The $500 NLHE Main Event was yet another in a long series “close but no cigar” FTOPS finishes for me. We started with quite deep stacks, and so I came out of the gate swinging:
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
BTN: 5,060
SB: 4,970
BB: 5,000
UTG: 5,000
UTG+1: 5,000
UTG+2: 4,970
MP1: 5,000
MP2: 5,000
Hero (CO): 5,000
Pre-Flop: (45) K
J
dealt to Hero (CO)
4 folds, MP2 raises to 90, Hero raises to 315, BTN folds, MP2 calls 225
Flop: (675) T 3 8 (2 Players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets 385, MP2 folds
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
BTN: 5,015
SB: 5,435
BB: 4,955
UTG: 5,000
UTG+1: 4,475
UTG+2: 4,910
MP1: 5,030
MP2: 4,975
Hero (CO): 5,205
Pre-Flop: (45) J
A dealt to Hero (CO)
4 folds, MP2 raises to 105, Hero raises to 355, 2 folds, BB calls 325, MP2 calls 250
Flop: (1,080) 5 7
A (3 Players)
BB checks, MP2 checks, Hero bets 550, BB folds, MP2 calls 550
Turn: (2,180) 8 (2 Players)
MP2 checks, Hero checks
River: (2,180) 5 (2 Players)
MP2 bets 1,470, Hero folds
This was a kind of big laydown, but there were no missed draws, so either my opponent was floating me out of position, or he was betting for value, and most of his Aces are better than mine.
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
UTG+2: 5,015
MP1: 5,465
MP2: 4,585
CO: 4,955
BTN: 4,520
SB: 4,880
BB: 5,030
UTG: 6,250
Hero (UTG+1): 4,300
Pre-Flop: (45) 3 3 dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 90, 6 folds, BB calls 60
Flop: (195) 4 5 Q (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets 160, BB calls 160
Turn: (515) 7 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets 400, BB calls 400
River: (1,315) 6 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets 1,150, BB folds
Obviously I was betting a lot rivers whether or not they gave me a straight.
This was a really critical hand for me:
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 20/40 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
MP1: 5,365
MP2: 10,230
CO: 9,280
BTN: 4,530
SB: 4,970
BB: 5,845
UTG: 3,500
UTG+1: 5,270
Hero (UTG+2): 5,530
Pre-Flop: (60) T T dealt to Hero (UTG+2)
2 folds, Hero raises to 130, 3 folds, BTN calls 130, SB calls 110, BB folds
Flop: (430) T A 2 (3 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 400, BTN folds, SB calls 400
Turn: (1,230) J (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 1,230, SB calls 1,230
River: (3,690) 2 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 3,770 and is All-In, SB calls 3,210 and is All-In
Results: 10,110 Pot
SB mucked K Q (a straight, Ace high) and LOST (-4,970 NET)
Hero showed T T (a full house, Tens full of Twos) and WON 10,110 (+5,140 NET)
This hand also illustrates an edge that my cash experience gives me over a lot of tournament players when stacks are deep: I know how to size my bets so as to get a guy’s entire stack when I hit hard (and apparently, re-suckout on the river).
Here was another key one that I think I played pretty well:
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 50/100 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
BTN: 6,465
SB: 13,360
BB: 6,840
UTG: 3,463
UTG+1: 11,987
UTG+2: 11,445
MP1: 1,936
MP2: 3,992
Hero (CO): 13,400
Pre-Flop: (150) A K dealt to Hero (CO)
5 folds, Hero raises to 300, BTN folds, SB raises to 1,000, BB folds, Hero calls 700
Flop: (2,100) 5 5 7 (2 Players)
SB bets 1,800, Hero calls 1,800
Turn: (5,700) 9 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks
River: (5,700) A (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 4,600, SB calls 4,600
Results: 14,900 Pot
SB mucked 4 A (two pair, Aces and Fives) and LOST (-7,400 NET)
Hero showed A K (two pair, Aces and Fives) and WON 14,900 (+7,500 NET)
It’s tempting to 4-bet pre-flop, and I wouldn’t argue with anyone who wanted to do that, but with these stacks it’s going to create a kind of awkward stack. I had position, and I figured there were a lot of dominated hands in his range that I would fold out if I 4-bet him.
His river play here is atrocious. He played his Ace like a bluff-catcher, but I’m never going to be bluffing here, and he doesn’t beat anything I’m betting for value. When I call flop, I have a big Ace or a pocket pair 90%+ of the time. I might call a river bet with a pair, but I’m rarely going to bet a pair on this river. I was pretty sure he was only going to call if he had a worse Ace, so I bet big. Frankly, I probably should have bet bigger. But it proved unnecessary, because a little while later I stacked him again with JJ>33 or something on a dry board in a reraised pot (sorry can’t find HH for some reason).
That was all in the first two hours or so, then I was real card dead for a while, won a big card flip, real card dead, then this big hand:
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 400/800 Blinds, 100 Ante, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
SB: 19,676
BB: 12,644
UTG: 18,175
UTG+1: 16,482
MP1: 19,668
MP2: 36,951
CO: 15,841
Hero (BTN): 19,800
Pre-Flop: (2,000) 6 7 dealt to Hero (BTN)
5 folds, Hero raises to 2,200, SB folds, BB calls 1,400
Flop: (5,600) 7 9 K (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks
Turn: (5,600) 6 (2 Players)
BB bets 4,000, Hero raises to 17,500 and is All-In, BB calls 6,344 and is All-In
River: (26,288) T (2 Players – 1 is All-In)
Results: 26,288 Pot
BB showed K Q (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-12,644 NET)
Hero showed 6 7 (two pair, Sevens and Sixes) and WON 26,288 (+13,644 NET)
I was kind of suspicious of his cold call pre-flop and figured he was going to check-raise the flop quite often, so I just took a free card. Glad I did.
Card dead again for a while after this, won a big pot with a set, stole some blinds, won another key coin flip, then lost AT to JJ with about 25 BB’s in a blind battle and that was it.