Stars 20/180 Tournament Report: My First Win

seke2 · #1 02-21-2006, 03:09 PM

Thought I'd take the opportunity to share a hand for hand tournament report from my 20/180 win last night. This was my first MTT win other than a $6/99 max on Party, so it was real nice. Not my biggest cash, but close to it. Each hand has a brief description. I listed out the hands which I thought were the most interesting and that I'd like some feedback on, a lot of the others are just steals.

This post gives all the notable hands up until the FT, I'll do the FT in a subsequent post.

The hands that I thought were notable:
Hand 1
Hand 3
Hand 10
Hand 12
Hand 19
Hand 24
Hand 30
Hand 33
Hand 34
Hand 36
Hand 37
Hand 38
Hand 40
Hand 41

First level or two, the deck just smashed me in the face, and I had some total donks at my table which helped it pay off big time.

Hand 1: Hi, my name is Seke2, and I'm weak/tight on value betting the river.

After my first blinds without incident, this one comes up. I really don't know what I was thinking not value betting this river. I ran into quads on a 3 of a kind board earlier in the night on Party, maybe that was in my head.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (8 handed) converter

SB (t3760)
BB (t1220)
UTG (t1500)
UTG+1 (t2090)
MP1 (t2530)
MP2 (t1470)
CO (t970)
Hero (t1460)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
2 folds, MP1 calls t20, 1 fold, CO calls t20, Hero calls t20, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: (t100) 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP1 checks, CO checks, Hero checks.

Turn: (t100) 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP1 bets t20, CO calls t20, Hero raises to t100, SB folds, BB folds, MP1 calls t80, CO folds.

River: (t320) 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: t320

Results in white below: 
MP1 has Qh 6h (three of a kind, fives).
Hero has 9c Jc (full house, fives full of nines).
Outcome: Hero wins t320. 

Hand 2: Deck, meet my face. Face, meet the deck.
I wasn't sure how to play these aces. Button was a complete donk who acquired most of chips by *CALLING* 2 all-ins with T2s for 2/3 of his stack in the first level and beat ATs and AKo. I really wanted to get isolated against him once he called me preflop. On the turn, I knew he'd call with any flush draw or straight draw, and figured he'd call a push just as easily as he'd call a value bet for half my stack. Might not have played this the same against someone who didn't suck.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (8 handed) converter

Button (t3740)
SB (t1200)
BB (t1500)
UTG (t2090)
UTG+1 (t2410)
MP1 (t1470)
MP2 (t930)
Hero (t1660)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
2 folds, MP1 calls t20, MP2 calls t20, Hero raises to t80, Button calls t80, 1 fold, BB calls t60, MP1 calls t60, MP2 calls t60.

Flop: (t410) 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (5 players)
BB checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks, Hero bets t300, Button calls t300, BB folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds.

Turn: (t1010) 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero bets t1280 (All-In), Button calls t1280.

River: (t3570) 2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t3570

Results in white below: 
Hero has As Ah (one pair, aces).
Button has Ac 7d (high card, ace).
Outcome: Hero wins t3570. 

Hand 3: And for my next trick...
This was the very next hand. I screwed this one up, I should have extracted more value from this. First off, I wouldn't usually limp this, and I honestly can't think of a time I'd done this before, but this table was so active preflop I knew there was a great chance I could limp/raise. I got exactly what I wanted, but I wouldn't do this at many tables. I just had to tailor my play to this table to take advantage of it. On the flop, I played it like I didn't want him to see more cards when I had the nuts. I still wanted to lead out with the possible high straight draws on the board, and I want people to see me cbet when I have a hand. Do I even need to reraise on that flop, or do I call his raise and then check/raise any turn? I think I should have called, or if I was going to reraise, made it something like 1200. I just wanted to get him pot committed. Meh. I really botched this one, I should have doubled up here.

I become the tournament CL after this hand, by the way.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (9 handed) converter

CO (t2080)
Button (t1190)
SB (t1420)
BB (t2090)
UTG (t2410)
UTG+1 (t1390)
MP1 (t850)
Hero (t3570)
MP3 (t4550)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
1 fold, UTG+1 calls t20, 1 fold, Hero calls t20, MP3 calls t20, 1 fold, Button calls t20, SB raises to t100, 1 fold, UTG+1 folds, Hero raises to t300, MP3 calls t280, Button folds, SB folds.

Flop: (t760) 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero bets t300, MP3 raises to t620, Hero raises to t1800, MP3 folds.

Final Pot: t3180

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t3180. 

Hand 4: The deck is giving me a black eye
This is about 5-6 hands later. I guess the poker gods were paying me back for the 2 hours of card death I had in Atlantic City on Sunday. Decided to raise this one UTG, hoping for a reraise. I got exactly what I wanted. A freaking ton of action holding AA. The T2s donk who I doubled through with my last aces was the guy who raised on that flop. Anyway, I think I played this one perfectly, and now I have a big lead over the rest of the field and get moved to a new table, where I find Beachman42 and a lot of table talk.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (9 handed) converter

MP1 (t2170)
MP2 (t1170)
MP3 (t1320)
CO (t2060)
Button (t2380)
SB (t1580)
BB (t750)
Hero (t4650)
UTG+1 (t3470)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
Hero raises to t90, 1 fold, MP1 raises to t150, 4 folds, SB calls t135, BB calls t120, Hero raises to t500, MP1 calls t350, SB folds, BB raises to t780, Hero calls t250, MP1 calls t250.

Flop: (t2430) 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (3 players)
Hero bets t700, MP1 raises to t1420, Hero calls t720.

Turn: (t5270) J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (3 players)

River: (t5270) 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (3 players)

Final Pot: t5270

Results in white below: 
BB has Qc Ks (one pair, sevens).
Hero has Ac Ad (two pair, aces and sevens).
MP1 has 4d 4s (two pair, sevens and fours).
Outcome: Hero wins t5270. 

Hand 5: Beachman42 1, Seke2 0
Uneventful hand. Limped a pair for set value, bet the turn when nobody showed interest, lost to Beachman42's big blind special.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (8 handed) converter

MP2 (t2855)
CO (t1285)
Hero (t7570)
SB (t1925)
BB (t2215)
UTG (t5630)
UTG+1 (t1760)
MP1 (t2010)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
3 folds, MP2 calls t30, 1 fold, Hero calls t30, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: (t120) 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP2 checks, Hero checks.

Turn: (t120) 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP2 checks, Hero bets t120, SB folds, BB calls t120, MP2 folds.

River: (t360) Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: t360

Results in white below: 
BB has 9d 2d (one pair, nines).
Hero has 5s 5h (one pair, fives).
Outcome: BB wins t360. 

Hand 6: Feeling it out
I like to do this early, especially if I'm on a big stack like this. I wanted to raise from LP to see how the guys behind me would react. Yeah, this probably should have been mucked, but with my stack and only 1 player with a large stack behind me, I just wanted to get a feel for these guys. As far as the flop goes, I wouldn't cbet into 4 people without the big stack, but I make people pay to play when I can afford to.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (8 handed) converter

UTG+1 (t2825)
MP1 (t1285)
Hero (t7420)
CO (t1895)
Button (t2410)
SB (t5600)
BB (t1730)
UTG (t2085)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
3 folds, Hero raises to t90, CO calls t90, Button calls t90, 1 fold, BB calls t60.

Flop: (t375) K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (4 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t225, CO folds, Button folds, BB folds.

Final Pot: t600

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t600. 

Hand 7: FPS'ing my way into stupid
When it was folded to me, I decided to just limp in the hopes that BB would raise or I could take down a bigger pot on the flop. As per usual, this was stupid and ended up just costing me some chips. After he called the decent sized turn bet, I pretty much just decided to check/call the river. Glad he didn't get more aggressive, I'd have called if he raised the turn big.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (8 handed) converter

CO (t3175)
Button (t2220)
Hero (t7655)
BB (t2030)
UTG (t2320)
UTG+1 (t5630)
MP1 (t190)
MP2 (t2030)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
7 folds, Hero completes, BB checks.

Flop: (t100) 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero bets t50, BB calls t50.

Turn: (t200) 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero bets t150, BB calls t150.

River: (t500) A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets t200, Hero calls t200.

Final Pot: t900

Results in white below: 
BB has 4s 4c (three of a king, fours).
Hero has Ks Kc (one pair, kings).
Outcome: BB wins t900. 

Hand 8: Big stack coin-flipping
Pretty standard call for a big stack against a microstack push here, I think. I'd have called with almost anything that played decently. Not sure why but the converter hates this hand, so, basically, 2 folds, shortie pushes for t355, folded to me in BB, I have 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], I call, he's got QJo, he wins the flip.

Hand 9: Beachman42 2, Seke2 0
Played 7's for set value. Thought for a while about calling on the turn when Beach bet, but I could see a lot of hands in his range that had a J or 9. He was nice enough to show me that I was right. Even though I again had position, I just didn't want to fire on that flop, I figured there was a real good chance that at least 1 of the 3 others had a J or 9 and I wasn't going to get them to lay it down there.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (8 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

MP2 (t3600)
CO (t2045)
Hero (t6900)
SB (t2380)
BB (t2245)
UTG (t2635)
UTG+1 (t735)
MP1 (t2040)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
UTG calls t50, 2 folds, MP2 calls t50, 1 fold, Hero calls t200, 1 fold, BB calls t150, UTG calls t150, MP2 calls t150.

Flop: (t825) 3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (4 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, MP2 checks, bigchipshi checks, Hero checks.

Turn: (t825) 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (4 players)
BB bets t350, UTG folds, MP2 folds, bigchipshi folds, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t1175

Results in white below: 
No showdown. BB wins t1175. 

Hand 10: Ok, fine, I'll stay off your blinds
Wanted to see if the guy behind me would defend his blinds, I hadn't had many chances to attack him yet. Once he pushed, I debated the call, but didn't think I had the pot odds against his range to call 1300 into a pot of 1900. It was marginal. He was playing good short stack poker, I just decided to respect his push here and keep the pressure on later.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (8 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

MP2 (t2100)
CO (t2895)
Hero (t6550)
SB (t1605)
BB (t2230)
UTG (t2820)
UTG+1 (t5830)
MP1 (t4480)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
6 folds, Hero raises to t300, SB raises to t1655, BB folds, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t2055

Results in white below: 
No showdown. SB wins t2055. 

Hand 11: Next time, they can deal the river first
Limped deuces UTG hoping to see a cheap flop, had to call the minraise, but couldn't keep chasing after the flop when I didn't make my set. The 3rd deuce arrived on the river, but it was still a good fold. And, uh, clearly, this wasn't the right hand, I have no clue what the converter did here.

Hand 12: I send Beachman to the rail
I shudder to post this, because I know it's a really marginal call. But we knew who each other were, so I had the whole he knows that I know that he knows thing in my head. Also, I figured I had a likely flip and was at worst something like 2:1, getting adequate odds for my call. I won the flip and sent Beach to the rail.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (8 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

UTG (t2800)
UTG+1 (t11405)
MP1 (t4100)
Hero (t5725)
CO (t1880)
Button (t2305)
SB (t2470)
BB (t5855)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with T, A.
3 folds, Hero raises to t450, 1 fold, Button raises to t2305, 2 folds, Hero calls t1855.

Flop: (t4835) 6, 2, 3 (2 players)

Turn: (t4835) T (2 players)

River: (t4835) 4 (2 players)

Final Pot: t4835

Results in white below:
Hero has Th As (flush, ace high).
Button has 8c 8h (one pair, eights).
Outcome: Hero wins t4835.

Hand 13: Stealing some blinds
BB was disconnected, so I was basically just stealing from SB, and I wanted to let this guy know that I wasn't going to stop stealing from him just because he played back at me once.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (8 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

MP2 (t3100)
CO (t11780)
Hero (t8105)
SB (t1580)
BB (t1820)
UTG (t2470)
UTG+1 (t11800)
MP1 (t5555)

Preflop: Hero is Button with T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
5 folds, Hero raises to t500, 2 folds.

Final Pot: t725

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t725. 

Hand 14: Do they call it set value if you never flop a set?
Played deuces mostly for set value again. This time, I did take a positional shot on a ragged flop, but I encountered resistance, and gave it up on the river. Thought about raising preflop, but SB had a big stack and was playing really loose, so I didn't think I'd be able to get him to lay much of anything down. I was tempted to look him up on the river, thought he might have been on a busted flush draw, but opted to preserve my chips.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (8 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

UTG (t3100)
UTG+1 (t11780)
Hero (t8330)
MP2 (t1355)
CO (t1595)
Button (t2245)
SB (t11875)
BB (t5930)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
2 folds, Hero calls t150, 3 folds, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: (t450) 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets t300, SB calls t300, BB folds.

Turn: (t1050) 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks.

River: (t1050) 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB bets t300, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t1350

Results in white below: 
SB doesn't show.
Outcome: SB wins t1350. 

Hand 15: Interesting spot with KK
Picked up a big hand in the BB. 1 minraise from a loose bigstack ahead of me, and a call from a short-stack. I decided to try and isolate against the shortie, figuring he'd call any raise, so I made a fairly big raise. Should I have raised less to try and keep Button involved? Anyway, the isolation play worked exactly like I hoped.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (9 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

CO (t3950)
Button (t11480)
SB (t1090)
Hero (t7880)
UTG (t1355)
UTG+1 (t1595)
MP1 (t1845)
MP2 (t12775)
MP3 (t5930)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
6 folds, Button raises to t400, SB calls t300, Hero raises to t1500, Button folds, SB calls t690 (All-In).

Flop: (t2990) 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t2990) 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t2990) 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t2990

Results in white below: 
SB has Qh 8h (high card, queen).
Hero has Kc Ks (one pair, kings).
Outcome: Hero wins t2990. 

Hand 16: Too loose?
Hadn't played a lot of hands since the 2nd hour started, figured my raises would get a little more respect, particularly after I showed down those kings.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

UTG (t3950)
Hero (t9370)
MP2 (t1155)
CO (t1295)
Button (t2145)
SB (t24055)
BB (t5930)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
1 fold, Hero raises to t600, 5 folds.

Final Pot: t900

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t900. 

Hand 17: I'm a bully
Ok, fine, I'm just taking his lunch money now. I gave the guy a walk a few times when it was folded to me and he was just left isolated against the sitting out guy, so I didn't feel too bad about it.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (8 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

CO (t4250)
Button (t10110)
Hero (t9270)
BB (t2710)
UTG (t995)
UTG+1 (t4245)
MP1 (t23655)
MP2 (t6125)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
6 folds, Hero raises to t625, 1 fold.

Final Pot: t800

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t800. 

Hand 18: Set value? One of these times?
Played another low pair for set value, folded after an action packed flop.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (8 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

UTG (t4150)
UTG+1 (t10710)
Hero (t10070)
MP2 (t2210)
CO (t595)
Button (t4445)
SB (t23155)
BB (t6025)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
1 fold, UTG+1 calls t200, Hero calls t200, 2 folds, Button calls t200, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: (t1075) 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (5 players)
SB bets t600, BB folds, UTG+1 folds, Hero folds, Button raises to t4220, SB calls t3620.

Turn: (t9515) J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)

River: (t9515) 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)

Final Pot: t9515

Results in white below: 
Button has Ac 8d (one pair, eights).
SB has Qh 8h (one pair, eights).
Outcome: Button wins t9515. 

Hand 19: I'm not a dick in real life...
I stole a few times with AQs and showed both steals to the table. So now, more relentless attacking of SB. At this point, he's pretty much stopped playing back at me. The reason for the larger raise here was to inform him that I was absolutely going to call if he pushed. After all the picking on him, I thought the larger raise would give him the idea that I was serious about this hand. And showing some of my legit steals might have helped with the metagame. I guess it all worked, he folded.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (8 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

CO (t3750)
Button (t11510)
Hero (t10070)
BB (t2110)
UTG (t495)
UTG+1 (t9365)
MP1 (t18435)
MP2 (t5625)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
6 folds, Hero raises to t1025, 1 fold.

Final Pot: t1200

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t1200. 

Hand 20: Wait, you mean this isn't 2 card poker?
I'd built up my stack from 8k to 10k without really playing much postflop poker. Here, I raised from CO with A8o and got a very nice 8 high flop. Looking at it now, I think my flop bet might have been a little too large, but I was happy to take it down here.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (8 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

MP1 (t3700)
MP2 (t11460)
Hero (t10420)
Button (t1660)
SB (t245)
BB (t10115)
UTG (t18185)
UTG+1 (t5575)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
4 folds, Hero raises to t600, 2 folds, BB calls t400.

Flop: (t1175) 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t900, BB folds.

Final Pot: t2075

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t2075. 

Hand 21: More thievery
Too loose? Raised a little more than my normal t600, just wanted to throw a little curveball at the blinds, since almost all of my other raises were exactly 3xBB.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

MP2 (t3925)
CO (t11985)
Hero (t10845)
SB (t3290)
BB (t10215)
UTG (t16000)
MP1 (t5100)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
4 folds, Hero raises to t675, 2 folds.

Final Pot: t825

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t825. 

Hand 22: No, SB, you can't play cheap
SB was new to the table, he needed to get the message. I've been playing 2 card poker for the better part of an hour and have kept building my stack slowly.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (9 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

CO (t3475)
Button (t11210)
SB (t7015)
Hero (t11170)
UTG (t3315)
UTG+1 (t7175)
MP1 (t10540)
MP2 (t16375)
MP3 (t4550)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
7 folds, SB completes, Hero raises to t625, SB folds.

Final Pot: t925

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t925. 

Hand 23: Fine, let's see a flop
Card dead for a few orbits, blinds go up. This time I just see a flop. I flop the OESD, he checks and I fire out a pretty large bet, he lays down. How was the bet size on this? Looking at it today, I think it was a little large, but it kinda looks like I caught an 8, which is generally what I was trying to represent.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t400 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

Button (t6325)
SB (t12010)
Hero (t10420)
UTG (t6930)
MP1 (t6600)
MP2 (t18915)
CO (t8210)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
5 folds, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: (t750) 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets t700, SB folds.

Final Pot: t1450

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t1450. 

Hand 24: Laying down tens preflop
I really don't lay down TT+ hardly ever, but MP2 made a minraise and then Button put in a big raise behind that. I didn't want to call and play a quarter of my stack for set value. Button was solid, so I figured him on TT+/AK/AQ. Just didn't like the situation for a push.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t400 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

CO (t6300)
Button (t11585)
Hero (t10970)
BB (t6905)
UTG (t6575)
MP1 (t18890)
MP2 (t8185)

Preflop: Hero is SB with T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
2 folds, MP2 raises to t825, 1 fold, Button raises to t2425, 2 folds, MP2 folds.

Final Pot: t3375

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Button wins t3375. 

Hand 25: Guess he got tired of me stealing
Once again, I raise from the button with trash, and I think SB (who I'd been hammering on relentlessly) either got tired of it, or had a real hand. Had to lay this one down.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t400 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

MP2 (t6275)
CO (t13135)
Hero (t10745)
SB (t6480)
BB (t6550)
UTG (t18865)
MP1 (t7360)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
4 folds, Hero raises to t1225, SB raises to t6480, 1 fold, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t7830

Results in white below: 
No showdown. SB wins t7830. 

Hand 26: Blinds to the needy
Starting to go card dead as we approach the bubble, and no longer one of the big stacks. Raised it up from EP with 77. Too loose?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t600 (8 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

MP1 (t5155)
MP2 (t10370)
CO (t21721)
Button (t13100)
SB (t3415)
BB (t8588)
UTG (t31980)
Hero (t8595)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
1 fold, Hero raises to t1850, 6 folds.

Final Pot: t2200

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t2200. 

Hand 27: Keeping up with the blindses
Just more stealing to keep up with the blinds. Q9s is the nuts, right?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t600 (8 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

SB (t5705)
BB (t10220)
UTG (t19056)
UTG+1 (t4842)
MP1 (t5380)
MP2 (t7238)
CO (t46630)
Hero (t8845)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
5 folds, Hero raises to t1850, 2 folds.

Final Pot: t2200

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t2200. 

Hand 28: When was the last time I actually played a hand?
Blinds go up again, but Hero's stack seems to be stagnant around the 9-10k mark. We're getting close to the bubble now.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t800 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

MP2 (t8710)
CO (t14070)
Button (t16351)
SB (t4192)
BB (t5838)
UTG (t44680)
Hero (t8745)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
1 fold, Hero raises to t2450, 5 folds.

Final Pot: t2750

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t2750. 

Hand 29: At least I'm getting dealt hands when I'm in position
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t800 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

SB (t7710)
BB (t13870)
UTG (t11713)
MP1 (t5142)
MP2 (t10426)
CO (t44830)
Hero (t8895)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
4 folds, Hero raises to t2450, 2 folds.

Final Pot: t2750

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t2750. 

Hand 30: Laying down another pair
I'd have repushed on a steal against a lot of people, but I didn't think I had any FE against Button's huge stack and didn't want to call off a quarter of my stack. Was this one weak/tight?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t800 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

BB (t7417)
UTG (t11120)
MP1 (t18806)
MP2 (t3642)
CO (t8926)
Button (t43330)
Hero (t9345)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
4 folds, Button raises to t2450, 2 folds.

Final Pot: t2750

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Button wins t2750. 

Hand 31: Finally, some action!
Up against the big stack, this time I've got a hand. He minraises, I push, he calls, and MHIG. Pretty standard, but it felt good to get some chips after a while of being short.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t800 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

CO (t6067)
Button (t13670)
SB (t17856)
BB (t3492)
UTG (t8776)
MP1 (t43930)
Hero (t8795)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
1 fold, MP1 raises to t1600, Hero raises to t8745, 4 folds, MP1 calls t7145.

Flop: (t17740) 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)

Turn: (t17740) 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)

River: (t17740) 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)

Final Pot: t17740

Results in white below: 
MP1 has Jh Ks (high card, ace).
Hero has Qs Qh (one pair, queens).
Outcome: Hero wins t17740. 

Hand 32: Sending a message
SB had been attacking me a lot, and I'd laid down every time since I had crap hands. I had to put a stop to it. Basically, I was just trying to tell him that I'm not just going to let him walk all over me now that I have the chips to play back at him. I thought about a steal raise on the flop, I sensed he was weak, but opted to preserve my chips for better spots.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t800 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

UTG (t7467)
MP1 (t13520)
MP2 (t17306)
CO (t2142)
Button (t7426)
SB (t35785)
Hero (t18940)

Preflop: Hero is BB with J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
5 folds, SB raises to t1600, Hero calls t800.

Flop: (t2700) 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB bets t1600, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t4300

Results in white below: 
No showdown. SB wins t4300. 

Hand 33: Someone finally stands up to me
I raise on a steal from the button with a marginal hand, and BB plays back at me for half his stack. This isn't a hand I want to take to the felt, and I'm pretty sure that if I just call, he's pushing any flop. Despite some decent pot odds to call here, I muck unhappily.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t800 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

SB (t6567)
BB (t13420)
UTG (t18756)
MP1 (t2042)
MP2 (t7326)
CO (t37635)
Hero (t16840)

Preflop: Hero is Button with T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
4 folds, Hero raises to t2450, 1 fold, BB raises to t5650, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t8350

Results in white below: 
No showdown. BB wins t8350. 

Hand 34: Marginal push
BB was pretty tight and also a smart player who I thought was aware of bubble poker, and we were on the money bubble. I felt a standard raise would pot-commit him anyway if he called, so I opted to push preflop even though my hand was pretty marginal. I thought he'd need a tight range to call, and the with blinds up again, that's a big pot for what I felt was minimal risk. BB seemed like he knew what he was doing. Basically, if I pushed on the button, he folded. If I folde the button, he pushed every single time into BB.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1200 (9 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

BB (t7342)
UTG (t5395)
UTG+1 (t11632)
MP1 (t16781)
MP2 (t2359)
MP3 (t15842)
CO (t8201)
Button (t52785)
Hero (t12865)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
7 folds, Hero raises to t12865, 1 fold.

Final Pot: t13465

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t13465. 

Hand 35: Showing the hand
Didn't get any action with my QQ, but I showed the hand. My raises weren't getting as much respect, so I was hoping to pick up some metagame points here. Until recently, I never showed unless I had to, but I've been doing it more recently and I like the results.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1200 (8 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

CO (t7792)
Button (t10207)
SB (t16556)
BB (t2134)
UTG (t15617)
UTG+1 (t13821)
MP1 (t52560)
Hero (t14515)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
3 folds, Hero raises to t3675, 4 folds.

Final Pot: t4200

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t4200. 

Hand 36: Is this weak/tight?
Folded AJo from MP1 after a UTG raise. SB was pot committed in the blind. I thought I might be able to call and cooperation play with UTG, so I could get 5 cards if I called. I was also tempted to resteal push to isolate against SB. I think there were a few ways I could have played this hand better than folding. Maybe I'm just being results oriented since I would have won. Could use advice here.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1200 (8 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

MP2 (t7717)
CO (t10132)
Button (t15881)
SB (t859)
BB (t15542)
UTG (t13746)
UTG+1 (t52485)
Hero (t16840)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
UTG raises to t3600, 5 folds, SB calls t184 (All-In), 1 fold.

Flop: (t4309) 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t4309) A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t4309) J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t4309

Results in white below: 
UTG has 9d 9h (two pair, jacks and nines).
SB has 3c Th (one pair, jacks).
Outcome: UTG wins t4309. 

Hand 37: Some hands, I wish I could just leave out...
I can't defend this play really easily. It was 100% read based on BB, I thought his calling range would be incredibly tight, like QQ+/AK. I really hadn't picked on him too much, I'd folded the button to him when it was folded to me a number of times, so he probably thought I was only raising with legit hands, and he wouldn't want to go out close to the FT. Meh. I pushed with 82o. That just can't be good, right?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1200 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

BB (t7492)
UTG (t9907)
MP1 (t17981)
MP2 (t14117)
CO (t15505)
Button (t52785)
Hero (t15415)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
5 folds, Hero raises to t15415, 1 fold.

Final Pot: t15865

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t15865. 

Hand 38: I pushed 82o and folded AJo? What the hell...
I folded AJo, UTG, 7 handed, on the bubble. Standard?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1200 (7 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

MP1 (t9967)
MP2 (t10057)
CO (t18131)
Button (t11942)
SB (t13930)
BB (t52410)
Hero (t16765)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
3 folds, CO raises to t2400, 2 folds, BB calls t1200.

Flop: (t4050) 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
BB bets t2400, CO folds.

Final Pot: t6450

Results in white below: 
No showdown. BB wins t6450. 

Hand 39: Less crazy blind stealing
This is better than the 82o hand, at least.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1200 (6 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

SB (t10792)
BB (t9832)
UTG (t11906)
MP (t30822)
CO (t55110)
Hero (t14740)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
3 folds, Hero raises to t3675, 2 folds.

Final Pot: t4050

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t4050. 

Hand 40: Another interesting KK hand
The MP bigstack minraises, I make it 4000 to go behind him. He's minraising a lot, pretty much a loose player who doesn't know how to handle a big stack well, and I don't want to lose him preflop. Flop is a real mixed bag. I pick up the nut royal straight flush draw, but my KK is now looking at an ace high board. He bets out, and I decide to push. If he's got a decent ace, I'm getting called an likely have about 15 outs. If not, this pot is plenty big to grab now. I think my push can get him to fold a lot of bad aces, but I'm not sure, he was a really loose player. Obviously, I could have just called the flop bet with those pot odds, but I thought a push was the best play. Thoughts?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1200 (6 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

Button (t10117)
SB (t8557)
BB (t11831)
UTG (t30747)
MP (t55035)
Hero (t16915)

Preflop: Hero is CO with K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
1 fold, MP raises to t2400, Hero raises to t4000, 3 folds, MP calls t1600.

Flop: (t8300) J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
MP bets t2400, Hero raises to t12840, MP folds.

Final Pot: t23540

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t23540. 

Hand 41: Looking for monsters, or playing smart?
Folded to SB who just completes. This guy has raised basically every time it was folded to him, and now he just completes? I have a hand that I'd usually raise here, but my alarm bells are going off. Flop comes out, and that's a pretty favorable flop to bet my hand. But again, SB checks, and this guy has fired at almsot every flop, even when he wasn't the preflop aggressor. My alarms are still going off. Turn comes with an ace, and he minbets, again, something he hadn't done much. I folded. I was completely convinced he had nothing worse than KK on this hand.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1200 (6 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

UTG (t9892)
MP (t17789)
CO (t12056)
Button (t28722)
SB (t39403)
Hero (t25340)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
4 folds, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: (t2175) 6[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks.

Turn: (t2175) A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB bets t1200, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t3375

Results in white below: 
No showdown. SB wins t3375. 

Hand 42: Back to the robbery
Seems standard.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1200 (6 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

BB (t9817)
UTG (t17714)
MP (t11981)
CO (t28647)
Button (t40978)
Hero (t24065)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
4 folds, Hero raises to t3675, 1 fold.

Final Pot: t4050

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t4050. 

Hand 43: Last hand before the Final Table
One last steal, and I go to the final table in 8th place, but not far behind anyone.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t1600 (5 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

SB (t30806)
BB (t27393)
UTG (t31030)
MP (t43603)
Hero (t20540)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
2 folds, Hero raises to t4875, 2 folds.

Final Pot: t5175

Results in white below: 
No showdown. Hero wins t5175.