FTOPS X, Finally a result...($1800)

So after the first 2 events kind of flamed out, Sunday was my next day at FTOPS.

So, we get down to action in a $256 buyin 6-Max KO tourney...

Grind for a little bit, not really getting much and then the entire tourney flames out in one big hand :

Blinds are at 100/200, UTG goes to 600, UTG+1 flats, and another player flats, I have 3400 total, and As/Ks in the SB, so naturally I shove bomb it. BB clears the way and UTG re-shoves over and UTG+1 SNAP calls.

UTG rolls over QQ
UTG+1 rolls over AA

Well, way to put your money in behind Kevin...good lord. Needless to say victory was not mine.

Then we got to the nightcap. a $322 buyin, 1.5 mill guarantee, and hey look, finally I get a result.

I'm WAY too tired right now to type out hands of interest here, maybe if I get popular request on J7 or something I'll update some, but in any event, the tournament had 5300 players, and I wound up finishing 96th I beleive.

It was a very frustrating experience to a point in that for the last hour and a half or so, I ran so unbeleivably card dead it would scare anyone, and wasn't really presented alot of ideal steal spots(alot of situations I had where I SHOULD be stealing, I'd be facing a short stack that would commit me to calling a shove so I couldn't steal, or at least I felt like I couldn't in that circumstance).

Overall, again, I feel like I'm playing amazing poker right now, I'm so unbeleivably confident in my play, I think there is probably only one hand I'd like to have back, and it was mid-late stage of the tournament where a big stack raised it up and I had AA in the SB. I considered flatting and checking, but decided to repop, and I kind of regretted it after, he was pretty agressive in hands he was playing post flop, so I think flatting is probably a more ideal play. Although we did have history from a hand where I completely mis-calculated the size of a re-raise and made it WAY too small, about 2.5x his bet, not even, and he said something like "all these min-raises", and I made a sarcastic comment to him because about 5 hands earlier he had literally minraised someone on a flop. So I decided instead of flatting him I'd basically re-raise him slightly over min. But he folded after a brief tank.

Outside of that, as I said, goddamn would I have loved to have had some late tourney hands to discuss but I had none. I had NOTHING. In over an hour and a half of poker late in the tourney, with tens and hundreds of thousands staring me in the face, in that hour and a half, the best had I saw was Ac/3c. I raised that one up, got a caller from the BB and the flop was 2d/4d/Kd and he shoved...

Eventually, I found myself right around 10 BB(slightly over 10 BB but they had just notified blinds were going up next hand and that jump would put me at 10 BB pretty much dead on), folded around to me on the button, so I was shoving ATC. I had Kh/4h. Shoved, and got called by AK in the blinds. Nothing happened, obviously.

Wound up with a decent cash, ~$1800...but it burns to not get more.

Oh well, as I said, could not feel better about my play this FTOPS. I feel amazing. Not sure what events are on the horizon for me. I might be taking basically the week off until Saturday's Headsup Tourney.

FTOPS X, so far so...

Well, I'm not sure.

As is typical it seems for me in MTT's, hence my remarkably low(-alot %) ROI in MTT's despite being a drastically winning cash game player online and live...and I think a fairly knowledgable smart player...my results are just keyed on the same situation. Over and over it repeatedly beats me in the head.

Last night was FTOPS Event #1. 5200-someodd players I beleive, and as we progressed I had a relatively tight table, which meant my hands I was getting(AA and KK both twice in the first few hours) weren't getting me any action whatsoever. I was however, again fortunate enough to be at the tight table so although my big hands weren't getting payed so I didn't get a chance to accumulate a great stack, I was able to hold myself above the average stack...and then ultimately we got to my big showdown hand. The first time I was playing a huge pot...and naturally, the result is obvious...

Blinds are 25/200/400, folds around to the SB(me), and I raise to 1400 with AKo. He calls out of the BB. We're both about 12k deep to start this hand.

Flop is K/7/8 rainbow. I decide to take a trappy route and make a smallish bet at the pot that looks like I'm weak and hoping to enduce a raise. I bet out 1400 again into a 3k pot. He obliges me perfectly and raises it up to 3800. I shove over, and he calls and shows 9/10 off.

Turn 6. There's his open ended straight draw and he wins...but, just to rub salt in my wound...

River Jack.

And yet again, I'm bust out of a tournament in my usual, very standard style. But that's fine, today was PLO!

So, the PLO event starts up and I run into some real bad luck right off the hop, TheFatFISH is to my left, and he's a super strong, agressive, incredibly profitable MTT player on Full Tilt Poker, who won an FTOPS event last FTOPS series in August. That said, again I manage to chip up here and there with no real showdown value hands. I have a couple big pots that go both ways, but eventually I'm doubled up to around 10k after a few hours, which is around the average stack give or take...

Blinds are 150/300 I beleive, and in MP I pick up Jd/Jh/Ac/Qc, and raise it up hard. Get one caller. Flop is(sorry I don't have the hand history infront of me so I can't remember the EXACT flop, I just remember it was 7 high with 2 spades), I lead out comitting myself, he overshoves, I snap call, he has, again I don't have the exact hand infront of me, I just remember it was a fairly raggy hand to be calling, and Q high spade draw, and he turns the spades but of course.

So there's my FTOPS so far. Funny thing is I feel like I'm playing really well right now, and feel like if I can just ONE MOTHER FUCKING TIME not run so bad in key spots like that in MTT's for big money, I'll run real deep in one of these things.

Next up is a double-header on Sunday, 2 real nice structured tournies, so that's my next time to play.

Side note of fun : I happen to make what I felt like was a fairly tight pre-flop fold real early in the tourney, I fold Q/J/J/2 double suited UTG+1, so I MSN Marc just to see if he thinks that's too tight.

We have a breif conversation about it and that's it. Right before break I play a big pot where I flop a wrap-straight draw and win a substantial pot with it when I river the nuts. I just happen to msg Marc about it, on accident because I opened his MSN window instead of another friend of mine's that's playing the tourney...and Marc responds with "I joined the tourney after you mentioned it on a late registration".

So I ask him what his name is on Full Tilt and he tells me, so I check. And of course, his late registration has turned his 5k stack into over 20k already and is top 10 in chips in the tournament.

Am I surprised? Of course not, it's Marc fucking Karam. It's as standard as me running bad...which is troublingly standard.

Oh well, at least as I said, I feel confident and it's gotta come at some point. I'm putting myself in good positions.