GG 2008

I know there's still a little over a month left in the year, but I've decided to use this time as a transition period. My #1 goal in poker for 2008 was to establish and maintain sound bankroll management practices. The lack of proper BR discipline has killed me in prior years. Well, I think I was able to accomplish that goal with flying colors. (At least on Full Tilt. Still working on Stars.) As the year comes to a close, I'm starting to think about poker goals for 2009.

In 2008, I was able to grow my bankroll by 700% and that doesn't include the thousands that I cashed out via check or P2P. I hope to continue this trend for next year. In order to help with this cause, I plan on hiring a cash game and a MTT coach. I've worked with a few people this year, but none have stuck so far. For the past month, I've been running bad in my cash games. Maybe when I was winning, I was just a bad player running good. Either way, significantly improving my cash game and MTT play is at the top of my preliminary list of 2009 goals. I'll quantify these goals later. There's a lot of money to be made playing poker and I want more than my fair share. (Greedy Americans) I've always wanted to have complete financial freedom and as of now, poker seems to be the most viable short term solution.

So, during my transition into 2009, I plan on doing more training than playing. Primarily by watching a ton of Cash Game and MTT videos from PXF, Cardrunners and DeucesCracked. I have been a member of PXF and CR for a couple of years and rarely watch videos. I joined DC a few week ago. This is definitely a leak that I need to plug. And as I mentioned before, I plan on hiring a couple of coaches and getting in a few sessions. This will put a little dent in my BR, but in the end it should be well worth it. I also want to try and make a name for myself in the online MTT scene. In Late-October/Early-November, I had a little taste of success and I loved it. Most of the top 100 in the Pocket 5s rankings were virtual unknowns at the beginning of 2008. Hopefully, I can start my story in early 2009.

I'll have a 2 week vacation from my 9-to-5 around xmas. I plan on using that time to put in some volume, depending on where I'm at in my training. I really would love to win a seat into the PCA, but Stars doesn't run many good satellites for the PCA Sunday Mega Sat. My official list of goals will be posted early next year.

Good luck at the tables.....that I'm not sitting at.

FTOPS X: Main Event

Here we are. The FTOPS Main Event. The tourney that I've been looking forward to playing for three months since my deep run in the last FTOPS ME. This is the last big online tourney for the year, so that added to the anticipation.

I love playing poker and playing on Full Tilt, but it can be so fucking cruel at times. In a nutshell, it came and went so fast that I was in shock after that dreadful pop-up appeared that said "Dumbass, you're out the Tournament." I was so pissed that I had to go smoke for the first time in over 3 months. I "knew" what he had, but my style of play is so risky, that I couldn't bare to take the safe way out in this situation. I guess karma is a bitch because earlier, I had been discussing with another player about not folding KK preflop in an online tourney. LOL, Doh.

Overall, this was my most profitable FTOPS. I only had one cash, but it was a decent score and I won multiple Main Event seats. My last FTOPS was profitable for me as well. Hopefully, that trend will continue and I can make a big score in the next FTOPS which should be held in February.

Hand #1 aka The Bustout Hand: The tourney started off very well for me. I was getting some good cards and picking up some chips. I was up to about 9800 chips within the first half an hour. Then everything came to a screeching halt. This was the perfect setup for this guy. He was in the BB with a classic squeeze situation to disguise the strengh of this hand. When he basically put me all in, I figured that most typical online players would take this line with QQ+ and AK. Some donks with an even wider range. I definitely feared AA, but in the end, I couldn't bring myself to fold. Better luck next time.

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 30/60 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: 9,096
SB: 6,404
BB: 10,490
UTG: 7,160
UTG+1: 7,435
UTG+2: 7,225
Hero (MP1): 9,180
MP2: 15,287
CO: 4,500

Pre-Flop: (90) K K dealt to Hero (MP1)
3 folds, Hero raises to 180, 2 folds, BTN calls 180, SB folds, BB raises to 750, Hero raises to 2,400, BTN folds, BB raises to 6,000, Hero raises to 9,180 and is All-In, BB calls 3,180

Flop: (18,570) 5 2 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Turn: (18,570) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (18,570) J (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 18,570 Pot
BB showed A A (two pair, Aces and Twos) and WON 18,570 (+9,390 NET)
Hero showed K K (two pair, Kings and Twos) and LOST (-9,180 NET)

FTOPS X: Event #19

I was looking forward to playing this event. I small buyin and plenty of chips. Unfortunately, it ended not too long after it began. I finished 1382 out of 2526. The top 279 cashed.

Hand #1: This hand still bothers me. I guess I shoulda shoved. His line just completely screwed my brain. Oddly enough, if he shoves, I insta call. He put me in a shove, fold spot. A call was very bad. Not sure what he has that I'm beating which he wouldn't want to shove over my re-raise. Maybe I just over analyzed the situation.

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 100/200 Blinds, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 5,266
UTG+1: 10,558
UTG+2: 13,020
MP1: 4,170
MP2: 9,580
CO: 9,445
BTN: 15,026
Hero (SB): 5,040
BB: 3,560

Pre-Flop: (300) A K dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 600, 5 folds, Hero raises to 1,800, BB folds, UTG+1 raises to 3,000, Hero folds
Results: 3,800 Pot
UTG+1 mucked and WON 3,800 (+2,000 NET)

Hand # 2 aka The Bustout Hand: My run bad switch is still on. I wouldn't have felt as bad if he had spiked the Ace or King.

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 120/240 Blinds, 25 Ante, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP2: 7,378
CO: 12,936
BTN: 14,480
SB: 4,365
BB: 9,130
UTG: 8,140
UTG+1: 15,971
Hero (UTG+2): 3,315
MP1: 4,890

Pre-Flop: (585) 5 5 dealt to Hero (UTG+2)
2 folds, Hero raises to 3,290 and is All-In, 4 folds, SB raises to 4,340 and is All-In, BB folds
Flop: (7,045) 9 4 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Turn: (7,045) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (7,045) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 7,045 Pot
SB showed A K (two pair, Nines and Sevens) and WON 7,045 (+3,730 NET)
Hero showed 5 5 (two pair, Nines and Sevens) and LOST (-3,315 NET)

Please, please, please, let the Main Event go much better than this week has gone.

FTOPS X: Event #8 and Event #9

Well, Event #8 was pretty much uneventful. I was card dead for the majority of my time in the tourney. I busted 584 out of 3499. The top 390 cashed.

Hand #1 aka The Bustout Hand:
Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 400/800 Blinds, 100 Ante, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: 19,088
UTG: 14,242
MP: 20,943
Hero (CO): 11,464
BTN: 20,633
SB: 73,695

Pre-Flop: (1,800) K T dealt to Hero (CO)
2 folds, Hero raises to 11,364 and is All-In, BTN folds, SB calls 10,964, BB folds
Flop: (24,128) J 6 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Turn: (24,128) 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (24,128) Q (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 24,128 Pot
Hero showed K T (a pair of Threes) and LOST (-11,464 NET)
SB showed J A (two pair, Jacks and Threes) and WON 24,128 (+12,664 NET)

So now I'm 0 for 2 in cashing this FTOPS. Then came Event #9. I made a deep run and busted 42 out of 5370. I was so close to making a big score is this huge field. Hopefully, I can get the job done in another event.

Hand #2: This table has been extremely aggressive. When the guy limps UTG some alarms went off in my head. He had been playing very tight and not involved in any pots. But as soon as another guy limped, I muted those alarms because there was over $90k in the pot that I could pick up.

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 10,000/20,000 Blinds, 2,500 Ante, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: 265,341
SB: 424,556
BB: 228,375
UTG: 349,920
UTG+1: 414,980
UTG+2: 1,975,474
MP1: 878,153
Hero (MP2): 421,488
CO: 360,100

Pre-Flop: (52,500) 8 9 dealt to Hero (MP2)
UTG calls 20,000, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 calls 20,000, MP1 folds, Hero raises to 418,988 and is All-In, 4 folds, UTG calls 327,420 and is All-In, UTG+2 folds
Flop: (767,340) A 2 K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Turn: (767,340) A (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (767,340) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 767,340 Pot
UTG showed K K (a full house, Kings full of Aces) and WON 767,340 (+417,420 NET)
Hero showed 8 9 (two pair, Aces and Nines) and LOST (-349,920 NET)

Hand #3 aka The Bustout Hand: The guy opening from the button was playing very laggy. Unfortunately, this was the first time that I was able to see his hand to confirm my suspicions. I had folded TT from the SB to one of his re-steals earlier before I started to question his motives. I think the overcall here is horrible. Anyway the button raiser went on to win the tourney and the $200k+ payout. Congrats! Surprisingly, UTG+2 clawed his way back to finish in 2nd place. Congrats to you as well.

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 10,000/20,000 Blinds, 2,500 Ante, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: 302,841
UTG+1: 452,056
UTG+2: 183,375
MP1: 668,272
MP2: 369,980
CO: 1,910,474
BTN: 938,153
Hero (SB): 148,136
BB: 345,100

Pre-Flop: (52,500) T A dealt to Hero (SB)
6 folds, BTN raises to 935,653 and is All-In, Hero calls 135,636 and is All-In, BB calls 322,600 and is All-In
Flop: (853,336) 8 Q 9 (3 Players - 1 is All-In)
Turn: (853,336) K (3 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (853,336) 9 (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 853,336 Pot
BTN showed 2 K (two pair, Kings and Nines) and LOST (-345,100 NET)
Hero showed T A (a pair of Nines) and LOST (-148,136 NET)
BB showed Q K (two pair, Kings and Queens) and WON 853,336 (+508,236 NET)