Not much to write about really. Coming up on tax season so that means less poker; particularly tournament poker which keeps you up ungodly hours.
Full Tilt
I was running pretty bad at cash games and just decided about 10 days ago to go back to sit and gos and play them for a while. SO I have been playing a ton of sit and gos which are good because I can generally be done a session in about an hour to an hour and a half. I usually play 6-8 tables at a time. I have found that flattened payout satellite SNG are really easy and soft. In fact, Full Tilt is running their quarterly tournament series (FTOPS) and they offer a lot of satellites for all of the events. I have already won 25 seats to FTOPS Event #1 (a $200+16 NLHE tournament). This is all been done in 42 tries which is pretty strong and not really sustainable. Essentially that means I have run at ~74% ROI which is insane.
Total Buy ins- 42 x $75 (entry) = $3,150
Total Wins- 25 x $216 = $5,400
So while I would love to continue with this it is not realistic. I will try, however and see how many I can accumulate before the actual event which is next Wednesday evening. You can track me here (I am fkeplastictrees):
http://p.fulltiltpoker.com/ftops-challenge?id=1
I will also try to win some satellites into some of the other events and have already won 5 into Event 2 and 1 into 3 otehr events.
As for the actual FTOPS series I doubt I will be able to play many of them. A lot of the good tournaments for me start at 2 p.m. and this time of year it is hard for me to get away early from the office. I may be able to slip out, however, on Feb. 11 for Event 16 which is a Omaha Hi-Lo event. We'll see. So I will probably play Events 1, 24 and the Main Event and possibly the Hi-Lo event above.
Poker Stars
On Stars I have been playing mostly the $16 SNGs 9 or 12 tabling at a time. I play very basic ABC and have been doing pretty well. Running at about 15% ROI which is a little above expected for $16 level. Such a small sample size though that it really is insignificant to extrapolate anything from this.
Also been playing some Omaha Hi-Lo on Stars and been playing solid and just grinding everything from 2-4 to 5-10 Limit.
Finally, my goal for this year is to make SuperNova status on Stars which gets all kinds of freebies and goodies as well as some tournament buy-ins, etc. In order to make it, however, I need to average 8,333 Frequent Player Points per month. Currently in January I have a bit over 6,000 and will probably finish the month around 7,200-7,500. Considering I will likely be lucky to get 3-4k in Feb and March that means I will have to run over 10k per month in April, May and June in order to get back on track. I think that will happen.
Well that is it for now.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Borgata Poker Open (BPO)
Went to the BPO last Thursday through Saturday to play in a few events and get one good poker session in before the coming work onslaught. Ended up playing two events in the series as well as a satellite and a single table sit and go and some cash. Here is a review:
$550 NLHE
This was the first event when I arrived on Thursday. Not a lot happened as I was generally pretty card dead. One interesting hand came midway in level 1. I am BB and non-thinking player on button raises to 150. SB completes and I call with 26cc. Flop comes 582 rainbow. SB checks, I check and button continuation bets for 350. SB folds and I check raise to 900. I do this for two reasons here. FIrst I may have the best hand if button has a hand like two big cards. Second by check raising I am showing strength and probably get him to check behind on turn giving me a chance to get a free card and spike a duece or six. Turn is a 9c giving me a four flush to go with my pair. As expected he checks behind me and river is Tc flushing me. I value bet 700 and he calls showing 77. I got moved to a tough table and not many chips were flying around. I was in BB with QT flop came Q57 and I bet 2/3 of pot. UTG limper raised me and there was really not much I could beat so I folded face up. He showed AA. Love when people do this and face a 5 way pot. Wish I could have spiked 2 pair. But this hand and another later actually gave me a good tell on this guy. He raised his medium hands but limped and slow played his big ones. Little later sure enough he raised 4x BB (I think he is weak here given my read) and I shoved 15BB with A9o and he folded. Obviously I wouldn't shove A9 that often but my read was right. Orbit or two later he limps for 600 and I look down at KK. How to play this and get max value? Well I shoved on him before so he prob expects me to do that. Couple that with my tell he is probably strong here so the best way to get value is to get all the chips in now. I ship 18BB in the middle and he calls with AJ...lol. Not nearly as strong as I expected him to be. KK holds up and I am finally reasonably stacked with about 22k. I then called a short stack shove with AK and lost to TT and lost a few other smallish pots. Then went completely card dead for 2 levels. Insane. We were up to 800/1600/200 and I was down around 13k. I looked down at 33 in late position and open shoved. BB woke up with AK and off to races we go. Flop good...K36, Turn not as good K, river really really bad 6. Me out around 100th. 54 of the original 550 cashed so no cash for me.
$400 PLO
This was the first time the Borgata had offered a PLO tournament and judging by the turnout and interest will likely not be the last. 250 players played and off we went. Not much happened early though I picked up a few smallish pots. I then paid off a river bet with a J high flush. Bettor had been playing a lot of pots and really wanted to be table captain but this time he shows up with nut flush. Drifted down to abt 5k in chips (started with 8k) when I doubled up with a flopped str8 vs a two pair hand. Stuck between 10k and 12k for a while when a biggie came up. Blinds 400-800 and I have ~10.5k. Big stack on my right open raises pot to 2800. I look down at 9JQK double suited and repot to 9600 (let's gamble). He ships and I call. He has AA45 single suited and here we go. Flop is good 9Tx. Turn is a blank but river is a 9 to give me trips and put me up over 20k. I continued to play solid and worked my stack up to around 28k when a very aggressive pro named Anna Wroblewski was put on my right. She is a bit of a legend as she parlayed a ~1000 loan from an old boss into 2 tournament wins in a week for over 500k and since has been playing professionally. Anyway she was opening a lot of pots with raises and following through with c-bets. I was looking for spots to reraise her and pick up the pots. 2 orbits in at 800-1600 I catch AAT9 double suited. Like clockwork she raises to 5600 and I put on the act then repot to 19,200 (my total stack is abt 25-28k). Folds back to her and she puts on an act about what a sick fold she has to make, etc, etc then folds. Couple orbits later she and I get into it post flop this time though. Blinds 1,000-2,000. Limper calls in early position, one other caller, Anna calls, I call from button with QQT8 double suited (marginal hand) and blinds call. So 12k in pot. Flop comes AT8 with 2 spades giving me two pair and a AQhigh flush draw. Not folding to her. Checks to her and she bets 8k. I ship and she goes in the tank for a while and finally calls off with A8. SO I am drawing to a Q, T or spade. She is ahead here but not by a lot. Turn blank but river 6 spades and I scoop biggest pot of day. Up to around 75k. Then we were down to 30ish people and 27 cash. I decided to be aggressive on the bubble and try and pick up some chips. Raise a few hands and take down blinds. Finally bubble bursts and I have top 5 in chips. We get reseated and I proceed to bust out 3 players in the next 10 or 12 hands and increase my stack to over 135k. I am top 2 or 3. Only player at my table with a lot of chips (he has 110k or so) is seated to my direct right which is ideal. Then this comes up. I am in SB. Blinds 4000-8000. Two limpers in early position and button limps. I squeeze 9TJ2 and consider raising. I really want to do it but my hand has a lot of potential to win a huge pot rather than just the blinds. Pretty sure everyone folds if I ship it. But I choose to complete and see flop. FLop comes JT3. I lead for a pot bet (40,000), two folds then cutoff goes all in for 52k total and button goes all in for ~60k on top of my 40k. Fucking Gross. I tank for a while and only thing I can beat is some sort of wrap (i.e. 9,Q, K) and I am not very far ahead of this in fact. But I can't see folding here. Costs me 60k or so into a pot of ~230k. I can't find the fold button and stack off. Button shows JJxx for top set. Other guy has the wrap and I am drawing virtually dead. I whiff and JJJ takes down a monster. Puts me down to ~20k. Few hands later I shove the button with 89JK single suited and BB wakes up with AAxx. I turn a str8 and flush draw but brick the river and am out in 16th place for ~$800. Top three all pay over $8k. Story of my life lately.
I did chop a $250 single table sit and go for $1100 as well.
Biggest score however came in a survivor tournament. THis tournament has a flattened payout where 1 in 10 with 10x the buy in. So in this case the buy-in was 400 and 10% of the field wins 4k. I signed up late and was down to 3500 (from 10k) fairly quickly when I lost a set over set situation but was somehow able to fold. Was pretty pissed and was looking for another tournament to play in that night. But I grinded it out and stayed tough and low and behold had 15k in chips with 50 or so remaining. Top 20 got the 4k so it was starting to get interesting. I really felt that I had the advantage in this type of structure because I have played a TON of on line satellites with similar payout structures. I know how to playthis type of tournament where getting all of the chips in play is not required. Anyway a few late position steals and resteals and I was up to about 30k. Then we were down to 26 or so and I was somewhat short with 25k (blinds 3000-6000). Late position player raises to 20k and I look down at black AA in the BB. I ship it he calls with AQ and I hold to get to ~55k in chips. Then I basically folded into the money for a nice 4k score.
After this I go find a few of my boys and they are playing cash games. I sit down at a 1/2 NLHE game just for fun. I usually play 2/5 and occassionally 5/10 but after grinding that tournament I just didn't feel like working too hard. 1/2 games are a joke to beat and I could just sit there with my buddy and relax and not really play too aggressively. Well that worked until the third hand...lol. I open to 10 from middle position with JTo. Flop comes T62 with 2 clubs. I lead for 30 into the pot of 40. Only button calls. At this point I put him on flush draw or a hand with T. If he has a T I am winning because KT or AT or any set raises me on the flop with a flush draw on board. So when the 9c hits I am not thrilled. He could have 9T or made his flush. I do have Jc for a redraw but I check to see his action. He suddenly bets 80 in to the pot of 100. OK a flush doesn't bet this this hard. It tries to get some value out of this hand. So the only hands that beat me and make sense here are 9T for 2 pair or maybe QT for better kicker. I stare him down and I think he is nervous. His girlfriend is sitting behind him and just looks like he is trying to be macho and bluff me out. I starting asking him if he made his flush (knowing it is 99% that he didn't). I could just see him squirming so I was sure I was good and shipped it all in. He had 150 behind and just started complaining and rolling his eyes. SO here I am trying to just have fun and not do too much and 5 minutes into the session I have my whole stack in the middle with one pair and a weak kicker....lol. He finally calls with T7 and I scoop a big pot. Table was like WTF just happened. BUt I have been really working on trusting my reads and playing them out. This was a good example of that. I also had a hand later when I shipped over an LP raiser with TT on a board of K29Q. HIs turn bet was fishy and I shipped it and he showed AT. I showed the TT just to let the table know I was on my game.
Finally, I won a few hundred playing 10/20 Omaha/Stud Hi-LO with all of the gray hairs. This is an easy game to beat and is fun to play to mix it up a bit. I really have started to like Stud Hi-Lo and think I am pretty good at it. I have been playing on line for relatively small stakes and have gained a better understanding of the game over the last 2 or 3 months. Stud Hi well that is a different story....
Anyway the FTOPS is coming up in a few weeks so I will be playing some satellites for that over the next 2 weeks. Already have won 9 seats to Event 1 (NLHE) and 5 to Event 2 (PLO 8 or better).
$550 NLHE
This was the first event when I arrived on Thursday. Not a lot happened as I was generally pretty card dead. One interesting hand came midway in level 1. I am BB and non-thinking player on button raises to 150. SB completes and I call with 26cc. Flop comes 582 rainbow. SB checks, I check and button continuation bets for 350. SB folds and I check raise to 900. I do this for two reasons here. FIrst I may have the best hand if button has a hand like two big cards. Second by check raising I am showing strength and probably get him to check behind on turn giving me a chance to get a free card and spike a duece or six. Turn is a 9c giving me a four flush to go with my pair. As expected he checks behind me and river is Tc flushing me. I value bet 700 and he calls showing 77. I got moved to a tough table and not many chips were flying around. I was in BB with QT flop came Q57 and I bet 2/3 of pot. UTG limper raised me and there was really not much I could beat so I folded face up. He showed AA. Love when people do this and face a 5 way pot. Wish I could have spiked 2 pair. But this hand and another later actually gave me a good tell on this guy. He raised his medium hands but limped and slow played his big ones. Little later sure enough he raised 4x BB (I think he is weak here given my read) and I shoved 15BB with A9o and he folded. Obviously I wouldn't shove A9 that often but my read was right. Orbit or two later he limps for 600 and I look down at KK. How to play this and get max value? Well I shoved on him before so he prob expects me to do that. Couple that with my tell he is probably strong here so the best way to get value is to get all the chips in now. I ship 18BB in the middle and he calls with AJ...lol. Not nearly as strong as I expected him to be. KK holds up and I am finally reasonably stacked with about 22k. I then called a short stack shove with AK and lost to TT and lost a few other smallish pots. Then went completely card dead for 2 levels. Insane. We were up to 800/1600/200 and I was down around 13k. I looked down at 33 in late position and open shoved. BB woke up with AK and off to races we go. Flop good...K36, Turn not as good K, river really really bad 6. Me out around 100th. 54 of the original 550 cashed so no cash for me.
$400 PLO
This was the first time the Borgata had offered a PLO tournament and judging by the turnout and interest will likely not be the last. 250 players played and off we went. Not much happened early though I picked up a few smallish pots. I then paid off a river bet with a J high flush. Bettor had been playing a lot of pots and really wanted to be table captain but this time he shows up with nut flush. Drifted down to abt 5k in chips (started with 8k) when I doubled up with a flopped str8 vs a two pair hand. Stuck between 10k and 12k for a while when a biggie came up. Blinds 400-800 and I have ~10.5k. Big stack on my right open raises pot to 2800. I look down at 9JQK double suited and repot to 9600 (let's gamble). He ships and I call. He has AA45 single suited and here we go. Flop is good 9Tx. Turn is a blank but river is a 9 to give me trips and put me up over 20k. I continued to play solid and worked my stack up to around 28k when a very aggressive pro named Anna Wroblewski was put on my right. She is a bit of a legend as she parlayed a ~1000 loan from an old boss into 2 tournament wins in a week for over 500k and since has been playing professionally. Anyway she was opening a lot of pots with raises and following through with c-bets. I was looking for spots to reraise her and pick up the pots. 2 orbits in at 800-1600 I catch AAT9 double suited. Like clockwork she raises to 5600 and I put on the act then repot to 19,200 (my total stack is abt 25-28k). Folds back to her and she puts on an act about what a sick fold she has to make, etc, etc then folds. Couple orbits later she and I get into it post flop this time though. Blinds 1,000-2,000. Limper calls in early position, one other caller, Anna calls, I call from button with QQT8 double suited (marginal hand) and blinds call. So 12k in pot. Flop comes AT8 with 2 spades giving me two pair and a AQhigh flush draw. Not folding to her. Checks to her and she bets 8k. I ship and she goes in the tank for a while and finally calls off with A8. SO I am drawing to a Q, T or spade. She is ahead here but not by a lot. Turn blank but river 6 spades and I scoop biggest pot of day. Up to around 75k. Then we were down to 30ish people and 27 cash. I decided to be aggressive on the bubble and try and pick up some chips. Raise a few hands and take down blinds. Finally bubble bursts and I have top 5 in chips. We get reseated and I proceed to bust out 3 players in the next 10 or 12 hands and increase my stack to over 135k. I am top 2 or 3. Only player at my table with a lot of chips (he has 110k or so) is seated to my direct right which is ideal. Then this comes up. I am in SB. Blinds 4000-8000. Two limpers in early position and button limps. I squeeze 9TJ2 and consider raising. I really want to do it but my hand has a lot of potential to win a huge pot rather than just the blinds. Pretty sure everyone folds if I ship it. But I choose to complete and see flop. FLop comes JT3. I lead for a pot bet (40,000), two folds then cutoff goes all in for 52k total and button goes all in for ~60k on top of my 40k. Fucking Gross. I tank for a while and only thing I can beat is some sort of wrap (i.e. 9,Q, K) and I am not very far ahead of this in fact. But I can't see folding here. Costs me 60k or so into a pot of ~230k. I can't find the fold button and stack off. Button shows JJxx for top set. Other guy has the wrap and I am drawing virtually dead. I whiff and JJJ takes down a monster. Puts me down to ~20k. Few hands later I shove the button with 89JK single suited and BB wakes up with AAxx. I turn a str8 and flush draw but brick the river and am out in 16th place for ~$800. Top three all pay over $8k. Story of my life lately.
I did chop a $250 single table sit and go for $1100 as well.
Biggest score however came in a survivor tournament. THis tournament has a flattened payout where 1 in 10 with 10x the buy in. So in this case the buy-in was 400 and 10% of the field wins 4k. I signed up late and was down to 3500 (from 10k) fairly quickly when I lost a set over set situation but was somehow able to fold. Was pretty pissed and was looking for another tournament to play in that night. But I grinded it out and stayed tough and low and behold had 15k in chips with 50 or so remaining. Top 20 got the 4k so it was starting to get interesting. I really felt that I had the advantage in this type of structure because I have played a TON of on line satellites with similar payout structures. I know how to playthis type of tournament where getting all of the chips in play is not required. Anyway a few late position steals and resteals and I was up to about 30k. Then we were down to 26 or so and I was somewhat short with 25k (blinds 3000-6000). Late position player raises to 20k and I look down at black AA in the BB. I ship it he calls with AQ and I hold to get to ~55k in chips. Then I basically folded into the money for a nice 4k score.
After this I go find a few of my boys and they are playing cash games. I sit down at a 1/2 NLHE game just for fun. I usually play 2/5 and occassionally 5/10 but after grinding that tournament I just didn't feel like working too hard. 1/2 games are a joke to beat and I could just sit there with my buddy and relax and not really play too aggressively. Well that worked until the third hand...lol. I open to 10 from middle position with JTo. Flop comes T62 with 2 clubs. I lead for 30 into the pot of 40. Only button calls. At this point I put him on flush draw or a hand with T. If he has a T I am winning because KT or AT or any set raises me on the flop with a flush draw on board. So when the 9c hits I am not thrilled. He could have 9T or made his flush. I do have Jc for a redraw but I check to see his action. He suddenly bets 80 in to the pot of 100. OK a flush doesn't bet this this hard. It tries to get some value out of this hand. So the only hands that beat me and make sense here are 9T for 2 pair or maybe QT for better kicker. I stare him down and I think he is nervous. His girlfriend is sitting behind him and just looks like he is trying to be macho and bluff me out. I starting asking him if he made his flush (knowing it is 99% that he didn't). I could just see him squirming so I was sure I was good and shipped it all in. He had 150 behind and just started complaining and rolling his eyes. SO here I am trying to just have fun and not do too much and 5 minutes into the session I have my whole stack in the middle with one pair and a weak kicker....lol. He finally calls with T7 and I scoop a big pot. Table was like WTF just happened. BUt I have been really working on trusting my reads and playing them out. This was a good example of that. I also had a hand later when I shipped over an LP raiser with TT on a board of K29Q. HIs turn bet was fishy and I shipped it and he showed AT. I showed the TT just to let the table know I was on my game.
Finally, I won a few hundred playing 10/20 Omaha/Stud Hi-LO with all of the gray hairs. This is an easy game to beat and is fun to play to mix it up a bit. I really have started to like Stud Hi-Lo and think I am pretty good at it. I have been playing on line for relatively small stakes and have gained a better understanding of the game over the last 2 or 3 months. Stud Hi well that is a different story....
Anyway the FTOPS is coming up in a few weeks so I will be playing some satellites for that over the next 2 weeks. Already have won 9 seats to Event 1 (NLHE) and 5 to Event 2 (PLO 8 or better).
Monday, January 5, 2009
Update with Nice Score
Happy New Year! Go Ravens. They looked really good yesterday and basically dominated the Dolphins as I suspected they would. This team looks and feels a lot like the 2000 team though I am not sure this defense is quite as good as that one which was arguably one of the all time greatest. This weekend is the key. I think if we beat the Titans we will get to the Super Bowl. I just think the Steelers are not going to beat us three times this year (in fact the Ravens probably "should" have won both of the previous meetings this year). I also don't think all of the Chargers hype is warranted. They won a dreadful division mostly because the Broncos suck and totally collapsed. If the Ravens get up early on the Titans Saturday it should be a good day.
So last time I posted I was planning on playing a ton of tournaments last Sunday including the big majors and a few others. I did in fact play most of them but had no real cashes of significance. One cash for $100 and three other cashes in the $50 range. All in all, however, it was a profitable day as I had won 3 seats to the Sunday Million on Stars and my seat to the Tilt 750k. This covered all my buy-ins and a little extra though nothing great.
I also played some tournaments last week and made it fairly deep in the Stars 10k guarantee ($11 tournament at 9:15 p.m.) 2x but crapped out both times in 65th and 13th for smallish scores.
But Saturday night was a good night. I actually wasn't going to play but at 9:30 or so I decided to play a bunch of the 10 p.m. tournaments. Here are the tournaments I played:
Tilt
9:30 Fifty-Fifty (50+5) $50,000 guarantee
10:00 Big Double A (60+6)
10:00 Big Double B (60+6)
Stars
9:30 $70,000 Guarantee (50+5)
10:00 $16.50 NLHE
I also played a few satellites and sit and gos while all of this was going on.
The Big Double is an event similar to the Daily Double that if you cash in both you get a bonus (usually an extra $350 or so) with that bonus escalating if you make final tables in both and huge if you win both.
Anyway I chipped up well in all of the events. I lost coinflips for big pots in both the Stars 70k and the Tilt 50-50 eventually busting reasonably close to the money. But the Big Double and the 16.50 I had chips the whole way. Unfortunately I lost in the Big Double A with abt 40 left (18 cashed) when I flopped 2nd pair and checkraised all in. He called with an up and down str8 draw and hit. Blah! But the other two were pretty interesting.
Big Double B
I played very solid throughout and just chipped up. I got paid off and doubled up with KK when a guy reshoved on me with 66 after I had opened with a raise. This was with about 40 left and 18 got paid (started with ~180). I made a nice laydown on the turn with about 30 left. I had AJ on the button on a J246 board when the SB had made a str8 and the other player in the hand stacked off with J8. Then I kept playing solid and we were down to the final 11 or so when this came up and I FINALLY had a hand hold up in a key spot:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3672441
That hand obviously was totally standard from my perspective. His reshove with A6 is pretty bad.
The next hand to show you is a suckout by yours truly. I usually complain about bad beats so I have to balance that with the occassional bad beats I get to lay on others. To put this hand in perspective, this guy had 3 bet me probably 5 times in the last 15-20 orbits. Every time I opened the pot with a raise he would reraise me and I had to fold. So here I decided to 4 bet shove and unfortunately this time he had a monster:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3672446
This created a bit of back and forth as he was none to pleased with me. Oh well.
Finally we got to the final table and I was the big stack. I played very solid and still had the chip lead with 4 left. I chopped a pot when I got it all in with me holding AQ vs. opponents AT and the board ran JJAKx for a chopper.
Finally we were heads up and pretty close in chips. The difference in payouts was over $1,000 so closing this out was important. We both played pretty aggressively with a lot of raising and 3 betting. Finally about 20 hands in the final hand came down as follows:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3672436
I probably could have folded to his 4 bet and still had t130,000 in chips but oh well. Middle pair with an up and down str8 draw is pretty strong heads up but not strong enough to stack off 50BB. Sucks but a little less than $2k for the effort.
Stars $16.50
This tournament was pretty uneventful really as I played very solid and chipped up nicely. I did have a hand that generated a lot of noise from the rail and the others at the table. Villian in this hand is hyper aggressive and trying to run over the table when this happens:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3672448
I call with 9To on the button as his opening range is huge and if I hit I think he is spewy and will double me up. Flop comes and I make a pair. He bets I raise and he shoves. His line is very transparent and really just terribly spewy. I know he has nothing so I snap call and double up. He then went on a tirade about how bad I was, BLAH BLAH BLAH. But this shows you the value of playing the man and not just the cards. He was raising and reraising every hand and I was just waiting for a pair to double up. A lot of people can accumulate chips but have no idea how to play when they get a big stack.
Anyway I got to the final table but unfortunately went out 6th for ~$300 when the big stack raised and I shoved 9 BB with 88. He snap called with QQ and I was done.
I probably won't play a lot of tournaments now that the holidays are over and work is getting busy again. Being up that late is a little tough the next days. I will play some cash games as I have been playing and running pretty well playing NLHE cash.
I am going to the Borgata Winter Series next week and will play 2 events I think:
$500 NLHE
$350 PLO
Will let you know how that goes.
So last time I posted I was planning on playing a ton of tournaments last Sunday including the big majors and a few others. I did in fact play most of them but had no real cashes of significance. One cash for $100 and three other cashes in the $50 range. All in all, however, it was a profitable day as I had won 3 seats to the Sunday Million on Stars and my seat to the Tilt 750k. This covered all my buy-ins and a little extra though nothing great.
I also played some tournaments last week and made it fairly deep in the Stars 10k guarantee ($11 tournament at 9:15 p.m.) 2x but crapped out both times in 65th and 13th for smallish scores.
But Saturday night was a good night. I actually wasn't going to play but at 9:30 or so I decided to play a bunch of the 10 p.m. tournaments. Here are the tournaments I played:
Tilt
9:30 Fifty-Fifty (50+5) $50,000 guarantee
10:00 Big Double A (60+6)
10:00 Big Double B (60+6)
Stars
9:30 $70,000 Guarantee (50+5)
10:00 $16.50 NLHE
I also played a few satellites and sit and gos while all of this was going on.
The Big Double is an event similar to the Daily Double that if you cash in both you get a bonus (usually an extra $350 or so) with that bonus escalating if you make final tables in both and huge if you win both.
Anyway I chipped up well in all of the events. I lost coinflips for big pots in both the Stars 70k and the Tilt 50-50 eventually busting reasonably close to the money. But the Big Double and the 16.50 I had chips the whole way. Unfortunately I lost in the Big Double A with abt 40 left (18 cashed) when I flopped 2nd pair and checkraised all in. He called with an up and down str8 draw and hit. Blah! But the other two were pretty interesting.
Big Double B
I played very solid throughout and just chipped up. I got paid off and doubled up with KK when a guy reshoved on me with 66 after I had opened with a raise. This was with about 40 left and 18 got paid (started with ~180). I made a nice laydown on the turn with about 30 left. I had AJ on the button on a J246 board when the SB had made a str8 and the other player in the hand stacked off with J8. Then I kept playing solid and we were down to the final 11 or so when this came up and I FINALLY had a hand hold up in a key spot:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3672441
That hand obviously was totally standard from my perspective. His reshove with A6 is pretty bad.
The next hand to show you is a suckout by yours truly. I usually complain about bad beats so I have to balance that with the occassional bad beats I get to lay on others. To put this hand in perspective, this guy had 3 bet me probably 5 times in the last 15-20 orbits. Every time I opened the pot with a raise he would reraise me and I had to fold. So here I decided to 4 bet shove and unfortunately this time he had a monster:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3672446
This created a bit of back and forth as he was none to pleased with me. Oh well.
Finally we got to the final table and I was the big stack. I played very solid and still had the chip lead with 4 left. I chopped a pot when I got it all in with me holding AQ vs. opponents AT and the board ran JJAKx for a chopper.
Finally we were heads up and pretty close in chips. The difference in payouts was over $1,000 so closing this out was important. We both played pretty aggressively with a lot of raising and 3 betting. Finally about 20 hands in the final hand came down as follows:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3672436
I probably could have folded to his 4 bet and still had t130,000 in chips but oh well. Middle pair with an up and down str8 draw is pretty strong heads up but not strong enough to stack off 50BB. Sucks but a little less than $2k for the effort.
Stars $16.50
This tournament was pretty uneventful really as I played very solid and chipped up nicely. I did have a hand that generated a lot of noise from the rail and the others at the table. Villian in this hand is hyper aggressive and trying to run over the table when this happens:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?3672448
I call with 9To on the button as his opening range is huge and if I hit I think he is spewy and will double me up. Flop comes and I make a pair. He bets I raise and he shoves. His line is very transparent and really just terribly spewy. I know he has nothing so I snap call and double up. He then went on a tirade about how bad I was, BLAH BLAH BLAH. But this shows you the value of playing the man and not just the cards. He was raising and reraising every hand and I was just waiting for a pair to double up. A lot of people can accumulate chips but have no idea how to play when they get a big stack.
Anyway I got to the final table but unfortunately went out 6th for ~$300 when the big stack raised and I shoved 9 BB with 88. He snap called with QQ and I was done.
I probably won't play a lot of tournaments now that the holidays are over and work is getting busy again. Being up that late is a little tough the next days. I will play some cash games as I have been playing and running pretty well playing NLHE cash.
I am going to the Borgata Winter Series next week and will play 2 events I think:
$500 NLHE
$350 PLO
Will let you know how that goes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)