My Own Worst Enemy

Lock Poker $750 Guarantee Deepstack Turbo (T5,000)

I can really screw things up for myself. I hadn’t played much online lately, but dropped some money into the Lock box and played a couple of games, including this one where I totally screw myself at the end. Follow along and see!

Hand 1. [as 7s] UTG2
I open-raise from 10/20 to 65, getting calls from HJ and CO. The flop is an unsatisfactory [8h th qh] and I c-bet 125. Both call. [9d] on the turn gives me the bottom end of an up-and-down straight draw, but any jack’s already there and there’s still the possibility of a four-flush, so I check. HJ shoves and takes the pot of 600.

Hand 2. [3d kh] HJ (table refactor)
Fold.

Hand 3. [8s 5c] UTG3
Folded. Blinds 15/30.

Hand 4. [kd kh] UTG2
Open-raise 75; CO calls. [6d 2h ks] flop, check-check. Turn is [9h], I bet 100 and get a call. [7d] on the river, I bet 300, CO folds.

Hand 5. [8h 4h] UTG1
Fold.

Hand 6. [qs 4d] HJ (table refactor)
Fold.

Hand 7. [ts 4c] UTG3
Fold.

Hand 8. [2h 4d] UTG2
Fold. Blinds 25/50.

Hand 9. [6d 6c] UTG1
Lower than my preferred range for 9-handed. Fold. As it ended up, two players hit two pair: jacks and queens beating jacks and nines on the river.

Hand 10. [8h 9s] UTG
Fold.

Hand 11. [6h 4d] BB
Fold to SB raise of 300. Blinds 50/100.

Hand 12. [th js] SB
UTG and UTG1 limp in, I raise to 275. BB folds, UTG and UTG1 call. Flop is [qs 6s qd]. I check, UTG bets 400, UTG1 raises to 800, and I get out of the way. UTG re-raises to 1,600 and takes the pot.

Hand 13. [9d td] BTN
UTG1 min-raises to 200, CO min-raises to 300, and I call. BB and UTG1 call. Flop is [7d jh ah] giving me a gut-shot straight.BB and UTUG1 check to CO who bets 100 into a pot of 1,250.  I’m more than willing to call that; UTG1 comes along. [8h] makes my straight but puts a potential flush out. Action checks to me and I bet about a third of the 1,550 pot. UTG1 folds but CO calls. [4s] on the river doesn’t change a thing. I’m either still good or I’m beat. CO checks and I check. He has a busted higher straight with [qs kd]. I’m up to 6,305.

Hand 14. [3d 4d] CO
Fold.

Hand 15. [as 4d] HJ
Fold. Blinds at 75/150.

Hand 16. [ks 8c] HJ (dead button)
Fold.

Hand 17. [8s 9c] UTG2
Fold.

Hand 18. [qd 2h] UTG1
Fold.

Hand 19. [9c 4h] UTG
Fold.

Hand 20. [as ks] BB
UTG1 calls and everyone else folds. I raise to 450; UTG1 calls. The flop is [ac 2s js], I’ve got top pair and top kicker, with nut flush draw. I check to see what he’s going to do, and he puts in 450, about half the pot. I pot it to 1,500 and he calls. Regardless, I’m feeling pretty confident. [kc] makes me top two pair. I’ve still got my flush draw, but a different flush is possible. Only a slim chance he’s got two clubs, but it could work to my advantage. We’re roughly even in chips: I’ve got a couple hundred more than him, but we both have more than 27bb behind, with nearly the same in the pot. I raise all-in and he calls with [9c jc]. The river is [qd] and my two pair holds, putting me up to T12,435  and vaulting me into the top ranks in the tournament twenty minutes in.

Hand 21. [7h 4d] UTG4
Folded.

Hand 22. [qh 7c] UTG3
Folded. Blinds at 100/200.

Hand 23. [4s 2h] UTG1
Fold.

Hand 24. [3s js] UTG
Fold.

Hand 25. [5c 7d] BB
I get a walk.

Hand 26. [3h 2s] SB
Fold.

Hand 27. [ah 6c] BTN
Blinds are 125/250/20. UTG2—with 30K the only other player at the table with more than 7,000 chips—limps and I fold.

Hand 28. [3h 5c] CO
Fold.

Hand 27. [ac jd] UTG1 (moved to new table)
I’m the biggest stack at the new table, with about 2.5K more than anyone else. I’m in seat 9, there are three stacks between 9K and 10K in seats 4, 6, and 8, a 6K stack in seat 3, and the other have less than 5K. UTG opens with a min-raise to 500 and I announce my presence at the new digs with a three-bet to 1,250. Everyone folds but UTG, he calls. The flop is [2s 9s ad] and he checks. I check behind. [jh] on the river makes me very happy. UTG checks. THere’s 3K in the pot, I bet just another 1,250 and he folds.

Hand 28. [ah 7d] UTG
Fold.

Hand 29. [ad tc] BB
Blinds are 150/300/30. UTG raises to 600, BTN goes all-in for 3,220, and I fold. UTG calls with [kh ac] v. BTN’s [6h th] and two kings on the board make his set. He’s not the big dog on the table with 22K.

Hand 30. [8s 9c] SB
Fold.

Hand 31. [qs th] BTN
Everyone ahead of me folds and I raise to 700. SB folds, BB shoves for 2,775. I call against 4s 3h] and he makes a pair of treys on the turn.

Hand 32. [7c 6s] CO
Fold.

Hand 33. [3c 4d] HJ
Fold.

Hand 34. [8d kh] UTG3
Fold.

Hand 35. [qs 7d] UTG1
Blinds at 200/400/40. Fold.

Hand 36. [4d qd] UTG
Fold.

Hand 37. [jc 4d] BB
Folded to 6,650 all-in from SB.

Hand 38. [8d kd] SB
UTG min-raises to 800, which I would have called, but BTN goes all-in (second hand in a row) for 7,330. I fold and  UTG calls, with 8,343 behind. It’s HU with [kh kc] (BTN) against [th ts] (UTG). The board rolls out [qd jc js 7d jh] and the kings double up.

Hand 39. [3d kc] BTN
Fold. I drop below T10,000.

Hand 40. [5c 4d] CO
Fold.

Hand 41. [tc 7h] HJ
Fold.

Hand 42. [kh 9d] UTG1 (7-handed due to table balancing)
Blinds are 250/500/50. UTG, with the largest stack at the table (18K), min-raises to 1,000, I fold, BB calls. They raise after the [5h 3h 3c] flop, with BB at risk with [js ad] against UTG’s [6c 6d]. A [jd] hits on the river, doubling BB.

Hand 43. [kd 4h] UTG
Fold.

Hand 44. [th 9h] BB
UTG is all-in for just 1,202 but nobody else calls. When he opens up, he has [3s js]. He’s lucky with the [4d 3c 4h] flop; the [6h] turn gives me a few more outs, but I make one of my pairs with [9s] on the river and knock him out.

Hand 45. [8s 9c] SB
Fold.

Hand 46. [th jc] BTN
No SB, since the player was knocked out the hand before. CO raises to 1,050 and I call, BB comes along. CO’s smaller than me by 1,500, BB has a 5,000 chip advantage. THe flop is [7s 7d 9h], making me a gut-shot straight draw, but I fold to a bet of 1,750 from CO.

Hand 47. [2d 4h] CO
Blinds are 300/600/60. Fold.

Hand 48. [7s 2s] HJ
Fold.

Hand 49. [2s qs] UTG2
Fold.

Hand 50. [tc td] UTG1
I raise to 2,000 and everyone folds.

Hand 51. [2s qc] UTG
Fold.

Hand 52. [4h jc] BB
Fold to a min-raise and call.

Hand 53. [4c ts] SB
Blinds are 400/800/75. Fold.

Hand 54. [9s ts] BTN
UTG min-raises and I call the 1,600. Both blinds come along. The flop is [6h 8c 4h] and I’ve got another gut-shot straight draw. UTG (the tournament leader with 40K) bets 1,875 into the pot of 7,000 and I bail along with everyone else.

Hand 55. [2h qd] CO
Fold.

Hand 56. [7c 8d] HJ
Fold.

Hand 57. [th 3s] UTG3
Fold.

Hand 58. [kc 5s] UTG2
Fold.

Hand 59. [qh 7h] UTG1
Blinds are 500/1,000/100. I open with a min-raise to 2,000 and everyone folds.

Hand 60. [8h ac] UTG
Fold.

Hand 61. [5h 7s] BB
BTN opens with a min-raise from a stack of 24K and I fold my big blind, leaving me just 9,275.

Hand 62. [kh ah] SB
The hand I’ve been waiting for. Action folds around to BTN (with 15.25K), who shoves. I’m behind and at rise, but go all-in to call. BB (with a stack smaller than mine) folds. BTN shows [jc jd].  The flop is good to me: [qh 2h ac]. Top pair and top kicker with a flush draw, leaving the jacks drawing very thin. An [8h] on the turn seals the deal, and I’m over T20,000.

Hand 63. [3c 5c] BTN
Fold.

Hand 64. [kh 9h] CO
Hearts again. The big blind has a third of his chips in the pot already. Action folds around to HJ, the player I beat with jacks two hands earlier. He raises to 3,000, leaving less than that behind. I call, BTN and SB fold, then BB goes all-in for just another 50 chips. Both HJ and I call. The flop is [7d 5c kc]. I only have naked kings, but when HJ pushes his last chips in the pot to make it a total of 13.25K, the pot odds of calling another 2,800 are too good. He has just [ad 5h]; BB has [as 2s]. I’m the heavy favorite. Nothing happens to change that by the river, both players are eliminated, and I’m over T30,000 and second in chips at the table.

Hand 65. [4s qc] UTG2
Blinds are now 600/1,200/120. Fold.

Hand 66. [2c td] UTG1
Fold.

Hand 67. [8c 5d] UTG
Fold.

Hand 68. [js jh] BB
Action folded all the way to SB, who tried to steal my big blind and ante with a raise to 2,400. We were relatively evenly-matched in chips, with me about 3K ahead. I re-raised him to 5,000 and he called. There was almost 11K in the pot with a flop of [7c 5d kd]. We both checked. [9c] on the turn. So many possibilities for jacks to go wrong. He bet 7,300 and I called. A [7s] on the turn and he shoved the last 14.6K of his stack in the middle. I wasn’t buying that he had a seven, and I was pretty certain he though I’d missed the board, which was essentially true. I called and he showed [2d as] for a pure bluff. Now I was on top of the leader board, with 57.5K.

I’d figured out that with 15 places paying, at T5,000 and 131 entries, the chip average at the time we hit the money bubble was going to be 43.7K. All I needed to do was maintain, stay around that number, and I was going to be make it into the cash. We wstill had a way to go, with about 40 players left, but I had almost 9% of the chips in play. Blinds were moving up fairly aggressively, however, so I wouldn’t be able to just glide.

Hand 69. [7c 5d] SB
Fold.

Hand 70. [ks kh] BTN
Where else do you want this hand? Big blind? Could I not play it just so there was no chance of losing chips? HJ went all-in with a raise of more than 10x: 13,015, about 23% f my stack. I was an overwhelming favorite against all but one card combination. I re-raised all-in over the top; the blinds had less than 2,000 between them. BB pushed in the last 345 in a desperation move and turned over [4d 7c]. HJ had [ts td]. Naturally, the flop was [4s 2c th] and the entire 29K pot went to HJ. But hey, I still had almost exactly the average I’d figured for the bubble.

Hand 71. [kh 7d] CO
This got folded.

Hand 72. [jc td] BTN
Only one other stack at the table had me out-chipped and that was by less than 1K. Everyone left was fairly healthy, however, with between 19K and 33.5K. The big stack was in SB. A low-20s stack in UTG1 min-plus-raised to 2,555 and I called. SB three-bet to 5,995. UTG1 folded, but I called to see a flop of [7c tc ad]. Both of us checked to see a [6c] on the turn. SB bet 2,400 and I called, hoping for another ten or club. What I got was a [6s], however. SB bet 3,600 and I paid him off, to see [kh kd]. Now I was down to 31.5K, but I could thank the ace on the flop that I wasn’t worse off.

Hand 73. [js 9d] CO
Fold.

Hand 74. [kd jc] HJ
Tangled again with the big stack. I opened to 4,000, big stack CO three-bet to 9,995, and BTN went all-in for 2,766. I called the three-bet, then we saw a flop of [4d 9s 3c]. CO bet 7,075 and I folded. It was [qh qc] against [3s 5s] and the pocket pair held. Now I was down to just 21K.

Hand 75. [8h 8c] UTG1
We picked up a couple of new players—with roughly the same stack as I had—between me and the big stack (now 76.5K). I raised with my eights to 4,000 and was re-raised all-in. I sort of felt I was beat when it came my turn to call, and boy was I ever right: [kd kc]. I was behind and out chipped. [ks] on the turn sealed my fate and I was busted from the tournament in 26th place, 11 places short of the money.

VPIP for the session was 25%. Six pairs in the hole. I won eleven hands, including six showdowns.

Seventy-five minutes, 75 hands. 26th of 131 players.

Hand by Hand

The Final Table Poker Club Fifth Friday $20K Guarantee (T10,000)

It’s been a little while since my last post. Lots of roofing going on the past month-and-a-half, not nearly as much poker. Both pursuits can be costly.

Met up with BP before this event at Ringside East, and things got off to a rocky start right away when I walked through the bar where I knew BP had a table, didn’t spot him, then IMed him to get him to tell me where he was (in the bar) and his response to my query was:

Bar
Bar
Bar
B
A
R
Guess where I am?

We eventually got things straighted out, had some food and drinks, then headed over to Final Table.

I’m experimenting with recording every hand I’m dealt—at least for some tournaments—so here’s the record, with a nod to Gus Hansen’s Every Hand Revealed. I don’t have his talent for recording action and flops, but this is what I’ve got.

Hand 1. [ah qh] UTG1
I’m in seat 8 on table 2. We’re ten-seated, but not all the seats are filled yet, I open-bet to 175 and win.

Hand 2. [ah 4h] UTG
I open with a bet to 150, everyone folds.

Hand 3. [9h 5h] BB
Fold to a raise.

Hand 4. [kx jx] SB
Called a raise of 150; folded post-flop when I didn’t connect.

Hand 5. [3s jh] BTN
Folded.

Hand 6. [Ts 3d] CO
Folded.

Hand 7. [Jh 7c] HJ
Folded. Ten minutes into the game, T11,650.

Hand 8. [qd 4s] UTG2
Folded.

Hand 9. [9d tc] UTG1
Folded.

Hand 10. [as kh] UTG
Raised to 125, both blinds called. Folded to a bet on a [3c 9d 5s] flop.

Hand 11. [ks ts] BB
Re-raised from 250 to 450 and was HU with original raiser. Flop was a promising [kx js kx]. We checked to a turn of [qs]. I bet 800 with my made set, flush draw, and straight draw and got a call. [ah] on the river made my straight but put a lot of ugly full house potential out there. Original raiser bet 1,300. We were using a variety of chip colors because of the size of the tournament and I bungled my call, ending up re-raising to 2,600. He thought about it, then called the raise and turned over [ax tx] and we split the pot.

Hand 12. [7x 9x] SB
Folded.

Hand 13. [qx 7x] BTN
Folded.

Hand 14. [Jd 4d] CO
Folded. Blinds were now 50/100.

Hand 15. [Kd 6s] HJ
Folded.

Hand 16. [5c 7s] UTG3
Folded.

Hand 17. [7c 2c] UTG2
Folded.

Hand 18. [9c 7s] UTG1
Folded.

Hand 19. [qc 4c] UTG
Folded.

Hand 20. [8d 3d] BB
Folded. Stack is T11,525.

Hand 21. [Ah 7s] SB
Folded.

Hand 22. [8h 3d] BTN
Folded.

Hand 23. [th 6h] CO
Folded.

Hand 24. [Ah Jh] HJ
PL, sitting three positions to my right raised to 225 and I re-raised to 450. Action folded back to him and he shoved. I folded. Mutant Jack fails me.

Hand 25. [jh 2h] UTG2
Fold.

Hand 26. [ah kc] UTG1
Opened to 250 and was re-raised to 700. Completely missed the flop and folded to a bet.

Hand 27. [4c 9d] BB
Folded. Down to T10,525.

Hand 28. [qh jd] SB
Called a raise and missed the flop.

Hand 29. [kh 2d] BTN
Folded. Blinds go up to 75/150.

Hand 30. [ad 3d] CO
Fold.

Hand 31. [qc tc] HJ
Called a raise to 325 then folded to a bet on a flop of [8h 5s 2d].

Hand 32. [7s 8s] UTG3
Called raise to 375 and saw the flop HU. Three overs with no spades and a bet and I folded.

Hand 33. [qs 8c] UTG2
Folded.

Hand 34. [9s 5c] UTG1
Folded. About an hour into the tournament, down to T9,775.

Hand 35. [ah 6h] UTG
I raised to 400, getting two calls. The flop was [9h qd 6h], I checked, then folded to a raise and re-raise, thinking perhaps bottom pair wasn’t where I wanted to be in this situation.

Hand 36. [qc 2s] UTG3
Folded. Blinds now at 100/200.

Hand 37. [ac 3s] UTG2
Folded.

Hand 38. UTG1
Missed recording this hand, but something happened that cost me chips.

Hand 39. [jd 7c] UTG
Folded.

Hand 40. [8c 9c] BB
Called a late raise to 800, but folded when an early limper re-raised to 2,200.

Hand 41. [5h 3c] SB
Folded. Stack sitting at T6,300.

Hand 42. [3d 9c] BTN
Folded.

Hand 43. CO
With the break coming up in a couple of minutes, I used this hand to beat the other 200 people in to room to one of the two bathrooms. It was probably [ax ax].

Hand 44. [kx 9s] HJ
Folded.

Hand 45. [7h 9h] UTG4
Just outside the range of what I want to play ten-handed but I shoved and won with a pair of nines to put me up to T9,300.

Hand 46. [td 9h] UTG3
Folded my last hand before the break.

With the add-on, I went into the next segment of the tournament with T14,300: 35bb or an M of ~17 (blinds 200/400/25). “Must take on more risk.” Easy to say when you don’t have the biggest stacks at the table on either side of you.

Hand 47. [5s 9d] UTG2
Too much risk for me. Folded.

Hand 48. [qs 6d] UTG1
Folded.

Hand 49. [3c 3s] UTG
My first pocket pair of the evening, But not ten-handed with a short stack.

Hand 50. [7h 5d] BB
If I’d stayed in the hand, I would have won it with a flush, even with the 7.

Hand 51. [7h 5c] SB
Folded.

Hand 52. [Ad 2s] BTN
Folded.

Hand 53. [As tc] CO
Called raise to 400. Folded on [kx 7x 2x] flop.

Hand 54. [js 2s] HJ
Folded.

Hand 55. [qh ts] UTG3
Normally, I’d play it, but not short-stacked and ten-handed after a raise.

Hand 56. [6s 2h] UTG2
Folded.

Hand 57. [7s ts] UTG1
Folded. Blinds now at  300/600/50.

Hand 58. [2s 9h] UTG
Folded. Stack standing at T12,950, down 6,000 from starting stack, bonus, and add-on.

Hand 59. [ad js] BB
Called raise to 2,250, folded on a [3c 5h 7c] flop. [tx tx] took the pot after going all-in, I would have missed.

Hand 60. [4c 2s] SB
Folded.

Hand 61. [9d js] BTN
Folded.

Hand 62. [jh 3d] CO
Folded.

Hand 63. [as 9d] HJ
Folded.

Hand 64. [qs 8h] UTG3
Folded.

Hand 65. [ks qc] UTG2
I opened to 2,000. PL called me and shoved on an ace-high flop that I didn’t connect with.

Hand 66. [2h 8s] UTG1
Folded.

Hand 67. [7c 9s] UTG
Folded.

Hand 68. [3s 4h] BB
Folded. T12,050.

Hand 69. [5h 8s] SB
Folded.

Hand 70. [js qc] BTN
Raised over a limp to 2,400 and the limper shoved for 5,850. I thought about it for a minute, then called. Limper’s [7x 7x] won.

Hand 71. [8s 4s] CO
Not a chance in hell.

Hand 72. [kh 8s] HJ
Folded. Blinds up to 400/800/75. I have T5,625 (7bb, M=~3).

Hand 73. [td 8h] UTG3
Folded.

Hand 74. [as ts] UTG2
I shove over limps, the biggest stack at the table with more than T50,000 calls with [ad 7d]. The board runs out with a pair and an ace and a jack to make it another split pot. T6,200 for my trouble.

Hand 75. [7d 6c] UTG1
Folded.

Hand 76. [7s 5d] UTG
Folded.

Hand 77. [ac 8s] BB
Folded.

Hand 78. [td th] SB
I shove over a limp and get called by [qx qx].

VPIP for the session: 26%, a little higher than I thought while I was playing it. Just two pocket pairs: the treys I didn’t play and the tens in my last hand. The average would have been between four and five (someone else was getting my pairs!) Only went to showdown six times, two of them ended in split pots with minimal profit, I won one, and lost three (including my final hand).

76 Known Hands by Pre-Flop Strength (Win/Chop) Percentile at 10 Players

  • Top 10% [A8s-AA]: 8 hands (10%)
  • 2nd Decile [J8s-Q9s]: 10 hands (13%)
  • 3rd Decile: 7 hands (9%)
  • 4th Decile: 6 hands (8%)
  • 5th Decile: 10 hands (13%)
  • 6th Decile: 7 hands (9%)
  • 7th Decile: 9 hands (12%)
  • 8th Decile: 5 hands (7%)
  • 9th Decile: 7 hands (9%)
  • Bottom 10% [72o-84o]: 7 hands (9%)

Three hours and twenty minutes, 78 hands. 144th of 204 players.

Hand 130: Where Tournaments Go to Die

Logarithmic chart comparison of two tournamentsJust idly comparing chip counts of a couple of tournaments. The blue line is from a July Full Tilt $5 re-buy game with a $2K prize pool where I took second place (after a heads-up chop deal) and the red line is from the $2 PokerStars tournament I cashed in yesterday.

Thought it was just interesting how the two trajectories were more or less congruent until about the 130th hand. In July, I caught a Jh on the river on hand 130 to turn my JdTs into two pair and beat an all-in AdAc. Last night it was my aces on hand 131 that were beat by a set of queens. Aces, hand 130 (ten times thirteen!). I’ll just be keeping my eye out for a pattern.

Midnight Madness didn’t go any better tonight. Out in 1,275th place. The guy following me (VPIP of 50%) had been going all-in with close to the starting chip level far more regularly than was warranted. There were four players in at 200 chips to the flop. 4d6d7d came out and it was checked around to Mr. All-In who proceeded to do it yet again. The two players ahead of me folded. I had the all-in covered and AcQc in my hand. As I suspected, when his cards flopped, he was holding nothing better than Jc9c and I had him beat until the 9s showed up in the river. I managed to squeak back up to 1,100 before I was eliminated. He ended up going out before I did even with the double up. Playing the tournament did release a $10 bonus, though, so it was almost a freeroll.

Double Negative Unflush

Only half an hour into tonight’s Midnight Madness and I haven’t had anything in thirty hands. A big stack at the table has more than three times the starting stack and is throwing his weight around with a VPIP of over 70%. In the small blind I pick up KdAh and raise to 200 with two limps ahead of me. The big blind drops out but both of the limpers match the bet. The flop comes out 5h7h6h and I check. The big stack drops a bet of 420 and I figure it’s time to put up or shut up with my nut flush draw, pushing in my remaining 985 chips. The third guy folds but the big stack stays in, flipping over 4c3d for a flopped straight from a hand in the 15th percentile. I still had about a 35% chance but the turn and the river didn’t bring me another heart.