Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 10/20 Blinds 3 Ante (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t6043)
UTG+1 (t6006)
MP1 (t6253)
MP2 (t5929)
MP3 (t5889)
CO (t5949)
Button (t5949)
SB (t6133)
Hero (BB) (t5849)

Hero’s M: 102.61

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5, 6
1 fold, UTG+1 bets t50, 6 folds, Hero calls t30

Flop: (t137) 2, 3, 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets t80, Hero raises to t299, UTG+1 raises to t660, Hero raises to t1442, UTG+1 calls t782

Turn: (t3021) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets t1444, UTG+1 raises to t4511 (All-In), Hero calls t2910 (All-In)

River: (t11729) 6 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t11729

Results:
Hero had 5, 6 (straight flush, six high).
UTG+1 had A, J (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: Hero won t11729

The next few hours were brutal, and I never got much about 13K. I was getting 3- and 4-bet mercilessly, but no action when I had hands. Then finally I got some action when I had QQ, and, well, you can guess how that ended.

It’s actually an interesting hand. Villain is 24/20 and an aggressive tournament regular who probably views me in much the same way. I’d open folded to him once from my SB, then there was this:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 80/160 Blinds 20 Ante (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t5553)
BB (t14497)
UTG (t8860)
UTG+1 (t14413)
MP1 (t3645)
MP2 (t31129)
MP3 (t2679)
CO (t5511)
Button (t15529)

Hero’s M: 13.22

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, Q
7 folds, Hero bets t480, BB calls t320

Flop: (t1140) 7, K, 8 (2 players)
Hero bets t777, BB calls t777

Turn: (t2694) 10 (2 players)
Hero bets t4276 (All-In), BB calls t4276

River: (t11246) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t11246

Results:
Hero had Q, Q (one pair, Queens).
BB had J, 9 (straight, Jack high).
Outcome: BB won t11246

Villain’s range for getting to the turn is clearly quite wide, and with the Qd in my hand, I think folding is out of the question. I could check to induce a bluff, but I think that enables him to check behind all the hands against which I have the biggest edge (76, A8, etc.). He’ll sometimes bet-fold, but when he bet-calls, I think I can expect to be behind. I chose instead to rep a big draw myself, giving him the opportunity to hero-call me with 6d7 or A8. Even after he drills the gutterball, I’ve still got 15-20% equity.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 30/60 Blinds 7 Ante (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t1851)
BB (t2250)
UTG (t8364)
MP (t15220)
CO (t6557)
Hero (Button) (t5577)

Hero’s M: 42.25

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, A
UTG bets t150, 2 folds, Hero raises to t444, 2 folds, UTG raises to t1095, Hero calls t651

Flop: (t2322) 4, 9, 8 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets t777, UTG calls t777

Turn: (t3876) K (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: (t3876) A (2 players)
UTG bets t3876, Hero folds

Total pot: t3876

Results:
UTG didn’t show
Outcome: UTG won t3876

I flat the 4-bet because I think the hands that call a 5-bet shove are stacking off on most flops anyway, especially since an A isn’t too likely to flop nor is AK likely to be his hand given that I hold two A’s. This was not exactly the flop I was hoping for, though.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 50/100 Blinds 10 Ante (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t8310)
BB (t7190)
UTG (t5301)
MP (t20101)
CO (t7202)
Hero (Button) (t5988)

Hero’s M: 28.51

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, K
2 folds, CO bets t250, Hero raises to t666, 2 folds, CO raises to t1555, Hero raises to t5978 (All-In), CO calls t4423

Flop: (t12166) 7, 3, 8 (2 players, 1 all-in

Turn: (t12166) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t12166) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t12166

Results:
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and threes).
CO had A, A (two pair, Aces and threes).
Outcome: CO won t12166

Not that I’m getting away from K’s 55 BB’s deep BTN vs CO, but TMay isn’t at the top of my list of guys whose 4-betting range I’m crushing. Oh well, guess he “pwned” me here.

Before you start feeling too sorry for me, I did have a bit of good luck too:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds 10 Ante (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t13616)
SB (t1691)
BB (t9993)
UTG (t19006)
MP (t6844)
Hero (CO) (t2942)

Hero’s M: 16.34

Preflop: Hero is CO with 10, K
2 folds, Hero bets t187, Button calls t187, 1 fold, BB calls t107

Flop: (t661) 8, Q, 4 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t444, Button calls t444, 1 fold

Turn: (t1549) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets t1111, Button raises to t3440, Hero calls t1190 (All-In)

River: (t6151) J (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t6151

Results:
Button had J, 10 (straight, Queen high).
Hero had 10, K (straight, King high).
Outcome: Hero won t6151

I know it looks bad, but this guy was calling like 40% of hands pre-flop and 80% of flops, so even with a draw as weak as mine I think I like double-barreling. As you can say he did in fact call me pretty light but happened to get there. Not that that stopped him from berating me when I got there on the river.

This was the second rush tournament I’ve played, and while I miss having reads and establishing dynamics at the table, I will say that rush otherwise allows for great tournament structures. You get in a ton of hands at each blind level and the tournament still goes by pretty quickly. Especially for non-NLHE games, where reads aren’t worth nearly as much to me, I think I’m a big fan. Anyhow, here are a few random hands:

Slowplay Costs Me the Pot

It’s really rare that slowplaying is correct in PLO8, and despite the results of this hand, I’m pretty happy with my decision. On the flop, it’s just really hard for him to have anything at all and so easy for me to have trips. When I’m ahead, I’m usually way ahead, sweating two or in this case just one out. Turn is great for me since it means there will be no low; I probably would have bet a rag. I don’t think I can expect too many calls if I bet the river, and most of the hands will value bet if I check anyway, so I’d rather try to induce. Or, in this case, save myself some money.

Full Tilt Pot-Limit Omaha Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t4770)
SB (t1885)
BB (t6555)
UTG (t4768)
UTG+1 (t7881)
Hero (MP1) (t8855)
MP2 (t4532)
MP3 (t3394)
CO (t4299)

Hero’s M: 118.07

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with 2, 4, 10, A
2 folds, Hero bets t150, MP2 calls t150, 5 folds

Flop: (t375) 2, 10, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets t375, Hero calls t375

Turn: (t1125) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 checks

River: (t1125) A (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets t400, Hero calls t400

Total pot: t1925

Results:
Hero had 2, 4, 10, A (full house, twos over Aces).
MP2 had J, A, A, K (full house, Aces over twos).
Outcome: MP2 won t1925

Something Else You Aren’t Supposed to Do in PLO8

Full Tilt Pot-Limit Omaha Tournament, 150/300 Blinds (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t4265)
SB (t8231)
BB (t13609)
UTG (t12249)
Hero (UTG+1) (t17046)
MP1 (t15543)
MP2 (t9133)
MP3 (t9700)
CO (t14096)

Hero’s M: 37.88

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with K, 3, A, 3
UTG calls t300, Hero calls t300, 2 folds, MP3 calls t300, 2 folds, SB calls t150, BB checks

Flop: (t1500) 4, 7, 5 (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks, MP3 checks

Turn: (t1500) 9 (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets t999, MP3 raises to t3900, 3 folds, Hero calls t2901

River: (t9300) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 bets t5500 (All-In), Hero calls t5500

Total pot: t20300

Results:
Hero had K, 3, A, 3 (one pair, threes).
MP3 had K, A, 4, J (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: Hero won t10150, MP3 won t10150

It’s a cardinal rule of split pot games that you aren’t supposed to call down for half the pot, especially not with only the second nuts. I just don’t see the guy ever checking the nut low on the flop. The real danger here is that I get quartered if he has A3 and a high, but even that’s a kind of unlikely flop check, plus I hold two of the 3’s. He was pissed though.

Bluff Catching

Looking at this now, I probably ought to bet the turn. As played, though, I’m happy with the river check-call. It’s extremely rare that he has a high good enough to value bet in its own right, so I think the only way I get scooped is if he rivered like a low and a weak two-pair, and that seems pretty unlikely. I also don’t think he checks too many low draws on the turn that are good enough to value bet the river. Scooooooooooooop.

Full Tilt Pot-Limit Omaha Tournament, 300/600 Blinds (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t10042)
SB (t27450)
Hero (BB) (t39886)
UTG (t19199)
UTG+1 (t45543)
MP1 (t12244)
MP2 (t31370)
MP3 (t10781)
CO (t34163)

Hero’s M: 44.32

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, J, 10, J
1 fold, UTG+1 bets t1350, 6 folds, Hero calls t750

Flop: (t3000) 6, 9, Q (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks

Turn: (t3000) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks

River: (t3000) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets t2400, Hero calls t2400

Total pot: t7800

Results:
Hero had 9, J, 10, J (one pair, Jacks).
UTG+1 had 10, K, A, 4 (one pair, fours).
Outcome: Hero won t7800

I finished 32nd out of like 1100 runners. That took barely three hours to play out, despite the fact that there was plenty of play at every level. Rush PLO8 tournament = great success!

To be fair, there were only 104 runners, and about 30 of them didn’t even show. Here are a few hands from the road to victory:

This is Why AQ is a Good Bluffcatcher

It’s got equity when he’s not bluffing. FWIW he’d been a total LAGtard up to this point.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (MP3) (t3122)
CO (t885)
Button (t880)
SB (t1552)
BB (t1070)
UTG (t2029)
UTG+1 (t840)
MP1 (t960)
MP2 (t1952)

Hero’s M: 26.02

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with Q, A
3 folds, MP2 bets t179, Hero calls t179, 4 folds

Flop: (t478) 3, K, 5 (2 players)
MP2 bets t199, Hero calls t199

Turn: (t876) 3 (2 players)
MP2 bets t375, Hero calls t375

River: (t1626) A (2 players)
MP2 bets t1199 (All-In), Hero calls t1199

Total pot: t4024

Results:
MP2 had J, K (two pair, Kings and threes).
Hero had Q, A (two pair, Aces and threes).
Outcome: Hero won t4024

Hero Call

Errr, shove.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 500/1000 Blinds 125 Ante (4 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t32791)
BB (t71029)
Hero (UTG) (t27666)
Button (t24514)

Hero’s M: 13.83

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 3, A
Hero bets t2222, 2 folds, BB calls t1222

Flop: (t5444) 2, 10, 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t1999, BB raises to t4855, Hero calls t2856

Turn: (t15154) K (2 players)
BB bets t9555, Hero raises to t20464 (All-In), BB calls t10909

River: (t56082) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t56082

Results:
BB had J, Q (high card, King).
Hero had 3, A (one pair, threes).
Outcome: Hero won t56082

K, This One Was Kinda Lucky

My HU opponent was zhivago2, winner of the previous FTOPS main event and a guy I’d actually played a fair bit with in the 2-day event that I won. He came in with a 3:1 chiplead, but I won a few small pots and then equalized it with this one:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 1000/2000 Blinds 250 Ante (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t96443)
Hero (BB) (t59557)

Hero’s M: 17.02

Preflop: Hero is BB with K, J
SB bets t4000, Hero calls t2000

Flop: (t8500) 2, 6, J (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets t3555, Hero calls t3555

Turn: (t15610) A (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets t5555, Hero calls t5555

River: (t26720) J (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets t11555, Hero raises to t46197 (All-In), SB calls t34642

Total pot: t119114

Results:
SB had Q, J (three of a kind, Jacks).
Hero had K, J (three of a kind, Jacks).
Outcome: Hero won t119114

I took a few more small pots off with him, and eventually he realized he was getting killed postflop. He started just monkey-shoving for like 5-10x the size of the pot. He won our first all-in confrontation, but later I snapped him off with 55 and doubled through his K2. There was some more monkey-shoving, and I eventually picked up TT and caught him with 97o for 21BB’s.

I tried for a while but couldn’t find any information about whether I’m required to play the seat (don’t think Harrah’s will let them do that) or if I’d have to wear their gear or anything like that. The way they are structuring their incentives this year, I don’t really want to play for them. They are giving everyone who cashes wearing FTP gear a free seat in the 2011 main event, but that means that an FTP patch is going to be an invitation to get raped on the bubble.

But anyway, it’s official: I’m the champion!

This one’s a little embarrassing. I shoved turn here hoping to get him off a mid-pair, but here’s what happened instead:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 6000/12000 Blinds 1500 Ante (8 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (CO) (t497480)
Button (t227662)
SB (t634145)
BB (t816177)
UTG (t1063367)
UTG+1 (t302032)
MP1 (t1684089)
MP2 (t451048)

Hero’s M: 16.58

Preflop: Hero is CO with A, K
2 folds, MP1 bets t24000, MP2 calls t24000, Hero raises to t88888, 3 folds, MP1 calls t64888, MP2 calls t64888

Flop: (t296664) 10, 10, 2 (3 players)
MP1 bets t43210, 1 fold, Hero calls t43210

Turn: (t383084) 4 (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets t363882 (All-In), MP1 calls t363882

River: (t1110848) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t1110848

Results:
MP1 had Q, A (one pair, tens).
Hero had A, K (one pair, tens).
Outcome: Hero won t1110848

Truthfully, AQ might actually be a better call than like 66 there, though I’m not sure he realizes that.

Cold-Decking Bakes

I know I look like a giant luckbox for this, and of course I am, but I can also point to two occasions where I lost huge pots on the final table bubble of big FTP tournaments with AA vs. KK.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 10000/20000 Blinds 2500 Ante (5 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (UTG) (t1445058)
MP (t745644)
Button (t891965)
SB (t1483692)
BB (t1109641)

Hero’s M: 34.00

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, A
Hero bets t48888, 2 folds, SB raises to t112450, BB calls t92450, Hero raises to t288888, SB raises to t1481192 (All-In), 1 fold, Hero calls t1153670 (All-In)

Flop: (t3010066) J, J, J (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t3010066) Q (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t3010066) 3 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t3010066

Results:
SB had K, K (full house, Jacks over Kings).
Hero had A, A (full house, Jacks over Aces).
Outcome: Hero won t3010066

Pushing Psycho Around 3-Handed

The third player was clearly far weaker than Psycho and I, so Psycho had to avoid playing big pots with me for fear of busting in 3rd. He kept trying to play small pots with me, but I made very clear that he wasn’t getting anything from me cheaply. Here I don’t think he’s ever slowplaying the flop against me, in part because I hadn’t been folding flops and in part because he just can’t afford to take risks against me. So with a ton of outs and him probably not having anything too good, it’s an easy shove:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 14000/28000 Blinds 3500 Ante (3 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t3402015)
BB (t1313313)
Button (t960672)

Hero’s M: 64.80

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, Q
Button bets t56000, Hero calls t42000, 1 fold

Flop: (t150500) 10, A, 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Turn: (t150500) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets t77777, Button raises to t176543, Hero raises to t3342515 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: t503586

Results:
Hero didn’t show K, Q.
Outcome: Hero won t503586

Bluffing Him Off a Chop

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 17000/34000 Blinds 4000 Ante (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t3942502)
BB (t1733498)

Hero’s M: 66.82

Preflop: Hero is SB with 5, 3
Hero bets t68000, BB calls t34000

Flop: (t144000) 10, 10, 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t66666, BB raises to t173000, Hero calls t106334

Turn: (t490000) 10 (2 players)
BB bets t90000, Hero calls t90000

River: (t670000) 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t555555, 1 fold

Total pot: t670000

Results:
Hero didn’t show 5, 3 (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t670000

I guess he probably had the case 5 or 22-44? He’s never checking river if he beats the board, so betting is a freeroll.

The One That Won It

I’d actually been folding my bottom 10% of hands preflop only because I didn’t want him to realize that he should be raising more than the minimum. At this point he was so short that I figured I’d have no trouble showing down the best hand any time I made it, so I decided to call.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 20000/40000 Blinds 5000 Ante (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) (t5055614)
SB (t620386)

Hero’s M: 72.22

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, 3
SB bets t80000, Hero calls t40000

Flop: (t170000) 3, 3, 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets t55000, Hero calls t55000

Turn: (t280000) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, SB checks

River: (t280000) J (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets t480386 (All-In), Hero calls t480386

Total pot: t1240772

Results:
SB had J, A (two pair, Jacks and threes).
Hero had 9, 3 (three of a kind, threes).
Outcome: Hero won t1240772

His flop range is mostly bluffs, and he hadn’t been playing back at my check-raises (though he may have here out of frustration, and I did consider it). I decided to let him either make a hand or bluff later, though. I was planning to check-shove river, I dunno why he tried to overbet AJ. I don’t think I would have called with KJ.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 250/500 Blinds 50 Ante (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t55790)
UTG+1 (t36186)
MP1 (t27509)
MP2 (t15323)
MP3 (t15790)
CO (t26220)
Hero (Button) (t42976)
SB (t39918)
BB (t36136)

Hero’s M: 35.81

Preflop: Hero is Button with 10, 10
6 folds, Hero bets t1000, SB calls t750, BB calls t500

Flop: (t3450) 2, 7, 10 (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets t2222, 1 fold, BB calls t2222

Turn: (t7894) 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: (t7894) 8 (2 players)
BB bets t2900, Hero raises to t12000, BB calls t9100

Total pot: t31894

Results:
Hero had 10, 10 (full house, tens over twos).
BB had 10, J (two pair, tens and twos).
Outcome: Hero won t31894

I think his range for calling the flop is pretty weak and usually drawing dead on the turn, so I choose not to bet. I think I just get too many folds from hands that will give me a bet (or in this case two) on the river, and there aren’t a lot of hands that are going to pay off two streets.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 400/800 Blinds 100 Ante (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t33108)
UTG+1 (t65275)
MP1 (t110744)
MP2 (t9555)
MP3 (t59062)
Hero (CO) (t57296)
Button (t53412)
SB (t118817)
BB (t41122)

Hero’s M: 27.28

Preflop: Hero is CO with 8, 6
1 fold, UTG+1 bets t1775, 2 folds, MP3 calls t1775, Hero calls t1775, 3 folds

Flop: (t7425) 9, 7, 4 (3 players)
UTG+1 checks, MP3 checks, Hero bets t2421, UTG+1 raises to t7800, 1 fold, Hero calls t5379

Turn: (t23025) 3 (2 players)
UTG+1 bets t12600, Hero raises to t47621 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: t48225

Results:
Hero didn’t show 8, 6.
Outcome: Hero won t48225

I don’t know if he ever folds anything he’s betting for value on the turn, but I have a ton of equity even against the nuts, and I think he’s often “bluffing” with the best hand- like AJ or something. I wasn’t shoving any turn, but I was shoving clubs. I probably flat call if I turn a straight.

We start play tomorrow at 2. Ugh.

FTOPS Event #25 (2-Day) (147664209)

Your Full Tilt Poker account has been credited with a bounty prize of $200.00.

In addition to your bounty prize money, you’ve also earned a T-shirt to commemorate your accomplishment. You’ll receive a second email that will allow you to claim this shirt and confirm your shipping details.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 140/280 Blinds 25 Ante (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 (t4681)
MP3 (t8817)
CO (t9984)
Button (t33954)
SB (t18715)
BB (t24529)
Hero (UTG) (t9837)
UTG+1 (t9835)
MP1 (t14031)

Hero’s M: 15.25

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q, A
Hero bets t777, UTG+1 calls t777, 2 folds, MP3 calls t777, CO calls t777, 2 folds, BB calls t497

Flop: (t4250) Q, 8, 6 (5 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, UTG+1 bets t1770, 2 folds, BB calls t1770, Hero raises to t9035 (All-In), UTG+1 calls t7263 (All-In), 1 fold

Turn: (t24086) 5 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t24086) 5 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t24086

Results:
Hero had Q, A (two pair, Queens and fives).
UTG+1 had 8, A (two pair, eights and fives).
Outcome: Hero won t24086

I’m not a big fan of his pre-flop call, but he was playing this whole tournament pretty crazily. Not surprisingly, it didn’t seem to be too important to him, at least not at this nascent stage.

I’m currently sitting 57/261 with about an hour and a half left in the day.

It went down basically the way I expected it to: got some fish to clown off their stacks to me early, then had to play poker with decent players. Two of my tables had at least one high-stakes cash player on my left who is definitively better than I am, which sucks especially in a 6-max format.

This one is vs. Shannon Shorr, it actually got me to post a hand on 2+2 for the first time on months:

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

MP (t16747)

CO (t21129)

Button (t11791)

Hero (SB) (t28986)

BB (t20843)

UTG (t6894)

Hero’s M: 43.92

Preflop: Hero is SB with 10, 10

1 fold, MP bets t810, 2 folds, Hero calls t640, 1 fold

Flop: (t2110) 9, 5, 4 (2 players)

Hero checks, MP checks

Turn: (t2110) 2 (2 players)

Hero bets t1356, MP calls t1356

River: (t4822) 6 (2 players)

Hero bets t3333, MP raises to t14556 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: t11488

Results:

MP didn’t show

Outcome: MP won t11488

This is the hand where I busted, Villain was one of those cash game players I was whining about. I don’t really mind how it went down, I’d been crazy active, and AQ is one of the best hands to shove over a flop raise:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 300/600 Blinds 75 Ante (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t39703)
SB (t20693)
BB (t63171)
UTG (t57790)
MP (t36017)
Hero (CO) (t22250)

Hero’s M: 16.48

Preflop: Hero is CO with A, Q
2 folds, Hero bets t1333, Button calls t1333, 2 folds

Flop: (t4016) 3, 6, 3 (2 players)

Hero bets t2222, Button raises to t5760, Hero raises to t20842 (All-In), Button calls t15082

Turn: (t45700) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t45700) J (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t45700

Results:

Button had 9, 9 (two pair, nines and threes).

Hero had A, Q (one pair, threes).

Outcome: Button won t45700

The guy who shoves had been pretty shove-happy in general. I think he’d even open shoved like 30-some BB’s once. I recognized his name, so I don’t think he was a maniac, just a tourney donk who understood unexploitable shoving and was more comfortable playing that way.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 100/200 Blinds (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t3372)
Hero (SB) (t4393)
BB (t13870)
UTG (t10287)
MP (t11968)
CO (t11704)

Hero’s M: 14.64

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, Q
2 folds, CO calls t200, Button bets t3372 (All-In), Hero raises to t4393 (All-In), 1 fold, CO calls t4193

Flop: (t12358) 5, Q, A (3 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t12358) 2 (3 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t12358) 8 (3 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t12358

Results:
Button had 2, 2 (three of a kind, twos).
Hero had K, Q (one pair, Queens).
CO had A, J (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Button won t10316, CO won t2042

This isn’t a bad outcome for me, as I have 33.2% equity in a 3-way pot. I imagine there are some worse Kings and probably suited connectors at least in the shover’s range, and quite possibly it’s wider than that. Since the limper was apparently trapping here, he probably has stronger stuff in his range too, though he’s also going to be folding a lot. I’m a little surprised he called with AJ, though I don’t actually think it’s a bad call given the situation.

I’m still not sure about this fold. He certainly ought to have more than AA to do this, but you never know with these clowns. Then again if he does have AA2 (or any A2, really), I’m smoked.

Full Tilt Pot-Limit Omaha Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP3 (t5000)
Hero (CO) (t4940)
Button (t4955)
SB (t4970)
BB (t4940)
UTG (t6260)
UTG+1 (t5000)
MP1 (t5000)
MP2 (t3935)

Hero’s M: 109.78

Preflop: Hero is CO with 5, 4, A, 3
2 folds, MP1 calls t30, 2 folds, Hero bets t135, Button raises to t480, 3 folds, Hero calls t345

Flop: (t1035) 3, 7, 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t750, Hero folds

Total pot: t1035

Results:
Button didn’t show
Outcome: Button won t1035

Here’s the one that cost me most of my chips. When I saw the flop, I had every intention of folding, but once everyone in between folded, I decided to go with it.

Full Tilt Pot-Limit Omaha Tournament, 20/40 Blinds (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 (t5113)
Hero (MP3) (t4350)
CO (t5250)
Button (t5045)
SB (t3476)
BB (t7096)
UTG (t6703)
UTG+1 (t4833)
MP1 (t3134)

Hero’s M: 72.50

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with 8, 7, A, 5
UTG calls t40, 1 fold, MP1 calls t40, 1 fold, Hero calls t40, CO calls t40, 1 fold, SB bets t280, BB calls t240, UTG calls t240, MP1 calls t240, Hero calls t240, 1 fold

Flop: (t1440) 4, A, 7 (5 players)
SB bets t1440, 3 folds, Hero raises to t4070 (All-In), SB calls t1756 (All-In)

Turn: (t7832) 3 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t7832) Q (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t7832

Results:
SB had 5, 2, K, 9 (straight, five high).
Hero had 8, 7, A, 5 (two pair, Aces and sevens).
Outcome: SB won t7832

h

Round 1- Guy was awful, I don’t remember much beyond that. He started making some massive pre-flop shoves, probably because he knew he was getting outplayed, so I had to gamble with him a bit. I actually got it in bad pre-flop to a cooler but sucked out to stay alive, and I finished him off eventually.

Round 2– Pretty similar to the first, if I recall correctly.

Round 3– I drew Yuvee04, winner of an unprecedented 4 FTOPS tournaments. Apparently he’s mostly a high-limit Stud/Razz/HORSE player, though I think he won PLO and NLHE tournaments as well. He was probably my toughest opponent and had a quite unique style that was clearly influenced by playing in fixed limit games. He was a little on the passive side but made good reads and did some weird stuff like min-raising turns and rivers. Here’s a good example of him snapping me off with K-high:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t3300)
BB (t2700)

Hero’s M: 73.33

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, 4
Hero bets t60, BB calls t30

Flop: (t120) 7, 7, 9 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t77, BB calls t77

Turn: (t274) 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: (t274) 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t166, BB calls t166

Total pot: t606

Results:
Hero had Q, 4 (one pair, sevens).
BB had 6, K (one pair, sevens).
Outcome: BB won t606

This was the only match where I felt outmatched. Don’t get me wrong, I put up a good fight, but I did feel he was a little better than I was. If he had as much heads up NLHE experience as I do, I’m sure he would have mopped the floor with me. I sucked out on him, he sucked out on me, etc., we were the last match of this round to finish, but eventually I won a coin flip to bust him.

Round 4- This was another tough one. My opponent was m_reed, a very solid TAG who I’ve played with a fair bit at MSNL and who now makes videos for CardRunners. We were very evenly matched, and once again I was the last one to finish. I was fortunate to get momentum early in the match and just sort of lean on that.

Round 5- Some crazy fish. He was stupidly aggressive, bluffing a lot but sometimes in bad spots and also overplaying hands. That can be a surprisingly difficult style to play against without cards, and he semi-coolered me every time I got a good lead on him, but eventually I busted him.

Round 6- Villain was Keith “da murdera” Ferrerra, which didn’t mean a lot to me until I googled his name. Apparently he’s a pretty well known tournament player and won the Wynn Classic. I read an interview with him where he sounded pretty smart and correctly explained a polarized range, but he didn’t turn out to play as well as I was expecting. He 3-bet like 1/3 of his hands, but I just started calling and owning him post-flop. I won a big pot off of him in a pretty funny way:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 20/40 Blinds (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t4076)
BB (t1924)

Hero’s M: 67.93

Preflop: Hero is SB with 9, 4
Hero bets t80, BB calls t40

Flop: (t160) 9, 2, 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t88, BB raises to t240, Hero calls t152

Turn: (t640) 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t222, BB raises to t600, Hero calls t378

River: (t1840) 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Total pot: t1840

Results:
Hero had 9, 4 (two pair, nines and twos).
BB had Q, 5 (one pair, twos).
Outcome: Hero won t1840

Round 7- Of the 16 left, I only recognized like two names: Shannon Shorr, and this guy jigga man who I’ve played a lot with at 3/6 and 5/10 NLHE. I would have much preferred to draw one of the other 13, but I got jigga. We actually played a little heads up cash once, he challenged me but quickly quit. Nevertheless, he was a tough opponent. I’m not happy with the hand I busted on:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 20/40 Blinds (2 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (SB) (t2520)
BB (t3480)

Hero’s M: 42.00

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, 2
Hero bets t80, BB calls t40

Flop: (t160) 2, K, 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t77, BB raises to t220, Hero calls t143

Turn: (t600) 10 (2 players)
BB bets t480, Hero calls t480

River: (t1560) A (2 players)
BB bets t2120, Hero calls t1740 (All-In)

Total pot: t5040

Results:
Hero had K, 2 (two pair, Kings and twos).
BB had Q, J (straight, Ace high).
Outcome: BB won t5040

I think I ought to shove the turn. There are a few worse hands that can call, and even though air is a lot of his range, I don’t think he’s bluffing the river. My hand just looks very strong when I call turn. The river is very much a crying call, which is why I ought to just stick it in on the turn. I convinced myself this might look like a good card to bluff and maybe he can even value bet bare Aces, but pretty much I let him freeroll me and he got there.

And I just busted the Stars $500 in like 24th, dude in the CO made a questionable but I guess OK call with A9o when I shoved A8o from my BTN. Now I’m tired and pissed at poker tournaments and probably won’t play the PLO8 tomorrow, which is a shame cuz I was looking forward to it. I am playing the 1K tomorrow night though.

Got a bit of a drive ahead of us today to Death Valley, where we’ll be camping for the next few nights before returning to Vegas for the NAPT Venetian. I’ve got one blog post scheduled to post up tomorrow, and we’ll see how many more I get to, but please excuse me if things are quiet on here for a few days.

Last night, in the $300 rebuy FTOPS event, I was rolling along nicely and then fell off the wagon:

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

BB (t13511)
UTG (t19356)
MP (t20140)
CO (t18855)
Button (t12236)
Hero (SB) (t19919)
Hero’s M: 30.18

Preflop: Hero is SB with 8, K
4 folds, Hero bets t1020, BB calls t680

Flop: (t2190) 9, 2, 7 (2 players)
Hero bets t1333, BB raises to t3125, Hero raises to t18874 (All-In), BB calls t9341 (All-In)

Turn: (t27122) 2 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t27122) A (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t27122

Results:
Hero had 8, K (one pair, twos).
BB had A, 9 (two pair, Aces and nines).
Outcome: BB won t27122

This is just such a perfect spot for a bluff raise on the flop (I have a wide range, this is a tough flop for either of us to hit, and the stack sizes don’t give me many options even if I don’t believe him). Although I was new to the table and didn’t recognize his screenname, I did have some reason to think he was capable of making plays: he 3-bet me on his button at the first opportunity.

When dealing with an essentially unknown villain, though, shoving any two is not the best way to proceed. I can minimize exploitability by bluff shoving hands that will have the best equity vs. his calling range: draws, hands that paired the board, and even two overcards. Shoving something as weak as K8 makes me easily exploitable by a strategy this guy may well be employing, which is only raising when he has a hand good enough to call a shove. And naturally in a spot where he ought to be raising a huge range he has managed to flop top pair top kicker. AKDHAKLSFHSKLFHASFKH

Many better players like to make fun of the fish who talk about protecting their hands. Because betting for protection is so popular among weak players, many stronger players think it is an intrinsically bad play.

I’ve been trying to reach a more nuanced understanding of the concept recently. My current thinking is that it has a lot to do with, not whether you will get drawn out on, but whether future streets are likely to be +EV for you. Sometimes you have a hand that will play well on future streets, in which case you aren’t concerned about protecting. Other times, you have a hand that can’t improve and can’t catch bluffs, in which case it’s often best to take it down right away.

Here’s an example, from the $1000 FTOPS 6-max:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 120/240 Blinds 25 Ante (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG (t11184)
MP (t3707)
CO (t4892)
Hero (Button) (t11375)
SB (t8732)
BB (t8370)
Hero’s M: 22.30

Preflop: Hero is Button with 5, A
2 folds, CO bets t480, Hero calls t480, 2 folds

Flop: (t1470) 6, 4, 4 (2 players)
CO bets t680, Hero calls t680

Turn: (t2830) 5 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero checks

River: (t2830) A (2 players)
CO bets t3707 (All-In), Hero calls t3707

Total pot: t10244

Results:
Hero had 5, A (two pair, Aces and fives).
CO had 9, J (one pair, fours).
Outcome: Hero won t10244

With a hand like 65, I’d be far more inclined to bet the turn. This is because my opponent is pretty much freerolling me on the river. He’s probably not betting it unless it either improves him or is a scare card, in which case I won’t be able to call anyway. Like here, I would have folded 65 on the river (probably).

With the A5, though, there is a fair chance that I dominate my opponent. If he has something like AQ, then good things can actually happen if I let him see the river. Plus, one of the best bluff cards on the river is actually going to improve my hand.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 80/160 Blinds (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t6916)
MP (t3171)
CO (t7325)
Button (t12320)
SB (t12015)
Hero (BB) (t6713)

Hero’s M: 27.97

Preflop: Hero is BB with J, K
2 folds, CO bets t320, 1 fold, SB calls t240, Hero raises to t900, 1 fold, SB calls t580

Flop: (t2120) J, Q, 5 (2 players)
SB bets t900, Hero calls t900

Turn: (t3920) A (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t999, SB calls t999

River: (t5918) 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t3914 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: t5918

Results:
Hero didn’t show J, K (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t5918

Preflop is definitely good. The CO’s range was like 75%, and I doubt he’s capable of 4-betting light. I don’t know much about SB but it almost doesn’t matter.

Flop I think is close between shove and call. My hand is almost always best, and while I’m in bad shape vs. his calling range, there’s also a lot of value in picking the pot up now given the spades out there. I called only because I thought he’d give me the information I needed on later streets, and he did, though not in the way I’d expected.

I doubt he checks a good spade on the turn, but he may well have turned a weak flush or a better pair than mine. So I throw a little bet out there just to see if he check-shoves. When he doesn’t, I’m pretty confident the pot is mine on the river. For a second, I worried about the board pair, but then I realized that there were really no boats possible for him except for maybe a disastrously played A5.

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.

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

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.

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

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

3rd Street – (1.40 SB)

Foucault: 3 4 A___completes___raises

cardsharkk: xx xx T___folds

dinho_style: xx xx J___folds

AK_47_JAZZ: xx xx A___raises___calls

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 9___folds

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 4___calls___calls

Jawarhalo: xx xx 3___folds

NastyBeet: xx xx J___brings-in___folds

4th Street – (10.65 SB)

Foucault: 3 4 A J___calls___calls___calls

AK_47_JAZZ: xx xx A 8___raises___raises

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 4 2___bets___raises___calls

5th Street – (11.33 BB)

Foucault: 3 4 A J T___calls

AK_47_JAZZ: xx xx A 8 2___bets

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 4 2 K___calls

6th Street – (14.33 BB)

Foucault: 3 4 A J T 2___checks___calls

AK_47_JAZZ: xx xx A 8 2 K___checks___calls

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 4 2 K 6___bets

River – (17.33 BB)

Foucault: 3 4 A J T 2 8___checks

AK_47_JAZZ: xx xx A 8 2 K xx___checks

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 4 2 K 6 xx___checks

Total pot: (17.33 BB – 1,386)

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

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

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

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

3rd Street – (1.20 SB)

Foucault: A 6 5___calls

cardsharkk: xx xx T___folds

dinho_style: xx xx J___folds

east33pro: xx xx J___brings-in___folds

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 6___completes

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 9___folds

Jawarhalo: xx xx 3___folds

NastyBeet: xx xx 4___folds

4th Street – (3.50 SB)

Foucault: A 6 5 8___bets

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 6 6___calls

5th Street – (2.75 BB)

Foucault: A 6 5 8 T___bets

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 6 6 A___calls

6th Street – (4.75 BB)

Foucault: A 6 5 8 T 7___bets___calls

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 6 6 A 8___raises

River – (8.75 BB)

Foucault: A 6 5 8 T 7 J___checks

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 6 6 A 8 xx___checks

Total pot: (8.75 BB – 1,750)

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

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

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

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

3rd Street – (1.33 SB)

Foucault: 2 3 5___raises___calls

cardsharkk: xx xx 9___brings-in___folds

dinho_style: xx xx 3___folds

east33pro: xx xx 7___folds

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 6___folds

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 8___folds

icudonk: xx xx 5___completes___raises

NastyBeet: xx xx A___raises___calls

4th Street – (13.67 SB)

Foucault: 2 3 5 T___calls

icudonk: xx xx 5 8___bets

NastyBeet: xx xx A Q___calls

5th Street – (8.33 BB)

Foucault: 2 3 5 T A___bets

icudonk: xx xx 5 8 Q___calls

NastyBeet: xx xx A Q A___folds

6th Street – (10.33 BB)

Foucault: 2 3 5 T A K___bets

icudonk: xx xx 5 8 Q T___checks___calls

River – (12.33 BB)

Foucault: 2 3 5 T A K 2___calls

icudonk: xx xx 5 8 Q T xx___bets

Total pot: (14.33 BB – 4,300)

Results:
Total pot 4,300 | Rake 0

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

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

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

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

3rd Street – (1.20 SB)

Foucault: 3 6 4___completes___raises

cardsharkk: xx xx 5___folds

dinho_style: xx xx 5___folds

east33pro: xx xx 6___raises___calls

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 5___raises___calls

OnlyPlayRagz: xx xx 9___brings-in___folds

icudonk: xx xx 4___folds

NastyBeet: xx xx 7___folds

4th Street – (13.45 SB)

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

east33pro: xx xx 6 3___bets___raises___calls

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 5 Q___calls___calls___calls

5th Street – (12.82 BB)

Foucault: 3 6 4 T 2___all-in

east33pro: xx xx 6 3 T___bets

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 5 Q 9___calls

6th Street – (14.82 BB)

Foucault: 3 6 4 T 2 K___all-in

east33pro: xx xx 6 3 T 7___bets

Kristy Gazes: xx xx 5 Q 9 J___folds

River – (14.82 BB)

Foucault: 3 6 4 T 2 K J___all-in

east33pro: xx xx 6 3 T 7 xx

Total pot: (14.82 BB – 5,927)

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

Note: this site shuffles the hole cards.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

SB: 4,820
Hero (BB): 5,841
UTG: 7,055
MP: 9,651
CO: 6,488
BTN: 4,895

Pre-Flop: (180) A 4 dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG raises to 240, MP calls 240, 3 folds, Hero calls 120

Flop: (780) 8 9 T (3 Players)
Hero checks, UTG checks, MP checks

Turn: (780) K (3 Players)
Hero bets 601, UTG raises to 1,920, MP folds, Hero raises to 5,601 and is All-In, UTG calls 3,681

River: (11,982) 3 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

Results: 11,982 Pot
Hero showed A 4 (a flush, Ace high) and WON 11,982 (+6,141 NET)
UTG showed J K (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-5,841 NET)

But it wasn’t to last. I lost two medium-sized pots on bad beats to short stacks, then Valuetowned myself against a guy who I still think may have been loose enough to show up with worse Aces here:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 140/280 Blinds, 25 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

UTG: 54,174
Hero (MP): 11,705
CO: 11,010
BTN: 10,714
SB: 19,723
BB: 5,384

Pre-Flop: (570) A J dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 780, CO calls 780, 3 folds

Flop: (2,130) T 5 A (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets 1,320, Hero calls 1,320

Turn: (4,770) T (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: (4,770) 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets 2,580, CO calls 2,580

Results: 9,930 Pot
Hero showed A J (two pair, Aces and Tens) and LOST (-4,705 NET)
CO showed A Q (two pair, Aces and Tens) and WON 9,930 (+5,225 NET)

Finally, I shoved A9 on the button over a raise from the chipleader in the CO, but he had AQ and it was lights out for me.

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

BTN: 4,508
SB: 3,985
BB: 7,345
UTG: 4,061
Hero (UTG+1): 4,680
UTG+2: 1,799
MP1: 4,380
MP2: 6,069
CO: 5,942

Pre-Flop: (240) A A dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 444, 2 folds, MP2 calls 444, 4 folds

Flop: (1,128) 6 7 T (2 Players)
Hero bets 736, MP2 calls 736

Turn: (2,600) 9 (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets 4,889 and is All-In, Hero folds

Results: 2,600 Pot
MP2 mucked and WON 2,600 (+1,420 NET)

I contemplated check-raising the flop. Maybe this is results oriented, but I definitely wish I had. Then again, I probably would have gotten it in good and lost on a suckout.

Eventually, of course, that did happen. My Queens lost to A4, then I got Queens again and shoved 11BB UTG and mig.com on my immediate left (yeah I wasn’t running good at table draws either) cold called. He had AKs, but I lost the flip.

Round 1

My first two opponents were ridiculously soft. I polished the first off in minutes, then waited over an hour for round two.

Round 2

I was so busy playing other tables that I didn’t even notice we had started up again. My opponent was happily stealing my blinds. But I got there before too long, and he was so terrible it didn’t matter. He never bluffed and always revealed exactly what he had with the size of his bets. Somehow, the match still lasted forever. It had a lot with his 87s beating my ATo all-in pre-flop, then his QJ beat my KK, then he flopped a higher flush than I did. I still came back and eventually pulled off a little suckout to win with K5 > A8s.

Round 3

This was the toughest match of the day. My opponent was very aggressive, and I found myself on the defensive, which is not a good place to be heads up. It was tough to play back at him without cards, but I managed my image well and pulled off some well-timed check-raise and 3-bet bluffs. Eventually we got it all in pre-flop on a flip and my 99 held vs his AJ.

Round 4

Initially, this guy was solid but overly tight. I grinded him down and got in some good value bets. My favorite one was when I raised 43s on the button, and he called in the BB. The flop came K32, and he checked and called a bet. The turn was a K, and we both checked. The river came a Q, he checked, and I bet like 65% of the pot. He called with A5. Ship it!

I think that tilted him a bit, which actually led him to play better in some sense because he got more aggressive. I called a raise with KJ on my BB and checked and called a K64 flop. I was planning to check-call down, but then a 5 came on the turn. Not wanting to see the board check through and turn ugly, I led out for half the pot. My opponent shoved, and I called him instantly. His T8 was much weaker than I expected to see, and I knocked him out on that one.

Round 5

This guy was not good. I googled his name and one of the hits was literally for a ranking of “Most Passive Online Players”. I swear I am not making that up.

Unfortunately, he was calling everything pre-flop and hitting every flop. He also wasn’t that passive. He raised his button a lot and tended to bet or raise whenever he got a piece of the flop. Eventually I raised JTo on the button and he called. The flop was 983 with two diamonds (I had Jd). He checked, I bet, and he min-check-raised. He’d been doing that a fair bit, and while it meant he had something, it didn’t necessarily signify a monster. I shoved, but he tanked and eventually called with K9, which held up.

The fact that he had to think with K9 was a good sign. I’m sure he would have played T9 or K8 the same way, so K9 was very much the top of his range. If he was thinking of folding that, it means my shove was definitely good. Sucks to keep getting so close, but the FTOPS has always been like that for me.

The tournament itself was pretty uneventful, too, even though it down to the top 5% or so. Pretty much every key hand was decided pre-flop. There was one early on where I raised KJs UTG for nearly 10% of my stack. The CO called and so did the BB.

The flop was like Ac 9d 7c or something. I bet, and the CO min-raised. Given how much of stack went in pre-flop, I thought he would have re-raised with a good Ace. Plus I had a flush draw, so I shoved on him. He called me with A9s for top two pair, but I drilled the flush on the river to double up.

After that I got away with a lot of blind stealing, especially around the bubble. Even after we were in the money, there were some guys playing ridiculously tight.

Eventually my luck couldn’t hold. Everyone was pretty shallow, and my AKs lost to AQ. After 5 hours, I got twice my money back. Thankfully I was doing pretty well in cash games at the same time, so I was still up pretty substantially on the day. Here’s a nice little series of hands from that match:

Poker Stars, $10/$20 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

SB: $2,156
Hero (BB): $4,281
UTG: $4,287
MP: $4,625.50
CO: $2,186
BTN: $1,436

Pre-Flop: 7 6 dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG calls $20, 4 folds, Hero checks

Flop: ($50) 8 5 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets $60, UTG calls $60

Turn: ($170) 4 (2 Players)
Hero bets $200, UTG calls $200

River: ($570) 6 (2 Players)
Hero bets $750, UTG calls $750

Results: $2,070 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 7 6 (a straight, Five to Nine) and WON $2,067 (+$1,037 NET)
UTG mucked 6 A and LOST (-$1,030 NET)

Note that I overbet every street with the flopped nuts. And he called down with a gutshot that rivered a weak pair. Naturally I was salivating to flop a set against him:

Poker Stars, $10/$20 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

SB: $2,173
Hero (BB): $5,385
UTG: $3,591
MP: $4,365.50
CO: $2,116
BTN: $1,990

Pre-Flop: 2 2 dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG calls $20, MP calls $20, 2 folds, SB calls $10, Hero checks

Flop: ($80) 4 K 2 (4 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $80, UTG calls $80, MP folds, SB calls $80

Turn: ($320) A (3 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $285, UTG raises to $800, SB folds, Hero raises to $5,285 and is All-In, UTG calls $2,691 and is All-In

River: ($7,302) Q (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

Results: $7,302 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 2 2 (three of a kind, Deuces) and WON $7,299 (+$3,708 NET)
UTG mucked 4 A and LOST (-$3,591 NET)

I was afraid overbetting again might be a give-away, since he was probably feeling dumb from before. At this point I was praying he would reload, which he did. Sadly, that proved to be bad for me:

Poker Stars, $10/$20 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

UTG: $2,013
Hero (MP): $9,083
CO: $2,000
BTN: $3,763.50
SB: $2,056
BB: $2,708

Pre-Flop: A A dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $88, CO calls $68, 3 folds

Flop: ($166) T Q 8 (2 Players)
Hero bets $180, CO raises to $360, Hero raises to $8,995, CO calls $1,542

Turn: ($3,970) 6 (2 Players)

River: ($3,970) 9 (2 Players)

Results: $3,970 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed A A (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$1,970 NET)
CO showed J A (a straight, Eight to Queen) and WON $4,017 (+$2,047 NET)

I wasn’t thrilled to see him min-raise this flop, but obviously I am not folding AA to this clown. Oh well, can’t win them all. It was still a sweet day, despite this, a few other beats/coolers, and the close-but-so-far finish in the 100r.

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $20/$40
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $4660
UTG+1: $7183
CO: $4980
Hero: $4790
SB: $4870
BB: $3517

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is Button with :ts :tc :kc :as
3 folds, Hero raises to $140, SB folds, BB calls.

Flop: :5s :7s :th ($300, 2 players)
BB bets $300, Hero raises to $900, BB calls.

Turn: :8h ($2100, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1250, BB calls.

River: :4d ($4600, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

Results:
Final pot: $4600
Hero showed Ts Tc Kc As
BB showed 6s 8s Kd Qs

Sorry it’s tough to follow. I flopped top set and the nut flush draw and lost to an open-ender with a worse flush draw. Money only went in when I was ahead, though.

Eventually I busted raising JJAx from the button and calling a shove from AAKx.

There are two seminal books that address the value of tournament chips: David Sklansky’s Tournament Poker for Advanced Players and Mason Malmuth’s Gambling Theory and Other Topics. I haven’t read Malmuth’s book, but my understanding is that both make a similar argument that this value is non-linear. Another words, your last chip is worth more than your second to last chip is worth more than your third to last chip etc. Each chip you add to your stack increases the value of your stack, but by less than the preceeding chip did. So if you have on chip worth x, and you double up, your stack is worth marginally less than 2x. And if you double again, your stack will not be worth 4x. This is because survival has value in a tournament where all of the prize pool is not paid to the winner.

The countervailing principle is that chips are worth more in the hands of a skilled player than an unskilled player. This is because better players will have the opportunity to use those chips to win more chips. They contain within them the player’s expected value for the tournament. In FTOPS Event 4, the first 2000 chips, which cost $300, were probably worth $750 or so to the best player in the field. Conversely, they were probably worth about $50 to the worst player.

You can see that at this rate, it is clearly correct for the best players to rebuy immediately in a tournament that allows unlimited rebuys. Even though his second $300 buys him less than his first expenditure, it still buys him more than $300 worth of value. Conversely, it is incorrect for the worst players to rebuy. In fact, it is incorrect for them to play at all.

When only a single rebuy is permitted, this could at least theoretically change. If a skilled player uses his rebuy immediately to double his starting stack, he risks losing all 4000 of his chips at once. Although his rebuy was a good investment, he missed out on the opportunity to make an even better investment in a second tournament life. Remember, going from 0 to 2000 is worth more than going from 2000 to 4000. By opting for the latter, the player cost himself the chance to do the former a second time.

However, this must be balanced against the risk of immediately getting over 2000 chips, remaining there for the entire rebuy period, and thus losing the opportunity, to invest that second $300 at all.

The one other thing I haven’t mentioned yet is that it matters how many chips the other players at your table have and how good they are. A player cannot realize the extra value that his skill imparts to his 4000 chip stack if no one else at the table has more than 2000. If several bad players to his right all rebought immediately, then the good player should do so as well, so that he will have the opportunity to invest his additional 2000 chips well against those weak players. If several very good players to his immediate left rebought to 4000, the same player might be better off saving his rebuy as an insurance policy against elimination. Otherwise, he risks playing larger pots out of position against very good players- a scenario where those additional chips would not be invested well. If the first hour is drawing to a close and his stack is below 2000, he can always take his second rebuy then.

Unlike an unlimited rebuy tournament, where it generally makes sense to push any edge during the rebuy period since survival is never at risk, this structure makes survival during the first hour particularly important. This is because the player will have the opportunity at the end of the first hour to buy chips at a discount. $300 will buy him, not 2000 chips, as with the rebuys, but 2500 chips for an add-on. It is pretty much always profitable for a good player to add-on, and if he is eliminated in the first hour, he won’t have a chance to take this good investment.

I include this exegesis on rebuy tournament theory because I have nothing interesting to say about the tournament itself. No one at my table rebought immediately, so I didn’t either. I lost my first 2000 chips with two pair in a limped pot at the 10/20 level. My opponent seemed like a fish, so I thought he would call me down with worse, but he ended up having a better two pair. Then I rebought, added on, lasted for about an hour more despite missing tons of flops, shoved over a very weak limper with K7s, and got called by one of the blinds who had AK.

I’m not all that good at PLO, but I do want to learn, and I’m sure it will be a weak field, so I’ll probably play today’s 2:00 $500 PLO 6-Max. I’ll be playing the Stars $300 anyway. Then at 4:30 there’s a $100 rebuy FTOPS that I’ll play if I’m not sick of poker by then.

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $50/$100
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $8528
UTG+1: $10433
Hero: $2450
Button: $4604
SB: $10522
BB: $7720

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is CO with :3d :2s :3c :4s
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, Hero calls, Button raises to $550, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls, Hero calls.

Flop: :5s :7h :2d ($1800, 3 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $1800, Button raises all-in $4054, UTG+1 calls, Hero calls all-in $100.

Turn: :2h ($11808, 1 player + 2 all-in – Main pot: $7500, Sidepot 1: $4308)

River: :5c ($11808, 1 player + 2 all-in – Main pot: $7500, Sidepot 1: $4308)

Results:
Final pot: $11808
Button showed Qh Ac 7s Ah
UTG+1 showed Jc Qs 7d 9c
Hero showed 3d 2s 3c 4s

Four Pair

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $60/$120
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $8768
UTG+1: $2396
Hero: $6820
Button: $7556
SB: $10247
BB: $8470

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is CO with :kc :ah :2c :qd
2 folds, Hero raises to $370, 2 folds, BB calls.

Flop: :2s :qs :ac ($800, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $550, BB raises to $1200, Hero calls.

Turn: :kd ($3200, 2 players)
BB bets $3200, Hero raises all-in $5250, BB calls.

River: :6h ($13700, 1 player + 1 all-in – Main pot: $13700)

Results:
Final pot: $13700
BB showed 5h As 5c 7s
Hero showed Kc Ah 2c Qd

I figured him for the nut flush draw on the flop, but if he’s got something like a gut shot or better to go with it, he could still be the favorite or a very slight dog, so I wanted to get it in on a non-spade turn. Obviously a broadway card wasn’t ideal, but I felt I could be way ahead and I’d have a lot of boat outs even if he had turned a straight. Unfortunately, my exuberance over my big stack was short-lived:

Gwaaaaaaah!!!

It’s definitely not a good idea to re-pot habitually with Aces in PLO, but here I had a nut flush draw and the opportunity to get a good chunk of my stack in preflop. Both turned out to matter, but not enough:

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $60/$120
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
Hero: $13700
UTG+1: $7436
CO: $10187
Button: $1530
SB: $9008
BB: $2396

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is UTG with :ad :ac :9c :3h
Hero raises to $400, UTG+1 folds, CO raises to $960, 3 folds, Hero raises to $3460, CO calls.

Flop: :jc :9h :tc ($7100, 2 players)
Hero bets $6300, CO raises all-in $7127, Hero calls.

Turn: :2h ($21354, 1 player + 1 all-in – Main pot: $21354)

River: :5d ($21354, 1 player + 1 all-in – Main pot: $21354)

Results:
Final pot: $21354
CO showed 7c 7d 8d 8c
Hero showed Ad Ac 9c 3h

I have no idea what he was thinking pre-flop. If he just called that wouldn’t be too bad, though in general two pair is an overrated PLO holding. But to make that tiny 3-bet and then call my 4-bet is awful. This would have been a tough decision for me without the flush draw, but with it I definitely have no choice but to stick it in and hope for the best.

Bit of a Comeback

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $60/$120
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $8828
UTG+1: $2706
Hero: $4826
Button: $7136
SB: $19051
BB: $1710

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is CO with :ks :kh :qh :7h
2 folds, Hero raises to $376, Button calls, SB folds, BB calls.

Flop: :tc :jc :3s ($1188, 3 players)
BB bets $1188, Hero raises all-in $4450, Button folds, BB calls all-in $146.
Uncalled bets: $3116 returned to Hero.

Turn: :9d ($3856, 0 player + 2 all-in – Main pot: $3856)

River: :8s ($3856, 0 player + 2 all-in – Main pot: $3856)

Results:
Final pot: $3856
BB showed 7s 8c 6c 5s
Hero showed Ks Kh Qh 7h

This put me back in the running for a while, but eventually I got ground down, shoved QJ96 or something from the SB, and got it in against AQJ9, in other words I was massively dominated. And that was that.

I’m off on my road trip by now, but I’ve tried to take advantage of a new Blogger feature and post-date some entries, so hopefully there will continue to be updates even while I’m not around.

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $40/$80
9 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $1734
UTG+1: $4762
Hero: $2212
MP2: $3395
MP3: $6684
CO: $7740
Button: $6085
SB: $6365
BB: $2343

Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is MP1 with :ad :5c :ah :4d
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, Hero raises to $360, 4 folds, SB calls, 2 folds.

Flop: :2c :td :7c ($880, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $880, SB folds.
Uncalled bets: $880 returned to Hero.

Results:
Final pot: $880

My instinct from NLHE is to make a smaller flop bet, giving the illusion of fold equity in order to induce a check-raise from weaker hands. I had to remind myself that in PLO, the edge that Aces have against “weaker hands” is slim or non-existent and I will often prefer that they fold.

This one is not as bad as it looks, but still probably bad:

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $80/$160
8 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $3000
UTG+1: $9725
Hero: $4715
MP2: $5093
CO: $8932
Button: $2812
SB: $9033
BB: $3257

Pre-flop: (8 players) Hero is MP1 with :ks :qs :2s :qd
UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, Hero raises to $715, 5 folds, UTG raises to $2545, Hero raises to $4770, UTG calls all-in $615.
Uncalled bets: $1610 returned to Hero.

Flop: :6s :td :kd ($6560, 1 player + 1 all-in – Main pot: $6560)

Turn: :jc ($6560, 1 player + 1 all-in – Main pot: $6560)

River: :8c ($6560, 1 player + 1 all-in – Main pot: $6560)

Results:
Final pot: $6560
UTG showed Ac 8h 8d As
Hero showed Ks Qs 2s Qd

This guy had been limping a ton of random trash hands, including worse bare pairs, and I felt like I was ahead of his limping range. That’s probably true, but I’m not way ahead, and I’m committing for his entire stack. I probably don’t beat his limp-shoving range, especially since he’s UTG.

And my bustout hand:

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $80/$160
9 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $4300
UTG+1: $4230
MP1: $3051
MP2: $10390
Hero: $2115
CO: $4265
Button: $5340
SB: $10757
BB: $14463

Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is MP3 with :jd :ah :7h :qs
4 folds, Hero raises to $440, 3 folds, BB calls.

Flop: :9d :kd :ts ($960, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $960, BB calls.

Turn: :3s ($2880, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero is all-in $715, BB calls.

River: :3d ($4310, 1 player + 1 all-in – Main pot: $4310)

Results:
Final pot: $4310
BB showed Tc 7s 7c Td
Hero showed Jd Ah 7h Qs

Not much I can do about that. I skipped Event 3 because I didn’t feel like it and Event 4 because I was busy, but I’m looking forward to Event 5, the $200 Stud/8 that’s about to start. Wish me luck!

Fine call by him, but I lost a ton of other flips tonight, both in the Stars $300 and in cash games, where the other guy was lucky as hell to get a flip in the first place. So all in all it was a pretty annoying night. Thankfully it was over in two hours.

FTOPS Event 19

I took some big pots early off a huge fish in the FTOPS. I also had a solid regular from the cash games I frequent to my immediate right and got the chance to make a play at him:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 30/60 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

BTN: 5,675
SB: 2,150
Hero (BB): 5,025
UTG: 3,065
UTG+1: 5,180
UTG+2: 4,095
MP1: 4,950
MP2: 1,110
CO: 1,620

Pre-Flop: (90) 8 7 dealt to Hero (BB)
7 folds, SB raises to 150, Hero calls 90

Flop: (300) 9 6 7 (2 Players)
SB bets 210, Hero calls 210

Turn: (720) A (2 Players)
SB bets 420, Hero raises to 4,665 and is All-In, SB folds

Results: 1,560 Pot
Hero mucked 8 7 and WON 1,560 (+780 NET)

It’s often not great to fast-play a big draw on the turn, since you only have one street to catch, but I like this turn shove for a few reasons:

1. The A is a good card for him to bluff, so my pair could be good.

2. Call flop, raise turn looks like a slowplay. Granted this isn’t the best flop to slowplay, but in a blind battle it wouldn’t be inconceivable for me to have a set or straight. It’s a pretty crappy feeling to hold something like AJ in his shoes. That isn’t to say he’s going to fold it, but he might.

3. It worked.

After this I had up a nice stack, a bit of which I lost in a coin flip with the same fish who gave me many of them to me. For the next two hours, I pretty much just maintained, by which point I was getting kind of shallow. I shoved Q3 from the SB into a BB who had a stack of about 12x (before posting). I probably ought to run some numbers on this, because I think it’s close. With no antes, it’s any easy fold, but the antes on FTP are quite late, which made me want to get aggressive. Unfortunately, he had an easy call with 99.

That left me short enough myself that I had to push or fold. I actually managed to pick up JJ, only to run it into AK in the BB. Needless to say, I lost the flip.

Stars Million

In the Stars Million, I picked up an early stack against this genius:

Poker Stars, $200 + $15 NL Hold’em Tournament, 50/100 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

Hero (MP1): 9,075
MP2: 17,310
CO: 9,425
BTN: 8,425
SB: 9,525
BB: 18,62
UTG: 9,525
UTG+1: 7,725
UTG+2: 17,675

Pre-Flop: (150) 8 8 dealt to Hero (MP1)
UTG calls 100, 2 folds, Hero calls 100, 4 folds, BB checks

Flop: (350) 6 5 A (3 Players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets 225, BB folds, UTG calls 225

Turn: (800) 9 (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: (800) 7 (2 Players)
UTG bets 1,400, Hero raises to 4,750, UTG calls 3,350

Results: 10,300 Pot
Hero showed 8 8 (a straight, Five to Nine) and WON 10,300 (+5,225 NET)
UTG mucked A K and LOST (-5,075 NET)

I may actually have been able to stack him on the river, it seemed like he had clicked “call any”. But I am always worried that these otherwise very loose players will panic when all their chips are in jeopardy, so I decided to bet about half his stack.

There was another guy who would always open for like 4 or 5x the BB and often fold to a re-raise, so I made a few moves on him and got up a nice stack. I lost most of it on a flip when AJs < TT, then lost the rest when JJ < 99.

FTOPS Event 20

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 50/100 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

UTG+1: 3,470
UTG+2: 8,975
MP1: 5,215
Hero (MP2): 7,040
CO: 5,905
BTN: 3,440
SB: 6,315
BB: 2,640
UTG: 6,880

Pre-Flop: (150) K J dealt to Hero (MP2)
4 folds, Hero raises to 240, 2 folds, SB calls 190, BB calls 140

Flop: (720) 4 Q Q (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets 550, SB calls 550, BB folds

Turn: (1,820) 7 (2 Players)
SB bets 1,600, Hero raises to 6,250 and is All-In, SB folds

Results: 5,020 Pot
Hero mucked K J and WON 5,020 (+2,630 NET)

This line felt kind of weak to me, though it’s not a bad way to play a Q. I think that when it’s not a Q, it’s usually a probing bet trying to figure out how strong I was, so I went ahead and let him know that I had the nuts.

About an hour later, I lost a smallish coin flip TT < KJo, and an hour after that I picked up a big pot with AKs:

LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

SB: 7,853
BB: 5,449
UTG: 10,774
UTG+1: 4,815
UTG+2: 22,319
Hero (MP1): 4,805
MP2: 8,821
CO: 5,785
BTN: 8,477

Pre-Flop: (645) A K dealt to Hero (MP1)
UTG calls 280, 2 folds, Hero raises to 1,280, 5 folds, UTG calls 1,000

Flop: (3,205) 8 5 A (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: (3,205) J (2 Players)
UTG bets 1,400, Hero raises to 3,500 and is All-In, UTG calls 2,100

River: (10,205) 6 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

Results: 10,205 Pot

UTG showed K J (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-4,805 NET)
Hero showed A K (a pair of Aces) and WON 10,205 (+5,400 NET)

I managed to win a coin flip, AQ > 44, and then there was the guy who just wouldn’t let go:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 170/340 Blinds, 25 Ante, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

BB: 8,575
UTG: 4,234
UTG+1: 5,795
UTG+2: 39,293
MP1: 22,322
Hero (MP2): 10,050
CO: 19,932
BTN: 8,746
SB: 9,077

Pre-Flop: (735) J Q dealt to Hero (MP2)
4 folds, Hero raises to 775, CO folds, BTN calls 775, 2 folds

Flop: (2,285) 4 2 K (2 Players)
Hero bets 1,250, BTN calls 1,250

Turn: (4,785) 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets 3,000, BTN calls 3,000

River: (10,785) 9 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Results: 10,785 Pot
Hero showed J Q (a pair of Nines) and LOST (-5,050 NET)
BTN showed J J (two pair, Jacks and Nines) and WON 10,785 (+5,735 NET)

I was sure he had a pair worse than K’s, though I didn’t expect it be quite as good as J’s. That shouldn’t make a difference, but psychologically, it does. I really need to stop being so aggressive in tournaments.

But it’s OK Because….

One nice pot at 10/20 makes up for everything:

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

SB: $6,618
BB: $3,554
UTG: $5,205
CO: $7,504
Hero (BTN): $2,355

Pre-Flop: K J dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, CO calls $20, Hero raises to $90, 2 folds, CO calls $70

Flop: ($210) A T 9 (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero bets $165, CO calls $165

Turn: ($540) 8 (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero bets $400, CO calls $400

River: ($1,340) J (2 Players)
CO bets $1,900, Hero calls $1,700 and is All-In

Results: $4,740 Pot
CO showed Q 6 (a flush, Ace high) and LOST (-$2,355 NET)
Hero showed K J (a flush, Ace high) and WON $4,737 (+$2,382 NET)

As you can see, this guy was the table fish. The wait list was 30-deep to get on this table. Of course, I didn’t give up my seat until he left. I was just trying to decide how much I should bet on the river when he went ahead and shoved for me! Cooler for him, of course, but that’s why don’t play Q6s.

Thank goodness FTOPS is over so there’s no more tournament temptation and I get back to cash games.

I got a pretty good starting table, with the only names I recognized being a well-known cash game short stacker and three FTP pros. I didn’t know much about mandyb, but I’ve played a fair amount of full ring cash games lately with the the other two, Marco Liesy and Mike Matusow. Mike at least was probably above average relative to the field, but he was also a known quantity, whereas I was going to have to figure out how to deal with a lot of the others at table. From what I’ve seen, Marco is a pretty weak deep stack player, so I was happy to have him at the table.

In the second hour, I made a move on Matusow that, though successful, I regretted as soon as I made it and still think is pretty poor:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

BB: 4,810
UTG: 4,860
UTG+1: 5,335
UTG+2: 7,185
MP1: 2,515
Hero (MP2): 4,205
CO: 5,490
BTN: 5,740
SB: 4,860

Pre-Flop: (45) A K dealt to Hero (MP2)
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls 30, 2 folds, Hero raises to 135, UTG+1 calls 105

Flop: (315) 5 8 5 (2 Players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets 220, UTG+1 calls 220

Turn: (755) 7 (2 Players)
UTG+1 bets 270, Hero raises to 850, UTG+1 folds

Results: 1,295 Pot
Hero mucked A K and WON 1,295 (+670 NET)

His turn lead is pretty clearly a blocking/probe bet, but my raise doesn’t make a lot of sense. Even with a flush it’s not necessarily a great raise, and there aren’t a lot of ways for me to have a full house. If I had a club, I would have just called and then bet any river, but I think folding is actually better without a club, at least against a skilled handreader who isn’t afraid to be a hero. Early in a tournament, Mike’s probably playing pretty conservatively, so maybe it’s ok. Anyway, it worked.

For the next hour or two I won and lost some small pots but hovered close pretty close to the 5K starting stacks, which was fine, since the blinds were so shallow. Then this happened:

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

UTG+1: 1,425
UTG+2: 4,815
MP1: 3,755
MP2: 10,766
CO: 5,445
Hero (BTN): 4,705
SB: 5,480
BB: 10,605
UTG: 8,175

Pre-Flop: (120) K J dealt to Hero (BTN)
4 folds, MP2 raises to 240, CO folds, Hero calls 240, 2 folds

Flop: (600) J 7 9 (2 Players)
MP2 bets 415, Hero calls 415

Turn: (1,430) 4 (2 Players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets 800, MP2 raises to 3,830, Hero raises to 4,050 and is All-In, MP2 calls 220

River: (9,530) 8 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

Results: 9,530 Pot
MP2 showed T J (a straight, Jack high) and WON 9,530 (+4,825 NET)
Hero showed K J (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-4,705 NET)

I forgot to register for the $100 PLO rebuy, and now, instead of playing day 2, I’ve just started the $240 knock-out (it’s a $200 tournament with a $40 bounty for every player you eliminate).

Nice Calls Sir

Hand #5257796611
Tournament – *Razz* (30/60), Ante 5, Bring-In 10

2DogsHumpin (Seat 1): 3,102
urbandb888 (Seat 2): 2,800
RandomGuy19 (Seat 3): 2,529
Lubidani (Seat 4): 2,890
the aviator1 (Seat 5): 3,626
mooseheads (Seat 6): 2,919
rickashay8 (Seat 7): 3,071
YoungSupremacy (Seat 8): 3,063

*3rd Street* – (1.33 SB)

2DogsHumpin: xx xx 9d___folds
urbandb888: Ad 9h 3s___calls
RandomGuy19: xx xx Jc___folds
Lubidani: xx xx Kd___*brings-in*___folds
the aviator1: xx xx 3h___completes
mooseheads: xx xx 9s___folds
rickashay8: xx xx 6s___calls
YoungSupremacy: xx xx Jh___folds

*4th Street* – (4.67 SB)

urbandb888: Ad 9h 3s 2h___*bets*
the aviator1: xx xx 3h 8h___calls
rickashay8: xx xx 6s 9c___folds

*5th Street* – (3.33 BB)

urbandb888: Ad 9h 3s 2h As___*bets*___raises
the aviator1: xx xx 3h 8h 7s___raises___calls

*6th Street* – (9.33 BB)

urbandb888: Ad 9h 3s 2h As 3c___bets
the aviator1: xx xx 3h 8h 7s Kh___*checks*___calls

*River* – (11.33 BB)

urbandb888: Ad 9h 3s 2h As 3c 8c___bets
the aviator1: xx xx 3h 8h 7s Kh xx___*checks*___calls

*Total pot:* (13.33 BB – 800)

Results:

Total pot 800 | Rake 0

Note: this site shuffles the hole cards.

As we’ll soon see, I chose the wrong guy to bluff. As in this hand, where he called me down all the way with an 8-7-6 when I’m showing A-2-3. The river is pretty close, but I don’t need to succeed like 1/11 to show a profit, and I was hoping there was a chance he’d called along hoping to improve to a 7 and would an 8-7-6.

Bad Calls in a Limped Pot

Hand #5258549821
Tournament – *Razz* (80/160), Ante 15, Bring-In 25

2DogsHumpin (Seat 1): 2,891
urbandb888 (Seat 2): 2,155
RandomGuy19 (Seat 3): 3,081
Lubidani (Seat 4): 1,744
the aviator1 (Seat 5): 6,236
mooseheads (Seat 6): 1,458
rickashay8 (Seat 7): 4,269
YoungSupremacy (Seat 8): 2,166

*3rd Street* – (1.50 SB)

2DogsHumpin: xx xx 2s___calls
urbandb888: 6s 8d 7h___calls
RandomGuy19: xx xx 5s___folds
Lubidani: xx xx 9s___folds
the aviator1: xx xx Qc___*brings-in*
mooseheads: xx xx 2h___folds
rickashay8: xx xx 2d___folds
YoungSupremacy: xx xx 7s___folds

*4th Street* – (2.44 SB)

2DogsHumpin: xx xx 2s Tc___calls
urbandb888: 6s 8d 7h As___*bets*
the aviator1: xx xx Qc 6d___calls

*5th Street* – (2.72 BB)

2DogsHumpin: xx xx 2s Tc Kc___folds
urbandb888: 6s 8d 7h As 4d___*bets*
the aviator1: xx xx Qc 6d 7c___calls

*6th Street* – (4.72 BB)

urbandb888: 6s 8d 7h As 4d 4s___calls
the aviator1: xx xx Qc 6d 7c 3d___*bets*

*River* – (6.72 BB)

urbandb888: 6s 8d 7h As 4d 4s Js___checks
the aviator1: xx xx Qc 6d 7c 3d xx___*checks*

*Total pot:* (6.72 BB – 1,075)

Results:

Total pot 1,075 | Rake 0

Note: this site shuffles the hole cards.

Seat 5: the aviator1 showed [5c 2c Qc 6d 7c 3d Ac] and won (1,075) with 6,5,3,2,A

Nice River, Sir

Hand #5258901686
Tournament – *Razz* (120/240), Ante 20, Bring-In 40

2DogsHumpin (Seat 1): 1,056
urbandb888 (Seat 2): 1,695
RandomGuy19 (Seat 3): 3,233
Lubidani (Seat 4): 469
the aviator1 (Seat 5): 7,146
mooseheads (Seat 6): 1,846
rickashay8 (Seat 7): 6,459
YoungSupremacy (Seat 8): 2,096

*3rd Street* – (1.33 SB)

2DogsHumpin: xx xx Jh___folds
urbandb888: 8s 5s 4c___calls___calls
RandomGuy19: xx xx Tc___folds
Lubidani: xx xx 3s___completes
the aviator1: xx xx Qs___*brings-in*___folds
mooseheads: xx xx 9s___folds
rickashay8: xx xx 4h___calls___calls
YoungSupremacy: xx xx Js___folds

*4th Street* – (4.67 SB)

urbandb888: 8s 5s 4c Ac___*bets*
Lubidani: xx xx 3s Qc___calls
rickashay8: xx xx 4h Jd___calls

*5th Street* – (3.83 BB)

urbandb888: 8s 5s 4c Ac 6c___*bets*
Lubidani: xx xx 3s Qc 9c___calls 209 (all-in)
rickashay8: xx xx 4h Jd 5h___calls

*6th Street* – (6.70 BB)

urbandb888: 8s 5s 4c Ac 6c 8d___*bets*___calls
Lubidani: xx xx 3s Qc 9c Jc___all-in
rickashay8: xx xx 4h Jd 5h Ah___raises

*River* – (10.70 BB)

urbandb888: 8s 5s 4c Ac 6c 8d 9h___*checks*___calls
Lubidani: xx xx 3s Qc 9c Jc xx___all-in
rickashay8: xx xx 4h Jd 5h Ah xx___bets

*Total pot:* (12.70 BB – 3,049)

Results:

Total pot 3,049 Main pot 1,547. Side pot 1,502. | Rake 0

Note: this site shuffles the hole cards.

Lubidani: [Kd 7c 3s Qc 9c Jc Ad] – J,9,7,3,A
rickashay8 shows [9d 3d 4h Jd 5h Ah 2s] 5,4,3,2,A

Calling on 7th is pretty close when I brick, but I’m getting nearly 12:1 at that point, and as you can see, I did have the best hand until the river. It’s very possible rick was raising for a free showdown with his smooth 9 when he didn’t improve, though, meaning that I still can’t beat anything when he bets.

Pushing an Edge

Hand #5258094676
Tournament – *Razz* (50/100), Ante 10, Bring-In 15

2DogsHumpin (Seat 1): 2,506
urbandb888 (Seat 2): 1,830
RandomGuy19 (Seat 3): 2,501
Lubidani (Seat 4): 2,584
the aviator1 (Seat 5): 5,396
mooseheads (Seat 6): 2,668
rickashay8 (Seat 7): 3,314
YoungSupremacy (Seat 8): 3,201

*3rd Street* – (1.60 SB)

2DogsHumpin: xx xx 8c___folds
urbandb888: 4h 2c 3c___raises
RandomGuy19: xx xx Kd___*brings-in*___folds
Lubidani: xx xx 8d___completes___calls
the aviator1: xx xx 6h___folds
mooseheads: xx xx 9c___folds
rickashay8: xx xx 7s___calls___calls
YoungSupremacy: xx xx 5h___folds

*4th Street* – (7.90 SB)

urbandb888: 4h 2c 3c Qh___calls___calls
Lubidani: xx xx 8d 7c___raises___calls
rickashay8: xx xx 7s 4s___*bets*___raises

*5th Street* – (8.45 BB)

urbandb888: 4h 2c 3c Qh 6s___raises
Lubidani: xx xx 8d 7c 9s___*bets*___calls
rickashay8: xx xx 7s 4s 7h___calls___calls

*6th Street* – (14.45 BB)

urbandb888: 4h 2c 3c Qh 6s Jc___calls
Lubidani: xx xx 8d 7c 9s 3d___*bets*
rickashay8: xx xx 7s 4s 7h Ah___calls

*River* – (17.45 BB)

urbandb888: 4h 2c 3c Qh 6s Jc Th___folds
Lubidani: xx xx 8d 7c 9s 3d xx___*bets*___raises
rickashay8: xx xx 7s 4s 7h Ah xx___raises___calls

*Total pot:* (23.45 BB – 2,345)

Results:

Total pot 2,345 | Rake 0
rickashay8 showed [5s 3s 7s 4s 7h Ah Ac] and won (2,345) with 7,5,4,3,A
Note: this site shuffles the hole cards.

Third street is actually kind of interesting here. Although I’ve got three to a wheel against an 8 and a 7, it’s kind of a close 2-bet because my hand is kind of dead (ie a lot of low cards I would like to catch have been folding by other players). The thing is that my hand is strong enough to peel 4th even if I brick, so I might as well make the pot larger now since I’m already committed to seeing 5th.

Depending on which cards are dead, a four-card 6 is often favored over a made 8 on fifth street anyway, and with the guy holding a pair calling along as well, this is a clear value raise. But I just kept bricking.

Third Nuts No Good

And just for good measure, I bust out of the tournament when my third nuts on sixth street loses to the rivered second nuts:

Hand #5258925452
Tournament – *Razz* (120/240), Ante 20, Bring-In 40

2DogsHumpin (Seat 1): 1,036
urbandb888 (Seat 2): 475
RandomGuy19 (Seat 3): 3,213
the aviator1 (Seat 5): 7,086
mooseheads (Seat 6): 1,826
rickashay8 (Seat 7): 8,288
YoungSupremacy (Seat 8): 2,076

*3rd Street* – (1.17 SB)

2DogsHumpin: xx xx Qc___folds
urbandb888: 3d 5c 2h___raises
RandomGuy19: xx xx 3h___folds
the aviator1: xx xx 8h___folds
mooseheads: xx xx 4d___folds
rickashay8: xx xx Kc___*brings-in*___calls
YoungSupremacy: xx xx 2c___completes___calls

*4th Street* – (7.17 SB)

urbandb888: 3d 5c 2h Ad___*bets*
rickashay8: xx xx Kc 2s___calls
YoungSupremacy: xx xx 2c 3s___calls

*5th Street* – (5.08 BB)

urbandb888: 3d 5c 2h Ad 6c___calls 95 (all-in)
rickashay8: xx xx Kc 2s Kh___folds
YoungSupremacy: xx xx 2c 3s 4s___*bets*

*6th Street* – (5.88 BB)

urbandb888: 3d 5c 2h Ad 6c Kd___all-in
YoungSupremacy: xx xx 2c 3s 4s 4c

*River* – (5.88 BB)

urbandb888: 3d 5c 2h Ad 6c Kd 7s___all-in
YoungSupremacy: xx xx 2c 3s 4s 4c xx

*Total pot:* (5.88 BB – 1,410)

Results:

Total pot 1,410 | Rake 0

Note: this site shuffles the hole cards.

Seat 8: YoungSupremacy showed [7d 6s 2c 3s 4s 4c Ac] and won (1,410) with 6,4,3,2,A

Full Tilt Poker
Pot Limit Omaha Ring game
Blinds: $25/$50
9 players
Converter

Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault is CO with :ac :ah :3h :7h
2 folds, MP1 raises to $175, MP2 folds, MP3 calls, Foucault raises to $775, 3 folds, MP1 calls, MP3 calls.

Flop: :qs :6d :7d ($2400, 3 players)
MP1 checks, MP3 checks, Foucault is all-in $1510, MP1 calls, MP3 calls.

Turn: :9d ($6930, 2 players + 1 all-in – Main pot: $6930)
MP1 checks, MP3 checks.

River: :4d ($6930, 2 players + 1 all-in – Main pot: $6930)
MP1 checks, MP3 bets $1650, MP1 calls.

Results:
Final pot: $10230
MP3 showed 9h 8d Jc Jd
MP1 mucks As Qc 4s Ks
Foucault mucks Ac Ah 3h 7h

Aces are not the monster in PLO that they are in hold ’em, and with deeper stacks I probably would not have 3-bet here since my hand doesn’t have a lot of post-flop playability (one shot at flopping the nut flush draw but nothing else). However, here I had a chance to squeeze and get 1/3 of my stack in pre-flop, which means I didn’t have to worry too much about getting outplayed after.

MP1 was one of those decent hold ’em players who sucked at PLO, though in his defense he openly acknowledged that after this hand. It’s true that hand ranges run closer in PLO and you’ll often be getting the right odds to call a 3-bet, but it’s pretty obvious I have AAxx here, and calling with AKQ4 is pretty suicidal. Regardless, calling the all in with TPTK, no redraws, and a player still to act behind him is God awful.

The second guy played it well: he had a hand with good equity against AAxx (no dominated Aces, can flop straight/set/big draw) and flopped a pair plus an open-ended draw and a flush draw. I especially liked the way he took MP1’s two pair to value town on the river.

I came out of the rebuy period with about 10,000 chips and never built up much beyond that. Here was my bust-out hand, I started a thread about on 2+2, and I’m starting to feel now as though shoving pre-flop would have been best even though it’s kind of an overbet. Even calling may have been better than this 3-bet given the stacks:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 170/340 Blinds, 25 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

UTG: 21,915
MP: 12,545
CO: 28,597
BTN: 37,233
Hero (SB): 10,560
BB: 4,290

Pre-Flop: (660) 8 8 dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, CO raises to 950, BTN folds, Hero raises to 2,965, BB folds, CO calls 2,015

Flop: (6,420) 2 3 K (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets 3,500, Hero raises to 7,570 and is All-In, CO calls 4,070

Turn: (21,560) 5 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

River: (21,560) 6 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

Results: 21,560 Pot
CO showed A K (a pair of Kings) and WON 21,560 (+11,000 NET)
Hero showed 8 8 (a pair of Eights) and LOST (-10,560 NET)

The guy seemed reasonably competent, so I really had no idea what he could be just calling with pre-flop. I thought it was pretty obvious I was going to call all in (which is why I should have shoved), and so I would not have expected him to get needlessly trappy with a better pair. Frankly I thought AK would have shoved pre-flop for similar reasons and because weak players hate taking a flop with it. So I just wasn’t sure what he could be betting on the flop. Even if he did hit the K, it’s not a great time to bet it, since I often have an underpair or just no pair at all. With only one pot-sized bet left in the stacks, I thought he would check and try to trap me or let me catch up a little before betting if he really had a K.

But I am just too out of touch with the donk mindset now that I play mostly with reasonably intelligent opponents. I need to move up to stakes where they respect my razor sharp hand-reading skills….

Full Tilt Poker
Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Ring game
Limit: $60/$120
9 players
Converter

Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault is SB with :ac :8d :3d :8h
3 folds, MP2 calls, 3 folds, Foucault calls, BB checks.

Flop: :2c :6c :jh (3SB, 3 players)
Foucault checks, BB bets, MP2 calls, Foucault calls.

Turn: :qs (3BB, 3 players)
Foucault checks, BB bets, MP2 calls, Foucault calls.

River: :qc (6BB, 3 players)
Foucault bets, BB calls, MP2 folds.

Results:
Final pot: 8BB
Foucault showed Ac 8d 3d 8h
Sometimes I lead out here with a pair and the nut low draw, but since I had the Ac, I decided I’d check-call the flop and then lead out at a low card or a club on the turn. That seemed like the best way to fold out some better high hands while keeping in worse lows.

Unfortunately, the club didn’t come until the river. However, I still felt it was a good spot to lead out. It’s possible the limper had a club draw, but he really shouldn’t be chasing a non-nut flush draw, and I thought it much more likely he had A3 or some similar busted low. The BB most likely had two pair that got counterfeited on the river. Unless he flopped a set, he’s not likely to have a boat, since the pair came running on the turn and river. It’s rare to go for a pure bluff in O/8 (as opposed to a ‘demi-bluff’ designed to knock someone off of half the pot when you have the other half locked up), especially into two people, but I felt this was a good spot, and it only needs to work one time in six.

The fact that the BB snap-called me with the worst possible flush suggests, however, that it might not work even that often.

That gave me a health stack for another hour or so, but once again constant calling and 3-betting whittled me down. I got QQ two hands in a row, but everyone decided to stop 3-betting me. Then they started again immediately. Eventually, I shoved KJ over a button raise from Mig.com and got busted by AK. Nothing I can do there, he was opening a ton from late position, and I’m sure that’s a ++EV shove, just sucks to run into AK.

Been too busy for the kinda weak events of the last few days. Looking forward to this week’s lineup though, starting with the $1K tomorrow night. I was rocking it pretty good tonight, winning some flips, stacked bigegypt in a big pot:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 120/240 Blinds, 25 Ante, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

UTG+2: 10,719
MP1: 24,744
MP2: 4,715
CO: 5,450
Hero (BTN): 10,680
SB: 5,072
BB: 4,050
UTG: 13,630
UTG+1: 12,700

Pre-Flop: (585) 7 7 dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 480, UTG+2 calls 480, MP1 calls 480, 2 folds, Hero calls 480, SB folds, BB calls 240

Flop: (2,745) Q 7 5 (5 Players)
BB checks, UTG+1 bets 240, UTG+2 raises to 1,400, MP1 folds, Hero calls 1,400, 2 folds

Turn: (5,785) 3 (2 Players)
UTG+2 bets 8,814 and is All-In, Hero calls 8,775 and is All-In

River: (23,335) 6 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

Results: 23,335 Pot
UTG+2 showed 5 A (a pair of Fives) and LOST (-10,680 NET)
Hero showed 7 7 (three of a kind, Sevens) and WON 23,335 (+12,655 NET)

With the original raiser betting so weak, I figured egypt was more likely than usual to be on some sort of bluff or semi-bluff. Sucks to give him a free heart, but my hand also looks a lot like a draw such that if the turn is a blank I can often stack him. Also I was hoping maybe someone else would shove over the top, though that’s not that likely.

I was up and down, lost like 25% of my stack when KQ <> 88 to bust Nath, then this:

LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

SB: 29,537
BB: 18,567
UTG: 32,445
UTG+1: 19,640
MP1: 10,767
MP2: 15,819
CO: 31,791
Hero (BTN): 20,800

Pre-Flop: (2,000) 9 A dealt to Hero (BTN)
4 folds, CO raises to 2,120, Hero calls 2,120, SB folds, BB calls 1,320

Flop: (7,560) 9 6 J (3 Players)
BB checks, CO checks, Hero bets 3,580, BB folds, CO raises to 10,400, Hero raises to 18,580 and is All-In, CO calls 8,180

Turn: (44,720) K (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

River: (44,720) 9 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

Results: 44,720 Pot
CO showed T Q (a straight, King high) and WON 44,720 (+23,920 NET)
Hero showed 9 A (three of a kind, Nines) and LOST (-20,800 NET)

I was pretty sure he was going to show me QT, but it’s not like I’m crushing that, and if he has AJ or a set I’m smoked, bad shape against KK+, seems unlikely he’s on a pure bluff, but if we can put some worse middle pairs in his range that helps a lot. I dunno, sucked to lose it though.

FullTiltPoker Game #5166723748: FTOPS Event #3 (35825861), Table 26 – 500/1000 Ante 100 – Limit Stud Hi – 0:35:56 ET – 2008/02/08
Seat 1: zartarious (10,468)
Seat 2: WCJOKER (16,873)
Seat 3: Rambo no5 (2,006)
Seat 4: jesseja777 (17,150)
Seat 5: joshuah333 (9,909)
Seat 6: Sira21 (6,110)
Seat 7: urbandb888 (3,792)
Seat 8: hattrick8810 (5,714)

*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to zartarious [Ad]
Dealt to WCJOKER [7c]
Dealt to Rambo no5 [6s]
Dealt to jesseja777 [4s]
Dealt to joshuah333 [5h]
Dealt to Sira21 [4d]
Dealt to urbandb888 [4c 5c] [Jc]
Dealt to hattrick8810 [Ks]
Sira21 is low with [4d]
Sira21 brings in for 150
urbandb888 completes it to 500
hattrick8810 folds
zartarious raises to 1,000
WCJOKER folds
Rambo no5 folds
jesseja777 folds
joshuah333 folds
Sira21 folds
urbandb888 calls 500

*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to zartarious [Ad] [8c]
Dealt to urbandb888 [4c 5c Jc] [Tc]
zartarious bets 500
urbandb888 calls 500

*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to zartarious [Ad 8c] [Ac]
Dealt to urbandb888 [4c 5c Jc Tc] [Jh]
zartarious bets 1,000
urbandb888 calls 1,000

*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to zartarious [Ad 8c Ac] [9c]
Dealt to urbandb888 [4c 5c Jc Tc Jh] [Qs]
zartarious bets 1,000
urbandb888 calls 1,000

*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to urbandb888 [4c 5c Jc Tc Jh Qs] [7s]
zartarious bets 1,000
urbandb888 folds
Uncalled bet of 1,000 returned to zartarious
zartarious shows [Ah 7h Ad 8c Ac 9c 6h] three of a kind, Aces
zartarious wins the pot (7,950)

There are a couple of things wrong with my play on 3rd street here. I’d been playing very tight, partially because that’s just the right strategy in fixed limit tournaments and partially because of some lackluster cards, and so I thought my raise would get some credit. It was a semi-bluff, hoping to represent a pair of Jacks but actually holding a three flush.

However, my hole cards are small, making them less valuable, and worse, they are dead. That is, a 5 and two 4’s are showing, making it more likely that I will brick future streets. Stud is a game about constant improvement. Generally your hand needs to keep getting better, either by pairing or improving draws, for you to continue with it on each street. And those dead cards make it harder me to improve my hand.

Raising into two bigger cards behind me is also problematic. No matter how tight my image, no one is folding a pair of K’s or A’s when a J raises.

Three flushes are also generally less playable in tournament Stud, especially when stacks are shallow. This is because pots are more likely to be contested heads up and you will often commit a lot of chips chasing only to fold the river, as I did here, and leave yourself crippled.

It’s always true in tournament poker that your last chips are worth more than the others, but it’s especially true in fixed limit games. In NLHE, a short stack is worth more than half a stack of twice its size because of the value of survival, but it also has its disadvantages. With a short stack, you lose the ability to make certain plays, such as to re-raise with fold equity pre-flop or to make a continuation bet on the flop. In a game where the bet sizes are fixed, a guy with enough chips to bet every street to the river is almost exactly as threatening as a guy with ten times his chips. There is very little the bigger stack can do that the shorter cannot. Thus, it is especially important not to put your last chips in jeopardy in a marginal spot. Like I did.

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.

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.

But what you’re all interested in is HORSE hands, right? Any you say you prefer raw hand histories to those that have been converted? No? Well I don’t get to post them very often, so that’s what you’re getting! And as far as I know, there is no converter than can handle tournament Stud hands from FTP. Sorry, but I’ll try to clean them up a bit.

FullTiltPoker Game #4190756474: FTOPS Event #11 (30641978), Table 50 – 400/800 Ante 75 – Limit Razz – 0:27:01 ET – 2007/11/16
Seat 1: urbandb888 (8,544)
Seat 2: Nospleen (20,221)
Seat 3: kawookey (12,905)
Seat 4: gretamy12 (7,052)
Seat 5: khalwat (14,152)
Seat 6: ags104 (7,409)
Seat 7: Chamonyx (6,349)
Seat 8: biggdeebee (5,629)

*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to urbandb888 [2c 4d] [3h]
Dealt to Nospleen [4c]
Dealt to kawookey [Jc]
Dealt to gretamy12 [Qd]
Dealt to khalwat [7s]
Dealt to ags104 [Ac]
Dealt to Chamonyx [6s]
Dealt to biggdeebee [4h]

gretamy12 brings in for 100
khalwat folds
ags104 completes it to 400
Chamonyx folds
biggdeebee calls 400
urbandb888 raises to 800
Nospleen folds
kawookey folds
gretamy12 folds
ags104 calls 400
biggdeebee calls 400

*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to urbandb888 [2c 4d 3h] [Js]
Dealt to ags104 [Ac] [Ks]
Dealt to biggdeebee [4h] [Qh]
urbandb888 bets 400
ags104 calls 400
biggdeebee calls 400

*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to urbandb888 [2c 4d 3h Js] [Qs]
Dealt to ags104 [Ac Ks] [5d]
Dealt to biggdeebee [4h Qh] [8h]
biggdeebee bets 800
urbandb888 folds
ags104 folds
biggdeebee wins the pot (4,300)

I don’t 3-bet on 3rd street very often in Razz unless the effective stacks are very small or I have reason to think the opener is raising light. Even A23 isn’t a monster unless it improves on 4th street, and by bloating the pot, you reveal information about your hand and help loose opponents play more correctly when they peel a brick. This is particularly true in shallow tournament situations, where you need to conserve your bets, since you’re roping yourself into a situation that could easily go south.

I made an exception here for two reasons. The main one was that I had reason to think my hand was a bit more live than that of the opener. With two 4’s showing and another in my hand, that’s a wheel card that he probably doesn’t have and probably isn’t going to catch. Also, 99% of the time that I 3-bet here, I’m going to have an Ace in my hand, and smart opponents will therefore think that if I later catch an Ace, it probably paired me. Since in this case I actually had three good wheel cards without an Ace, and one of the cards that would pair (a 4) was pretty unlikely to come, I felt that the information I revealed about my hand would be less exploitable.

4th is an easy bet since I’m almost always ahead and it’s huge if I can get even one of them to fold. It absolutely sucks having to fold 5th, and if the better had caught a less scary card like an 8, I might peel, but with both of them catching well, and one of them possibly drawing very smooth, and my relative position being bad, I don’t think I can continue.

Here was another hand that really hurt me:

FullTiltPoker Game #4190896062: FTOPS Event #11 (30641978), Table 50 – 500/1000 Ante 100 – Limit Stud Hi – 0:42:22 ET – 2007/11/16
Seat 1: urbandb888 (6,769)
Seat 2: Nospleen (14,046)
Seat 3: kawookey (16,030)
Seat 4: gretamy12 (5,877)
Seat 5: khalwat (9,527)
Seat 6: ags104 (8,584)
Seat 7: Chamonyx (6,174)
Seat 8: biggdeebee (15,254)

*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to urbandb888 [Jh Kh] [Qc]
Dealt to Nospleen [Ah]
Dealt to kawookey [7s]
Dealt to gretamy12 [Qh]
Dealt to khalwat [Ac]
Dealt to ags104 [Jc]
Dealt to Chamonyx [Ts]
Dealt to biggdeebee [8d]

kawookey brings in for 150
gretamy12 calls 150
khalwat folds
ags104 folds
Chamonyx folds
biggdeebee calls 150
urbandb888 calls 150
Nospleen calls 150

*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to urbandb888 [Jh Kh Qc] [Th]
Dealt to Nospleen [Ah] [6d]
Dealt to kawookey [7s] [3c]
Dealt to gretamy12 [Qh] [Td]
Dealt to biggdeebee [8d] [7d]
Nospleen checks
kawookey checks
gretamy12 checks
biggdeebee bets 500
urbandb888 raises to 1,000
Nospleen folds
kawookey folds
gretamy12 folds
biggdeebee calls 500

*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to urbandb888 [Jh Kh Qc Th] [4s]
Dealt to biggdeebee [8d 7d] [5s]
urbandb888 bets 1,000
biggdeebee calls 1,000
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to urbandb888 [Jh Kh Qc Th 4s] [4d]
Dealt to biggdeebee [8d 7d 5s] [7h]
biggdeebee checks
urbandb888 checks

*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to urbandb888 [Jh Kh Qc Th 4s 4d] [8h]
biggdeebee bets 1,000
urbandb888 folds
Uncalled bet of 1,000 returned to biggdeebee
biggdeebee mucks
biggdeebee wins the pot (5,550)

On 3rd, this is a pretty nice opportunity to play a big drawing hand for cheap in a multiway pot. My decision on 4th is an interesting one, because I can choose either to just call the bet, invite others in, and look to improve to a straight or I can raise and hopefully get the pot heads up with someone who could easily be on a worse draw than mine. I opted for the latter, since I felt it was more important to improve my odds of winning the pot by cleaning up my pair outs. I’m not sure about the bet on 5th- my intention was to set myself up to bluff 6th if it looked like he’d caught another bad card, and there’s still some chance I’m ahead. Plus I give myself the option of taking a free card on 6th, which I think was a pretty easy decision.

Nothing interesting about my bustout, so I’m not going to bother posting it. Tonight is a $200 FLHE 6-max FTOPS, which is a little tempting because I’ve heard the FLHE tournaments are very soft, but we’ve got an important BDL tournament tomorrow and I hate FLHE so I’m just going to take the night off. I probably won’t play tomorrow, either, but I will be playing the FTOPS Main Event on Sunday.

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 80/160 Blinds, 6 Players
LeggoPoker Hand History Converter

BTN: 10,094
SB: 4,270
Hero (BB): 10,250
UTG: 19,971
MP: 35,092
CO: 7,973

Pre-Flop: (240) A 4 dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, CO raises to 444, 2 folds, Hero calls 284

Flop: (968) K 2 8 (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets 666, Hero raises to 1,806, CO folds

Nothing real fancy here, but it’s a good play to be aware of. The guy makes a small raise from the CO, he could have a super-wide range, and then he bets on pretty much the best board ever for a continuation bet, so I might as well take what’s mine.

Here’s my bust-out hand:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 120/240 Blinds, 25 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker Hand History Converter

BB: 3,254
UTG: 22,248
Hero (MP): 12,025
CO: 23,585
BTN: 27,938
SB: 9,362

Pre-Flop: (510) A 9 dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 700, CO folds, BTN raises to 2,000, 2 folds, Hero raises to 12,000 and is All-In, BTN calls 10,000

Flop: (24,510) 2 4 Q (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

Turn: (24,510) 5 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

River: (24,510) 8 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

Results: 24,510 Pot

Hero showed A 9 (Ace Queen high) and LOST (-12,025 NET)
BTN showed 9 9 (a pair of Nines) and WON 24,510 (+12,485 NET)

The BB in this hand had an awkward stack size, which makes it a good spot for me to raise him, and I knew my smallish raise would look suspicious in that context. The button was a tournament regular who’d been playing especially aggressively last night, probably because he was running good, had run up a good stack, and was feeling invincible. Not the best guy to bluff, but I don’t think I need him to lay down better hands to make this shove profitable (though he probably does release AT-AJ and maybe AQ). I felt I would be ahead often enough that combined with the equity that my Ace gives me against his big pairs I’d come out ahead. He thought for quite some time before calling, which was basically a victory for me already.

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 140/280 Blinds, 25 Ante, 8 Players
LeggoPoker Hand History Converter

UTG: 23,475
UTG+1: 4,839
MP1: 3,800
MP2: 19,251
CO: 14,533
Hero (BTN): 7,300
SB: 10,298
BB: 15,673

Pre-Flop: (620) 7 7 dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, MP2 raises to 1,400, CO folds, Hero raises to 7,275 and is All-In, 2 folds, MP2 calls 5,875

Flop: (15,170) Q 8 4 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

Turn: (15,170) 8 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

River: (15,170) 6 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

Results: 15,170 Pot

MP2 showed J 8 (three of a kind, Eights) and WON 15,170 (+7,870 NET)
Hero showed 7 7 (two pair, Eights and Sevens) and LOST (-7,300 NET)

As you can see, he was playing like a complete spewtard. He also started the hand with nearly 20,000 chips. You can probably imagine how he got them. Tonight I’ll likely play the $200 PLO8.

The turn was a blank, and he just shoved for nearly twice the pot. Getting it in with a flush draw on the flop is one thing, but with one card to come and virtually no fold equity, it’s quite bad on the turn. He did indeed have the draw, which missed. I lost a few other pots, including calling one of kwob’s pre-flop shoves with 88 and losing to his Q6, and finished the rebuy period in for the minimum and up a modest 800 chips or so after being moved to another table.

At my new table was a pretty aggressive player named Nemoballer whom several people said was Daniel Alaei. I reraised him from the blinds once with AJ, but he 4-bet, and I folded. There weren’t a lot of interesting hands, mostly I chipped up just by stealing blinds or betting flops.

One of few moves I made all night was calling a CO raise with 4’s in the SB, then check-calling a KKJ flop, still thinking I was ahead of the better’s range. Unfortunately, the turn was a J, counterfeiting my pair. I checked, and he checked as well. I had a pot-sized bet left in my stack, so I decided to shove the river and represent the K. My opponent folded pretty quickly. I guess I could have just check-raised all in on the flop as well, but I like keeping my options open for later in the hand, and that probably gets called more often by bigger pairs.

I ended up maintaining a good sized stack for a few hours and then bubbling on a lost coin flip.

Much more heart-breaking was the Stars $300, where I got off to a great start winning a few coin flips and made some good plays as well. A particularly interesting hand came up against 2p2’er Nath:

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t100/t200
(Ante: t10)
9 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
Foucault: t11879
UTG+1: t8630
MP1: t8060
MP2: t5770
MP3: t3280
CO: t5570
Button: t22605
SB: t9195
BB: t15450

Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault is UTG with :8c :tc
Foucault raises to t569, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls t569 (pot was t959), 5 folds, BB calls t369 (pot was t1528).

Flop: :4h :7d :9d (t1897, 3 players)
BB checks, Foucault bets t1300, MP1 calls t1300 (pot was t3197), BB folds.

Turn: :2s (t4497, 2 players)
Foucault is all-in t10000, MP1 folds.
Uncalled bets: t10000 returned to Foucault.

Results:
Final pot: t4497

Pre-flop obviously is not standard but something I do occasionally to protect my big pairs. Because I’ve raised UTG, I play my draw very aggressively even against two callers. My goal, after all, is to represent an overpair, and I don’t want my opponents to be able to put me on exactly an overpair every time I raise UTG and then bet into two callers.

The turn is kind of a tricky spot, because Nath has a little over 6000 in his stack. Probably I should have just check-raised the flop (and should play my overpairs the same way) or bet more so that I’d have pot-sized bet left. But if I check, I think Nath is going to commit himself with any decent pair or draw, and I’ve still got an overcard to the board and an open-ender. The only problem with shoving to rep the overpair is that with Nath’s aggressive reputation (he’d already been caught in a big move once), I’m probably more likely to check the turn because I do want him to hang himself with a pair or draw. I was afraid he would realize that, but I still think that as played I needed to get the last bet in and hope for the best. He indicated that he made a pretty big laydown, which kind of surprised me.

Anyway, the tournament turned out to be a huge disappointment, as the guy on my right, who is a giant donkey who actually two outed me twice and then slow-played K’s to bust me in Saturday’s $300, busted me again last night on another horrible play. There was a raise to 1050, a call, the donkey overcalled. I considered just calling with AKs to give Nath or someone else a chance to squeeze, but then decided that they probably wouldn’t go with a super wide range since they’d have to expect someone to look them, so I just made it 5K myself. The action folded back around to my little buddy, who shoved 10K more with QT. I snap-called of course, but he floped AKJ, and I couldn’t resuck so instead got KO’ed in a pot that would have given me a 4x average stack. Blargh.

I’m unfortunately done with FTOPS now. The next two events are Stud and Limit Hold ‘Em, then this weekend there are some good events, but I’m going to be headed to Chicago to volunteer at another debate institute. I was up a bit thanks to my nice run in the $1000, but it was still a very disappointing series.

It was the $1000 6-max FTOPS tournament, an event too good to pass up for something as trivial as sleep. I got off to a bad start, not playing partiuclarly well, and ended up shoving A7 into an UTG limper who turned out to have AA. T77 flop and I am back in business. After that I played pretty well, eventually getting it in for a pretty unavoidable AQ vs KK match-up in which I sucked out once again.

That got me up around average, and at that point I felt I played extremely well for a few critical hours. My rush started with me raising QTs UTG. The SB called, and the flop came Q44. He checked and called a bet. Against a certain type of intelligent opponent, it’s better to bet than to check here, but I convinced myself that random tournament monkeys are not game theory gurus, so I checked. The river was a blank, and he check called a big bet with a losing hand that I didn’t even get to see because I got moved to a new table. But the river is such a bad time to bluff that he really shouldn’t be looking me up light at all, whereas the turn is a good spot to bluff and hence a good spot for him to call again with an underpair.

First hand at the new table, I get A9 in my BB. A big stack raises from the button, another big stack calls from the SB, and I decided just to shove my whole stack in, even though it was more than 10x the raise. I did think I would have the best hand very often, but a smaller squeeze could induce a re-shove that I did not want to see.

I took down the pot, and then a few hands later opened to 4500 with AJs in the CO. The button called, and the SB reraised to 16,000. I shoved for about 50K, and he tanked, saying he had 55, and finally folded.

A few hands later, I got JJ in the SB, and the CO (who had been button the first time I squeezed), open raised. I knew how insane my image looked, so I 3-bet, fully expecing him to shove a wide range. Sure enough, he shipped me a boat load of chips with 75o, and just like that I was in 2nd place overall.

I lot one pot to the tool with 55 who made a little raise against my BB. I called with KTs, and the flop came K98 with two clubs (I had diamonds). We bot checked, and the turn brought a second heart. I lead out, hoping he would shove on me with a draw, but he made a sketchy smaller raise instead. I decided not to believe him, but he called my shove with AK. Ugh, what an atrocious monkey-esque way to play that. Thankfully it wasn’t a huge pot, and I was still in good shape.

The table was super-aggressive, and I eventually got back into second when someone shoved into my Aces with 7’s. At this point we were down to the final four tables, and I was in amazing shape. But I went on to play really badly, raising J6s on the button against a tight player in the BB. The SB, who seemed pretty decent, called. Flop was K97, and he called my bet. Turn T to give me a gut shot, he check-called again. The river was a J, and for some reason I convinced myself I could value bet. He almost folded KQ, so I guess I was bluffing, but mostly I was just hemorrhaging chips.

The next orbit, I raised K7o from my SB, and the same guy called in the BB. Flop was like K84, I bet, he raised, I shoved, he called with K5s. Obviously we’re going to chop very often here, and I was prepared for that. The turn was the 4c, pairing the board but giving my opponent a flush draw that he hit on the river to knock me out in 22nd place. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.

22/1270 or so in a $1000 tournament is still worth a little something, but I’d been running atoricously at 10/20 cap at the same time (Allen Cunningham was playing, which attracted a bunch of awful players, though AC himself actually was playing rather badly but still managed to take a fair bit from me by catching well), so I actually finished down for the night. And now, four hours later, I have to go teach. It’s a great counterpoint to poker, rarely frustrating and almost always rewarding. Also exhausting, though.

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $100/$200
9 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $13505
UTG+1: $15869
MP1: $1845
MP2: $7740
MP3: $10452
Foucault: $7435
Button: $2686
SB: $10085
BB: $6027

Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault is CO with :qd :ad
3 folds, MP2 raises to $600, MP3 folds, Foucault calls, 3 folds.

Flop: :qc :2d :9h ($1500, 2 players)
MP2 checks, Foucault checks.

Turn: :kh ($1500, 2 players)
MP2 checks, Foucault bets $835, MP2 calls.

River: :jd ($3170, 2 players)
MP2 checks, Foucault checks.

Results:
Final pot: $3170

She had QTs for a rivered straight. But I got her back a few hands later:
Foucault showed Qd Ad
Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $100/$200
9 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $10752
Foucault: $6000
MP1: $2686
MP2: $9985
MP3: $6027
CO: $12805
Button: $15569
SB: $2345
BB: $9475

Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault is UTG+1 with :qh :kd
UTG folds, Foucault raises to $600, MP1 folds, MP2 calls, 4 folds, BB calls.

Flop: :2d :js :5c ($1900, 3 players)
BB checks, Foucault bets $1200, MP2 folds, BB calls.

Turn: :as ($4300, 2 players)
BB checks, Foucault is all-in $4200, BB folds.
Uncalled bets: $4200 returned to Foucault.

Results:
Final pot: $4300

And then this, when I had a big stack:

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t120/t240
(Ante: t25)
9 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t14290
UTG+1: t9035
MP1: t5677
MP2: t15260
MP3: t16869
CO: t2175
Button: t8321
SB: t7522
Foucault: t12535

Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault is BB with :9h :9c
4 folds, MP3 calls t240 (pot was t585), 3 folds, 3 folds, Foucault raises to t1065, MP3 calls t825 (pot was t1410).

Flop: :4s :3d :4h (t2475, 2 players)
Foucault bets t1445, MP3 raises to t2890, Foucault raises all-in t11445, MP3 calls t8555 (pot was t16810).

Turn: :3c (t25365, 1 player + 1 all-in – Main pot: t25365)

River: :as (t25365, 1 player + 1 all-in – Main pot: t25365)

Results:
Final pot: t25365

He had TT. WHAT THE CRAP WHO OPEN LIMPS TT IN THE CO!?!?!?!??!?! I figured him for a pair, and most likely one worse than mine, so it was just a question for me of how to get the money in. I figured the shove would work better than calling and leading or c/r’ing turn, since I think he often checks behind turn and a scard card could easily fall.

Tomorrow is the $1000 6-max, and I am so due for something good to happen. ( probably don’t need to tell you that nothing else went well today either.

Tomorrow is also the first day of the debate camp I’m hosting for the Boston Debate League. It’s just a week long, every day from 9AM-2PM. I’m expecting about 20-25 kids and 5-8 teachers, and it’s going to be a diverse group with regard to age, interest, experience, etc. Thankfully I’ve got some very good volunteers who have been working with me on this, because it’s definitely not something I could do on my own.
MP3 showed T

Skipped Event 4, which was the $500 PLO 6-max. Chief (for those of you who know him) IM’ed me for a quick primer in the game cuz he satellited in. My first piece of advice was not to play satellites for tournaments you shouldn’t be playing. I told him everything I knew about the game in about 60 words and turned him loose. He told me I could write here that I coached a champion when he won. He PM’ed me half an hour later to say he was busto.

Event 5 was the $100 rebuy no limit hold ’em. Ironically the guy who called me down with KJ on the AAK99 board last night was at the table, and called a preflop shove with KJ to beat my TT. That was the only time I rebought, and thanks to some other fishes, including one guy who called down my AA all the way on KK425 board with A2 (cards came in that order, so he had A2 on flop), I finished the rebuy period with like 17K, which was good enough to be in 225th place out of like 1300 still in it.

I forced myself to play tight after the rebuy period, once just check-called pot bets all the way with K3 on K95KA board to beat A4, then blinded off some more. Everytime I tried to raise pre-flop, someone would make it very clear he had a monster and I had to get out. I got KK but ended up folding the turn on a 5678 board to the same A4 guy.

I had just slipped below average for the first time when I got TT in my BB. We were at 250/500, and the SB opened to 1900. I shoved for 10K more, he called with A8, and caught his [censored] Ace on the river to bad beat me for a 24K pot when average stack was around 18K. After that I clung to life for a while as a short stack, finally at 400/800 I shove 5200 from the button with 87o into a pretty tight player’s BB. He called with 22 to win the flip. Blaaaaaaaaaargh!!!

I did take second in a little $100 pot limit hold ’em on Stars that had 33 players (again went out on lost flip, but difference was only like $700 b/w first and second), but the most exciting bit of news was that Andy Bloch friended me on Facebook! I told him who I was when we played in the HORSE last night, which I’m guessing is how he knew my name. Anyway that’s cool because he is a cool guy and one of the few FT pros whose game I respect. Holla athca boy!

At 50/100, I raise to 260 with AJo. BB calls. Flop K64, he checks and calls a bet. Turn 9, I’ve got one pot sized bet left in my stack, he checks and snap-calls my shove with 86s. GG.

I’m not going to play the $500 PLO 6-max tomorrow, and I may or may not play the $100 rebuy.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3206605233: FTOPS Event #2 (23185790), Table 107 – 300/600 – Limit Omaha H/L – 0:04:08 ET – 2007/08/10
Seat 1: allsk (7,708)
Seat 2: Foucault (4,582)
Seat 3: RolldUpTrips (881)
Seat 4: Magic Aces (12,180)
Seat 5: VeniceBeachy (7,419)
Seat 6: Andy Bloch (15,126)
Seat 7: Ynenk03 (3,627)
Seat 8: Burro Grande (4,225)
VeniceBeachy posts the small blind of 150
Andy Bloch posts the big blind of 300

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Foucault [Ah 8d 5h Qs]
Ynenk03 folds
Burro Grande folds
[b]FrankieHands (Observer): Hey Andy what’s the best way to build your stack in your opinion? [/b]
allsk folds
Foucault raises to 600
RolldUpTrips folds
Magic Aces folds
VeniceBeachy calls 450
Andy Bloch calls 300

*** FLOP *** [Ac 8c Td]
VeniceBeachy checks
Andy Bloch checks
Foucault bets 300
VeniceBeachy folds
Andy Bloch calls 300

*** TURN *** [Ac 8c Td] [7c]
Andy Bloch checks
Foucault checks

*** RIVER *** [Ac 8c Td 7c] [5s]
Andy Bloch bets 600
Foucault calls 600

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Andy Bloch shows [4h 6c 2s 6s] a straight, Eight high, for high and 7,5,4,2,A, for low
Andy Bloch wins the high pot (1,800) with a straight, Eight high
Andy Bloch wins the low pot (1,800) with 7,5,4,2,A
[b]Andy Bloch: get nice rivers that scoop [/b]

I actually don’t think this is too bad. I’ve got a suited Ace and some weak low draws pre-flop, which I think especially in a tournament is a reasonable raise from a borderline steal position. With shallower stacks, playing only hands with nut potential is a little less important.

So I flop two pair on a pretty coordinated board, and I have no low draw. I think I can fire at it once and then slow down to action, but I’m not at all sure that’s correct. Turn completes a flush I don’t have, which stinks for me, but now I have some (bad) low draws. To call the river bet, I need to win half the pot half the time, which I felt was reasonable as Andy could be betting just a flush or just a low. But like I said, I’m an O/8 fish, so don’t take that analysis for much.

And I prove that again here:

Full Tilt Poker Game #3206648126: FTOPS Event #2 (23185790), Table 107 – 300/600 – Limit Omaha H/L – 0:08:19 ET – 2007/08/10
Seat 1: allsk (6,808)
Seat 2: Foucault (3,082)
Seat 3: RolldUpTrips (881)
Seat 4: Magic Aces (10,980)
Seat 5: VeniceBeachy (10,869)
Seat 6: Andy Bloch (12,126)
Seat 7: Ynenk03 (4,677)
Seat 8: Burro Grande (6,325)
allsk posts the small blind of 150
urbandb888 posts the big blind of 300

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Foucault [Ah 8s 5h Ks]
RolldUpTrips folds
Magic Aces calls 300
VeniceBeachy folds
Andy Bloch folds
Ynenk03 folds
Burro Grande folds
allsk folds
Foucault checks

*** FLOP *** [7s Ts 7c]
Foucault checks
Magic Aces bets 300
urbandb888 raises to 600
Magic Aces raises to 900
urbandb888 calls 300

*** TURN *** [7s Ts 7c] [9s]
urbandb888 checks
Magic Aces bets 600
urbandb888 raises to 1,200
Magic Aces calls 600

*** RIVER *** [7s Ts 7c 9s] [4h]
urbandb888 bets 600
Magic Aces calls 600

*** SHOW DOWN ***
urbandb888 shows [Ah 8s 5h Ks] a flush, King high, for high
Magic Aces shows [5c 3s As Kh] a flush, Ace high, for high
Magic Aces wins the pot (6,150) with a flush, Ace high
No low hand qualified

I have no idea what to put him on pre-flop, but with 5 BB’s in my stack, I’m willing to hitch my wagon to the second nut flush draw on a board that it should be tough for my opponent to hit: no low draw, no big cards, etc. I figured he’d bet anything, and I wanted to represent trips with my semi-bluff. There aren’t many good O/8 hands with 7’s in them, so I think the unraised blind is much more likely to have it than a limper. Well, he didn’t have it, but he 3-bet me with his flush draw anyway. Once it got there, I was way too short to get away, and that was that.

A good rule of thumb is not to chase the second nut flush draw in Omaha, especially with a pair on the board. I felt like this was kind of a unique situation because of the short stacks involved, but maybe I’m just an O/8 fish.

Full Tilt Poker (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Preflop: Hero is SB with Ks, Jh. Blinds 300/600

2 folds, MP1 raises to 1800, 1 fold, MP3 calls 1800, CO calls 1800, 1 fold, Hero raises 13095 (All-In), 1 fold, MP1 calls 13095, MP3 folds, CO folds.

Flop: 5s, 3c, 3d (2 players, 1 all-in).

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

River: Kh (2 players, 1 all-in)

MP1 showed KQ to bust me. I was quite surprised by the call, not because it is particularly bad, but because he had been rather nitty so fat. He’d previously called off about 7% of his stack against my EP raise and folded to a bet on a QT8hh flop, commenting “Nice flop.” I asked what that meant, and he told me he had Jacks. I was pretty shocked by that fold, and also disappointed, since I held QQ for top set. The previous orbit, he’d opened for 1900 UTG+1 and insta-folded when MP3 reraised him.

MP1 started the hand with around 20,000 chips, so he was deep enough that he didn’t need a monster to raise, but I did think he’d need one to call. When I made the squeeze play, I felt there was a fair chance he’d fold AQ.

MP3 was the table chipleader and had been playing pretty LAG, so I didn’t think his call showed a lot of strength. If he had a hand to call my shove, I felt it would most likely be either a pair smaller than JJ or exactly AQ, neither of which has me in bad shape. CO was also fairly deep and getting good odds to come in at that point, so I wasn’t too concerned about him.

It really seemed like a great spot given my reads on the players involved, and I was shocked to see MP1 insta-call me with KQ. Oh well, tonight is the $200+9 HORSE event, which I’m eagerly anticipating.