2BA
Thursday, May 6, 2010
BBT5 TOC Bubble boy redux
First off, congrats to LJ for the win, she dominated this tournament, probably took out half the field, and had a ridiculous monster stack going into the final table.
In fact, I had a hand in getting her off to a great start. Very early on, I get moved to her table, and she still sitting on the 3k starting stack. She opens from early for 3x, and I flat. The flop is pretty coordinated with 2 spades, KJ9. As expected she bet the flop, and I flatted, trying to keep the pot manageable, and of course, it's just too early to get crazy. The turn came an offsuit 8, and she potted the turn. At this point, I feel I'm ahead, and I'm putting her on AK or AQs, and called again. I could have taken a more aggressive route here, but LJ can be a bit crazy, and decided a call was better, and will have more info on the river, and of course, I don't want to see a spade. Unfortunately the river did put the 3rd spade on the board, and she insta shoved for her remaining 2k. I laid down a pretty good hand, and still had 2k of my starting stack, so I was ok releasing the hand.
As is usually the case, I was playing multiple tournaments, so I had it on CC in the Mookie. I must say with my current success on Stars, been hanging over there quite a bit, and have played some of the SCOOP events. I have a few cashes, including one in 5 card draw the other day! Was going to blog about it, but what the fuck do I know about 5 card draw??? LOL! Well, not entirely true. That was the game me and my beloved grandmother use to play when I was a kid. She loved to play poker, and she played it hard. We mostly played 5 card draw and then she taught me Stud, and some variant they play in South America called 'Sonso', which my uncles use to play all the time in the makeshift nightclub we had in the basement in our Flushing Meadow Queens home.
Anyway, back to the Mookie....when we got to the final table, I had busted out of my last tournament, so I was able to give it my full attention. Here were the stacks, with LJ as the monster chip leader:
Seat 9: pvanharibo (159,207)
Seat 1: twoblackaces (17,403)
Seat 2: cardgrrl (18,609)
Seat 3: Troublecat (19,473)
Seat 4: TOMLOY (11,220)
Seat 5: BrainMc (20,875)
Seat 6: Julkeus (7,524)
Seat 7: OtisDart (10,397)
Seat 8: riggstad (32,292)
I don't really have time to go through a full recap, but there were a few key hands when we were heads up that I'll highlight...in the category of what the poker giveth, they also taketh:
Full Tilt Poker Game #20617244657: The Mookie (157063636), Table 3 - 1200/2400 Ante 300 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:36:25 ET - 2010/05/06
Seat 1: twoblackaces (91,262)
Seat 9: pvanharibo (205,738)
twoblackaces antes 300
pvanharibo antes 300
twoblackaces posts the small blind of 1,200
pvanharibo posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to twoblackaces [9h 4h]
twoblackaces raises to 4,800
pvanharibo calls 2,400
*** FLOP *** [9c 2h Jc]
pvanharibo checks
twoblackaces bets 6,500
pvanharibo raises to 13,000
twoblackaces calls 6,500
*** TURN *** [9c 2h Jc] [4s]
pvanharibo has 15 seconds left to act
pvanharibo bets 16,800
twoblackaces has 15 seconds left to act
twoblackaces raises to 44,400
pvanharibo raises to 187,638, and is all in
twoblackaces calls 28,762, and is all in
pvanharibo shows [Js 9d]
twoblackaces shows [9h 4h]
Uncalled bet of 114,476 returned to pvanharibo
*** RIVER *** [9c 2h Jc 4s] [4d]
pvanharibo shows two pair, Jacks and Nines
twoblackaces shows a full house, Fours full of Nines
twoblackaces wins the pot (182,524) with a full house, Fours full of Nines
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 182,524 | Rake 0
Board: [9c 2h Jc 4s 4d]
Seat 1: twoblackaces (small blind) showed [9h 4h] and won (182,524) with a full house, Fours full of Nines
Seat 9: pvanharibo (big blind) showed [Js 9d] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Nines
That suckout gave me the lead, and in my reaction to the river, I accidentally ripped my mouse from my laptop, and had a momentary time out occur on my end, as I don't know how to work the keys, and the pad didn't respond right away. Nevertheless, I will take what the poker gods give, as they equally if not more, take just as much away....which segways into this hand:
Full Tilt Poker Game #20617398967: The Mookie (157063636), Table 3 - 2000/4000 Ante 500 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:47:42 ET - 2010/05/06
Seat 1: twoblackaces (189,024)
Seat 9: pvanharibo (107,976)
twoblackaces antes 500
pvanharibo antes 500
twoblackaces posts the small blind of 2,000
pvanharibo posts the big blind of 4,000
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to twoblackaces [5h As]
twoblackaces raises to 8,000
pvanharibo raises to 20,000
twoblackaces calls 12,000
*** FLOP *** [Tc 5s Ah]
pvanharibo bets 20,000
twoblackaces has 15 seconds left to act
twoblackaces raises to 52,000
Joanne1111 (Observer): lol
pvanharibo raises to 87,476, and is all in
twoblackaces calls 35,476
pvanharibo shows [Ac Qh]
twoblackaces shows [5h As]
pvanharibo: gg
*** TURN *** [Tc 5s Ah] [Th]
pvanharibo: figures
*** RIVER *** [Tc 5s Ah Th] [7h]
pvanharibo shows two pair, Aces and Tens
twoblackaces shows two pair, Aces and Tens
pvanharibo wins the pot (215,952) with two pair, Aces and Tens
Joanne1111 (Observer): Did you get all transfers Pinky?
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 215,952 | Rake 0
Board: [Tc 5s Ah Th 7h]
Seat 1: twoblackaces (small blind) showed [5h As] and lost with two pair, Aces and Tens
Seat 9: pvanharibo (big blind) showed [Ac Qh] and won (215,952) with two pair, Aces and Tens
LJ says gg when she see's I outflopped her, but it wans't meant to be.
I recall last BBT4 I came one card from winning a seat, and then got shut out. I recalled that instantly when this hand went down, and I'm pretty upset at myself for letting those negative thoughts enter. I still had 80k, and wasn't dead, but I was a bit deflated. I didn't catch any cards, and in the end I had to make a stand with 66:
Full Tilt Poker Game #20617437430: The Mookie (157063636), Table 3 - 2000/4000 Ante 500 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:50:32 ET - 2010/05/06
Seat 1: twoblackaces (50,048)
Seat 9: pvanharibo (246,952)
twoblackaces antes 500
pvanharibo antes 500
pvanharibo posts the small blind of 2,000
twoblackaces posts the big blind of 4,000
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to twoblackaces [6c 6s]
pvanharibo raises to 246,452, and is all in
twoblackaces calls 45,548, and is all in
pvanharibo shows [Td 8d]
twoblackaces shows [6c 6s]
Uncalled bet of 196,904 returned to pvanharibo
*** FLOP *** [Tc Qh Ac]
*** TURN *** [Tc Qh Ac] [Ah]
*** RIVER *** [Tc Qh Ac Ah] [2h]
pvanharibo shows two pair, Aces and Tens
twoblackaces shows two pair, Aces and Sixes
pvanharibo wins the pot (100,096) with two pair, Aces and Tens
pvanharibo: gg
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 100,096 | Rake 0
Board: [Tc Qh Ac Ah 2h]
Seat 1: twoblackaces (big blind) showed [6c 6s] and lost with two pair, Aces and Sixes
Seat 9: pvanharibo (small blind) showed [Td 8d] and won (100,096) with two pair, Aces and Tens
So again my congratulations to LJ, and wish her the best of luck in the TOC. Will I make it? who knows, but I'll try. I already know that Sunday is iffy, given that it's Mothers day and I have family plans with three very loving moms in my life! I will also be out of town next week on business, although barring any late meetings (will be on East coast), and obligatory cocktails, I should be able to make the Monday night game, but most certainly won't be around for next week's Mookie.
At any rate, I think were halfway through the BBT5, so good luck to all on the virtual felt!
2BA
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Getting out-setted
Just a quick note on last night's BBT5 poker from the rail tournament. And by quick, I mean my rather quick exit. It reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where it was deemed that Jerry was 'even stevens', and I got a little pay back from the poker gods in that vein, although just in reference to the past two BBT events.
In Sunday's invitational, where I came in 3rd on the bubble for the TOC seat, I got a real good headstart when on either the 1st or 2nd hand of the tournament, I flopped a set of 9's, and unfortunately for Joanne, she had flopped a set of 4's, and I was off an running.
Last night, within the first 15 min, I called a standard raise from the button with 44. My opponent made a standard continuation bet on an ace high flop, and I called. Unfortunately for me, my plan for the hand changed with I turned a set. All the $ went in on the river, and he had flopped a set of aces. C'est la vie!
I made another nice deep run in the Pokerstars 40K last night as well, busted 15th for a nice little cash.
I've made some more adjustments in my late game play. Funny that you can read a ton about all parts of the game, but in the end, everyone still tells you that you gain the most from your own experience. Well, unless you get to the end of the tournament alot, you don't get that experience! So, I think now that I have plenty of deep runs over the years, I'm starting to get into a groove for that late game drive.
Sometimes you will bust, but if you keep applying what you've learn, good things will happen.
As always, good luck to all on the virtual felt!
2BA
Monday, May 3, 2010
Going deep
Yesterday, I played a bunch of tournaments as I mentioned in my last post. I did both the FTOPS events including the Main Event. Sadly, I didn't do much in either of those, but I did get pretty far into the Freeroll Main event race. However, only the top 3 got seats, so going deep there don't mean much.
I also went very deep in the BBT5 Invitational, in fact was the TOC seat bubble boy:
Not to make any excuses, but I was a bit pre-occupied with the Pokerstars Sunday 500. It's a whopping $500 buy in tournament, and given my recent score, I decided to treat myself to both this tournament, and the SCOOP #1 (2nd and 3rd tier). I took a brutal 1 outer beat for about 40k in the SCOOP $215 when AQ outran my AA. I cashed in the $22 which got a billion players, so I think it was only for about 50 bucks or so.
But in the 500, at one point, I was top 4 with about 100 runners to go, and had my eye set on making a good run at the top prize which was a whopping 97K. Sadly, I busted in 27th for a little over $2200:
My bustout hand was a major mistake on my part, perhaps a little due to being tired, but nevertheless, a mistake. The hand in question was JJ. (Ironically, I layed JJ down in the BBT5 in a 4 bet pot at the final table, which I'm now also questioning.)
Sorry, but today, JJ was not ok.
In the bustout hand, I made it 2.5x from middle position, and the guy to my left reraised small. Of course that should be red flag #1. The flop was 355, and I checked. He made less than a half pot continuation bet, and I tanked. This guy had been rather loose, and I think I put too much weight on that fact. Other than that, and short of any other info on the player, he had played it like he had AA. Having put 30% of my stack in the pot, I did one of the things I'm trying not to do, and ignored my sticky that folding is only a small mistake. I had about 20 bets behind, so I wasn't in dire straights.....nevertheless I shoved, and he insta called with AA, and out in 27th I went.
In the BBT5 (from memory) TexansBaby raised from the button. I had just finished reraising her, and thought this time I'd trap with JJ. Unfortunately, NewinNov shoved his stack (45kish) and then Texansbaby shoved huge, she had me covered, obviously wanting to isolate and play the pot headsup. I really thought I was ahead, but with the TOC seats on the line, I figured between the 2 of them, they had overcards. At the same time, I got involved in another big pot on the Sunday 500, so I had to tank the BBT5 hand. In the end, I mucked the JJ, and TB had Ace rag, and I forget what New had, but TB binked an ace on the river and took a huge pot, and eliminated New.
Oh well, disappointed yes, but overall I had a very successful weekend, so I'm not going to complain.
Congrats to both to TB and Rambler for winning their TOC seats.
Tonight is the next BBT5 tournament on Fulltilt. Click the BBT5 badge on the right for details.
2BA
Saturday, May 1, 2010
70K victory recap
Even though the tournament ended around 4am CST, I was too pumped up and it took another hour before I actually was able to fall asleep. Of course, I was up again around 8am, so needless to say, I felt it the rest of the day. Nevertheless, a score like this makes it all very worthwhile.
Whenever I play any tournament, my mindset is on hitting certain goals, with the ultimate goal being to win the tournament. One of the things that has helped me considerably is having 'a plan'. This plan is pretty much the same for all tournaments, but I try to stick to it as much as I possibly can. I find that by doing this, I'm not caught up in what others in the tournament are doing, and helps me navigate, as you would in any other goal oriented task. For example, if your going to climb Mt Everest, you don't start by thinking about the final climb to the top of the mountain. Now I'm no mountain climber, but I'm sure that the 'plan' is all about hitting smaller milestones, and each of those is a victory in it of itself. Once you start to get to the rarified air, then that's when it gets exciting, because the final milestone is within your sites. For me, that's making the final table.
As poker players, that is our rarified air. And it sure smells sweet.
This tournament had some setbacks along the way. This is why the plan is important. Going back to the mountain climb, there are times I'm sure that events that are out of your control, force you to take steps back. Maybe it's weather, or impassable terrain, but the bottom line is you need to retreat before you can move forward again. In poker, this comes in the forms of suckouts/badbeats. If there is one area of my game where I think I am doing better, is certainly around handling these when they come up. This is not to say I don't tilt, I just tilt less I suppose. But one of things in my plan, is that when I do suffer a setback, I don't throw my tournament away. I use to do that all the time. If you have read some of my sad sack entries in the past, you will see that very clearly. The old chip and a chair was just a story of some lucky dude who gets super lucky to come back, and it's like hitting the lotto. The reality is that unless your down to a literal chip, you usually have some time to at least get your money in selectively, rather than just dumping all in on the next hand
In this tournament, this was my first setback:
This kind of beat use to set me off in the worst way. 93% fav on the flop when the money goes in, only to see the runners hit the board. Thats about as brutal and demoralizing as it gets, and in the past, would have been the reason for me to throw the rest of the tournament in the toilet.
Next setback occurs a little later on, when I make a move on a late position raiser who was playing timid, but he actually had me dominated:
As you can see, the result was I only had 24K left, basically 4 bets plus. I was on the button the next hand, so I again, instead of just throwing my last few chips in the toilet, I knew I had a few more 'looks' before I had to go allin. That came a few hands later:
So that gave me a little breathing room, and shortly thereafter, I went on a mini rush, were I was able to basically steal the blinds and ante's a few times in a row. My next big hand was with QQ, and I got max value:
This hand gave me another bump up, was happy to keep the pot manageable:
From this point, it was mostly lots of steals, and picking spots all the way to the final table, which looked like this at the start:
Seat 1: Mntnman (514227 in chips)
Seat 2: aranator (180373 in chips)
Seat 3: simply2cool (298368 in chips)
Seat 4: LunaPiena (282734 in chips)
Seat 5: sspAAdess (850828 in chips)
Seat 6: froso65 (433806 in chips)
Seat 7: bigbrains (242775 in chips)
Seat 8: Hickboy (1416775 in chips)
Seat 9: Pocket Quads (382114 in chips)
So 7th out of 9 was my starting position at the final table, with the binds at 6k/12k, and I had about 23 bets. Not great, but not desperate either.
It didn't take long to lose the first player, I think this was like the 3rd hand at the FT:
I picked up a nice pot here with cowboys:
We lose the next player on this bad beat:
I pick up another nice pot here against BigBrains, although I must say, I have no idea why I didn't shove the river?
Brutal beat here to take us down to 6:
BigBrains pp can't win the race and were to 5:
Then a big hand where I finally get AA, and I get paid off nicely:
Boom! moved me up to 2nd in chips, and now in really good shape to take this down!
A few hands later this hand leads to frodo's exit and we are down to 4:
A few hands later hickboy eliminates spades and takes a huge chip advantage:
From this point, Hickboy and I tangle in many pots, with the lead exchanging several times. All the while, mntnman, was pretty much staying out of our way, taking the occasional blinds to keep up.
This hand was the pivotal hand, as it gave me the lead, and pretty much command of the tournament...freaking awesome time to get the bullets!
Obviously this was huge. From this point on, all I had to do was lean on these 2 guys, and here are the final 2 KO hands for the tournament:
and Presto wins it for me here:
Certainly a very satisfying win to say the least, and I'm hoping to keep going with even bigger scores in the future!
Who knows...maybe today I can cash in on some of the big tournys today....FTOPS & SCOOP filled day! Also will be in the BBT5 Invitational & a main event freeroll race sponsored by good old Fulltiltpoker.com.
Good luck all!
2BA
Ship the 70K!!!
Can you say BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How sweet it is the fruits of victory!!!!! Recap to follow!
2BA
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