Quick Update

It's been a while.

The Good:
Had my first, hopefully of many, 6 figure score. 7 way chop of the Feb. 2010 FTOPS ME. Was pretty exciting, but disappointed that I didn't win. I was open for chopping because we didn't reach the final table until about 8am EST. I was beyond tired. The frustrating part of the situation was that after the chop, I didn't realize that there was still money on the table to play for. This was my first chop on FTP since they released the automatic chop tool. So, I played half-heartedly thinking that all of the money was accounted for. Oh well, I expect to be back at a major final table in the near future. I'll TID then.

Also, won a Bracelet Race package on FTP. These are pretty cool. My third year winning a package. Hopefully, I can win the "real" package, a WSOP ME seat.

The Bad:
Running like shit on FTP. The doomswitch is on full blast right now. Killing my drive and confidence. Haven't done much of anything since the FTOPS final table.

The Ugly:
After chopping the 10re in Jan., don't think I've come close to even sniffing a final table. Running horribly on there like it's 2007. That resulted in me not playing on Stars on even a semi-semi-regular basis util January 2009. Hasn't gotton to that point, but it's getting close.

That's it for now. Good luck at the tables.

2009 Wrap-up and 2010 Resolutions

Well, this is a bit late, but better late than never.

I ended 2009 on a sour note. Nothing like the end of 2008. But 2010 has started off pretty good. I've have my 5th winningest month since January 2009.

Now on to the 2009 wrap-up. Here are my 2009 resolutions and my thoughts about each, a year later.

1) Continue to maintain solid Bankroll Management rules
I was able to play well within my bankroll limitations. Even though I am just a part time poker player, I manage to not blow my roll by playing MTTs that I'm not rolled for. Spending my money on "toys" is a different story.

2) Grow my bankroll to $100k
Due to some life issues, I had to regularly take money out of my poker accounts to pay bills and such. Even without that, I wouldn't have hit this goal, but woulda been a helluva lot closer than I am now.

3) Win a seat into the WSOP ME
Although I didn't directly win a seat into the WSOP ME, I still was fortunate to play in it. I hit a $6k score in Vegas and was back by a few friends. I didn't cash, but definitely want to play again this year.

4) Win a 5-figure score
Technically, I had 2 5-fig scores, but one was for 19k and another score was just short, $9400.

5) Play 1000 MTTs
Hit this. Kinda hard to know the exact number because all of my databases include sats, but even if I take out 30% of that total, I exceeded 1000 MTTs.

6) Play 60,000 cash game hands
What's a cash game?

7) Climb up to $5/$10 6max
See #6 above.

8) Reach the Pocket 5s Top 15 MTT players for North Carolina.
I was at 15 for a couple of weeks at one point. Finished #17.

9) Develop a regular MTT and Cash Game training regiment
I had a few coaches and went through spurts of a decent training regiment, but this is definitely something that I need to continue to work on.

10) Win 10 MTTs
Only won 4.

Here goes my 2010 list (see any similarities?):
1) Continue to maintain solid Bankroll Management rules
2) Cash in the WSOP ME
3) Win a 6-figure score
4) Play 2000 MTTs
5) Finish in the Pocket 5s Top 10 ranking for North Carolina.
6) Develop a regular MTT training regiment
7) Make some online buddies that can help improve my game.
8) Win 10 MTTs
9) Play in a $5k+ buy-in non-WSOP live tournament.
10) Play in 10 PokerStars Big Sunday tourneys
11) Play in 10 FTP Big Sunday tourneys
12) Play in at least 10 FTOPS and 2 WCOOP events.

Most of all I want to dramatically improve my game. Good Luck to all!

Dear Full Tilt

Here is an email that I sent to Full Tilts support and this person's response. Apparently, they receive these kind of emails on a regular basis.

SUBJECT: I Love Full Tilt Poker

"Dear Full Tilt Poker,

I am writing to tell you how much I love playing on your site. You have by far the best software in the history of the Computers. I love going to Las Vegas and wearing the Full Tilt merchandise that you send to me. Hopefully, one day I will win a seat into the WSOP Main Event or some other major live event and can proudly wear your gear all the way to the final table. One day, when I grow up, I want to become a Full Tilt Red Pro. That would be the best day of my life. In the meantime, I'd like to apologize for anything that I have done to make you upset. I didn't mean to log into another poker site. Honestly, I didn't. I'd also like to ask that you please turn off the doom switch on my account. I really would love to win money in one of your tournaments. I've heard that it's possible. Again, I apologize and wish you all the best.

Sincerely,

Andrew aka TheJunkie"

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

RESPONSE

"Hello Andrew,

Thank you for contacting Full Tilt Poker Support.

First of all, thank you for the very positive feedback ragarding Full Tilt Poker. I wish you the best of luck in your quest to be a top professional player.

Some players like to think that there is a button or switch at online poker sites that when flipped gives players terrible cards and horrible bad beats. The doom switch also has developed a counterpart known as the boomswitch which apparently gives players great cards and makes them unstoppable at the tables.

The whole concept of a doomswitch does not make sense for an online poker site. Please understand that a poker site makes its money off of rake which is a small portion of each pot played on the site. A poker site does not want to take your money because once you are broke you can no longer contribute rake. For a poker site, busting players with a doomswitch does not in any way increase revenue. If Full Tilt Poker made players who potentially would have spent many hours of happily playing raked hands on the site go bankrupt to bad beats they would be risking those players trying their luck at another site, or not playing for real money at all.

Conversely, giving great cards to all the players who are close to busting would also negatively affect profits. If the consistent players who play poker for a living were consistently losing to players who were getting fed the winning hands they would take their game to another site. This would cost a site a large percentage of players who play multiple tables forty or more hours a week. These players track their hands very closely and would be the first to recognize if there was a statistical discrepancy. Every high stake game you see being played is a statement by every player at the table that they trust the RNG at Full Tilt Poker.

Some players come up with more devious schemes for how this doom switch might operate in an effort to maximize profits for a poker site. However, these theories are no less speculative than theories about UFO's, secret societies, and mythical creatures. While it is easy to type up a reasonable motive for a poker site to rig action there is simply no evidence to support it.

The fact is that there are thousands of players who record every hand they play, and there has never been a manipulated shuffle discovered over a significant sample size. Players who have recorded a hundred thousand hands or more and taken the time to analyze the statistics simply do not write emails to poker sites accusing them of having a doom switch.

Regards,

Jamie
Poker Specialist
Full Tilt Poker Support"

Good Game Doom switch.

The Comeback of All Comebacks

Well, the streak of venting on this blog leading to a tourney score continues. A couple days after my quick rant, I finally made a final table and closed the deal. This was a decent pickup, financially and emotionally.

I was able to keep my composure after getting pretty short stacked to make the final two tables. Then I sucked out versus a reg to make the final table. When HU came along I started down 3 to 1, but was able to take the chip lead. Then I managed to get down $73k to $1.4M and win the tourney. This was just amazing. Granted there was some luck involved, but a comeback that I'm proud of nonetheless. Hopefully, this will kick start my next upswing.

Note: My downswing on fulltilt is still in effect, so I am free to bitch about that. :-)

Suckout #1 vs PetieBigStacks from FullTilt:



I have shoved over this guys button raises 2 or 3 hands in a row and was counting on him making a tilt call.



I started HU down 3 to 1 and this save on the turn was a sign of things to come.



I was hoping for a hero call since I played my hand pretty weak.



After managing to take the chip lead, I got it in with a draw, only to be drawing dead on the turn. Notice my stack at the end of the hand. I am down to about $73k.



The start of my run.



I win a 60/40.



Suckout #2.



A sick hold.

First MTT Win on Stars

Well, the poker gods shined on me once again after a bitch and whine post. On Sunday I won my first tourney on Stars. It was a $20 cubed for just under $9400. Not bad. For anybody looking for a nice deep stacked tourney for a low buy-in, I definitely recommend this 2pm-ish(EST) on Sundays. The initial $20 gets you 3k in chips. The rebuy gives you another 3k. So, that's a very deep 6k stack to start the tourney. I kinda just stumbled across this tourney. It's definitely on my regular Sunday tourney list now.

Usually, I try to capture a screenshot of all of my online poker milestone's but for some reason it didn't dawn on me til the next day that this was my first win on Stars. By the time that I realized this, the tourney lobby was already gone. Stars only keeps up the daily tourney lobbies for about 24 hours.

Because Stars offers chops, I would consider one if the chips are fairly even instead of flipping coins for a few thousand dollars. But this tourney was an exception. The other guy was so bad that I didn't even think of a chop. When we started I was down 2 to 1. After a while, I was up 4 to 1. Then I got unlucky when he hit trips on the river after all of the money was in on the turn. That gave him a 4 to 1 chip lead. Even at this point, I didn't think of chopping even if he wanted to. We were still deep and I had a huge skill advantage. So, as you know I ended up winning. It was only a day or two earlier that I told myself that I would buy that new Camaro after my next decent poker score. Well, this was the score. I contacted the dealership, but the problem now is trying to sell my current car. Hopefully, between now and the end of the summer I can win a lot more money and sell my car.

That's it for now. Good luck at the tables.

Downswing and Training

It's been a while since I've written a post. Honestly, I haven't had much of anything to write about other than bad beat stories, so I'd rather just not write than clog this blog with those stories.

So, the SCOOP passed by and not much happened. I only played in 3 events. 2 low and 1 mid stake event. The start times are not geared toward East Coast players. Unfortunately, I didn't cash in either event, but I love the 3 level buy-in idea. I just think Stars didn't have enough reasonable sattys for the high stakes events.

As much as I love playing on Full Tilt, I have been getting crushed since Feb. I'm trying to stay upbeat. Things will turn around soon, but the MTT grind can definitely take a toll on my emotional state. To help this, I just played a cash game for 30 minutes, lost $150 and then realized why I play MTTs. LOL.

After the SCOOP, I took a week off. The break was needed. As long as I am playing decent, I'll chug along during a downswing, but when I start noticing a lot of bad play, it's break time. My first day back, I finally made another Final Table on Stars. Ended with a 3rd place finish for $7400. A decent payout, but I woulda loved to get another 5-figure score if I coulda won my race, QQ < AK.

Regarding training, for the past 6 months or so, I've been emailing TheMaven and his students regarding the program. I think this could really help my progress, but there is a good amount of cost to get into the program. For a while, I've been trying to find something to invest my poker winnings into and eventually decided to invest in myself by joining the program. My initial training period is in May. Hopefully, I can get started and show vast improvement in time for the FTOPS and WSOP.

Well, that's it for now. Maybe I'll be posting soon about winning a WSOP ME seat. I've still only played one sattie and finished just shy of the seat. Take care.

A Phone Call to Grandma

I stumbled across someone's video on PocketFives. Here's a video I made about my phone call to my grandmama after my first 5-figure poker score.





*This conversation didn't actually take place. I am 100% sure that it would go like this. I didn't want to go there because telling this to my grandma, whom I love very, very, very much, is like posting an Ad in the local newspaper. So I just mailed her the money without the story. (Link to the original video.)

A Long Overdue Update

It's been a while so, here's the latest happenings in my poker life.

I'll start with the FTOPS, well, after probably spending $1500, I finally won a seat into the ME. But that was all for nothing. I was able to chip up early, but proceeded to tilt my chips off to a guy that chased a gutshot and got there when the turn game me top, two. I'd like to take some credit for giving him his start for a nice run in the event. He finished in 6th place for $78k. Congrats! Appropriately, his id is "dump22".

Well, after the FTOPS concluded, I decided to take a break from poker. Running bad and playing bad is a deadly combination for anyone's emotional health and bankroll. I had no timetable for this break, only that I wanted to clear my head and start back playing when I felt the desire.

During this break, I did something very out of the ordinary for me, I watched TV. I'm not a big TV person. I'd rather be on the computer trying to find some way to become a bazillionaire. Other than basketball and football, there are only a handful of shows that I watch on a semi-regular basis. Well, during this break I was able to catch up on CSI, Lost, Cold Case, Without A Trace and my secret vice, American Idol. That's probably all the shows that I watch. I also managed to watch a few movies from my Blockbuster Online subscription. And I managed to work on a new website that I have in the works. All of this spanned the course of two weeks.

So, exactly two weeks after the FTOPS and the start of my break, I was reading through some posts on PocketFives. Coincidently, one was about downswings. After reading a lot of posts about people's various downswings and how they worked them out, I felt a lot better about my current "normal" 50 buy-in downswing. Thus, that was the fire that I needed to put in a days work.

I then proceeded to play a good number of the regular Sunday tourneys with the exception of the Stars or Full Tilt Sunday Majors. Well, long story short, I was able to secure my biggest score to date. Although it was a second place finish, I won just short of $20k in the Stars $150k $50 buy-in tourney.

Heres a screenshot:




Here are some hands from the Heads-up battle. I started down about 4 to 1 and was down 5 to 1 before making a come back. Well, after our last break, I went from being ahead 5 to 1, to being out of the tourney in second place. I'm always looking to grow and improve as a poker player and after losing my last two heads-up matches, I'm starting to study more about that aspect of the game.

Hand #1: This hand put me back in the game.




Hand #2: The first hand after the last break.




Hand #3: I played this hand horribly, but the guy was making some fairly thin calls with mediocre hands. I was hoping to get full value, but instead I valuetowned myself. LOL.



Hand #4 aka The Bustout Hand: Hopefully, this is the first of many 5-figure scores and a 6-figure score would be very nice.




Good Luck at the tables.

Andrew aka TheJunkie

FTOPS XI: Events #10 and #15

So, I'll start with the good news. Of the 7 FTOPS events that I wanted to play coming into this series, 4 have passed and I was able to play in 3. (I know that is pretty lame for "good news".)

Well, Event 10 was going pretty smoothly. No big pots, just steadily going through the tourney as the field dwindled down. Then this hand happened.

Hand #1 aka The Bustout Hand: Event 10. I have no idea what he could put me on that he was ahead of given my postion and stack size. And it seemed a bit too spewy for him to hope for a race situation.



This is admittedly, a luckfest, but the $100k for 1st was well worth the gamble to hope for a run good session. It wasn't meant to be though. Chino Rheem finished 4th. That guy is on a new heater.

Hand #2 aka The Bustout Hand: Event 15.




I still haven't won my seat for the ME yet, so I'll grind those satties hard this week. Hopefully, I can win multiple seats to offset some of my run bad.

Good Luck at the tables.

FTOPS XI: Event #1

Please don't let this tournament be a microcosm of this FTOPS for me. Card dead for three hours and when I finally get into a "re-steal" spot, A9s runs into the COs AK. 33, 44, 77, TT, AJs. By far my best hands. Better luck next time.

The next event that I plan on playing is Event #10.

Weekend Update

After bitching and whining, I finally cashed in a tourney. To no one's surprise, it was the FTP Nightly $10 rebuy. That is definitely my bread and butter tourney. I'm a little disappointed, but I finished 2nd. I was 4 for 4 in my HU matches for this tourney. Oh well, at least I got off the cashless streak.

Hand #1 aka The Bustout Hand:




I'm also happy that I managed a couple of cashes in Poker Stars tourneys. Back to back cashes in the $10 rebuy. Not much in terms of money, but a big boost in terms of confidence on that site after going over a year without a cash. A win in that tourney would be huge. Not only is the payout usually $13k but the field is about 2000 people. That's 3-4 times the size of the FTP $10 rebuy. I think the Poker Stars field is probably softer than FTP, but it is huge.

On Sunday I played the monthly $1 Million Guaranteed tourney on Full Tilt. There were 2200 people. 1st was over $200k. I had a few big hands early, but overall the tourney was pretty standard. Not much to talk about. Surprisingly, I only had one flip and I lost. JJ held against my AQ. That crippled me and I busted the next hand. My JJ got flushed down the toilet by KJs. Fortunately, this occurred just after the money bubble so I did manage to pad the roll a little.

I'm really looking forward to the upcoming FTOPS. Hopefully, I can win a seat into the $1k and $5k events. I will probably need to win two seats into the $5k in order for my BR Management nazi-side to allow my gambler-side play in the event.

I'm also looking forward to the WSOP ME Sats. FTP has started running WPT LAPC Sats which are nice. Hopefully, this is a new trend given that they are a major sponsor for the WPT now. They are running $200, $300 and $500 weekly sats til the event which is around mid-Feb. I posted a suggestion that they change their sats to $200 or $300, a $500 and a $1k. Makes more sense to me and that is basically what they do for the WSOP ME for an identical prize package. The $500 Sat had 60 players with 2 packages being awarded. A $1k with the same number of players would have awarded 5 seats.

Oh, I was finally picked in the P5s OT Competition. I was picked by Yogiblair in the 2nd round. The comp starts in February. Hopefully, I wont be the weakest link. That would be a nice time to run good. Especially, in the FTOPS events. I think I can settle for bypassing my first 5-figure score and going straight to 6-figures. :)

Later.

Quick Update

This year started off with a bang. Picked up a win and had another session which I final tabled two MTTs at the same time. Wow, what a difference a week makes. I can say that I am well on my way to playing in 1000 MTTs for the year, but not much else has gone to plan this past week. The usual run bad stories. If I'm ahead, I get ran down, or I get coolered or my bluffs run into monsters....blah, blah, blah.

Last night's session was the first since I updated my resolutions, which I really tried to focus on being more decision oriented rather than results oriented. I must say that overall, the session went a lot smoother. There were a few bad decisions and no cash, but it helped me avoid tilting after a few beats. Practice makes perfect, so hopefully this will make for a better year.

Although, I have only had like one baby cash in the past week, technically, I'm up. I won two Sat seats into this Sunday's Full Tilt $1M Guarantee tourney. The buy-in is $535. I used one for the tourney and one for my FTOPS Event #10 buy-in. I hope to win a couple more seats. That would lock up all of my FTOPS buy-ins very early and let me focus on my MTTs for the P5s OT Competition. BTW, the draft is supposed to start today.

Daily Schedule

I've finally settled on a daily MTT schedule. Since I have a full-time day job, my schedule consists of all evening tourneys. One of my New Years resolutions is to play 1000 MTTs over the course of this year. That averages to about 3 MTTs per day. Here is the list of tourneys which as of right now, give me the best shot at reaching this goal, and hopefully make a lot of money along the way. My plan is to play some combination of these tourneys on a nightly basis. I'll play more on the weekends to offset any light days during the work week.

(Poker Stars, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.......Mrs. Cleo says that the curse is over.)

Full Tilt:
$26 Freezeout at 8pm
$55 Freezeout at 9:30pm
$26 Freezeout at 10pm
$10 Rebuy at 10:30pm

Poker Stars:
$28 Freezeout at 8pm
$20 Rebuy at 9pm
$55 Freezeout at 9:30pm
$11 Rebuy at 10pm
$33 Freezeout at 11pm
$28 Turbo Freezeout at 11:40pm

I'll also occasionally mix in some satties for the Sunday Majors or (FTOPS, WCOOP, WSOP, etc), a $50 cubed rebuy, $100 and $75 freezeouts.

I'm also going to participate in the Pocket Fives OT Team Competition for February 2k9. At least that is my plan. I have to get drafted in order to actually be in the comp. The draft will start on Wednesday Jan. 14th and finished by Friday Jan. 16th. I hope to get drafted because that will add even more fuel to my fire to do well in MTTs. I don't want to be the weakest link. The comp lasts for the whole month. I registered as a mid-stakes player and my new schedule fits nicely within the requirements for the competition. As soon as I know the results of the draft, I'll post the details.

FTOPS XI Schedule

The upcoming FTOPS schedule has been released.

As always, I'm looking forward to playing in the FTOPS. My winnings have increased with each of the past two series. Hopefully, that trend will continue and I can have a GREAT series.

Here is the full schedule. I have bolded the events which I plan on entering and italicized the events that I hope to satellite into.

The Full Tilt Online Poker Series XI Schedule:
(Event # Date Time Buy-in Game Guarantee)

#1 2/4 21:00 ET $200+16 NL Hold'em $1,000,000
#2 2/5 14:00 ET $240+16 PL Omaha/8 Knockout $200,000
#3 2/5 21:00 ET $200+16 Stud $100,000
#4 2/6 14:00 ET $300+22 NL Hold'em 3x Shootout $200,000
#5 2/6 21:00 ET $200+16 Limit Hold'em 6-max $150,000
#6 2/7 14:00 ET $500+35 PL Omaha 6-Max $300,000
#7 2/7 16:00 ET $100+9 NL Hold'em w/ Rebuys $500,000
#8 2/8 14:00 ET $240+16 NL Hold'em Knockout 6-max $600,000
#9 2/8 16:00 ET $500+35 NL Hold'em Heads Up $500,000
#10 2/8 18:00 ET $300+22 NL Hold'em $1,500,000
#11 2/9 14:00 ET $200+16 HA (half PLHE, half PLO) $150,000
#12 2/9 21:00 ET $1,000+60 NL Hold'em Second Chance $1,500,000
#13 2/10 14:00 ET $200+16 NL Hold'em (1R/1A) $300,000
#14 2/10 21:00 ET $500+35 HORSE $300,000
#15 2/10 21:00 ET $200+16 NL Hold'em Turbo 6-max $500,000
#16 2/11 14:00 ET $200+16 Omaha/8 $150,000
#17 2/11 21:00 ET $300+22 NL Hold'em 6-max w/ Rebuys $1,000,000
#18 2/12 14:00 ET $200+16 PL Omaha Heads-Up $100,000
#19 2/12 21:00 ET $300+22 NL Hold'em 4x Shootout 6-max $300,000
#20 2/13 14:00 ET $200+16 NL Hold'em 6-max $400,000
#21 2/13 21:00 ET $300+22 Razz $150,000
#22 2/14 14:00 ET $5,000+200 NL Hold'em (2-Day Event) $2,000,000
#23 2/14 16:00 ET $100+9 PL Omaha w/ Rebuys $350,000
#24 2/15 14:00 ET $120+9 NL Hold'em Knockout $750,000
#25 2/15 18:00 ET $500+35 NL Hold'em (Main Event) $2,500,000

First MTT Win of 2009

Well, it didn't take long to get my first win of the year. It's amazing how I literally went years without a single final table. The past two weeks I've had 3 wins, albeit in the same tourney, but wins nonetheless. And the past three months I've made a decent number of final tables. I'm very thankful and this is very encouraging for a strong 2k9.

Here are some hands from last night's win:

Hand #1: This hand sparked my deep finish. I was card dead for most of the beginning of this tourney. This was the first spot where I thought I could pick up some good chips uncontested or HU. Well, it didn't end up being uncontested or HU, but this win definitely propelled me for my run. It was kinda funny when the hands were shown, I was calling for the 9, but had no idea I had a lot more outs than just the 9. (7, 8, 9 or T)




Hand #2: In retrospect, and after some discussion with my coach, I realized that my play in this hand was pretty bad. I don't think it was awful because with my style I make a lot of high variance, high risk, reward type of plays that I have learned to deal with. KK+ is in my range for making this play.

I hadn't played with bdybldngpkrplyr prior to this tourney, but I know that he is a successful MTT player and was my biggest threat at the table. So, I was willing to gamble to get him out as quickly as possible. I just didn't think that it was this big of a gamble until the cards flipped over.




Hand #3 aka The Money Hand: We are about even coming into HU play. I had about $1.8M in chips and he had about $1.7M. I was able to grind away at him and get it in ahead for once.

Back 2 Back

Wow!

Last night I took down the Nightly FTP $10 rebuy MTT. I also won this tourney in October, my first MTT win. The exciting part of this latest win is that I also won the tourney on Monday. Yeah. I won the $10 rebuy two nights back2back. That is sick. I really hope the end of 2008 is the precursor for a monster 2009.

Nam Le speaks the truth, in the December 23,2008(Vol. 21/No. 25) issue of Cardplayer:

"In tournaments, it's all about being positive. When good things happen and you're around positive people who do good things, it's contagious. It keeps your spirits up and your confidence high. Whenever somebody does well, it keeps the group's spirits up and everyone motivated to keep playing. This game is so grueling and we spend so much time on the road that it helps a lot whenever somebody does well' it picks us up"

Here are some hands from the two tourneys:

Hand #1 (12/22/08 Rebuy):




Hand #2 (12/22/08 Rebuy) aka The Money Hand: I was able to use a betting tell that I had picked up during the last three tables to slowly grind him down.




Hand #3 (12/23/08 Rebuy): This was a close call to me. I decided to pass up on my possible edge because I believed that I had a better edge against the field.



Hand #4 (12/23/08 Rebuy): Poker is easy. This hand erased a greater than 2 to 1 deficit going into HU.






Hand #5 (12/23/08 Rebuy) aka The Money Hand:

Not So Fast My Friend...........

Well, my training hasn't gone as well as I had hoped, but I have definitely made some progress. I have found a MTT coach and started watching some Cash game videos on DeucesCracked. I found a cash game coach, but I'm reconsidering my decision to play 6-max cash games. My reasoning was that to move up to high stakes, I would have to be a good 6-max player. Although this reasoning has some truth to it, I now think that I can become a better Full Ring player and make a decent income. For one, a full ring game simulates more of the live games that I have access to. This alone wasn't the reason to push me toward FR, but it helped. The main reason for me deciding to focus more on FR cash games rather than 6max, is because I think in today's game, FR may actually be a little more softer than 6max. If this proves to not be the case, then I'll fall back to my original plan.

So, during this training period, I haven't put in much volume in MTTs. It's tough for me to play during the week because I have a full time job and I wanted to have a few sessions with my new coach before jumping back in. Well, this past weekend I had to scratch the itch and dove in head first. Friday night I managed to play in 6 tourneys, but only had a minor cash in Full Tilt's Nightly 50-50. Saturday night was a different story. I cashed in 2 MTTs out of the 4 that I played. Not only did I cash, but I final tabled both the Nightly 50-50 and the $28k Guarantee. That was a very good feeling. Playing two final tables at the same time. I didn't even get upset when I lost with AA vs JJ for the chip lead on the bubble of Full Tilt's $11pm 6max KO tourney. Unfortunately, I didn't win either tourney. I finished 2nd in the 50-50 and 7th in the $28k. Still a decent score. I feel like a 5 figure score is on the horizon, but actually winning a tourney seems like it was so long ago now. Still can't complain, I'm ridin the wave.

Here are my bustout hands from this past weekend's final tables. Check out the new replayer.

Hand #1 aka The Bustout Hand: Who actually gets a hand in the BB? LOL. Final table of the $28k Guarantee.





Hand #2 aka The Bustout Hand: Who actually gets a hand playing HU? LOL. Final table of the Nightly 50-50. I really should have folded. This is definitely a part of my game that I need to work on.

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)