FTOPS Main Event and the Rest of Sunday

The day started well enough. I began my Sunday earlier than usual to play the $240 knock-out FTPS event and the Poker Stars $2 Million Frequent Player Point tournament. I got up nice stacks in both, and did manage to cash for a few hundred in the FPP (though in fairness they paid 1/3 of the field).

FTOPS Event 19

I took some big pots early off a huge fish in the FTOPS. I also had a solid regular from the cash games I frequent to my immediate right and got the chance to make a play at him:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 30/60 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

BTN: 5,675
SB: 2,150
Hero (BB): 5,025
UTG: 3,065
UTG+1: 5,180
UTG+2: 4,095
MP1: 4,950
MP2: 1,110
CO: 1,620

Pre-Flop: (90) 8 7 dealt to Hero (BB)
7 folds, SB raises to 150, Hero calls 90

Flop: (300) 9 6 7 (2 Players)
SB bets 210, Hero calls 210

Turn: (720) A (2 Players)
SB bets 420, Hero raises to 4,665 and is All-In, SB folds

Results: 1,560 Pot
Hero mucked 8 7 and WON 1,560 (+780 NET)

It’s often not great to fast-play a big draw on the turn, since you only have one street to catch, but I like this turn shove for a few reasons:

1. The A is a good card for him to bluff, so my pair could be good.

2. Call flop, raise turn looks like a slowplay. Granted this isn’t the best flop to slowplay, but in a blind battle it wouldn’t be inconceivable for me to have a set or straight. It’s a pretty crappy feeling to hold something like AJ in his shoes. That isn’t to say he’s going to fold it, but he might.

3. It worked.

After this I had up a nice stack, a bit of which I lost in a coin flip with the same fish who gave me many of them to me. For the next two hours, I pretty much just maintained, by which point I was getting kind of shallow. I shoved Q3 from the SB into a BB who had a stack of about 12x (before posting). I probably ought to run some numbers on this, because I think it’s close. With no antes, it’s any easy fold, but the antes on FTP are quite late, which made me want to get aggressive. Unfortunately, he had an easy call with 99.

That left me short enough myself that I had to push or fold. I actually managed to pick up JJ, only to run it into AK in the BB. Needless to say, I lost the flip.

Stars Million

In the Stars Million, I picked up an early stack against this genius:

Poker Stars, $200 + $15 NL Hold’em Tournament, 50/100 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

Hero (MP1): 9,075
MP2: 17,310
CO: 9,425
BTN: 8,425
SB: 9,525
BB: 18,62
UTG: 9,525
UTG+1: 7,725
UTG+2: 17,675

Pre-Flop: (150) 8 8 dealt to Hero (MP1)
UTG calls 100, 2 folds, Hero calls 100, 4 folds, BB checks

Flop: (350) 6 5 A (3 Players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets 225, BB folds, UTG calls 225

Turn: (800) 9 (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: (800) 7 (2 Players)
UTG bets 1,400, Hero raises to 4,750, UTG calls 3,350

Results: 10,300 Pot
Hero showed 8 8 (a straight, Five to Nine) and WON 10,300 (+5,225 NET)
UTG mucked A K and LOST (-5,075 NET)

I may actually have been able to stack him on the river, it seemed like he had clicked “call any”. But I am always worried that these otherwise very loose players will panic when all their chips are in jeopardy, so I decided to bet about half his stack.

There was another guy who would always open for like 4 or 5x the BB and often fold to a re-raise, so I made a few moves on him and got up a nice stack. I lost most of it on a flip when AJs < TT, then lost the rest when JJ < 99.

FTOPS Event 20

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 50/100 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

UTG+1: 3,470
UTG+2: 8,975
MP1: 5,215
Hero (MP2): 7,040
CO: 5,905
BTN: 3,440
SB: 6,315
BB: 2,640
UTG: 6,880

Pre-Flop: (150) K J dealt to Hero (MP2)
4 folds, Hero raises to 240, 2 folds, SB calls 190, BB calls 140

Flop: (720) 4 Q Q (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets 550, SB calls 550, BB folds

Turn: (1,820) 7 (2 Players)
SB bets 1,600, Hero raises to 6,250 and is All-In, SB folds

Results: 5,020 Pot
Hero mucked K J and WON 5,020 (+2,630 NET)

This line felt kind of weak to me, though it’s not a bad way to play a Q. I think that when it’s not a Q, it’s usually a probing bet trying to figure out how strong I was, so I went ahead and let him know that I had the nuts.

About an hour later, I lost a smallish coin flip TT < KJo, and an hour after that I picked up a big pot with AKs:

LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

SB: 7,853
BB: 5,449
UTG: 10,774
UTG+1: 4,815
UTG+2: 22,319
Hero (MP1): 4,805
MP2: 8,821
CO: 5,785
BTN: 8,477

Pre-Flop: (645) A K dealt to Hero (MP1)
UTG calls 280, 2 folds, Hero raises to 1,280, 5 folds, UTG calls 1,000

Flop: (3,205) 8 5 A (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: (3,205) J (2 Players)
UTG bets 1,400, Hero raises to 3,500 and is All-In, UTG calls 2,100

River: (10,205) 6 (2 Players – 1 is All-In)

Results: 10,205 Pot

UTG showed K J (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-4,805 NET)
Hero showed A K (a pair of Aces) and WON 10,205 (+5,400 NET)

I managed to win a coin flip, AQ > 44, and then there was the guy who just wouldn’t let go:

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold’em Tournament, 170/340 Blinds, 25 Ante, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

BB: 8,575
UTG: 4,234
UTG+1: 5,795
UTG+2: 39,293
MP1: 22,322
Hero (MP2): 10,050
CO: 19,932
BTN: 8,746
SB: 9,077

Pre-Flop: (735) J Q dealt to Hero (MP2)
4 folds, Hero raises to 775, CO folds, BTN calls 775, 2 folds

Flop: (2,285) 4 2 K (2 Players)
Hero bets 1,250, BTN calls 1,250

Turn: (4,785) 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets 3,000, BTN calls 3,000

River: (10,785) 9 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Results: 10,785 Pot
Hero showed J Q (a pair of Nines) and LOST (-5,050 NET)
BTN showed J J (two pair, Jacks and Nines) and WON 10,785 (+5,735 NET)

I was sure he had a pair worse than K’s, though I didn’t expect it be quite as good as J’s. That shouldn’t make a difference, but psychologically, it does. I really need to stop being so aggressive in tournaments.

But it’s OK Because….

One nice pot at 10/20 makes up for everything:

Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

SB: $6,618
BB: $3,554
UTG: $5,205
CO: $7,504
Hero (BTN): $2,355

Pre-Flop: K J dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, CO calls $20, Hero raises to $90, 2 folds, CO calls $70

Flop: ($210) A T 9 (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero bets $165, CO calls $165

Turn: ($540) 8 (2 Players)
CO checks, Hero bets $400, CO calls $400

River: ($1,340) J (2 Players)
CO bets $1,900, Hero calls $1,700 and is All-In

Results: $4,740 Pot
CO showed Q 6 (a flush, Ace high) and LOST (-$2,355 NET)
Hero showed K J (a flush, Ace high) and WON $4,737 (+$2,382 NET)

As you can see, this guy was the table fish. The wait list was 30-deep to get on this table. Of course, I didn’t give up my seat until he left. I was just trying to decide how much I should bet on the river when he went ahead and shoved for me! Cooler for him, of course, but that’s why don’t play Q6s.

Thank goodness FTOPS is over so there’s no more tournament temptation and I get back to cash games.