About 3 hours into today’s $300 6-max, I got moved to a table with two Pocket Fives superstars. One was to my immediate right, and one two seats to my left. We tangled in a few interesting spots, and while I definitely got the best of the one on my right, the results were more mixed vs. the one on my left:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 170/340 Blinds 25 Ante (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB (t38915)
UTG (t29428)
MP (t12937)
CO (t32263)
Hero (Button) (t19680)
SB (t11504)
Hero’s M: 29.82
Preflop: Hero is Button with K
, Q
2 folds, CO bets t680, Hero raises to t1555, 2 folds, CO calls t875
Flop: (t3770) 3
, Q
, 8 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets t1666, CO raises to t5433, Hero raises to t9200, 1 fold
Total pot: t14636
Results:
Hero didn’t show K, Q.
Outcome: Hero won t14636
Against better players I would flat the check-raise and get it in on the turn, but I think this guy is giving up his bluffs like 95% of the time, so it’s better to get the money in on the flop.
So then he tries to steal my blind with the old raise-bet-and-give-up technique:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 200/400 Blinds 50 Ante (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP (t40785)
CO (t28738)
Button (t13087)
SB (t26624)
Hero (BB) (t26179)
UTG (t9314)
Hero’s M: 29.09
Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, J
4 folds, SB bets t1200, Hero calls t800
Flop: (t2700) 6, 3
, Q (2 players)
SB bets t1374, Hero calls t1374
Turn: (t5448) 7 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t1888, 1 fold
Total pot: t5448
Results:
Hero didn’t show 9, J.
Outcome: Hero won t5448
It wasn’t so easy vs. the guy on my left:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 140/280 Blinds 25 Ante (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB (t19657)
UTG (t6644)
MP (t7615)
CO (t13190)
Hero (Button) (t10593)
SB (t7010)
Hero’s M: 18.58
Preflop: Hero is Button with K, 3
3 folds, Hero bets t560, 1 fold, BB calls t280
Flop: (t1410) 7, A, A (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks
Turn: (t1410) 2 (2 players)
BB bets t889, Hero calls t889
River: (t3188) 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks
Total pot: t3188
Results:
Hero had K, 3 (one pair, Aces).
BB had 2, 5 (two pair, Aces and twos).
Outcome: BB won t3188
Although I have some showdown value, I think I ought to bet the river here (I was thinking that even before I saw his hand). I think something like half-pot wins if for me damn near 100%. I felt stupid after this one.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 140/280 Blinds 25 Ante (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button (t21776)
SB (t6314)
BB (t7565)
UTG (t13140)
Hero (MP) (t9094)
CO (t6820)
Hero’s M: 15.95
Preflop: Hero is MP with J, 10
1 fold, Hero bets t560, 1 fold, Button raises to t999, 2 folds, Hero calls t439
Flop: (t2568) 5, 6, 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t1555, Hero folds
Total pot: t2568
Results:
Button didn’t show
Outcome: Button won t2568
Not much I can do about that one.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 200/400 Blinds 50 Ante (6 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB (t46470)
UTG (t25433)
MP (t11207)
CO (t15636)
Hero (Button) (t27953)
SB (t18028)
Hero’s M: 31.06
Preflop: Hero is Button with J, 4
3 folds, Hero bets t800, 1 fold, BB calls t400
Flop: (t2100) 6, 4, J (2 players)
BB bets t1355, Hero raises to t3888, BB raises to t8888, Hero raises to t13888, BB raises to t45620 (All-In), Hero calls t13215 (All-In)
Turn: (t56306) 5 (2 players, 2 all-in)
River: (t56306) 10 (2 players, 2 all-in)
Total pot: t56306
Results:
Hero had J, 4 (two pair, Jacks and fours).
BB had A, 9 (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: BB won t56306
LOL donkaments. To his credit, he did give me room to 4-bet him rather than just jamming the nut draw, which is good because he actually has a very good bluff-catcher in addition to a big draw. Basically just a cooler, but annoying because we were two of the bigger stacks in the tournament.
Hand 1: Nice.
I take it one does not have to be a wCPP to be a Pocket Fives superstar.
Hand 2: Did you float because you knew he’d probably give up if he had nothing?
Hand 3: He might have called anyway, as you’ve played it like you either have an ace or air or maybe a diamond draw. I don’t think checking is stupid. He could easily have pure mountain air for his turn bet.
Hand 4: Routine.
Hand 5: He’s only a 68:32 dog. That’s almost as good as the nuts, isn’t it?
Even against TPGK he’s still a 45% dog.
I gotta start playing more tournaments.
Hand 1. WCPP = World Class Poker Player? If so, you’re quite right. It’s what tilts me the most about these guys. They are worshipped as poker gods when in fact most of them are relatively transparent Level 2 thinkers.
Hand 2. Yep. See above 🙂
Hand 3: I dunno. I agree he could easily have air, which is why I check, but I don’t think he expects me to play air this way. I don’t see him check-calling anything that doesn’t beat any of his perception of my value range, which is a convoluted way of saying he probably c/f bottom pair.
Hand 5: I can’t fault him for how he played this one, just annoying.
Sayeth foucault:
“Hand 1. WCPP = World Class Poker Player? If so, you’re quite right. It’s what tilts me the most about these guys. They are worshipped as poker gods when in fact most of them are relatively transparent Level 2 thinkers.”
I ain’t saying anything you don’t already know when I point out that this is epidemic in the poker pundit/TV poker celeb class. Also that a lot of these guys have the ethics of a rattlesnake and/or have huge addictions to drugs/alcohol/gambling, but you dare not say anything without hard proof, which you almost never have.
But a lot of people fall for the con.
A few years ago I was playing 20/40 limit Hold’em at the Mirage while some WPT or WSOP circuit thingy was going on over at Bellagio. Professional railbird/all-around-scumbag Sam Grizzle sat down at the table. There was this tourist kid from who knows where who went completely gaga at having Sam ****ing Grizzle at the table. The kid’s asking for Sam’s autograph, telling him what a big fan he is, blah blah blah. You’d think Elizabeth Taylor had sat down.
And the kid wasn’t the only one at the table clearly in awe of this dirtbag. They obviously didn’t know the first thing about him, except that they had seen him on TV.
If he could play poker, that would be one thing. But Grizzle’s “A” game couldn’t beat a 4/8 table full of drunken off-duty poker dealers. He was just terrible, and the only thing he had going for him was that all his running off at the mouth get people on tilt.
IIRC he dropped about $2500 in that session. I know he cashed two $1000 chips to buy in, plus had some other chips, and he blew through all of it, doing things like playing J6s in a raised pot in LHE. He left the table with maybe 200 left, and the kid is still carrying on about how great it was to play against the great Sam Grizzle.
Jeez loueeze.