I didn’t play the $25K, but the $2500 was plenty big enough for me. Emily and I even rearranged Easter brunch plans so that I could play it, which turned out to be a huge disappointment, as I lasted fewer than ten minutes against AJKHoosier1, my first round opponent. Obviously one of the most respected tournament players online was no slouch, but he also seemed to be running pretty hot. To wit:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $2500+$100 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) (t4975)
Button (t5025)
Hero’s M: 66.33
Preflop: Hero is SB with 3
, K
Button bets t100, Hero calls t50
Flop: (t200) 6, 2, J
(2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t125, Hero calls t125
Turn: (t450) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks
River: (t450) 5
(2 players)
Hero bets t250, Button calls t250
Total pot: t950
Results:
Button had J, 4 (two pair, Jacks and sixes).
Hero had 3, K (one pair, sixes).
Outcome: Button won t950
This might not seem like “running hot”, but the outcome of run-of-the-mill spots like this often determine the winner of a heads up tournament between two good players. The variance is through the room. This is just a standard spot where his range ought to be ridiculously wide, I turn my hand into a bluff on the river to knock out Ax and better Kx, and he has top pair.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $2500+$100 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (Button) (t3175)
SB (t6825)
Hero’s M: 42.33
Preflop: Hero is Button with 8, 9
Hero bets t150, SB calls t100
Flop: (t300) Q, 10, 9 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks
Turn: (t300) 10 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t125, SB raises to t450, Hero calls t325
River: (t1200) 7 (2 players)
SB bets t950, Hero folds
Total pot: t1200
Results:
SB didn’t show
Outcome: SB won t1200
Obviously didn’t get to see his hand here, so I may just have been outplayed, but based on his timing and just generally how he plays, I’m pretty sure he had it.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $2500+$100 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (SB) (t4525)
Button (t5475)
Hero’s M: 60.33
Preflop: Hero is SB with J, Q
Button bets t100, Hero calls t50
Flop: (t200) Q, A, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t125, Hero calls t125
Turn: (t450) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t325, Hero calls t325
River: (t1100) 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t750, Hero calls t750
Total pot: t2600
Results:
Button had 8, Q (flush, Ace high).
Hero mucked J, Q (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: Button won t2600
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $2500+$100 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (2 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (Button) (t2925)
SB (t7075)
Hero’s M: 39.00
Preflop: Hero is Button with A, K
Hero bets t100, SB calls t50
Flop: (t200) 2, Q, 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks
Turn: (t200) A (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t125, SB raises to t440, Hero raises to t1010, SB raises to t6975 (All-In), Hero calls t1815 (All-In)
River: (t5850) 6 (2 players, 2 all-in)
Total pot: t5850
Results:
Hero had A, K (one pair, Aces).
SB had 5, 5 (three of a kind, fives).
Outcome: SB won t5850
Honestly, this last one might have been a little tilty, though it’s obviously a shit spot. I was trying to get him to 4-bet shove a draw on the turn, which I doubt he does.
In the $250, I draw a Round 1 Bye, which is pretty crazy considering that I’m pretty sure only one person out of the 1500+ field got one. In Round 2, I drew the curiously named Roothlus2. A quick google revealed that his last name is Levy, leading me to conclude that he is likely the brother of Adam “Roothlus” Levy. I say brother and not multi-account because he was way weaker than the real Roothlus, and I polished him off pretty handily.
My Round 3 opponent wasn’t super-tough either, but he was better at making small bluffs than randoms usually are and I didn’t adapt well. I never really caught the cards I wanted to play back at him, and eventually we got pretty shallow with him having a substantial chiplead. I open jammed KJs for about 12BB, he called with A5, and the flop came K52, giving me some hope of doubling back up to even, but the turn 5 drove the nail into the coffin.
“In the $250, I draw a Round 1 Bye, which is pretty crazy considering that I’m pretty sure only one person out of the 1500+ field got one.”
According to the site, there were 1550 runners.
http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/scoop/2009/scoop-blakeb0921-tears-up-the-field-in-e-038417.html
So that would require a 2048-person bracket. 498, or nearly 1/3 the field had first round byes.
Hand #1 (K3o):
The board pairs on the Turn and Button is still on board. So even if the 6 doesn’t help him, isn’t it fairly likely that he has a playable hand here?
What kind of Ax or Kx would he be willing to lay down when he gets 3:1 and can see your hand for another 250? Would he lay down a small pair like 4’s?
Hand #2 (98o):
You have bottom pair on the Flop, but check to a player who at this point could be holding anything. Was this a check/raise situation that missed or did you suspect you were already beat here?
Hand #3 (Qjo): Ouch! Nuff said…
Hand #4 (AKo):
Top pair on the Turn. Does the chips have to go in here, or would you have played the hand differently, if you’d been less tilty at the time? I’m thinking that your M is 39 so you’re not really that desperate here to gamble for your life?
Thanks a lot,
/j.
Novice question: In hand #2 why do you call his checkraise on the turn with a gutshot draw and low pair? Implied odd?
Jox,
1. All he beats is an out of position float, and I didn’t think he would put me on that. I’m pretty sure this is a profitable bet, and I just happened to run into the top of his range.
2. I’m not sure what you’re asking here. I was in position, but I did choose to check back bottom pair and a gutshot just because I don’t have good equity against the hands that call/raise a bet.
4. Depends on the opponent, but here it probably wasn’t good to get it in. It’s a good spot for him to check-raise with something like a draw, because I’m rarely going to have more than one pair and often will have a bluff. Frankly AK is pretty close to the top of my range here, but sometimes that doesn’t matter.
Josh,
A very reasonable question. His check-raise represents what is sometimes called a polarized range, meaning that he will have either a very strong hand or a bluff. So I wasn’t concerned, for instance, about him having top pair. He has either trips plus or a bluff, it’s a good spot for him to bluff, and I have probably a few outs against even his better hands.
Let me emphasize again, though, that as with the AK check-raise hand, it’s very opponent-dependent and this isn’t necessarily a good call at all. That’s just what my thought process was.