How to win a 45-man SNG

Get hit in the face by the deck. Hard. Win coin flips.

Last night on Full Tilt I had AA 3 times (in 4 hands), AK 3 times, KK twice and QQ once. And they all held up. Having nearly 50% of the chips in play at the final table I was able to steal with impunity. I only lost the chip lead when we got heads up but then this hand came up:

FullTiltPoker Game: $10 + $1 Sit & Go, Table 2 - 800/1600 - No Limit Hold'em -

Seat 1: Opponent (39,020)
Seat 9: tanksj (28,480)

Opponent posts the small blind of 800
tanksj posts the big blind of 1,600

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to tanksj [2c 3d]
Opponent raises to 4,200
tanksj calls 2,600

*** FLOP *** [2s 8d 3c]
tanksj checks
Opponent bets 7,000
tanksj raises to 24,280, and is all in
Opponent calls 17,280
tanksj shows [2c 3d]
Opponent shows [Td Tc]

*** TURN *** [2s 8d 3c] [6h]
Opponent: lol

*** RIVER *** [2s 8d 3c 6h] [Ac]
Opponent: nh
tanksj shows two pair, Threes and Twos
Opponent shows a pair of Tens
tanksj wins the pot (56,960) with two pair, Threes and Twos

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 56,960 | Rake 0
Board: [2s 8d 3c 6h Ac]
Seat 1: Opponent (small blind) showed [Td Tc] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 9: tanksj (big blind) showed [2c 3d] and won (56,960) with two pair, Threes and Twos

You know you're running good when you win with 32o.

HORSEing around

Been playing some .50/1 HORSE on Full Tilt and play money Badugi on Stars just for shits and giggles. I've been having a good time brushing up on the mixed games and managing to book a couple of wins at the same time. It's also been a good exercise in patience. I'm sure I'm not the only one who experience this, but it seems like I get rolled up pairs in Razz (especially Kings and Queens) way more than I do in Stud. I think my record was 5 bring-ins in a row at one point. Razz and Stud are especially fun when the table gets short-handed and people are winning with a J low or A high. The turnover at the tables is pretty high. People sit down with $10 and burn through that pretty quick and leave. Good starting hand selection and patience resulted in 1.5 buy-ins in a couple of hours.

I'm still trying to figure out Badugi. I could see how there could be some big swings if you were playing for cash. Right now I'm just playing with play money so people are chasing and drawing 3 and 4 cards regularly so I'd be interested to try my hand playing for real money some time.

I should just stick to MTT

Took down another 45-man MTT on FT today. Nothing too exciting, just stuck to sound, fundamental poker until I had established a tight image and then loosened it up a bit to steal a pot here and there. After my first steal with T7o I mis-clicked the "Show cards" button and gave away a little more information than I would have liked. When we were down to two tables, the short stacks started a shove-fest right about when I went card dead. I managed to stick around and finally pick up AA to knock out the 10th place guy and get us down to the final table. I went into heads up with about a 3-to-1 chip lead against a Danish guy who liked to type "ups" whenever he won a big pot. Once I moved him off a pot I typed "Fed Ex." I guess they don't have Fed Ex in Denmark because he didn't get the joke.

end of a drought

Took down a 45-man MTT on FTP tonight. It felt good to go deep into the tourney. Never caught aces but had kings twice. A couple of well-timed bluffs really made the difference and even when my bluffs got picked off, I made my bets look like value-bets and was able to lose a little instead of my whole stack. Once we were at the final table I was catching a lot of big aces. I think I had AQo twice in a row and maybe 3 times in 10 hands with an AJ in there as well.

Fish say the funniest things...

FullTiltPoker: $5 + $0.40 Heads Up Shootout, Table 1 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em
Seat 1: Fish (1,350)
Seat 2: Tmo (1,650)
Tmo posts the small blind of 15
Fish posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tmo [Kh 6c]
Tmo calls 15
Fish has 15 seconds left to act
Fish checks
*** FLOP *** [6d 5c Ks]
Fish checks
Tmo bets 30
Fish raises to 120
Tmo raises to 420
Fish raises to 1,320, and is all in
Tmo calls 900
Fish shows [Ts Kd]
Tmo shows [Kh 6c]
*** TURN *** [6d 5c Ks] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [6d 5c Ks 3c] [Ac]
Fish shows a pair of Kings
Tmo shows two pair, Kings and Sixes
Tmo wins the pot (2,700) with two pair, Kings and Sixes
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,700 | Rake 0
Board: [6d 5c Ks 3c Ac]
Seat 1: Fish (big blind) showed [Ts Kd] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 2: Tmo (small blind) showed [Kh 6c] and won (2,700) with two pair, Kings and Sixes

Dealer: Fish finishes in 4th place
Fish: seriously ?
Fish: lol
Fish stands up
Fish (Observer): donkey
Tmo: ok
Tmo: fold 2 pr?
Fish (Observer): no wonder ur a losing player

I love this. Guy limps in, flops top pair, mediocre kicker, and calls me a donkey for calling with top two. I guess he is incredulous that I didn't take his check-raise-all-in to mean that he had slow played pocket Kings, sixes or threes.

Now I may be a losing player, but I seriously question how much of a winning player he is when he is playing $5 sit-n-gos and can't get away from top pair with a ten kicker.

Live Blog MTT

$24+2 90-man MTT on FTP.

First hand, AKo. Raise, two callers, c-bet, take it down.

20/40 blinds: T3,220

down to 410. Called min raise with 8h8d. 5 to the flop. Flop an OESFD, turn a straight. All in. Villain has AhTh.

Out in 82nd.

Bleh.

Short and Sweet

I love these. One and done.

FullTiltPoker Game: Tier One $13+$0.75 Sit & Go, Table 1 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em
Seat 1: Tmo (1,500)
Seat 2: Villian (1,500)
Villian posts the small blind of 10
Tmo posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Tmo [Js 9c]
Villian calls 10
Tmo raises to 70
Villian calls 50
*** FLOP *** [7h 9s 4c]
Tmo bets 80
Villian raises to 1,430, and is all in
Tmo calls 1,350, and is all in
Villian shows [8c 6d]
Tmo shows [Js 9c]
*** TURN *** [7h 9s 4c] [Jh]
*** RIVER *** [7h 9s 4c Jh] [4d]
Villian shows a pair of Fours
Tmo shows two pair, Jacks and Nines
Tmo wins the pot (3,000) with two pair, Jacks and Nines
Villian stands up
Tmo stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,000 | Rake 0
Board: [7h 9s 4c Jh 4d]
Seat 1: Tmo (big blind) showed [Js 9c] and won (3,000) with two pair, Jacks and Nines
Seat 2: Villian (small blind) showed [8c 6d] and lost with a pair of Fours

I realize that he could have very easily turned over 74s in that situation, but it just didn't make sense. This guy immediately accepted a rematch and the second match was a little more sane. I definitely felt that I had the edge on him and would have kept playing all night if he were willing. Sadly, he declined. Now I have to figure out how to use these tournament tokens.

2nd

Poker time has been hard to come by lately but today I came home to an empty house and decided to hit FTP. Just a $20+2 SnG. Nothing too exciting. Managed to take 2nd without ever catching a big pocket pair or coin flips. What I really need to work on is my heads up play. I'm just not picking my spots well.

Iggy busted from the ME. The magic run is over. But what a run it was, and thanks to Iggy and Pauly we bloggers got to live vicariously through the whole thing. Even more inspiring than Moneymaker, he makes me want to take my shot.

I remember the first time I ever played poker in Vegas I hit a bad beat jackpot at the Luxor. We were playing 7-card stud and I had quad fours on 5th street. The bitter old rock at the other end of the table made a straight flush and I couldn't understand why the guy next to me was telling me I had won money, a lot of money (for me at the time). I was so shocked and stunned when they counted out my $1,400 that I literally couldn't speak and had to go back to my room and lay down. If I cashed in the Main Event they might have to carry me out on a stretcher.

Congrats to Iggy. But it sounds like he's been bitten by the bug and is already dreaming of next year.

3/45

After losing a couple of heads up Sngs - in one match there were two straight flushes, including the last hand that knocked me out- I decided to try my hand at a little MTT. Decided to play a 45 player MTT on FTP. Got knocked down to a pretty small stack but managed to battle my way back to be in the top 5 for most of the later part of the tournament. With 2 tables left, the top four stacks were all at our table. When we were down to 10 we had the 4 biggest stacks and the smallest stack. He managed to hang on for a while until I made the comment "cue the Rocky theme song" after he won a hand. Of course that was the kiss of death and busted out on the very next hand.

Not only does it feel good to cash, it feels even better to have hung tough and protect a small stack and manage to make it to final table, especially considering I never had aces, kings or jacks and only had queens once and that wasn't until the final table.

Blogger Tourney Recap

OK. Now that I'm done kicking around our imaginary dog (Mrs. T threatened to call the imaginary SPCA), I can sit back and reflect. As we were making dinner, Mrs. T asked me if I had fun and without hesitation I said "yes." I got to play poker for a couple of hours with a bunch of bloggers and experience the dream. Now, I have to admit going in I had no illusions of winning it all; I just wanted to play well and go deep. But as we got closer and closer to the final table I started to wonder if it was really possible.

Early on I payed fairly tight, but of course I couldn't pass up the chance to play the hammer:



Didn't catch many hands early on but I was able to make a few moves and take a few pots. My image must have been pretty tight because I showed only a few hands. Got lucky with a couple of outright steals, then when we hit the final table I got hit with the deck. I had KK twice in a row, Tens, Jacks twice, AK twice in a row. At one point I limped on the button with 45s and flopped the straight.

Going into 4 handed play I had about 50% of the chips and that's where it went all horribly wrong. Mistake number 1: I limped with the HAMMER. Shoulda raised. Mistake number 2: I called a fair-sized bet with a gutshot (4 6 8). Mistake 3: I called an all-in on the turn with a double-gutter. Of course, had I won, I would have been the massive chip leader and got to type "HAMMER!" Instead, I doubled up the second place person to give them the chip lead. And that's when the dream began to die a little piece at a time.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. I learned a few things, got to chase a dream and can walk away knowing that I can hang with the bloggers.

Blogger Tourney update

At the first break I'm 5th out of 59 remaining. I've caught a few breaks. Played the sooted hammer once for a win. More later.

2nd Break: 6th of 14 left. The smaller stacks are shoving with impunity. Going to keep grinding away.

Out: 4th (of 122). Blech. Oh well. It was a great ride. 4th was just as good as 2nd or 10th or DFL. Sucked out with AQ vs. AK to take a chip lead and managed to blow if trying to play the hammer against 2 pair. In my defense, I had a double gutter and would have had more than half the chips if I had caught. But ultimately it was my downfall.

Congrats to Lightning36 for taking it down. At least I feel a little better that the person who took me out went on to win it. Thanks be to AlCan'tHang for putting together the blogger tournament.

Win and Loss(es)

To prepare for today's Blogger tournament on Full Tilt, I decided to play a 1-table sit-n-go. At the same time I was playing Settlers with Mrs. T and the Q. While I was successful on Full Tilt, Mrs. T went 2-0 and handed me my ass on a plate in Settlers. It was a combination of strategically placed settlements and a bunch of lucky rolls; 12 (where she had a settlement) was rolled three times in one game while 2 (where I had my settlement) wasn't rolled once. I was on a bit of tilt towards the end. Luckily I had pocket Kings over Queens hold up when were down to three to mollify me a little bit.

I don't know what it is about FT that I don't like. Maybe it's just because I started on Ultimate Bet but I just like UB's tables better. The whole avatar thing on FT was really annoying; I know you can hide them, but when I started either you couldn't hide them or it just took me a while to realize how to hide them. I do like that you can play HORSE sit-n-gos on FTP. I'm slowly adjusting, but you know what they say about old dogs.

Looking forward to the Blogger Tourney on FT today. I realize my chances are slim, but 122 to 1 ain't too bad. Besides, I expect there to be a few empty chairs so really it's probably closer to a 100 to 1 shot. And being my only realistic chance at going to the WSOP this year, what have I got to lose? If nothing else it will be an hour or two of entertaining play.

Wish me luck.

Short and sweet

Jumped on Full Tilt just to check on the Blogger tournament going on this weekend. For some reason I put it down on the Calendar as happening Sunday when it's actually happening Saturday. Of course I invited some friends over for a BBQ at the exact same time. Arrrgh. Only 46 entrants so it won't be an all day affair, but what kind of host will I be if I just neglect my guests? Maybe I'll jump on and play ultra aggressive hoping to build a stack quickly and then I can sit out until the final table. hmmmmm... Or I can realize that my friends matter more than some lousy $2,000 buy-in to the WSOP.

So while I was there I decided to just play one heads up Sit-n-go. It was over in three hands.
Hand 1 (on button): I limp, he raises, I fold.
Hand 2: He bets pot, I call with J9o. Flop comes J high, I check raise, he folds.
Hand 3: I limp with AJc, he bets pot, I raise pot, he goes all in with red 6s. Flop comes A J x with two diamonds. Turn is another diamond and I'm bending over ready to get reamed but instead the river is another Ace. Thank you and good night.