F**** B*** S****

Played this tourney on PS for frikking 6 hours only to lose around 50th position out of 3400 players. The hand that got me out was just brutal, for many it could be a regular thing online, for me to go this deep and then get busted aiming for a big win just doesnt seem right. Well so it goes again in the dump another PS tourney. Raised UTG with KK and guy on button who has me barely covered pushes, I call he shows AK. Flop is T86 and then goes runner aces. One was good. First was around 6500 and I ended up making 60 for the 6 hour effort. I hateeeeeeeeeee PS MTTs. All the brain racking for that long not much to show for but a bad beat!

Thats how it has been the whole frikking weekend. All my kings ran into aces and my aces were brutally slaughtered by a variety of crappy hands A6c,KQ and what not.

I did win another tourney on Cake, took down another 1500 guaranteed at $6 buyin. Only PS hasnt been kind enough to me.

Not much action & life aside poker

I havent been playing much this week as I was busy with a lot of things. Wednesdays I cant really play as I am in a pool league and also the captain. It eats into most of my evening time after work and am almost exhausted with the booze and the active and passive smoking at the club. On Cake, I was 2-tabling 0.25/0.5NL and was mostly looking for trivial action boosted by alcohol in the system, as I cant play full throttle. I was up one buyin in two days of play. On PS, played a couple of Step 1s and made it to step 2 on one and busted 4th on the other. Played Step 2 right away and made it to Step 3. On a roll right, went in for Step 3 and hung in there with 5 people left and was pretty sure to make it next, when this happened. Short stack(650) pushes at 100/200 and another at 1600 with 99 reshoves and in BB(1900) I had to reshove with AA. I knew what was coming on flop and PS didnt disappoint, being a huge favorite 9 was out in a flash. Crippled I busted out at 4th. Happy that I could still play step 3 again. I got to plan my weekend well and try to get in some good tourneys so wish me luck!

Tonight I cant play either, its my anniversary and the wife would put a bullet through the head (metaphorically,not that she has one). I plan to treat her to the movie 'Men who stare at goats'(heard the reviews were good and I liked the trailer on telly) and dinner and probably go bowling with a close circle of friends.

Back to more on my APA league. I have been on a hot streak and have won the last 7 games on the trot. Right now I am Top Gun at my skill level (its a paltry 3). Team wise, we havent been doing good and right now are placed at the bottom of the rung. Three more weeks to go, and hopefully I will retain my top gun status and make it to the MVP game from each division.

So Good luck to everyone(if any) reading this and have a great weekend!!

First PS MTT Win

Cake Win detail

So I first made it to the FT and then took it all. Such a nice feeling to win a tourney and it adds to the confidence factor too. Came in 1/355 at $4+2+.60 buyin 1500 guaranteed tourney. I jumped into a monster lead with around 80 left and never let that lead dwindle. The two hands(lucky) that kept my lead were. Reraised a short stack with KK and in MP a big stack calls and all the money went in 843 flop with villian holding 88. I didnt understand why he would risk with 88 pf against a reraise. Anyways I went runner runner to make K-high flush.

On the FT, short stack raised and with 120BB on AK I re-raised and guy in LP with almost 120BB calls(a bell did ring in my ear). Flop is K-high I pot bet he pushes I call and he shows down AA, other had JJ, turn is K and both were gone. Thats what I thought do not ever slow play on the final table, after he was taking time to call, I was thinking of folding on a reraise because I dont want to go up against an even stack with A-high.

Headsup, I was almost a 2-1 favorite and had him crippled but then doubled him up one hand. He raised PF, I called with Qh8h and flop was 7h4h2c he bet and I pushed he called with AJ and A-high held up. Last hand was, in SB he(250K) raised to 25K and I (650K) with 5s7s reraised him to 82K he calls. Flop was Q68 and I pushed him. He calls with JQ, turn was a 9 and he couldnt improve on the river for me to take down my first Cake MTT. More of these to follow!

First Cake Win

Final Table - Hooray

Ok, I made it to the final table, not one but two. Though the second was a miniscule buy-in ($3) with no guaranteed prize money.

First I will go on with $3 buyin game(~120 players). I was playing 3 other tourneys and was waltzing through the fields on this one. With 11 left I had 45K compared to second place 25K chips. Headed to the final table almost confident(over, if you may say) with two others even in stacks with me and others just hanging in there. First hand I had my black out and went from 1st to 9th at the table. This guy who had 40K in chips limps in MP(800/1600 BB) and the SB shoves for 9K. In BB - 48K (the most common position for my bustouts) I get AQo and I push to eliminate the limper, but MP guy insta-calls and shows down AK. Wow. I have no idea why he did that or why I did that. Anyways SB has AA and I am crippled and was out later in 8th place. Unreal but hard truth!

Other tourney is one that I fought the hard battle. Around 700 players in $5K Guar and is a $10 buyin game. Was the chip lead with around 100 left and then hit the coldest of decks for the next hour and half. I kept saying to myself I will make the FT. This one was before I played the $3 game. Around 15 left, I was standing at 15th position and now kicking and screaming aloud that no matter what I am gonna make the FT. As I hung in and after playing only 3-4 hands in a 2 hour window I made my first FT appearance at Cake. Got the double up I needed with 88 against QJ and then hung in to watch people knock themselves out of the game. I even laid down 99 when folded to me in MP, as I wanted to crack this one open. I nearly got my wish. Ended up with 4 players with top being a monster stack 1.4m, others around 250K and me at around 180K. The hand that got me out was kind of played badly but I guess thats how it goes at FT online. On my blinds, I was folding to raises and wasnt getting into needless action but this hand the chip stack limps on button (10K/20K) and in BB I took a stand with 66. He makes the allin call with QT and the flop is T53. Gone at 4th. I dont understand why he limp calls, if he had raised I was surely going to fold as I would have waited for a better spot. Well, it was not to be.
On a side note, QT is my old nemesis hand and it is very conveniently haunting me around Cake. You wouldnt believe how many times QT hit me square in the nuts , I probably took 15 bad beats(mostly runner-runner against my sets or top pairs on flops) against that hand over the weekend. I started calling it out loud "Show me frikking QT" once the opponent called my big bet or allin on river.

Tiny slice of Cake

I still got only a slice of cake but not the cake all for myself. I mean, havent made inroads into any of the FTs in the tourneys I played. Played the 10+r and busted around 20th place out of 180 players. I am holding up well and good but the game is way volatile once it hits the 25 player mark. I still havent been able to adjust my game. I was sitting there hanging in with 12-13 BB and a ton of activity going on. I wasnt even able to make moves with that kind of stack with the morbid fear of running into big pairs. There were two hand ATs and KQo that I folded to raises from players even in stack with me. I wasnt sure if I should call or reraise and preferred the scared puppy route. I have cashed in almost every tourney I have played since I got onto Cake (yes only 4 days) and pretty much I have busted in all of them with AIPF hands and most of the times I was ahead. So cant see why people would call with any two cards against someone who is playing tight and pushes when entering a pot. I do know its not right to just keep pushing to get to the FT once I am around 15th position. But the kind of play that goes on at that stage, I prefer that kind of moves for a double up or bust out. One double up and I could loosen up a little bit but havent won any heads-up AIPFs at that stage yet. But anyone out there reading this, with Cake experience, please do let me know if I could be helped out in any kinda way to sneak into the FT. Again, I am pretty positive I will post next time with an MTT win at Cake :-)