FTOPS Events #10 & #11 Preview

Event #10 is $322 Mixed Hold'em and is underway with 667 entrants. This is great news since they came up well short of the $250,000 guaranteed prize pool. In fact there is a $35,226 overlay which is about $53 a person. This might not seem like a ton of money given the stakes, but it's not nothing.

Event #11 is the biggest on my schedule (assuming I don't win my way into the $5,000 event) and is $1,000 NL Hold'em. I have no idea what size field we might be looking at at 6 pm on a Monday but they've guaranteed 1.5 million dollars so they must be expecting 1,500 players. Right now there are only 243 signed up so I'm drooling over the possibility of only 1,000 showing up. Now that would be an serious overlay.

Sunday Tournament Recap

Forgot to mention that I made the money in the $215 Sunday Warm up finishing about 300th which paid a little over $600.

Yesterday I felt like I played really well all day, but just didn't get any cards. What I got I made the most of, but you can only do so much with well timed bluffs.

When I got a few hours into the $530 NL tournament on pokerstars I finally started making some hands. We started with 995 players and 10,000 chips each. I doubled up early and by the time we were down to 400 players or so I was in 8th place with over 50,000 chips. I hovered right around that level for a while and with 300 or so players I had an interesting hand come up (Let's call it hand of the day #3)

The blinds were 400/800 with a 25 chip ante and I was in the big blind with 94 offsuit. The player one off the button raised it to 1,800 and it was folded over to me. At first glance this looks like an easy fold right? After all I have 94 and it's not even suited.

That was my first instinct as well, but after some thought I decided to call. There was already 3,425 in the pot and it would only cost me another 1,000 to see the flop giving me close to 3.5 to 1 immediate pot odds. But that's not all that was working in my favor. I would expect my opponent to bet the flop if I checked close to 100% of the time. I knew that if I hit I would win much more than the 3,425 in the pot. Also 1,000 was only 2% of my stack so I could easily afford take the chance here. If I had the same matematical situation, but it was going to cost me 10% of my stack I would almost certainly fold. Furthermore my opponent started the hand with 12,000 so no matter what happened I could only be wounded, not killed in the hand.

So I called and the flop came down 9 9 9! HA! I was hoping my opponent had a pocket pair which would mean I was all but certain to get all his chips. I checked an my opponent bet small, about 2,000. This was an obvious time for a slowplay. If my opponent missed he might bluff again on the turn or he might make something. The turn was a ten and I checked again. I was sad to see my opponent check behind me. The river was a small card and I bet 2,000 hoping to get paid off by a hand like AK. Instead of calling my opponent moved all in! It took about a nanosecond for me to call and when the cards got turned over I saw he had AA! HA!

Unfortunately I was on the other side of a bad beat a little later. The tournament paid 144 spots and while I'd started out with a great stack, I started to slip a little and everyone else started to catch up as we got closer to the money.

With 156 players left the blinds were 1000/2000 with a small ante. I got dealt KK in early position and raised it to 6,000. I was shocked, horrified and delighted all at the same time to see the player on my immediate left go all in for 55,000! I started the hand with a little over 40,000 and of course I called.

I thought my opponent could have had anything from 23 to AA and had no idea what I was going to see when the cards got turned over. It turns out I was up against J9 suited which meant I was 80% to win before the flop. After the flop which was 952 I was 82% to win. The turn was a 5 which made me 95.45% to win since a 9 and a 9 only would make my opponent the best hand. But that's what the river was and I was out. CRAP!

The edge of the money was $850, but that's not how much I lost in this pot. How much was that pot worth? Well it's pretty easy to figure out in this situation. There was $500,000 in the prize pool (Exactly $500,000 since that was the guarantee and we came up 5 players short of the 1,000 needed to make it) and I would have had almost exactly 1% of the chips in play. Since no money had been paid out yet that pot was worth about $5,000! ACK!

The total damage on the day was -$1,892. Double ACK!

The good news is my $10,000 starting bankroll for the FTOPS (I'm going to call it the FTOPS for simplicity even though I'm mixing in other stuff) is at $40,389! Hard to be upset about $1,900 when you're ahead $30,000 for the past few days!

Major Heartbreak

I got blanked in the rest of my tournaments including a MAJOR screwjob in the $530. Details coming later.

FTOPS X Event #8 Recap

Event #8 was $256 6 handed NL hold'em knockout. In my last knockout tournament I busted 16 people. This time I did just a little worse knocking out zero. I could have easily gone broke three times before I actually did so in that sense I feel like I played really well. In the end I finished 2,029th of 3,499.

In other news I've had two duds in my pokerstars schedule. The first was a $109 NLH tournament in which I finished 812th of 1,260 after getting it all in preflop with KK vs AA. The second was a $109 NLH with rebuys (I rebought right away so I was in for $209). About a half an hour in I got dealt TT vs AQ, went broke and decided not to rebuy. I didn't like my table very much and just wasn't feeling good about the tournament for some reason.

I've got one foot out the door in the $215 Razz. While it's never over until it's over I'm probably going to finish about 45th out of 72.

The good news is I'm just about in the money in the $215 Sunday Warm Up. We're down to 655, it pays 585 and I'm in 159th after taking my starting stack of 10,000 and running it up to 73,000.

Big Day Underway!

I just wanted to make a quick note to my backers that I've added a few $109 NL hold'em tournaments to my schedule and will probably not play the Omaha and Stud tournaments at the end of my schedule. Whatever I decide to do I just wanted to make it 100% clear that you all have a piece of any multitable tournaments I play on pokerstars or fulltilt today with the exception of two freerolls.

FTOPS X Event #6 Recap

I feel like I played just about every hand of this torunament well, but I made one play that was pretty thin that did me in in the end. But before I get to that let me share a few other interesting hands.

With about 120 players left I had a big hand come up against another player who had a big stack. In fact he was one of the top ten chip stacks in the tournament and I was somewhere around 20th with a little over 60,000 chips. The blinds were 600/1200 and he opened for 3,600 from the button. I was in the big blind with KK84 and decided to call. The flop came down Q84 giving me bottom two pair. I checked and my opponent bet half the pot.

His bet didn't really tell me anything about his hand since I figured he could bet half the pot with top set or total garbage. I decided to call and see what developed. The turn was a 5 which looked like a brick. I checked, again my opponent bet half the pot and again I decided to just call. I thought my two pair might be good an I figured an 8, 4 or K on the river would make me the best hand.

I got one of the cards I wanted on the river - a king. I checked hoping to get a worse hand to bet or perhaps induce a bluff. My opponent bet 14,000 which was again about half the pot. I was getting ready to move in for 45,000 when I stopped to think.

There weren't 3 of any suit out there so the only think I couldn't beat with top set was 57 which would make a straight. There was no reason to think that my opponent would have 57 in his hand, but I decided there wasn't much he could have that could call a big check raise on the river.

If he was bluffing or betting a marginal hand the whole way I wasn't going to make any more by raising and there was some non zero value in getting to see his hand. So I just called with the thought that I'd really be kicking myself for just calling if he showed me QQ. Amazingly he had 57 in his hand! If I'd raised I would have gone broke and while I was sad to lose that pot I was happy to still be alive with an average stack of around 30,000.

I built my chips back up to about 50,000 when I had a hand that made me extremely nervous. We were down to about 90 players, 6 players from the edge of the money when the playing under the gun made the minimum raise to 3,000 (the big blind was up to 1,500). I was next to act and decided to call with A8xx with the A8 of spades. Three other players called and the flop came down jack high with all spades! BINGO!

I had the total nuts, but all four other players in the pot had me covered and I could still lose to a full house. It got checked to me and I bet 13,000 which was the size of the pot. No way was I messing around versus four opponents this close to the bubble!

Everyone folded to the original raiser who reraised the pot! Like I said, I had the nuts and the logical part of me was thinking "Great! I'm getting action! The rest of me was thinking "AHHHHHHHHHH I'm going to go broke 6 spots short of the money! AHHHHHHHHHHH! I'm going to kill this guy if he beats me! AHHHHHHHHHH!"

I was hoping that he was just trying to push me off the pot. Given that we were so close to the money it would be hard for me to call with anything but the nuts or close to it. Once all the chips went in I was hoping to see total garbage or a smaller flush and dreading the possibility of a set...which is just what he had with JJ! "AHHHHHHHHHH I'm going to go broke 6 spots short of the money! AHHHHHHHHHHH! I'm going to kill this guy if he beats me! AHHHHHHHHHH!"

Amazingly the turn and the river (It felt like it took about 5 minutes for them to come out) were both bricks an I was up close to 100,000 chips!

But it was all down hill from there. I gave back about 15,000 to the same guy on the very next hand. Then I lost about 70,000 more soon after.

I got dealt 8853 in the big blind and called a small raise from the button. The flop came down 762 with two diamonds, I checked, my opponent bet the pot, I raised the pot hoping to blow him off the hand. We were exactly 1 spot short of the money and I figured he'd have a hard time calling without a set. To my shock and surprise he reraised me the pot! At this point I was faced with a big decision. His bet was something like 40,000 at this point so if I was calling I was going all the way. I'd started the hand with about 85,000 chips and my opponent had about 75,000 so even if I got it all in and missed I'd still be all but certain to make the money.

I had an open ended straight draw and an overpair so it was likely that a 4, 8 or 9 would make me the best hand. I'm not sure I was getting the right odds to draw, but in the end I decided to just go for it, because that's how I roll! It turned out he had KT66 with the KT of diamonds and I missed.

This was a bit of a questionable play, but I think it was OK. I could have folded and continued with something like 50,000 chips, but it wasn't crazy to call. Even moving up another 50 places would have only been worth about $500 more. All the money is at the final table and you're never going to get there if you don't take some big risks!

Once we made the money I went broke right away. 78th place (I think that's where I finished) paid $910 gross. I'm happy to have another PLO cash under my belt and I had fun playing this tournament. I also picked up about $700 playing cash games on pokerstars today so all in all I'm feeling pretty good.

Hopefully I can take one of the zillion tournaments I'm going to play tomorrow to the house!

If You Blinked You Missed It!

I just went from 5,000 chips to 25,000 chips in two hands! Actually in the course of 6hands I was all in for put someone all in 4 times. On the first I went from 10,000 down to 5,000 with AK98 vs JT56. I flopped the nut flush draw and my opponent flopped a pair of sixes. I bet the pot and he reraised the pot on what I'm sure he thought was a bluff. I missed and he made two pair.

The next hand was nothing, but on the third hand I got all my chips in preflop with KQQ2 double suited vs the same guy who had AKJT double suited in the other suits. We both totall missed and the QQ in my hand was good enough to win. That one felt like a miracle, but the next one was even sweeter.

I had 7655 and just called the big blind which was 240. My buddy from the previous hands made it 1,080 to go and got called by one player behind him. I called as well and the flop came down 842. This was a great flop for me since any 3, 5, 6 or 7 made me a straight and it likly missed my opponents. I bet the pot which was about 3,600 and my buddy instanly went all in for about 4,000. This was a TERRIBLE TERRIBLE move on his part. When the cards got turned over he had AKJ4 which was just a pair of fours with no draws whatsoever! I know I'd been pretty aggressive in the past few minutes but come on dude!

Amazingly the other player in the hand went all in for about 10,000! And all he had was a pair of eights! He had T986 with 2 spades and 2 diamonds (there was one of each on the flop). It was like all of a sudden these fools decided we were playing for nickels at the kitchen table instead of a five hundred dollar tournament!

Anyway, the turn and river were both deuces which made me a full house with my 55. Those of you who are only familier with hold'em might be thinking "Why didn't fool #2 win? Isn't his best hand 22288 while your's is 22255?" The key here is you have to use EXACTLY TWO cards from your hand making his best five card hand 2288T. That hand put me up to 25,000 chips.

The next hand was nothing, but on the following hand I took out fool #2. I had A552 and he hand KKj4. On the flop I hit trip deuces, check raised him all in and he called. He missed the K and was done. That one put me at 32,000.

While I've been writing this post I have been blowing suckers away left and right! I'm up to 50,000 chips and am in 5th place of 218.

FTOPS Event #6 Underway!

We started today's $535 Pot Limit Omaha 6 handed tournament with 642 players. This is good news because fulltilt guaranteed a prize pool of $350,000. 642 times $535 is $343,470. While this isn't exactly a huge overlay it means we're all playing juice free (instead of paying $35 a player)and they've added about $10 a person on top of that.

I have about 50% more chips than I started with and we're down to 490 players. I like my table. There's one player who seems pretty good and is very aggressive, but he's just to my right so I have position on him. Everyone else seeems pretty weak. Amazingly everyone at my table is from a different country (if you hold the cursor over a player it tells you what country they are from)! The countries represented are Spain, Sweden, Russia, Austria, Italy and of course the USA. Technology is amazing. To think that were in 6 different countries competing in a game that requires instant action blows my mind a little.

84th is the edge of the money and pays a little over $900 while 1st place is $75,250. I'll keep you posted.

Sunday Tournament Extravaganza Preview!

Sunday's are the busiest day in the online poker world. As a result the websites tend to put their flagship tournaments on Sunday. It looked like I was going to be busy this Sunday and unable to play, but my plans have changed and I've decided to do some heavy tournament playing.

In addition to the two FTOPS tournaments which are $256 NL Hold'em 6-max and $322 NL hold'em (there's a 1.5 million dollar guaranteed prize pool for that one!) I'm going to play "The Sunday Majors" and a few other tournaments on pokerstars. Here is my pokerstars Sunday schedule(all times are pacific)

9:45 $215 NL Hold'em ($750,000 guaranteed prize pool)
10:45 $215 Razz
1:30 $215 NL Hold'em ($1.5M guaranteed prize pool)
2:15 $215 Mixed Hold'em (1/2 limit and 1/2 NL)
2:30 $530 NL Hold'em ($500,000 guaranteed prize pool)
3:30 $215 NL Hold'em ($250,000 guaranteed prize pool)
4:45 $215 HORSE! (they should just pay me now)
5:30 $215 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo
5:45 $215 7-card Stud

Sort of like a mini WCOOP huh? Those last two are maybes. I'll have to see how I'm feeling when 5:30 rolls around, but I figured I'd put them on the schedule.

I certainly don't plan to do a post about all of these tournaments, but I'll at least let you know where I finished and of course if I go deep I'll post a more detailed recap. That is after I spend a few minutes pouring champagne over my head and screaming like a little girl when I win one of the tournaments with a 1.5M guarantee.

FTOPS X Event #4 ($322 NLH 1R + 1A) Recap

Today's tournament was a total dud! I lasted a little more than two hours and never had more chips than I started with. I won a few small pots here and there, but it was mostly a fold fest. In the end I was running a little short and made a thin all in reraise and got caught by a real hand. I finished 400th out of 815.

My social life is going to stop me from playing the 6 pm tournament today, but I have $535 6 handed Pot Limit Omaha tomorrow. Since apparently I'm the PLO king I'm looking forward to it.