I played a bunch of tournaments yesterday and some cash tables as well, including a substantial amout of 5/10 NL. I’ll get my tournament whining out of the way early. Most of what I played went badly, though I came close to winning a fourth WSOP seat. I was in kind of rough shape, then tripled up holding AK against two idiots with AQ on a QJT flop. With a stack of like 5K, I’d raised to 1K after a guy limped for 200. I got called in two spots, so when all the money went in on that flop, I figured I was at least going to have to dodge some outs from a set or two pair or flush draw or something. Imagine how happy I was to see two people drawing three outs to a chop or some very unlikely runner runner hands.
Anyhow, after that I built up a very nice stack, getting as high as second in chips at one point. I lost half my stack running an overpair into a badly played set, thankfully the guy was a moron or I would have lost it all. Here’s where it got really gross:
60 players left, 35 seats to be won, blinds 400/800. Action folds to SB, who is table leader with like 35K. He opens to 2400. My note on him from a prior session read: “Limps KQ UTG and cannot fold ever.” I jam AJo for 12.5K, he INSTANTLY calls with K3s. Flop KTx, turn gives me a flush draw, I miss everything on the river. If I hit, I have average stack and like 60-70% chance of winning another seat.
Bah. I dropped a ton of money onto tournaments without cashing in anything, but I had a nice run at 2/4, 3/6, and 5/10 NL that more than made up for it. One of the first big pots I won was against a guy who’s probably one of the toughest in that game, very smart and aggressive. This was the second time he’d seen me make a squeeze, and I felt that his flat call in the SB was very unlikely to AK, pretty unlikely to be QQ-KK, and rather unlikely to be AA. I figured his range to consist primarily of medium to strong pairs, with air and hands that dominate me roughly balancing each other out at the two extremes:
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold’em, $10 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero ($1134.50)
UTG ($1177.50)
MP ($208)
CO ($975)
Button ($967.50)
SB ($1845.50)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Qd, Ah.
2 folds, CO raises to $35, 1 fold, SB calls $30, Hero raises to $150, CO folds, SB raises to $1850.5 (All-In), Hero calls $984.50 (All-In).
Flop: ($3020) Ks, 6h, Ac (2 players, 2 all-in).
Turn: ($3020) 2d (2 players, 2 all-in)
River: ($3020) 4h (2 players, 2 all-in)
Final Pot: $3020
I outraced his Jacks. Meanwhile, at another table, there is this giant donator, one of the worst I’ve ever played against. At first, he was just showing some crazy bluffs, and I didn’t fully appreciate what a maniac he was. In this hand, for instance, I thought I’d have to show a little weakness if I wanted him to make a big play at me:
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold’em, $10 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
BB ($1000)
UTG ($1125.90)
Hero ($1061)
CO ($1287)
Button ($3932.25)
SB ($990)
Preflop: Hero is MP with As, Js.
UTG calls $10, Hero raises to $45, 4 folds, UTG calls $35.
Flop: ($105) Ac, 3d, 5c (2 players)
UTG bets $105, Hero calls $105.
Turn: ($315) Ad (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks.
River: ($315) 6d (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $111, UTG raises to $648, Hero calls $537.
Final Pot: $1611
He had Kc 2c for a flush draw. Had I known more about him, I would have bet the turn, and I’m very sure we would have gotten it in. Oh well, he tried to tilt off the rest to me the very next hand:
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold’em, $10 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
SB ($990)
BB ($327.90)
Hero ($1871)
MP ($1287)
CO ($3932.25)
Button ($985)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with 6d, 6c.
Hero raises to $35, 4 folds, BB raises to $110, Hero raises to $1605, BB calls $217.90 (All-In).
Flop: ($1937.90) Ad, 5d, Ac (2 players, 1 all-in) .
Turn: ($1937.90) 4c (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: ($1937.90) 8h (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: $1937.90
His AT won the race, but he quickly found a way to give it all away. Dmitri Nobles stacked him, so it wasn’t a lost cause, but I still didn’t end up seeing that money again. I was praying the fish would sit back in, which he did, but with some random number like $250.70, obviously all he had left in his account. He blew it quick and was gone. But there are more fish in the sea:
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold’em, $10 BB (6 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
SB ($1227)
BB ($968.75)
UTG ($1077)
MP ($985)
Hero ($2894.60)
Button ($1167)
Preflop: Hero is CO with 6h, Ah.
2 folds, Hero raises to $35, 1 fold, SB calls $30, BB calls $25.
Flop: ($105) 2s, 6c, As (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $69, SB calls $69, BB raises to $300, Hero calls $231, SB folds.
Turn: ($774) 4h (2 players)
BB bets $633.75 (All-In), Hero calls $633.75.
River: ($2041.50) 9h (2 players, 1 all-in).
Final Pot: $2041.50
The guy had A5. Simply horrible.
About an hour later, the mega donator returned. Hurray! He only sat in with $400, but that’s better than nothing. He actually ended up putting me in a very tough spot:
Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold’em, $10 BB (5 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($1128)
SB ($405)
BB ($1109)
Hero ($3934.35)
MP ($1558)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with Jc, Js.
Hero raises to $35, 2 folds, SB raises to $115, BB raises to $380, Hero raises to $3969.35 (All-In), SB calls $290 (All-In), BB calls $729 (All-In).
Flop: ($5483.35) 2s, 2d, 4s (3 players, 3 all-in).
Turn: ($5483.35) Tc (3 players, 3 all-in)
River: ($5483.35) Ks (3 players, 3 all-in)
Final Pot: $5483.35
The fish is the SB. His 3-betting range pre-flop is super-wide. The BB is the very good, aggressive player whose JJ I beat with AQ a while ago. He knows the fish is a maniac and 3-betting wide, so I felt he’d be very capable of 4-betting to isolate him with an appropriately wide range. He obviously needs some showdown value, because the maniac isn’t folding and he’s committed to my whole stack, but I still felt he could have hands like AT and 99, not to mention the fact that I’m ahead of fish’s range gives me an overlay for the main pot. Anyway, the BB had QQ, and the fish had KT. Look who won. Bastard sat out instantly, too, though I wouldn’t be surprised if he dropped it somewhere before the end of the night.