MTT crash and burn

For the first time in a couple weeks, I decided to put in a good night of playing MTTs. I played a total of 7 tournaments, and I cashed in 3 of them and came real close in two others.

For the first time, I played in the Big Daily Double tournaments, which are $75 tournaments that start at 9 PM CST. In the first one, I went out in the first orbit with AA vs TT all-in pre-flop. Someone at the table said they had folded a Ten, so the turn was a 1 outer. Nice way to start off the night, huh? I thought the $75 tournaments would attract better players, but that is obviously not the case when you have people willing to get it all-in PF in the first orbit with TT. Daily Double B went a lot better, but I busted just short of the money in 24th place. This one I lost with your standard coin flip when my AK couldn’t outrace 88. Is it common to call an all-in with 88 getting only 1.5:1 odds?

I also played the donkfest which is known as the $26 26k guaranteed. I never really got anything going in this one. I flopped trips with KQ on a QQ7 rainbow board. I bet out on the flop and some donk called with [Kh] [Jh]. Turn brought a 2nd heart and he called my turn bet. River was 3rd heart and he led out, I could really put him on a hand that beats me, but I just called anyway and saw his runner-runner flush. Not sure calling a flop bet with no pair, no draw, one overcard on a paired board is a good play. I’ll have to think about that one a bit.

I played the PokerStars $15+1.5 9 PM tournament and cashed in that one taking 46th place. I was running really well in this one, and had a decent chip stack through most of it. But the short stacks started to chip up against me and I ended up going out with T8s vs AJo. It folded to me on the button and I had to push with pretty much any two cards with an M of 2.5.

I also played both of the $10 rebuys. I cashed in the PokerStars one again (I think I cash in this thing 80% of the time). I ended the rebuy period with a really nice stack. Once I took the add-on, I think I was in the top 20 of chips. For a while I was cruising really nicely, and was at a really passive table. Then I got switched to a much more aggressive table. Add in being card dead, and I just couldn’t accumulate any more chips into my stack. I ended up going out in 76th place out of 1400+. I finally had to take a stand with QJs and got called again by AJo.

I also made it really deep in the FullTilt $10 rebuy and busted out just short of the cash. This one hurt, because I was 2nd in chips at my table and ran into a total cooler versus the table chip leader (who then went on to win the whole thing). I was sitting pretty with an M of 17.5 and an above average stack. Some short stack with 1/3 of my stack pushes all-in in middle position. I have AKo. I’m not sure if just calling, or pushing myself is a better play with people left to act behind me. But of course, the big stack who was left to act had AA and knocked us both out and went on to a massive chip lead. What did the short stack have and push with an M of 6? He had K5s.

And finally the 10PM $24+2 6 max Knock Out tournament. This one hurt even more because I had a commanding chip lead throughout THE WHOLE TOURNAMENT. When the money bubble burst, I had TWICE as many chips as 2nd place. I was hitting hands, picking off bluffs, and being really aggressive. I had my A game going. Down to 14 left, and I am still the chip leader. Then this hand happens:

Full Tilt Poker Game #6987914870: $11,500 KO Guarantee (52997896), Table 80 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:29:12 ET - 2008/06/27
Seat 1: Gazornick (34,043)
Seat 2: Darryn83 (36,005)
Seat 4: Caulaincourt (86,202)
Seat 5: KayOughtiK (3,366)
Seat 6: OMGitsPokerFool (151,636)
Gazornick antes 250
Darryn83 antes 250
Caulaincourt antes 250
KayOughtiK antes 250
OMGitsPokerFool antes 250
KayOughtiK posts the small blind of 1,000
OMGitsPokerFool posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to OMGitsPokerFool [Ac Qs]
Gazornick folds
Darryn83 folds
Caulaincourt: wow no suck out
Caulaincourt folds
KayOughtiK raises to 3,116, and is all in
OMGitsPokerFool calls 1,116
KayOughtiK shows [Kd 4h]
OMGitsPokerFool shows [Ac Qs]
*** FLOP *** [6c Td 4c]
*** TURN *** [6c Td 4c] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [6c Td 4c 4s] [3s]
KayOughtiK shows three of a kind, Fours
OMGitsPokerFool shows a pair of Fours
KayOughtiK wins the pot (7,482) with three of a kind, Fours
dflo43 sits down
dflo43 adds 32,474
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7,482 Rake 0
Board: [6c Td 4c 4s 3s]
Seat 1: Gazornick folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Darryn83 folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Caulaincourt (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: KayOughtiK (small blind) showed [Kd 4h] and won (7,482) with three of a kind, Fours
Seat 6: OMGitsPokerFool (big blind) showed [Ac Qs] and lost with a pair of Fours

I’m sure you are wondering, “WTF? Big deal, some donk won a 40/60 when he barely had 1 BB left”. But this was the beginning of the end for me. At first glance, it looks like I only lost 3366 chips, but all of my luck must have been included in the pot, because this guy went on a tear. I couldn’t hit anything from here on out and this guy rode those 3366 chips all the way to 2nd place. A chip and a chair I guess.

A few orbits later, I got it all-in with another short stack and my AQ couldn’t beat his A3. Then I tried to steal with K5s and got called by an average stack. Flop was AK8. I c-bet and he pushed. Easy fold. A few hands later I raised with A7o and had to fold to resistance after the flop. Later, it folds to me in the SB, and I push and BB calls with A9 and I lose that 40/60. Now all of a sudden I have a below average stack.

I couldn’t steal anymore. I was getting called/3-bet/check-raised constantly. I couldn’t play back because I wasn’t hitting any flops. I finally went out when I pushed with 33 from the CO and an M of 5 and got snap called by A6 for half of his stack. Out in 12th place.

It’s kind of frustrating to make it so deep and to have nice ship stacks in so many tournaments in one night, but not even making a final table. How do people like lucko do it?

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I think I have figured out the reason why my cash game results have been so terrible in the last two months. It’s because I’m not really studying the game much lately. I’m not watching any Cardrunner videos. I haven’t posted any hands online for discussion. I haven’t read any more poker books. I haven’t downloaded Hold ‘em Manager yet. Not sure why I haven’t done these things lately. Laziness? Probably. Maybe because it is summer time and there are so many other things to do. It’s extremely rare for us to get the kids in bed before 9 PM. Heck, we’re lucky if we get them in bed by 9:30. That doesn’t leave too much time for poker.

I’m also convinced the games have gotten a lot tougher the last couple months. Full Tilt 200NL is chock full of regular TAGs/LAGs now. There are a ton of players playing 200NL now that were at 400NL a few months ago. I think some of that has to do with the summer time and a lot of the recreational players aren’t playing right now. I also think another reason why the games are tougher has to do with the release of PokerTracker 3 and Hold ‘em Manager. With so many stats available to people (especially the PF 3-bet stats), everyone is getting better reads on people. And that is easily compounded by the fact you can datamine at Full Tilt. I think I may start playing more at PokerStars. Maybe I should try and get some money on BoDog?

Cheers!