Better to be Lucky than Good - MOOOOOOOOK

I wrote something a few weeks ago about Tourney success being about luck or good play. Read it here , if interested. I believe I finally concluded that it is both. There are obvious great tourney players such Rizen or the like; but man luck has to be part of it... after all , it is gambling.

I've also been watching the tourney hand histories that are posted on 2+2 and this re-assured my theory because there were plenty of suck outs on almost every tourney that I watched. I definitely encourage anybody to take a look at them as they are very interesting.

Well, my FTP balance was on life supports. I was prepared to head back to Walgreens to reload. I had enough for the MOOK and 3 $6 Turbo SNGs... Instead I opted for the Mook and 2 SNGs.. Things weren't too promising as I finished 4th in both SNGs... All you can do is get your money in good... which turned out to be a little ironical when talking about the Mook..

So without further adieu, let's talk business. Anybody who is anybody was playing the Mook tonight... minus a few Lost viewers. We still had 66 people turn out which ain't bad.

As usual with this things, there were many recognizable faces... My table had:

Lifesagrind
pvanharibo
Mattazuma
chitwood
leftylu
cracknaces
bayne_s

Things started off well.. Pkt 9s on second hand... stole blinds

8th hand I get KK in EP and I put a 3x raise and get called by lifesagrind. Flop comes TQ8 (2 spades). He then puts about a 3/4 pot bet out there and I immediately raise. No slowplaying this early in the action.. LAG folds.

2 hands latter, what do I see... KK in the BB. LAG (on the button) puts a 3x raise / steal and I just call. Flop comes 636.. I check and he puts out a pot sized bet. I know he doesn't want to be called... so I call... Turn comes T.. and goes all in... Unfortunatley for LAG, it is a easy call for me and he doesn't improve so I have doubled up in the first 10 hands. Just like the doctor ordered. He had A5o, by the way.

7 hands later, I get another pocket pair, although this time it is only 77 this time. I am in early position with plenty of chips (top 3) so I want to see a flop cheaply and just call. Everybody else folds until it gets to bayne who raises to 135 (15/30 are the blinds). Everybody folds and I have my first real decision. With my chips, I go ahead and make call. So far, everything is going my way (is that lucky?) as the flop is KQ7 (2 diamonds). I check and Bayne throws out 210 into a 310 pot. Board is scary enough to me that I'm not slow playing... again early in tourney.. no need to get fancy... I raise to 510 and he folds.

I then fold 15 hands and low and behold the rockets come my way. I raise it up and Cracknaces lives up to his name and calls with 88 and flops a set and doubles up threw me. His smooth calls obviously should have been a warning sign but I was feeling pretty indestrutable. That quickly changed as I drop down to 1800 chips and the middle of the pack.

I then go pretty card dead... picking up blinds here and there... losing blinds also... I have to wait 44 hands for my next confrontation.. albeit minor. I'm in the BB with AQo.. JoeSpeaker puts a EP raise and I'm not doing anything fancy at this point.... I call. Flop is J high and he bets out I fold... He shows AJ... It is simply amazing how dominated hands are winning these days. That puts me about 1700.

Nothing major and I chip up to about 2500; but the blinds are catching up to me.... I catch MikeMaloney in a steal and get some chips... from there is was just blind stealing... and chipped up to 6140 so a little breathing room but no much.. This leads me to my worse played hand probably...

I'd be interested in your thoughts...

FullTiltPoker Game #2496131697: The Mookie - Katie's Mom (18851745), Table 7 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:03:37 ET - 2007/05/24
Seat 1: leftylu (8,436)
Seat 2: AlCantHang (4,725)
Seat 3: DDionysus (4,625)
Seat 4: willwonka (6,140)
Seat 5: NightRanger (2,947)
Seat 6: Drizztdj (3,800)
Seat 7: MiamiDon (3,946)
Seat 8: InstantTragedy (4,673)
Seat 9: BuddyDank (1,331)
leftylu antes 50
AlCantHang antes 50
DDionysus antes 50
willwonka antes 50
NightRanger antes 50
Drizztdj antes 50
MiamiDon antes 50
InstantTragedy antes 50
BuddyDank antes 50
BuddyDank posts the small blind of 200
leftylu posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to willwonka [Js Jh] ... Good hand... but obviously dangerous.
AlCantHang folds
DDionysus calls 400





Do you raise to isolate.. do you want to see a flop... I got a lille fancy play syndrome in my head and just called... planning to raise anybody all in if they raised.. The table had plenty of preflop raises so it would not have been unusual.



willwonka calls 400
NightRanger folds
Drizztdj folds
MiamiDon folds
InstantTragedy folds
BuddyDank folds
leftylu checks





Dang!!! not only did nobody raise... but nobody else even played...






*** FLOP *** [7d Qc Ks] HATE that flop...
leftylu checks
DDionysus checks
willwonka checks
*** TURN *** [7d Qc Ks] [5s]
leftylu checks
DDionysus checks
willwonka checks
*** RIVER *** [7d Qc Ks 5s] [9c]
leftylu checks
DDionysus checks
willwonka checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
leftylu shows [6s 4d] (King Queen high)
DDionysus shows [Tc Ts] (a pair of Tens)
willwonka shows [Js Jh] (a pair of Jacks)
willwonka wins the pot (1,850) with a pair of Jacks

So it gets checked down... I think my biggest misstake was preflop where I could have probably got DDionysus. all in preflop..





Thoughts?





From there, I was able to make it to the final table... I was probably around 5th at the start of the final table... Top 8 paid with Zeem a huge leader (especially after 2 fortunate rivers before the final table). I played it pretty tight. It didn't take too long to break the bubble; but once we were down to 7... it stayed that way for awhile.





I'm able to knock out the man, the myth, the legend in a battle of the blinds... He tried to steal with 96o or should I say 69o and I was lucky enough to have AK and have it hold up. I then got AK on the very next hand; but only called a preflop raise and folded to c-bet on a 482 board. Very tight here; but AK has just killed me late in tourneys as of late. I have plenty of chips so I am not desperate so I will wait to fight another battle.





So at this point.. the chip counts are:





Zeem 33K


Night Ranger 20K


WW 18K


BoneDaddy 15K


leftlylu 8K


a10419 6K





Night Ranger then slow plays his Aces and loses to BoneDaddy's flopped set of sixes. He goes out next hand. We also lose a10419 so we are down to 4.. AGain with Zeem a big leader.





I get AJ and raise it up and leftylu raises 13K all in and I make the call. He turns over A7s and AJ miracously holds up and we are down to 3.





Zeem 41K


WW 30K


BoneDaddy 28K





So anybody's game.





A few hands latter I get KK (again.. 5 times in this tourney) in the BB... Zeem raies about 3x... and this time I just call as Zeem is plenty aggressive.. as long as an Ace doesn't fall, I'm ready to go stack with it. Flop comes Qs7h7c... I do fear the hammer a bit; but check... Zeem puts out a c-bet.. which I go ahead and do the raise here... he re-reraises all in and now I am really fearing the hammer... I have to call and he turns over KQ and my hand holds up. So now we have a new leader..





WW 62K


BD 28K


Z 9K





Zeem lasts about 10 more hands and his J5s loses to my J9s.. so we are now heads up.





You always hear about long heads up battles in these things. My HU battles are not usually that way. As a matter of fact our heads up battle lasted 5 hands.





Before we get to it... I always say to win a tourney.. you need to win the races... play AK well ... and most importantly .... GET LUCKY!!!!





I'm sure I had my share of luck in this game... and the biggest one other than the last hand which we will see in a minute was when I was on life support was way early when I get TT. I have 1600 chips and the blinds are 60/120. I'm in middle position and decide to just to raise all in and call it a day... well, unfortunatley cracknaces had QQ... while it took him a while to call, he did call and I thought I was on my way down to watch Lost... Full Tilt did not let me down and the board flushed and neither of us had the flush card so we chopped and that gave me the life line that I needed.





Now onto the last hand...





Chips stacks are 73K vs 25K in my favor. I get A4s in the small blind. Bone Daddy has been doing plenty of raising so I decide to try a trap here and call - reraise... So I called... and as expected BoneDaddy raised... and then (again as planned) I re-raised him almost all in (about 7K shy). Unexpectantly, he re-raised me back all in.. I obviously have to call here now.. and things are looking bleak when he turns over TT... even worse after a flop of JKT.. so now an ace does me no good... I need a Queen... Turn... 4d.. DOH!!!!.... River QUEEN QUEEN QUEEN QUEEN. I couldn't believe my eyes... In case you don't believe yours, here is the screenshot..

So there you have it and there you are... My second Mookie win. I do feel bad winning it that way as I have been on the other side of that too many times. BoneDaddy played great and probably deserved to win. He especially loved the re-steal from the BB.

Best Hand in Poker

So what do you know... even a blind donkey can find a winning hand (more on that later)... as usual, I played in the Hoy . It is obviously a great tourney... especially now that it is a deep stacked. I continued to get points in the BBT , but no cashes yet. Last night, I tried something new... I tried getting my chips in with the worst of it... They didn't work for me either.

Somewhat questionable move. I was among the top 10 and then in a couple of hands moved down to last; although, I still enough chips to be in play and not desperate. I actual chipped back up to about average when the following hand.

FullTiltPoker Game #2376677530: Mondays at the Hoy (17511686), Table 2 - 150/300 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:51:13 ET - 2007/05/07
Seat 1: a104l9 (2,240)
Seat 2: summer_babe (5,450)
Seat 3: willwonka (4,308)
Seat 4: ChapelncHill (28,120)
Seat 5: jjok (4,185)
Seat 6: lester000 (3,940)
Seat 7: cemfredmd (4,550)
Seat 8: mtnrider81 (9,210)
Seat 9: IslandBum1 (2,240)
a104l9 antes 25
summer_babe antes 25
willwonka antes 25
ChapelncHill antes 25
jjok antes 25
lester000 antes 25
cemfredmd antes 25
mtnrider81 antes 25
IslandBum1 antes 25
summer_babe posts the small blind of 150
willwonka posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to willwonka [5c Qs]
ChapelncHill: gg kat
katitude (Observer): later kids
ChapelncHill: sorry again
katitude (Observer): don't
ChapelncHill has 15 seconds left to act
ChapelncHill folds
jjok folds
lester000 folds
cemfredmd calls 300
mtnrider81 folds
IslandBum1 folds
a104l9 folds
summer_babe folds
willwonka checks

Nothing to exciting here... Heads up with a middle position limper.

*** FLOP *** [7s 5h 7h]

What do you do... I obviously like this flop as I paired up. My plan was to check with the intention of check raising...

willwonka checks
cemfredmd bets 975

Hmmm big bet... What kind of hands to you put this person on....

My thoughts were 88-99 or 2 broadway cards. It felt like to me that he didn't want a call. What do you do? I thought I may be behind to mid pkts; but I thought I could get him to lay them down. Here is what I did.

willwonka raises to 3,983, and is all in...

Well, I was wrong... he took a little while to think... but called with JJ and IGHN.

The limp threw me off as well as the big bet. Any thoughts?

But the hand of the night for me also received a little discussion... I'm not sure I agree with the majority on this one.. but they are probably right... Here is the hand in it's entirety


Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $30/$60
8 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (8 players) Hero is BB with :kc :qc
5 folds, Button raises to $210, SB folds, Hero calls.


Flop: :tc :as :2s ($450, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $300, Hero calls.


Turn: :jc ($1050, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.


River: :ac ($1050, 2 players)
Hero bets $800, Button calls.


Results:
Final pot: $2650

An argument could be made for me playing this badly on all streets... So let's put out a 4 part questionnaire.

#1... Call preflop raise of 210 by the button from the BB (3.5 BB) with KQs out of position? My stats showed raiser to be fairly tight... but could have been just a blind steal. As it was fairly early in tourney, I'm not looking for huge preflop pots so I called. Thoughts?

#2... Flop isn't terrible; but isn't good. I check. Button Continues with a 300 chip bet into a 450 pot. I'm not sure of the right answer here. With plenty of chips and a gut shot straight and back door flush, I'm OK with seeing another card. I call.

#3... Turn... I couldn't have picked a better card to come. What do you do? I could just lead out.. but I'd rather trap with my huge draw... I check... Rats... Dealer Checks behind...

#4... River... Boo-Yah... Runner Runner Royal... What do you do? The consensus was to push which was my first thoughts as well; but would I get called? I thought no... If he had an ace, he could have made trips (seemed unlikely since he checked the turn)... would he call with a bad kicker? Would you? Dealer has 1210.. pot is 1050.. I put out 800... hoping that he goes all in with this obvious looking bet that I want called. Well, he just called with his A6o and I won a pretty good pot; but didn't knock him out.

I really don't think he calls an all in with his tourney on the line with so many things that beat him. Any straight, any flush and AT+... who knows... I wasn't too upset with the result.. It turned out to really bite me as the Dealer made a really big comeback.

Well, it was fun, as usual and I'll give it go again on Wednesday playing the Mook

Tourney Success - Good or Lucky?

Multiple Table Tournies are great to play in... probably one of favorite things. Definitely, the thing that has won me the most money... so what I do... I play (or historically have played) mostly limit holdem... because... Yikes... I don't know why. Probably for the mere fact that I haven't been successful with them has made me keep playing to try and figure things out.

Anyway, tournies are where it is at for me lately. My question is really more of the rhetocial nature. Do you have to be good or lucky to be a successful tourney player? Obviously, since you see the same faces on Pocket Five Leader Board or any of the typical leader boards, you have to be good. You obviously have to have the skills. But there are too many of us (types like me) that probably don't play enough or just don't get it. As I have mentioned, by watching a few hand histories from 2+2 MTT Forum, you have to be lucky. Let me say that again... If you are going to deep into a MTT, you HAVE to be lucky. Of course, this is no surprise as poker is gambling; but the question I seek is how much skill and how much luck. Again, rhetorical as I don't think there is an answer.

So what is starting this thougth process. Dah.... Running Bad... I've recently taken a look at all of my all in hands in the past couple of weeks (not including hands where there were people that had 3 or less BBs) to see how I've been doing. I haven't finished the final tabulations as I am also including SNGs but the results aren't too encouraging. Basically, I am making 5 categories:

Way ahead... more than about a 70% favorite
Ahead... somewhere in the 60's% favorie
Coin Toss
Behind.. somewhere in the 40s%
Way behind... less then 40%

We'll see how it turns out.. just from a top down look.. I am winning about 40% overall in the last 2 weeks for all of my all ins... I would expect that number to be over 50% as I would like to think that most of the time that I get my chips in the middle, I am ahead... and no worse than a coin toss. I will be really interested to know how that turns out. One thing for sure as I am doing this, you certainly seem to remember the bad beats more than the times that you suckout or similarly, the coin tosses that you actually do win.

Here is what seems typical for me these days.

I am playing in a $7,500 gurantee $24 buyin on FTP the other day. I thought there was going to be a huge overlay in this tournament; but it as usual, it filled up quickly at the end and there was no overlay; but I still played. 380 or so people playing.. We get down to about 90 people and I finally get a good hand with two Red Aces. Blinds are 150/300 and I am in the SB. Folds to Cutoff who raises to 1055. (Nice!!!)... Button Calls (Nicer!!!!)... SB (our Hero) says no time to play around, let's shove our 4,200 chips in the middle. I happy to take it down here... BB folds and so does cutoff.... Button takes just a couple of seconds and calls.

What range do you put him on... he is getting around 2-1 to call. What kind of hands can you call with? Also, this call would put him all in (not me)... although it would leave me with only 200 chips. Well, he turned over 76s. In my mind, I was pretty shocked that he called the original raise with this hand... and even more shocked that he called my all in re-raise.

Well, the flop was all spades including a 6 (he had clubs)... but nobody had any spades.. however, the river did bring a 7 which gave him two pair to more or less kill me. Had I won this hand, I would have moved to the top 10. Two really sad notes here. He lost all of his (my) chips a few hands later.. And also a few hands later, I got AA again... but at that point it was too late. Went out around 83rd.

Can anybody explain this call on the first raise or on my All-in?

Now, let's move to the Mook last night. Not much is happening for me although I am staying a float with nothing more that stealing blinds with the hammer (3 times). I can't remember for sure; but I think there were about 73 people last night. We are nearing the 2nd break and I barely above water. I am in last place or around there as things moved around. This hand comes down where somebody (who I will not mention because it is besides the point... This is not a Hoyish type rant; but more about good vs luck) from the MP raises around 3 times the BB and I reraise for 1000 chips for more with AJs. He doesn't have to call as it would not cripple him if he lost; but it would sure leave a mark. Any way, his calling hand of choice was A7o. Am I feeling confident.... NOOOOOOO!!!.. and didn't take long to find out the bad news as the 7 came on the flop... and just to rub it in, a 7 came on the turn and a 7 came on the river to give him quads and IGNH in the low 20s.

Now, I realize a lot of this is just poker; but really how much is MTT success contigent on luck? Those 2+2 tournies, I watch, there are at least 2 or 3 hands that the guy has won that he shouldn't have. The Mook winner last night... same thing... Coin Tosses have to be won... Big hands need to hold up... That's the lucky part.. The skill is knowing when to bet and check... knowing when you can steal some chips.... reading players... etc, etc... and many, many people have this down.

Well, I will continue the fight and see where I end up. I'm around 30th in the Blogger Challenge leaderboard with no money earned. While, I'm not way disappointed with that, I just know that it could be much better if I were just a little bit more..... yep, you guessed it. Lucky.

For All you MTT Experts out there.. Quick Question

A rare 2nd post of the day...

So as I mentioned earlier, I have been watching some MTT hand histories via PXF hand history tool. Again, these histories are available at 2+2 in the MTT forum . This particular hand was very, very interesting to me.. You don't have to be a PXF subscriber; but you do need a free login and password.

So let's set it up. We are watching a $109 6 man tourney on FTP. The guy we are watching is a guy that is up there on the pocketfives leaderboard. In other words, the boy can play and the buyin is high enough to have generally good play. We are at hand 152 of the tournament with blinds at 150 and 300. We are in the SB...

Stack Sizes go like this:

UTG: 11264
Hijack: 4693
Cutoff: 5650
Button: 1845
SB (us): 14275
BB : 26830

We get dealt Qh7c.

Obviously nothing to exciting and most likely will let it go; but UTG and HJ call so he makes the call and the BB checks so we are 4 handed. I don't have any reall problems there.

Flop comes: 9hJhTh

Not a bad flop giving us an open ended straigh flush draw. What is your move?

He checks. I certainly don't mind that as you want somebody to lead into you (or so I think). Well, the BB obliges and leads out 300 into a 1200 pot... HJ then bumps it to 800.

Now what do you do.. It's going to cost you 800 into 2300 pot.

Again, this player, is much, much better than me. Do you just call getting almost 3-1 or are you ready to get your chips in the middle as quick as possible.

Here is what I probably would have done... I would have re-bumped to 1800-2000. My feelings is that I can't get my chips in the middle fast enough and if my raise scares people off... so be it.

Well, he folded... which is the point of this post. As we all know, I am a documented donkey (and no I don't have a problem being called that... it is what it is )... How do you not at least call this?

Well, let's proceed on... remembering.. decisions not results... BB called the raise...

Turn cards came.... 6s

BB checked and HJ bet 1200 and got called by the BB.

River... 7h... BB now leads out 1200 into the 5200 pot and gets called. and the BB turns over Jc8h for the striaght flush.... so he obviously would have taken a bunch of our chips... although not all of them most likely as you would have probably just called with a Qh flush.. or even folded it then... not likely raising as it was definitley a call me type bet.

I would appreciate any thoughts on this hand..

BTW, this guy went on to win the thing... so obviously worked out for him.

Another Day... Same Result

Quick post..

Played the MATH... about 59 runners... late position raise/steal>>... I reraise with AQ... and get 3 bet... by now.. I have to call and I am all in... he turns over AJ... No Jack comes; but 4 spades do come and I don't have one... he does... IGHN around 56th..

Full Tilt had over 75000 people online last night... wow... but... still having problems. No SNGs were running last night... maybe that was good news.... I did see the Tier 2 token frenzy had 200 people in it... wow... I'm sure that there were a bunch of bloggers... It is very hard for me to get to the computer before 9PM Central... I actually missed the first 5 or so hands from the MATH... a couple of which would have been nice... including the hammer hitting a straight.

So, no poker... I watch a movie with Mrs Wonka... Little Miss Sunshine... DO NOT... and I repeat.. DO NOT waste your time with this movie.

That's it... enough said.

Yet Another Forgettable Weekend

Poker is such fun....

I was going through the 2+2 forums Thursday night and came across something in there MTT Strategy forum.. It is people that have supplied their hand histories for the tournaments that they have been in. They are pretty cool to watch. You can find them here. It uses the Poker X Factory replayer. I only watched two of them and it more or less confirmed a few things. First and foremost.. You need to get lucky. and secondly.. you need to win the majority of your races. It was almost depressing to see so many races won and suckouts by these people. And alot of them playing the higher limit tourneys. Simply amazing. So is it true that it better to be lucky than good?

Friday night I played in our normal monthly 2nd Friday of the month game. We had 13 people show up. We are down to about 7 people and I get it all in with ATs for A6s... Of course he hit his 6 on the turn and takes me out. We played a second game and we are on the bubble and I get it all in with K9o... get called by 72s (say what you want). I don't have a problem with the call because he was the huge stack it was next to nothing for him to call. A 9 on the flop had me feeling good until I saw runner, runner diamonds to give him his flush. Some nights, it is just your night. A few hands prior to that, this same guy called an allin with 10 high (and this time it was not an automatic call) on the flop. Turns out the all in guy was on a flush draw with 65s and didn't hit and 10 high won it.

I got home and played an SNG and did get a win; but I continued to play and donked off $200 on AP Ring game..

I played in the Token Frenzy on Saturday night and won a token into the big game. Thanks Hoy for pointing those out. I will definitely give those another try. The Big Game was going pretty well through the first break as I was at least at Average stack most of the time. Every tourney has a critical hand that will either make or break you. I don't remember the the people involved other than they were both kind of short stacked (along with me). I have 88 and one of the shorties goes all in... Yep.. have to race so I am ready to call when somebody else pushes all in... I'm torn and fold and then both had Ace Something... and 8 comes on the flop and I would have more or less tripled up. No guts no glory... Does anybody else make that call?

Meanwhile, I go 0 for 6 in my Sunday SNGs... First 2 were bubbles where in both cases the short stacks caught their suckouts or got the right cards at the right time to survive; but I didn't have the same luck. One SNG was a pretty big leader with 6 people to go... I do a 3x raise with KK and somebody pushes me all in. Easy call of course and he turns over TT... Nice... except for the T on the flop.... 3 hands later I am out when my 99 lost to AT and then the next hand 99 lost to AQ. From riches to rags in about 4 or 5 hands... DOH!!!! At that point, I just called it quits. Very disappointing end to the weekend.

I do plan on playing the MATH tonight as I did win my token to that as well playing a 6 man SNG.

Hopefully, things will turn around.

More Good Times

It was a fun day yesterday reading and writing about my "donkiness". It is really quite hilarious about the whole idea of calling other players donkeys and burning them at the stake when they are donkeyish... but then again, they want to play with donkeys...

One final comment on the hand yesterday. I wonder if anybody (including myself) thought I was ahead when I made that call. I know I didn't think that I was. Do you think I would have made that call if I knew he had me dominated? Absolutely not. +EV or -EV.. who cares. If I have the chip stack to afford it and the implied odds justify the call along with any reads that I might have (right or wrong reads). Live with it. I truly do not know very many people that aren't going to call 200 chips with JTs when they will still have 63BB behind if they don't hit the flop. OK, there could have been some really bad flops with me such as T high... Do you really think I'm getting all in on that flop? Do you really think I'm raising that much with TPMK.. No.. I go into pot control mode and take it from there. Sure I would have lost some chips.. but most likely not all of them.

OK... there are many people that would not have limped in with that hand and I certainly respect that. At this early juncture of the tournament, I didn't feel the need to raise. Truthfully, I want people in the pot with JTs. I don't want to scare anybody off. I am confident enough in my post flop play to deal with any complications that might arise. Later in the tournament, I would be raising with that.

I have said again and again, that the only bad play in poker is when it doesn't work.. As a matter of fact, I wrote a whole entry on it once. I maintain that poker isn't always about having the best cards. You have to be willing to gamble a bit. Most of TAGy types don't gambool it up too much; but I really have no problems with people that do... except for when they outdraw me of course. If you want to raise me with 72o... great.... it is especially great if it gets me to fold. The fact that I don't fold and you lose does not make a difference. If it worked, it was a good move.. if it doesn't, it wasn't. Simple as that. One thing is for sure, that if you are going to make moves like that, you need to have a reason for it. For example (and it is a bad example)... Did you see where Brad Booth bluffed with 4 high against Phil Ivey's pocket Kings? Everybody was saying what a great move it was and you know it was.... Why???? Because it worked... Does it make it bad movie if it didn't... Yep.... So I hate it when commentators are berating bluffs before they find out if it worked. Let the action happen first before you give your ultimate comments.

OK.. A couple of other things... I say all of the above to say this... We are already know about the well documented exchange betweeen myself and some other notable blogger. No more to see or hear there. Let's move onto the Mook last night. Would you believe on the 12th hand, I got into another confrontation with suited connectors. In this case I was in the Big Blind with 98s and it was limped to me and I just checked. Hopefully everybody is ok with that. ha. Anyway, I flopped the flush. Unfortunately, my PokerTracker did not record this hand for some reason so I hope I have most of this right. I believe I put a 1/2 pot bet out there and the EP limper (I don't remember who it was and it isn't important) raised me a good bit. This raiser had a huge stack compared to me.. anyway back to me... what do you do?

You have to believe that your flush is good; but you have to believe that there are plenty of outs against you. If I push, I do have enough chips to make him think about it... and that's what I did. After a bit, he did call and turned over ATo with the Ace being the flush card and a Ten giving him a pair. I don't remember if was top pair or not. Anyway, I was surprised to find out that my hand is still about a 70% favorite... The turn card... Ace.... River Card... Ace... IGHN...

Should I rant about losing to a 30% shot. Nope... That's poker. He made the decision to draw out and that is what he did. That is the way it goes. So... No name calling here.. I'll just move on. I'll just keep trying to put my chips in with the best of it.

One final thing... Where do I find those Tier-Two Token Frenzies... I would like to give one of them a shot. I did win a Tier-One token last night that will be my entry into the Hoy next week; but I couldn't find Tier-Two.

Busto and Am I Donk?

2nd part first... oh never mind... We'll find out if I'm a donk a little later in the post...

Wow, has it really been over 2 months since I have posted? That is truly amazing as something I so thouroughly enjoyed just kind of fell by the way side. It's probably not so hard to figure out why. Going Bust!!!!! Let me tell that it sucks!!!!

Now, did I literally go busto and lose every cent that I had on poker.. nah... because as I have mentioned before, I took my original $60 that I first deposited on Poker Stars and turned into $14K by more less grinding my way up. I few big tourney scores of over 1.4K each helped. Probably the game that I enjoy the most is Limit Hold'em and not so surprisingly, it is probably the game I am the worst at as it rather astonishing to see the amounts of money that I have lost playing this game.

This year and the last half of last year is and was just utterly demorilizing. I also found something even worse... BlackJack... Why anybody would play online blackjack (other than the bonus chasing with a structured plan)... I found that you can go on even bigger tilt playing blackjack... Last week during one of infamous melt downs, I played blackjack. The good thing is that I hit 4 blackjacks... the bad thing is that the dealer also hit blackjacks on those exact hands... Add that up with many other things and you go bust..

So Am I bust... not really.. however, I've taken my bankroll from 14,000 to 2,500 which more or less feels like busto. I'm not looking for any pity. Actually, it may be a blessing in disguise as originally, I was playing this just as a hobby and the pure joy of playing. I can remember sitting down at the 10c/25c no limit tables with $5 and having a grand old time. Then the worst thing happened, I had success and had it early.

So anyway, I'm back to low stakes and will have to re-learn to enjoy poker for the game of it and not the money of it as it was never about the money. I never withdrew anything. For a real quick chuckle, head out to Sharkscope and punch it willwonka at Fulltilt and you will see a rather amusing graph.

Now onto the reason that I brought myself out of semi blog retirement...

Am I a Donk? The short of it is... yes, of course; but that is besides the point.

One of the truly enjoyable things that a like is playing in the weekly blogger tourney. This was at first only the Mook as I never did have any money over at Stars to play the MATH. Anyway, the battle of the blogs started and Hoy-man moved his tourney over to FullTilt.. Nice... now I can play in both... and so far have really enjoyed both the MATH and the MOOK. I sometimes don't chat it up as I have multiple tables going on; but I usually enjoy reading.

Speaking of Hoy, he is truly one of the truly gifted writers/bloggers and I really enjoy reading his stuff.... Especially when it comes to his rants... You know you have made it in the poker world when you become the subject of one of his rants and are called a donkey. Today, that was me.. WoooHoooo.. Not that I feel a need to defend myself; but what the heck.

He continues to berate the play of the poker bloggers as compared to the alleged much more sophisticated play of the normal MTT player. Of course, I whole-heartedly disagree with him; but whatever...

Let's get to the hand at question.... first as published on his blog.

"Yours truly managed to donk out early once again, thanks to a highly questionable call by another donkey blogger of my preflop raise, coupled with a flop that not only hit my hand very well, but miraculously hit the donkey's hand even better, creating the perfect storm of rediculousness"......

......"Similarly, last night in the Hoy, when I raised preflop very early in the event with my AJs and the flop came JT5, I just wasn't in a mindset to put the donkey blogger who played back at me on the flop on a hand like JTo. He called my preflop raise into a heads-up pot with that hand! The realization is really starting to sink in finally that if I expect to do well in these blogger tournaments, I need to adjust my play from the kind of play I am used to seeing in the larger events. Bloggers do call preflop raises heads-up with 5-high ("but it was sOOOOOooooted!" Ha!). They do it all the time. Bloggers do call preflop raises heads-up with easily and often dominatable hands like JTo (a hand which I in fact was dominating last night before the flop came down). Many bloggers' play is such that they would even defend these moves after the fact. These fuckers actually think this is the way to play the game. "

OK... I then replied and thought he might need to check his facts... he promptly said that he had screen shots... OK... I've now come back and looked at the hand history... Let's walk through the hand...

First the facts... We are playing the HOY where it is a double stacked tournament meaning that we are starting with 3,000 chips. A very fine addition to the tournament by the way...

On the 22nd hand of the tourny... in other words.. very, very early.. my table looked like this... (sorry no screen shots)...

FullTiltPoker Game #2175700494: Mondays at the Hoy (16336999),
Table 1 - 20/40 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:17:45 ET - 2007/04/09
Seat 1: HighOnPoker (4,564)
Seat 2: katitude (2,680)
Seat 3: willwonka (2,775)
Seat 4: wwonka69 (3,070)
Seat 5: hoyazo (2,510)
Seat 6: Zeem (2,675)
Seat 7: Wippy1313 (2,696)
Seat 8: lucko21 (3,030)
Wippy1313 posts the small blind of 20
lucko21 posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #6

Very nice table... don't you think...

I'm sitting at T 2,755 and Hoy is at T2,510 as The Devil's Advocate is running over the table early on as chronicled on his blog..

I look down and have JTs (yes they were indeed suited and yes they were indeed hearts)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to willwonka [Th Jh]

Jorden and Kat both fold.. OK.. yes, I'm in early position; but I'd love to see a flop with JTs for cheap so I call the 40... yes... early on... blinds are small.. I have over 68BBs

Anything out of the oridinary yet? Anything donkified yet?

The wannabe wonka folds and Hoy raises it up to 240 from the cutoff spot. Everybody else folds including the blinds leaving me with a decision to call T200 into a T340 pot. What do you do?

Obviously, if you are Hoy, you fold; but let's think about it a bit more... Now, I'm not even getting 2-1 (about 1.7 to 1) but it is close. JTs is not really a hand that you want to see heads up. On the other hand, what is Hoy have in his bag of tricks... Do I put him on big hand... Not really but could be, as I have seen him make moves with less (perhaps not so early in a tourney.. who knows).. Put it all together and a 200 chip call is not out of the question with JTs... even heads up and out of position... although not ideal. If I miss the flop and have to fold, I still have over 63BB.

So, let's recap with the hand history up to this point..

** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to willwonka [Th Jh]
HighOnPoker folds
katitude folds
willwonka calls 40
wwonka69 folds
hoyazo raises to 240
Zeem folds
Wippy1313 folds
lucko21 folds
willwonka calls 200

Now for the all important flop...

*** FLOP *** [Td Jc 7c]

Nice.... Of course, I'm checking to the raiser... who gladly puts out a pot sized bet:

willwonka checks
hoyazo bets 540

What does a donkey do next? Slowplay... Raise... or fold...

hmmmm... not folding... at this stage... no need to slow play... I'm happy to show my strength and call it a day...

willwonka raises to 1,440

OK... I get to take home a nice pot... I'm telling Hoy that I have him beat... so what does he do?

hoyazo raises to 2,270, and is all in

oops.... let's think back... he showed strength preflop.... followed it up on the flop... and now is re-raising me...

What do you do?

Well... only 830 to call so it really is a no brainer... but what do you put him on??? Does he have over cards or over pair... did he hit a set?

As it turns out:

willwonka calls 830
hoyazo shows [Ts As]

Wow... 2nd pair with really no draws...

willwonka shows [Th Jh]
*** TURN *** [Td Jc 7c] [2d]
*** RIVER *** [Td Jc 7c 2d] [9h]
hoyazo shows a pair of Tens
willwonka shows two pair, Jacks and Tens
willwonka wins the pot (5,080) with two pair, Jacks and Tens
wwonka69: boom
hoyazo stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,080 Rake 0Board: [Td Jc 7c 2d 9h]
Seat 3: willwonka showed [Th Jh] and won (5,080) with two pair, Jacks and Tens
Seat 5: hoyazo showed [Ts As] and lost with a pair of Tens

Now, for the record, who is the donkey..... Not only was his play post flop questionable (which he admits), his documented recap of the hand was way off.

He said that I had JTo.... Obviously I had JTs
He said that he had AJs... He obviously had ATs

So for what it is worth... after looking back at the hand, I wouldn't have played any differently... Does that make me a Donkey... probably...

Anyway, I look forward to continue to playing in these blogger tourneys and look forward to continuing to read the Hoy man's blog which are among the best out there in poker blog land. I just hope he checks the facts before he posts again on something like this. It sucks to lose when you hold a dominating hand... but my guess is that he is not the first player to lose with this...

I could tell you about.... oh never mind... you get the point... maybe another day...

Hopefully, I can post more often...

Review Week - Part 2

More fun last night.... As usual, I looked forward and played in the Weekly Mook. Always a good time... except for when you finish 55th out 55 players.. DOH!!!!!

I don't remember who it was but they limped UTG and I believe the button and SB also limped. I had KJs and checked (early in the tourney). Flop comes Jxx and bet out and get min raised by UTG. Turn comes x and I check raise and get called. River comes J and I insta push. UTG pauses for a bit; but calls with AJ and IGHN. Good Times.

I also played 1 SNG last night and find myself with a huge lead on the bubble. I finished... uh.. yep.. 4th... on the bubble..

Also playing a 5/10 table and low and behold find myself stuck $250 on beats like AQ losing to AJ, TPTK losing to flush on river.. set losing to straight... etc... etc... luckily I found my way back to make $2 overall in ring play. Woohoo!!!

I also lost $4,000 playing BlackJack... luckily it was just a time filler while I was listening to my college basketball team (Missouri State) lose another game to Creighton and it was only play money... ;-). Play money aside, it is kind of fun to play 3 handed at $200 a piece and doubling down with 7 against a 6. Obviously, it doesn't always work out; but again, it was play money.


So why again to we play this game called poker?

Enough of this silly poker talk... This is review week and since I'm obviously not in a poker mood, I will make my SNG Training site review the last of the 3 reviews that I will do. So much like our buddy 3Jacks and his CineJax, I am going to throw a movie review in for good measure.

Let it be known, that I don't get to see as many movies as I used to since Baby Wonka 1 and 2 arrived on the scene other than Pixar and Disney type movies (not that there is anything wrong with that); but me and Mrs Wonka finally got a chance to go see a movie and the movie of choice was Rocky Balboa.

A little disclosure. I am a huge, huge Rocky fan (even more so that Wonka). I have watched the previous 5 movies more times that I care to remember. I even proposed to my wife in front of the tiger cage in the Philadelphia zoo and re-enacted the Rocky proposing to Adrian scene from Rocky II. There were also 4 TV news cameras and 2 Newspaper crews to follow the action. Our 15 minutes of fame, I guess.

Anyway, I went into the movie with very low expectations because I too believe that these have carried on too long. Having said that, I still wanted to see it. Funny thing, this movie was actually getting pretty good reviews (as per imdb.com).. in fact it was being rated as the 2nd best Rocky Movie.

On to the Review... The movie more or less starts out with a retired Rocky working in his resteraunt called Adrians which is obvioulsy named for his wife... his late wife as it turns out. What, a Rocky movie without Adrian... say it ain't so. OK, it's so. Rocky Jr has also grown up and is on his own in the business world. Pauly is still the same Pauly.

One night in the resteraunt, they are showing something from ESPN that has a virtual boxing match against the current champ, Mason "the Line" Dixon and Rocky and without surprise Rocky wins which of course this spurs on speculation that the current champ should fight the 60 year old Rocky. In fact, AJ Benza (from High Stakes Poker) is the promoter of the fight. So, if you can get past that "thing", then I think you will really enjoy the movie. It brings back a couple of characters from the original movie (Spider Rico and Marie) and does a great job in closing the Rocky book.

Marie actually becomes a big part of the movie and at some points, it looked like there was going to be some romance there which of course would have been a huge mistake... but Rocky perhaps gets the wrong idea and says something like ... "Yo, Adrian may be dead, buy she really isn't dead to me..." so that threw away any kind of story line there and it went back to more of a father daughter thing which for me... worked.

Without question, my favorite part of the movie are the moments after the fight. I won't go into details or spoil the ending; but for me it did exactly what it should have done. A fine finish to a great story. As usual, the music is good. The training scenes aren't quite the same; but the guy is a bit aged so I didn't expect much out of the training and fight scenes.

5 stars out of 5... Of course that is a little biased..

Review Week - Part 1

It's been a while since my last post. AGAIN, running bad (or just playing bad) has been the direct contributer.. I've probably gone through 2K... My Win $ at showdown over the past few weeks is at a horrid 40% which is almost unbelievable... but since I lived it, I believe it. SNGs have also been on the down side of the normal roller coaster that I ride... so the SNG Fest is officially over as I blew through my account balance on Full Tilt and haven't worked on a new e-wallet yet. My rakeback provider was nice enough to give me a partial payment for the month early so I do have a couple hundred dollars at Full Tilt; but I'm going to take it slow and easy.

I won't comment on the whole Neteller thing as there is plenty out there other than to say that it is just unfortunate.

Instead, I'm going to take of this blog space with a few reviews mixed over a few days... A little TV poker review, a SNG training site review and a non poker review...

We'll start with a TV Poker Review. Has anybody had a chance to watch Late Night Poker? At first glance, this is a great, great show. 6 world class players in a 20K buying winner take all SNG. Another nice twist is that there is practically no commentary. We get to hear most all of the table talk... not to mention that Shana Hiatt is back. The first week was actually pretty good as it had Phil, Mike the Mouth and Sheiky and Huck and Gus and Daniel, I think... so there was plenty of talk including an expected blowup by Phil Hellmuth who vowed never to play again... oh wait... he returned for the 3rd tourney..

Now, the second tourney is where I want to focus my attention. This was a table of WSOP Main Event Champions... Moneymaker, Gold, Ferguson, Doyle, Chan and Carlos.. I couldn't wait... I will say that I have NEVER been more disappointed in a poker show. First, there was practically no table talk. Shana finally got Jamie Gold to talk a bit. Say what you will about Jamie Gold (and they are probably all true); but I think this guy is getting a bit of an unjust rap. He may not be the best poker player in the world and he fully admits it; but he does enjoy it and for the most part is fun to watch. Unfortunatley, without much surprise, he had an early exit.

Now, for my real beef. The play has been... hmmm how do you say this... especially when it is about world champions.... suspect. Things like limping UTG... limping with Aces.. minimum raises.... etc, etc.... It's about enough to make me scream... not to mention that they had to take 2 hours to decide to fold when they were caught with a weak hand or bluffing... Of course, they showed their hands a bunch.. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...

To their benefit, it was a pretty deep stack tourney with a lot of play and they ARE world class players that pride themselves for their post flop play. The thing is... I didn't see it. Other than Moneymaker (who I of course was pulling for being one of the many people in this game because of him) who would make some moves, everybody else was a bloggers nightmare.... Weak / Tight.. I've never seen so many people pushed off of hands or not aggressive.

Perhaps that is why they have millions and I am almost Busto... I'm going to give it another week and see how it happens as this week it is Sammy Farha, Mike the Mouth, Phil, Andy Bloch and a couple others I can't remember right now..

Especially since High Stakes Poker is back on with original episodes, they will be my first priority to watch. The first episode was classic as usual as Gabe Kaplan and Daniel actually traded places and Gabe actually won some pots by bluffing.... nice!!!!

I'll be attending the weekly Mookie Tourney so I will see you there... Stay tuned for further reviews coming this week..

SNG Break and Mook and 25K (DQB)

I decided to take a few days off from playing SNGs. I have played 50 or so this month and will get back to them shortly. I will also post the stats by the weekend.

One thing I look forward to every week is the Mookie tourney. It is always fun to get together and play poker with fellow bloggers. Things started off nicely when I flopped a nut flush against Donkeypuncher and he folded to my river raise... I few hands later with pkt 8s and put in a raise on a K high board and this time he had the goods so I was back where I started. Not much happened until Mr 3Jacks hoyed me with his sooooted Big Slick. I smelled a rat a called with my pkt 7s on a 9 high board.. I continued to move up and with Pkt Tens there was some action; but on a K high board I hold to fold to the pressure.

All in all, it was a fun tourney. I ended up in 5th place out of 57 runners. Congrats to Donkeypuncher who finished out and won the thing. Congrats also goes out to Zeem who has finished in the top 3 both weeks.

-----------

I also had a token sitting in my FT account so I decided to try the 25K guarantee. Things started off bad but was able to get back to my starting stack about 20 hands into it; but then lost some more... My 47th hand was something that you don't see that often... Take a look

FullTiltPoker Game #1574453299: $25,000 Guarantee (11040995), Table 103 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:42:56 ET - 2007/01/10
Seat 1: adavis3232 (1,113)
Seat 2: soren d (1,202)
Seat 3: RITTER88 (1,120)
Seat 4: The_Lee (2,325)
Seat 5: superbugsly (5,175)
Seat 6: rivered25 (6,348)
Seat 7: deric421105 (3,365)
Seat 8: crackhead1 (5,992)
Seat 9: willwonka (1,085)
RITTER88 posts the small blind of 40
The_Lee posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to willwonka [Tc Ts]
superbugsly folds
rivered25 raises to 240
deric421105 folds
crackhead1 folds
willwonka calls 240
adavis3232 folds
soren d folds
RITTER88 folds
The_Lee folds
*** FLOP *** [Qh Td Qd]
rivered25 checks
willwonka checks
*** TURN *** [Qh Td Qd] [5s]
rivered25 bets 80
willwonka calls 80
*** RIVER *** [Qh Td Qd 5s] [Th]
rivered25 bets 160
willwonka raises to 765, and is all in
rivered25 calls 605
*** SHOW DOWN ***
willwonka shows [Tc Ts] (four of a kind, Tens)
rivered25 shows [Qc Qs] (four of a kind, Queens)
rivered25 wins the pot (2,290) with four of a kind, Queens
willwonka stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,290 Rake 0
Board: [Qh Td Qd 5s Th]
Seat 1: adavis3232 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: soren d (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: RITTER88 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: The_Lee (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: superbugsly didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: rivered25 showed [Qc Qs] and won (2,290) with four of a kind, Queens
Seat 7: deric421105 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: crackhead1 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: willwonka showed [Tc Ts] and lost with four of a kind, Tens

DQB!!!!!!! only my Quad Tens were not goot.... losing to Quad Queens.. He even slow rolled his call to make things worse.. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and saying that he was probably on other tables... but one would thing when you flop quads you are kind of paying attention to the table...

So my journey in the 25K guarantee was a very short one.

OH well...

Suicide Watch

I was on Suicide Watch Saturday Night... OK, not really; but what a way for my Cowboys to lose. The first thing I want to say is that... Tony Romo...... You are..... forgiven... I am not at all putting this loss on you. True, you did not have a good game; but there were so many other things that stuck out...

• Terry Glenn fumbling
• Roy Williams continuing to blow deep coverage
• Defensive line not stopping Seattle after the botched field goal and letting Alexander go for 20 yards (or whatever)
• Game planning by the coaches
• No pressure on the QB
• Dropped passes
• Bad passes

Also, for the record, I don't think that Whiten had the first down although obviously he made it past the 1 1/2 yard line. Doesn't really matter.. 4th down is 4th down and they are going to kick the field goal.

I can't remember the last time that I was so down about a game. I almost wish they were blown out than to lose that way. OK, not really.

I certainly hope that there are changes for next year and I think it starts at the top. Bill Parcells was a great coach. I did not see that this year. Maybe it was the coordinators around him. Obviously, TO needs to go. He is nothing but a cancer to the team. It starts out kind of small like it is now; but just keeps growing.

Anyway, there you have it. I am continuing to play SNGs this month. Again, more or less break even after 50 or so SNGs as I am really faltering on my end game. More on that later in the month. I'll post stats tonight.

SNG Fest - Final Numbers

Well, another month of SNGs is in the books. As with the last time I did, I really enjoyed it. So much so that I will probably continue it into January. I was able to reach Iron Man Level on FTP. They are expanding the Iron Man Challenge with additional features in 2007 so I will probably continue to try to attain Iron Level. I haven't really thoroughly read the details but will do that in the upcoming days. It is obviously takes more time to do this on a daily basis playing SNGs as opposed to ring games; but I will give it a go.. I did end up around 215th on the SNG High Leaderboard; but that doesn't get you anything... you need to finish in top 100.

Anyway, I played 35 SNGs since last update. Here's how it went:

SNGs: 35
ITM: 40%
ROI: 10.79%

1sts - 5
2nds - 4
3rds - 5
4ths - 6

So again, 3rds and 4ths outweighed 1sts and 2nds so things could be much better. I will definitely try some training materials. As stated, I will have a review of a video training site and will also look at some others. I have downloaded SNG Wiz for their free 30 day trial. I'll have more on this as well as a deeper look at the month of SNGs a little later in the week.

Overall Standings:

SNGs: 253
ITM: 39.13
ROI: .76% (so pretty much break even for the month... disappointing)

1sts - 29
2nds - 24
3rds - 46
4ths - 37

Day 24

1. 7th - Q6 lost to 99
2. 5th - 65s lost to 79s

Day 25

1. 1st - AQs beat Q7
2. 5th - T6 lost to J6s.. short
3. 4th - A6 lost to QQ
4. 3rd - A9s lost to 88 on river
5. 4th - A4 lost to A7
6. 6th - 77 lost to A7
7. 6th - K3s lost to QJ
8. 6th - A6 lost to K7
9. 2nd - J3 lost to J6 allin on 452J board
10. 5th - QQ lsot to KQs on river

Day 26

1. 5th - AJ lost to A6
2. 5th - A4 lost to AA and QQ... oops
3. 5th - AJ lost to JJ
4. 4th - 87 lost to K8... short
5. 1st - JJ beat 74
6. 1st - 72 beat AA... BOOOYAH... click here for the hand. this wasn't final hand; but it was the one that really crippled him.

Day 27

1. 9th - AA lost to QQ.. nice start ... NOT!!!!
2. 7th - AQs lost to AA.. Q high flop... this was really a brain fart on my part.
3. 2nd - 86 lost to AQ... AQ again... what were the odds.
4. 3rd - K6 lost to KQ
5. 1st - A3 beat A3s... this was bad but I have been on the other side too many times... I obviously got a 4 flush

Day 28

1. 6th - JTs lost to AJ... pushed OESD
2. 2nd - J8 lost to K9
3. 3rd - A8 lost to A9
4. 4th - J7 lost to 77
5. 2nd - A3 lost to QT
6. 7th - J5 lost to AT... short
7. 3rd - 88 lost to 99... went from huge chip lead with 4 left to 3rd place... last few hands... A9 split with A9... AK lost to A8.... 88 lost to 99
8. 4th - AK lost to 77
9. 3rd - AA lost to 87

Day 29

1. 6th - KQ lost to AJ and AJ... all in preflop... I had to like my chances... didn't hit
2. 1st - K3 beat J8
3. 4th - J2 lost to 87... this bubble went on forever and I would say at least 10 all in underdogs won... unfortunately, I came in on the short in of the stick... Kind of fitting way to end.

So there you have it and there you are... I hope your 2006 was great and that your 2007 will be even better!!!

Hand Of the Day - Hammer Style

No explanation necessary.... HU in $33 Turbo on a 9 person FTP SNG ..

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t400/t800
2 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
SB: t7800
Hero: t5700


Pre-flop: (2 players) Hero is BB with :2s :7h
SB calls t400 (pot was t1200), Hero checks.


Flop: :2d :qd :5c (t1600, 2 players)
Hero bets t1000, SB raises to t2000, Hero calls t1000 (pot was t4600).


Turn: :kc (t5600, 2 players)
Hero is all-in t2900, SB calls t2900 (pot was t8500).


River: :7c (t11400, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: t11400)



Results:
Final pot: t11400
Hero showed 2s 7h
SB showed As Ad


Somewhere in the blogger world, people are smiling :-)

I am SO Done With......

One radio show that I listen to when I go out to lunch on is Fox Sports Radio on my XM Satellite. Steve Czaben out of DC runs the show. Anyway, one of the bits they do every week is.... I am SO Done With.....

Well, I made a small list... and to top it off

• I am SO Done with... Terrell Owens. Obviously I am a Dallas Cowboys Fan and this guy continues to make a total jerk out of himself. So again this week, he starts complaining about not getting the ball early and often. Newsflash to TO... start catching some balls and perhaps they will throw them to you.. understand the bigger picture and get with the team concept. Perhaps talking out against the coaching is not the best way to get into the gameplan.
• I am SO Done with... Fair Weather Fans. And this goes both ways... The people that jump on the bandwagon when things are going good and especially the people that jump on the nay sayer bangwagon when people are losing. This really goes out to my father in law who watched one half of one game that the Rams played. I live in St Louis so naturally I root for the Rams (when they are not playing the 'Boys). Newsflash... Watch some games and then maybe I'll listen to some of your unsubstaniated opinions. Anybody can plagerize what the media says and for the most part, most of the media doesn't get it right. They just want the ratings so they bring up controversy. For the same reason that I don't nay say too much about politics since I don't really follow that. I do vote; but am not well informed on all the issues.
• I am SO Done with... Gutshots. Especially, the runner, runner variety. I can't tell you how many times I've run into these LAGs catching their gutshots this week. Enough Said.
• I am SO Done with... Reality Shows.... OK, not really as I do watch Survivor, Apprentice. Heck, I remember watching one of the first reality shows... Real World on MTV... Anybody remember Puck? I probably caught the first 4 or 5... but some of these are just ludicrous and it just shows the lengths that the networks will go to get viewers. Obviously, it works, but it doesn't mean that I like it.
• I am SO Done with.... Deal or No Deal... Now, I like a good game show as much as the next guy... but picking numbers and making an entire show about it is boring. I was able to get through one of these shows. I can't even rationalize DVRing this and just fast forwarding to the end; but it is every where... You can even buy the board game. Boy, that must be a real hoot.
• I am SO Done with.. Gas Prices... Not so much the prices themselves... but the fact that they go down a few cents every week and them BOOM!!!! up a quarter. Of course, the day I need gas typically is the day of the price hikes.

OK, so there you have it and there you are....

SNG Fest - Day 23

I hope everybody's Christmas went well!!!

SNG Good.... Ring Bad...

I had another ring game session where my won $ at SD was under 40%. It is simply amazing the amount of people that will call down to the river on gut shot straight draws (Including cracking my KK that turned a set and then lost to a rivered runner, runner gut shot. It is what it is; but unfortunately, it wiped out whatever gains I did get back on the SNG side. Of course, this was all predicated on my trying to get my allotted amount of points to qualify for Iron Man.

On that day, I knew I wasn't going to get enough points playing SNGs (because I started too late in the day... so I fired up one 5/10 table. Funny thing, with about 5 minutes left to go until midnight Eastern, I really had to go to the bathroom. I didn't think I was close to the needed 200 pts, so I sat out and did my business. I went back and checked and I actually ended up with 197 pts... Doh.... I would have obviously received 3 pts in 5 minutes.. Bad Beat.... self inflicted...

Anyway, back to the SNGs..

I have played 38 since last update...

ITM - 44.72%
ROI - 25.92%

1sts - 7
2nds - 3
3rds - 7
4ths - 5

Much better as the ratio between 1st and 2nds to 3rds and 4ths is much better. Also, 1sts are better than 2nds and 3rds are better than fourths. Much nicer, but as always, could have been better. I've actually started keeping track of my allins and what the odds were when the money went in and then the results.. .more on that in a later post; but I plan to incorporate more of those stats on the occasional updates.

Here are the overall stats..

218 SNGs
ITM - 38.99%
ROI - -0.85%

1sts - 24
2nds - 20
3rds - 41
4ths - 31

Better, but not yet to the positive with only a few days to go.

Day 20

1. 5th - A5 lost KJ
2. 5th - AT lost to JT
3. 1st - A2s beat KJ
4. 2nd - 98 lost to 98s on 75838 board
5. 5th - 99 lost to AJ
6. 3rd - KJs lost to 99.. .isn't it funny how I lose with one hand and then the next game I lose to the same hand... yeah, funny alright... funny, peculiar
7. 6th - KT lost to 98
8. 1st - A7 beat J2s
9. 3rd - AK lost to A8

Day 21

1. 9th - AK lsot to 33 on A high flop. He hit his set and went all in. I didn't think he would do that right on the flop betting in EP... on second thought, it makes sense...
2. 6th - T9 lost to K2s
3. 3rd - AK lost to 44
4. 2nd - Q7 lost to KT
5. 8th - 77 lost to AJ
6. 5th - Q3s lost to KJ
7. 7th - AK lost to AQ... foreshadowing... I still really hate AQ... btw.. we were all in preflop
8. 1st to AK beat KQ
9. 5th - A6 lost to 55
10. 4th - A5s lost to A9s
11. 4th - K6 lost to J7
12. 3rd - A3 lost to K6... right b4... JJ lost to AQ
13. 1st - QJ beat Q4
14. 1st - K5 beat Q9 ... nice finish to set

Day 22

1. 6th - A8 lost to 88 on river... Ace on flop and 8 on river gives me 2 pair... oops gave him a set
2. 5th - Q8 lost to A7
3. 5th - 33 lost to 87 on river
4. 4th - A7 lost to KQ
5. 3rd - KQ lost to AJ (again... lose with and lose against...)

Day 23

1. 4th - 53 lost to Q2s on river
2. 3rd - AT lost to TT
3. 3rd - 33 lost to 64s... right b4... AJ lost to T9
4. 1st - AQ beat KJ... wahoo... AQ actually came through
5. 4th - K8 lost to Q9
6. 7th - AQ lost to KJ on JAQ board... T on turn... yep I love AQ
7. 1st - JJ beat A7
8. 6th - A3 lost to A7
9. 2nd - Q7 lost to 66
10. 5th - AQ lsot to KJ on turn... Q high flop... nice... again he hit his str8... love the AQ

So like I said... could have been better... I will finish out the month and see where I land. I will also review a video training site so come back a little later in the week.

SNG Fest Day 19 Another Broken Record

Swimingly... That is the word that I would describe how things are going... NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've run bad before; but man oh man....

I few tidbits before I get into SNG results...

I did play in the mookie and while things went pretty good as I finished in 3rd out of 37 or 38. I went out when KK lost to 52. I was 3rd in chips and I believe I slow played it a bit and let the aggressive big stacks dictate the pace. Prophesy hit a two on the flop and pushed and I insta called only to see a 5 hit on the turn and IGHN. Not a very good birthday present from Tommy2Tone.

I would be interested to see a YTD results of this thing... You know if there was 35 players and you finished first, you get 35 pts kind of thing. I didn't get to play in many; but I would be interseted to see how things fared for the years. If somebody has the summarys, I can do the figuring. I have my ideas of who would be on top.


While playing the mookie and my SNGs, I also had a 5/10 table going (42 VPIP 10 PFR). It was a nice juicy table which of course these days means that it is a great opportunity to leak some cash. I was seeing about the same amount of flops and raising about what I normally do. Typically, you want to win $ at showdown at least around 50% of the time. My glorius number was 34%. Simply amazing... I played a little ring today... First hand QQ... lost to KT... Next hand... AA lost to 65... Next hand AK (yes, my first 3 hands)... chopped on river against A5... Maybe sometime I will look back and laugh...

OK, the SNG numbers.... And yes, they continue to bad...

I've played 29 SNGs since the last update

ITM - 31.03%... just brutal
ROI - -17.50%

1sts - 3
2nds - 2
3rds - 4
4ths - 3

Overall:

180 SNGs
ITM - 37.78... 40% should be the lowest that I can live with
ROI - -6.50%... obviously want this over 10%

1sts - 17
2nds - 17
3rds - 34
4ths - 26 so 53% in top 4... not terrible... 55% is probalby about right.

The 2 to 1 ratio of 3rds and 4ths to 1sts and 2nds continues to be the reason for the results.


Day 16

1. 5th - J4 lost to J8 on a 4J8 board... flopped 2 pair no good
2. 3rd - QT lost to KQ
3. 7th - AA lost to J9
4. 2nd - KJ lost to AQ
5. 1st - 95 beat 88

Day 17

1. 8th - QTs lost to ATs
2. 4th - JTs lost to T5s
3. 4th - Q8 lost to KJ
4. 6th - A4s lost to TT
5. 5th - T9s lost to 87... my flopped 2 pair no good against his flopped str8
6. 3rd - A7 lost to A8 hand b4... AQ lost A5
7. 1st - AJs beat 87
8. 5th - A9s lost to 77

Day 18

1. 8th - KK lost to JJ... DQB
2. 7th - 77 lost to 88 and QJ
3. 3rd - KJ lost to A7
4. 6th - QT lost to 88
5. 1st - ATs beat K5s
6. 6th - A7 lost to AT
7. 5th - J9s lost to KQ
8. 5th - 99 lost to A8
9. 9th - AK lost to A5s... flopped flush.. brain fart on me.. bad push
10. 6th - A9s lost to 76s... str8 flush
11. 4th - A5 lost to AK

Day 19

1. 6th - KQ lost to AA
2. 1st - KK beat 62
3. 5th - KT lost to 92 all in preflop
4. 3rd - Q7 lost to Q9.. bad stop and go move
5. 3rd - K8 lost to 75
6. 8th - AA lost KK... .ON river of course lost all but 300 chips.. next hand my KJ lost to AA.. now ain't that a kick in the butt
7. 8th - KQ lost to 54
8. 2nd - QJs lost to 65 on T68 flop 2 of my suit.. he called my all in with bottom pair.. good call, I guess.. I only had a ba-jillion outs
9. 6th - 98 lost to 82
10. 2nd - A3 lost to T6

SNG Fest - Day 15

Unfortunately, more of the same. My bubble play is gone real, real bad. As I mentioned, I did win some money on a NFL eliminator pool, so I think I am going to take some of that money and purchase some kind of SNG tool. If anybody has used anything like SNG Power Tools, or SNG Wizard, or donkit.com or sngicons, please let me know as I need to decide.

So I have played 44 SNGs since the last update. Here are the numbers from those:

44 games
38.64 ITM
-10% ROI

1sts - 3
2nds - 5
3rds - 9
4ths - 8

Meaning 56% in the top 4. My 3rds and 4ths continue to double my 1sts and seconds... OK overall:

146 SNGs
38.36 ITM
-6.76 ROI

1sts - 13
2nds - 14
3rds - 29
4ths - 23

Breakdown:

Day 13

1. 2nd - T4 lost to KQ short
2. 3rd - K8 lost to JT
3. 1st -Q3 beat 84
4. 6th - J6s lost to QJ
5. 6th - JJ lost to QQ
6. 8th - QJ lost to KJ
7. 7th - KJ lost to 88

Day 14

1. 6th - 87 lost to QT... right b4 99 lost to AT
2. 4th - 86 lost to K2... short
3. 4th - ATs lost to QQ
4. 3rd - A5s lost to A9
5. 2nd - 76s lost to Q6
6. 3rd - Qgs lost to A8... right b4... AK lost to Q4
7. 5th - J9 lost to JT
8. 3rd - AQs lost to JJ
9. 3rd - K3 lost to A7
10. 6th - AK lost to TT
11. 6th - J9 lost to AA and AK... oops
12. 1st - 86 beat QJ
13. 4th - A7 lost to AQ
14. 2nd - T9 lost to KT
15. 2nd - KT lost to 28
16. 6th - A8 lost to 33... Ace high flop lost to DQB
17. 4th - A3 lost to 63... on river str8
18. 3rd - 65 lost to 75 on 6 high flop.. turned str8
19. A6 lost to JQ on turn
20. 6th - A6 lost to 75s.. he flopped str8
21. 5th - J7 lost to KJ.. battle of blinds
22. 2nd - Q6s lost to QJs
23. 3rd - 85 lost to JJ
24. 7th - J8s lost to KT
25. 5th - 22 lost to AJ
26. 7th - A7 lost to QJ on river

Day 15

1. 8th - TT lost to JJ on all in on 367 flop
2. 4th - AK lost to A5
3. 4th - KK lsot to A8... he hit trips on turn... all on flop
4. 5th - K3 lost to KJ on K high flop
5. 6th - JTs lost to Q2.. J high flop... lost to runner, runner 4 flush
6. 3rd - KK lost to AJ
7. 3rd - A8 lost to AK on A high flop
8. 1st - Q3s beat 44
9. 5th - AJ lost to AQ
10. 4th - K5 lost to 88

So there you have it and there you are. Hopefully things will change.

SNG Fest - Day 12

I'm going to take a look at how things started again with a little more detail.

We are already know:

35 games
51.43 ITM
24.93 ROI

1sts - 4
2nds - 5
3rds - 9
4ths - 3

Let's now contrast that to where I am now.... YIKES!!!!!

102 Games
38.24 ITM
-5.37 ROI

1sts - 10
2nds - 9

and now the brunt of the problem

3rds - 20
4ths - 15

I guess the good news is that I have more 1sts than 2nds and more 3rds than 4ths which is always a goal; but don't like a 2 to 1 ration of 3rds to 1sts. Hopefully, we're calling it variance; but there is a good chance that I just suck at poker.

Here are the results:

Day 12

1. 7th - 87 loses to 65 on K78 board ( money in as 70% fav)
2. 6th - AT loses to 44
3. 3rd - A8 lost to T5 ... runner runner str8
4. 7th - AT lost to 44... got my pair.. he got his set
5. 6th - TT lost to 43s.. money in preflop... he got trips on turn
6. 5th - KK lost to AA... figures
7. 6th - K8s lost to JJ
8. 2nd - A9 lost Q6
9. 5th - AQs lost to AK
10. 5th - Q2s lost to 76
11. 3rd - A4 lost to 99
12. 1st - KK beat Q6s
13. 3rd - A9 lost to AJs

So, for now, I will keep on going and see where it leads me.

-----------

Something pretty interesting came up yesterday and it definitely seems to be a regional difference of how things are done. I played in one of those Elimantor pools. These are where you make one NFL pick and if the team wins you keep going to the next week. If your team loses, you are out. This turned out to be a fairly large pool with around 550 people in it at $20 a pop. Obviosuly, with a pool this big there are groups of guys that get together and I was no different. We had five guys get together with the intention of if any one of us won we would split it 5 ways. No big deal, it was obvious by the usernames that lots of people did this.

Fast forward to yesterday and it is down to 3 people. We are one of them so we offer to split most of the pot 3 ways (and then play out the rest for the remaining portion). No different than chopping a poker tournament. The admin got ahold of the other two and they agreed. Now, here is the funny part or should I say the difference of opinion. The admin then asks us how much we want the check made out for? Huh???? What do you mean.... The deal was that we were going to take 3K each and play for the rest. The admin goes, yes, but it is customary to tip the admin.. AGAIN>>> HUH??????? I have run tons of pools (including my Eliminator pool this year... albeit not near as big... around 150 people) and I NEVER, I say NEVER ask for anything. We said.. OK.. we'll give you $50 for your trouble. The admin writes back on how much time it takes to run these things. Now, let me say this. Running big pools is never easy; but this pool was all done via the web. The only thing the admin did was collect the money which I definitely know to be a pain. Anyway, the admin want 10%... WHAT!!!!!! That would be over $1,000 for running the pool. That is RIDICULOUS.

There are so many things wrong with that. The admin could obviously play numerous times (over 20.. or more) if he/she expected to get that much back at the end.

So my question out to the masses, is this customary in the region that you live?

Oh, well, live and learn

Have a good day!

SNG Fest Update - Cold Decked

What goes up, must come down.... and in a hurry. Unfortunately, I don't have updated stats as the program I used for creating tournament summaries quit working when Full Tilt updated their software. The program was updated and now works; but I have not taken the time to go back in and manually create the tourney summaries. I will try to do that soon.

Suffice it to say, that things started of great and I knew that it was unattainable; but what I didn't expect was to blow through the whole profit and then some. So after almost 90 SNGs, I am setting about down 3 buyins (around $100). I wasn't going to list the tourneys themselves as there is pretty many of them and as you know, when you are running bad, you tend to not update things as quickly.

I do want to add that as bad as I have been running in SNGs, it has been much, much worse in ring play. Typically, I see about 25% of flops in a short handed 5/10 game and raise preflop about 15%. Now, this is neither aggressive/loose or passive tight. Now here is the stats from the other night after about 50 hands. VPIP (flop) 65%... Preflop Raise (45%)... W$SD (Won $ at showdown) 0%. My first few starting hands were 66, AQ, Q2, AK, 87, 96o, A3s, AKs, A9, Q9o, AQ, 63o, AK, A6, KK, 63o, K3s, JT, 66, 84o, J5, 76o, TT, Q9, KK, JJ. I think you get the idea. Some of them aren't great hands but were in the BB and were good enough to defend... especially when multi handed. I went on to lose about 4 or 5 buyins as the table was a good table (45 / 10).

Anyway, here are the SNG results... pay particluar attention toward the end.

Day 5

1. 6th 77 lost to AK... all in preflop .. board J88J... counterfieted again.. Dang!
2. 6th A9 lost to AK... oops.
3. 4th AK lost to KQ on river.. 80% loser.... good times
4. 1st T5 beat 75.. He had a huge lead on me and then got disconnected. Do you stall or push? I pushed. With the blinds going up so fast, I can't wait. I waited a little (2 or so hands)

Day 6

1. 6th - A6 lost to A5 should I keep count of these 4-1 losers? Nah..
2. 5th - 33 lost 95
3. 6th - AT lost to QQ
4. 6th - 99 lost to AA... bad decision on resteal attempt
5. 6th - QQ lost to K9... OK not 4-1; but it still hurts
6. 2nd - A6 lost to J9
7. 6th - A8 lost to QT on board of 8TJ89... on river... all in on Turn
8. 4th - A2 lost to K8
9. 4th - A8 lost to 99... bubble, bubble
10. 1st - AQ beat T6
11. 4th - A7s lost to 66.. I can take a bath with all of these bubbles.
12. 4th - Q9s lost to AA.. short stacked...
13. 3rd - J9 lost to 99 on JK594 board
14. 6th - At lost to AQ short
15. 5th - Q9s lost to 88

Day 7

1. 7th - 44 lost to 66
2. 4th - AT lost to TT.. bubble
3. 6th - AT lost to JT... 80%er
4. 3rd - 62 lost to KT.. short
5. 3rd - A4 lost to 33
6. 4th - AT lost to AQ.. I can't believe I lost being a 4 to 1 dog.. that's poker

Day 8

1. 9th - AQ loses to AK and KQ.. KQ scooped the huge pot.. figures
2. 9th - AKs loste to KK.. what can I say, I'm not afraid to put my chips in the middle.
3. 5th - AJ lost to KQ.. .right before... 99 lost to AQ.. I was chip leader to out in 2 hands.
4. 6th - A9s lost to KJ
5. 4th - A9 lost to JTs
6. 3rd - K9 lost to A5... 2 pair counterfeited on river
7. 4th - QQ lost to AK... all in on JJJ flop... went south from there... Turn K... River K.. overkill, don't you think? lol

Day 9

1. 4th - ATs lost to 99. BUBBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
2. 2nd - AJ lost to AA.. what can you do?
3. 3rd - TT lost to J6.. typical
4. 2nd - J3 lost to TT.. is that a jab for the FTP gods?
5. 1st - A6 beat T8
6. 4th - AT lost to KK start and end with BUBBLES... More Good Times.

Day 10

1. 3rd - AA lost to AJs... runner runner straight. oh boy, here we go again... at least it wasn't a bubble
2. 5th - AT loses to AQ
3. 4th - K6 lsto to K8s... hand b4... KJs on K high flop lost to 33 on a 4 flush board.
4. 6th - AJ lost to AA on J high flop
5. 3rd - A6 lsot to A5 on 85A flop... figures
6. 3rd - and finally to really rub my face in the mud... KQ loses to...... KQ 4 flush board.

Day 11

1. 6th - JJ loses to AK where I flopped set... he gets runner, runner FLUSH... 4 flushed again.
2. 5th - 33 loses to T2 where he gets runner runner str8... 4 board straight... What have I done to upset the SNG gods?
3. 1st - AT beats QTs
4. 1st - K7 beat QJ.. got extemely lucky on this one after Aces were cracked four handed.

So there you have and there you are... You are caught up. We'll see where it goes from here. I do plan on taking the night off tonight and getting back into it tomorrow. I obviously need to turn some of those bubbles into money.

Easy Fold or Easy Call (cont)

OK.. Let's look at what I did...

Here is where we started

FullTiltPoker Game #1341154365: $33 + $3 Sit & Go (Turbo) (9433297), Table 1 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold'em - 14:48:02 ET - 2006/12/02
Seat 1: Button (5,375)
Seat 3: SB (1,525)
Seat 4: willwonka (735)
Seat 5: UTG (1,200)
Seat 6: UTG+1 (1,900)
Seat 9: CO (2,765)
SB posts the small blind of 80
willwonka posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to willwonka [5h 6h]
UTG folds
UTG+1 folds
CO raises to 650
Button calls 650
SB raises to 1,525, and is all in
willwonka ??????


Here are some of the things that went through my head:

First. These guys are a little loose so my range for these guys are pretty wide. Ultimiately, I'm looking for them to be sharing some Aces and/or Kings thus reducing their outs; but realistically, somebody may have a pair bigger than sixes.

Second. Like I said I am playing in a Full Tilt Turbo and beleive it or not the blinds move up every 3 minutes. If I fold I will have about 3.5 BBs left to push in the next hand or two.

Third.. It's going to cost me 575 chips into at least a 2885 chip pot (possible more if there are some calls behind me) giving me at least 5-1.

Fourth.. My mid suited connectors are most likely live against any non pair that they might have... not to mention the flush and straight possibilities

Fifth. I hate blinding out tournies.

I guess you can see where I am going with this.

I called and one person said Wow and folded and the next guy called. Mr All in turned over AQs and the last caller turned over KQ. Nice... Just what I was hoping for... Now, I just don't want to see a face card.

Flop... 9h4s2d rainbow... Nice.... I need hearts, a 3 , a 5 or a 6
Turn... 7d.... Outsanding... 3, 5, 6 or 8
River... 5d.... BOOK IT!!!!


OK, OK.. maybe not the best decision; but it worked out.

Any thoughts?

----

In other news, I lost a good battle to Fuel55 in the HUC . We went the full 5 games. The best person definitely lost... HA.. I kid.. I did get a bunch of second best cards that ending up costing me such as JJ vs AA and and flopped trips vs flopped full house. That's the way it goes. Nice match. I'll try to get a more detailed write up later.

Easy Call or Easy Fold

I want to throw out a hand that I had recently and wanted to get the opinions of you tournament experts. About Midway through a $33 SNG and I am the low man on the totem poll when the following hand came up.

Is it an easy call or an easy fold?



FullTiltPoker Game #1341154365: $33 + $3 Sit & Go (Turbo) (9433297), Table 1 - 80/160 - No Limit Hold'em - 14:48:02 ET - 2006/12/02
Seat 1: Button (5,375)
Seat 3: SB (1,525)
Seat 4: willwonka (735)
Seat 5: UTG (1,200)
Seat 6: UTG+1 (1,900)
Seat 9: CO (2,765)
SB posts the small blind of 80
willwonka posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to willwonka [5h 6h]
UTG folds
UTG+1 folds
CO raises to 650
Button calls 650
SB raises to 1,525, and is all in
willwonka ??????

Not many reads but this is what I do have:
CO is a littly LAGY (40/20)
Button (34/13)
SB (30/21)

What do you do? I won't post what I did or what the results were until tomorrow. I kind of got some mixed reaction when talking to some people.


One quick not on Full Tilt Support. I emailed them this evening on some Full Tilt Points questions that I had and I received an email back within 15 minutes probalby. Very Nice. In case anybody is interested, my question was concerning when you receive your full tilt points when playing tournaments. This becomes relevent if you are trying to qualify for the Iron Man Freerolls. Anyway, here is the response that I got back:

Hello Willwonka,

Thank you for writing to Full Tilt Poker.

If you entered a tournament since the inception of the Iron Man
promotion, you may have experienced an apparent discrepancy between the
number of Full Tilt points you expected to accumulate for a given day
and the actual number of points attributed that day. This apparent
discrepancy arose because of the manner in which Full Tilt points are
added to your account.

Players accumulate Full Tilt points through real money play, based on
the raked portion of a cash game pot, or the tournament fee that is paid
in addition to the buy-in.

The actual time that Full Tilt points accumulated on tournament fees are
added to a player's account has caused some confusion. Full Tilt points
are not awarded at the time of registration, nor are they awarded at the
completion of the tournament; players will see their point total update
immediately after they bust from any tournament or SNG.

What does this mean in relation to the Iron Man promotion? If you
registered for a tournament at 9:00 PM ET on a Tuesday, and busted at
1:12 AM ET Wednesday morning, the Full Tilt points added to your account
would count towards the total for Wednesday, not the Tuesday total. We
apologize for any inconvenience that may have been caused by this
confusion.

So Again I say.. Thanks for Full Tilt for the quick and complete answer to my question.

I look forward to some of the responses on the Easy Call or Easy Fold.

December SNG Fest - The Beginning

A few notes before I get into my SNG numbers.

Boy, is everything good with the weekend when the Cowboys beat the Giants. Tony Romo continues to impress even with a less than spectacular game, he hung in there and led the team to a game winning FG drive. So far, so good with Martin Automatica. He missed his first one and the ulcer came back to me; but he steadied the ship from there. Plus, add in 3 Fantasy victories and also add in the Missouri Valley Basketball Conference doing well. Everything is good in the sports world. I will say, however, that I think a Ohio State / Michigan rematch was the best matchup; but I'm not too overall upset with OSU and Florida. I'm pretty sure that I know someone that might be rooting for the Gators so that is good enough for me... GO GATORS !!!!!! I don't really like the Big Ten so it was an easy choice for me.

OK.. The SNG numbers. I didn't make up a template just yet so the number may not be presented too pretty. I'll try to get that going next time. I am going to do it a little different this time. I am going to try to post my numbers at least once a week and then do a couple of interesting hand posts to get some opinions on how to play it.

I'm not going to subscribe to sharkscope. Perhaps, if I could get stats for games that are going on I would do it; but you can't do that with Full Tilt. I did download the SNG Power Tools; but haven't really looked at the tutorials just yet. Per some reviews I've read, I'm sure that it would help as the fold/push game is vital during the end game of a SNG.

OK Numbers (Note... as of right now, I am playing $33+3 Turbo SNGs on FullTilt):

SNGs Played: 35
ITM (In the Money): 51.43%
ROI: 24.93

These could have been so much better; but lost some 80%ers yesterday. I can handle the 60/40 losses; but those 4-1 beats hurt. Of course, I had some 3 outers come in as well so what am I complaining about.

Here is a quit recap of the games:

Day 1: ( SNG/ITM/ROI 13/38.46/14.23)

1. 1st - K7 beat A5
2. 5th - 55 lost to AQ on river
3. 7th - A4s lost to JJ and AA... oops.. I was short
4. 7th - Q9 lost to 87s on turn. crippled hand before with TT to someone that obviously called with an OE Straight Flush Draw.
5. 6th - KT lost to QQ.. No cards
6. 2nd - A5 lost to 67 on Q8A95 board. don't you lover runner, runners.
7. 7th - T9 lost to 99.. short again
8. 8th - 77 lost to QQ
9. 5th - AK lost to AT on river
10. 3rd - K8 lost to Q9
11. 5th - TT lost to JJ on QATK7 board.. .Doh!!! Who said sets are golden
12. 2nd - A3 lost to K7
13. 1st - 98 beat 76. QQ on 2nd and 3rd to last hand helped her... ;-)

Day 2: (6 / 33.33 / 37.50%)

1. 9th - AQ lost to K7s on turn. All chips in as 65/35 fav.. what can you do?
2. 8th - Q9s lost to JTs... at least it was on flop
3. 1st - K5s beat JTs
4. 7th - TT lost to 86o on river
5. 9th - QQ lost to AK on turn
6. 1st - KTs beat A2

Day 3: (16 / 68.75 / 28.91 %)

1. 4th - Q7 lost to 96s. Hand B4... AQ lost to T9s on river. I hope AQ isn't bad to me like the last challenge
2. 3rd - 95s lost KTs... win some blind steals... lose some blind steals
3. 3rd - AJs lost to KT
4. 6th - J5 lost to AA... oops
5. 4th - A9 lost Q5
6. 3rd - TT lost to K7 on KATJQ.. 4 flush board... agains.. Sets aren't golden
7. 2nd - T5s lost to K9.. pushed on Flush Draw board... he called with K high and it held up.
8. 3rd - 64s lost to J6s.. pushed OESD he called with flush draw that held.. not to mention he was ahead anyway... DOH!!!
9. 3rd - AK lost to KQ.. These are the ones that hurt
10. 3rd - AK lost to A6... ibid
11. 5th - AT lost to AK
12. 2nd - TT lost to A6.. I've been noticing that pairs haven't been winning the races (not that this was a race... but just general comment)
13. 3rd - J7 lost to A8
14. 3rd - KQ lost to 77 on Q high flop; but he hit his set on flop.. OK sometimes the pairs hold up... maybe sets are golden... for other people
15. 2nd - 99 lost to 44.. 4 flush board
16. 4th - A9 lost to AJ.... right before... AK lost to J8... 4 straight board

There you have it and there you are..

Have a good day!!!