Blogger cash game and FTOPS

Before I start my actual post, congrats to Waffles, Willwonka, and Katitude for also advancing to the 2nd round of HUC6. Go to that site for updated brackets. Also, please note that if your 2nd round opponent is set, you can go ahead and schedule/play your match.

So last night was a little different for me. Normally I have 4 cash tables open, grinding as usual at the 2-4NL 6 max tables. But last night, I had 3 tables open... two of which were tournaments. Unreal. I satellited into FTOPS #1 so I had that going. And at 10pm, the Mookie started as well as the deep stack 4/8NL blogger cash game. My buddy Pouringreign asked a good question on the girly chat. "Shouldn't you play against lesser competition at 2-4NL 6 max rather than playing against these known ringers?" My response? "They're all donkeys." Just kidding. That was not my response. My actual response was "yeah, but Fuel said I would be publicly humiliated if I didn't play. Plus after all the cash game posts and the recent posts, if I didn't play, I'd basically be admitting that I can't hang." Gotta get the "felt cred."

Unfortunately (or fortunately), I didn't really get much for cards. I definitely played fairly tight but the cards were just atrocious. Not even suited connectors or one gappers in late position... One AA on the button but it was folded to me and I raise and stole the blinds... One KQ from the CO, button calls my raise, I flop a straight but of course, I fire out a c-bet because that's what I do and the button (nonblogger) folds.

I don't have the HH for this one but one interesting hand was when Rakefeeder, Fuel and I were in a hand. I raised from MP, Fuel calls (because he has position on me and I'm sure desperately wants to rub in the fact that he's got more game or something), and Rakefeeder calls from either the SB or the BB. 3 way. We see a flop 9 high with two diamonds. Rakefeeder comes out firing a pot sized bet. The initial pot sized bet made me think that he either had TT or maybe a hand like A9. Either way, fairly strong for that board but not THAT strong, was my read. What did I have? KdJd. Two overs with a king high flush draw. I seriously considered raising there but I didn't want to get reraised off what I thought was a pretty good draw. Plus Fuel was behind me and I wasn't sure what he might do. If he flopped a set (there was a 5 out there if I recall correctly) and he decides to raise and rakefeeder comes over the top, it would be an easy fold for me. So, I smooth call. Fuel calls. Turn is an offsuit J. Rakefeeder checks to me so I fire out a good size bet (prob 80% of the pot), Fuel folds and Rakefeeder after thinking about it folds. So, Rakefeeder, if you had TT, it's a good fold. And as promised, I'm telling you what I had.

Speaking of which, I got lucky with my seating. I was seated to the left of Gnome and Cmitch, two of the players that I would much rather have on my right than to my left. Cmitch was probably not too excited that whenever he raised, I put in a reraise. However, both times that I 3 bet, I had a hand. One was AK, the next was TT. With Cmitch, I wanted to apply aggression with strong hands and couple that with the fact that I had position on him, it would be very hard for him to play on without premium cards. And since I was playing tight, there's no reason for him to think that I would be getting frisky without cards. At the end of the night, I ended up a little over $800. Nothing crazy considering the stakes but definitely happy about that. Thanks again to Gnome for setting that up. Oh, and before I forget, here's a good HH. Fuel knows what I have before I know what I have. :) Good thing he's a payoff wizard.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5152471555: Table Alise (deep) - $4/$8 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:55:34 ET - 2008/02/06
Seat 1: SirFWALGMan ($945.20)
Seat 2: weak_player ($1,547)
Seat 3: Fuel55 ($1,600)
Seat 4: Bone_Daddy84 ($1,592)
Seat 5: Rake Feeder ($1,403.20)
Seat 6: smizmiatch ($2,127.30)
Seat 7: cmitch ($1,659)
Seat 8: RecessRampage ($1,805)
Seat 9: SPIRITSLAYER ($1,307.40)
RecessRampage posts the small blind of $4
SPIRITSLAYER posts the big blind of $8
The button is in seat #7

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [8c 8s]
SirFWALGMan folds
Fuel55 raises to $24
Bone_Daddy84 folds
Rake Feeder folds
smizmiatch folds
cmitch folds
RecessRampage calls $20
SPIRITSLAYER folds

*** FLOP *** [6c Kc Td]
RecessRampage checks
Fuel55 checks <--- he always checks top pair

*** TURN *** [6c Kc Td] [Th]
RecessRampage checks
Fuel55 bets $24
RecessRampage calls $24

At this point, I did think that Fuel had the K. If he had a draw, he'd bet out the flop. So, I actually thought about making a move on the river if another club comes. Except I forgot Fuel runs so bad (only according to him).

*** RIVER *** [6c Kc Td Th] [8h] <--- gin!
RecessRampage checks (he's got top pair so he'll bet)
Fuel55 bets $64 <--- right on cue
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME (I like to think about my bet sizing)
RecessRampage raises to $244
Fuel55: ceom on
Fuel55: you have 88? <--- he's good...
Fuel55 has 15 seconds left to act
Fuel55 has requested TIME
Fuel55: i am a payoff wizard <--- oh thank god
Fuel55 calls $180

*** SHOW DOWN ***
RecessRampage shows [8c 8s] a full house, Eights full of Tens
Fuel55 mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot ($589) with a full house, Eights full of Tens
Fuel55: fawek i knew <--- I know...

Nothing much to report on the Mookie except I had a decent chip lead that I rode to the final table but couldn't get anything going and busted out in 8th or 7th or something. Admittedly, between the blogger cash game and the possibility of going deep in FTOPS#1, I really wasn't paying much attention to the Mookie.

On the FTOPS, the first hour, I played like... a bitch. Oh my god. I wanted to play tight. Instead, I played some weak tight poker. After the first hour, I knew I had to do something different. Basically, I needed to play my game. My desire to play tight actually made me play weak tight. So, after the first break, I decided to still play tight but be more aggressive. Slowly, I was able to chip up and the big break came when I flopped top set with QQ against a guy who had QJ and doubled up. Chipped up nicely after that until this hand came.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5153078013: FTOPS Event #1 (35825338), Table 385 - 170/340 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:41:58 ET - 2008/02/06
Seat 1: canuckoo (28,460)
Seat 2: BRAZILUSA (27,306)
Seat 3: bkrake (5,757)
Seat 4: SuperSnoopy (8,685)
Seat 5: ProtekYoNuts (12,188)
Seat 6: 3pounder (6,053)
Seat 7: RecessRampage (14,425)
Seat 8: unemployed (6,170)
Seat 9: SELPARA (20,099)
canuckoo antes 25
BRAZILUSA antes 25
bkrake antes 25
SuperSnoopy antes 25
ProtekYoNuts antes 25
3pounder antes 25
RecessRampage antes 25
unemployed antes 25
SELPARA antes 25
3pounder posts the small blind of 170
RecessRampage posts the big blind of 340
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [6d 4d]
unemployed raises to 725
SELPARA folds
canuckoo folds
BRAZILUSA calls 725
bkrake folds
SuperSnoopy folds
ProtekYoNuts folds
3pounder folds
RecessRampage calls 385

*** FLOP *** [3d 8d 9d] <--- gin!
RecessRampage checks
unemployed checks
BRAZILUSA bets 2,570
RecessRampage calls 2,570
unemployed has 15 seconds left to act
unemployed raises to 5,420, and is all in
BRAZILUSA calls 2,850
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 13,675, and is all in
BRAZILUSA has 15 seconds left to act
BRAZILUSA folds
RecessRampage shows [6d 4d]
unemployed shows [Jd Ad] <--- d'oh!
Uncalled bet of 8,255 returned to RecessRampage

*** TURN *** [3d 8d 9d] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [3d 8d 9d Kd] [Kh]
RecessRampage shows a flush, King high
unemployed shows a flush, Ace high
unemployed wins the pot (18,830) with a flush, Ace high

Fortunately, that only brought my stack down to about average so no big deal. I was able to chip up again and at one point, I was like in top 20 out of 1000ish players left. When this next hand happened, I was like in top 100 out of the remaining 950ish players with 750ish spots cashing. But of course, cashing isn't the goal here. I don't know what the minimum cash amount was but I'm guessing like $300 or something maybe? Anyways, that's not gonna do much to my roll. I wanted at least 4 figures... of course I was dreaming 5 or 6 figures...

Full Tilt Poker Game #5153656456: FTOPS Event #1 (35825338), Table 41 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:29:59 ET - 2008/02/07
Seat 1: RecessRampage (26,850)
Seat 2: fightingchicken (7,804)
Seat 3: ArmenH1 (28,425)
Seat 4: blubboz (7,423)
Seat 5: Donwaldorf (58,438)
Seat 6: Gwermpt (14,927)
Seat 7: ckingusc (12,237)
Seat 8: MrTimCaum (13,446)
Seat 9: GAME OVER 73 (14,413)
RecessRampage antes 75
fightingchicken antes 75
ArmenH1 antes 75
blubboz antes 75
Donwaldorf antes 75
Gwermpt antes 75
ckingusc antes 75
MrTimCaum antes 75
GAME OVER 73 antes 75
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 300
fightingchicken posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #9

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qd Qc]
cmitch (Observer): gl alan <--- nice guy, that cmitch.
RecessRampage: ty cmitch
ArmenH1 raises to 1,555
blubboz folds
cmitch (Observer): so what did u have? <--- relentless
cmitch (Observer): i had AK <--- he must've really hated me reraising again
Donwaldorf has 15 seconds left to act
Donwaldorf calls 1,555
Gwermpt folds
ckingusc folds
MrTimCaum has 15 seconds left to act
MrTimCaum raises to 13,371, and is all in
GAME OVER 73 folds
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 26,775, and is all in
fightingchicken folds
ArmenH1 has 15 seconds left to act
ArmenH1 folds
Donwaldorf has 15 seconds left to act
Donwaldorf folds
RecessRampage shows [Qd Qc]
MrTimCaum shows [Ah Kd]
Uncalled bet of 13,404 returned to RecessRampage

*** FLOP *** [As 7h 5d]
*** TURN *** [As 7h 5d] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [As 7h 5d 8s] [8d]
RecessRampage shows two pair, Queens and Eights
MrTimCaum shows two pair, Aces and Eights
MrTimCaum wins the pot (31,127) with two pair, Aces and Eights

This was huge. I felt that the guy's shove meant he was a little weaker so I ruled out AA and KK. I honestly considered folding the QQ here but again, I felt that his shove was an attempt to pick up the two weakish raises from EP. And I didn't have any reason to believe that the other two players involved were tricky players. So, I decided to take a stand here. If I win this race, I'm top 20 in chips. Instead, I lose half my stack but still ok. But then I think one hand later, this happens.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5153680548: FTOPS Event #1 (35825338), Table 41 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:32:04 ET - 2008/02/07
Seat 1: RecessRampage (13,329)
Seat 2: fightingchicken (6,754)
Seat 3: ArmenH1 (26,120)
Seat 4: blubboz (7,273)
Seat 5: Donwaldorf (56,733)
Seat 6: Gwermpt (16,352)
Seat 7: ckingusc (12,087)
Seat 8: MrTimCaum (31,052)
Seat 9: GAME OVER 73 (14,263)
RecessRampage antes 75
fightingchicken antes 75
ArmenH1 antes 75
blubboz antes 75
Donwaldorf antes 75
Gwermpt antes 75
ckingusc antes 75
MrTimCaum antes 75
GAME OVER 73 antes 75
ArmenH1 posts the small blind of 300
blubboz posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ac Qs]
Donwaldorf folds
Gwermpt folds
ckingusc folds
MrTimCaum folds
GAME OVER 73 raises to 1,555
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 4,200
fightingchicken folds
ArmenH1 folds
blubboz folds
GAME OVER 73 has 15 seconds left to act
GAME OVER 73 raises to 14,188, and is all in
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
RecessRampage calls 9,054, and is all in
GAME OVER 73 shows [Ad Ah]
RecessRampage shows [Ac Qs]
Uncalled bet of 934 returned to GAME OVER 73
*** FLOP *** [2s 3s 2h]
RecessRampage: damn
*** TURN *** [2s 3s 2h] [8d]
RecessRampage: gg
*** RIVER *** [2s 3s 2h 8d] [4d]
GAME OVER 73 shows two pair, Aces and Twos
RecessRampage shows a pair of Twos
RecessRampage stands up

I guess I coulda called there and fold to a flop bet. By reraising, I kinda got pot committed when he came over the top and shoved like that. I thought I would be racing and with me getting 2:1, I couldn't fold... or so I thought. Tough spot I think. I coulda just tried to hang around to cash but again, cashing was not my goal. It was extremely fun playing in this tournament though. I still have a long ways to go with my MTT game but since I actually satellited into this after my first try, it only cost me $24+2. Good times.

Thanks for IT, Buddy, and Smokkee for showing me love on the radio. And thanks to all those who were railing me during the Mook, FTOPS 1 and blogger cash. Good times.