Best Night EverL: Part Du
Whew Long Post be Prepared.....
BTW this is mostly from memory, most of which is now over 10 hours old so it is accurate to the best of my recollection. Since I couldn't get poker stars to send me a complete record of the game (only the last hour or so), some of the blind values may be off but remembered to the best of my ability. Note to self start downloading stats every hour.
First off however not that it means much but here are my stats for the tourney.
522 hands played and saw flop:
- 16 times out of 92 while in small blind (17%)
- 24 times out of 93 while in big blind (25%)
- 31 times out of 337 in other positions (9%)
- a total of 71 times out of 522 (13%)
Pots won at showdown - 16 out of 24 (66%)
Pots won without showdown - 98
One of the interesting things is that I seemed to have stolen a lot of blinds pre-flop which I will talk about later in the post. I am also quite happy with my 66% showdown average.
As for the hands I wish that it was a lot more exciting, and I wish I could remember more from the 5 hours, since stars will not send me hands played earlier than the end of the 3000/6000 level which was basically almost the final table.
So the first hour or two was very unexciting. Saw a few flops won a little, lost a little, basically managed to double my starting stack to around 3000 by the end of hour 2, very uninspired and mechanical top 10 hands, pocket pair kind of play. My play for the next hour was much of the same, one thing about pot-limit is it forces you to call and play the flop rather than go all-in pre-flop. My game critical hand did not come until the end of hour 4. About 20 spots before the money.
The blinds were 800/1600 and I was about 26K in chips (Chip leader a this point has about 80k). A player 2 seats behind me has been stealing my blinds and the blinds of a lot of other players for the last 30 mins or so and I never had a hand worth defending them with. Most of the time I felt he did not have the cards but usually I had hand like 59 off suit and the like. I know this because whenever he was re-raised he would (60% or so) fold to the stronger bet. Thus his chip count was up an down a lot (between 35k-25k) depending on his raise and if he won or lost the last few attempts to steal (real aggressive player). So I am dealt KK in the BB Position, there are a few calls and folds around the table and of course he bets close to the max (9000) as he had done numerous time before in an attempt (I think) to steal the blinds. But this time I have a hand so I go over top of him with a total bet of 18k almost 3/4 of my stack. It gets back to him and he immediately goes over the top of me and goes all-in for a total of 25k or so. Now I have him covered but if I call and lose I am down to around 1k in chips barely enough to pay the small blind (which is my very next hand). Still with almost 3/4 of my chips in the pot, just before the money, there is only 1 pocket pair to which I am a dog to, I call. His hand is of course AA (I am like a 20% chance to win this hand) . Flop, turn no help then a miracle K hits the river. BOOM! I win the hand and catapult myself into the top 10 (#7 I think) in chip count.
Suddenly I am the big stack at my table. The guy is of course all pissed off, swearing and saying that I made a horrible play. I don't know that it was, I had KK, I was only a dog to one hand pre-flop, and only playing one player at that point.
Anyhow a few more hands and we are now down to the point where the next player who busts is out. I decide to try and build my stack. Anytime I get a good semi-solid hand Ax Suited KJ, KQ, KT, QJ, QT, Small Pocket Pair. I raise and try and steal the blinds. Since most people don't want to risk not making the money at this point, I feel that I can take the hit if they go over the top of me and fold. It works fairly well and I manage to take my stack up to about 75k before the bubble breaks.
Now we are in the money andfor the next hour all the short stack players risk it and attempt to double up here and there. I tighten up and bring my A game letting the medium stacks take the risks and only play premium hands. Then it happens. we are down to about 30 players the next bubble is coming. I am dealt A:spade:Q:spade: in middle position (2000/4000) and I have about 65k in chips. It is folded to me. Now if I have a blind spot it is for AQ suited. I am working on it but I still can't let it go. There is something about this hand that make me want to play it. So I raise it to pot about 12k I think and another player before the BB calls me. Flop is 7 2 3 no spades. Since I am first to act and he only has about 25k left I bet 26k hoping to buy it right there. He calls and shows AK offsuit. The turn and river are no help and suddenly I am down to 27k going into the bubble.
Still it is bubble time so I do what I did before raise pre-flop with semi-decent hands and I manage to steal my way up to about 55k in chips. The chip leader who has about 150k is at my table. He is in the 4th seat and I am in the BB (again). He raises to about 20k. He is a very tight player and he would not be raising with out some sort of Pocket pair or a couple of Paints suited. I of course have KK again so I go over the top for him and raise it pot to about 45k. He goes into the tank and thinks and thinks and thinks. Finally he folds and I show him the KK. I ask him what he had AK, AQ. He says 66 but I am not sure I believe him.
Suddenly the bubble ends and we are now 3 tables with myself having close to 80k in chips. So play continues a few more people bust out, and its is bubble time again going into the final 18 players (3000/6000). I am in the BB (are you beginning to sense a theme here) with A6 and the player in the dealer position raises all-in for a total of about 9k. Now it only costs me another 3 to see and I have an Ace so what the hell. I call. He shows AK to my A6 I once again a big dog. The flop is no help for either of us. The turn is a 6 the river an Ace.
Verified Hand History begins here...
Suddenly we are top 18 and I have a definite shot at the final table, with almost 100k in chip (2nd after the leader who has 150k). Once Again I tighten up and wait for the bubble. Then a player who is just behind me (about 60k in chips) raises the minimum from the dealer spot. I have K:diamond:8:diamond: and I am in the little blind, so I decide to call. The flop comes 5:spade: K:spade: 3:club:, I have top pair with a crap kicker. I bet 20k hoping he didn't hit. The BB folds and the player in the dealer position just calls. He has been an aggressive player who has battled back 3 or 4 time tonight and knows how to play but I have yet to see him slow play a good hand. The turn is a 7:club:. 2 Spades 2 clubs on board I bet another 20k again he just calls, still don't really know what he is playing. The River is a 9:club:. Making it 3 clubs. I decide to check figuring that he might have me beat on kicker alone. He quickly checks, I show my pair of Kings. He shows A:spade:6:spade:. Whew he was on the flush draw the whole time. He says Of course you have a King, what was I thinking. Suddenly I am in chip lead with 158K.
Before I can blink it is bubble time and a Blind from the other table busts out in a battle of the blinds. I have made the final table in Top Position no less (every other time I have made a final table online I have come in short stacked in 8th or 9th). Thank god it is break time almost immediately. No one busts out before the break and we all take 5.
Not only do I feel great, I actually feel that I can win this thing. Thus begins 4000/8000.
Almost immediately I am dealt AK in late position, I raise the pot and another player (about 44k) in the BB goes all in. I call and see he has KQ. A queen flops and no help comes for me. Suddenly I am down 44 k and about 110K in chips. The Person I have been chasing for the lead all night, is now in the #1 spot again, I am not worried I still have plenty of chips, but it sucks to be behind him again. Suddenly however he start raising with small pocket pairs and keeps losing to short stack desperation and doubling them up. Suddenly everyone at the table is about even in chips except for the old chip leader who is now down to 30k. All this happened in about 10 minutes.
During that same period I manage to steal a blind or 2 and I am up to about 150k in chips. I basically get no cards until the 10000/20000 blind and have lost 3 players.
Once again I am in the BB with 6:club:8:spade:, it is folded to the dealer who has 26k in chips (I am already in for 20k) he raises all in and I call (after all it is only 6000 more) he show 2
9:diamond: off-suit. Flop is 6:diamond: 7:diamond: J:club: Turn is a T:diamond:. So even though I have the best hand he has several outs except the 9 which would give me a straight. The river is a 4:spade: and I bust him out with a pair of 6's.
5 Players now.
A few hands later I am in the Little blind with J3. The one time chip leader (he has about 100k to my 180k) limps in with a call, I call the 10k and the BB Checks. 2:spade:J:diamond:7:spade:. I have top pair lousy kicker (again). I check, BB Checks, and the one time chip leader bets the minimum 20k. Pretty weak bet for the flop. I am thinking he has over-cards to my made pair (I have seen him do this twice before). I raise the minimum to see what he does. BB Folds and he goes all in. I call. He shows a KQ to my pair of made Jacks. The turn and the river are no help and he busts out.
The rest of the tournament was pretty uneventful for me, the 4th to last player busted out on a race of TT vs AK, TT won. After that the 3 of us who remained decided to chop since we all had about 300k in chips.
Whew and that is that. I will post some more comments later perhaps.
BTW this is mostly from memory, most of which is now over 10 hours old so it is accurate to the best of my recollection. Since I couldn't get poker stars to send me a complete record of the game (only the last hour or so), some of the blind values may be off but remembered to the best of my ability. Note to self start downloading stats every hour.
First off however not that it means much but here are my stats for the tourney.
522 hands played and saw flop:
- 16 times out of 92 while in small blind (17%)
- 24 times out of 93 while in big blind (25%)
- 31 times out of 337 in other positions (9%)
- a total of 71 times out of 522 (13%)
Pots won at showdown - 16 out of 24 (66%)
Pots won without showdown - 98
One of the interesting things is that I seemed to have stolen a lot of blinds pre-flop which I will talk about later in the post. I am also quite happy with my 66% showdown average.
As for the hands I wish that it was a lot more exciting, and I wish I could remember more from the 5 hours, since stars will not send me hands played earlier than the end of the 3000/6000 level which was basically almost the final table.
So the first hour or two was very unexciting. Saw a few flops won a little, lost a little, basically managed to double my starting stack to around 3000 by the end of hour 2, very uninspired and mechanical top 10 hands, pocket pair kind of play. My play for the next hour was much of the same, one thing about pot-limit is it forces you to call and play the flop rather than go all-in pre-flop. My game critical hand did not come until the end of hour 4. About 20 spots before the money.
The blinds were 800/1600 and I was about 26K in chips (Chip leader a this point has about 80k). A player 2 seats behind me has been stealing my blinds and the blinds of a lot of other players for the last 30 mins or so and I never had a hand worth defending them with. Most of the time I felt he did not have the cards but usually I had hand like 59 off suit and the like. I know this because whenever he was re-raised he would (60% or so) fold to the stronger bet. Thus his chip count was up an down a lot (between 35k-25k) depending on his raise and if he won or lost the last few attempts to steal (real aggressive player). So I am dealt KK in the BB Position, there are a few calls and folds around the table and of course he bets close to the max (9000) as he had done numerous time before in an attempt (I think) to steal the blinds. But this time I have a hand so I go over top of him with a total bet of 18k almost 3/4 of my stack. It gets back to him and he immediately goes over the top of me and goes all-in for a total of 25k or so. Now I have him covered but if I call and lose I am down to around 1k in chips barely enough to pay the small blind (which is my very next hand). Still with almost 3/4 of my chips in the pot, just before the money, there is only 1 pocket pair to which I am a dog to, I call. His hand is of course AA (I am like a 20% chance to win this hand) . Flop, turn no help then a miracle K hits the river. BOOM! I win the hand and catapult myself into the top 10 (#7 I think) in chip count.
Suddenly I am the big stack at my table. The guy is of course all pissed off, swearing and saying that I made a horrible play. I don't know that it was, I had KK, I was only a dog to one hand pre-flop, and only playing one player at that point.
Anyhow a few more hands and we are now down to the point where the next player who busts is out. I decide to try and build my stack. Anytime I get a good semi-solid hand Ax Suited KJ, KQ, KT, QJ, QT, Small Pocket Pair. I raise and try and steal the blinds. Since most people don't want to risk not making the money at this point, I feel that I can take the hit if they go over the top of me and fold. It works fairly well and I manage to take my stack up to about 75k before the bubble breaks.
Now we are in the money andfor the next hour all the short stack players risk it and attempt to double up here and there. I tighten up and bring my A game letting the medium stacks take the risks and only play premium hands. Then it happens. we are down to about 30 players the next bubble is coming. I am dealt A:spade:Q:spade: in middle position (2000/4000) and I have about 65k in chips. It is folded to me. Now if I have a blind spot it is for AQ suited. I am working on it but I still can't let it go. There is something about this hand that make me want to play it. So I raise it to pot about 12k I think and another player before the BB calls me. Flop is 7 2 3 no spades. Since I am first to act and he only has about 25k left I bet 26k hoping to buy it right there. He calls and shows AK offsuit. The turn and river are no help and suddenly I am down to 27k going into the bubble.
Still it is bubble time so I do what I did before raise pre-flop with semi-decent hands and I manage to steal my way up to about 55k in chips. The chip leader who has about 150k is at my table. He is in the 4th seat and I am in the BB (again). He raises to about 20k. He is a very tight player and he would not be raising with out some sort of Pocket pair or a couple of Paints suited. I of course have KK again so I go over the top for him and raise it pot to about 45k. He goes into the tank and thinks and thinks and thinks. Finally he folds and I show him the KK. I ask him what he had AK, AQ. He says 66 but I am not sure I believe him.
Suddenly the bubble ends and we are now 3 tables with myself having close to 80k in chips. So play continues a few more people bust out, and its is bubble time again going into the final 18 players (3000/6000). I am in the BB (are you beginning to sense a theme here) with A6 and the player in the dealer position raises all-in for a total of about 9k. Now it only costs me another 3 to see and I have an Ace so what the hell. I call. He shows AK to my A6 I once again a big dog. The flop is no help for either of us. The turn is a 6 the river an Ace.
Verified Hand History begins here...
Suddenly we are top 18 and I have a definite shot at the final table, with almost 100k in chip (2nd after the leader who has 150k). Once Again I tighten up and wait for the bubble. Then a player who is just behind me (about 60k in chips) raises the minimum from the dealer spot. I have K:diamond:8:diamond: and I am in the little blind, so I decide to call. The flop comes 5:spade: K:spade: 3:club:, I have top pair with a crap kicker. I bet 20k hoping he didn't hit. The BB folds and the player in the dealer position just calls. He has been an aggressive player who has battled back 3 or 4 time tonight and knows how to play but I have yet to see him slow play a good hand. The turn is a 7:club:. 2 Spades 2 clubs on board I bet another 20k again he just calls, still don't really know what he is playing. The River is a 9:club:. Making it 3 clubs. I decide to check figuring that he might have me beat on kicker alone. He quickly checks, I show my pair of Kings. He shows A:spade:6:spade:. Whew he was on the flush draw the whole time. He says Of course you have a King, what was I thinking. Suddenly I am in chip lead with 158K.
Before I can blink it is bubble time and a Blind from the other table busts out in a battle of the blinds. I have made the final table in Top Position no less (every other time I have made a final table online I have come in short stacked in 8th or 9th). Thank god it is break time almost immediately. No one busts out before the break and we all take 5.
Not only do I feel great, I actually feel that I can win this thing. Thus begins 4000/8000.
Almost immediately I am dealt AK in late position, I raise the pot and another player (about 44k) in the BB goes all in. I call and see he has KQ. A queen flops and no help comes for me. Suddenly I am down 44 k and about 110K in chips. The Person I have been chasing for the lead all night, is now in the #1 spot again, I am not worried I still have plenty of chips, but it sucks to be behind him again. Suddenly however he start raising with small pocket pairs and keeps losing to short stack desperation and doubling them up. Suddenly everyone at the table is about even in chips except for the old chip leader who is now down to 30k. All this happened in about 10 minutes.
During that same period I manage to steal a blind or 2 and I am up to about 150k in chips. I basically get no cards until the 10000/20000 blind and have lost 3 players.
Once again I am in the BB with 6:club:8:spade:, it is folded to the dealer who has 26k in chips (I am already in for 20k) he raises all in and I call (after all it is only 6000 more) he show 2
9:diamond: off-suit. Flop is 6:diamond: 7:diamond: J:club: Turn is a T:diamond:. So even though I have the best hand he has several outs except the 9 which would give me a straight. The river is a 4:spade: and I bust him out with a pair of 6's.5 Players now.
A few hands later I am in the Little blind with J
3. The one time chip leader (he has about 100k to my 180k) limps in with a call, I call the 10k and the BB Checks. 2:spade:J:diamond:7:spade:. I have top pair lousy kicker (again). I check, BB Checks, and the one time chip leader bets the minimum 20k. Pretty weak bet for the flop. I am thinking he has over-cards to my made pair (I have seen him do this twice before). I raise the minimum to see what he does. BB Folds and he goes all in. I call. He shows a KQ to my pair of made Jacks. The turn and the river are no help and he busts out.The rest of the tournament was pretty uneventful for me, the 4th to last player busted out on a race of TT vs AK, TT won. After that the 3 of us who remained decided to chop since we all had about 300k in chips.
Whew and that is that. I will post some more comments later perhaps.
Comments
You should be able to get the entire hand history for the tournament by requesting the hand history by "Tournament #".
ScottyZ
I think it does matter how you ask for the hand history. If you just try requesting your hand history for the "Last 3 days" or something like that, I think it gets chopped off at the most recent 200 hands.
However, I think you can get the entire tournament by requesting the hand history by "Tournament #".
ScottyZ
I will come back later tonight and fix inaccuracies and see if I can find any more interesting hands.
I can understand the guy being pissed off and swearing, but if he thinks you made a horrible play here, that's going on my "Top Ten Stupidest Things I've Ever Heard In Poker" list.
I think you played this well, and are simply unlucky that your opponent plays it so poorly. I can't see why an AK would call pre-flop with the intention of calling all-in on the flop when he misses. Sure you have been stealing a lot of blinds and he *may* be thinking you have nothing. But having nothing you may have connected with that flop. And better to move all-in pre-flop with the AK if he actually thinks you are out of line. My gut feeling is that your opponent hasn't even gone through all of that thinking, and (unfortunately for you) simply just can't lay down an unimproved AK.
I think you can call with any two cards here. The pot is offering you 6-1, and your opponent's hand has to be pretty disgusting to make this call wrong. (e.g. the good old KK vs K2).
ScottyZ