Since a lot of friends of mine read this blog that maybe don't keep as up to date on this stuff or play online a lot have asked me about this situation, I'll do my best to recap the events over the last few months near as I understand them.
So it started on "Black Friday", when the Department of Justice in the United States seized FTP, Pokerstars, UB/Absolute's accounts and charged many of the people in charge with various acts of fraud for going through third party channels to get American players' money online during this time after they had outlawed online gaming.
All sites were re-instated right away, with the ability to play for anyone who wasn't American. During this time, naturally, an absolute shit-load of players started withdrawing money from these sites(which obviously further hurt an already hurt business) because of fear, or in the case of any American player, because they have no reason to have the money on the sites.
Two weeks after the Department of Justice crackdown, Pokerstars announced they had reached an agreement to start paying players back, and since then has publicly stated they have paid back $120,000,000 of player funds to players from the USA.
Full Tilt Poker has paid back $0.
The reason for this is largely in the way the two companies kept their books. Pokerstars had segregated accounts for player funds, so when the DOJ came along and seized everything it was easy for Pokerstars to point to their books and tell them they needed the player's money back so they could pay them, and thus the situation came to a speedy resolution.
Full Tilt's big mistake through all of this, was not doing that. They had it all in one large pool, which the DOJ seized and has not as of yet(as far as I know), given it back to them. So FTP was stuck with having most of their assets seized, and a gigantic number of withdrawl requests piling in, and were stuck in no man's land. No amount of rake makes up for those two things happening simultaneously. When your player pool takes an enormous hit, the DOJ seizes a huge % of your money, AND there's a mass exodus from your site, there's no amount of rake that can save you.
So Full Tilt did the right thing, they started trying to find a loan from someone to pay out players for a share of the company.
Then Phil Ivey came along. To be clear, I've never met, nor played poker with Ivey. I think he's one of the few red pros I've managed to avoid online for my life in bigger tournies, so I don't know him, but I do know that I had a ton of respect for him, and lost a ton of it with his self-serving antics about boycotting the WSOP and trying to sue FTP. He made a goddamn fortune off the site, that much I do know, and unlike Tom Dwan or other pros who actually handled all this pretty well by pledging all the money he's ever made from FTP back to the players, he never pledged a cent. His $150 million lawsuit and public damning of the site also did them absolutely no favours in their search for a loan.
So FTP existed in limbo. During this time for us outside of the USA, it was business as usual on the site. We could desposit/withdraw, it was a bit slower, but no big deal.
Which brings us to yesterday. The Alderney Gaming Commission which controlled FTP's gaming license pulled the plug, largely because of their breach of gaming regulations because they haven't paid anyone back in so long now. As of now FTP is down. Has been for a day. None of us can get at our money.
There are rumours swirling about what comes next, Jack Binion is sniffing around buying FTP, and there are now reports that the Kahnawake Gaming Comission out of Montreal will license FTP and allow them to resume real money play for anyone outside of the USA, and allow withdrawls/deposits.
Despite the shock of Black Friday, and all the subsequent PR problems FTP went through, yesterday was the first day I ever got concerned about my money on that site.
During all this Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and the other pros with controlling interests of FTP have been completely MIA, which has certainly made them look like scum. To completely vanish, say nothing, and not do anything to comfort American players for months now, and now all of us, really is dispicable.
To any red pros who have actually been present and accounted for, I'd like to thank them. I don't think anyone's handled this whole situation better than Tom "durrr" Dwan, who has pledged to give back every dollar FTP ever gave him to help see players get their money back, and offered to buy FTP money from people for 90 cents on the dollar.
There are others, Marc Karam has been as open as can be about it on his forum(jackseven), I know people that have seen Erik Lindgren and a few others around the WSOP and they've been as open as they can be.
The big ones though, no where to be seen. Phil Ivey? Certainly did no favours to the site.
So, where does that leave me? Well, I have ~$8,000 sitting on the site right now that I have no access at all to. That certainly hurts. I have friends who had more than that on there too. As of now Full Tilt Poker is down, there is no way to get on to the site.
I'd put the chances of me seeing that money again at 30:70(which is very optimistic after this Kahnakawe report, if you'd have asked me yesterday I'd have said 5% maybe...).
It also hurts because as much as I've become disillusioned with the way they've handled all this, FTP still has by far the best software and tournament schedule of any site. MET's will be missed. Hopefully someone like Jack Binion does see a value in acquiring that software which is still the best in the business, and work on clearing up the image around it, because it's still a fantastic business model somewhere deep down there.
Hopefully that's moderately illuminating...rough day yesterday to say the least.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Venetian Deepstack $550 write-up...
So after the WSOP soul crush...I played a Golden Nugget tournament on Monday. $230 buyin, and completely punted the stack. Built up a bit for the first few hours, then 3-bet a guy from the button with 53hh, flop was 4/6/7ccc, and he just straight jammed, so I called and he showed QJcc for a made flush. Whatever.
Tuesday brought day one of the Venetian $550. Started with 15,000 chips, and things went well for me almost instantly. 3rd or 4th hand of the day, I raised to 250 from MP with 33, this girl 3-bet me to 600, there were 2 overcalls of the 600 cold, then it came back to me, so I flatted along. Flop was 3/4/5. I checked, lady bet 1200, fold fold, I raised to 2550, and she jammed. I call obviously and she shows KK. So now I'm at 30k. From there I have a painless time chipping up until first break where I'm at 50k.
After first break things turn sour relatively quickly, I lose two fairly big races. First one I open with KQss, and this guy jams 14 BB. I call, and he shows 64dd and flops a 6. Next one, I open 99, guy jams 20 BB, I call and he has AJ. Runout Q/10/4/9/8. Back down to 24k. Next big hand I play guy limps UTG, I raise with AQ from MP, he flats. Flop K/10/x, he check calls flop, turn 8, he check calls turn, river is a brick and I shut down, he has 22. Back down to under 20k now.
From there I do some chipping back up, and I'm able to bring it back to 25.5k for 2nd break.
After that break I play a huge pot, AIPF KK vs AK, and KK holds, so I'm back up to 60k in time for dinner break.
After dinner break we come back and then the huge pot of the day happens.
Blinds 800/1600, UTG raises to 4k, player jams for 34k total from MP, button flats the 34k, I'm in the BB with QQ, I rejam 66k, UTG folds, button calls again. My QQ vs short stack's 88 vs button's 10/10. Board bricks and I have 160k, average is 64k.
Credit to Venetian by the way, their customer service is outstanding. Around this time my phone was nearly dead, which I use religiously at the table, and they offered to take my phone to their back office and charge it for me. Very cool.
After that I chip up a bit more, and I end day one with 262,000 chips.
Day 2 gets underway, blinds 4k/8k to start, and on the third hand this fairly solid girl raises button to 22k, I 3-bet from the BB with KK to 47k, she flats. Flop is A/Q/4, I c-bet 52k and she folds.
Next big hand, I raise from MP with A7cc, this guy flats the button, everyone folds out. Flop is Q/10/7. I check the flop because I'm not a huge fan of it vs his calling range, but I still do have some showdown value obviously. He checks back. Turn is a 3. I check again, he bets, I flat. River is a 2, I check again fully intending to check call because I know he's not good enough to be going for thin value here with a 10 or with some type of pocket pair, and I think he's unlikely to have checked a Q on the flop in this spot. He bets again and I call and he insta-mucks. Up to 390k.
Chipped up to 430k, then a guy jams 20 blinds in, I call with 77, he shows A10 and wins the race. Back down to 270k. Chipped up a little bit again, then lost yet another race, 33 open jams the button and I flat with AQ, board bricks and I'm down to 190k. Eventually get to break with 22 players left, blinds going to 8k/16k and I have 162k. Not good.
After break, it folds to me in the CO, I jam the 162k in with Ac7c, and the BB(Kevin O'Leary) wakes up with AK. Flop is 10/7/3 and the 7 holds. Suddenly I'm back in it a bit with 390k.
Few hands later, O'Leary raises from the hijack to 53k, I 3-bet button to 122k with 10's, BB overjams for 300k, O'Leary mucks(says he folded JJ), and I call with the 10's, racing against AK. Board bricks the AK, and suddenly I have 860k.
Get to final table, have a couple quick bustouts, played for a while, and then this hand happens. I'm going to go into detail here because this hand is really weird, and I'm still not sure what I should do. Talked to everyone on the trip and everyone is OK with my play, but we're not sure if there's something else that works better.
So, 6 handed, pay jump from 6th to 5th is only $3000(old guy's about to bust he has like 4 BB). There are 3 stacks over 2 million, O'Leary has like 1.2million, I have 830k, old guy is basically dead.
It folds around to me in the SB, I look down at K/10o. The BB is chip leader with ~3 million, and has shown a real willingness to flat super light(like, super light to the point where he's actually a terrible player) and fuck with people. So my options here are open fold which is gross in every way imaginable. Raise/fold which might be the play because he's flatting alot but he's not super liberal with 3-bets. The problem with raise/folding is I don't think I'm getting 3 bet light, but I know I'm getting flatted light, and then suddenly I'm playing an inflated pot OOP with a 20 BB stack holding K10o against the biggest stack at the table, which is basically a nightmare. Normally ICM would be a factor here, but it's kind of not because I don't give a shit about the $3000 payjump, I don't want to fall too far behind the rest of the table and not give myself any chance to win.
Shoving K10 is the route I go with. It seems like it can never be a terrible play, and it's probably the least terrible option for this particular hand, but I don't know. In any event, BB calls because he woke up with AK and the board bricks, so I bust in 6th for $12,000.
I considered pushing my flight back to stay another day and play the $1k Venetian today, but frankly I'm too tired, I haven't taken a day off yet, so today I'd like to just take a day to myself before my flight back home.
Big thanks to Shyam, Griff, Saunders, St.Jean, Cairns and everyone for coming by to rail the FT. It was fun.
After that, we headed to The Palm at Caesars. Grabbed this back, executive room for 9 of us that they closed off, and proceeded to eat basically the best meal of all time. Lightly seared Ahi Tuna, king crab and 3 different salads for apps(the bacon/shrimp salad was beyond incredible), main course was NY Steak, Crab Legs and Lobster with Mashed potatoes, fries, broccoli, hash browns, beans. Dessert was Key Lime Pie, carrot cake and strawberry cheese cake. Top it off with 3 bottles of wine...and it was time for a monster CCR sweat. Because we figured it was going to be >$1500 for the tab, we decided to allow 2 losers for the 9 of us. I fade CCR so the meal is free. It's good to go perfect on it for a trip. Griff and St.Jean are stuck splitting it. The bill is actually way less than we figured though. It's $998(without tip, actual quote when we ask the waiter why they don't put the tip on for parties this size..."You guys came in here ballin', I figure I'm safe"). We tipped $300.
So now I'm just relaxing in my room. Gonna go out for a bit in a little bit, flight leaves here at 11:30pm, so got some time to kill today. Then it's back to the online poker world.
Tuesday brought day one of the Venetian $550. Started with 15,000 chips, and things went well for me almost instantly. 3rd or 4th hand of the day, I raised to 250 from MP with 33, this girl 3-bet me to 600, there were 2 overcalls of the 600 cold, then it came back to me, so I flatted along. Flop was 3/4/5. I checked, lady bet 1200, fold fold, I raised to 2550, and she jammed. I call obviously and she shows KK. So now I'm at 30k. From there I have a painless time chipping up until first break where I'm at 50k.
After first break things turn sour relatively quickly, I lose two fairly big races. First one I open with KQss, and this guy jams 14 BB. I call, and he shows 64dd and flops a 6. Next one, I open 99, guy jams 20 BB, I call and he has AJ. Runout Q/10/4/9/8. Back down to 24k. Next big hand I play guy limps UTG, I raise with AQ from MP, he flats. Flop K/10/x, he check calls flop, turn 8, he check calls turn, river is a brick and I shut down, he has 22. Back down to under 20k now.
From there I do some chipping back up, and I'm able to bring it back to 25.5k for 2nd break.
After that break I play a huge pot, AIPF KK vs AK, and KK holds, so I'm back up to 60k in time for dinner break.
After dinner break we come back and then the huge pot of the day happens.
Blinds 800/1600, UTG raises to 4k, player jams for 34k total from MP, button flats the 34k, I'm in the BB with QQ, I rejam 66k, UTG folds, button calls again. My QQ vs short stack's 88 vs button's 10/10. Board bricks and I have 160k, average is 64k.
Credit to Venetian by the way, their customer service is outstanding. Around this time my phone was nearly dead, which I use religiously at the table, and they offered to take my phone to their back office and charge it for me. Very cool.
After that I chip up a bit more, and I end day one with 262,000 chips.
Day 2 gets underway, blinds 4k/8k to start, and on the third hand this fairly solid girl raises button to 22k, I 3-bet from the BB with KK to 47k, she flats. Flop is A/Q/4, I c-bet 52k and she folds.
Next big hand, I raise from MP with A7cc, this guy flats the button, everyone folds out. Flop is Q/10/7. I check the flop because I'm not a huge fan of it vs his calling range, but I still do have some showdown value obviously. He checks back. Turn is a 3. I check again, he bets, I flat. River is a 2, I check again fully intending to check call because I know he's not good enough to be going for thin value here with a 10 or with some type of pocket pair, and I think he's unlikely to have checked a Q on the flop in this spot. He bets again and I call and he insta-mucks. Up to 390k.
Chipped up to 430k, then a guy jams 20 blinds in, I call with 77, he shows A10 and wins the race. Back down to 270k. Chipped up a little bit again, then lost yet another race, 33 open jams the button and I flat with AQ, board bricks and I'm down to 190k. Eventually get to break with 22 players left, blinds going to 8k/16k and I have 162k. Not good.
After break, it folds to me in the CO, I jam the 162k in with Ac7c, and the BB(Kevin O'Leary) wakes up with AK. Flop is 10/7/3 and the 7 holds. Suddenly I'm back in it a bit with 390k.
Few hands later, O'Leary raises from the hijack to 53k, I 3-bet button to 122k with 10's, BB overjams for 300k, O'Leary mucks(says he folded JJ), and I call with the 10's, racing against AK. Board bricks the AK, and suddenly I have 860k.
Get to final table, have a couple quick bustouts, played for a while, and then this hand happens. I'm going to go into detail here because this hand is really weird, and I'm still not sure what I should do. Talked to everyone on the trip and everyone is OK with my play, but we're not sure if there's something else that works better.
So, 6 handed, pay jump from 6th to 5th is only $3000(old guy's about to bust he has like 4 BB). There are 3 stacks over 2 million, O'Leary has like 1.2million, I have 830k, old guy is basically dead.
It folds around to me in the SB, I look down at K/10o. The BB is chip leader with ~3 million, and has shown a real willingness to flat super light(like, super light to the point where he's actually a terrible player) and fuck with people. So my options here are open fold which is gross in every way imaginable. Raise/fold which might be the play because he's flatting alot but he's not super liberal with 3-bets. The problem with raise/folding is I don't think I'm getting 3 bet light, but I know I'm getting flatted light, and then suddenly I'm playing an inflated pot OOP with a 20 BB stack holding K10o against the biggest stack at the table, which is basically a nightmare. Normally ICM would be a factor here, but it's kind of not because I don't give a shit about the $3000 payjump, I don't want to fall too far behind the rest of the table and not give myself any chance to win.
Shoving K10 is the route I go with. It seems like it can never be a terrible play, and it's probably the least terrible option for this particular hand, but I don't know. In any event, BB calls because he woke up with AK and the board bricks, so I bust in 6th for $12,000.
I considered pushing my flight back to stay another day and play the $1k Venetian today, but frankly I'm too tired, I haven't taken a day off yet, so today I'd like to just take a day to myself before my flight back home.
Big thanks to Shyam, Griff, Saunders, St.Jean, Cairns and everyone for coming by to rail the FT. It was fun.
After that, we headed to The Palm at Caesars. Grabbed this back, executive room for 9 of us that they closed off, and proceeded to eat basically the best meal of all time. Lightly seared Ahi Tuna, king crab and 3 different salads for apps(the bacon/shrimp salad was beyond incredible), main course was NY Steak, Crab Legs and Lobster with Mashed potatoes, fries, broccoli, hash browns, beans. Dessert was Key Lime Pie, carrot cake and strawberry cheese cake. Top it off with 3 bottles of wine...and it was time for a monster CCR sweat. Because we figured it was going to be >$1500 for the tab, we decided to allow 2 losers for the 9 of us. I fade CCR so the meal is free. It's good to go perfect on it for a trip. Griff and St.Jean are stuck splitting it. The bill is actually way less than we figured though. It's $998(without tip, actual quote when we ask the waiter why they don't put the tip on for parties this size..."You guys came in here ballin', I figure I'm safe"). We tipped $300.
So now I'm just relaxing in my room. Gonna go out for a bit in a little bit, flight leaves here at 11:30pm, so got some time to kill today. Then it's back to the online poker world.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Vegas Trip Days Whatever until now...
So here I sit, in my room after a decent night out, following one of the worst feelings of my life. Pure gut punch. But first, let's go full Quentin Tarantino mode and rewind back to where the last blog left off. Apologize for the potential length of this in advance.
The Venetian $340 on Thursday was a bit of a disaster. I got in late thanks to having to wait to get a Grazie card and the line was approximately 423146t21874612783 people long. Once in, we started a 4 handed table(the minimum they'd let the dealer play with). Right away I played a weird pot. 4 handed, I raise button(blinds 50/100, stack I think was 12k, maybe 15 I can't remember how they're structured), I raise to 300 on the button with Q/10o(black), and get a caller in the BB. Flop is Ac/6h/8h, he checks, I bet 475, he flats. Turn is a 2s. He checks, I decide to barrel through the turn because I feel like it's going to be hard for him to call 3 streets with a bare ace, and his pre and post flop lines rarely include big aces. He either has bare aces, mid pairs, or a flush draw, all of which is going to fold to repeated action. So I bet 775 on the turn and he flats again. River is a Ks. He checks a third time, and I bet, kind of working on the assumption that this might be a bard card to do this with because he can clearly have a King high flush draw and just get stubborn now that he made a pair. I bet 1450 and he called and showed KJhh. I'm not sure how much I like betting the river...against more competent players I like it, but live poker man, the players just don't ever fold.
After that hand I chipped up and down for a while, rocky day overall. I got to 20k when I raised button with 68o, got a caller, and flop was 5/7/9 and we got it in and he had 7/8. Then I lost half of it in a pot where a guy raised from MP, I 3-bet button with A6ss, flop was 8/3/2 rainbow, he check called a c-bet on the flop. Turn was an ace, he check called the turn, and the river was another 8. Luckily live players are awful, and he checked giving away any value(not sure if I call, probably not, but still didn't even give himself a chance, when am I ever betting the river unless I have an 8 as well or a boat?). He had 89 btw.
Bust hand was standard, got it in with ~30 BB with JJ vs AQ and he won the flip. Busted in time to go register for a $130 6-max at Caesers which seemed like a good tournament. Unfortunately it took almost no time for me to lose it. I drew a soft table, and just went full blown psycho mode, raising and 3-betting a maniacal amount of hands and steamrolling the table. Then this guy and I went to war blind on blind where I had a hand(99) in the SB, raised, he 3-bet, I 4-bet, he 5-bet jammed and I called. He showed 6/2o and the flop was 8/2/2. Truly psycho shit.
After that I met up with Shyam, Griff, St.Jean, David and the rest of the crew and we went to some Chinese food place that was pretty terrible. After that I went and spent some time with a few friends, then headed home for the night.
Friday, Caesers $340 buyin.
This tourney was structured beyond terrible. I really can't stress enough, Caesers seems like a decent tourney to play in, but don't do it. Go do anything else. Burn money and laugh about it. But don't play there ever. Why in Gods name do the antes take 27 years to kick in? Good god. 500/1000? That's really where you're starting antes? That's pathetic. Really pathetic. It gives good players who know how to accumulate by grabbing tons of small pots less of a chance, because we have a harder time building a stack before suddenly all hell breaks loose.
Anyway, Caesers went fairly bad for me for a bit, then I lost a big flip and was down to 2 BB. I worked that back into nearly 40 BB and then live poker bit me in the ass again. Guy raises the cut-off, he's fairly aggro and he's got chips. I 3-bet ready to get it in with him pre, but he just flats instead. My 3-bet sizing because I was from the BB was fairly big, him flatting was worst case scenario, even though I feel like I crush his range, I don't like playing this inflated pot OOP now. Flop is A/Q/7 and that certainly makes things better. I lead out small hoping to induce a raise, which he obliges me. Now the thing about his raise sizing that was weird(especially given his hand which I'll get to in a sec) is he over-raises, and basically commits himself. Which again, once you hear his hand, is beyond a terrible play. It's actually the worst play of all time. I obviously ship knowing he can't fold, he snaps it off and shows me AA. What the fuck are you doing on the flop dude? Busto.
So I skip over to the Venetian where Shyam is still in, with a stack in the $2100 event. Drop off a portable cell phone charger(if you've never seen one or don't have one, they're an absolute life saver for live poker, because I spend almost every minute I'm not directly in a hand, on my iPhone), then me, Griff and David go eat at Grand Lux in Venetian, which is a nice, Cheesecake Factory style restaraunt. We order way too many apps, and barely even touch the main courses. Side note here, I am first safe in CCR(Credit Card Roulette) when we play it(important because my run good in CCR so far on this trip is second to none).
After that, we head over to the Rio to register for the $1500 on Saturday, and then go rail Chris Moorman(MoormanI or Moorman1) at the final table of the $2500 6-max. Disgusting end to the event, he gets all the money in with KJ vs K9, flop Q/10/6, turn 8, river J. After that(by the way, crazy cool scene, he had like 300 drunk as hell English supporters singing and cheering like it was a soccer game), we just go chill for a bit then head home for the night.
Saturday, Day 1 $1500 WSOP.
Start out at my table and it's pretty weak. There's a Russian Team Pokerstars pro I don't recognize(younger guy), who I own in this pot with a bluff. Then lose a fair sized pot where I could have gone broke potentially, 10/10 in the BB, the SB limp calls. Flop is A/J/6, he check calls the flop, then it goes check check check turn and river, and he shows me AK? Oooookay then.
After about 30 minutes or so, a table breaks, and Griffin(Flush_Entity) Benger, my backer, draws onto my table. Not only does he show up, but Jordan(Jymaster11) Young, who started on Griff's table, also somehow draws onto my table too. Nice randomization WSOP. So now it's Griff in seat 1, Jordan in seat 2, me in seat 3. Nice. Over this time, I win a few nice pots(QQ > JJ and QQ > AK), and after about 3 hours that table breaks and I leave there with 14k, a nice stack. Right away at my new table, 14k becomes a real stack. New table is soft, Haralabos Voulgaris is at my table to my left, but he's not really getting involved much. So I run the table over a bit, then a player opens from MP, I 3-bet button with AA, BB cold 4-bets, I 5-bet jam, and he calls with JJ, I hold and have 28k at dinner break. A real solid stack. For dinner, we all go to Gaylord Indian restaraunt at the Rio, there's a whole group of us, and again...CCR I'm the 2nd one safe this time. Bill was >$500.
Back to action, I chip up with lots of smallish pots, and have around $40k, then play a weird pot I've talked to a few online pros that were in the tournament at that point, not to mention everyone I would normally discuss the hand with, and I think I misplayed it. Aggro asian kid raises the CO, and I 3-bet out of the BB with KJo. He flats. Flop is A/10/4. I c-bet and he flats again. Turn is gin, a Q. I checked, and upon reflection I don't like it. I really don't think in this spot, he's floating here with much air, so I'm giving up so much value from his hands here. He did bet, and I flatted the turn. River was a disaster, a K which destroyed all my action and I win a small one.
Eventually fairly late in the day, I've run the stack up to about 55k when disaster strikes. Blinds at 100/400/800, folds around to the hijack and he raises it to 2200. I 3-bet to 5700 with AK. He 4-bet jams for 28k, and I call. He has 10/10 and holds. After that I chip up a little touch and end day one with 30,500. Certainly not a disaster, we're under 100 players from money, I have 30 blinds to start day two, it's all good. But that pot was massive, I could have had 85k heading into day 2. After the long day, I'm dead, so I go home and crash.
Sunday, $1500 WSOP Day 2.
Wake up feeling good. Check pokernews and fight out I drew an amazing table where no one has over 42k so my 30.5k will have tons of play and moveability. I should be in great shape. Table also seems weak as hell, only name I regonize is Eric Cloutier. Get to the Rio and I'm feeling good. Get started, and the day is up and down to start. First hand I play is the third hand dealt. This kid who had just won a fair sized pot when he flatted a 3-bet OOP then check-raise shoved the flop of 9/6/4 and made someone fold, opens to 2400. I 3-bet from the cut-off with AK to 5800, and he flats. The flop is 8/7/5hh, and he straight leads 17k. I folded.
Next weird hand was against Eric Cloutier. I raise from MP with AQcc to 2200, and he flats on the button. Flop is A/Q/6. I lead 2800, he puts out 2800, but makes some big fuss about the 500 and how he thought it was a 5k chip and he meant to raise. I have no idea how to take this to be honest, because 5k chips aren't even in play yet, and there's no way he's that stupid. Turn is a brick(3), and I led 3300. Maybe I should check the turn, if he thinks I'm stupid enough to fall for that bullshit little ploy, maybe he puts money in after my check. Anyway, he folds the turn.
A few more smallish pots, then the money bubble bursts. Few hands after that, this fairly solid kid who got crippled with Cloutier 4-bet jammed 44 into his KK and made a straight, shoves for 7700 with blinds at 600/1200. I'm in the BB without a huge stack, still sitting around 30k, but I have A/4o, so I call. He has 8/6cc, and flops an eight and holds. That hurt. Few hands later win another pot off Cloutier where I raise pre, drill a flop and get 2 streets of value from him this time, so I'm back at around 37k when it all goes to shit.
Blinds still 200/600/1200, a tight player raises UTG to 2600. I flat the button with 88. After some discussion with Shyam and company, maybe it's a mistake to flat here, but it feels to nitty to fold that hand. 66 I agree I'm too short to set mine, but 88 feels like I can still take a flop and deal with it post flop in position, despite the fact that his range is pretty snug. Regardless, I flatted, and the flop was a masterpiece. 8/5/2 rainbow. He checks to me, so I bet a nice little inducing 2300, and he straight jams it in my face. I snap call, he shows AA. Turn is a 4(why?), river is an Ace. Fuck. My. Life. 75k pot was right there. A real legitimate stack, deep in that tourney was right there. And they ripped it away from me. Cashed for $2800. Didn't even stick around to collect the money(going to have to do that at some point).
After that I went home, did nothing for a while, then went out and grabbed dinner with Shyam, Griff and Saunders at Samba Steakhouse at Mirage. Once again, 2nd one out of CCR(I'm sure writing this post is terrible karma and I'm about to get fucked hard on the next CCR round, but so far so good). After that, we go do some shopping in Caesers, and then go home to crash.
Not really sure what tomorrow brings. There's nothing really that appeals to me. There's a $1600 at Venetian which is a bit too big I think, especially since there's no hold'em event at the WSOP tomorrow, which means that tourney is going to be shark infested to say the least. There's a $130 at Caesers which I can't bring myself to play because of a) seems like way too much work for a buyin that small, prize pool just can't be worth it, and b) I hate the structures, seriously, why the hell are antes kicking in so late?
I might go do Golden Nugget, they have a $230 or something going, and their tournaments were structured fairly well. Plus, because it's downtown literally 0 good players will be playing it. Literally. 0. So maybe that's where I go. We'll see when I wake up. Anyway, that's it for now. Sleep time.
The Venetian $340 on Thursday was a bit of a disaster. I got in late thanks to having to wait to get a Grazie card and the line was approximately 423146t21874612783 people long. Once in, we started a 4 handed table(the minimum they'd let the dealer play with). Right away I played a weird pot. 4 handed, I raise button(blinds 50/100, stack I think was 12k, maybe 15 I can't remember how they're structured), I raise to 300 on the button with Q/10o(black), and get a caller in the BB. Flop is Ac/6h/8h, he checks, I bet 475, he flats. Turn is a 2s. He checks, I decide to barrel through the turn because I feel like it's going to be hard for him to call 3 streets with a bare ace, and his pre and post flop lines rarely include big aces. He either has bare aces, mid pairs, or a flush draw, all of which is going to fold to repeated action. So I bet 775 on the turn and he flats again. River is a Ks. He checks a third time, and I bet, kind of working on the assumption that this might be a bard card to do this with because he can clearly have a King high flush draw and just get stubborn now that he made a pair. I bet 1450 and he called and showed KJhh. I'm not sure how much I like betting the river...against more competent players I like it, but live poker man, the players just don't ever fold.
After that hand I chipped up and down for a while, rocky day overall. I got to 20k when I raised button with 68o, got a caller, and flop was 5/7/9 and we got it in and he had 7/8. Then I lost half of it in a pot where a guy raised from MP, I 3-bet button with A6ss, flop was 8/3/2 rainbow, he check called a c-bet on the flop. Turn was an ace, he check called the turn, and the river was another 8. Luckily live players are awful, and he checked giving away any value(not sure if I call, probably not, but still didn't even give himself a chance, when am I ever betting the river unless I have an 8 as well or a boat?). He had 89 btw.
Bust hand was standard, got it in with ~30 BB with JJ vs AQ and he won the flip. Busted in time to go register for a $130 6-max at Caesers which seemed like a good tournament. Unfortunately it took almost no time for me to lose it. I drew a soft table, and just went full blown psycho mode, raising and 3-betting a maniacal amount of hands and steamrolling the table. Then this guy and I went to war blind on blind where I had a hand(99) in the SB, raised, he 3-bet, I 4-bet, he 5-bet jammed and I called. He showed 6/2o and the flop was 8/2/2. Truly psycho shit.
After that I met up with Shyam, Griff, St.Jean, David and the rest of the crew and we went to some Chinese food place that was pretty terrible. After that I went and spent some time with a few friends, then headed home for the night.
Friday, Caesers $340 buyin.
This tourney was structured beyond terrible. I really can't stress enough, Caesers seems like a decent tourney to play in, but don't do it. Go do anything else. Burn money and laugh about it. But don't play there ever. Why in Gods name do the antes take 27 years to kick in? Good god. 500/1000? That's really where you're starting antes? That's pathetic. Really pathetic. It gives good players who know how to accumulate by grabbing tons of small pots less of a chance, because we have a harder time building a stack before suddenly all hell breaks loose.
Anyway, Caesers went fairly bad for me for a bit, then I lost a big flip and was down to 2 BB. I worked that back into nearly 40 BB and then live poker bit me in the ass again. Guy raises the cut-off, he's fairly aggro and he's got chips. I 3-bet ready to get it in with him pre, but he just flats instead. My 3-bet sizing because I was from the BB was fairly big, him flatting was worst case scenario, even though I feel like I crush his range, I don't like playing this inflated pot OOP now. Flop is A/Q/7 and that certainly makes things better. I lead out small hoping to induce a raise, which he obliges me. Now the thing about his raise sizing that was weird(especially given his hand which I'll get to in a sec) is he over-raises, and basically commits himself. Which again, once you hear his hand, is beyond a terrible play. It's actually the worst play of all time. I obviously ship knowing he can't fold, he snaps it off and shows me AA. What the fuck are you doing on the flop dude? Busto.
So I skip over to the Venetian where Shyam is still in, with a stack in the $2100 event. Drop off a portable cell phone charger(if you've never seen one or don't have one, they're an absolute life saver for live poker, because I spend almost every minute I'm not directly in a hand, on my iPhone), then me, Griff and David go eat at Grand Lux in Venetian, which is a nice, Cheesecake Factory style restaraunt. We order way too many apps, and barely even touch the main courses. Side note here, I am first safe in CCR(Credit Card Roulette) when we play it(important because my run good in CCR so far on this trip is second to none).
After that, we head over to the Rio to register for the $1500 on Saturday, and then go rail Chris Moorman(MoormanI or Moorman1) at the final table of the $2500 6-max. Disgusting end to the event, he gets all the money in with KJ vs K9, flop Q/10/6, turn 8, river J. After that(by the way, crazy cool scene, he had like 300 drunk as hell English supporters singing and cheering like it was a soccer game), we just go chill for a bit then head home for the night.
Saturday, Day 1 $1500 WSOP.
Start out at my table and it's pretty weak. There's a Russian Team Pokerstars pro I don't recognize(younger guy), who I own in this pot with a bluff. Then lose a fair sized pot where I could have gone broke potentially, 10/10 in the BB, the SB limp calls. Flop is A/J/6, he check calls the flop, then it goes check check check turn and river, and he shows me AK? Oooookay then.
After about 30 minutes or so, a table breaks, and Griffin(Flush_Entity) Benger, my backer, draws onto my table. Not only does he show up, but Jordan(Jymaster11) Young, who started on Griff's table, also somehow draws onto my table too. Nice randomization WSOP. So now it's Griff in seat 1, Jordan in seat 2, me in seat 3. Nice. Over this time, I win a few nice pots(QQ > JJ and QQ > AK), and after about 3 hours that table breaks and I leave there with 14k, a nice stack. Right away at my new table, 14k becomes a real stack. New table is soft, Haralabos Voulgaris is at my table to my left, but he's not really getting involved much. So I run the table over a bit, then a player opens from MP, I 3-bet button with AA, BB cold 4-bets, I 5-bet jam, and he calls with JJ, I hold and have 28k at dinner break. A real solid stack. For dinner, we all go to Gaylord Indian restaraunt at the Rio, there's a whole group of us, and again...CCR I'm the 2nd one safe this time. Bill was >$500.
Back to action, I chip up with lots of smallish pots, and have around $40k, then play a weird pot I've talked to a few online pros that were in the tournament at that point, not to mention everyone I would normally discuss the hand with, and I think I misplayed it. Aggro asian kid raises the CO, and I 3-bet out of the BB with KJo. He flats. Flop is A/10/4. I c-bet and he flats again. Turn is gin, a Q. I checked, and upon reflection I don't like it. I really don't think in this spot, he's floating here with much air, so I'm giving up so much value from his hands here. He did bet, and I flatted the turn. River was a disaster, a K which destroyed all my action and I win a small one.
Eventually fairly late in the day, I've run the stack up to about 55k when disaster strikes. Blinds at 100/400/800, folds around to the hijack and he raises it to 2200. I 3-bet to 5700 with AK. He 4-bet jams for 28k, and I call. He has 10/10 and holds. After that I chip up a little touch and end day one with 30,500. Certainly not a disaster, we're under 100 players from money, I have 30 blinds to start day two, it's all good. But that pot was massive, I could have had 85k heading into day 2. After the long day, I'm dead, so I go home and crash.
Sunday, $1500 WSOP Day 2.
Wake up feeling good. Check pokernews and fight out I drew an amazing table where no one has over 42k so my 30.5k will have tons of play and moveability. I should be in great shape. Table also seems weak as hell, only name I regonize is Eric Cloutier. Get to the Rio and I'm feeling good. Get started, and the day is up and down to start. First hand I play is the third hand dealt. This kid who had just won a fair sized pot when he flatted a 3-bet OOP then check-raise shoved the flop of 9/6/4 and made someone fold, opens to 2400. I 3-bet from the cut-off with AK to 5800, and he flats. The flop is 8/7/5hh, and he straight leads 17k. I folded.
Next weird hand was against Eric Cloutier. I raise from MP with AQcc to 2200, and he flats on the button. Flop is A/Q/6. I lead 2800, he puts out 2800, but makes some big fuss about the 500 and how he thought it was a 5k chip and he meant to raise. I have no idea how to take this to be honest, because 5k chips aren't even in play yet, and there's no way he's that stupid. Turn is a brick(3), and I led 3300. Maybe I should check the turn, if he thinks I'm stupid enough to fall for that bullshit little ploy, maybe he puts money in after my check. Anyway, he folds the turn.
A few more smallish pots, then the money bubble bursts. Few hands after that, this fairly solid kid who got crippled with Cloutier 4-bet jammed 44 into his KK and made a straight, shoves for 7700 with blinds at 600/1200. I'm in the BB without a huge stack, still sitting around 30k, but I have A/4o, so I call. He has 8/6cc, and flops an eight and holds. That hurt. Few hands later win another pot off Cloutier where I raise pre, drill a flop and get 2 streets of value from him this time, so I'm back at around 37k when it all goes to shit.
Blinds still 200/600/1200, a tight player raises UTG to 2600. I flat the button with 88. After some discussion with Shyam and company, maybe it's a mistake to flat here, but it feels to nitty to fold that hand. 66 I agree I'm too short to set mine, but 88 feels like I can still take a flop and deal with it post flop in position, despite the fact that his range is pretty snug. Regardless, I flatted, and the flop was a masterpiece. 8/5/2 rainbow. He checks to me, so I bet a nice little inducing 2300, and he straight jams it in my face. I snap call, he shows AA. Turn is a 4(why?), river is an Ace. Fuck. My. Life. 75k pot was right there. A real legitimate stack, deep in that tourney was right there. And they ripped it away from me. Cashed for $2800. Didn't even stick around to collect the money(going to have to do that at some point).
After that I went home, did nothing for a while, then went out and grabbed dinner with Shyam, Griff and Saunders at Samba Steakhouse at Mirage. Once again, 2nd one out of CCR(I'm sure writing this post is terrible karma and I'm about to get fucked hard on the next CCR round, but so far so good). After that, we go do some shopping in Caesers, and then go home to crash.
Not really sure what tomorrow brings. There's nothing really that appeals to me. There's a $1600 at Venetian which is a bit too big I think, especially since there's no hold'em event at the WSOP tomorrow, which means that tourney is going to be shark infested to say the least. There's a $130 at Caesers which I can't bring myself to play because of a) seems like way too much work for a buyin that small, prize pool just can't be worth it, and b) I hate the structures, seriously, why the hell are antes kicking in so late?
I might go do Golden Nugget, they have a $230 or something going, and their tournaments were structured fairly well. Plus, because it's downtown literally 0 good players will be playing it. Literally. 0. So maybe that's where I go. We'll see when I wake up. Anyway, that's it for now. Sleep time.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Vegas Trip Day 1+2
So my flight was scheduled to leave at 9:00pm on Tuesday. I arrive at the airport at 7:15ish, and 10 minutes later I've cleared customs and I'm ready to board in what was the easiest process I've ever experienced. Plane left on time, landed on time. Props to Westjet for a great flight.
Land in Vegas, go over to the Signature Suites at MGM where I'm staying, and go to check in, rooms are over-booked, so I've been upgraded thanks to said late arrival, to a one bedroom suite. This suite is absolutely absurd. 2 bathrooms with 2 showers, one with a jacuzzi and TV in it. Fully stocked kitchen with stove, dishwasher and full dishes. Full size fridge and freezer. Can't complain. I basically check in, watch some TV and go to sleep.
Day 1 of actual play was relatively light, there wasn't anything super good going on in town, Venetian had a seniors event, Caesers had a $100 buyin, the WSOP was a $2500 6-max where I figured my edge probably wasn't what it needed to be to play that high so I sat it out, went with some friends to play a tournament at the Golden Nugget they were playing.
Structure was outstanding, player field was absolutely absymal. If I saw anything resembling 2 cards, that tournament was mine. As it stood, I just 3-bet and bluffed my way to never dipping below 60 BB at any point, until I raised CO with 9/6hh, flop came J/4/2 with two hearts, the caller from the SB check called my c-bet on the flop. Turn was a 3c to give me a straight draw as well, so when he checked I continued barrelling, and he flatted again. River was a 10h, and he led for full pot. I flatted, he flashed K8hh and won the pot.
From there I worked my way a bit deeper, getting into the 90's of the 250 that started, hovered around 35 BB, when there was a min-raise UTG with blinds at 500/1k to 2k, then someone made it 7k, me with 35 BB squeezed out AKdd so I 3-bet shipped and the initial 3-better of course had AA and held(despite me having the world on the turn....at least as much as would have been possible, board was Q/10/6/3 with two diamonds by the turn). Felt like I played outstanding to survive as long as I did being so insanely card dead(prior to the AK bust hand, the best hand I saw was 88, in 6 hours of poker).
After the tourney, Griff, St.Jean and David had all busted the $2500 6-max(Griff lost AA to QQ for an early monster-monster stack collision when a Q fell on the river). We all had money riding on the Bruins to win, so I went over to Vdara to watch the game with them, then we just chilled for the night. Went to go see a movie(Super 8, which was fantastic), played some PS3, just relaxed for the evening.
Tomorrow the real down and dirty begins. Venetian Deepstack $340, then I think Caesers Palace on Friday for a $340, then I'm undecided on the weekend between $550 Venetians or $1500 WSOP events...we'll see how it all plays out.
Land in Vegas, go over to the Signature Suites at MGM where I'm staying, and go to check in, rooms are over-booked, so I've been upgraded thanks to said late arrival, to a one bedroom suite. This suite is absolutely absurd. 2 bathrooms with 2 showers, one with a jacuzzi and TV in it. Fully stocked kitchen with stove, dishwasher and full dishes. Full size fridge and freezer. Can't complain. I basically check in, watch some TV and go to sleep.
Day 1 of actual play was relatively light, there wasn't anything super good going on in town, Venetian had a seniors event, Caesers had a $100 buyin, the WSOP was a $2500 6-max where I figured my edge probably wasn't what it needed to be to play that high so I sat it out, went with some friends to play a tournament at the Golden Nugget they were playing.
Structure was outstanding, player field was absolutely absymal. If I saw anything resembling 2 cards, that tournament was mine. As it stood, I just 3-bet and bluffed my way to never dipping below 60 BB at any point, until I raised CO with 9/6hh, flop came J/4/2 with two hearts, the caller from the SB check called my c-bet on the flop. Turn was a 3c to give me a straight draw as well, so when he checked I continued barrelling, and he flatted again. River was a 10h, and he led for full pot. I flatted, he flashed K8hh and won the pot.
From there I worked my way a bit deeper, getting into the 90's of the 250 that started, hovered around 35 BB, when there was a min-raise UTG with blinds at 500/1k to 2k, then someone made it 7k, me with 35 BB squeezed out AKdd so I 3-bet shipped and the initial 3-better of course had AA and held(despite me having the world on the turn....at least as much as would have been possible, board was Q/10/6/3 with two diamonds by the turn). Felt like I played outstanding to survive as long as I did being so insanely card dead(prior to the AK bust hand, the best hand I saw was 88, in 6 hours of poker).
After the tourney, Griff, St.Jean and David had all busted the $2500 6-max(Griff lost AA to QQ for an early monster-monster stack collision when a Q fell on the river). We all had money riding on the Bruins to win, so I went over to Vdara to watch the game with them, then we just chilled for the night. Went to go see a movie(Super 8, which was fantastic), played some PS3, just relaxed for the evening.
Tomorrow the real down and dirty begins. Venetian Deepstack $340, then I think Caesers Palace on Friday for a $340, then I'm undecided on the weekend between $550 Venetians or $1500 WSOP events...we'll see how it all plays out.
Friday, June 3, 2011
So I'm bringing this blog back for a few reasons...
#1, now that I'm out of school, I actually have something resembling this glorious "free time" some people have told me about.
Also, I'm heading down to Vegas for the second trip down there of my life in 2 weeks time. I went down years ago with Bruno, Sonny and company, and we had a good time, and I was pretty successful over the course of the trip. Over the years that followed my father's health prevented me from going, and then broadcasting from the Rogers Cup last year prevented me from going. This year, school is over, and the coast is clear so I'm off June 14th to 23rd.
The last reason is I'm getting back into poker much more heavily now. I am fortunate enough to have the luxury of regularily talking to and being friends with some of the top poker players online, and it's really helped take my tournament game from "cash player doing decent in tournies because people suck", to an actual tournament poker player.
For a state of reference, the friends I speak of are Shyam "S_Dot111" Srinivasan, the #10 ranked player in the world on pocketfives, with over $3,750,000 in cashes to his name online.
Griffin "Flush_Entity" Benger is my best friend, we've been known each other for over 10 years now. He's currently ranked #7 on pocketfives, just a hair under $1,500,000 in cashes, most of which has come since January 1st sickly enough.
Ontop of that Andrew "Drewfus81" St.Jean, also just under $1,500,000 in cashes is one of the smartest players I've spoken to about poker.
In any event, there are a few others, but I'm not writing this to run a resume of players, I'm just emphasizing my fortune to live in Toronto right now, and have met all of them and have a healthy friendship with all of them(some of whom I met merely through Griffin), and be able to talk poker. If there's one thing that helps more than anything else(besides practice) in becoming a better poker player, it's knowing people that are significantly better than you are at the game. Fortunately for me, I know several.
So on the backs of that, I've started to get back into online tournament poker, pretty heavily now that I'm done school and have the time to dedicate to the game again.
My first day post school playing poker I made the final table of the $100 rebuy on Pokerstars, and finished 4th for $2700. Ran pretty bad at the final table in one key hand where in a limped pot(me in the BB), I check called a bet on a Kc/Qd/7c flop holding 9c/4c, and turned gin with the 3c, but ran into Ac/6c to cripple me. After that I lost AQ to 66 for my last 17 BB.
The same night I also final tabled the $75 buyin 7:00 on Full Tilt, finishing 2nd, also for $2700. This I felt was more fair, I ran the tournament from about 30 players left, never losing chip lead until we got 4 handed and the player I lost to heads up went on an insane run knocking out the other 2 in the span of 3 hands to hold a huge chip lead. I worked my way back to almost even, then had AQ vs A6 for almost all the chips, wound up having the board counterfiet me with 2 pair to chop, lost a big pot with top pair to 2 pair, and could never recover.
Which brings me to tonight, where I made deep runs in a few things again. The $30 1r1a on FTP, which I was 6th in chips in with 15 left, when these two hands happened in the span of 5 minutes(both were for the chip lead in the tourney)...
Full Tilt Poker Game #30852645590: $5,000 Guarantee (1r+1a) (239381202), Table 10 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 05:07:55 ET - 2011/06/03
Seat 1: Igi1979 (10,869)
Seat 2: Wilenius (8,973)
Seat 4: DIMJR (18,510)
Seat 5: ShowMeTheMouni (37,072)
Seat 7: tomy gyula (30,134)
Seat 9: crystal_donkey (23,276)
Igi1979 antes 75
Wilenius antes 75
DIMJR antes 75
ShowMeTheMouni antes 75
tomy gyula antes 75
crystal_donkey antes 75
Wilenius posts the small blind of 300
DIMJR posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Kh Ah]
ShowMeTheMouni folds
tomy gyula folds
crystal_donkey raises to 1,350
Igi1979 folds
Wilenius folds
DIMJR raises to 4,800
ShowMeTheMouni is feeling normal
crystal_donkey raises to 23,201, and is all in
DIMJR calls 13,635, and is all in
crystal_donkey shows [Kh Ah]
DIMJR shows [Ac Jh]
Uncalled bet of 4,766 returned to crystal_donkey
*** FLOP *** [6d 4s Qd]
*** TURN *** [6d 4s Qd] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [6d 4s Qd 4h] [6h]
crystal_donkey shows two pair, Sixes and Fours
DIMJR shows two pair, Sixes and Fours
DIMJR ties for the pot (18,810) with two pair, Sixes and Fours
crystal_donkey ties for the pot (18,810) with two pair, Sixes and Fours
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 37,620 | Rake 0
Board: [6d 4s Qd 4h 6h]
Seat 1: Igi1979 (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Wilenius (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: DIMJR (big blind) showed [Ac Jh] and won (18,810) with two pair, Sixes and Fours
Seat 5: ShowMeTheMouni folded before the Flop
Seat 7: tomy gyula folded before the Flop
Seat 9: crystal_donkey showed [Kh Ah] and won (18,810) with two pair, Sixes and Fours
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Full Tilt Poker Game #30852688300: $5,000 Guarantee (1r+1a) (239381202), Table 10 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 05:13:04 ET - 2011/06/03
Seat 1: Igi1979 (9,444)
Seat 2: Wilenius (13,398)
Seat 4: DIMJR (26,280)
Seat 5: ShowMeTheMouni (30,397)
Seat 7: tomy gyula (26,939)
Seat 9: crystal_donkey (22,376)
Igi1979 antes 75
Wilenius antes 75
DIMJR antes 75
ShowMeTheMouni antes 75
tomy gyula antes 75
crystal_donkey antes 75
DIMJR posts the small blind of 300
ShowMeTheMouni posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Ac Ts]
tomy gyula folds
crystal_donkey raises to 1,350
Igi1979 folds
Wilenius folds
DIMJR calls 1,050
ShowMeTheMouni calls 750
*** FLOP *** [Ah 7d Td]
DIMJR checks
ShowMeTheMouni checks
crystal_donkey bets 1,980
DIMJR folds
ShowMeTheMouni raises to 28,972, and is all in
crystal_donkey calls 18,971, and is all in
ShowMeTheMouni shows [7c As]
crystal_donkey shows [Ac Ts]
Uncalled bet of 8,021 returned to ShowMeTheMouni
*** TURN *** [Ah 7d Td] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 7d Td 7s] [2s]
ShowMeTheMouni shows a full house, Sevens full of Aces
crystal_donkey shows two pair, Aces and Tens
ShowMeTheMouni wins the pot (46,402) with a full house, Sevens full of Aces
Wilenius: wow
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 46,402 | Rake 0
Board: [Ah 7d Td 7s 2s]
Seat 1: Igi1979 folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Wilenius (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: DIMJR (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: ShowMeTheMouni (big blind) showed [7c As] and won (46,402) with a full house, Sevens full of Aces
Seat 7: tomy gyula folded before the Flop
Seat 9: crystal_donkey showed [Ac Ts] and lost with two pair, Aces and Tens
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Oh well...
The other tournament I made a deep run in was the $75 Multi Entry on FTP(despite the horrible start time of 2:00am, I cannot stress enough to anyone who doesn't work and can find the ability to play, how easy this tournament is. Especially being able to enter 4x, it is a license to print money.) The player field is abysmal, the prizes are decent($9,500 gtd, it usually goes over, usually somewhere near $3k for first), and again, the field is abysmal beyond words that have been invented in the english language.
This tournament again, I was chip leader, or close to it, for a large chunk of the tournament, made final table 2nd out of the 9 in chips.
First significant hand of final table for me happened 7 handed. I'm thinking upon reflection maybe this can be a fold, I'm not really sure. It looks super standard, but Villain in the hand had been super, super snug so far since I had sat with him, so maybe on reflection it's foldable. Still not sure because it's so small, think I just had to go with it...
Full Tilt Poker Game #30853420082: $9,500 Guarantee (239382577), Table 5 - 800/1600 Ante 200 - No Limit Hold'em - 06:34:43 ET - 2011/06/03
Seat 3: FexAA (85,219)
Seat 4: Nanys (87,123)
Seat 5: oOspidiOo (32,976)
Seat 6: crystal_donkey (85,495)
Seat 7: politiano (40,744)
Seat 8: PapaRundle (105,050)
Seat 9: Lord Scratch (19,393)
FexAA antes 200
Nanys antes 200
oOspidiOo antes 200
crystal_donkey antes 200
politiano antes 200
PapaRundle antes 200
Lord Scratch antes 200
FexAA posts the small blind of 800
Nanys posts the big blind of 1,600
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Td As]
oOspidiOo folds
crystal_donkey raises to 3,350
politiano folds
PapaRundle folds
Lord Scratch raises to 19,193, and is all in
FexAA folds
Nanys folds
crystal_donkey calls 15,843
Lord Scratch shows [Ad Ah]
crystal_donkey shows [Td As]
*** FLOP *** [Tc 8h Kh]
*** TURN *** [Tc 8h Kh] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [Tc 8h Kh Ac] [2c]
Lord Scratch shows three of a kind, Aces
crystal_donkey shows two pair, Aces and Tens
Lord Scratch wins the pot (42,186) with three of a kind, Aces
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 42,186 | Rake 0
Board: [Tc 8h Kh Ac 2c]
Seat 3: FexAA (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Nanys (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: oOspidiOo folded before the Flop
Seat 6: crystal_donkey showed [Td As] and lost with two pair, Aces and Tens
Seat 7: politiano folded before the Flop
Seat 8: PapaRundle folded before the Flop
Seat 9: Lord Scratch (button) showed [Ad Ah] and won (42,186) with three of a kind, Aces
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The next significant hand I played was a while later, had kind of hovered around for a bit, struggled to find alot of good steal spots with a cannon with a massive stack two to my left, but was finding a way to survive until this hand. I might not flat here against more competent players, but I don't hate flatting here in tournaments where people won't understand that I'm only ever flatting with this stack as a trap. Turns out it wouldn't have mattered either way, just as a point of interest I prefer flatting here. This guy had been relatively agressively opening, so I want to give him a chance to give me it all rather than take 5k from him by 3-betting.
Full Tilt Poker Game #30853593909: $9,500 Guarantee (239382577), Table 5 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold'em - 06:51:22 ET - 2011/06/03
Seat 3: FexAA (128,395)
Seat 6: crystal_donkey (46,002)
Seat 7: politiano (91,094)
Seat 8: PapaRundle (156,673)
Seat 9: Lord Scratch (33,836)
FexAA antes 250
crystal_donkey antes 250
politiano antes 250
PapaRundle antes 250
Lord Scratch antes 250
PapaRundle posts the small blind of 1,000
Lord Scratch posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Ks Kd]
FexAA raises to 5,000
crystal_donkey calls 5,000
politiano folds
PapaRundle folds
Lord Scratch has 15 seconds left to act
Lord Scratch folds
*** FLOP *** [7s Ts 3h]
FexAA checks
crystal_donkey bets 6,800
FexAA raises to 44,000
crystal_donkey calls 33,952, and is all in
FexAA shows [Qh Qc]
crystal_donkey shows [Ks Kd]
Uncalled bet of 3,248 returned to FexAA
*** TURN *** [7s Ts 3h] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [7s Ts 3h 8d] [Jh]
FexAA shows a pair of Queens
crystal_donkey shows a pair of Kings
crystal_donkey wins the pot (95,754) with a pair of Kings
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 95,754 | Rake 0
Board: [7s Ts 3h 8d Jh]
Seat 3: FexAA showed [Qh Qc] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 6: crystal_donkey showed [Ks Kd] and won (95,754) with a pair of Kings
Seat 7: politiano (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: PapaRundle (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: Lord Scratch (big blind) folded before the Flop
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
After that, things kind of took some time and evened out among everyone chip wise, the next significant pot I played was this one. In this hand the starting hand was irrelevant, I had been really quiet for a bit while some pretty insane action had been going, so I felt it was a good time to open, so I did basically ignoring my cards. On the flop I make a standard c-bet, he flats again and the turn isn't great completing a flush draw, but it does add outs to my hand as well, when he checks again I'm basically done with the hand, but still hoping to get involved again if the river completes my draw which it did. At that point it was just about finding value. Felt like the size of the bet was really good.
Full Tilt Poker Game #30853757946: $9,500 Guarantee (239382577), Table 5 - 1200/2400 Ante 300 - No Limit Hold'em - 07:07:32 ET - 2011/06/03
Seat 3: FexAA (84,043)
Seat 6: crystal_donkey (77,954)
Seat 7: politiano (90,744)
Seat 8: PapaRundle (105,587)
Seat 9: Lord Scratch (97,672)
FexAA antes 300
crystal_donkey antes 300
politiano antes 300
PapaRundle antes 300
Lord Scratch antes 300
PapaRundle posts the small blind of 1,200
Lord Scratch posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [3s 8s]
FexAA folds
crystal_donkey raises to 4,950
politiano folds
PapaRundle folds
Lord Scratch calls 2,550
*** FLOP *** [6c 9c Ad]
Lord Scratch checks
crystal_donkey bets 5,890
Lord Scratch calls 5,890
*** TURN *** [6c 9c Ad] [7c]
Lord Scratch checks
apocaliptul (Observer): fex da dove sei?
apocaliptul (Observer): fratelo
crystal_donkey checks
*** RIVER *** [6c 9c Ad 7c] [5h]
Lord Scratch checks
PapaRundle: come on guys...
crystal_donkey bets 14,890
Lord Scratch has 15 seconds left to act
Lord Scratch has requested TIME
apocaliptul (Observer): e tu politiano?
PapaRundle: lets not get fu.cking rediculous here
Lord Scratch calls 14,890
*** SHOW DOWN ***
crystal_donkey shows [3s 8s] a straight, Nine high
Lord Scratch mucks
crystal_donkey wins the pot (54,160) with a straight, Nine high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 54,160 | Rake 0
Board: [6c 9c Ad 7c 5h]
Seat 3: FexAA folded before the Flop
Seat 6: crystal_donkey showed [3s 8s] and won (54,160) with a straight, Nine high
Seat 7: politiano (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: PapaRundle (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: Lord Scratch (big blind) mucked [As Js] - a pair of Aces
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
A short while later a standard scam hand for the unfortunate BB happens and I'm in good shape.
Full Tilt Poker Game #30853817429: $9,500 Guarantee (239382577), Table 5 - 1200/2400 Ante 300 - No Limit Hold'em - 07:12:49 ET - 2011/06/03
Seat 3: FexAA (72,733)
Seat 6: crystal_donkey (97,984)
Seat 7: politiano (72,744)
Seat 8: PapaRundle (123,287)
Seat 9: Lord Scratch (89,252)
FexAA antes 300
crystal_donkey antes 300
politiano antes 300
PapaRundle antes 300
Lord Scratch antes 300
crystal_donkey posts the small blind of 1,200
politiano posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Qs Qh]
nic-lorrrr (Observer): puntando col progetto..
PapaRundle folds
Lord Scratch folds
apocaliptul (Observer): dai fex
FexAA raises to 5,400
apocaliptul (Observer): non fa niente
crystal_donkey raises to 13,600
politiano raises to 72,444, and is all in
FexAA folds
crystal_donkey calls 58,844
politiano shows [9s 9d]
crystal_donkey shows [Qs Qh]
*** FLOP *** [Jh Ts 3d]
*** TURN *** [Jh Ts 3d] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [Jh Ts 3d 4h] [4d]
politiano shows two pair, Nines and Fours
crystal_donkey shows two pair, Queens and Fours
crystal_donkey wins the pot (151,788) with two pair, Queens and Fours
apocaliptul (Observer): NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 151,788 | Rake 0
Board: [Jh Ts 3d 4h 4d]
Seat 3: FexAA (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: crystal_donkey (small blind) showed [Qs Qh] and won (151,788) with two pair, Queens and Fours
Seat 7: politiano (big blind) showed [9s 9d] and lost with two pair, Nines and Fours
Seat 8: PapaRundle folded before the Flop
Seat 9: Lord Scratch folded before the Flop
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Eventually we ended up heads up from there, the last hand of heads up, I closed the window before I copy and pasted the hand history, I cracked QQ with 3c/4c on a 2/5/9 flop to win the tournament and the $3,000 first prize.
So check back with some regularity, the blog will be getting updated more regularily from here on out.
Also, I'm heading down to Vegas for the second trip down there of my life in 2 weeks time. I went down years ago with Bruno, Sonny and company, and we had a good time, and I was pretty successful over the course of the trip. Over the years that followed my father's health prevented me from going, and then broadcasting from the Rogers Cup last year prevented me from going. This year, school is over, and the coast is clear so I'm off June 14th to 23rd.
The last reason is I'm getting back into poker much more heavily now. I am fortunate enough to have the luxury of regularily talking to and being friends with some of the top poker players online, and it's really helped take my tournament game from "cash player doing decent in tournies because people suck", to an actual tournament poker player.
For a state of reference, the friends I speak of are Shyam "S_Dot111" Srinivasan, the #10 ranked player in the world on pocketfives, with over $3,750,000 in cashes to his name online.
Griffin "Flush_Entity" Benger is my best friend, we've been known each other for over 10 years now. He's currently ranked #7 on pocketfives, just a hair under $1,500,000 in cashes, most of which has come since January 1st sickly enough.
Ontop of that Andrew "Drewfus81" St.Jean, also just under $1,500,000 in cashes is one of the smartest players I've spoken to about poker.
In any event, there are a few others, but I'm not writing this to run a resume of players, I'm just emphasizing my fortune to live in Toronto right now, and have met all of them and have a healthy friendship with all of them(some of whom I met merely through Griffin), and be able to talk poker. If there's one thing that helps more than anything else(besides practice) in becoming a better poker player, it's knowing people that are significantly better than you are at the game. Fortunately for me, I know several.
So on the backs of that, I've started to get back into online tournament poker, pretty heavily now that I'm done school and have the time to dedicate to the game again.
My first day post school playing poker I made the final table of the $100 rebuy on Pokerstars, and finished 4th for $2700. Ran pretty bad at the final table in one key hand where in a limped pot(me in the BB), I check called a bet on a Kc/Qd/7c flop holding 9c/4c, and turned gin with the 3c, but ran into Ac/6c to cripple me. After that I lost AQ to 66 for my last 17 BB.
The same night I also final tabled the $75 buyin 7:00 on Full Tilt, finishing 2nd, also for $2700. This I felt was more fair, I ran the tournament from about 30 players left, never losing chip lead until we got 4 handed and the player I lost to heads up went on an insane run knocking out the other 2 in the span of 3 hands to hold a huge chip lead. I worked my way back to almost even, then had AQ vs A6 for almost all the chips, wound up having the board counterfiet me with 2 pair to chop, lost a big pot with top pair to 2 pair, and could never recover.
Which brings me to tonight, where I made deep runs in a few things again. The $30 1r1a on FTP, which I was 6th in chips in with 15 left, when these two hands happened in the span of 5 minutes(both were for the chip lead in the tourney)...
Full Tilt Poker Game #30852645590: $5,000 Guarantee (1r+1a) (239381202), Table 10 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 05:07:55 ET - 2011/06/03
Seat 1: Igi1979 (10,869)
Seat 2: Wilenius (8,973)
Seat 4: DIMJR (18,510)
Seat 5: ShowMeTheMouni (37,072)
Seat 7: tomy gyula (30,134)
Seat 9: crystal_donkey (23,276)
Igi1979 antes 75
Wilenius antes 75
DIMJR antes 75
ShowMeTheMouni antes 75
tomy gyula antes 75
crystal_donkey antes 75
Wilenius posts the small blind of 300
DIMJR posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Kh Ah]
ShowMeTheMouni folds
tomy gyula folds
crystal_donkey raises to 1,350
Igi1979 folds
Wilenius folds
DIMJR raises to 4,800
ShowMeTheMouni is feeling normal
crystal_donkey raises to 23,201, and is all in
DIMJR calls 13,635, and is all in
crystal_donkey shows [Kh Ah]
DIMJR shows [Ac Jh]
Uncalled bet of 4,766 returned to crystal_donkey
*** FLOP *** [6d 4s Qd]
*** TURN *** [6d 4s Qd] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [6d 4s Qd 4h] [6h]
crystal_donkey shows two pair, Sixes and Fours
DIMJR shows two pair, Sixes and Fours
DIMJR ties for the pot (18,810) with two pair, Sixes and Fours
crystal_donkey ties for the pot (18,810) with two pair, Sixes and Fours
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 37,620 | Rake 0
Board: [6d 4s Qd 4h 6h]
Seat 1: Igi1979 (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Wilenius (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: DIMJR (big blind) showed [Ac Jh] and won (18,810) with two pair, Sixes and Fours
Seat 5: ShowMeTheMouni folded before the Flop
Seat 7: tomy gyula folded before the Flop
Seat 9: crystal_donkey showed [Kh Ah] and won (18,810) with two pair, Sixes and Fours
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Full Tilt Poker Game #30852688300: $5,000 Guarantee (1r+1a) (239381202), Table 10 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 05:13:04 ET - 2011/06/03
Seat 1: Igi1979 (9,444)
Seat 2: Wilenius (13,398)
Seat 4: DIMJR (26,280)
Seat 5: ShowMeTheMouni (30,397)
Seat 7: tomy gyula (26,939)
Seat 9: crystal_donkey (22,376)
Igi1979 antes 75
Wilenius antes 75
DIMJR antes 75
ShowMeTheMouni antes 75
tomy gyula antes 75
crystal_donkey antes 75
DIMJR posts the small blind of 300
ShowMeTheMouni posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Ac Ts]
tomy gyula folds
crystal_donkey raises to 1,350
Igi1979 folds
Wilenius folds
DIMJR calls 1,050
ShowMeTheMouni calls 750
*** FLOP *** [Ah 7d Td]
DIMJR checks
ShowMeTheMouni checks
crystal_donkey bets 1,980
DIMJR folds
ShowMeTheMouni raises to 28,972, and is all in
crystal_donkey calls 18,971, and is all in
ShowMeTheMouni shows [7c As]
crystal_donkey shows [Ac Ts]
Uncalled bet of 8,021 returned to ShowMeTheMouni
*** TURN *** [Ah 7d Td] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 7d Td 7s] [2s]
ShowMeTheMouni shows a full house, Sevens full of Aces
crystal_donkey shows two pair, Aces and Tens
ShowMeTheMouni wins the pot (46,402) with a full house, Sevens full of Aces
Wilenius: wow
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 46,402 | Rake 0
Board: [Ah 7d Td 7s 2s]
Seat 1: Igi1979 folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Wilenius (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: DIMJR (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: ShowMeTheMouni (big blind) showed [7c As] and won (46,402) with a full house, Sevens full of Aces
Seat 7: tomy gyula folded before the Flop
Seat 9: crystal_donkey showed [Ac Ts] and lost with two pair, Aces and Tens
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Oh well...
The other tournament I made a deep run in was the $75 Multi Entry on FTP(despite the horrible start time of 2:00am, I cannot stress enough to anyone who doesn't work and can find the ability to play, how easy this tournament is. Especially being able to enter 4x, it is a license to print money.) The player field is abysmal, the prizes are decent($9,500 gtd, it usually goes over, usually somewhere near $3k for first), and again, the field is abysmal beyond words that have been invented in the english language.
This tournament again, I was chip leader, or close to it, for a large chunk of the tournament, made final table 2nd out of the 9 in chips.
First significant hand of final table for me happened 7 handed. I'm thinking upon reflection maybe this can be a fold, I'm not really sure. It looks super standard, but Villain in the hand had been super, super snug so far since I had sat with him, so maybe on reflection it's foldable. Still not sure because it's so small, think I just had to go with it...
Full Tilt Poker Game #30853420082: $9,500 Guarantee (239382577), Table 5 - 800/1600 Ante 200 - No Limit Hold'em - 06:34:43 ET - 2011/06/03
Seat 3: FexAA (85,219)
Seat 4: Nanys (87,123)
Seat 5: oOspidiOo (32,976)
Seat 6: crystal_donkey (85,495)
Seat 7: politiano (40,744)
Seat 8: PapaRundle (105,050)
Seat 9: Lord Scratch (19,393)
FexAA antes 200
Nanys antes 200
oOspidiOo antes 200
crystal_donkey antes 200
politiano antes 200
PapaRundle antes 200
Lord Scratch antes 200
FexAA posts the small blind of 800
Nanys posts the big blind of 1,600
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Td As]
oOspidiOo folds
crystal_donkey raises to 3,350
politiano folds
PapaRundle folds
Lord Scratch raises to 19,193, and is all in
FexAA folds
Nanys folds
crystal_donkey calls 15,843
Lord Scratch shows [Ad Ah]
crystal_donkey shows [Td As]
*** FLOP *** [Tc 8h Kh]
*** TURN *** [Tc 8h Kh] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [Tc 8h Kh Ac] [2c]
Lord Scratch shows three of a kind, Aces
crystal_donkey shows two pair, Aces and Tens
Lord Scratch wins the pot (42,186) with three of a kind, Aces
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 42,186 | Rake 0
Board: [Tc 8h Kh Ac 2c]
Seat 3: FexAA (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Nanys (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: oOspidiOo folded before the Flop
Seat 6: crystal_donkey showed [Td As] and lost with two pair, Aces and Tens
Seat 7: politiano folded before the Flop
Seat 8: PapaRundle folded before the Flop
Seat 9: Lord Scratch (button) showed [Ad Ah] and won (42,186) with three of a kind, Aces
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The next significant hand I played was a while later, had kind of hovered around for a bit, struggled to find alot of good steal spots with a cannon with a massive stack two to my left, but was finding a way to survive until this hand. I might not flat here against more competent players, but I don't hate flatting here in tournaments where people won't understand that I'm only ever flatting with this stack as a trap. Turns out it wouldn't have mattered either way, just as a point of interest I prefer flatting here. This guy had been relatively agressively opening, so I want to give him a chance to give me it all rather than take 5k from him by 3-betting.
Full Tilt Poker Game #30853593909: $9,500 Guarantee (239382577), Table 5 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold'em - 06:51:22 ET - 2011/06/03
Seat 3: FexAA (128,395)
Seat 6: crystal_donkey (46,002)
Seat 7: politiano (91,094)
Seat 8: PapaRundle (156,673)
Seat 9: Lord Scratch (33,836)
FexAA antes 250
crystal_donkey antes 250
politiano antes 250
PapaRundle antes 250
Lord Scratch antes 250
PapaRundle posts the small blind of 1,000
Lord Scratch posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Ks Kd]
FexAA raises to 5,000
crystal_donkey calls 5,000
politiano folds
PapaRundle folds
Lord Scratch has 15 seconds left to act
Lord Scratch folds
*** FLOP *** [7s Ts 3h]
FexAA checks
crystal_donkey bets 6,800
FexAA raises to 44,000
crystal_donkey calls 33,952, and is all in
FexAA shows [Qh Qc]
crystal_donkey shows [Ks Kd]
Uncalled bet of 3,248 returned to FexAA
*** TURN *** [7s Ts 3h] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [7s Ts 3h 8d] [Jh]
FexAA shows a pair of Queens
crystal_donkey shows a pair of Kings
crystal_donkey wins the pot (95,754) with a pair of Kings
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 95,754 | Rake 0
Board: [7s Ts 3h 8d Jh]
Seat 3: FexAA showed [Qh Qc] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 6: crystal_donkey showed [Ks Kd] and won (95,754) with a pair of Kings
Seat 7: politiano (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: PapaRundle (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: Lord Scratch (big blind) folded before the Flop
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
After that, things kind of took some time and evened out among everyone chip wise, the next significant pot I played was this one. In this hand the starting hand was irrelevant, I had been really quiet for a bit while some pretty insane action had been going, so I felt it was a good time to open, so I did basically ignoring my cards. On the flop I make a standard c-bet, he flats again and the turn isn't great completing a flush draw, but it does add outs to my hand as well, when he checks again I'm basically done with the hand, but still hoping to get involved again if the river completes my draw which it did. At that point it was just about finding value. Felt like the size of the bet was really good.
Full Tilt Poker Game #30853757946: $9,500 Guarantee (239382577), Table 5 - 1200/2400 Ante 300 - No Limit Hold'em - 07:07:32 ET - 2011/06/03
Seat 3: FexAA (84,043)
Seat 6: crystal_donkey (77,954)
Seat 7: politiano (90,744)
Seat 8: PapaRundle (105,587)
Seat 9: Lord Scratch (97,672)
FexAA antes 300
crystal_donkey antes 300
politiano antes 300
PapaRundle antes 300
Lord Scratch antes 300
PapaRundle posts the small blind of 1,200
Lord Scratch posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [3s 8s]
FexAA folds
crystal_donkey raises to 4,950
politiano folds
PapaRundle folds
Lord Scratch calls 2,550
*** FLOP *** [6c 9c Ad]
Lord Scratch checks
crystal_donkey bets 5,890
Lord Scratch calls 5,890
*** TURN *** [6c 9c Ad] [7c]
Lord Scratch checks
apocaliptul (Observer): fex da dove sei?
apocaliptul (Observer): fratelo
crystal_donkey checks
*** RIVER *** [6c 9c Ad 7c] [5h]
Lord Scratch checks
PapaRundle: come on guys...
crystal_donkey bets 14,890
Lord Scratch has 15 seconds left to act
Lord Scratch has requested TIME
apocaliptul (Observer): e tu politiano?
PapaRundle: lets not get fu.cking rediculous here
Lord Scratch calls 14,890
*** SHOW DOWN ***
crystal_donkey shows [3s 8s] a straight, Nine high
Lord Scratch mucks
crystal_donkey wins the pot (54,160) with a straight, Nine high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 54,160 | Rake 0
Board: [6c 9c Ad 7c 5h]
Seat 3: FexAA folded before the Flop
Seat 6: crystal_donkey showed [3s 8s] and won (54,160) with a straight, Nine high
Seat 7: politiano (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 8: PapaRundle (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: Lord Scratch (big blind) mucked [As Js] - a pair of Aces
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
A short while later a standard scam hand for the unfortunate BB happens and I'm in good shape.
Full Tilt Poker Game #30853817429: $9,500 Guarantee (239382577), Table 5 - 1200/2400 Ante 300 - No Limit Hold'em - 07:12:49 ET - 2011/06/03
Seat 3: FexAA (72,733)
Seat 6: crystal_donkey (97,984)
Seat 7: politiano (72,744)
Seat 8: PapaRundle (123,287)
Seat 9: Lord Scratch (89,252)
FexAA antes 300
crystal_donkey antes 300
politiano antes 300
PapaRundle antes 300
Lord Scratch antes 300
crystal_donkey posts the small blind of 1,200
politiano posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to crystal_donkey [Qs Qh]
nic-lorrrr (Observer): puntando col progetto..
PapaRundle folds
Lord Scratch folds
apocaliptul (Observer): dai fex
FexAA raises to 5,400
apocaliptul (Observer): non fa niente
crystal_donkey raises to 13,600
politiano raises to 72,444, and is all in
FexAA folds
crystal_donkey calls 58,844
politiano shows [9s 9d]
crystal_donkey shows [Qs Qh]
*** FLOP *** [Jh Ts 3d]
*** TURN *** [Jh Ts 3d] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [Jh Ts 3d 4h] [4d]
politiano shows two pair, Nines and Fours
crystal_donkey shows two pair, Queens and Fours
crystal_donkey wins the pot (151,788) with two pair, Queens and Fours
apocaliptul (Observer): NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 151,788 | Rake 0
Board: [Jh Ts 3d 4h 4d]
Seat 3: FexAA (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: crystal_donkey (small blind) showed [Qs Qh] and won (151,788) with two pair, Queens and Fours
Seat 7: politiano (big blind) showed [9s 9d] and lost with two pair, Nines and Fours
Seat 8: PapaRundle folded before the Flop
Seat 9: Lord Scratch folded before the Flop
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Eventually we ended up heads up from there, the last hand of heads up, I closed the window before I copy and pasted the hand history, I cracked QQ with 3c/4c on a 2/5/9 flop to win the tournament and the $3,000 first prize.
So check back with some regularity, the blog will be getting updated more regularily from here on out.
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