Nice little run in the 26k

Before I go into my recap of a relatively deep run in last night's 26k on FTP, let me say that it looks like the bloggers are hitting Vegas hard! Last I checked, Hoy was doing well in WSOP #12 6max event and sounds like he's at least cashed in the event according to Iakaris. (Actually, unfortunately, Hoy is now out - but he cashed, so well done sir!) To see Iak's update on Vegas, click here.

I still I wish I was there... but anywho, last night, for a change, I decided to play in the 26k guarantee tournament on FTP. Since I consider myself to be a tournament donk and tourneys tend to seem to be more hit or miss than cash games (it's rare that you play solidly for 3 hrs in a cash game and come out empty handed vs tournament, that could easily happen with one missed coinflip at the end), it's rare that I play in tourneys outside the blogger gatherings (more commonly referred to as blonkaments... ie donkaments).

Well, since I've been playing with the bloggers, I've been putting some effort into becoming a better MTT player. And so I figured I might do alright which was part of what played into my change of heart to try out the 26k. For the first hour, I really couldn't get anything going. Aside from one donkish fold (I overestimated the skill level of some of these clowns), I didn't even get good enough cards to make a mistake with. So, towards the end of hour #1, I stole a few blinds just to stay around the starting stack... In hour #2, as the blinds started increasing, I knew I was gonna have to make some plays. So, I decided to use my tight image as a weapon and started going after the medium stacks. And it worked nicely. Couple that with getting decent cards at the right time, I was chipping up nicely. I had about 10k and that was slightly above average stack when break #2 rolled around. I was still playing relatively tight though and obviously, cashing in this event was not my goal (paying $26 to play in this damn thing, believe me when I say I don't care if I get $33 or whatever the minimum payout was - 1st place was $6k+). So, I knew I had to chip up even more aggressively in hour #3. Actually, in my mind, I decided that this will be the make or break hour where I would either end up top 15 in chips or bust out. So, midway into hour #3, I decided to tangle with another big stack at the table:

Full Tilt Poker Game #2608836914: $26,000 Guarantee (19443133), Table 56 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:36:28 ET - 2007/06/08
Seat 1: RecessRampage (13,989)
Seat 2: Brucesta76 (3,511)
Seat 3: ColoradoG (5,865)
Seat 4: BODINE_W (11,545), is sitting out
Seat 5: Massita (12,065)
Seat 6: pnkranger (14,290)
Seat 7: bats867 (5,740)
Seat 8: RosseyDog850 (9,905)
Seat 9: NastyBeet (9,949)
RecessRampage antes 75
Brucesta76 antes 75
ColoradoG antes 75
BODINE_W antes 75
Massita antes 75
pnkranger antes 75
bats867 antes 75
RosseyDog850 antes 75
NastyBeet antes 75
NastyBeet posts the small blind of 300
RecessRampage posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ks Ts]
Brucesta76 folds
ColoradoG folds
BODINE_W folds
Massita folds
pnkranger raises to 1,600
bats867 folds
RosseyDog850 folds
NastyBeet folds
RecessRampage calls 1,000 <--- I was ready to go to war. I know KTs is a crappy hand. I was looking for a moderately coordinated board. He's been raising a fair amount so his range could be pretty big.
*** FLOP *** [7d 6c 8s] <--- perfect
RecessRampage checks
pnkranger bets 2,750
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 12,314, and is all in <--- two overs, gut shot straight draw, and a runner runner flush draw, coupled with fold equity? No brainer, IMO.
pnkranger has 15 seconds left to act
pnkranger folds
Uncalled bet of 9,564 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (9,675)

This was big because this put me close to 20k in chips and meanwhile the table chip leader before this hand was below the 10k mark after this hand.

So, I was feeling good about that but the blinds increase insanely quickly at this level and soon, I found myself stealing more often than I am comfortable with... But, considering some of the marginal hands I've been raising with, I was delighted to find AJ from CO-1... So, I just go for a steal push... and then get two callers...

The KQ was obviously a result of the fact that he's seen me do that a lot and also his low M... Unfortunately, I get no help and I'm down to like T$4000 with my M of like 3. I folded my BB of 2-4 (I don't believe in total ATC...) but I pushed the remainder of my chips with Q4 the very next hand from my SB against a button raiser who had J8. Two pair on the flop for me and so I got some breathing room. Very next hand, I find QT and I think to myself this is good enough to push with if it's folded to me. I see one limper from MP so I push... and this is what I see.

A race situation to put me back into contention is all I can ask for at this point...

No help on the turn or the river either and that ends my deep run into the 26k... 77th out of 1,077 runners sound good but it's no good... Still, it's better than nothing I guess.