So close...

I was so close... I really wanted that $4,680 first place prize. Instead I end up with $945...



I played pretty tight after accumulating big stack early and in the end, I had a medium stack and ended up jamming A9 from the button into the BB who woke up with 99. It was kind of an overbet shove so I'm wondering if that shove was ill advised. There were 6 remaining though so it would have been tough to lay down A9 against a resteal shove from the big stack who could be doing it with such a wide range.

Thanks to Smokkee for the rail. What were you doing up so early???

Boom or Roar? BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

It's 2pm EST, 3am Tokyo time (I'm sure there's a more official way to say this)... all I know is I'm setting my alarm to make sure I wake up in time for the Mookie. I wasn't gonna stay up so late... but then I decided before I go to bed to play a quick tournament. I figured a KO tourney would be good enough so I signed up for it, thinking I'll donk around, have fun for $24 and go to bed. 5 hrs later, this is what happens.



Yes, you saw that right. I won. I know. Shocking. I actually played a nonblogger MTT. I guess I am glad I did. Sadly, this is my largest tournament score... I clearly have ways to go but at least now I can say that I have won an MTT, for what it's worth.

I actually played well in this tourney with no suckouts that I can think of until the final table. I didn't even have to race for too many chips. Funny thing was, going into the final table, I had only collected 3 bounties. And yet, this is what the start of the final table looked like.



I got good cards when I needed them, I recognized the weak EP limpers and shoved pretty much ATC, etc so it was rare that I went to showdown. I think there may have been one or two key races but at this point, I really can't remember. The final table, however, was a completely different story. I had one sick suckout and a few key holds.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6598713521: $7,500 KO Guarantee (49448738), Table 46 - 3000/6000 Ante 750 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:27:23 ET - 2008/05/28
Seat 2: RecessRampage (130,424)
Seat 3: dezyr_two (130,816)
Seat 4: crosby9 (32,986)
Seat 5: bikerHELL (79,396)
Seat 7: potter4ever (188,420)
Seat 8: G3N371X (246,649)
Seat 9: replay2007 (107,309)
RecessRampage antes 750
dezyr_two antes 750
crosby9 antes 750
bikerHELL antes 750
potter4ever antes 750
G3N371X antes 750
replay2007 antes 750
crosby9 posts the small blind of 3,000
bikerHELL posts the big blind of 6,000
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [As 4d]
potter4ever folds
G3N371X folds
replay2007 folds
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 15,555
dezyr_two folds
crosby9 folds
bikerHELL raises to 78,646, and is all in
RecessRampage calls 63,091
bikerHELL shows [Jc Jd]
RecessRampage shows [As 4d]
*** FLOP *** [Jh Th Kc]
*** TURN *** [Jh Th Kc] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [Jh Th Kc 6d] [Qs]
bikerHELL shows three of a kind, Jacks
RecessRampage shows a straight, Ace high
RecessRampage wins the pot (165,542) with a straight, Ace high
bikerHELL stands up

This was obviously gross but I felt I was getting close enough odds and he seemed to have been reraising fairly light. Ah, what the hell. I don't really have a reason. I felt that it was close enough. That's all. Then when we were 3 handed, this is what happened.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6598970682: $7,500 KO Guarantee (49448738), Table 46 - 6000/12000 Ante 1500 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:54:44 ET - 2008/05/28
Seat 2: RecessRampage (145,826)
Seat 7: potter4ever (435,051)
Seat 8: G3N371X (335,123)
RecessRampage antes 1,500
potter4ever antes 1,500
G3N371X antes 1,500
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 6,000
potter4ever posts the big blind of 12,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ac 4s]
G3N371X raises to 27,555
RecessRampage raises to 144,326, and is all in
potter4ever folds
G3N371X calls 116,771
RecessRampage shows [Ac 4s]
G3N371X shows [9s Kh]
*** FLOP *** [Ad Qh 2h]
*** TURN *** [Ad Qh 2h] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [Ad Qh 2h 5s] [6c]
RecessRampage shows a pair of Aces
G3N371X shows Ace King high
RecessRampage wins the pot (305,152) with a pair of Aces

I don't know about G3N371X but he was very aggressive with his raises and reraises so I had to figure ace high was ahead of his range. I hated my kicker but with my stack size, I decided to go with it.

Turns out, ace high was my charm.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6598984067: $7,500 KO Guarantee (49448738), Table 46 - 6000/12000 Ante 1500 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:56:06 ET - 2008/05/28
Seat 2: RecessRampage (305,152)
Seat 7: potter4ever (421,551)
Seat 8: G3N371X (189,297)
RecessRampage antes 1,500
potter4ever antes 1,500
G3N371X antes 1,500
potter4ever posts the small blind of 6,000
G3N371X posts the big blind of 12,000
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [As 5c]
potter4ever: i dont think so
RecessRampage raises to 36,000
potter4ever folds
G3N371X raises to 187,797, and is all in
RecessRampage calls 151,797
G3N371X shows [Qh Kd]
RecessRampage shows [As 5c]
*** FLOP *** [8d 6h 8h]
*** TURN *** [8d 6h 8h] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [8d 6h 8h 6s] [9c]
G3N371X shows two pair, Eights and Sixes
RecessRampage shows two pair, Eights and Sixes
RecessRampage wins the pot (386,094) with two pair, Eights and Sixes
G3N371X stands up

In two hands, G3N371X and I basically swap positions. Then, the very first hand heads up.

Full Tilt Poker Game #6598988943: $7,500 KO Guarantee (49448738), Table 46 - 6000/12000 Ante 1500 - No Limit Hold'em - 13:56:36 ET - 2008/05/28
Carpe_Diem1966 (Observer): wanker
Seat 2: RecessRampage (501,949)
Seat 7: potter4ever (414,051)
RecessRampage antes 1,500
potter4ever antes 1,500
potter4ever posts the small blind of 6,000
RecessRampage posts the big blind of 12,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Kd 4h]
getmoneyordie23 (Observer): VNH
getmoneyordie23 (Observer): RECESS
bnorris85 (Observer): lame
getmoneyordie23 (Observer): CAN U LOAN ME SOME MONEY
BlaDeRRR333 (Observer): gg unlucky
potter4ever raises to 48,000
Carpe_Diem1966 (Observer): vnh BEGGARS
xCarl Madgwickx (Observer): GO POTTER
bnorris85 (Observer): ace rag is pwning
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage calls 36,000

*** FLOP *** [Kc Js 9s] <--- golden glove baby!
bnorris85 (Observer): gg
RecessRampage checks
potter4ever bets 99,000
Carpe_Diem1966 (Observer): F***KING BEGGARS I HATE THEM
RecessRampage raises to 452,449, and is all in
potter4ever calls 265,551, and is all in
RecessRampage shows [Kd 4h]
potter4ever shows [Qd Jd]
Uncalled bet of 87,898 returned to RecessRampage
*** TURN *** [Kc Js 9s] [7d]
*** RIVER *** [Kc Js 9s 7d] [7s]
RecessRampage shows two pair, Kings and Sevens
potter4ever shows two pair, Jacks and Sevens
RecessRampage wins the pot (828,102) with two pair, Kings and Sevens
potter4ever stands up
RecessRampage stands up



With everyone else having bigger scores, I'm not totally psyched or anything but gotta start somewhere. See you all at the Mook!

Bodog - this has to help my standings...

First off, go congratulate KJTech for his victory. It was a lengthy heads up match and I almost finished him off at first with 99 all in preflop against AJs. Two diamond flop and he has AJ of diamonds so even if I call his 3 bet and jam flop, result would be the same. Nonetheless, from that point on, he pretty much pwned me. I did manage to get back to even but in the end, I overplayed Kx suited and was busted by his A7 suited. He played well, obv, so again, go give his blog some love.

I bad beated him when we were down to 3 handed maybe when I had 88 vs his AA and I hit an 8. Earlier, I got coolered where I had KK and Riggstad had AA. Give and take I guess. Yes... I will not forget that in these two hands, the only bad beat was the one given by me...

I missed out the first hour and maybe 15 minutes. I just got home late tonight... probably a good thing. Maybe I'll try that next week. That will prevent me from spewing chips early.

I don't know exactly where I stand... I think last I checked, I was in like twenty something place... Hopefully, tonight's performance gets me in top 18 since there's a 18 person SNG for a seat to the WSOP.

I noticed this post is very choppy. I'm tired... I'm going to bed...

MTT question and a set over set question

This was an interesting weekend. Leading up to Sunday night, it was a fairly profitable one and I was feeling pretty good about my game. I was playing both on Pokerstars and Fulltilt and on Sunday, I was even taking a shot at being a tournament donk... At one point, I was three tabling, none of which were cash games... Crazy!

I played in two FTOPS 9 Satellites, both of which I won an entry to so I decided to go ahead and play in the FTOPS 9, which was a $322 buyin NLHE event. I busted out somewhere in the middle of the pack when I squeezed with TT. Turns out, the guy who smooth called had AK and I lost the race. The unfortunate thing was that few hands before that, I had AQ in the SB and I had full intention of resteal-shove based on my stack size when there's a raise and a reraise in front of me. I reluctantly fold, just to see a Q-Q-x flop... PUKE.

Well, at least I was profitable in the sense that I won 2 seats... except I used up all my profit when I went 0 for 4 in the 100 chip super turbo satellite... dammit...

One of the other tournaments I played in was the 24k or the 28k or something... something in the middle of the day. 1060ish runners, top 108 pays, I bust 110 when I CALL a jam from UTG with JJ. He has AK. One question was this... At the time, we both had about 20k in chips, I can't remember the blinds but I believe the M is somewhere around 5-7. We were both around top 50 in stack size so we're clearly not in desperation mode, though it was right before the third break so the blinds were about to go up. He jams UTG and I thought he wouldn't do it with AA or KK because he wants to maximize the amount he could win and with that stack size, there was just waaaaaay too much fold equity that a lot of middle pairs wouldn't call (unless of course, you're an idiot). So, my read was that his range was 88-QQ (I just couldn't imagine he would open shove with 77 or less, even though that's possible but I like to keep my opponent's range fairly conservative), AK, and maybe AQ. So, I called with JJ, and lose the race. If I win, I'm top 10 in stack. Is that a right call? Or, is there an argument to wait for a better situation? Thoughts?

Then came Sunday night. Again, I was feeling good about my game, I thought things were going well and then boom. I gave it all back and then some in a span of 2 hrs. AA < T6 (after a preflop raise and a flop bet, villain manages to turn 2 pair, at which point, given his shorter stack size, I was committed), KK < AA (against same villain who then proceeded to tell me I suck, mainly because he was pretty pissed at me by this time because after the AA < T6 hand, I was abusing him pretty badly - I will remember that motherfucker and I will search you every time). And then there was this hand...

Full Tilt poker Game #6381626175: Table Isola (6 max) - $2/$4 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:34:30 ET - 2008/05/12
Seat 1: RecessRampage ($561.50)
Seat 2: badunkAAdonk ($644.70) <--- SB
Seat 3: AndTheRiverIs ($400) <--- BB
Seat 4: betwitnothin ($1,302.60)
Seat 5: phantombooth ($369.40)
Seat 6: MacDaddy34 ($507.60)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [2h 2d]
betwitnothin raises to $14
phantombooth folds
MacDaddy34 has 15 seconds left to act
MacDaddy34 calls $14
RecessRampage calls $14
badunkAAdonk calls $12
AndTheRiverIs calls $10

*** FLOP *** [3d 2s 9d]
badunkAAdonk checks
AndTheRiverIs checks
betwitnothin has 15 seconds left to act
betwitnothin bets $45
MacDaddy34 calls $45
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage calls $45
badunkAAdonk folds
AndTheRiverIs has 15 seconds left to act
AndTheRiverIs has requested TIME
AndTheRiverIs raises to $180
betwitnothin has 15 seconds left to act
betwitnothin has requested TIME
betwitnothin folds
MacDaddy34 folds
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to $547.50, and is all in
AndTheRiverIs calls $206, and is all in
RecessRampage shows [2h 2d]
AndTheRiverIs shows [9c 9s]
Uncalled bet of $161.50 returned to RecessRampage
*** TURN *** [3d 2s 9d] [Ac]
*** RIVER *** [3d 2s 9d Ac] [Ah]
RecessRampage shows a full house, Twos full of Aces
AndTheRiverIs shows a full house, Nines full of Aces
AndTheRiverIs wins the pot ($929) with a full house, Nines full of Aces
RecessRampage adds $238.50

I clearly misplayed this hand. On the button, I probably shoulda raised but with so many callers and with me running bad (earlier in the evening at another table, JJ < AQs when all low but two diamond flop gives AQ of diamonds to checkraise me all in), I was actually afraid of bumping it up here because I thought if someone had two overs and a diamond, they would call and I would surely lose. So, I thought I would smooth call and hope for a nondiamond turn at which point, I am a larger statistical favorite... prob a poor thought process but one I cannot deny because of all the beats I was getting. I'm not crying about my bad beats but when it all happens in such a short time span, it really really hurts.

Anyways, I actually thought about folding in that spot. When the guy checkraised against 3 players, to me, that indicated extreme strength. And I couldn't see a guy do that with a draw to the flush because there was already a bettor and two callers. Obviously, someone already is on a flush draw. If he had a larger overpair, he woulda bumped it up preflop since he was BB. So, my gut instinct was that I was the sucker in a set over set situation. I was convinced enough that I type this to bayne before making the raise...

12:36 AM me: how strongly do you have to feel that you have bottom set and someone has higher set?
Bayne: PLO
me: vs a flush draw
Bayne: or HE
12:37 AM me: ye[
yep
set over set
I knew it
i shoulda folded

Would this violate the one person to a hand code? I don't think so since no matter what bayne says wouldn't affect what I do. If you think it does, tell me and I'll be mindful of it next time.

Cmitch and Gnome, after talking to them, felt that folding a set in this situation is almost always wrong. Cmitch also mentioned that I am only thinking about folding because I am running bad... true, but you know how sometimes you have the gut feeling? Last night, when I was dealt KK and when the idiot shoved all in for $400+ after I raised it to $14, I thought, "watch this, he's gonna have AA." And he did. My gut feeling was right on. In the above situation, I really came close to folding. I'm looking at it now and I really can't think of too many other hands that would play it like he did. Is folding a set really wrong?

I kept thinking about this chart of how often you are the under set in a set over set situation taken straight from Greylocks' blog...



I'm not saying that I should fear being an underset and fold 22-66 every time. But I think it's important to be cognizant of situations. If it's HU, I would never fold. I would chalk it up to a bad beat. But with that many players, to be honest, there was a fairly decent chance that there was another set. I mean there were 5 players seeing the flop and I have bottom set. That is far from being the nuts. Cmitch, I am still tilting a little but I think I've calmed down and I still could see a fold here and to be honest, I don't think it would be wrong. I don't think I am being results oriented. I don't know. It's very close but definitely not a clear cut all in situation for sure.

So close...

I had to work a fair amount this weekend which meant I didn't get to play as much poker... not being able to play poker on the weekends when all the donkeys are out in full force is definitely a bad beat in itself. But then again, my "didn't get to play much" translates into playing for like 7 hrs total for the weekend. For some, that's not much at all but for others, it may sound like a lot...

So, I didn't get a chance to play much cash games but instead, I took a few shots at MTTs for a change. With FTOPS starting soon as well as the TOC coming up in June and all the tourneys I play during the BBT3, I figured it would be good if I studied MTT strategies and played more tournaments. I also want to win a WSOP package one way or another (whether I play in it or not is a different story) so, I decided to take a shot at the WSOP ME super sat...



Top 2 gets the seat, 3rd place gets a very ghey $250... My hopes were dashed when the button who had a similar size stack but I had him slightly covered raised from the button, I shoved from the SB with JJ... only to get called by the big stack who woke up with KK. That sucked...

Then there was the big game. Of all the blogger tourneys, I have to admit that this is my favorite, mainly because of the prize pool that this tournament generates. $1,200 first place prize is definitely worth fighting for unlike the other blogger tourneys. I got my necessary suckouts and made a few good reads/plays but in the end, I busted out in 4th place when I decided to make a stand with A9 against the big stack's A6 but this time, it was my turn to get sucked out on...



Ended up with a semi-ghey $350...

Speaking of ghey, how much are you hating presto here...



Set over set over set on the flop... what are the odds!?

I hope everyone had a very profitable weekend.

Follow up thoughts on the hand against Fischman

Monday night was event #2 of the BBT3 and it was a 6 max format for Mondays at the Hoy (MATH). I have never played in the 6 max tournaments before and admittedly, it was a fairly different beast. I really couldn't get much going and in the end, I lost two showdowns AT < J8 (J8 was a relative short stack shoving from CO), AK < AQ (I was shoving but AQ was almost getting the right price to call based on what probably was my shoving range) and the latter knocked me out. I didn't really get anything and besides a few steals and resteals here and there with questionable holdings, I really couldn't do much... and then I did wonder, are there times when nothing clicks and you just kinda get knocked out of the tournament without ever getting in rhythm or do good players still find ways to make stuff happen? Any thoughts there would be appreciated.

Tonight is the Skill series which I know I am a complete dead money being that I am a one trick pony. I think it's PLO tonight but I'm not sure... it really doesn't matter. The point is it's not NLH and so I'm not sure why I'm playing... I guess just to get lucky cuz you never know how you might get smacked by the deck... though I think even if I get really lucky, I just won't know what to do with it and still lose. Bayne, maybe you should be giving me pointers instead of sharing bad beat stories with me.

Also, thanks for all the comments on my hand from yesterday. Let me address some of that here. To recap, Scott Fischman minraises from UTG+1 and I'm the only caller from the BB with KQs. Flop comes 6-7-3 with two of my suits, giving me two overs and a second nut flush draw. I check, Scott bets 1,500 into a pot containing 2,650. I checkraise to 6,000, he jams and I call the 12,000 more. The call there is no question. With the pot odds, it's a no brainer. Again, my question was, should I have checkraised more?

One guy commented that considering how Scotty was playing, it may not have mattered and that he was jamming no matter what. Maybe so but that's kinda besides the point. I'm not too interested in the results as I am in the process. If I am happy with my thought process, the betting amount, and the strategy itself, I am ok with the ending result being the same, which is I missed my 15 outs twice and I was crippled. Anguila mentioned that my bet sizing needs to be the same if I had flopped a monster, say a set or something so he disagreed with making it bigger. He liked my value bet-ish looking check raise. The only thing is, if I had flopped two pair or a set, I woulda bet bigger. The board is draw heavy so there is no reason for me to value bet there. And that's where I felt my mistake was. Because the board is so draw heavy, if I had a made hand, wouldn't I have bet more? Sure I would. That's what I do. Try to build pots when I have it. Gnome asked what would have been a good amount? 8,000? 9,000? Even before he asked that question, I obviously had some thoughts in mind and yes, I believe around 8500 would have been a good amount. That would clearly send the message that he no longer has fold equity even if he shoves. Again, he might still read me as having a flush draw and shove anyways but again, that's besides the point and at that point, surely I would instacall given the odds.

I think 6,000 looked weakish and drawish... Riggstad mentioned that Fischman did put me on a draw and so he shoved. He also mentioned to me later that Scott was surprised I called there considering my stack size. I actually didn't instacall there and I thought of a few things but the following is what made me call:

1) incredible pot odds considering my potential outs. 2:1 and potentially 15 outs twice, if he's on a ace high flush draw, that sucks but I at least have 6 outs twice. If he has two pair or better on this board, I have 9 outs. So considering the situation, I was getting tremendous pot odds.

2) I didn't want to give up what ended up becoming such a big pot to Scott Fischman. Sure, apparently, he was just donking it up in that one but at the time, I didn't know that. I was moved to the table not too long ago so I knew he was in the pot a lot but I didn't know he was just playing carefree poker. One thing I did notice was that everyone seemed to not want to be in the pot with him, at least at that table.

3) It was a known pro and I had a good chance to bust him. I had him covered, if I win that pot, I am the chip leader with almost twice as many chips as the second place guy, who would be sitting directly to my right. The only other chip stack that would hurt me that was on my left would be gone. It would make for an ideal table situation and give me a very good chance to go deep/win the tourney.

Having said all that, I did consider the other option that I didn't even touch on yesterday. Considering my stack size, I could have played this hand carefully and just smooth called his flop bet. The bet was small, it was giving me good odds to catch something on the turn so I could just call. If he fires out on the turn once the A comes, I could get away from the hand and move on to the next hand. That is certainly another option and maybe a better one considering the situation. I think in my mind, there was also a part of me that wanted to send the message that I wasn't gonna get pushed around by a pro. That maybe everyone might fold to his minraise but that I was gonna fight him for the pots. Maybe that ego got in the way but in looking back, I don't hate my play. I hate the amount still and I still think I shoulda gone bigger, regardless of the results, but check calling flop bet and then check folding on the turn seems a little too weak. I don't know. Interesting hand.

Oh, and btw, it appears that there's a lot of negativity by everyone against Scotty and how he played/lucksacked into the TOC. I also saw some people lament that there goes one WSOP Main Event seat. I am actually shocked to see that. I actually thought this blogger bunch was a lot more resilient than that. A known pro wins a tournament, gets a seat into the TOC and you assume he's got one of the prizes locked up? Why because you don't think you can compete? You don't think you're good enough? Then why the hell are you even playing? It's the WSOP ME seat we're fighting for. I don't give a shit who stands in the way. I know I don't have any MTT successes but I'm trying hard to get better at it and I'm not gonna cry about a pro being in the way of one of the seats. That's just weak and I'm shocked/disappointed with some who appear to be so discouraged by his presence. I actually think it's cool that a known pro is playing and as a matter of fact, if the other known internet pros come out, take down the blogger tourneys, lock up all the seats to the WSOP, as much as it may be a bummer that a blogger can't take it, I think it's nice to know that skill obviously matters and that everyone who cries about their bad luck and how THAT's the reason they're not winning will be put in their place. There's a reason why guys (and girls) like Hoy, Chad, Lucko, LJ etc continue to post big wins (not literally since Lucko and Chad seem to not really post anymore) in MTTs and based on reading their blogs, you know it's not because they get lucky all the time. I'm not bashing anyone in particular here. All I'm saying is, know what's at stake, man up, and play some poker. It's the freakin world series. Pro or no pro, you know you're gonna have to fight hard, play your best poker, and get lucky in key spots to win. We as a group take poker very seriously. It's time to show all the nonbloggers/pros what kinda damage we are capable of doing. I know I'm working hard to do that. I hope you all are too.

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.

Looks like I'm in at least one of them...

This weekend, I decided to switch it up a bit and play some tournament poker instead of cash games... of course, I did play some cash games but just not to the extent that I played last few weekends. My bonus is pretty much cleared (I have like $8 remaining) so I'll clear that just by playing like I normally do. To say that I hardly ever play tournaments is an understatement. Here's a screenshot from officialpokerrankings.com filtered by all the tournaments I played in the past 30 days...



That's 12... total... for the whole month.

Nonetheless, since one of my goals this year is to do well in MTTs, I figured I need to start increasing the amount of tourneys I play. I also enjoy playing in bigger tourneys so I tried my luck in one of these things to see if I can win. The play at this level is fairly atrocious and when it was down to 3-4 handed, I was basically killing the table. Amazing how the experience at the 6max cash tables really came to help me at this stage of the tournament. I was stealing and restealing like crazy and I never was in jeopardy of busting out when it was down to like 3-4 players. As a result, I'm in FTOPS #1!

A hand from the Mookie

Did I overplay my QQ? I have to admit, the fact that this guy has a K didn't even cross my mind. In my mind, there wasn't a single hand that contains a K that he woulda played it the way he did was what I thought. I obviously thought wrong.

Full Tilt Poker Game #4636187257: The Mookie (34950110), Table 6 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:26:59 ET - 2007/12/26
Seat 1: leftylu (2,610)
Seat 2: RecessRampage (3,275)
Seat 3: schlepp571 (5,730)
Seat 4: heffmike (3,815)
Seat 5: IslandBum1 (6,015)
Seat 6: Drizztdj (2,840)
Seat 7: muhctim (2,725)
Seat 8: katitude (1,065)
Seat 9: BigSlickNut (3,720)
schlepp571 posts the small blind of 25
heffmike posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qs Qh]
IslandBum1 calls 50
Drizztdj folds
muhctim calls 50
katitude folds
BigSlickNut folds
leftylu calls 50
RecessRampage raises to 325
schlepp571 folds
heffmike folds
IslandBum1 folds
muhctim calls 275
leftylu folds

*** FLOP *** [Kh 7d Kc]
muhctim checks
RecessRampage bets 550
muhctim raises to 1,100
RecessRampage raises to 2,950, and is all in
muhctim calls 1,300, and is all in
RecessRampage shows [Qs Qh]
muhctim shows [Ks Jc]
Uncalled bet of 550 returned to RecessRampage

*** TURN *** [Kh 7d Kc] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [Kh 7d Kc 6s] [As]
RecessRampage shows two pair, Kings and Queens
muhctim shows three of a kind, Kings
muhctim wins the pot (5,625) with three of a kind, Kings

When he checkraised me, I figured he was trying to see where he was with his middle pocket pair. I thought the only hand that had me beat would be 77. Did I overplay my queens? Would anyone do anything different here?

Even in looking at my hand, I just can't imagine getting away from this hand. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

So close... and yet so far...

Since I've been watching videos on Pokerxfactor and I'm picking up a few things in regards to tournament play, I figured I'd give the nightly fifty-fifty a shot. I chipped up nicely but I misplayed a few hands and ended up busting 20th... So close... I should've final tabled this thing and the fact that I didn't is definitely all on me. I may or may not post some of the hands. There's so much stuff I gotta blog about so I may not get around to this one.

HUC5 and Fifty-Fifty

I told myself I was going to bed earlier tonight. I was exhausted from staying up late on Tuesday night so I thought I'll play a few tourneys and if I bust out early, I'll just hit the sac. Being the tournament donk that I am, that's not such an unreasonable thought. Also, in order to get ready for the heads up challenge, I decided to play a few HU SNG's. The first one I saw was a $10+.75 buy in, 4 person HU SNG. I won both matches to take home the $40 first place prize so I thought that this was a good start.

Then Matt saw me crush that competition so he decided to challenge me for a $5 HU match. In the end, he was no match my luckboxery and I thought that this might be a good sign for my upcoming 1st round match with WillWonka. And boy, I had no idea. Since WillWonka had cash in UB (or so he thought), and since UB has the "challenge opponent" feature, we decided to play there. I have about $180 sitting in UB so it was no problem for me. We decided to play the $5 regular HU SNG (no turbo). Well, initially, since I was too stupid to figure out the "challenge" feature on UB, I just put myself on the waiting list and low and behold, I find myself sitting and playing a HU match against a random UB player. Finally, my match with WillWonka started as well... and all this while the Mookie and the Fifty-Fifty were going on. Let me tell you. 4 tabling, 2 of which are HU matches are insanely difficult.

But, luck would be on my side tonight. I beat the random UB player and also won two straight matches against WillWonka to advance to the second round. I'm not sure who I'm playing against next and I'm too lazy to check right now.

So, that would be 6 HU matches I played tonight (not 8 like I incorrectly told some people) and won all of them. But my luck wouldn't stop here...

I honestly don't know much about the Mookie except in the end, I busted out when my JJ couldn't hold up against AK or something like that... I think. It was a blur. Between the heads up matches and the Fifty-Fifty, I have to admit that my concentration was not there. That's really not my excuse. I just don't have any memorable hands or anything to report.

As for the Fifty-Fifty, my luckboxery way continued. I was getting paid off on some big hands and next thing I knew, I found myself in top 3 with about a third of the 1000+ field remaining. Then this hand came up that set me back a little.

FullTiltPoker Game #3405802150: The Fifty-Fifty (25609973), Table 27 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:58:46 ET - 2007/08/29
Seat 1: Titleist432 (19,358)
Seat 2: zestfulyclean (4,575)
Seat 3: Bluffer9 (11,158)
Seat 4: RecessRampage (21,969)
Seat 5: TheAssassinato (3,467)
Seat 6: ChuckSty (10,970)
Seat 7: only1likeme777 (6,105)
Seat 8: charder30 (3,861)
Seat 9: muckthenuts (12,305)
Titleist432 antes 25
zestfulyclean antes 25
Bluffer9 antes 25
RecessRampage antes 25
TheAssassinato antes 25
ChuckSty antes 25
only1likeme777 antes 25
charder30 antes 25
muckthenuts antes 25
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 150
TheAssassinato posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Ad Qd]
ChuckSty folds
only1likeme777 folds
charder30 folds
muckthenuts folds
Titleist432 folds
zestfulyclean folds
Bluffer9 folds
RecessRampage calls 150
TheAssassinato raises to 3,442, and is all in
RecessRampage calls 3,142
TheAssassinato shows [Ts 3h]
RecessRampage shows [Ad Qd]
*** FLOP *** [Jd 6s Kd]
*** TURN *** [Jd 6s Kd] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 6s Kd 3s] [4c]
TheAssassinato shows a pair of Threes
RecessRampage shows Ace King high
TheAssassinato wins the pot (7,109) with a pair of Threes

Few orbits earlier, there was an exact same scenario except I limped from the SB when it was folded to me and he shoved and I folded. And so I felt that this was a perfect opportunity to spring the trap. And it was. Too bad FullTilt had other plans for me.

Around this time, I notice that my 3rd place spot was now occupied by another blogger. Yeah, that's right. Mike_Maloney was playing in the same tournament and next thing I know, he's got a huge stack. The money bubble came and went for both of us fairly quickly since we both had decent stacks. Well, he had a big stack... I had a passable stack. Fortunately for me, as my M dwindled down, I shoved with Q9 from the button, only to be called by both the SB and the BB. AJ and K10 were what they had. When it was all said and done, the 9 high board allowed me to triple up and make me healthy again.

At this point, Mike_Maloney and I had similar stacks and I actually had visions of a run similar to what Hoy and Iak had put together previous in this same tournament.

Well, it was not meant to be. This was the hand that did me in.

FullTiltPoker Game #3406900989: The Fifty-Fifty (25609973), Table 82 - 1200/2400 Ante 300 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:04:43 ET - 2007/08/30
Seat 1: hawkkk (18,496)
Seat 2: superliquid (100,529)
Seat 4: PrincessGlo (44,494)
Seat 5: samloomis13 (64,212)
Seat 6: Joker789 (84,699)
Seat 7: adamskf (107,290)
Seat 8: RecessRampage (51,172)
hawkkk antes 300
superliquid antes 300
PrincessGlo antes 300
samloomis13 antes 300
Joker789 antes 300
adamskf antes 300
RecessRampage antes 300
adamskf posts the small blind of 1,200
RecessRampage posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc 9s]
hawkkk folds
superliquid raises to 4,800
PrincessGlo folds
samloomis13 folds
Joker789 folds
adamskf calls 3,600
RecessRampage calls 2,400

Stacks were deep enough and since I already had money in the pot, no brainer call here. I contemplated shoving but it's also a fishy min raise from a big stack so I wanted to at least see the flop.

*** FLOP *** [9c 3d Tc]
hawkkk: nn catch sam
adamskf bets 12,000
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 46,072, and is all in
superliquid: ace king sucks monkey balls.
superliquid folds
adamskf: wtf
adamskf has 15 seconds left to act
superliquid: jack jack
PrincessGlo: KQ is the worst
superliquid: or queen queen
adamskf calls 34,072
RecessRampage shows [Qc 9s]
adamskf shows [Ks Th]

Honestly, when he bet out the 12,000, I felt that his hand wasn't so strong. Maybe even a draw. So, I thought that if I shove, I can get him to fold. And if not, there's also a chance that my hand was good. Unfortunately, I needed to improve...

*** TURN *** [9c 3d Tc] [7d]
*** RIVER *** [9c 3d Tc 7d] [Jd]
RecessRampage shows a pair of Nines
adamskf shows a pair of Tens
adamskf wins the pot (108,644) with a pair of Tens
RecessRampage stands up

And that, I didn't do... as such, this message pops up. As much as it hurt, I don't think I overplayed the hand. I mean if you just read the hand history, it might seem that way but I read his hand as being weak and so I went with it. And it was fairly weak. But not weak enough.



As I was typing up this blog, Mike_Maloney busted out as well. He came in 26th place, getting him $264 for his efforts. It was very fun to keep track of each other and making it deep in a big MTT like this one. I really wanted both of us to final table this but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

One day, man... one day, I will get a big score.

Thanks to LJ, Matt, InstantTragedy, and Sia aka PouringReign for railing.

Oh... I also did play some cash games tonight and netted more money in less time than the 50-50. But I have to admit. That was fun. I'm gonna be dead tired tomorrow. Thanks again to all who stopped by. Good night now!

Revisiting the 28k hand

First of all, thank you for the well wishes. I am doing much better today. I'm hoping that by the end of the week, since I'll be home all day, I can pull a Jordan or LJ and score a nice tournament win... aaaah, one can dream.

Alright, well, this post also was supposed to come sooner but what with the "intestinal tilt" that I was on (coined by Pushmonkey, good one!), it took me a few days to get to it. Well, if you hadn't read it, it was about my hand deep in the 28k with about 21 players remaining. Click here for the original post. And tons of great comments came out of that and also made me see where I am still a tournament donk. Now, I don't mean that in a "it's so obvious" type of way even though for some, it may have been.

But Mike_Maloney put it best.

"Late in a tournament, with the blinds as high as they are, you generally have to be very suspect of people who raise instead of pushing when their M is only around 5."

That's a very good point. And in reviewing the hand, I totally agree. And here are my excuses for not seeing that. It was late in the tournament and I think my focus wasn't quite where it was. I was also getting excited with the prospect of final tabling this thing. And admittedly, after going a few orbits with absolute crap and getting shoved on any steal or resteal attempts, I was getting fairly impatient. When I saw JJ there, they looked golden. In other words, I was no longer at the top of my game. And in a NL tournament, one mistake could cost you. Just like it did me.

Another key thing is what LJ mentioned in her blog here. "sometimes you just have to lay down what might be the best hand." That's also an interesting mindset in that in the situation I was in, even if I had the best hand, it is almost for sure that the two others have overcards and unless they have the exact same hand, basically, they have 9 outs 5 times (any A, K, or Q). That's not a good situation for me and being that I had a decent stack, it's just another reason why I shoulda folded.

In reviewing everyone's comments, I can now honestly tell that that wasn't as tough a situation as I thought it was and for that, I thank everyone for making me see that. I will work on my tournament game in the next few days in between my naps that I'll be taking plenty of.

Close means nothing in tournaments

Last night, I ended up playing in a few tournaments which is unusual but based on the recent success that Lana had, I was inspired. So, of course, being the cash game guy that I am, I fired up a 2-4NL table and simultaneously started playing in the satellite for FTOPS event #3 and the token frenzy. Shortly thereafter, I saw Sia (PouringReign) and he mentioned that he was going to play in the 28k. I really didn't intend my session to be a long one but I thought, why the hell not. So I joined him at the 28k as well.

I donked out of the FTOPS 3 satellite but I felt good about my tournament game last night. One thing I really wanted to focus on was to play aggressive based on my reads and not based on my cards.

I know it's such a cliche about "cards don't matter" but when you look down at Q4o, even if you think your opponent is weak, it's sometimes hard to pull the trigger. Well, last night, I told myself that's what I'm gonna do and if I bust out that way, so be it. And surprisingly, I felt like I was clicking.

I ended up winning a token in the token frenzy and after that, I decided to really focus on the 28k as we entered hour #2. So I closed out the cash tables (where I managed to be up over a buy-in at 2-4NL) and just had the 28k open. And I have to hand it to myself. I played well. I stole here and there. I pulled a few resteals. Not enough to make people suspect it but just enough to keep my stack on pace with the escalating blinds.

And then this hand happened that I want your opinion on.

FullTiltPoker Game #3217429403: $28,000 Guarantee (24038653), Table 98 - 2500/5000 Ante 600 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:12:41 ET - 2007/08/11
Seat 1: my44izSET (47,224)
Seat 3: CaptJackDaniels (64,243)
Seat 4: slikcol (33,492)
Seat 5: YEARWOOD (47,970)
Seat 6: RecessRampage (68,828)
Seat 8: COBRA04 (17,868)
Seat 9: DuctTaper (129,128)
my44izSET antes 600
CaptJackDaniels antes 600
slikcol antes 600
YEARWOOD antes 600
RecessRampage antes 600
COBRA04 antes 600
DuctTaper antes 600
YEARWOOD posts the small blind of 2,500
RecessRampage posts the big blind of 5,000
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Jh Jd]
COBRA04 folds
DuctTaper folds
my44izSET folds
CaptJackDaniels raises to 25,000 from the CO
slikcol raises to 32,892, and is all in
YEARWOOD folds
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME

Now, notice here that I have both of these players covered. The player from the CO is not unusually aggressive but at this stage, it was fairly common for the players to raise from late position. The pot before anyone enters the pot is already 10,000+ so with 60k in chips, I felt like I was at a point where adding this pot would be huge for my stack considering I was probably around 15th out of the remaining 22 players. So, I ended up shoving, trying to isolate the all-in. One funny thing though is that I for some reason felt like this might be a set up hand. I told my friend on girly chat "watch this. I have a feeling this might be a set up hand." And I did consider folding.


RecessRampage raises to 68,228, and is all in
CaptJackDaniels calls 38,643, and is all in
RecessRampage shows [Jh Jd]
CaptJackDaniels shows [Kc Ks]
slikcol shows [Qc Ah]
Uncalled bet of 4,585 returned to RecessRampage
*** FLOP *** [3h 8h 5s]
*** TURN *** [3h 8h 5s] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [3h 8h 5s 7s] [6s]
RecessRampage shows a pair of Jacks
CaptJackDaniels shows a pair of Kings
CaptJackDaniels wins the side pot (61,502) with a pair of Kings
slikcol shows Ace Queen high
CaptJackDaniels wins the main pot (105,376) with a pair of Kings
slikcol stands up

That obviously crippled me and the very next hand, I busted out with K6 against the BB who had 34.

After 4 hrs, this is all I had to show for in this tournament. Man, over 1300 runners, 21st place and only $140 for my efforts. Tournaments are tough. Thanks to Lana, Bayne, and Sia for railing me.

FTOPS #1, Mookie, and Buddy Dank Radio appearance

Wow... I have so much to go over. And yet I know I won't have time to cover everything. So, first off, let me get all the important stuff out of the way. Congrats again to PvanHaribo (LJ/Lana) for coming in 3rd in the 32k that she satellited into with $8.80 and turned it into $4,700+. Too funny considering just the day before, she was talking about how she needed to build her online roll and so she was playing in $2 sng... amazing how quickly things change.

Next, I know none of these guys are probably happy where they ended up but they all did cash in the FTOPS #1 event. And yes, I know that there's no glory in cashing for these guys but hey, something is better than nothing. So, please go congratulate Julius_Goat, Hoy, and Cmitch.

Ok, so now I spread the love for my fellow bloggers, let's see... how did I do? Well, few weeks back, I played in a $8 single table super satellite to FTOPS #1. I took that down and quite frankly, never played in any other satellite to the FTOPS. So, I was entered into the $55 satellite last night into event #1 and I sneaked into the tournament, coming in 240th (top 243 places won the entry).

As for the FTOPS event itself... I wasn't so successful. I eventually busted out in 952nd place out of the original 4,165 runners. I suck. What more can I say? And I don't say this in a "I'll say I suck so please give me pity" type of way. Early in the tournament, I was doing fine, I think. Now I wasn't giving it the focus it probably deserved because I also had two 2-4NL cash games open and an hour into the FTOPS, the Mookie started. Oh yeah... and I made a guest appearance on the BuddyDank radio. That was a lot of fun. Hopefully, I didn't water down the show too much for all you listeners out there. And thanks to Buddy and Sean (aka InstantTragedy) for letting me come on the show. Again, that was a lot of fun.

Shortly thereafter though, I did close down the cash tables so that I could focus on the tournaments... but now that I went from 4 tables to 2, I decided to look for other bloggers. And I found Hoy and Cmitch so I started railing them. It wasn't till much later when Bayne told me that Jgoat was in as well. And one thing I noticed? I suck in tournaments. Wait, did I say that already? Why do I say that? Watching them, I could tell that they are picking their spots but they are also making moves. Or so I assume. I know Hoy was very active. Cmitch seemed to have timely aggression. Me? None of that. Ok, maybe once in a while but eventually, not enough to keep up with the pace of the escalating blinds and eventually, I go into a double up or go home mode. And no matter who says what, that is NOT a key to success in tournaments. I'm bound to lose a race or get sucked out on eventually and by letting my stack get shorter, I'm handcuffing myself from making plays and pretty much gets to a push and pray mode. So much more to learn for me.

Surprisingly, I was doing well in the Mookie. I don't even know how. Mookie was almost like an afterthought for me. Like a background music. Something to cover up the portion of my laptop screen that doesn't have a poker table up. But next thing I knew, we were down to like 15 players and there I was... in top 6 or something. Eventually (again, this is still all a blur and I don't have the HH with me to go over it right now), we get down to the final table but at this point, I'm more interested in how Hoy and Cmitch were doing in the FTOPS... well, pretty much. But now that we were at the final table, I wanted to win.

So, I started focusing my efforts on the final table of the Mookie and I think I played fairly well. Eventually, the money bubble broke and there were 5 remaining when Don suggested a chop. No one really said anything but when we lost another player, we seemed to have agreed to a chop. Or did we? It was interesting actually.

I don't have the chat log but last night, we saw what was probably the most controversial over the least amount of money at 1:30am-ish... At one point or another, all 4 remaining players (Don, Jordan, Joe Mav (I don't know your blog, if you have a blog AND you read this, please comment so I can link you, and myself) agreed on a 4 way chop when our chip counts were all relatively even. I was ok with this since it was late and winning the Mookie was like $210 or something vs the $130 or so that we get if we chopped. At this point, $80 was close to nothing... not to laugh at $80 but considering I play $2-4NL, that's like a size of one pot... so it really wasn't worth arguing over. So, once I thought we agreed on a chop, I shoved my KQ from the BB when JoeMav in SB raised. Believe it or not, it was more or less a "oh well" shove. I busted out in that hand against JoeMav's AJ. And then an interesting thing happened. I saw in the chat, someone goes "so are we chopping?" HUH? I thought we just agreed on that... and from that point on, a huge discussion ensues about whether they agreed to a chop or not... AFTER I busted.

Personally, I really don't care. If they end up chopping 3 ways, that's fine. If they do it 4 ways, that's fine. Either way, no grudge held here. Believe me. I have no problems with other bloggers and I'm not about to start one for $80 or so. So, any controversy/disagreements aside, gg to Don, Jordan, and JoeMav. Thanks again to Buddy and Sean for having me on their show and good job Lana, Hoy, Goat, and Cmitch.
And if anyone said anything to me on the chat box at the tables, sorry I didn't respond. I never saw anything but that doesn't mean that I didn't miss it. I had 4 tables up so when I do that, I can't pay attention to the chat. And if you wanna talk to me, my girly chats are to the right of this screen. Hit me up anytime!

Pvan who?

For those of you that don't know her, LJ (aka Pvanharibo) is a playa! I had the pleasure of meeting her when I was up in NY and shortly there after, she cashed in the WSOP Ladies Event. I, of course, take most of the credit for it. I mean my good luck must have rubbed off right?

Well, she did it again, this time on FTP's 32k! She was "working from home" today and decided to play some poker... eventually, she turned $8.80 into $4,743. Yeah, that's right... FOUR THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLLLLLLLLLLLARS!!!!

Go congratulate her on her blog here.

I'm a 4 star playa

Before I forget... I'm so bad with pimpin the tourneys... I mean I'm just inconsistent with my reminders for Mookie and MATH, the two blogger tourneys that I usually make a point to donate... errrr play in. So, here it is. The Big Game, hosted by the big man himself. Sunday night at 9:30pm ET. $75 buy-in. Come on everyone. So many ways to win the $75 token if you can't buy in. Easiest, IMO, is to take down the $8+0.70 2 table SNG for a $26 token and then parlaying that into a $75 token via the 2 table 18 person $26 buy-in SNG (top 5 in each gets the token). The next "easiest" is the nightly token frenzy where you can buy in for a mere $14+1 for your chance to win the $75 token. So, let's go get that and play in the biggest buy-in blogger event.



The past few days, I've mentioned that I wasn't into it. For some reason, I just kinda got tired and the work tilt affected the way I played poker... or rather, the way I didn't. I really didn't want to do anything... I preferred mindless activities like playing video games.

Speaking of mindless activities, navigating youtube is always a good mindless activity... check this out from yesterday's x-games. This fall is sick. As is the 720 he completed before that...



I'm not a X-game fan or anything... I'm not against it but I don't watch it with any kind of consistency. But I do know how sick these guys are and the tricks that they can do with their boards, bikes, etc. One summer, my friend and I worked the X-games when they came to Richmond. And I had no idea how high the ramps were and how much air time they get using those ramps. It's very sick. So, that fall was like 50 feet... apparently he walked away from it and had to be talked into going to the hospital... That's one tough kid.

Ok, so enough nonpoker stuff. Can you tell these days that my blog is really starting to be an outlet for me?

So, after I wrote the blog about how www.bigstack.com didn't account for satellites and as such was very inaccurate, I received numerous comments agreeing to that effect. Now, as part of that, KOD gave me a new site. Officialpokerrankings.com. And that site seems to be a lot more accurate. It might still be wrong so I'd love to hear people's comments on that. Well, according to that site, I'm a 4 star tournament player. Sounds good right? Until I tell you that it's not on a normal 5 star scale but rather, it's a 10 star scale...



The only thing I don't like about this site is if you are negative, it doesn't show you how much so for a guy like me, I have no way to actually vouch the accuracy or compare with my PT stats.

But check out how all the other bloggers are doing. Now, it appears more true. Or at least, it's right on with the expectations I have about most of the bloggers I know. No real surprises except once again, KOD distinguishes himself amongst the bloggers as he's listed in the top 250 MTT players according to that site. Seriously... why are there haters out there? Are you jealous of him? Or is he an ass in person? (Chad, I kid, obv)

Oh and one last thing I wanted to throw out there about tournament vs cash. Aside from my point of they are two very different games, I do agree that it's so much harder to be a winner in tournaments than cash games. Everyone could fool themselves into thinking they're not doing so bad by justifying via satellites and all that but in the end, there's only a select few who could truly make money in tournaments, only because of the number of entrants in it. Yeah, everyone might be one big score away from being in the positive but if someone plays 100 tourneys, win 1, and is +$100 net, is that person a winning tournament player? In my book, no. Just cuz you're up at one point doesn't make you a winning player without showing consistency. So, taking a snapshot and saying I'm a winning player is as silly as one of my friends saying in fantasy football that "if the season ended today, I'd be in the playoffs." But based on the blogs, I think we all know who the winning playas are in tournaments. Those are the guys who could do it night in and night out and show some semblance of consistency in a game that's virtually impossible to be consistent.

I think it's easier to be a winning cash game player but that's not to say that one is easier than the other. I know, I know. You're now thinking that that's self contradictory. It's not that. There are many layers of skill needed in cash games and there's only a select few who could continue to be positive at higher levels. I hear so many people say that they could do better if they were playing $1-2NL instead of $.25/.50NL or 5-10NL instead of 1-2NL. And their justification is that they won't suffer as many bad beats because the players should be better at that level and so their AK doesn't get cracked by K5 on a king high board. What they don't realize is their own leaks in the game and they continue to ignore their leaks by blaming the "donkeys." Believe me, if you can't crush 1-2NL, you can't crush 5-10NL. Playing smaller stakes due to limited bankroll is no excuse for not being a winning player. If you are playing cash and you think that the only reason you are not winning is because you are getting unlucky, you really need to self evaluate and look at your play. You'll be surprised as to who the true donkey is. That's how I feel every time I evaluate my play. And soon, I'll post some of my worst blunders to illustrate AND hopefully, you all can use that to either think about your play or learn from my mistakes.

Once again, thanks for reading this Harry Potter-esque (only from the sheer length of it) post. Have a good weekend and see you at the Big Game!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Man... what a night. I played in the BBT freeroll for about 20 minutes and that's it... I showed up 10 minutes late and 20 minutes later, I ran my pocket 10's into J-goat's KK. GG me. I really have no excuses except to say that I wasn't feeling it tonight. I went to play basketball as I usually do on Thursdays when I'm healthy and left before 10 so that I could get back at a decent time. Huh? Shower? Hygiene is overrated anyways, no? Women like tough, rugged men... right? Ok, so I'm not all that tough and I guess I'm not rugged either... so I guess I'm just dirty. Well, now I'll be able to go take a shower.

Well, before I do that though, I finally got to check out the site that Don had mentioned on his site. It's www.bigstack.com for those that somehow missed his blog. I obviously went to check it out and like everyone else, checked out mine and some others and were shocked at the results... until I noticed something.

This is not an excuse by any means and I'm not in any way trying to tell you that I'm a decent tournament player... cuz if I were, I would be playing right now... instead of blogging. So, having said that, the site is not entirely accurate. Mainly because when you play a multitable tournament that is a satellite to another tournament, your tournament entry fee is not considered in the amount won. What do I mean? For example, let's say you play in the nightly token frenzy for $14+1. In the tournament description, it says $75 satellite token for the ones I won but net profit for that tournament shows $-15 because I didn't win any cash. So, during the last FTOPS, I won a supersatellite to enter into $216 satellite for the $1060 tournament. I won my entry to the $1060 tournament but it still shows as if I bought in for the full amount of $1060 without any corresponding winnings to net that out. It does part of it right though. So, it shows $0.00 for cost/profit for the $216 satellite that I qualified for. But still shows a $1060 buy in for the actual tournament.

So, after saying all this, what am I trying to prove? Nothing really except the fact that this site is not all that accurate. But, if you haven't gone there yet, this is what it shows for me.



And to show you what I'm talking about in regards to satellites, this is what I mean.



Notice how in the description column, it says "entry to tournament xxxxx" but there's zero in the amount won column and yet -$1060 in the profit column for the tournament that I satellited into? So in other words, it's as if I played in the satellite, didn't win and bought in to the bigger MTT. Believe me. If I'm preaching to you that I'm a tournament donk, I'm not gonna buy into a $1,000 MTT.

Why did I post this? Only because I was curious about how I was doing as well as bunch of others and at first glance when I saw mine, I was like "Holy shit. -$4,205!? That can't be right." And I knew it wasn't right because very recently did I do a piece about how much of a loser I was in MTT during my half year review and that revealed that I lost about half that. So, if I were to accurately paint the picture of how I'm doing in the MTT world, here's my stats from Pokertracker.



Now I've had PT since January of 2006 so this is cumulative stats since then. If I include SNGs, the amount drops (or improves) to ($1,790.90). Still a big loser but not quite as bad as it first appears when you just look up my name on that site. I mean come on.... if you're gonna display stats like that, track it properly. I already admit that I'm a MTT loser... I don't need them painting an even worse picture. :)

Having said all this, now that I know that satellites are considered a loss (sometimes) on that site, you really have to give it up to Chad. I know there are plenty of haters out there but to be able to show such a large positive amount is impressive. And if you consider that my loss per that site was actually double what my actual losses were, you can apply that to him and double his winnings... yeah, that's impressive.

Hey tourney players, dead money lives here

Well, an unfortunately early night for me when my 99 lost to Jeciimd's AQ on a rivered straight. Strange how that feels so much worse than say if an A were to fall on the flop. Almost worse cuz I flopped a set... only to see it come runner runner straight. I think I cried a little... So anyways, I couldn't go deep in what I thought was a tournament that I really had the chance to take down. I'm so pissed right now. So painful to have 2 hrs invested and then have nothing to show for while some others could do it day in and day out. I played in 2 other tournaments and busted out in both. The 28k, I was crippled early when my KK ran into AA and I never quite recovered. In the end, I had a chance to get back to my starting stack but I lost the coin flip. In the $75 token frenzy, I don't even remember... I lost some other close call or something... oh yeah, I had AK, couldn't catch up to the 66 and lost.

Sorry, this is a short post. I'm in no mood to type right now. I'm going to sulk and go to bed.

Work in progress...

is my tournament game. Or the lack thereof... having said that, recently, I'm starting to get a good feel for them. I tried my luck tonight in the 24K guarantee and the two Daily Doubles. Couldn't really get anything going in the 24K and I busted out of the Daily Double B when my 89 ran into KK... that was a resteal gone wrong... Having said that, Daily Double A is where I felt like I played well. Don't get me wrong. I didn't cash or anything. But I thought it was interesting that I didn't really catch cards but I was able to put a few resteals... at least enough to keep me afloat. For example...

FullTiltPoker Game #2959648284: Daily Double - A (22058448), Table 10 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:38:31 ET - 2007/07/15
Seat 1: iNFiNiTE88 (11,690)
Seat 2: RecessRampage (6,255)
Seat 3: seh239 (5,060)
Seat 4: koffeeg (2,485)
Seat 5: MikeRizz33 (5,230)
Seat 6: BeeeBack (5,305)
Seat 7: jbravo18 (4,415)
Seat 8: Buster1242 (1,385)
Seat 9: BoopyFeree (2,380)
iNFiNiTE88 posts the small blind of 80
RecessRampage posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qh 4c]
seh239 folds
koffeeg folds
MikeRizz33 folds
BeeeBack folds
jbravo18 folds
Buster1242 has 15 seconds left to act
Buster1242 folds
BoopyFeree raises to 480
iNFiNiTE88 folds
RecessRampage raises to 1,100
BoopyFeree calls 620
*** FLOP *** [7c Kd 4h]
RecessRampage bets 1,300
BoopyFeree folds
Uncalled bet of 1,300 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (2,280)
The blinds are now 100/200

Button put in what I thought was a weakish bet so I decided to repop him. I didn't like it when he called but I decided that if there was no ace, I was going to follow up with a bet. Sure enough, the flop came K high so I bet out and I take the pot down. This was one of quite a few resteals I put in order to keep my stack healthy. Early on, I wasn't getting much to work with except for the one hand where I tried a squeeze/shove with 99, to get called by AQ (and my 99 held).

Then, I got moved to the table where there was a guy with top 5 chip stack. He was raising almost every hand so I pushed back some and chipped up even more. Then, I was dealt AA from EP so I raise it up. Sure enough, the big stack calls me and I see the miracle flop of A-A-K. (Wait, did I say, I wasn't really catching cards???) I didn't get much out of him considering the board looked like this and he claims he didn't have anything. But, I did get him to bet out twice so that definitely added to my chip stack. God, this is beautiful.



So, with about 280 players, I'm cruising and I'm approx top 60 or 70 in chips when a major showdown happens. The villain involved here moved to this table not too long ago so I haven't seen him really do anything.

FullTiltPoker Game #2960074572: Daily Double - A (22058448), Table 14 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:17:40 ET - 2007/07/15
Seat 1: supportthetroop (15,768)
Seat 2: MatueyHeartMe (13,766)
Seat 3: DarthDouglas (4,815)
Seat 4: RecessRampage (12,452)
Seat 5: dolphin75 (2,612)
Seat 6: TPDan38 (4,737)
Seat 7: twosteppin (11,568)
Seat 8: Deadcanary (11,395)
Seat 9: smokedulater (27,571)
supportthetroop antes 50
MatueyHeartMe antes 50
DarthDouglas antes 50
RecessRampage antes 50
dolphin75 antes 50
TPDan38 antes 50
twosteppin antes 50
Deadcanary antes 50
smokedulater antes 50
smokedulater posts the small blind of 200
supportthetroop posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qh Qd]
MatueyHeartMe calls 400 <--- UTG limp
DarthDouglas folds
RecessRampage raises to 1,600
dolphin75 folds
TPDan38 folds
twosteppin folds
Deadcanary folds
smokedulater folds
supportthetroop folds
MatueyHeartMe has 15 seconds left to act
MatueyHeartMe raises to 13,716, and is all in
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage has requested TIME
RecessRampage calls 10,802, and is all in
MatueyHeartMe shows [Kc Ac]
RecessRampage shows [Qh Qd]
Uncalled bet of 1,314 returned to MatueyHeartMe
*** FLOP *** [5d 4d Kh]
*** TURN *** [5d 4d Kh] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [5d 4d Kh 9c] [5c]
MatueyHeartMe shows two pair, Kings and Fives
RecessRampage shows two pair, Queens and Fives
MatueyHeartMe wins the pot (25,854) with two pair, Kings and Fives
RecessRampage stands up

I win this race and I'm top 10 in chips so that was unfortunate. I felt that if I won this hand, I could really give myself a good chance to go deep. When he shoved and pulled the ol' "limp UTG then shove" move, obviously, AA or KK crossed my mind. But I felt that he could do the same with a hand as weak as 88. Maybe that's too much but I felt that JJ, TT, 99, or 88 was a definite possibility. And I actually discounted AA because I thought he might not shove here if he actually held aces. So, based on that, and the fact that if I doubled up here, I'd be top 10 in chips was the reason I called. Turns out he had AK, classic race situation and I lost.

So, even though I didn't go deep in this tourney, I gave myself a legitimate chance to do so and for that, I'm actually pretty happy with how I did...