Tonight's Tourney Lineup

I've got 6 tournaments lined up for tonight so we'll see how this goes. They are as follows:

$2.20 $7k GTD - FAIL
$8.80 $10k GTD - FAIL After being card dead forever, this hand happens.

Poker Stars No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 125/250 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t15576)
SB (t16826)
BB (t29225)
UTG (t20830)
UTG+1 (t2439)
Hero (MP1) (t3758)
MP2 (t10384)
MP3 (t4814)
CO (t4905)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with , 
2 folds, Hero calls t250, MP2 calls t250, 2 folds, Button calls t250, SB calls t125, BB checks

Flop: (t1250) , ,  (5 players)
SB bets t1000, 1 fold, Hero raises t3478, 2 folds, SB calls t2478

Turn: (t8206)  (2 players)

River: (t8206)  (2 players)

Total pot: t8206

Results:
SB had Q, A (flush, Ace high).
Hero had 4, 4 (three of a kind, fours).
Outcome: SB won t8476


The Big $4.40 $15k GTD - 359/6611 A whopping $10 cash.
$11 $10k GTD - FAIL Pretty card dead, couldn't hit shit.
The Big $27.50 $15k GTD - FAIL I can never seem to get anything going in the bigger buy-in ones...
The Big $2.20 $5k GTD - FAIL TP vs Set
I'll post the results in an update later.

Pretty discouraging playing 6 tournaments and only cashing in one...and it being a lower buy-in one at that. I know the variance is sick but still...Seemed like every time I got it in someone had it better. That can be contributed to a few factors, but I was running pretty bad. Things were looking OK in the 4.40 till the last hand I finally get a hand worth playing and 3-bet a big stack raiser with AJ in the BB and get jammed on. I call and he flips AK of course.

Oh well, until next time, just keep n grinding and keep working...get there again eventually.

So Damn Close

So I put a few bucks on today for 4 tourneys. I totally botched two of them and made an okish run in one and a deep run in the other. 


This first one was the Big 8.80 of which I started off pretty bad then ran up some chips got down to push/fold stack and ran it up on a heater of 3 hands and then I was 3x the tourney average. Held for a while, I felt like I was playing pretty solidly and picked my spots carefully. The end result was of course, going card dead again and having to shove with AJdd from the big blind and ran into QQ lol...here's the hand. I bet villain was sweating bullets.


EDIT: Ok, so I just realized that I wasn't SUPER short on chips, I was attempting a squeeze...which almost worked.

Poker Stars No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 800/1600 Blinds, Ante 200 (9 handed) - Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t70300)
Hero (BB) (t27755)
UTG (t24883)
UTG+1 (t36384)
MP1 (t71137)
MP2 (t67221)
MP3 (t32415)
CO (t28896)
Button (t10219)


Preflop: Hero is BB with , 
2 folds, MP1 bets t3200, MP2 calls t3200, 3 folds, SB calls t2400, Hero raises t25955, MP1 raises t48710, 2 folds

Flop: (t61510) , ,  (2 players)

Turn: (t61510)  (2 players)

River: (t61510)  (2 players)

Total pot: t61510

Results:
Hero had J, A (two pair, Aces and Jacks).
MP1 had Q, Q (three of a kind, Queens).
Outcome: MP1 won t63310

PokerStars Tournament #573011336, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $8.00/$0.80 USD

4791 players

Total Prize Pool: $38328.00 USD 

Tournament started 2012/05/19 12:00:00 AT [2012/05/19 11:00:00 ET]

Dear madman1701,

You finished the tournament in 284th place. A USD 21.08 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

Next up was the Big $11. I made a deep run in this one. I almost wanna puke considering that 1st place was $12k. Usually when I go this deep in a tourney I go all the way, but I am still happy for the cash. This tourney started off good and I held my own for quite a while before getting card dead and people just playing back at me all over the place, it was getting pretty frustrating but I kept cool and kept my patience. I got lucky in a few spots where I found myself shoving pre-flop against steals and getting called; which is nice because you usually need to get lucky a couple of times to make it deep. It ended with me shoving 66 from the small blind with 11BB against a big stack who min raised UTG+1 and he called with K8cc flop was K high so GG me.

PokerStars Tournament #573010496, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $10.00/$1.00 USD
8632 players
Total Prize Pool: $86320.00 USD 
Tournament started 2012/05/19 15:00:00 AT [2012/05/19 14:00:00 ET]

Dear madman1701,

You finished the tournament in 71st place. A USD 123.43 award has been credited to your Real Money account.


In the real world here, I will be leaving next week for a few days for a small job. Was supposed to be about 2 weeks work but the client cancelled a weeks worth of the work and left us with about 3-4 days worth..lol. We will be hearing back from the client on Tuesday (hopefully) about the job in Manitoba. Hopefully they will give us permission to mobilize so we can get the show on the road soon.

Another SCOOP Fail

Played the $27 $400k GTD SCOOP today. Started off strong working my way up to about 25k early on. There was a massive fish at the table that I value towned twice for decent pots plus picking up a few small pots on the way. Was looking good until this:

So this hand sucked. I don't think my play was all that bad. Given he was in the CO and had a ATS of like 80% I figured I was well ahead of his range. I had also seen him and the player to his right get into a Blind vs Blind raising war. Can anyone really find a fold here? He was playing 19/13/4 and 100% 4-bet.

No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 100/200 Blinds Ante 25 (9 handed) - Hold'em Manager Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

UTG (t20742)
UTG+1 (t9935)
MP1 (t8699)
MP2 (t7186)
MP3 (t18496)
CO (t9060)
Button (t15199)
Hero (SB) (t18794)
BB (t22989)


Preflop: Hero is SB with , 
5 folds, CO bets t600, 1 fold, Hero raises t1700, 1 fold, CO raises t3200, Hero raises t16969, CO calls t5235

Flop: (t18270) , ,  (2 players)

Turn: (t18270)  (2 players)

River: (t18270)  (2 players)

Total pot: t18270

Results:
Hero had Q, A (one pair, sixes).
CO had K, K (two pair, Kings and sixes).
Outcome: CO won t18495






Went out in standard fashion. I should have just raised pre-flop. Most likely would have avoided this situation.


No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 150/300 Blinds Ante 40 (9 handed) - Hold'em Manager Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

UTG (t9800)
UTG+1 (t25316)
MP1 (t9240)
MP2 (t10775)
MP3 (t25856)
CO (t9178)
Button (t14034)
Hero (SB) (t8027)
BB (t10727)


Preflop: Hero is SB with , 
UTG calls t300, 6 folds, Hero calls t150, BB checks

Flop: (t1260) , ,  (3 players)
Hero bets t839, 1 fold, UTG calls t839

Turn: (t2938)  (2 players)
Hero bets t1800, UTG raises t8621, Hero calls t5048

River: (t16634)  (2 players)

Total pot: t16634

Results:
Hero had A, 10 (two pair, Aces and fours).
UTG had Q, 4 (full house, fours over Queens).
Outcome: UTG won t16634

The Big $2.20

I played in the Big $2.20 last night. I went in with the goal of making a deep run. That in itself is a bad goal just due to the extremely high variance in tournaments. I didn't last too long, around 1.5hrs I think and there were only 3 memorable hands. I'll post them and go over what I was thinking at the time.

Hand 1- Good read with a double-up:

Poker Stars No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB (t2460)
Hero (UTG) (t1992)
UTG+1 (t2639)
MP1 (t2649)
MP2 (t4050)
MP3 (t4727)
CO (t8675)
Button (t3945)
SB (t2078)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with , 
Hero bets t240, 1 fold, MP1 calls t240, MP2 calls t240, 5 folds

Flop: (t840) , ,  (3 players)
Hero checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks

Turn: (t840)  (3 players)
Hero bets t465, 1 fold, MP2 calls t465

River: (t1770)  (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets t3335, Hero calls t1277

Total pot: t4324


MP2 shows Qh10d
Hero wins t4324


This hand really should never have happened, but I was fairly card dead and KJo UTG was nice at the time. I do a standard open to 3x and get 2 callers.
The flop came A high with 2 clubs and a low straight draw, not the best flop for my hand which had no clubs. I check and it gets checked to the Turn. I should have C-Bet this being OOP and just tried to take it down on the Flop, which I probably would have. But had I done that, it would have been a small pot rather than a double up.
The turn pairs my J and I lead out for ~1/2 the pot which gets 1 fold and a call.
The river is a 5 which puts a 4 straight out there if my opponent has a 3. I check, he jams and I hate life. I end up going into the time bank going over the hand and when I think about it, he really doesn't have much that can beat me. If he had an A he would have bet the flop IP or probably would have raised my turn bet. Any combo with a 3 just doesn't make any sense unless he called with 33. So, his hand was looking very much like a busted flush draw or a KT, QT busted straight draw. I beat any combo of Jx he would have called PF with, so I made the call and he turns over QTo for the busted straight draw.
I think that the C-Bet on the Flop would have been the best play as I most likely would have taken it down and not have gotten into a rather stupid situation to begin with.

Hand 2- Flush Draw with a Pair:

Poker Stars No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP3 (t2300)
Hero (CO) (t4706)
Button (t2889)
SB (t2403)
BB (t1948)
UTG (t4511)
UTG+1 (t8635)
MP1 (t3825)
MP2 (t1998)

Preflop: Hero is CO with , 
5 folds, Hero bets t240, Button raises t555, 2 folds, Hero calls t315

Flop: (t1230) , ,  (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t555, Hero calls t555

Turn: (t2340)  (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t1769, Hero calls t1769

River: (t5878)  (2 players)

Total pot: t5878


Button shows KsQh
Button wins t5878

Pretty standard spot I think. I open in the CO to 3x with A6dd to steal the blinds and the button puts in a small 3-bet. I could have folded this but I don't think calling is bad either since he could be 3-betting light thinking I'm raising light. Flop comes Q high with 2 diamonds. I check and he bets less than half the pot.
I call and pair my 6 on the Turn. I check, he jams and I hate life again. His shove is for about 2/3 the pot and I'm getting good odds to call. At the time I figured he either had an over pair, AK, AQ, KQ or air. Unless he has AA, AQ or QQ, I have 15 outs to an A, 6 or diamond. I call, he turns over KQ and I brick the river. Now I have 14bb's left.

Hand 3- The story of my Life:

Poker Stars No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 50/100 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t2260)
Hero (UTG+1) (t1387)
MP1 (t4370)
MP2 (t2073)
MP3 (t2818)
CO (t4321)
Button (t9185)
SB (t3685)
BB (t3116)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with , 
1 fold, Hero bets t300, 3 folds, CO raises t600, 3 folds, Hero raises t1077, CO calls t777

Flop: (t2904) , ,  (2 players)

Turn: (t2904)  (2 players)

River: (t2904)  (2 players)

Total pot: t2904


CO shows 7c7h
CO wins t2904

I open to 3x UTG+1 with 66, MP raises to 6x (kind of a dumb raise), gets folded back to me and I jam. He calls with 77 (lol) flops a set and I'm done. Standard spot with 13bb's left I guess, probably should have just open shoved.

I would say my play was definitely sub-par. I was limping a lot and not being nearly aggressive enough. I'll try to focus a bit more next time lol.