Running with Spades

Current Bankroll: $9 - 300k Play Chips

Woot! First multi-table freeroll cash-out ever! Definitely a well-played tournament, and that is what counts most of all.

The first hour was a bit tough as I missed every single flop when I had a good starting hand and despite making a bit back here and there on small bluffs I was soon missing a third of my starting stack and at the 10BB limit. Finally ATs more than doubled me up when I flopped a straight. Then some pocket queens and a set of 9s later and I was sitting in 17 of 817 of 2700 starters just as the hour finished. It's always nice when patience pays off so well.

10:20 (17 of 724) - QJs in middle position with one 3xBB raiser from under the gun so I call. Everyone else folds. Flop is T88 rainbow and he raises 3xBB again but I'm pretty sure he didn't hit that flop after raising pre-flop so I reraise him another 3xBB. He calls pretty quickly. Turn is a 2 and he checks it to me so I bet 9xBB and he calls again pretty quickly. At this point I'm not sure if he is sitting on a high pocket pair or in fact has a ten.

When the river is a 7 and he immediately checks it to me again. I'm a little worried that he is letting me push the pot when he has the nuts, but I just can't give him credit for slowplaying the ten so well and I can get him to lay down just about any other hand with a decent bet so I bet about 3/4 of the pot thinking that that will be just enough to get him to lay down anything but a ten. He indeed folds and I take down a decent pot although don't seem to move up at all in the rankings.

10:23 (17 of 700) - AQo from late position with one 3xBB raise from the same guy as before in front of me so I call. Flop is Q98 rainbow giving me top pair top kicker, he checks it to me and I put in a small raise hoping for a call and I get it. Turn is a 5, he checks, so I bet half the pot and he calls again.

A ten on the river puts out a one-card straight and he bets nearly the full pot. I was pretty sure I had him up until this point but even though I found it hard to believe he was in fact chasing that inside-straight draw I just couldn't bring myself to make that call. Tough fold, but I think it was probably best to avoid such a large risk at that point even though my stack could easily have absorbed it.

12:06 (14 of 77) - Nothing very interesting happened for nearly two hours and despite building my stack up very slowly, it wasn't fast enough to keep up with the speed of the tournament and I had soon dropped down to the bottom quarter in the standings. Finally a pair of queens showed up in the hole. One 3xBB raise and a call in front of me so I just call from late position thinking that the raise is already enough minimize the callers and that I might be able to disguise my hand and minimize my losses should an ace or queen come down on the flop. The BB also called so 4 to the flop.

Flop was a beautiful 752 rainbow and the original raiser puts in a half-pot raise. The next guy pushes over the top all-in for 2/3 my stack. There is no way I can put him on AA or KK since he didn't reraise pre-flop, so I figure he has a lower pocket pair, possibly a 7 or even that he is bluffing completely. The only thing I am really worried about is a set, but I have trouble giving him credit for calling that preflop raise with such a low pocket pair. I call, BB folds and the original raiser calls.

A king comes on the turn and the original raiser checks to me. I'm pretty worried about him holding a king since he was the original raiser both preflop and on the flop and his best move if he did in fact hold a king would definitely be to check since he will have a much better chance of getting the rest of my stack off of me on the river so I decide to check too.

A 9 on the river and he checks to me again. I'm pretty sure this means I'm ahead and there is no sense in risking the rest of my stack just to win a little more so I decide to check it down again. He flips over AJo and the all-in has pocket tens. I was quite happy with my reads on that hand and it was definitely a relief to finally pull down a slightly larger pot putting me back into the comfort zone.

12:34 (7 of 49) JJ on the button, two callers ahead of me so I raise 4xBB. Two callers. Flop is 56T with two clubs and the guy in front of me raises half the pot. I figure I've got him beat so I reraise. Other player folds and the raiser calls my raise. Turn is an 8 of spades and he checks so I raise half the pot (which was also half my stack) and he comes over the top pushing me all-in. I'm a little afraid of a set, but I'm hoping he would have pushed me all in on the flop if he had hit the set there and there is no way he would have called my reraise with pocket 8s so he couldn't have hit a set on the turn. I'm a bit more worried about aces, kings or queens but I can't fold on this huge pot with less than 10BB left in my stack for fear of one of those hands so I call. He flips over A8 of clubs and I survive the river to take down a monster pot throwing me from 28th to 7th and nearly a shoe-in for the money if I can avoid any bad situations over the next hour or so.

1:12 (14 of 27) In the money for the first time ever in one of these crazy freerolls. That's $2 in the bank for now :) Next payout increase is at 9th place going up to $3.

1:55 (2 of 10) Doubled up big time against the chip leader when my Q8o in the BB completed a straight on the turn despite an 8 dropping on the river. When the 8 fell I decided to check it to him giving him a chance to bluff since there was no way he was calling any bet without the queen and it worked perfectly as he put me all in, doubling me up to second place!

1:56 (2 of 9) Final table and up to $3! Payout structure from here on out is: 1st - $15, 2nd - $12, 3rd - $9, 4th - $7, 5th - $6, 6th - $5, 7th - $4.

2:08 (2 of 7) Seeing a lot of aggressive action with mediocre hands as the number of players drops. I pick up QJo in late position and raise it up 1xBB and get a call from big stack who has me outchipped nearly 3 to 1. Flop is 48A with two hearts and he raises 1xBB. I don't think he would have just called with a strong ace, so I figure I can definitely take him off this pot. Rather than do it now, which would be a bit obvious I decided to make it look like I am milking him so I simply reraise another 1xBB.

He quickly calls and with a 3 of spades on the turn raises another 2xBB. I again reraise another 2xBB and he calls. King of hearts comes on the turn putting out a possible flush but he checks to me and I just can't imagine he would have done that had he hit the flush so I put out a half-pot sized bet hoping it is just enough to make him fold and it works perfectly picking me up a nice sized pot.

2:19 (5 of 5) Took a big hit after raising with preflop with K9s and getting reraised all-in from the small stack for about half my stack and I decided to call. He flipped over AKo shutting me out pretty bad and dropping me to last place.

2:23 (3 of 3) Other two players dropped like flies and I'm stuck going into the final 3 with about a third of the stack of the guy in second place. Big stack folds to me in the SS and with K7o I decide to raise it up. BB calls. 335 rainbow on the flop looks safe enough for a bluff so I bet 2xBB. He raises me up to about half my stack and thinking that there is a good chance he is trying to steal my bluff and that I can't really afford to fold here I decide to push all in hoping my king high is actually good enough even if he calls. He flips over pockets 7s though and I'm out in third with a cash-out of $9.

Maybe I could have waited a bit longer in the final 3 to make a move since I was still at about the 10xBB limit, but I think I grabbed at a good opportunity and it just didn't pay off. I was so far behind at that point anyway that I couldn't really afford to wait for a better opportunity so I think it was a good decision.

Analysis
Despite a tough start, after surviving my first all-in and doubling up I only had to survive one more all in before reaching the top 3 and busting out in third. That means I was able to build my stack slowly and methodically without risking too much in any one hand. That is definitely the only way to survive one of these huge tournaments, and I am really happy about my discipline tonight that kept me focused and patient enough to make that possible.

I didn't really take any nasty hits but I think that was due more to avoiding bad situations rather than blind luck. But more importantly I was able to stay away from the point where a bad beat would have crippled me anyway so that is definitely the lesson of the night.

While that may be a bit of an obvious lesson it is definitely something that I will try to keep as underlying goal in future tournaments. As it is a bit general though I'm going to focus one key aspect of my game tonight that I think made it possible, something that I think may be lacking in my current cash game play which may be the reason I am suffering so much at the cash tables. That aspect is the discipline to keep pots small and not try to buy out pots with huge bets. It doesn't take much to bluff somebody when they are in fact bluffable and in most cases a smaller bet is more disguised as a bluff than a large one which can practically scream your real intentions. But more importantly, getting yourself involved in pots that are large enough to cripple your stack too frequently is a recipe for disaster because it leaves little room for error. Especially given that I am far from a pro poker player I need to give myself as much room for error as possible.

Patience pays off in the long run even if it makes for really tough poker when things aren't going your way, and while it is one of the toughest things to stay consistent with, if you focus on it, it is one of the easiest ways to bring your game out of a slump.

Anyway, I am really excited about this awesome finish! Having never cashed in one of these huge, multi-table freerolls and to suddenly hit 3rd place is fantastic. While $9 isn't my biggest tournament cash-out yet, it is the highest in any freeroll and second overall, nearly doubling my previous second-best cash-out of $5 in Full Tilt's 400k Play Chip $40 Freeroll.

Hopefully I'll be able to put these $9 to good use if I can continue to play as well as I did tonight. Especially given my sudden awful cash-game play at the play chip tables and my teetering play chip bankroll it will definitely be a relief not to have to address that problem and to finally move over to the real money tables for good. Here's to a successful 2008!

I took another shot at the $1 Turbo MTT over at Full Tilt tonight, this time with 998 entrants and cash going to the top 90 finishers.

Plan was to start out a bit slower than last night and really wait for some good hands to push. Even though it's a turbo tourney and you have to take some chances, I wanted to see if I could wait a bit longer than I did last night to start risking things.

5PM - 998 Players, first hand. Called the first hand with A8s, but folded to a raise pre-flop. I think I'll have avoid these drawing hands early on in tournaments since it seems a much higher percentage of the early hands get raised preflop and these hands rely on a cheap entry to the flop.

5:08PM - 838 Players, JJ on the button. 1 caller, so I call. Flop comes down 865 with two diamonds. Guy in front raises the pot, I reraise, he calls. 4 of diamonds on the turn puts up a straight and flush on the board and he raises the pot. Don't want to risk my tournament life just yet, so I fold.

5:10PM - 806 Players, very next hand, JJ again and I call. K66 rainbow flop, all check. 4 on the turn and SS bets half pot, BB calls and I decide to raise it up anticipating a weak K. SS calls and BB pushes all in, so I have to give him credit for the 6 and fold. SS calls and turns over K3o and the BB turns of 26o. Good fold, but pretty stupid raise considering I was up against the SS and BB I should have given them much more credit for the possibility of at least one of them having a 6. Even without a 6, it's probably unlikely that they will be folding a king, even with a weak kicker given the fast pace of this tournament, so a bluff there is completely unnecessary and suicidal. Definitely a big mistake and now I'm down to 580 in chips, blinds are at 25/50 so it's push or fold from here on out.

5:14PM - 736 Players, QTs in BB. Was getting ready to push but a guy pushes all in for 2,300 in front of me and I have to give him credit for a high pocket pair so I fold. Down to 505 after the blinds and the blinds move up to 30/60 so it's looking pretty bleak.

5:19PM - 676 Players, pocket 55s and two all-ins in front of me, but it was the same guy as before and he had pushed all in with mediocre hands 4 times since the last time I was considering calling. 4 overcards between the two of them, but my 55s hold up and I'm back up to 1605.

5:20PM - 652 players. Same guy pushes all in and I've got 77s so I take another shot at it, it seems this is how this game is going to be, but I lose and am back down to 845.

5:21PM - 638 players. Back to push or fold mode and get ATo on the next hand so I push all in and go up against AKs and he flops a flush knocking me out in 633rd place.

Damn, this tournament was much more of a donkfest than last night, and probably mostly due to the one crazy player at my table pushing all-in with any decent hand. I'm still not sure if I should have tried to stay out of it, but given my low stack and the speed at which the blinds were going up I didn't have much of a choice. Perhaps after doubling up I could have waited for a better opportunity to take another shot, but then again how much do I really want to just play push-or-fold poker? I think I'll be skipping this tournament from now on. It sounded like a good shot at moving my bankroll up, but it is worse than the 2700 player freerolls in that everyone is just pushing all-in preflop and not playing any real poker. I don't think that is the best learning experience for me so I'm going to stick to non-turbo tournaments from now on.

Current Bankroll: $1 - 600K Play Chips

I played a $1 Turbo MTT (868 players, top 81 cash) over at Full Tilt tonight. Couldn't catch a hand and busted out pretty quickly in 560th. Here's a recap of the game if anyone's interested. Comments would be greatly appreciated.

A few hands in, ATo on the button, 1 limper so I raise it up to 3xBB, 1 caller. Board comes down 882 rainbow, and we both check it. Ten on the turn sets me up nicely and he checks it to me so I raise 400 (pot size). He comes over the top all-in for just another 200 so I pretty much have to call. He flips over K8o, nasty. I probably should have raised smaller on the turn to give myself a chance to get out of the hand if he re-raised, but then again, I had a real tough time giving him credit for the 8 after my pre-flop raise. Perhaps my preflop raise wasn't large enough...

Now sitting at just over 10xBB and I get KQo on the very next hand so I decide to push all in. No callers so I pick up the blinds.

KQo again the next hand, but this time I'm not quite as low in chips so I only raise 3xBB. Flop comes 366 rainbow. One other player and we both check it. Q on the turn gives me my hand so I raise the pot, he re-raises all-in and flips over QJo which makes me pretty happy until another six comes down on the river and splits the pot. Nasty.

Another couple rounds of the blinds and I'm sitting below 10xBB. It folds around to the SS who raises it up 3xBB. I decide to push with 39s thinking he may be trying to buy the pot and he didn't have me covered by enough to call if he doesn't have anything. Unfortunately he's holding KQs and insta-calls. Nothing on the board and I'm out.

Not quite sure if I could have played it better. Perhaps I was a bit aggressive, but given that it was a turbo tourney I think that is probably the style required to stay ahead of the blinds. Pretty much every hand was my usual style of play and it just didn't pay off a single time tonight...