises when I was in the BB/BTN, raise most of his limps, and limp most of my range from the SB.

As usual, I didn't adapt as well as I should have to playing with really loose opponents. I'm accustomed to playing a very aggressive short-handed game, as that's the winning strategy in mid- and high-stakes cash games. But it doesn't work as well against tournament monkeys, and I was back down to my starting chips after a few failed double barrels. For a while I kept my head above water short stacking, shoving when appropriate, etc.

This brings up one point I want to address. When blinds were 100/200, I was in the BB with about 2500. There were no antes. The SB, who was a decent player I've seen around Stars tournaments for several years, open raised to 800 with QJo and called my shove. This may seem minor, but there's just no reason to raise to 800 here. I do sometimes vary my pre-flop raise sizes, but this is an awful spot for it. When we are this shallow, you are only revealing information about your hand. My opponent is telling me that he has a hand he's willing to take all in but that isn't so strong that he wants me to shove. He raises to 800 to tell me that he's committed to the pot. Well, if you're going to do that, just shove yourself. Or limp-jam, or raise a smaller amount where you can fold to a shove, or do something that allows you to keep your range a little wider.

Believe it or not, this information helps me to make marginal decisions. I'm more likely to shove stuff like Kx, since I know my opponent doesn't have too strong a hand, and less likely to shove hands worse than QJ since I know I have no fold equity.

This isn't sour grapes- I shoved with A7 and doubled up. But it's a point I consider worth making.

I eventually limped 87s in the SB, flopped overs, a gutshot, and a flush draw, and lost to middle pair with a better flush draw. It was a shame, because the 4-max was a good format for the WCOOP and I felt that at my best I would have a pretty big edge.

August

Didn't get many NLHE cash games in this month. The month started with FTOPS, so I was playing more tournaments than usual. It wasn't a good series for me, but I was doing alright on the side. Then I spent the second half of the month running a summer camp for the BDL (hence the slow pace of posting- that will pick up next week). When I was directing the League, so much of my job was like administration, management, politicking, advocacy, and I rarely spent time actually working with students. Generally, working with them was like the amphetamine that got me excited and kept me going through the more tedious work.

I must admit, though, that spending five hours a day, five days a week in charge of a bunch of teenagers is more than a little exhausting. Even though we had a great group that was for the most part eager to learn about debate and easy to get along with, it was still a lot of work and pretty draining. I was in no mood to play poker at the end of a day, that's for sure.

Here's me taking notes on the board during a short debate two of our students had about the morality of eating meat.

Poker-wise, I ended the month almost exactly dead even after rakeback. I guess that's not too bad given that my several forays into 25-50 resulted in several bad beats to the tune of five figures. I did make more of an effort to learn PLO, watching the PLO Leakfinder series on Cardrunners and the PLO guest series that Tom Chambers did for Poker Savvy Plus. I put in several sessions at 2/4, and even though I was a net loser, I feel like I am getting much better at reading hands and board textures.

The World Championship of Online Poker starts today, but I probably won't begin playing in earnest until next week, so that's when you can expect to see more regular posts. Sorry for the extended silence.

WSOP Trip Report Days 3 and 4

My latest poker article, a strategy-filled narrative from my third and fourth days at the World Series of Poker Main Event, is now appearing in the September Issue of 2+2 Internet Magazine. Here's an excerpt from early on Day 4:

At this point, I was rolling along with a very nice stack, and there were just a few hundred competitors left in the tournament. My girlfriend was about to fly out to Las Vegas to support me. She had just passed through security when it happened.

I raised to 15K first to act with K-J of clubs and got called by a grizzled man who looked to be in his late 50’s or early 60’s. The flop came A-Q-6 with two clubs, giving me a flush draw and a one-card straight draw. Even without all my draws, this is a good flop to bet at, because as the pre-flop raiser, I am more likely to hold an Ace than my opponent who just called a raise. I bet out 35K, and he raised to 75K. I moved all in, and he called with Ace-Queen for top two pair. None of my draws got there, and just like that I was crippled, down to about 150K.

“Nice hand,” I muttered as I pushed my chips to the winner. His withered old man jaws stopped smacking on a wad of gum long enough to thank me.

I stepped away from the table to cool my head and call my girlfriend. I told her what had happened.

“We’re going to be boarding in twenty minutes,” she advised me.

“I’m not sure what to tell you. I have no way of knowing how long I’ll last. It’s going to be touch or go until I either get some more chips or get knocked out.”

If you'd prefer a more visual summary of the tournament, check out Poker Savvy Plus, where I'm working on a series of videos covering these and other hands I played in the 2008 Main Event.

FTOPS Main Event: $500 NLHE

I was really rolling in this for a few hours. There was a giant over-aggressive donkey at my starting table, and I was lucky enough to get more than a few hands against him early on to get up a nice stack.

Then I lost a good sized pot by raising up a bunch of limpers with AQ on my Button. Only the last limper called, and the pot was like twice her stack at that point. She shoved in on a QhJhTc flop and showed me KhQh, which got there.

Other than that I was running pretty well on all ins, won from the wrong end of a few 40/60's against short stacks, and my AK held against Phwap's AJ (pretty bad shove by him but also pretty standard for him) to pick up a nice pot.

We'd cut the field by about 85%, and I was rocking a well-above average stack. I'd been raising a lot from late position, and the table knew that. I'd shown down stuff like K2. But only one guy had been 3-betting me a lot. So I made a play at him:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 500/1,000 Blinds, 125 Ante, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG+2: 9,674
MP1: 19,105
MP2: 21,027
Hero (CO): 40,285
BTN: 45,691
SB: 35,075
BB: 56,239
UTG: 34,537
UTG+1: 20,960

Pre-Flop: (2,625) 7 A dealt to Hero (CO)
5 folds, Hero raises to 2,666, BTN folds, SB raises to 7,985, BB folds, Hero raises to 40,160 and is All-In, SB calls 26,965 and is All-In

Flop: (72,025) 3 2 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (72,025) K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (72,025) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 72,025 Pot
Hero showed 7 A (Ace King high) and LOST (-35,075 NET)
SB showed Q A (Ace King high) and WON 72,025 (+36,950 NET)


Not sure what to make of this. He tanked for a long time, which suggests a few things: he wasn't 3-betting a polarized range, ie only hands that would snap-call or snap-fold; and he probably would have folded a lot of those hands. That suggests it was a good shove, but then again, I feel like I've been saying that as consolation a lot lately.

FTOPS Event 22: $2500 NLHE Two-Day Event

It's so rare to find a tournament with a structure as good as this one. Level increases were gradual and staggered every thirty minutes, and stacks started deep. There were a couple of good tournament players at my table, most notably SCTrojans and mattyv (AKA Plattsburgh). They both probably play better 25 BB poker than I do. But in a deep-stacked, high buy-in tournament, they are welcome at my table. There was no one particularly good at the start and a few downright awful players.

Trojans is famous for being a nit, so I made a kind of big fold to him early in the tournament. Turns out I was good, but I still think it was a good fold, because I imagine he plays KK and AA the same way:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 10/20 Blinds, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 4,990
BTN: 4,960
SB: 4,980
BB: 5,060
UTG: 5,000
UTG+1: 4,980
Hero (MP): 5,030

Pre-Flop: (30) Q Q dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 60, Hero calls 60, CO folds, BTN raises to 260, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls 200, Hero calls 200

Flop: (810) 8 7 6 (3 Players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks, BTN bets 500, UTG+1 calls 500, Hero folds

Turn: (1,810) A (2 Players)
UTG+1 checks, BTN checks

River: (1,810) 2 (2 Players)
UTG+1 bets 320, BTN calls 320

Results: 2,450 Pot
BTN mucked J J (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-1,080 NET)
UTG+1 showed Q Q (a pair of Queens) and WON 2,450 (+1,370 NET)


There was another interesting spot early on where I turned middle pair, check-called for value, and then decided to turn my hand into a bluff on the river:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 10/20 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP2: 6,051
CO: 7,820
BTN: 4,970
SB: 4,890
BB: 1,641
UTG: 4,555
UTG+1: 5,444
Hero (MP1): 4,629

Pre-Flop: (30) T A dealt to Hero (MP1)
2 folds, Hero raises to 70, MP2 calls 70, 4 folds

Flop: (170) K 2 4 (2 Players)
Hero bets 134, MP2 calls 134

Turn: (438) T (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets 300, Hero calls 300

River: (1,038) Q (2 Players)
Hero bets 625, MP2 folds

Results: 1,038 Pot
Hero mucked T A and WON 1,038 (+534 NET)


My thinking here was that I could fold out better pairs and random low flushes, since it looks quite a bit like I have Ac and a pair. Then I enticed this guy to shove on me drawing to a gutshot and a running flush:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 25/50 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP1: 4,864
MP2: 7,515
CO: 6,621
BTN: 5,746
SB: 2,519
BB: 6,099
UTG: 6,412
Hero (UTG+1): 4,719

Pre-Flop: (75) A A dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 134, 4 folds, SB calls 109, BB folds

Flop: (318) J J T (2 Players)
SB bets 212, Hero raises to 555, SB raises to 2,385 and is All-In, Hero calls 1,830

Turn: (5,088) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (5,088) 5 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 5,088 Pot
SB showed Q A (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-2,519 NET)
Hero showed A A (two pair, Aces and Jacks) and WON 5,088 (+2,569 NET)


I actually put on a smaller pair and was trying to induce the same play, but this works, too. Probably my favorite hand of the tournament was this triple barrel:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG+2: 4,104
MP1: 12,670
MP2: 7,820
CO: 7,226
BTN: 6,465
SB: 20,698
BB: 10,625
UTG: 10,166
Hero (UTG+1): 7,758

Pre-Flop: (120) 5 5 dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 218, 2 folds, MP2 calls 218, CO calls 218, 3 folds

Flop: (774) T A 8 (3 Players)
Hero bets 540, MP2 calls 540, CO folds

Turn: (1,854) 3 (2 Players)
Hero bets 1,250, MP2 calls 1,250

River: (4,354) K (2 Players)
Hero bets 3,250, MP2 folds

Results: 4,354 Pot
Hero mucked 5 5 and WON 4,354 (+2,346 NET)


There's actually not a lot to say about this one. It was some combination of the board texture and his timing that convinced me to pull the trigger on the river- he called the turn super-quickly, which I don't think he'd ever do with a monster given how many draws were out there. So I'm putting him on either a bare A or a pair and a flush draw. When the draws missed on the river, I figured he was folding nearly 100% of his range.

Plattsburgh was really the perfect guy for this next play. He's pretty aggressive pre-flop, and since I had position on him and stacks were deep, I'd already 3-bet him several times. I know that he's capable of 4-betting light, and I doubt he knows anything about me to think that I could 5-bet light. Plus, since he plays tournaments exclusively, he's rarely going to be playing with stack depths and opponents where light 5-betting is a consideration. So I think his 4-betting range here is going to be way too wide, since he probably doesn't expect me to move on him without Ace-King.

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 80/160 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: 2,088
BB: 6,720
UTG: 21,908
UTG+1: 16,737
UTG+2: 16,462
MP1: 13,120
MP2: 7,129
CO: 15,744
Hero (BTN): 11,316

Pre-Flop: (240) Q A dealt to Hero (BTN)
5 folds, CO raises to 420, Hero raises to 1,111, 2 folds, CO raises to 3,124, Hero raises to 11,316 and is All-In, CO folds

Results: 6,488 Pot
Hero mucked Q A and WON 6,488 (+3,364 NET)


For what it's worth, it doesn't matter that I have AQs here, because I think his calling range is QQ+ and AK. The Ace is important, though, because it gives me equity against KK and more importantly because of card removal effects; with an A in my hand, he is that much less likely to hold AA or AK in the first place.

I didn't have much time to enjoy the nice stack, though, because two orbits later I had to make an excruciating fold:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 80/160 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 2,488
BTN: 5,840
SB: 22,248
BB: 15,317
UTG: 16,222
UTG+1: 16,680
UTG+2: 5,609
MP1: 12,460
Hero (MP2): 14,360

Pre-Flop: (240) J A dealt to Hero (MP2)
2 folds, UTG+2 calls 160, MP1 folds, Hero raises to 666, 2 folds, SB calls 586, BB folds, UTG+2 calls 506

Flop: (2,158) 8 4 J (3 Players)
SB checks, UTG+2 checks, Hero bets 1,194, SB raises to 2,500, UTG+2 folds, Hero calls 1,306

Turn: (7,158) 6 (2 Players)
SB bets 3,000, Hero calls 3,000

River: (13,158) T (2 Players)
SB bets 5,000, Hero folds

Results: 13,158 Pot
SB mucked and WON 13,158 (+6,992 NET)


I very nearly folded the turn. For as little as 500 chips more, I would have. It took discipline, but between the T falling on the river to put me behind JT and the fact that the guy kept betting, I just couldn't justify a river call. With every bet, it becomes that much less likely that he's overvaluing QJ or KJ, which is all I can beat at this point. Without a read, it's a fold, though an annoying one.

I won a few more medium-sized pots, mostly by open shoving, but the blinds and later the antes were eating into me. Eventually I shoved over an early positio raise with AKs and lost a flip to 99 to bust out. That's the bad thing about well-structure tournaments: I played for seven hours and didn't even come close to winning anything.

FTOPS Event 21: $300 Razz

It was Razz, so obviously nothing too interesting happened. I felt like I ran terrible, but I think everyone feels that way when they play Razz. I'm not going to bore you with any bad stories. Naturally there were a ton of players calling down to chase ridiculous stuff like rough 9's.

FTOPS Event 20: $200 6-Max NLHE

This one was over quick. I 3-bet AT on the button against a pretty loose bad player in the CO whom I'd 3-bet several times before. He called. The flop came T-high with a flush draw. He checked and called. The turn was a 9, making the board something like T973. He shoved into me for about 120% of the pot. I figured the 9 had improved his hand, but I thought it was most likely to something that I still beat. 87 or or something would make sense. I called, he showed me T9, and that was all she wrote.

FTOPS Event 18: $535 NLHE Triple Shootout

My first table was pretty unremarkable except for Erick Lindgren a few seats to my right. He was playing a kind of loose and passive style, but he was making it work for him. After I got myself knocked out in 4th (at that first table), he had more than half of the chips in play 3-handed.

An example of what I mean but loose and passive but not necessarily bad (since I am just a random in his eyes):

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 2,340
BTN: 2,625
Lindgren: 7,415
BB: 6,030
Hero (UTG): 2,025
UTG+1: 1,505
MP: 2,060

Pre-Flop: (120) Q Q dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to 225, 4 folds, Lindgren calls 185, BB calls 145

Flop: (675) A 4 8 (3 Players)
Lindgren checks, BB bets 320, Hero calls 320, Lindgren calls 320

Turn: (1,635) 2 (3 Players)
Lindgren checks, BB checks, Hero checks

River: (1,635) 2 (3 Players)
Lindgren checks, BB checks, Hero checks

Results: 1,635 Pot
Lindgren showed A J (two pair, Aces and Twos) and WON 1,635 (+1,090 NET)
BB showed 6 8 (two pair, Eights and Twos) and LOST (-545 NET)
Hero showed Q Q (two pair, Queens and Twos) and LOST (-545 NET)


By the way, BB was a terrible LAGtard and QQ is way ahead of his range when he leads flop. I was definitely not expecting Lindgren to show up with an Ace behind me.

FTOPS Event 17: $300 Rebuy NLHE 6-Max

Once again I had some rough table draws, ending up with a lot of high-stakes cash players. As I previously explained, this is bad in an FTOPS tournament for a number of reasons. One of them took me to valuetown on the first hand of the tournament:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: 1,500
BB: 3,000
Hero (UTG): 3,000
CO: 3,000
BTN: 3,000

Pre-Flop: (45) 9 9 dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to 90, CO folds, BTN raises to 315, 2 folds, Hero calls 225

Flop: (675) 8 T Q (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (675) 4 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets 450, Hero calls 450

River: (1,575) Q (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets 1,250, Hero calls 1,250

Results: 4,075 Pot
Hero mucked 9 9 (two pair, Queens and Nines) and LOST (-2,015 NET)
BTN showed A T (two pair, Queens and Tens) and WON 4,075 (+2,060 NET)


I got him back a bit by stealing this pot from him:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: 2,835
SB: 3,150
Hero (BB): 3,065
UTG: 2,845
CO: 4,605

Pre-Flop: (45) 7 5 dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG calls 30, CO raises to 135, BTN folds, SB calls 120, Hero calls 105, UTG calls 105

Flop: (540) 9 T 8 (4 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG checks, CO checks

Turn: (540) K (4 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG checks, CO bets 360, SB folds, Hero raises to 980, 2 folds

Results: 1,260 Pot
Hero mucked 7 5 and WON 1,260 (+765 NET)


He virtually never has more than one pair here, and I think he has nothing at all a fair amount of the time. Most importantly, I don't think he ever expects me to be bluffing here. Plus I do have some outs if called.

I briefly got up a decent stack, but then another 25/50 NL player got seated on my immediate right. He raised from the SB, I re-raised 88 from the BB, and called his shove. He had AK and got there.

FTOPS Event 15: $200 NLHE Turbo

This ran simultaneously with the HORSE, and I didn't even realize it was scheduled. I think turbo tournaments are stupid, but it was an FTOPS, I was already playing, and it as going to require close to 0% of my attention, so I played. Thankfully, it was over quick, as turbos should be. I ran JJ into QQ for most of my chips, then doubled with AA vs. KK, then got bad beat on a 3-way all in with JJ losing to KT, then shoved K5 from the SB into K8 or something like that. Whatever.

Apparently the same person won both Event 14 and Event 15. Some guy called yuvee04 who won an FTOPS event in a previous series as well. As far as I know, he's not a tournament regular or anything. And I haven't heard of any allegations of cheating. Sounds like he's just on the heater of a lifetime.

FTOPS Event 14: $500 HORSE

I wanted to make this post about how bad people are at Stud/8, because they are. Split pot games will rip clueless players to shreds. O/8 is a pretty easy game to get, so you don't see quite as many huge mistakes. Plus there are fewer betting streets and it's easier to make the nuts. But in Stud/8, people chase absurd lows and call down with any pair even when they are clearly crushed or getting freerolled.

But I also made a pretty big error in a Stud/8 game, so I guess I'll be talking about how I suck at Stud/8 (though this is really just a Stud high error). On the river, my opponent was showing 6655, and I had Aces up with both Aces and two high cards showing. My opponent bet, and I raised for value. Like I was saying, no matter how clear I make it that I have Aces up, people will call down with any two pair.

I forgot, however, to think about what my opponent would be value betting. Since his two pair was open, there was no way he could be betting on the strength of that alone. He had to have either a boat or a low, and in either case there was no value in a raise. Sure enough, he had 6's full.

Despite playing for four and a half hours, I only made it to the top 25% of the field. The hand that really hurt me came in LHE. A guy in MP raised, and I 3-bet with AKo. He called. The flop came Ad 5c 3c. He checked, I bet, he check-raised, and I called. the turn was an off-suit 8, he bet, and I raised. The river was a T, and he check-called with Ac Tc. Unlucky river for me, but there were quite a few of those that could have come.

FTOPS Event 12: $1000 NLHE 6-Max

I knew Monday night's FTOPS was a 1K NLHE, but I was pleasantly surprised when I was "seated" to find only five other players at my table. I had no idea it was a 6-max! I was less pleasantly surprised to find two other regulars in the FTP 10/20 games at my table. Dammit, I play tournaments because I want to play with fish! Not only were these guys ten times better than the average player in the tournament, but I knew they were also going to be much more aggressive when stacks were deep. That meant I would have to play high variance poker, which I'd much prefer to avoid in such a well-structured event.

Thankfully, my table broke pretty quickly and I was moved to a softer one. This time, I got to be the undisputed aggressor. For a while, I was getting no respect:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 20/40 Blinds, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 8,010
Hero (MP): 6,890
CO: 7,410
BTN: 7,380
SB: 4,930
BB: 4,130

Pre-Flop: (60) J A dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 120, CO calls 120, BTN calls 120, SB folds, BB raises to 520, Hero raises to 1,240, 2 folds, BB raises to 4,130 and is All-In, Hero folds

Results: 2,740 Pot
BB mucked and WON 2,740 (+1,500 NET)


Eventually, that reputation got me a big payday, though:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 60/120 Blinds, 6 Players