The FTOPS main event started at 3PM PST. I busted the NAPT around 3:20 and booked it back up to my room to late register. Obviously immediately after experience some bad luck in a big live tournament, I wasn’t in a mindset to play the best poker of my life, but I didn’t want to miss a juicy $500 tournament. Hard to say whether that was a good decision though. Here are the two big pots that did me in:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP3 (t7733)
CO (t8986)
Button (t7340)
SB (t7032)
Hero (BB) (t8773)
UTG (t4813)
UTG+1 (t14044)
MP1 (t1738)
MP2 (t16268)
Hero’s M: 73.11
Preflop: Hero is BB with 6
, 5
1 fold, UTG+1 bets t280, 3 folds, CO calls t280, 2 folds, Hero calls t200
Flop: (t880) 4
, 7, 6
(3 players)
Hero bets t333, 1 fold, CO calls t333
Turn: (t1546) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets t1180, Hero calls t1180
River: (t3906) 7
(2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets t3470, Hero calls t3470
Total pot: t10846
Results:
Hero had 6, 5 (two pair, sevens and sixes).
CO had Q, Q (full house, Queens over sevens).
Outcome: CO won t10846
Villain’s value range is pretty thin, and most of it I’d expect to raise the flop. Then again, you just don’t see randoms bluffing off half their stacks all that often, and sure enough he had one of the few value hands that makes sense given his line. He had a really aggression factor (over a small sample), but I still don’t like this river call.
My starting table was really soft, with not a single name I recognized. Unfortunately, after about an hour I moved to a tougher table with BodogAri, Squirrely1, and URnotINdanger2, who’s a tough regular who’s given me fits at 25/50. I’d been making these tiny raises every time I had the button for the last few orbits, so I didn’t feel like I could fold any pair to URnot:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold’em Tournament, 100/200 Blinds (9 handed) – Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP3 (t11510)
CO (t11750)
Hero (Button) (t4725)
SB (t9476)
BB (t6745)
UTG (t9078)
UTG+1 (t5861)
MP1 (t25829)
MP2 (t16545)
Hero’s M: 15.75
Preflop: Hero is Button with 5, 5
6 folds, Hero bets t444, SB raises to t1100, 1 fold, Hero raises to t4725 (All-In), SB calls t3625
Flop: (t9650) 7, A, 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)
Turn: (t9650) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: (t9650) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)
Total pot: t9650
Results:
Hero had 5, 5 (one pair, fives).
SB had K, K (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: SB won t9650
Sucks that he had KK, but I don’t mind how I played this. Small pairs aren’t my favorite hands to 4-bet shove because most people calling ranges are like AK and better pairs, but here I expect Villain to raise-call AQ and maybe even AJ and to fold a decent portion of the time.