Big Game report

Brief synopsis:

I chipped up nicely early. I was able to flop the nuts in this hand and nearly got my opponent to call my river shove here:

Preflop, my opponent limped UTG and I popped it up to 200. He called.
On the flop, he led out with nearly a pot-sized bet (350) and I raised it up to 800, hoping he would 3-bet. Instead, he called. I checked behind on the turn when I picked up the nut flush draw, hoping he'd bet any river card and then I could jam for roughly a bit less than a full pot-sized raise, so long as the board didn't pair up. Sure enough, the river blanked out and my victim led out for 1000 and I shipped my final 2090 over the top. Sadly, he folded a set of tens after tanking for a while. That was a disciplined fold by JDS. At this point, I had fully doubled up to over 6K in chips.

I also took several pots at lucko's expense, which was a nice change of pace considering the abuse I suffered at his hands last week in the Riverchasers. My TT held up vs. his 88; my AQ outflopped his QQ, and my 45s got there vs. his slowplayed-into-oblivion AK.

I was also able to play a huge drawing hand aggressively OOP and 3-bet the turn with 15+ outs and got a fold. I defended my BB with A9 and earned a fair amount of chips when I CRAI a 99J flop and got called. I led out when a K fell on the turn and took it down. My high-water mark in chips was over 8K, which was a top-5 stack after the first hour.

Sadly, I then got a bit unlucky and made a pretty significant error which led to my implosion.

I busted out midway through Hour 2 because of two hands:

1) My AK with a flush draw was outflopped by AJ and I raised with a semibluff on the flop, checked behind on the turn, and bluffed on the river when I missed. I really should have fired the second shell on the turn, but top pair is gold to almost any blogger, so I don't know if I truly had any fold equity. Still, my opponent didn't hold a club and my range is well ahead of TPTK ...

I flubbed by checking behind on the turn and taking a free card. I should have bet to give myself two ways to take down this pot against another big stack by putting a lot of pressure on him.

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 50/100 Blinds, 9 Players

UTG+2: 8,575
MP1: 3,545
MP2: 3,430
Hero (CO): 8,195
BTN: 2,520
SB: 8,707
BB: 3,715
UTG: 4,015
UTG+1: 1,662

Pre-Flop: (150) A K dealt to Hero (CO)
5 folds, Hero raises to 330, BTN folds, SB calls 280, BB folds

Flop: (760) J 6 9 (2 Players)
SB bets 300, Hero raises to 900, SB calls 600

Turn: (2,560) 7 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: (2,560) 5 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 1,600, SB calls 1,600

Results: 5,760 Pot
Hero showed A K (Ace King high) and LOST (-2,830 NET)
SB showed J A (a pair of Jacks) and WON 5,760 (+2,930 NET)

Of course, the villain in this hand went on to win the final ToC seat ... I guess playing AJs out of position and flopping a very vulnerable top pair hand is good discipline when you play a large pot without much equity against my range.

In case you think this is just sour grapes on my part, just look what this guy did in the very next hand to lucko:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 50/100 Blinds, 9 Players

UTG+1: 8,575
UTG+2: 3,545
MP1: 3,430
Hero (MP2): 5,365
CO: 2,520
BTN: 11,637
SB: 3,615
BB: 4,015
UTG: 1,662

Pre-Flop: (150) 4 2 dealt to Hero (MP2)
BTN raises to 300, BB raises to 950, BTN calls 650

Flop: (1,950) 4 5 8 (2 Players)
BB checks, BTN checks

Turn: (1,950) J (2 Players)
BB bets 1,100, BTN raises to 3,700, BB calls 1,965 and is All-In

River: (8,080) A (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 8,080 Pot
BTN showed Q K (a flush, Ace high) and WON 8,080 (+4,065 NET)
BB showed 8 8 (three of a kind, Eights) and LOST (-4,015 NET)


2) My QTs flopped two pair on a QT6 board when I made my first light 3-bet of the whole tournament (I was playing very tight, only seeing 16% of flops). I raised 4x the BB over one EP limper (the other 3 times I 3-bet preflop I had had shown down TT+) and got everyone to fold but the original limper. I overbet for value by shoving this draw-heavy flop thinking I definitely had the best hand unless my opponent had flopped bottom set. Of course, my opponent check-called off his whole stack with a straight flush draw (Jd9d). Off-suit K on the river and he gets there and I'm crippled.

So ... I begin to wonder if I should have checked behind and jammed any non-scare card to crush the hopes of the straight and flush draws my opponent was playing. I expect he would have led out with a donk bet on the turn and I wonder if he would have had the discipline to lay it down when I jam ... comments?

I get my last 500 chips in getting nearly 4:1 when Don and Dionysus go to war with AK vs 99 vs my 67s and I can't hit a gutterball. IGHN.

Brief stats summary:

Statistics for 114 Hands
Street Saw Saw/Total
Flop 18 16%
Turn 14 12%
River 10 9%
Showdown 8 7%

Street Won Won/Saw Won/Total
Pre-flop 8 7% 7%
Flop 2 11% 2%
Turn 3 21% 3%
River 1 10% 1%
Showdown 4 50% 4%