Skillz Demonstration, Part 2

Summary:

Played well and ran well and was chipleader for a very long period of time in tonight's Stud Hi tournament. Here we are at the second break -- I was chipleader at the first break as well:

I started to scuffle as I doubled up some short stacks once the blinds and antes accelerated play.

However, I was able to get action on two strong suited Axx hands which got both got there for nut flushes on sixth and I got maximum value to regain my strong chip position with 16 players left. I also trapped nicely with a disguised queens up hand that filled up on the river, so I was able to earn 3 big bets on 7th street.

However, I would not sail onwards to the final table, because ... I was dealt my only rolled up hand of the tournament against a loose aggressive player who wouldn't fold his draw. I played a monster pot for most of my stack with rolled up sevens. The villain just wouldn't let go of a big suited ace and chased his flush all the way to the river and I was crippled. I then got my money in good 2-3 more times but got outdrawn on 7th street for an unwelcome exit from the tournament.

Out in 15th. Was only able to get a couple of bounties.

I can certainly say that this tournament run reinforces my belief that blogger stud tourneys are +EV if you can just run with average luck and not get outdrawn in crucial spots.

Here are two of the tough hands where I doubled up eventual tourney winner Surflexus and then got involved in a nasty setup hand with him.

1) All the money went in early when Surf jammed on 4th street with presto vs. my split kings and I had to dodge 3 aces or a gutterball on 7th. I didn't manage it.

2) Just a nasty setup hand where I couldn't outdraw Surf for a change. Somehow he quickly drew out to jacks up against my split kings and I couldn't draw to kings up or hit my flush draw.

Huzzah!

Every so often, circumstances conspire to make me a very cheerful guy.

Happily for me, today is one of those days. I"ve had quite a few of these recently!

Why is that? you might be asking.

First of all, late April and early May has always been my favourite time of year. Late spring in Vancouver is unbelievably awesome. The sun is shining, trees are flowering, the temperature is just right . . . I always find a reason to walk down the hill to the beach. Soon Kits Pool will be open! (I live just above where that aerial photo cuts off, about two minutes' walk away)

Secondly, I'm really enjoying (sacrilege, I know) my work as an articling student. I am able to work on interesting appeals cases and watch a lot of cases argued in the Court of Appeal as I learn new tricks in the real world. It really helps that my principal is genuinely interested in my education and is not the sort of person to make my life miserable; far from it.

Thirdly, poker is treating me well right now. I've been patiently waiting to get into good situations and I'm playing my "A" game more consistently than ever. If I can keep it up, I hope to really springboard that into banking some profits to grow my BR.

Lastly, your imaginary 1977 Blue Jays are cruising to yet another pennant in the AL East. All the while I've been able to re-sign some veterans to good contracts and break in some promising rookies (several of whom were prominent figures in Blue Jays history, former star pitchers Jimmy Key and Tom Henke, as well as currrent star outfielder Vernon Wells).

Here's hoping I can finally win a championship with this group of imaginary binary players!

And this weekend I get to look forward to some silly fun as some friends and I all trek to see a fun movie. When that's done, I will be able to put the finishing touches on installing all my old data on my new PC and switch over permanently. Once that happens, I think I'll soon be purchasing a second monitor and I'll be looking to make a real effort at putting in some more organized efforts into grinding up an online BR with the help of poker tracking software as I begin to really multi-table some MTTs and some cash games instead of merely dabbling with bloggaments.

FCPC cash game highlights

Every so often, my local poker group holds a cash game as a change of pace from the rotation of weekly tournaments. (I expect a recap of some of the action here.)

Yesterday, we had two tables of seven players engaged in a fairly deepstacked .50/1 game. My table featured many of the more successful regulars, with nearly everyone buying in for the maximum 200 BBs. That led to a lot of fireworks and a lot of money on the table as 3 players rebought in the first 90 minutes. True to form, this fine player, who was sitting a couple of spots to my right, spewed away his chips early on before mounting a comeback once he bought more chips. (As I recall he managed to grind out a profit of a buy-in or so by session's end, mostly because he kept getting premium hands whenever he straddled. It was ridiculous; I suggested at one point that he should only play UTG or on the button!)

I played several notable hands. Early on, I was dealt black aces and was able to check-raise Fuel and Joanne (she didn't flop quads on me this time for a change!) on a non-threatening flop to rake in a nice pot.

I scuffled a bit as I had to consistently fold some second-best hands as Bill ran hot, running up his stack to nearly a full $400.

I took down my next big pot of the night when I raised A3s (diamonds) from the button, and, as expected, five players saw the flop (roughly $30 in the middle). I saw two diamonds on board (J9x) so I was clearly drawing to a nut flush. It was checked around to me and I made a pot-building bet. In standard club fashion, this elicited a series of calls (check-call is the strongest play in poker, right?!) Simon called (and I got a strong impression he was drawing along with me to a lower flush), Bill called (I put him on a pair) and then Eman, who was short, announced a check-raise all-in but he was only able to put in a short raise. The rest of us were only able to call his additional $10 raise without putting in a 3-bet, so that left us with a main pot of $100+, with a lot of money behind to build a side pot. The turn was an offsuit ten and the three of us checked around. The river was the beautiful Qd and I made the stone cold nuts. Somewhat to my surprise, Simon checked (I put him on a made flush here) and then Bill bet $20. I tanked for a little while and then announced all-in for a total of $120 or so. I didn't really have a good raise size to make since the main pot complicated matters, so I just stuck it all-in whilst attempting to look weak. Simon tanked for a good five minutes or so before he reluctantly folded (I was praying all the while hoping he couldn't fold the second or third nut flush) and then Bill flashed a king-high straight before he also folded. So I scooped the main pot but sadly wasn't able to extract any additional value.

The hand of the night was soon to come, and it continued the welcome trend in the club's occasional cash games, which has me regularly scooping up a lot of chips in the monster pot of the session. At this point, I had about $365 in front of me. Bill had me covered. I decided to try a variation play. The typical preflop opening raise ranged from $3.50 to $7 on average. I pulled out a rainbow series of chips, but slipped in a $25 chip along with a $5 chip and a $1 chip, making it $31 to go. Joanne on my left noticed the raise size as I commented "oops, so much for making it $6.50" (which would have been 1 $5 chip, 1 $1 chip and 1 .50 cent chip). She quite properly insisted that my bet amount should stand and Simon agreed. As they both were speaking, Bill woke up with a hand and flat-called as everyone else got out of the way.

Whee, we had a big pot brewing! (31x2 + 1.5 = 63.5) Unfortunately, I was out of position but I figured to have the advantage preflop. Would I be outflopped?

The flop came down a raggedy T32 rainbow. I led out with a 1/2 pot-sized bet of $30. Bill called. At this point, my heart sank in my chest as I studied him. I surmised that Bill could not have aces -- he would almost certainly have re-raised me preflop with them to punish me for my large preflop raise in an attempt to commit me to the hand with an inferior holding. The other hands in his range which were most likely were kings, jacks, or tens. Two of those three hands beat me. If he had made a gutsy, pure set-mining call preflop in position with 33 or 22 (not impossible nor incorrect given how deep the relevant stacks sizes were) he was also way ahead. I had $303.5 left in my stack, and I would likely lose a bunch of that if Bill went to valuetown on me on the turn and river streets.

The turn was a breathtaking queen. (GIN!)

I did my best to look uncertain. I peeked at Bill and saw that he was still confident that he was trapping me. Pretty quickly I announced that I was all-in (praying that my OBFV would work). Sure enough, it took Bill less than 2 seconds to utter the words I was praying to hear: "I call."

I turned over my queens in a flash and he winced, shaking his head as he dejectedly flipped over two tens for one of those rare massive confrontations of top set vs. second set. My hand held up and I raked in a massive $700+ pot, which is a personal best for me in a headsup pot in a live cash game at these stakes (remember, this was a .50/$1 game!).

I should stress at this point that I don't think I could get away from a set of tens here. I might take more than two seconds to commit that many chips, but barring a ridiculously strong read of my opponent, I'm not folding the second nuts there either. The way the cards fell it was just a classic setup.

The rest of the night was a downward spiral as for the most part I went completely card dead and my pocket pairs failed to hit sets and were outflopped. Other players won some notable pots as I bled away chips with second-best hands here and there; I correctly made proper laydowns when I was beat (eg. when Joanne check-raised 3 players when I had an overpair to the board) or paid off given proper odds with my holdings. So my stack dwindled slowly but surely from its dizzying heights as the night wore on.

All in all, it certainly was a fun and eventful night of cards, and I was able to walk out of the club yet again as the big winner for the night (+2 buy-ins) and bragging rights over Fuel.

It's too bad we didn't have any prop bets going on the side. Now there's a bad beat!

In closing, I have to ask: does my OBFV qualify for Fuel's contest? Shoving 303 BBs into a 120-ish BB pot and getting called for the full amount is surely a good score!

NB. The OBFV ratio is a 'paltry' 0.62.

Another Mookie win means a nice long tourney report

To say I was motivated to win this tournament would be quite the understatement. As has been chronicled elsewhere, I weakly gave away a golden opportunity to run deep in the MATH on Monday night. Never again! was my mantra. I would not make weak folds in a double-stacked Mookie (with bounties, no less!).

[Edited: now with screenshots.]

I knew that I had an interesting starting table with a real chance to build up a stack early, with lots of players willing to move chips around. Check out this early action:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds, 9 Players

UTG+1: 2,770
UTG+2: 4,230
MP1: 3,030
MP2: 2,565
CO: 2,465
BTN: 2,910
Hero (SB): 3,030
BB: 3,000
UTG: 3,000

Pre-Flop: (45) 7 3 dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls 30, UTG+2 folds, MP1 raises to 160, 5 folds, UTG+1 calls 130

Flop: (365) 9 6 5 (2 Players)
UTG+1 checks, MP1 bets 205, UTG+1 raises to 980, MP1 calls 775

Turn: (2,325) 9 (2 Players)
UTG+1 checks, MP1 checks

River: (2,325) J (2 Players)
UTG+1 bets 1,630 and is All-In, MP1 calls 1,630

Results: 5,585 Pot
UTG+1 showed 9 9 (four of a kind, Nines) and WON 5,585 (+2,815 NET)
MP1 mucked J J (a full house, Jacks full of Nines) and LOST (-2,770 NET)

Just your standard setup hand where Irongirl's turned quads get action from Julkeus' rivered top boat, is all. Yowzah!

Hand #1: I get my first premium hand -- AA(#1) no less -- but am only able to bust the desperately short-stacked Julkeus. Schaubs claimed to also have AK:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds, 9 Players

BTN: 5,540
SB: 4,200
BB: 305
UTG: 2,295
UTG+1: 2,780
UTG+2: 2,955
Hero (MP1): 3,015
MP2: 2,955
CO: 2,955

Pre-Flop: (45) A A dealt to Hero (MP1)
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 99, UTG+2 folds, Hero raises to 217, 4 folds, BB raises to 305 and is All-In, UTG+1 calls 206, Hero calls 88

Flop: (930) 2 7 9 (3 Players - 1 is All-In)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets 510, UTG+1 folds

Time to try and build a side pot, but Schaubs will have none of that.

Turn: (930) J (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (930) Q (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 930 Pot
BB showed A K (Ace King high) and LOST (-305 NET)
Hero showed A A (a pair of Aces) and WON 930 (+625 NET)

Hand #2: I stay patient and relatively inactive in the early going, waiting for a good spot to chip up some more. Sadly, the Big Pirate blew me off a hand (he seemed to have my number all night):

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 20/40 Blinds, 8 Players

UTG+1: 5,145
MP1: 4,045
MP2: 1,935
CO: 2,565
BTN: 3,920
Hero (SB): 3,600
BB: 2,895
UTG: 2,895

Pre-Flop: (60) 8 7 dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, MP1 raises to 120, Hero calls 100, BB calls 80

Flop: (360) 4 T 8 (3 Players)
Hero checks, BB checks, MP1 bets 250, Hero raises to 600, BB folds, MP1 calls 350

I take a stab at the pot with a check-raise.

Turn: (1,560) K (2 Players)
Hero bets 685, MP1 calls 685

I hate this turn card but I won't give up just yet. Once I'm called, though, I'm done with this hand.

River: (2,930) 9 (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP1 bets 1,500

Results: 2,930 Pot
MP1 mucked and WON 2,930 (+1,525 NET)

Another example of how playing against a tough player OOP is a daunting challenge. Still, you have to give action to get action.

I go on a cold streak as I open with A8s; on cue Drizztdj does one of his patented monkey shoves from the SB for 2.7K (I find these to be very aggravating), and I have to remind myself to stay patient and play solid poker; I need to leverage my postflop edge, not stack off light.

Things go downhill yet again as I get no respect when I open from the hi-jack with QJs and I have to fold to a turn donk-bet on an A233 rainbow board after Irongirl calls my flop c-bet.

Suddenly I'm down at just half of a starting stack and have to shift gears to survival mode.

I 3-bet jam with ATs after Astin opens and take it down.

I open with KJ and take down the blinds uncontested.

I get QQ(#1) but get no action. Stil, taking down the blinds uncontested is very helpful.

Hand #3: I then play my next important hand vs. Schaubs, defending my blind and picking up top pair on the turn:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 30/60 Blinds, 9 Players

UTG+2: 5,245
MP1: 4,270
MP2: 4,860
CO: 1,690
BTN: 2,500
SB: 4,555
Hero (BB): 1,820
UTG: 2,925
UTG+1: 2,745

Pre-Flop: (90) Q K dealt to Hero (BB)
6 folds, BTN raises to 180, SB folds, Hero calls 120

Flop: (390) 7 9 5 (2 Players)
Hero bets 390, BTN calls 390

Time for a donk-bet as this is a threatening board for unpaired big cards.

Turn: (1,170) K (2 Players)
Hero bets 1,250 and is All-In, BTN folds

No reason to slow down now. If Schaubs has AK so be it!

Results: 1,170 Pot
Hero mucked Q K and WON 1,170 (+600 NET)

Hand #4: Again, I pick up top pair vs. Schaubs in a contested pot (this time I had the button and position, however) and he folds to pressure:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 30/60 Blinds, 9 Players

BB: 5,245
UTG: 4,270
UTG+1: 4,015
UTG+2: 1,690
MP1: 2,380
MP2: 5,100
Hero (CO): 2,390
BTN: 2,835
SB: 2,685

Pre-Flop: (90) 3 A dealt to Hero (CO)
3 folds, MP1 raises to 180, MP2 folds, Hero calls 180, BTN folds

Flop: (450) 4 7 J (2 Players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets 230, MP1 calls 230

Turn: (910) A (2 Players)
MP1 bets 600, Hero raises to 1,980 and is All-In

Results: 2,110 Pot
Hero mucked 3 A and WON 2,110 (+1,100 NET)

And now I'm back up above a starting stack at 3500 chips, and off life support.

Hand #5: I am able to get a key doubleup through Drizztdj, who seems incapable of making folds preflop with middle pairs; I was putting the screws to Schaubs and Drizztdj woke up in the blind with a hand and was willing to voluntarily put his stack at risk in a marginal spot:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 8 Players

UTG+1: 5,155
MP1: 4,410
MP2: 3,780
CO: 1,370
BTN: 6,520
Hero (SB): 3,255
BB: 3,465
UTG: 2,655

Pre-Flop: (120) A Q dealt to Hero (SB)
4 folds, CO raises to 240, BTN folds, Hero raises to 3,255 and is All-In, BB raises to 3,465 and is All-In, CO folds

Flop: (6,750) Q 6 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (6,750) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (6,750) 4 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 6,750 Pot
Hero showed A Q (a pair of Queens) and WON 6,750 (+3,495 NET)
BB showed T T (a pair of Tens) and LOST (-3,255 NET)

Hand #6: The very next hand, I take a nice pot down against Schaubs' presto with 99:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 8 Players

UTG: 5,155
UTG+1: 4,410
MP1: 3,780
MP2: 1,130
CO: 6,520
Hero (BTN): 6,750
SB: 210
BB: 2,655

Pre-Flop: (120) 9 9 dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, MP2 raises to 240, CO folds, Hero calls 240, 2 folds

Flop: (600) 6 T A (2 Players)
MP2 checks, Hero checks

Turn: (600) 3 (2 Players)
MP2 checks, Hero checks

River: (600) 4 (2 Players)
MP2 bets 200, Hero calls 200

Results: 1,000 Pot
MP2 showed 5 5 (a pair of Fives) and LOST (-440 NET)
Hero showed 9 9 (a flush, Ten high) and WON 1,000 (+560 NET)

Hand #7: I lose a medium-sized pot to skidoo, as my UTG raise gets no respect:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 8 Players

MP1: 5,325
MP2: 3,530
CO: 3,820
BTN: 5,717
SB: 1,460
BB: 5,950
Hero (UTG): 7,310
UTG+1: 2,535

Pre-Flop: (120) 7 7 dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to 240, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, CO calls 240

Flop: (600) T 9 A (2 Players)
Hero bets 400, CO raises to 1,200, Hero folds

Results: 1,400 Pot
CO mucked and WON 1,400 (+760 NET)

As new players filtered onto my table, I notice the arrival of Chippy McStacks. A new arrival on the scene for BBT3, I've managed to get a pretty good grasp of how he plays. In a series of hands, I would relentlessly divest him of his entire stack.

Hand #8: I extract max value the very next hand by inducing a bad two-barrel bluff:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 8 Players

UTG+1: 5,325
MP1: 3,530
MP2: 4,580
CO: 5,717
BTN: 1,420
SB: 5,870
Hero (BB): 6,670
UTG: 2,535

Pre-Flop: (120) A K dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, CO raises to 255, 3 folds, Hero calls 175

Stage one of the trap

Flop: (550) K 6 T (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO checks

Stage two

Turn: (550) 5 (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets 322, Hero calls 322

Stage three; the bait is seized!

River: (1,194) T (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets 641, Hero calls 641

Stage four; I only call because the board paired and I can't see a worse hand calling a C/R.

Results: 2,476 Pot
CO showed J 7 (a pair of Tens) and LOST (-1,218 NET)
Hero showed A K (two pair, Kings and Tens) and WON 2,476 (+1,258 NET)

Hand #9: More of his chips come my way about 3 hands later with another trap:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 8 Players

SB: 5,245
BB: 3,530
UTG: 4,580
UTG+1: 4,499
MP1: 1,660
MP2: 5,830
Hero (CO): 7,888
BTN: 2,415

Pre-Flop: (120) 2 A dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls 80, MP1 folds, MP2 calls 80, Hero calls 80, BTN folds, SB calls 40, BB checks

Flop: (400) 8 Q K (5 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG+1 bets 222, MP2 folds, Hero calls 222, 2 folds

Turn: (844) 7 (2 Players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks

River: (844) 7 (2 Players)
UTG+1 bets 444, Hero raises to 1,477, UTG+1 calls 1,033

Results: 3,798 Pot
UTG+1 mucked K J (two pair, Kings and Sevens) and LOST (-1,779 NET)
Hero showed 2 A (a flush, Ace high) and WON 3,798 (+2,019 NET)

If I had known he had the Ks I would have bet the turn in hopes he would C/R and I could get all his stack in drawing dead. Still, I make up for that in a little while.

Hand #10: Schaubs then runs into AA(#2) with JJ and doesn't improve:

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

MP2: 6,865
CO: 3,250
BTN: 4,430
SB: 2,620
BB: 1,420
UTG: 6,440
Hero (UTG+1): 8,207
UTG+2: 5,490
MP1: 2,415

Pre-Flop: (150) A A dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 350, 6 folds, BB raises to 1,420 and is All-In, Hero calls 1,070

Flop: (2,890) 3 T 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (2,890) 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (2,890) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 2,890 Pot
BB showed J J (two pair, Jacks and Sixes) and LOST (-1,420 NET)
Hero showed A A (two pair, Aces and Sixes) and WON 2,890 (+1,470 NET)



At this point I'm comfortably stacked at nearly 10K in chips and am at the top of the leaderboard, so I can patiently wait for good spots without concern for the blinds.

I get QQ(#2) but again get no action.

I run 99 into AA but the hand is played slowly so I lose the minimum. I can't beat anything on the river but I look skidoo up just to be sure he had me the whole way; in actual fact he rivered trip aces.

I get AA(#3) about four hands later but get no action.

I fold AQ to a 4-bet shove from an UTG raiser (TuscaloosaJohn, who ends up finishing in second).

Hand #11: Then a reverse-Hoy nearly costs me a bounty for Chippy McStacks (doh!):

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 60/120 Blinds, 9 Players

MP1: 6,505
MP2: 3,400
CO: 5,510
BTN: 2,270
SB: 2,595
BB: 7,260
Hero (UTG): 8,827
UTG+1: 5,430
UTG+2: 2,055

Pre-Flop: (180) 3 3 dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero calls 120, 4 folds, CO folds, BTN calls 120, SB calls 60, BB checks

Flop: (480) 5 4 4 (4 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets 320, BTN calls 320

Turn: (1,120) 3 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (1,120) K (2 Players)
Hero bets 1,829, BTN calls 1,829

Results: 4,778 Pot
BTN mucked Q 8 (a flush, Queen high) and LOST (-2,269 NET)
Hero showed 3 3 (a full house, Threes full of Fours) and WON 4,778 (+2,509 NET)

Fortunately, I pick up the scalp the very next hand.

I give Big Pirate a courtesy double -- this would come back to haunt me later.

I get KK(#1) but get no action.

Hand #12: I get JJ and extract maximum value. Note the safey check on the river.

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 100/200 Blinds, 9 Players

MP2: 4,565
CO: 1,650
BTN: 5,870
SB: 6,305
BB: 3,870
UTG: 2,560
Hero (UTG+1): 10,827
UTG+2: 6,345
MP1: 1,555

Pre-Flop: (300) J J dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 500, 5 folds, SB calls 400, BB folds

Flop: (1,200) 4 8 9 (2 Players)
SB bets 600, Hero raises to 1,200, SB calls 600

Turn: (3,600) 7 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 1,900, SB calls 1,900

River: (7,400) 8 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Results: 7,400 Pot
SB mucked K T (a pair of Eights) and LOST (-3,600 NET)
Hero showed J J (two pair, Jacks and Eights) and WON 7,400 (+3,800 NET)

Then I am able to 3-bet from the blinds with AK for a nice pot without need of a showdown. My big stack has its advantages.

I start making some conservative plays to protect my stack, folding AQ to an opening raise in front of me.

And now the antes kick in as the blinds go up to 120/240.

I begin leveraging my big stack by taking gambles against small stacks.

Hand #13: an early case in point:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 120/240 Blinds, 25 Ante, 9 Players

UTG+2: 3,875
MP1: 1,575
MP2: 4,675
CO: 2,720
BTN: 5,370
SB: 1,945
Hero (BB): 16,137
UTG: 6,070
UTG+1: 1,180

Pre-Flop: (585) 6 4 dealt to Hero (BB)
5 folds, CO calls 240, BTN folds, SB calls 120, Hero checks

Flop: (945) 8 J 2 (3 Players)
SB bets 1,680 and is All-In, Hero calls 1,680, CO folds

Turn: (4,305) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (4,305) 4 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 4,305 Pot
SB showed J 9 (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-1,945 NET)
Hero showed 6 4 (a flush, Ten high) and WON 4,305 (+2,360 NET)

Hand #14: I make a rare pure steal attempt from the button which proves profitable postflop. Doyle Brunson would be proud:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 120/240 Blinds, 25 Ante, 8 Players

UTG: 3,145
UTG+1: 2,765
MP1: 5,185
MP2: 645
CO: 5,220
Hero (BTN): 18,352
SB: 5,220
BB: 3,015

Pre-Flop: (560) T 2 dealt to Hero (BTN)
5 folds, Hero raises to 520, SB folds, BB calls 280

Flop: (1,360) 3 T T (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets 640, BB raises to 2,470 and is All-In, Hero calls 1,830

Turn: (6,300) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (6,300) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 6,300 Pot
Hero showed T 2 (four of a kind, Tens) and WON 6,300 (+3,285 NET)
BB showed 6 A (three of a kind, Tens) and LOST (-3,015 NET)

I tread water for a while, then run AKs into AKs for a chop.

I win the blinds uncontested with 99, TT and JJ at various points. I certainly can't complain about the frequency of big pocket pairs so far!

Hand #15: I then double up Big Pirate for the second time; this was much less defensible than the first one. Fortunately I have the chips to survive this blunder:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 150/300 Blinds, 25 Ante, 8 Players

MP1: 3,613
MP2: 3,525
CO: 2,735
BTN: 5,812
SB: 8,050
Hero (BB): 22,362
UTG: 5,950
UTG+1: 7,855

Pre-Flop: (650) 5 9 dealt to Hero (BB)
3 folds, MP2 raises to 900, CO calls 900, 2 folds, Hero calls 600

Flop: (3,050) 4 Q 5 (3 Players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets 2,600 and is All-In, CO folds, Hero calls 2,600

Turn: (8,250) Q (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (8,250) A (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 8,250 Pot
MP2 showed T T (two pair, Queens and Tens) and WON 8,250 (+4,725 NET)
Hero showed 5 9 (two pair, Queens and Fives) and LOST (-3,525 NET)

I am able to bust a couple more short stacks and then finally suffer a devastating blow when I lose a coinflip. To my mind, this is an example of a very overplayed JJ. I had been 3-betting extremely rarely and with the line I took here, my range is skewed towards QQ+, a set of tens, or two overs with the flush draw. I had also shown down a couple of overbets for value, but no blogger (and I guess pokergrind falls into this camp) likes to fold an overpair to the board.

Hand #16:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 300/600 Blinds, 75 Ante, 8 Players

UTG: 4,476
UTG+1: 5,850
MP1: 10,570
MP2: 16,825
CO: 11,190
Hero (BTN): 24,754
SB: 7,460
BB: 7,165

Pre-Flop: (1,500) K Q dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, MP2 raises to 1,200, CO folds, Hero raises to 3,800, SB folds, BB folds, MP2 calls 2,600

Flop: (9,100) 3 4 T (2 Players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets 12,949, MP2 raises to 12,950 and is All-In, Hero calls 1

Turn: (35,000) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (35,000) 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 35,000 Pot
MP2 showed J J (a pair of Jacks) and WON 35,000 (+18,175 NET)
Hero showed K Q (King Queen high) and LOST (-16,825 NET)

I buckle down and take a page out of Hoy's book as I have to shift gears back towards survival poker. That means re-steals!

Then I encountered another pivotal moment where I tripled up.

Hand #17: Luckily I was ahead the whole way and dodged many bullets:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 400/800 Blinds, 100 Ante, 8 Players

MP1: 9,526
MP2: 2,100
CO: 9,005
BTN: 37,625
SB: 9,740
Hero (BB): 8,654
UTG: 5,110
UTG+1: 6,530

Pre-Flop: (2,000) K A dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG raises to 5,010 and is All-In, UTG+1 raises to 6,430 and is All-In, 5 folds, Hero calls 5,630

Flop: (19,070) T A 2 (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (19,070) 9 (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (19,070) 2 (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 19,070 Pot
Hero showed K A (two pair, Aces and Twos) and WON 19,070 (+12,540 NET)
UTG showed J K (a pair of Twos) and LOST (-5,110 NET)
UTG+1 showed A Q (two pair, Aces and Twos) and LOST (-6,530 NET)

Back to a decent-sized stack again!

I get AA(#4) but get no action.

I try a hammer raise vs. pokergrind but he flat calls and shoves the flop. Grr! (He claims in chat that we had identical hands!)

I jam UTG with AK and take down the blinds and antes. With a low M and only 11K in chips, I'll happily add 3400 to my stack uncontested.

Hand #18: I win a timely pot with an average hand that hit top pair on the flop:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 600/1,200 Blinds, 150 Ante, 7 Players

BB: 24,241
UTG: 24,585
UTG+1: 41,425
MP: 10,240
Hero (CO): 12,069
BTN: 26,810
SB: 12,805

Pre-Flop: (2,850) 8 Q dealt to Hero (CO)
Hero raises to 3,200, 4 folds, SB folds, BB calls 2,000

Flop: (8,050) J 3 Q (2 Players)
BB bets 3,500, Hero raises to 8,719 and is All-In, BB folds

Results: 15,050 Pot
Hero mucked 8 Q and WON 15,050 (+8,200 NET)

I then get AA(#5) but my c-bet (an OBFV) on a QQT board gets no action. Still, now that we're fighting to get to the final table now that the bubble has burst, I'll gladly take the chips.

Big Pirate proves to be my nemesis again in a setup hand that I can't avoid.

Hand #18: yet another double up for him through me (his third):

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 800/1,600 Blinds, 200 Ante, 7 Players

BTN: 11,841
SB: 30,695
BB: 43,385
UTG: 19,770
Hero (UTG+1): 21,819
MP: 15,610
CO: 9,055

Pre-Flop: (3,800) Q A dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 7,000, 2 folds, BTN raises to 11,641 and is All-In, 2 folds, Hero calls 4,641

Flop: (27,082) T A 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (27,082) K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (27,082) A (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 27,082 Pot
BTN showed K A (a full house, Aces full of Kings) and WON 27,082 (+15,241 NET)
Hero showed Q A (three of a kind, Aces) and LOST (-11,841 NET)

Back to survival mode! I jam with AJ, AT, KT, KJ and K2 to recover some lost chips. With 5200 in dead money sitting there when the hands begin, it's time to ratchet up the aggression.

Hand #19: I then pull off my second big re-steal with total air; I chose my target carefully as Waffles, whom I know is playing a bit tighter than normal due to his points race, is more likely to fold than most players in this spot:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 800/1,600 Blinds, 200 Ante, 6 Players

MP: 14,882
CO: 37,895
BTN: 40,585
Hero (SB): 18,978
BB: 11,610
UTG: 8,655

Pre-Flop: (3,600) 3 8 dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, CO raises to 4,800, 2 folds, Hero raises to 18,778 and is All-In, 2 folds

Results: 12,400 Pot
Hero mucked 3 8 and WON 12,400 (+7,400 NET)

And it's final table time! Here are the chipcounts, as I get dealt a strong hand right away.
I am able to exact some revenge from pokergrind! Hand #20:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,000/2,000 Blinds, 250 Ante, 9 Players

UTG: 19,230
UTG+1: 7,636
UTG+2: 10,982
Hero (MP1): 25,678
MP2: 44,755
CO: 51,190
BTN: 56,286
SB: 70,903
BB: 31,340

Pre-Flop: (5,250) 9 9 dealt to Hero (MP1)
Hero raises to 9,000, CO raises to 50,940 and is All-In, 5 folds, Hero calls 16,428 and is All-In

Flop: (56,106) Q 5 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (56,106) 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (56,106) 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 56,106 Pot
Hero showed 9 9 (two pair, Nines and Eights) and WON 56,106 (+30,428 NET)
CO showed A K (a pair of Eights) and LOST (-25,678 NET)

And in one fell swoop I'm back in the saddle (sorry, no screenshot).

My K9s outflops Waffles' 88 but we check it down on a scary board. I am able to steadily maintain my second-place chipstack and annoy Waffles at the same time when I open-raise presto and KK(#2) from the small blind into his big blind. Sadly, he gives me no action despite threatening to bust me.

But then I get another premium hand (QQ; #3) and sucker someone into overplaying TPTK.

Hand #21:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,500/3,000 Blinds, 400 Ante, 5 Players

BTN: 53,860
Hero (SB): 40,756
BB: 34,255
UTG: 146,440
CO: 42,689

Pre-Flop: (6,500) Q Q dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, CO raises to 12,500, Hero raises to 22,000, CO calls 9,500

Flop: (49,000) 4 J 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets 18,356 and is All-In, CO calls 18,356

Turn: (85,712) 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (85,712) 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 85,712 Pot
Hero showed Q Q (a pair of Queens) and WON 85,712 (+44,956 NET)
CO showed A J (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-40,756 NET)

I'm solidly in second place but TJ has a whopping 145K in chips. Gulp!

I finish Big Blueberry (victim of Hand #21) off with AQ vs. K9 AIPF.

Waffles's AQ doesn't fare as well as he suffers a suckout as the almighty AJ outdrew him. Suddenly, we're down to the final three and I begin to think I can really take this down. I have played with TJ enough to get a handle on his game, and whilst dtaylor is an unknown, he hasn't posed any particular problems to me so far.

I immediately win a big pot off TJ to buoy my confidence and overtake him, narrowly, for the chiplead.

Hand #22: Note the river card and my safety check. I just couldn't bring myself to raise for value because I figured only better hands would call:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,500/3,000 Blinds, 400 Ante, 3 Players

BB: 80,650
Hero (BTN): 97,310
SB: 140,040

Pre-Flop: (4,200) K J dealt to Hero (BTN)
Hero calls 3,000, SB checks

Flop: (7,200) J T 9 (2 Players)
SB bets 5,000, Hero calls 5,000

Turn: (17,200) Q (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 9,000, SB calls 9,000

River: (35,200) T (2 Players)
SB bets 9,000, Hero calls 9,000

Results: 53,200 Pot
Hero showed K J (a straight, King high) and WON 53,200 (+26,800 NET)
SB showed 8 T (a straight, Queen high) and LOST (-26,400 NET)

It turns out he made the idiot end of the straight on the turn. But it's such a sticky spot I still don't see how I can really expect much value if I raise there at the end, although in this instance I could have extracted additional chips from TJ.

I get KK(#3) and am able to re-raise to take down a nice pot preflop.

I flop bottom two pair to take down another nice pot.

I 3-bet dtaylor with 44 from the BB after he raises from the SB and he tanks but ultimately folds.

I continue to run well as I take down the blinds with ATs from the button and flop top pair as I build a commanding chiplead with Hand #23:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 2,500/5,000 Blinds, 600 Ante, 3 Players

SB: 96,250
Hero (BB): 171,310
BTN: 50,440

Pre-Flop: (9,300) 8 Q dealt to Hero (BB)
BTN folds, SB calls 2,500, Hero checks

Flop: (11,800) 5 Q 2 (2 Players)
SB bets 5,000, Hero raises to 21,000, SB folds

Results: 21,800 Pot
Hero mucked 8 Q and WON 21,800 (+11,200 NET)

I continue to chisel away as I keep up the pressure, winning more blinds and antes with A8s preflop. I like this trend:

Then I put dtaylor to a decision for all of his chips here with a semi-bluff in Hand #24:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 2,500/5,000 Blinds, 600 Ante, 3 Players

SB: 79,450
Hero (BB): 188,110
BTN: 50,440

Pre-Flop: (9,300) 5 4 dealt to Hero (BB)
BTN folds, SB calls 2,500, Hero checks

Flop: (11,800) 3 6 6 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 5,000, SB raises to 10,000, Hero calls 5,000

Turn: (31,800) 4 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 172,510 and is All-In, SB folds

Results: 31,800 Pot
Hero mucked 5 4 and WON 31,800 (+16,200 NET)

TJ starts really ramping up the aggression, shoving a lot preflop, as I fold and wait for a hand to playback at him.

Then we get to the hand that gives me a stranglehold on the tournament. Hand #25 was just the perfect storm of a disguied monster flop for me where I trapped like a son of a gun and took down a monster pot to get down to headsup with a huge chiplead:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 3,000/6,000 Blinds, 750 Ante, 3 Players

SB: 84,800
Hero (BB): 134,660
BTN: 98,540

Pre-Flop: (11,250) 6 4 dealt to Hero (BB)
BTN calls 6,000, SB calls 3,000, Hero checks

Flop: (20,250) 4 4 9 (3 Players)
SB bets 10,000, Hero calls 10,000, BTN calls 10,000

Turn: (50,250) A (3 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks, BTN bets 13,000, SB raises to 68,050 and is All-In, Hero raises to 117,910 and is All-In, BTN folds

River: (199,350) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)


Results: 199,350 Pot
SB showed 9 A (two pair, Aces and Nines) and LOST (-84,800 NET)
Hero showed 6 4 (three of a kind, Fours) and WON 199,350 (+114,550 NET)

At this point I have a commanding advantage in chips so I just end up winning the first 60/40 confrontation and that's all she wrote:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 3,000/6,000 Blinds, 750 Ante, 2 Players

Hero (SB): 226,710
BB: 91,290

Pre-Flop: (10,500) Q 7 dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to 225,960 and is All-In, BB calls 84,540 and is All-In

Flop: (182,580) K 7 4 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: (182,580) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: (182,580) 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 182,580 Pot
Hero showed Q 7 (a pair of Sevens) and WON 182,580 (+91,290 NET)
BB showed 2 A (a pair of Twos) and LOST (-91,290 NET)

Thanks for reading! A couple of obvious points to wrap up this long report.

1) I got hit with the deck. I had more than my fair share of TT+, AQ+.
2) My premium hands mostly held up, and this gave me enough chips to be patient and play solid poker.
3) I won my share of key races and rarely put my tournament life at risk.
4) I was able to win 25/33 hands at showdown.