Double Guarantee Week on Full Tilt-PLO Final Table

Final tabled the nightly PLO on Full Tilt last night. The double guarantee week is creating HUUUUUUGE prize pools this week in virtually all the tournaments and this event is no exception. Normally this event has ~6k in prize money with 230-250 entrants. Last night there were 488 entrants creating a prize pool of over $11,700. First place paid nearly 3k compared to the $1.4k when I won this event in November. As another point of reference the 50/50 paid over $25k to first in an event that normally only pays about $11-12k. Crazy shite.

As an added wrinkle FTP now allows multiple entries into the same tournament. So a player could have up to 4 entries in the event and conceivably cash n all 4 attempts. Eventually their stacks would get merged if there were fewer tables remaining than their # of entries. So if a player had 2 entries still and reached the final table the 2 stacks would be merged into 1 for that player and the merged stack would automatically receive 9th place money.

Anyway I played on 2 entries last night to give it a try. First entry busted about #100 but second I went deep to the final table. Eventually busting 5th for ~$800.
Annoying especially since big stack and ultimate winner was dreadful.

Might play again tonight but we'll see.

Also WSOP schedule was released on Monday and has some interesting changes this year. I'm still going over it to figure out which events I want to play and thus time my trip.

Tournaments are hard-Part II

For the next 2 weeks I am now the biggest Packers fan outside of Green Bay. Hopefully the refs don't hand it to the f-ing Steelers like they did a few years ago against Seattle.

Anyway I am back in Charm City living in the real world again after busting out late last night from the deep stack. I actually never had much more than an average stack and grinded along for a good while. The only really interesting spot that came up was here:

Blinds are 50-100.

UTG +1 limps. I raise KK to 350. Get called by good internet player 2 behind me. Folds to limper who looks like he is going to fold then calls.

Stacks

Limper ~15k (he has been splashing and lost 10kish)
Me ~28k have been pretty quiet
Internet Kid ~25k also been pretty quiet

Flop T75

I lead 650, internet kid calls, UTG +1 c/r to 2100. I call internet kid calls. Pot abt 7.5k.

Turn 8

UTG +1 shoves like 12k.

Best guess is he flopped some sort of combo draw. Maybe like J9 or 89. Previous to this hand he had been raising every pot he entered so I don't think he has a pocket pair here but I guess that has to be in his range.

Internet kid should have JJ or QQ here a lot in my opinion or perhaps AK/AQcc though I think he plays those a bit faster once I call the c/r.

Anyway I reluctantly folded as did internet kid. The other guy showed 89 so I should have called I guess. Oh well.

But I bucked up and got to my high water mark of 42k then went card dead. Went to dinner break with 32k then came back to find blinds at 1k/2k/300a. 2nd hand in I find AJ and raised to 5200. I probably should have shoved here in retrospect with only 15ish BB and in the cutoff. Anyway BB fiddles his chips then finally calls. Flop comes T high and he bets 2k into 15kish pot. I just call. That was weird. Turn is an A he shoves and I call to see AT. FUCK! Down to 11k. 2 hands later I see an A and stick it in. Get reshoved on by tight player who has 88. Unfortunately my kicker is a 2 and I miss to bust like 200th out of the original 550ish. Oh well.

So not a good trip for tournaments but the cash games were very good. I played mostly 10/20 Omaha H/L with a 1/2 kill and was up abt 2k in that game for the 4 days.

Full Tilt Poker has Double Guarantee Week starting today meaning all tournaments with guarantees attached to them will be double this week (is that obvious??). So like the 5k PLO will now be a 10k PLO etc. That should put some overlays (i.e. free money) in some events and juice up some of the prize pools considerably. So while I am a bit fried from tournament poker ATM I might play a tournament session 1 or 2 nights later in the week. We'll see how the week goes.

Nothing good happening here

Played the Omaha H/L on Friday and lasted about 9 or 10 hours. lost huge pot vs. fishy old man that crippled me. i had AA2J vs his KKJ9. I raise pre...he 3bets and I 4b. Flop came 36Q with 2 diamonds. So I have Aces plus nut low draw. I bet he raises me and I call. Turn was a brick-maybe it paired the 6 if I recall correctly. I bet again since he shouldn't really have raised anything containing a 6 on the flop unless he had 33xx or QQxx. He flats me and now I am pretty sure I am good. River is Td. I check call to see K hi flush. So that crippled me and a few hands later the same old donkey busted me.

This morning I got up and played the $350 NLHE. Second level I limp behind a few other limpers with 55. Flop J85. Guy bets 600 into about 750 (think it was 75/150). I raise to 1750 and only he calls. Turn was a brick-maybe a 3- and I bet 3k into the 4200ish pot. He flat calls with only 2200 behind. Now I am pretty sure he has 9T. River, of course, is a 7 putting the str8 out. he puts it in and I make a crying call to see 9T. Down to 12 BB and out about 20 mins later.

Next up was the $500 survivor where 1 in 10 wins $5k. Down to around 32 and I only have 10BB left. 14 get the cash so I need to win some pots. UTG has like 120k and is opening 2/3 of the pots-anyway he opens to 4500 at 800/1600/200a. Woman to my right flats. I peel AQ of hearts and ship roughly 17k. Guy on my left asks for a count and smooth calls. Fuck! Everybody folds and, of course he has AK. Flop comes Q high giving me life but, alas, the river sticks it up my keister-K. Obviously not a bad beat but I patiently wait for a good spot in this format. Find AQ and the old nit behind me wakes up with AK=runbad.

Give it one more try tomorrow in the Deep Stack tournament-25k in chips with slow moving blinds. Thankfully the Omaha cash games are really good and I have destroyed them for over $2k.

Botgata Event #2

Never really had many chips today. Pretty much hovered between 15 and 30 BB for most of the tournament. Finally with ~64 left and 54 cashing I shoved over a chronic late position raiser with KQdd and about 16BB. Button reshoved on me and original raiser called.

Me KQdd
Original QQ
BTN AK

So busted a table or so before the money. Thankfully the 10/20 Omaha Hi-Lo game is insanely good and won about $1,200 in that game in about 6 hours.

Will play Event 5 tomorrow which is a $450 Omaha HL-Limit

Upcoming Borgata, Multi Table Sit and Goes and Epic Fail

Borgata Winter Open starts on Wednesday and I am headed up Thursday morning thru Sunday or maybe Monday. Unfortunately, I will not be able to defend my chop "win" from a year ago since I have a family obligation Wednesday evening. Instead I will head up Thursday with the intention of playing the following events:

• Event #2 $350 NLHE
• Event #5 $450 Omaha Hi-Lo
• Event #7 (or maybe #6) $400 NLHE
• Event #8 $450 Deep Stacked NLHE

This series is the best of the four that Borgata runs annually as it generates huge fields of baddish players, has great structures and is my last hurrah before the onslaught of tax season. Something new this series is I have set up a twitter account to update my progress. My mass text list had grown to nearly 50 people and I usually sent out 3 or 4 texts per day. With 10-15 response texts that added up to 300-400 texts on some days. So I am trying this out. I don't know crap about twitter but people have been asking me to do it so we'll give it a whirl. I have set up a link on this site and you can find me on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/bwoodspoker.

Online poker has been pretty good this month. I have made 2 discoveries since the beginning of the year: No-limit Omaha Hi-Lo and Multi Table Sit and Goes (MTSNG). I have never played many MTSNG but for the last 2 weeks I have been giving them a try at low stakes. I have been playing the $16 18 mans and the $6.50 and $12 45 mans. Wow is the play bad. Unlike cash games and even tournaments SNG can be mass tables relatively easily since most of the decisions are push or fold after about the first 2 levels or so. This means I can pretty comfortably 25 table and play a lot of SNG in a short amount of time. In any event here are the results of this through the first 2+ weeks of 2011:

I also have started to play more NL Omaha Hi-Lo. I haven't played much of it in the past since I wasn't really sure how to make the adjustment from PL to NL. Well turns out the play in NL is WAYYYYYYY worse than in PL. The games are infiltrated by short stackers who are just dreadful. You really don't even have to play that well if you are patient and you can get your money in very well. Here are a few hands to illustrate.

This first one is funny as I raise to $20 pre and get flat called...lol. Then he check folds the flop. I'm probably losing value actually by not shoving pre flop here.

Poker Stars $100.00 No Limit Omaha Hi/Lo - 7 players - View hand 1125102
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

UTG+1: $18.80
MP: $20.00
CO: $50.55
Hero (BTN): $102.70
SB: $27.50
BB: $134.10
UTG: $20.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with 2 A 6 A
3 folds, CO raises to $2, Hero raises to $20, 2 folds, CO calls $18

Flop: ($41.50) Q T 3 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $31.00, CO folds

Final Pot: $41.50
Hero wins $39.45
(Rake: $2.05)

And a big blind special here. Guy simply refuses to believe that I could have a T.

Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Omaha Hi/Lo - 9 players - View hand 1125108
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

UTG+1: $15.25
UTG+2: $14.90
MP1: $10.25
MP2: $23.50
CO: $25.75
BTN: $95.15
SB: $53.40
Hero (BB): $101.35
UTG: $41.65

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with 4 T Q K
7 folds, SB calls $0.25, Hero checks

Flop: ($1.00) T Q T (2 players)
SB bets $0.50, Hero raises to $2, SB raises to $3.50, Hero raises to $87.50, SB calls $49.40 all in

Turn: ($106.80) A (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($106.80) 3 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $106.80
SB shows A 6 Q 7
Hero shows 4 T Q K
Hero wins $103.80
(Rake: $3.00)

However, bad players can get lucky. This call by the villain is a bit of a head scratcher.

Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Omaha Hi/Lo - 6 players - View hand 1125110
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

MP: $19.50
CO: $11.00
BTN: $22.55
SB: $6.30
BB: $20.00
Hero (UTG): $68.55

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG with A T A 8
Hero raises to $68.55, 2 folds, BTN calls $22.55 all in, 2 folds

Flop: ($45.85) 7 Q 5 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Turn: ($45.85) 9 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($45.85) 5 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $45.85
BTN shows 5 J 2 K
Hero shows A T A 8
BTN wins $43.60
(Rake: $2.25)

Finally a good hand from my Thursday night game. Royals don't come around a lot!

Sadly my opponent folded the river so it wasn't a huge pot.

Finally the Ravens had an epic choke job on Saturday against the hated Steelers. How do you botch a 21-7 half time lead? How do you let a receiver get behind you on 3rd and 19 in a tie game? How do receivers drop a TD pass and first down pass deep in the 4th quarter? Pretty pathetic. I actually think the Packers look the best in the playoffs and will be very difficult to beat IMO.