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.