Weekend Tournament Update

I played a few majors this weekend and quite a bit in the way of cash games. I'm gonna save the cash games for another thread. The 3 majors I played in were Saturday's 200k and Sunday's 500k on Party and the 200k on FT on Sunday. I'll share a hand history from each tournaemnt that really exemplifies my run. As is becoming frustratingly normal, I did not money in any of the tournaments, but I think I played well in all of them, with the exception of a major mistake in the FT 200k.

I managed to satellite into all 3 tournaments on my first try. This is a good thing, because my bankroll now sucks. 4-5 month long downswings are no fun. 4-5 month long upswings are much more fun. I'm ready for one.

Party 200k

I went into the tournament intending to be much more aggressive beforehand. I had been having trouble building stacks lately, and I wanted to be able to take advantage of the weaker players in the tournament. This started out well, as I picked up 2000 chips on hand 3 when I flopped queens full, waited for an ace to hit and extracted chips from A3 who could not fold. From that point on, I just kept getting drawn out on (a theme that would extend to the cash games ALL WEEKEND). My LAG play was really working, because I was getting called down by weaker hands - they'd just keep hitting. A few notable occurances were in blind vs blind battles with the player on my left. Twice he called down with a weaker pair until the river, when he spiked two pair (and I paid). On two other occasions ace high called me down to the river when the ace spiked. I expect this sort of crap in a limit game, but not no limit. Stunning. Needless to say, this ate away at my stack, but eventually they stopped hitting and I was able to rebuild a decent stack when...


NL Texas Hold'em Trny:23513726 Level:4 Blinds(100/200) - Saturday, May 13, 23:05:38 ET 2006
Table $200K Guaranteed Saturday(685825) Table #27 (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Weinglas ( $3359 )
Seat 2: PrtyIsRigged ( $5804 )
Seat 4: THEOSU7 ( $8566 )
Seat 5: charlie1896 ( $9504 )
Seat 6: ARDIE777 ( $5338 )
Seat 7: freshfish952 ( $12188 )
Seat 8: ScoobyDrew ( $5898 )
Seat 10: HerrKonig ( $2098 )
Seat 3: jeppecool ( $7260 )
Seat 9: JyleHB ( $6843 )
Trny:23513726 Level:4
Blinds(100/200)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to THEOSU7 [ Qs Qd ]
ScoobyDrew folds.
JyleHB calls [200].
HerrKonig folds.
Weinglas calls [200].
PrtyIsRigged folds.
jeppecool folds.
THEOSU7 raises [1000].
charlie1896 folds.
ARDIE777 folds.
freshfish952 folds.
JyleHB folds.
Weinglas calls [800].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9c, 9s, 9h ]
Weinglas checks.
THEOSU7 bets [2400].
Weinglas is all-In [2359]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4h ]
** Dealing River ** [ 5c ]
THEOSU7 shows [ Qs, Qd ] a full house, Nines full of queens.
Weinglas shows [ 9d, Jd ] four of a kind, nines.
THEOSU7 wins 41 chips from side pot #1 with a full house, Nines full of queens.
Weinglas wins 7218 chips from the main pot with four of a kind, nines.


Yeah.

A couple orbits later I won a coinflip (? wtf? that's nuts!) with AK against JJ. Unfortunately, from that point on I tried to make some chips, but got reraised a few times preflop, then doubled a shorty who had TT with my JT. Vicious Reality finally looked my way and I lost a coinflip to go out.


Party 500k

I really liked how I played this tournament. I didn't go in planning to be aggressive, but the situation presented itself quickly. I lost a bunch of chips on the first hand when I missed a 14 outer (surprise), and within a few orbits I went down to 2k on the following hand:



NL Texas Hold'em Trny:23548617 Level:1 Blinds(20/40) - Sunday, May 14, 16:45:10 ET 2006
Table $500K Guaranteed(686820) Table #59 (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Nokia456 ( $3620 )
Seat 2: Erdnase ( $6715 )
Seat 3: Red_Orchid ( $4880 )
Seat 4: Kvelerslange ( $6640 )
Seat 5: THEOSU7 ( $4345 )
Seat 6: JaMesklean ( $4225 )
Seat 7: boca33432 ( $5145 )
Seat 8: Kublahj ( $4830 )
Seat 9: dontneednuts ( $4880 )
Seat 10: almostsane ( $4600 )
Trny:23548617 Level:1
Blinds(20/40)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to THEOSU7 [ 4c 3c ]
Erdnase raises [150].
Red_Orchid folds.
Kvelerslange folds.
THEOSU7 calls [150].
JaMesklean folds.
boca33432 folds.
Kublahj folds.
dontneednuts folds.
almostsane folds.
Nokia456 folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5h, Ah, Qh ]
Erdnase bets [240].
THEOSU7 calls [240].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9c ]
Erdnase checks.
THEOSU7 bets [450].
Erdnase calls [450].
** Dealing River ** [ 3s ]
Erdnase checks.
THEOSU7 bets [1500].
Erdnase will be using his time bank for this hand.
Erdnase calls [1500].
THEOSU7 shows [ 4c, 3c ] a pair of threes.
Erdnase shows [ Kh, Kc ] a pair of kings.
Erdnase wins 4740 chips from the main pot with a pair of kings.


I really love my play on this hand. I called the UTG raise with a suited connector hoping to win a big pot. The bet on the flop was pretty quick and odd. I say odd because previously he had won a pot with top pair when he used the slider (I'm an unusually big proponent of slider tells on Party. My default is that someone who occasionally uses the slider and occasionally types in a value uses the slider to bet for value, but types in a number because he has a specific purpose for his hand.) I did not think he had the ace, so I decided to float to evaluate the turn (and maybe spike a black deuce). When he instachecked the turn I put him on kings, with likely the Kh. I think this player would have fired one more shot with nonheart kings to get me to fold "my draw". I bet the turn to set up a river bet. When he called and checked the river I was about 95% sure of his holding. I tried to make a bet that he could not call. I was wrong. I still love the play, it just didn't work.

From the "I wish I had known this then" file - Erdnase lost about 40% of his stack later on with 4th pair on a 3flush board, then busted with kings to an ace on board. Oops.

I was able to grind it back, though. I doubled through KJ with AJ on a jack high flop. I could do no better than to slowly add occasional chips when I was fortunate to go against a player with even fewer chips than I had when I had aces. That finally put me over 6k in the tournament, but I really struggled to add chips. The player on my right was very aggressive and getting involved in some big pots with some very marginal hands. Whenever I got something I planned to bring in for a raise, he raised in front of me. I wasn't going to pop him back with hands like QJ or KJ because he was apt to call with hands that beat mine that others would have laid down. I planned to wait to find a spot to pop him back, but I never got that hand. I was doing all I could to maintain my stack. Finally, a big stack who covered the table joined, and on hand 1 raised to 4BB. With 99 in the SB I pushed. He had aces, typically. Bye.


Full Tilt 200k

I really played well here up until the mistake mentioned above. Early on in the double stack tournaments I try to get involved cheap and make a big hand - busting a player who cannot fold. I wasn't able to do that this time, but I was able to basically maintain my starting stack of 3k as opposed to dropping to around 2k or so (as usually happens when I don't make a big hand.) I finally built a nice stack when, in a 3 way pot, AA held over KQ on a JT6 flop. I started getting more aggressive, and my stack kept swinging back and forth as usually happens when I'm aggro - I miss draws to lose chips but I induce folds to gain chips. I was able to chip up to a sizable stack when my bustout hand occured - a hand I misplayed.



Full Tilt Poker Game #637724897: $200,000 Guarantee! (3906433), Table 49 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:56:15 ET - 2006/05/14
Seat 1: DrewBoski (15,720)
Seat 2: DoctoJones (4,750)
Seat 3: festermouly (5,405)
Seat 4: Antoshka (10,210)
Seat 5: terrible_kid (2,835)
Seat 6: BJH74 (9,950)
Seat 7: Osogood (5,870)
Seat 8: LebanonJon (4,845)
Seat 9: THEOSU (10,845)
DrewBoski antes 25
DoctoJones antes 25
festermouly antes 25
Antoshka antes 25
terrible_kid antes 25
BJH74 antes 25
Osogood antes 25
LebanonJon antes 25
THEOSU antes 25
terrible_kid posts the small blind of 150
BJH74 posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to THEOSU [Ah Kd]
Osogood folds
LebanonJon folds
THEOSU raises to 750
DrewBoski calls 750
DoctoJones folds
festermouly folds
Antoshka folds
terrible_kid folds
BJH74 calls 450
*** FLOP *** [6d Kc 7h]
BJH74 bets 1,500
THEOSU raises to 5,000
DrewBoski raises to 14,945, and is all in
BJH74 folds
THEOSU calls 5,070, and is all in
DrewBoski shows [7d 7s]
THEOSU shows [Ah Kd]
Uncalled bet of 4,875 returned to DrewBoski
*** TURN *** [6d Kc 7h] [Kh]
THEOSU: gl all
*** RIVER *** [6d Kc 7h Kh] [5h]
DrewBoski shows a full house, Sevens full of Kings
THEOSU shows three of a kind, Kings
DrewBoski wins the pot (24,265) with a full house, Sevens full of Kings
THEOSU stands up


I had been calling bets on flops (which sounds contrarian to my aggro play, but it's consistent the way I play it, shush) so I raised for 3 reasons: 1) mix up my play, 2) isolate the BB and 3) get it in here against a weaker hand. One out of three ain't bad.

In reality, I do not mind the raise here. If I raise, I'm likely forcing myself to call the BB's push, but when this player "coldpushed" - I was beat. I even said outloud that he had the set, but I still called. I invested 60% of my stack, I was getting 4-1 on my money, I had TPTK. I still had to fold. I was nearly dead. I'm quite disappointed in myself for this hand.


Anyway, that's my weekend tournament report. Later tonight or tomorrow I'll post my weekend cash game report. I'll try to lay off the bad beat stories, though they played in integral part of the experience.