Close, But No Cigar

I took 16th place Saturday night in Full Tilt's $50+5, 50k guaranteed tournament this past weekend for a decent profit of $300. I was pretty pleased with how I played, but just couldn't catch any cards towards the end. In fact, in the 360 hands I played in this tournament, I was dealt AA zero times, KK zero times, QQ once, JJ twice, and TT zero times. I was dealt AK twice in the first hour, and then only saw it once after that. Pretty amazing if you ask me.

When I make it deep in a big tournament, I like to write up a pretty detailed recap, so here ya go.

I hovered around the starting chip stack of 2000 for the first hour and a half. About half way through the 2nd hour, during the 50/100 level, I busted a shorter stack with JJ vs 66 to get up to 5000 chips.

About 15 minutes later, during the 60/120 level, I saw a free flop with 87s. Flop was 69T and I flopped the nuts. The SB bet pot, and I called. Turn was a Q, and the SB bet pot again, and I called. the river was a blank 3, and this time he pushed, which was three times what was in the pot, and I made the easy call with the 3rd nuts. He had J9, and I was now the new table chip leader.

Then the most absurd hand that I have ever been in happened. Blinds were still 60/120 and I had 8000 in chips. There was one player at the table who had me covered. So I raise with Q8s in MP, and that idiot calls from the CO. Flop is K42 with two clubs. I continuation bet 3/4 pot and he calls. Turn is the 3 of diamonds. I fire a 2nd barrel, something that I very rarely do in Tournaments (but have been doing more of in the cash games), and he calls again. River is a 9. I was really close to firing a 3rd barrel, but I checked, and he checked behind. We flip over our cards and he has AJ of hearts. He called two bullets with no pair, no draw, and one over. These type of players make me confident that I am going to make a big score in a tournament sometime.

Anyways, I still had an average chip stack, so there was no need to panic. I remained aggressive, and continued to steal blinds with all sorts of hands like J5s, AJ, etc... I tried to steal with QT and called twoblackaces short stack all-in and beat his AJ during the 100/200 level.

Nothing happened for the next few levels, and I was now a short stack with a 4800 stack during the 200/400/50 level. I pushed in late position with A6 and was called by A2 and won that one to bring me back to an M of 7.

A few hands later, an interesting hand happened. A really tight player limps in MP. I find 99 in the CO and raise, and the tighty is the only caller. Flop is J52 with two hearts. He checks, I bet 3/4 pot and he pushes. Pot has 12,200 in it, and I have 4000 left. I decided to fold there, mainly because he was so tight. (My HUD had him at 5/3 for the last 40 hands. That means he had voluntarily put money in the pot just twice in 40 hands).
So that left me with only 4000 chips and an M of 4. It was during this time I found my best pocket pair of the night, QQ. But obviously everyone folded to my push.

A few orbits later, and I was still alive with 4300 chips at the 250/500 level. I found 99 on the button and it folded to me, so I pushed. The BB called with KT, and I won the coinflip!! Up to 9300 and an M of 8!

I won a pot a few orbits later in a Blind vs Blind battle where I just completed the SB with K9s. Flop was King high and I knocked out the BB who had K8. Blinds were up to 400/800/100 and I still had a comfortable M of 9.

My one suckout of the night came during the 600/1200/150 level. I had been obviously card dead, and had dwindled down to 12,000 in chips at a very aggressive table. The table chip leader (and 2nd in chips in the whole tournament) raised again from MP. My HUD stats had him running at 36/28 during the last 60 hands. WOW! I had seen him fold some of his open raises before, so I pushed my stack in from the BB with J8s. He took a while but finally called with A8 (huh?). I out flopped him and won a nice size pot.

I now had a decent sized stack where I could get back to being aggressive. I stole blinds with JT, A9, 66, 33, J3s, etc... and didn't get played back at once, which was really nice. I think this is one aspect of my game that has improved that last couple months, and that is staying alive and aggressive once the money bubble bursts.

During the 1200/2400/300 level, I had a stack of 30,000 and tried to steal with T9s from late position. I pushed my stack in and got called by the Big Blind who showed 88. I won the coinflip and got my stack back up to average for the first time in a while.

We got down to two tables, and I was sitting on a decent sized stack of 72k, which was a little above average, and good for 3rd in chips at my table. First hand at this table, and I stole the blinds with Q6o. Oh ya! Final table, here I come. A few hands later, I call a Min-raise from the BB with ATs. Flop is KK6, and it goes check/check. Turn is a Ten, and again it goes check/check. River is an 8, and I check/call a small half pot size bet. Dude has KK, lol.

I then make a button raise with A6 and fold to a raise by the BB. I then pick up JJ, and get the blinds again. Two hands later I find 99 UTG, and raise it up again. The same guy who 3-bet me in the A6 hand 3-bets again. I contemplate pushing, but decide that the best I can hope for is to be a coinflip. I have a decent sized stack still, so I fold. I posted this question over at 2=2, and they all agreed this was an easy fold.

Very next hand, and I am in the BB with 87 offsuit. Blinds are 2000/4000/500, and the short stack with only 11000 pushes. I have pot odds, so I call and I lose to A6. An orbit later, it folds to me on the button and I raise with Q9s. The short stack in the SB pushes for 3000 more, and I call. He has KT, and I can't win that 40/60 either. So I'm down to 44k in chips with an M of 4.4. Yuck. Now it is push or fold time.

I push with A3o and win the blinds. 10 hands later I do the same with AJ. Then an orbit later and my stack at 30000 (Blinds at 3000/6000/750) and an M of 2, I'm in the BB. The chip leader in MP min-raises and I decide KJ is a good enough hand to play with and he has A6. I can't win that 40/60 either, and I got home in 16th place. What do you think? I have to play with KJ there, right?

It's amazing I got this far with the way I ran. The last 3 hours of this thing I saw QQ, JJ, and AK only once each. It just doesn't seem possible to make it this deep without getting more premium hands. Oh well. One of these days I'll take one of these down like Hoy did on Sunday night. Damn, Good job Hoy! That is a 1st, 3rd, and 4th in 50/50 tournaments in just over a week. Ship the $20,000 month his way.

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I haven't played in the PokerStars $10 rebuy for a while, but I decided I would check it out on a Saturday night. Nothing too exciting happened during the rebuy period. I had to double rebuy just once and I ended the rebuy period with just above average chip stack. Here is a funny hand that happened 10 minutes after the rebuy period. I raise the 150/300 blinds to 900 with 77 from MP. The button, who has me barely covered calls. Flop is AK5r and c-bet. He calls. Turn is an 8 and I check, pretty much giving up. He checks behind. River is a 6. I check, and he bets really small (900 into the 6000 pot). I make crying call for some reason, and he has QJ and I win. I type in "lol" and he says, "dont talk s h it cuz u won a hand, i had plenty of outs". Ya, you had "plenty" of outs after my hand is flipped. You have 4 outs to a hand that has a A or K in it, which is totally in my range. These type of players make me confident that I am going to make a big score in a tournament sometime.

I ended up going out about 10 hands later when I flopped the nut straight and got it all-in vs top set when the river pairs the board. Standard.

I also played in PokerStars $50+5, 55k guaranteed. I hovered around the starting chip stack for the first hour and a half. I had been playing pretty tight and tried to re-steal with AT and got CALLED by 44. I had about 20 Big Blinds (Having around 15 to 20 BBs is the perfect size for re-steal pushes), and the dude who had raised PF from the CO, and who just barely had me covered (He had 22.5 BBs) Called an all-in with 44 for his tournament life. I flopped a Ten, but obviously a four came on the turn. Poker Gods laughed at me again when the river was another Ten. These type of players make me confident that I am going to make a big score in a tournament sometime.

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As far as cash games, I'm up about $400 or so the last couple days. I put in a lot of hands Saturday night while I was deep in the 50/50. I think I put in a total of 2000 hands, which I think is the most cash game hands I have put in during one day in a long time. Nothing too interesting to report there. I played super nitty, mainly because I was concentrating more on the 50/50. I think I ran like 15/13 or something like that. Yikes!!!!!

Cheers!