Where to begin, I have been playing a ton of tournaments this week as it was the culmination of the FTOPS series on full tilt which has been a complete washout for me so far. I had some close calls in tournaments with a 3rd place in the 200r on ipoker for $3.3k ad $8k for the win. Had a 12th in the 100r on stars, and a 9th in the $300 Saturday freezeout. Playing a full schedule of tournaments has left me little time for cash games but the little I have played has gone a lot better with +$12k taking me back to almost even for the month in them.
Saturday was the $2.5k buy in ftops event with 5000 chips and a 30 min clock, heaven. I was really focused and playing goof poker, slowly building chips until my first big double up arrived. I limped KK utg+1 for 160 and MP made it 500 and got flat called behind, it came back round to me and I called. If I RR pre I completely telegraph my hand and even though playing KK oop in a 3 way pot may sound a little daunting, we are still pretty deep stacked and had confidence in my ability to throw the hand away post flop if i felt i was beat. Any anxious feelings about the flop were soon vanquished in the form of a KK5 flop, lol. The flat caller of the raise had 55 (harsh) and I was well on my way. I kept slowly building chips, playing lots of small pots until I had 24k stack and the new level was 120/240 with ante's. I then proceeded to have a complete brain meltdown and play maybe the worst hand of poker I have ever played. I don't have the HH, but i basically check raised all in on the turn vs a guy who had me covered with just the nut flush draw after check calling the flop. He obviously had a set and won the 200+BB pot, end life!
On to Sunday, always the most fun day of the week, for those with a sadistic side. Sunday started off much as I anticipated, struggling to build big stacks then losing a preflop race again and again. For the busiest day of the tournament week, I was down to only playing 1 table twice in the first 4 or 5 hours, thats how bad things were going. All the biggest tournaments were yet to come with the stars million and FTOPS main event etc.. I decided to enter the $500 Sunday contest on 2+2 to try and give myself a chance to win some money if i ran deep i a few tourneys without getting near a serious cash.
Stars sunday million was an early casualty, but I managed to double on the 3rd hand of FTOPS main event vs a satellite numpty and never looked back. I was playing good poker imo, seeing tons and tons of flops die to great structure and building chips nicely. I don't remember too many of the pots along the way, but I had built up to 180k with the BB at 3.4k and was in really good shape with about 400 ppl left when disaster struck. I button raise KK and the BB repops to 30k with 70k behind, I ship and he calls with AJ, flop comes AJx, yawn. Was grinding after that with 20BB's for a long time, not getting any hands or situations to exploit. With the BB at 6k, i had 160k but then made a stupid bluff to put me down to 70k. The BB went up to 8k on my BB i had 60k total but managed to find AQ, short version I get in vs AJ and Q9, flop Q9x, gg gg, brutal.
While the ftops was going on, and was the comp I was most focussed on, I was running deep in the UB 200k. I was a short stack from when we entered the $$ at 99 players and was still short with 2 tables left. Then after AA vs QQ and AK vs T8 (he was making a move lol) I was 2nd of 14, and looking to have a good shot at the $45k 1st place. I have 240k and the BB is 8k. I then lose AK vs Ax (dont remeber the x but was small) in preflop to put me 180k. Then I am in the BB and a shorty pushes for 33k total, I make the call with K7 and he has J7, he makes a flush on the turn. Right after that we are seated for he final, I have 175k at 10k BB but should have 400k :-(. 1st hand of the final I raise TJs MP and win the blinds to take me to 200k stack. A short stack then busts in 10th place before my demise occurs. I raise AK maybe Utg+3 to 28k and a guy who was me covered makes it 80k on the button. The player in question was very agressive and had pulled a big bluff on me blind vs blind a little earlier, flaoting me with the bad end of the gutshot on the flop and jamming over my turn bet when a flush draw hit and proceeded to show me. I gave it a little dwell but there was nothing that could stop my chips going in, he calls with AQ and the pot is 420k, BB is 10k winner is new chip leader. River is an inexplicable Q and im gone for $3400 (see picture)
I ran deepish in the stars 2nd chance getting butchered preflop AK vs A2 and semi deep in the mulligan on full tilt. My results were good enough to win the Sunday contest on 2+2 and my biggest cash of the night for $4.4k, lol
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=132514&page=4
Feel really burnt out now after playing stacks of tournaments and will be looking to take a little time off before the EPT Warsaw. I am heading to Australia tomorrow to meet up with 4 friends from home so a lot of drinking is likely to be involved.
Sorry for the long post, littered with bad beats and hard luck stories. I will end it with a positive. Me, geeforce and moorman have booked out house in vegas for 7 weeks over the WSOP. The sales woman said it was the house that ricky hatton used for the merryweather fight but that could be complete BS imo, still a sweet house
http://www.lasvegasretreats.com/rental/property/4-bedroom/casa-de-monte.html
Until next time, gl all
Pab
