gg me....

Well, I fought as hard as I could Sunday night....

Stars $650 satty was pretty standard (I turned $27 into a Step 4A ticket, so this really was a virtual Lotto ticket) 48 seats for over 900 runners.

I flop a set with 22 vs. KK, boat up on the turn, get paid on every street and get up to the early top 10 in chips with 5K. This would be the high water mark...
Just very odd play in this tourney..
I complete the small blind at 60/120, big blind shoves for 40BB with 44?
Small blind raises, big blind threeballs, small blind shoves for 80BB with 22 and gets snap called by 88....

Anyhow, I really don't get anywhere as we hit hour two, I finally resteal a button open from the big blind with JTs for 18BB and get snap called by A7o and don't spike after a QQ9 flop, I'm out in the high 300s...

-------------------------------

In the BBT4 ToC. I had three main problems for the first three hours.

1) I never had a hand and when I did I got no action.
2) I kept having really tough players with stacks on my left, and it's hard to play free and easy that way.
3) I was playing pretty LOL. I called down three streets blind v. blind with TPNK against Jordan and got pwned by a flopped two pair, that's how bad.

Anyhow, I'm 34 of 41 at the first break, bleed down below 2K in hour two before I make a flush on the river, again blind v. blind with Jordan, and he check/calls my shove on the river with a flopped top pair.

I seriously have AQ like nine hundred times this tournament and never win a pot postflop with it - I either steal the blinds or have to fold post.

I actually fold AQ preflop three times from the blinds in the ToC - which I like never do - twice when there's an EP openraise and a LP threebet from karmarules, and I think a cold fourball shove is a really bad idea given stack sizes and reads (no flop, so I don't know for sure) and once when there's an UTG raise and a short-stacked Jordan in the BB that will get in the pot anyway (AQ no good vs. KJ and AT, by the way, after the river - I must soulread the deck or something)

Anyhow, it takes until 10:30 for me to get back over the starting 5K stack - I win a race shoving TT over kickyourace's open with AQ to get to 8K, then bounce back down below 4K again after making some pretty meh bet/folds on the flop. So, it's time to ruckbox.....

I open shove A7o with 3400 at 200/400/50, Jordan instacalls all in with KK. He has pwned me for months now ever since our heads up Mookie battle. I doesn't matter what I try because I'm always OOP, and he always spikes something.

Flop T76. Turn 8 (a little hope for a chop) River 7. I eliminate Jordan, and get to 7500.

Two hands later, Nightranger opens UTG for 1700, folds around, I shove AKo, he calls all in with JJ and I flop a K to get up over 14K and I feel like IT'S ON NOW baby as we get to two tables...

Of course the old problems crop up again.

- Hoy and jjok have a fuckton of chips on my left...
- I really don't have a lot of chips - I'm 6 of 18 with barely 20BB.
- I never have a hand or a spot to profitably open shove...

I mean, yeah, I restole a few times, basically treaded water, the only way I win a hand is by buying it and blowing peeps off the pot... but I end up blinding down below 10BB as the table runs shorthanded and I see 84o like every other hand.. I finally open shove A9 five handed, jjok snap flats with TT, I don't get there and I bounce on the final table bubble 10th of 44. Sigh...

-----------

Despite this, I felt like I got the most I could out of this run - I'm comfortable with the open shoves, perfectly S.O.P. given stack sizes and spots. I rivered one big hand and sucked out another one vs. Jordan to double through twice, ruckbox me - but otherwise the play was fairly straightforward and standard.

I got too short stacked too early to really open up, and I ended up playing a really uber-TAG game for once as a result, and I was seriously card dead for most of the ToC - which is a pretty painful combination for 3 1/2 hours.

I was ridiculously disciplined - especially with the AQ folds... - maybe too nitty, but I feel good about them regardless of results - and managed to get myself to a place with half the field gone where I was one double up away from really making things happen with a top three stack. I can be satisfied with that.

There really was only one time I folded a big winner - and that would have involved spiking a three outer in a three way pot, so I didn't lose a lot of sleep over that one either...

It's interesting to note, while railing the ToC final table and checking my OPR research - sure enough, the majority of the final table was in the red for tournaments lifetime on FTP (some of those numbers aren't significant, small sample size) - including quite a few of the more than -5K players... That's tournament poker for you, what can you do? Probably pretty certain all those guys crush everywhere else they play....

Anyhow, a decent enough run... I guess I'll try to make bank the old-fashioned way now, $100 at a time, when I'm not painting walls and moving furniture, yadayadayada.

Oh, this was interesting on the prize bubble... Hoy herocalls with ATs.

Full Tilt Poker Game #12686149865: Battle of the Blogger TOC (93186563), Table 6 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:16:23 ET - 2009/06/08
Seat 1: hoyazo (42,623)
Seat 3: jjok (45,532)
Seat 5: karmarules (27,947)
Seat 7: ck31 (25,087)
Seat 9: actyper (78,811)
hoyazo antes 250
jjok antes 250
karmarules antes 250
ck31 antes 250
actyper antes 250
ck31 posts the small blind of 1,000
actyper posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
hoyazo raises to 5,200
jjok folds
karmarules folds
AlCantHang (Observer): heh
ck31 folds
actyper calls 3,200
*** FLOP *** [4d Ts Qs]
AlCantHang (Observer): probably not
jjok: thanks for settign this up man......awesome stuff
actyper checks
AlCantHang (Observer): no sweat
hoyazo checks
*** TURN *** [4d Ts Qs] [9d]
actyper has 15 seconds left to act
actyper bets 8,000
hoyazo calls 8,000
*** RIVER *** [4d Ts Qs 9d] [3c]
actyper has 15 seconds left to act
actyper bets 65,361, and is all in
hoyazo calls 29,173, and is all in
Uncalled bet of 36,188 returned to actyper
*** SHOW DOWN ***
actyper shows [4h 4c] three of a kind, Fours
millerd33 (Observer): GOO CK!
hoyazo mucks
actyper wins the pot (86,996) with three of a kind, Fours
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 86,996 | Rake 0
Board: [4d Ts Qs 9d 3c]
Seat 1: hoyazo mucked
Seat 3: jjok folded before the Flop
Seat 5: karmarules (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: ck31 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: actyper (big blind) collected (86,996)

GG to ME winners actyper and jjok.
As usual, I give my chips to a winnerwinnerchickendinner.