After the fireworks on the last hand, nobody wants to get out of line with crappy cards and the new chip leader sitting in BB. It’s a walk.

UTG jams his threes and everyone folds. I personally think it’s a little reckless to shove 18BB with a low pair and three other players at the table who all have you covered by at least 4x, but maybe that’s just me.

I continue my war on ragged aces by folding my SB even after calls by UTG and D. BB checks the flop with two overs, UTG bets 1K on his over pair, and D just calls with his set. BB drops out. UTG leads out for 2.5K on the turn. He should be warned off a bit by the raise to 7.6K from D, but he makes the call, then checks the river and calls 10K from D’s full house. I think maybe he should have raised the jacks pre-flop instead of just limping in. What do you think?

A lot of times, the late entries into these tournaments will pop off with the first hand they get. Probably a good thing the new guy on my right doesn’t do that after the big stack in UTG makes it 1.5K, because with three fives dealt and one of the other jacks in my hand, he’d pretty much be relying on clubs to get him to a flush. Anyway, UTG raises and everyone folds.

SB limps in again—after the beating he took limping the jacks just two hands earlier you’d think he’d have learned his lesson and bet his equity, he’s in about as good of shape as he can be after three folds—and BB flops two pair against him. SB checks, BB bets 625—not even 1.5BB—and SB folds.

CO opens to 1K and gets calls from both blinds. SB seems to be enamored of the suited gappers, plus he’s got both other players covered by at least 10x. I don’t know what BB’s excuse is, except for the fact that he’s the type of player who’ll enter a 6-Max tournament witih 10BB. The flop is incredibly good for CO: middle pair, nut flush draw, some backdoors. BB does have a gut-shot straight draw, but he’s only got three outs. The turn seals the deal for CO, SB checks and BB takes a stab at the pot for 500, leaving less than 3.5K behind. CO strings him along with a call, SB folds, CO bets minimum on the river, and BB finally gives up.

SB’s in chip-spewing mode. Action folds to him, he limps, I check my ace. The thing is, he has so few chips, even if I lose, it doesn’t make a significant difference to my stack, so I could call him with anything, much less and ace. He bets 500 on the flop, which I call. He checks the turn and I put him all-in to call. He folds.

Everyone limps into the pot except for me. CO makes middle pair, opens after the flop with a bet to 2.5K, and everyone folds.

CO has 3BB and shoves. He gets called by the suited ace in BB who, even though he’s third in chips at a five-handed table, still has ten times CO’s stack. BB picks up a flush draw on the flop, hits the ace on the turn, and CO never improves.

Late-entry player 133 appears to have done a little better in the ten or so hand’s he’s been in before he gets moved to the table. D shoves his short stack with [ah kd] and takes the pot.

We’ve got a full table once again. The suited king here is the only hand with equity significantly above the 16.7% average for six players, but he helects to fold after me (with my bad kicker and two other aces dealt, I have the least pre-flop equity of anyone). D raises his [7s as] to 1.6K, getting a call from the ace with the better kicker. BB folds. This time player 19 doesn’t let the hand get away from him, bets 2K on middle pair, and SB goes away.

According to ProPokerTools, at least, the suited king has more equity than the tens. In reality, action folds to the button and the big stack raises to 1.5K to take the pot.

I am getting the worst run of cards here. But I’ve got more than enough chips to be patient, with ten times the starting stack I can easily make the money with about ten players left to go. CO limps in and goes HU to the flop with BB. BB’s ahead on the flop but just check-calls a bet of 900 from CO, then check-folds to 1.9K on the turn. Maybe a bit too cautious if he’s going to make the call on the flop, but he does only have a bit more than 20BB. Commit!

The big stack raises to 1.6K with the suited king, I call, and BB just flats with his better pair. The flop does give HJ top pair, but I call the 2.7K bet to set-mine and go HU to the turn after BB folds. I’m in pretty rough shape until the [6h] on the turn. I bet 5K and HJ calls me, then another 10K on the river and he pays me off.

BB made a huge mistake here, I think, probably due to not wantiing to go out near the bubble of the tournament. If he was planning to play the hand at all, he should prepare to play it for the max. He only had 20BB to start the hand. He has 1BB in, and calls 2 more preflop, but he should have probably just folded (if his objective was to just get to the money) or shoved in pre-flop. Yes, he probably would have gotten calls from both of us, but just dribbling away that much of your stack on the bubble is counterproductive to either making the money or winning the tournament.

Big stacks go to war the hand after I even things up. I call a raise to 1.6K, we flop top pair with the same kicker on a rainbow board. he bets 2.2K, I raise to 6K, he calls. He check-calls 8K on the turn and we both check the river to chop up the blinds and antes.

UTG shoves his suited ace, SB calls the extra 4.3K and he hits three jacks to knock out player 131 in 28th place. 4 to the money and I’m in the chip lead overall, if I remember correctly.

CO limps in with [qs kh]. I know, he’s got less than 20BB and we’re on the money bubble, but seriously, if you want to earn chips, try to earn a lot of chips. SB calls and three of us see the flop. Neither SB or I bother to bluff to win the pot. It isn’t worth it.

CO raises and ace to 1.5K, I call with the suited king, and BB just calls with his pair. Unlike the nines a few hands before, I don’t think this is a bad move (not just because the nines would have made a set on the river). I don’t think the sizes are strong enough to do much but set-mine. The flop is great for me, leaving only sets for the pair and backdoor draws for the ace. I check it, so does BB, but CO takes a stab with a bet of 2.5K. I raise to 7K and they both lay it down.

BB is hogging all the equity for this hand. UTG limps in. CO raises to 2.2K with a worse ace. BB comes over the top for his entire stack, UTG folds, CO shows his cards for some reason.

UTG limps in, D makes a “button raise” (‘cus that’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re short-stacked on the bubble, ain’t ya?) to 1.8K with [7s qd] and player 105 has picked up another premium hand, so he shoves for 14.7K. UTG folds, and D would be all-in to call, so he folds.

Summary

It’s been an exciting batch of hands, no? I’m back on top at the table, we’re just about in the money, and I think I might be the tournament chip lead with about 25 players remaining.

• 70% of the hands have been dealt to five players.
• Two more players are eliminated and we’re on the cusp of the money.
• VPIP/PFR for the remaining players: 5 (54%/26%), 19 (29%/9%), 50 (31%/22%), 105 (28%/19%), 133 (27%/9%).

Player 5 is putting money into more than half of the 35 hands he’s involved in, an aggression level he will maintain throughout the rest of the tournament. In this set of 20 hands, he had three pocket pairs, flopped two pair with [3c 2d] after he was limped to in the BB, called a min-raise with [4c 8c], three hands with aces, a couple with kings, and limped [8s 3d]. He’s won chips in nine of 11 showdowns.

Bovada $2K NLHE 6-Max

The tournament’s been running for more than two hours and I’ve been it (as player 50) for slightly less than that. I’ve held the table chip lead and been near the lead in the tournament overall for for most of the game at this point. Nine players have bit the dust at our table alone.

Fully 70% of the deals have been played five-handed, with fewer than 20% played with a full table of six.

The only player with two cards above an eight, D has the most equity by a few points to start the hand. He folds though, after CO limps in. SB calls and there are three players to the flop. The ace is well ahead of the other two players, who are splitting a pot most of the time they’re getting any of it. After the flop, BB tries to represent something with a bet of 1.6K, but he gets slammed with a 3.2K raise from CO, who’s made two pair. The blinds fold.

CO raises his pair to 1.2K, D calls with a couple spades, and I come along with the suited connector and the least amount of equity of the three of us. Things change drastically on the flop: I make middle pair with a flush draw, while D’s open-ended straight is pretty crushed, and the sevens that opened the hand are in horrible shape. I check it to see what people are going to do (there is a jack on board), and the others do the same.

The turn makes D’s straight but it also completes my flush, even giving me a straight flush draw. CO’s pair improves significantly but he’s still well behind. I check it again, the sevens bet out 2K, D calls, and I raise to 10K. CO times out and is folded, then D shoves and I call. He’s eliminated in 42nd place.

New player at the table. Everyone folds to BB.

UTG limps in, though I really feel he should be raising that particular hand. SB just limps with the ace. What’s going on? That lets BB—new player at the table—into the action. SB goes to the flop with the best hand.

Because nobody’s taken a lead with a pre-flop raise, none of them bet the flop. The effective stack is only a quarter of SB’s stack, he’s got a good—very good in a 6-Max game—ace, and he’s still not betting. Then, after the turn, when BB bets his newly-made top pair for 800, he calls after UTG folds. They both check the river, and the cards that shouldn’t still be in the hand take it down.

HJ folds the hand with the most equity. I fold the hand with the least. SB raises his [3s 2s] and BB folds his dominating hand.

I’m moved to a new table where I’m still the chip leader and it’s my first encounter during the tournament with player 5, the eventual winner of the tournament. UTG raises his [ad qc] and everyone folds/

UTG shoves his small pair and BB calls with the mid-level ace. BB picks up some outs to eliminate UTG on the flop, but on the river, UTG is doubling up.

CO raises to 1.2K and I call. The flop gives me top pair, but with two overs and the nut flush draw, CO and I are dead even in equity. I call another 1.6K. When he makes the flush on the turn and checks, I’m not suckered into the bet. I need a jack or three on the river and he knows it, I think. Then again, maybe he’s hoping I have a high club. He doesn’t bother to make a bet and takes the pot.

I can’t believe how many chips I saved myself here. I open-fold a ragged ace five-handed. D raises his king to 1.2K and gets 3-bet to 3.6K by the tens in SB. BB has queens and more chips than either of the other two players and 4-bets 7.5K. D folds, SB shoves for 13.1K, and BB calls, of course. I was probably kicking myself on the flop, then patting myself on the back on the turn. I do wonder if I’d made it as far as the flop if I could have gotten the queens to back off with 16K behind if I’d bet the ace…. Player 112 goes out in 37th place.

I open to 1.2K and everyone with a queen folds.

The fours limp in, as does SB, and I just let them, like some sort of wimp rather than a guy with half the pre-flop equity and almost as many chips as the two of them put together. It all goes up in smoke on the flop, but everyone calls the 650 bet from SB. We all check the next two streets, and we’ve all got full houses, but the queen wins it for SB.

Player 105 is moved to the table (we saw him at the previous table about ten hands earlier). BB gets a walk.

CO raises his suited connector and I call for 1.2K. We check it to the river when he catches a second pair and takes the pot.

BB has the most equity, and everyone gives him a walk.

I raise to 1.5K and BB calls. He’s a little ahead pre-flop, but pulls way ahead on the flop with bottom pair. We both check, then I bet 2K when I get the lead on the turn. He folds.

HJ, with an unsuited one-gapper, actually has the most equity in this hand, even with two aces in play. He and I both fold, however, and CO opens to 2K with a pretty bad ace. D folds a better ace, despite having CO covered by three times, and both blinds fold. BB is a new stack; we’re nearing the end of entry, where a buy-in gets you 10BB.

Just like that, player 132 is moved off the table for balancing. Thanks for the BB! UTG is one of the two shorter stacks, but he stiill has 44BB. He has kings and makes just a min-raise. Nobody bites. We’ve seen that story before.

CO tries to get into the hand for the minimum, but BB pops it up to 2K. CO calls with the [9d 6d] and catches second pair. BB tries a c-bet of 2.8K, but CO comes along, and floats the 4.5K bet when the second king hits on the turn. BB is out more than 9K. He might be able to get CO to fold with an all-in for his last 14K on the river (the pot is nearly 20K, so it wouild need to be big, since CO has almost 30K behind). He doesn’t, though, and the nine is enough for CO to take the pot.

SB raises to 1.5K and gets called by BB, with couple of diamonds. maybe he’s inspited by the last hand. SB bets 1K, and BB raises to 4K, which SB calls. The difference here is that in the previous hand, player 5 outflopped player 77 and called his bets on two streets. He didn’t try to bluff him after he’d put in more than a sixth of his stack. BB manages to avoid more disaster when he actually hits something on the turn, but he doesn’t improve on the river (both streets are checked) and he loses the hand.

Poor player 77 cannot catch a break. He’s got an ace for the third hand in a row, [ax qx] two of those three hands. He’s got the most equity here, because all of the jacks are dealt out, so player 5 has less of a chance to catch a set. He’s got the only ace. and the only over cards. Player 5 won’t need a set, though.

UTG raises his pair to 1.4K (he’s actually one of those players that picks weird number combos, the exact value is 1,432). I call the raise, then D re-raises to 6.7K (6,728, exact). The blinds fold. UTG shoves his jacks, I fold, D calls, and they’re off to the races. Unllike most of these “coin flips”, the pair is behind in equity, heads-up.

The turn gives D a little bit of hope for at least a chop, if not an outright win, but on the river he’s eliminated in 33rd place and player 5 takes the table chip lead.

Summary

• More than 100 of the 140 hands so far have been dealt with just five players at the table.
• The cards with the most preflop equity continue to be a dominant force, winning more than half the pots so far.
• Three more players hit the rail in this group of hands, representing an overall drop in the tournament of nine players. We’re only nine places from the money
• VPIP and PFR for the remaining players: 5 (40%/20%), 19 (13%/7%), 50 (32%/24%), 105 (19%/13%). I’m still doing well at showdown, winning 13 of 16. Player 5 has only been dealt 15 hands so far in my records, but he’s gone to showdown 5 times and won all of them.

Player 5’s range is wide, even for 6-Max, and it will get even wider as we track more of his hands.

More hands tomorrow!

I’ve played a hundred hands of a 6-max tournament. I’m player 50, we’ve only had four players at the table for the past couple of hands, since yet another knockout (the seventh from this table, so far).

BB gets a walk with the most starting equity.

Player 76 is moved onto the table UTG. The suited cards are once again the best starting hand. I’m the only player who doesn’t limp into the hand. I would have had an open-ended straight draw on the flop. CO bets 1.4K with bottom pair and an ace, getting a check-fold from D (who would have ended up with the best hand on the river but has very little equity at this point). SB calls with the paired queen and three-card straight, and BB folds middle pair. They both check the turn—neither has a club—and SB bets 2.7K on his straight (which I would have made on the turn had I stayed in), getting a fold from CO.

UTG limps in, CO raises to 1.2K, and everyone folds.

I’m not the favorite preflop here, but I’m even odds against the other four. CO raises his ace to 900 and I 3-bet to 2K, getting called by both BB and CO. I’m in good shape with the two ragged queens out of the way, the aces are blocking each other, they’re the only over cards, but so many bad things can happen on the flop. The only thing I need to worry about after the flop are three possible sets: I bet 3K and both of the other players fold.

I get pretty lucky here. The sixes raise to 900 and once again I have a pretty good hand. I push it to 2K again. SB and BB fold and we’re HU. He checks the all-diamond flop, I bet 2.5K, he shoves for another 5.1K. I’ve got him covered by 13K, and I’ve got a pretty good diamond. The [ad] on the turn seals the deal, and player 87 goes to the rail.

Three good pairs in as many hands. Not a lot of chips made here when I raise to 900 preflop, but it is the stuff deep runs are made of.

UTG min-raises and takes the pot.

As so often happens, the hands that look best by conventional standards pre-flop—the two aces—are significantly behind something like jack-nine. I probably would have played it, but UTG limps in and the two aces are HU to the flop. Player 81, new to the table, is ahead to start, but steadily loses equity while betting 600 on each street until the [th] counterfeits his kicker and they chop the pot.

I open my suited king to 900 and get called by the ace in the SB. Neither of us hits anything and we check it down to the river, where I lose the showdown. UTG should have called to make his flush!

How bad do the hands have to be before jack-deuce offsuit has more equity than anything else? This bad. SB takes it down after three folds by raising to 900.

I opened my suited ace to 900 and called a 3-bet to 3.3K from CO, then check-folded to a pot-sized c-bet.

D raises the best hand to 900 and I call from BB. We both check the flop, then I check-call a 1.1K bet on the turn, and make a 2.5K bet on the river, which gets called. I lose the showdown. Just giving chips away!

UTG raised his jacks to 2.7K and everyone folded.

UTG and CO fold, and I raise the best hand to 900, with calls from both of the blinds. I’m in pretty good shape going into the flop, but don’t follow through with a c-bet and open myself up to the bluff from BB when the scare card shows on the turn.

UTG raises his ace to 1.2K, and SB just calls him. With only BB behind and a suited ace-king, he just calls the raise! After the flop, SB check-calls another 1.2K. When UTG 3-barrels the turn for 3.2K, SB—who’s already put a sixth of his stack into the pot—folds and shows his cards, presumably to show how good at folding he is, but really to show everyone just how bad he is at 3-betting ore-flop. We don’t know whether UTG has him beat after the flop until the history’s published, but nobody who saw him flash the cards should think he plays well at this point. UTG doesn’t show.

Sort of a breakthrough hand for me. I open with a raise to 1.2K, and now player 76 decides to 3-bet, and goes all-in. It’ll cost me half of my chips if I lose, but I take the chance, only to find out I’m dominated. That all changes on the river, when I spike a king and we say goodbye to The Player Who Didn’t 3-Bet Suited Ace-King. Now, of course, people will think I don’t play well.

I actually have the most all-in pre-flop equity in this hand, but I get a walk.

Action folds to me, I raise to 1.2K, BB calls and hits middle pair on a low board. I check the flop, he makes a pot-sized bet, and I can let it go.

Another new player moves to my right. Action folds to me, I raise (with the best hand) and take the pot.

SB limps in, bets 500 on the flop, and wins.

Summary

I’ve been up and down (and back up) in this batch of hands, knocking out two more players along the  way. Player 45 has been at the table since it was constituted oin my first hand.

• 64 hands have been won by the cards with the best equity as dealt (although that has sometimes been something peculiar. A number of the hands where non-standard starting hands were ahead in dealt equity, more conventional starting hands were the winners.
• There have been 15 walks: one out of every eight hands.
• 32 hands have been won by a single pre-flop raise, just over a quarter of the hands dealt. Combined with the walks, that’s 37.5%.
• I’ve won 12 of 15 showdowns (80%) and another 20 hands without showdown, for a total of 35 wins in 120 hands. I’ve voluntarily put money into the pot in 38 hands, which seems like a pretty good ratio of wins to VPIP.
• VPIP/Pre-Flop Raise values for the players currently on the table: 45 (28%/13%), 50 (32%/25%), 64 (22%/14%), 81 (38%/8%), 105 (0%/0%). Player 105 has only been on the table for 2 hands; 81 for only 13 hands. More significant are the values for player 64 (51 hands) and player 45 and myself, who have been tracked for all 120 hands.

More hands tomorrow!

Bovada $2K Guarantee NLHE 6-Max

Part five of a 6-max tournament from start to finish, hand by hand. I’m player 50.

My suited ace-king is in an equity tie with six-four offsuit and king-queen; three of the aces are dealt out, as are three of the kings. Six-four is the only hand with two live cards. Anyway, I raise to 750 and get called by everyone but the already folded UTG and CO. I’m best going into the flop, but it hits SB hard and nobody bets. D is the only one with even a slim chance after the turn but he’s not about to call an all-in from SB, who takes the hand down.

I must have been feeling the sting of the ace-king loss, because I raised this crummy ace to 750. Action folded to BB’s jacks, and he 3-bet to 2.5K. And I called. After the flop, things change significantly, although I can’t be sure of that. My read was that he had a big pair, and as long as it wasn’t kings, I was probably good. I jammed my entire stack and he had to fold, but he showed the jacks to show how lucky I’d been, I guess. I’ve got the show feature turned off on my side.

UTG limps in with a suited ace, SB limps with live cards, and I just check it, then hit a pair on the flop. SB takes the lead with a 500 bet and the flush draw. I fold, playing it safe on the paired board, even though as it stands I have the most equity, but UTG presses on. UTG pulls ahead on the turn and both players check, then UTG tries for a little value on the river but SB folds to a bet of 500. As it stands, I would have been chopping with two pair and the king kicker. Not a big loss for me but I bet CO and HJ were kicking themselves, since they would have gotten trips and a straight, repsectively. They were both actually ahead of the winner pre-flop.

The big stack’s moved off the table, so I’ve got a small lead over everyone else for a bit. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to fold to a raise to 750 by CO. BB calls with his king, and they’re HU to the flop. BB check-calls 750 with bottom pair, then strikes gold with one of the two remaining kings on the turn. They both check, and BB makes a full house on the river. He bets 1.8K and CO makes a good fold.

All three of the aces are on their way to the flop after CO raises to 750. A bet of 2.2K from top pair chases me and SB out of the hand after the flop.

[4c qc] is a great hand when everyone folds to you.

I fold, everyone else in in the pot for the price of a big blind. The suited ten has the best of it. Once again, I fold a winner. CO bets 1.3K with the worst hand and gets called by BB with the best. BB has CO’s number and check-calls another 1.8K with bottom pair on the flop. CO doesn’t fire another barrel on the river and BB’s fours are good for the win.

A pretty even spread of equity overall. I get a walk with my sixes.

The only ace dealt out raises to 750 in CO, getting calls from the fives in D and BB’s queen-jack, who has the most equity even after two players fold. That all spins around after Co makes trips on the flop. BB is pretty short-stacked at this point, under 3K. He checks his two pair. CO bets trips for just 750, the same bet as pre-flop, so less than 1/3 pot, inducing a call from the fives and a shove from BB. CO calls, D folds his fives, and the turn closes off any hope for player 95.

Back to me winning some chips. Dead SB. UTG and CO fold, I taise to 750 and BB calls. I make middle pair on the flop and c-bet 800, which he check-calls. He checks the turn and so do I. On the river he bets 1.6K and I pick off the hand with third pair.