Four FTOPS duds, Two Tournaments Left

Sorry about the lack of updates. I haven't been much in the blogging mood lately and not much good has been happening.

Since my last post I came up short in the $535 HORSE, the $216 Omaha hi-lo, the $216 NLH 6-max and the $109 pot limit omaha with rebuys (I was in for $309).

Right now I'm ahead $823 for the FTOPS XI and there are only two events left: $129 NLH knockout and the $535 NLH main event.

This means I've locked up a $159 profit for the FTOPS even if I get blanked in the last two. Actually after looking things over I'm going to play a $109 satellite to the main event in the morning so I might end up with a $50 profit (If you have 1% of my action don't hold your breath waiting for a check!).

Tomorrow is a big day for me tournament wise. Not only do I have the two FTOPS tournaments, but I'm going to play the $215 Sunday Warm up, the $215 Sunday Million and the $215 Sunday Second Chance (all on pokerstars) as well as a $162 tournament on Doyle's Room (I discovered I had a few bucks lingering in that account) and a qualifier open to only Supernova Elites for a $6,500 in person tournament that goes off in Uruguay in March. Amazingly I'm not making that last one up.

I'll let you know what happens...if you're lucky!

FTOPS XI Event #13 Recap

I got off to another great start in event #13 $215 NL hold'em with one rebuy and one add on. We started with 2,000 chips and I immediately did the rebuy which put me at 4,000. I'd run that stack up to 10,000 by the time we made it to the break and after the add-on I had 12,500 or so.

Sometime during the second hour with blinds of 60/120 I was dealt KQ in the big blind. A player in middle position made it 400 to go and got called by two players before it got to me. KQ can certainly be a trap hand in a spot like this, but I had everyone covered by a fair margin and the pot odds were just too good to pass up. So I called.

The flop came down J T 5 giving me an open ended straight draw and two overcards. While checking was an option I considered since I had about twice as many chips as all of my opponents I decided to get aggressive. A bet might win me the pot right there and in the worst case scenario I'd only lose half of my chips. So I bet 1,200 chips.

The original raiser thought for 5 seconds or so and moved all in for about 4,000. It was an easy call since I had 8 outs to the nuts and maybe a K or a Q would be good too. I was not happy to see my opponents hand - 55! The turn was a brick, but the river was an ace and I took down a nice pot.

The next MAJOR hand I remember came much later when I was dealt JJ with a stack of around 20K. An early position raiser made a standard size raise, I reraised and he moved all in! There are times when I've folded JJ preflop, but this was not one of those times.

With all the chips in and my opponent having me slightly covered I was at risk. When the cards got turned over he had AQ and the flop came with an A and a Q! But the turn was a jack and I was in great shape!

In fact I took that stack of 40K or so all the way up to over 60K and with 300 players left from the starting 1,200+ I was in 3rd place. Then I started a gradual slide. The players I was up against were much better than in the other FTOPS events so far. I dribbled my stack all the way down to about 25K.

But I did make the money!

The tournament paid 135 spots and I finished 117th. On my last hand with blinds of 1K/2K and 250 chip ante I moved all in from the button with QT. Surprisingly the small blind called me with K8 suited. I made a straight, but he made a flush and that was it.

117th paid $805 which is only a profit of $189, but of course it's $805 better than not making the money!

FTOPS XI So Far Plus a Micro Preview!

I blanked in the 1/2 hold 'em, 1/2 pot limit Omaha today without much fanfare and I decided I was just too tired to play the $1,060 6 p.m. event. That means that so far I'm ahead $1,910 for the FTOPS XI. Not too bad.

Since I opted to skip the one four digit buy in event on my schedule, tomorrow is my biggest day of this FTOPS. In the morning I have Event #13 which is $216 with one rebuy and one add on no limit hold'em. Since I'll no doubt be doing both the rebuy and add on I'll essentialy be playing a $616 deep stack NLH tournament.

Then at 6 p.m. I have Event #14 $535 HORSE! Giddy up! I have to say with the HORSE success I've had in the past 6 months I'm pretty excited about this tournament.

FTOPS XI Events #7 & #10 Recap

I haven't been great about keeping you people updated. Usually that means all bad news, but that's not the case here!

Despite my slow start in Event #7 ($109 NLH with rebuys) I actually made the money! With about 500 players left (we started with more than 2,200) I caught a major break. I got all of my chips in preflop with AQ vs AK, a king came on the flop and I still won! That's not something that happens every day! I made a runner, runner flush, took down a nice pot and didn't look back.

Unlike the first tournament of the FTOPS where I got great cards, and great action making it easy to do well, I got very little in the way of big hands in this one. But, I feel like I played great and made a lot out of not much. This was another case of the tournaments being a big deal to my opponenets and not a big deal to me. Their fear allowed me to take pots away from them even in situations where I felt like I was making obvious bluffs. In these same spots better or more seasoned players would surely have played back at me.

The tournament paid 234 spots and after the one miracle hand I mentioned, I made the money easily. As more and more players faded away I once again started thinking about the final table. With 50 players left I still had more than an average stack. Then I ran into some trouble. I gradually got drained from a high point of around 250,000 chips down to 125,000 when the following hand came up.

The blinds were 6,000/12,000 and a player in early position made the minimum raise to 24,000. I decided to gamble a little and called out of the big blind with Q3 suited. The flop came down 7 5 3 with two of my suit. This was a great flop for me. Unless my opponent had a pocket pair I'd be almost certainly be able to take it away from him on the flop, and even if he did I still had a flush draw that I'd make about 1/3 of the time.

I considered betting out, but decided to go for the check raise. I checked, my opponent bet 24,000, I moved all in for about 100,000, he called me with A7, I missed and that was it.

I finished 37th which paid $1,583. Another strong result, but not quite major glory.

In event #10 I got off to a great start. After starting with 5,000 chips I was up to about 17,000 just after the first break. Even though it was just yesterday for once I can't remember quite how I got elminated. Hmmmmmmm. Well I should probably get to work anyway. I know I finished about 1,000th of over 5,000 and it paid 738 spots so it was close to another cash, but I just can't quite recall the last hand!

Today I have $216 half PLO, half hold'em and maybe the $1,060 no limit later. I'll have to see how I feel when 6 p.m. rolls around.

FTOPS Triple Update!

The $216 6 handed limit tournament (which is supposedly my specialty) ended with a fizzle, and is not even worth a recap!

But I do have a splash of good news! I won a $162 satellite to Monday's $1,060 tournament! I must admit I caught a few big breaks to take this one home. We started with 82 players and the top 12 spots paying $1,060. With about 30 players left I beat AJ with KJ and a little later also beat KK with KJ, both times with all of my chips in the pot. After the second major bad beat I delivered I was in first place and despite a few more ups and downs I made it to the money with relative ease.

The third part of this update is that FTOPS XI Event #7 ($109 with rebuys) is underway. I ended up doing two more rebuys than the minimum which means I'm in for $509. When I started writing the post I was in great shape, but some douche bag called one of my raises with 74 suited and made a flush to beat my top pair. At the start of that hand I had about 14,000 chips and now I have about 6,000. Average is 10,500 and we are down to 1,050 players from the starting field of 2,235 with the top 234 spots paying.

My FTOPS XI Schedule

I had a request to post a list of the tournaments that I planned to play so people will know when to watch if they are so inclined. Here is my tentative schedule (all times are pacific):

Feb 6th 6 pm $216 Limit Hold'em 6-max
Feb 7th 1 pm $109 NL hold'em with rebuys
Feb 9th 11 am $216 Half PL Hold'em, Half PL Omaha
Feb 10th 11 am $216 NLH 1 rebuy + 1 add on
Feb 10th 6 pm $535 HORSE
Feb 11th 11 am $216 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo
Feb 13th 11 am $216 NL 6-max
Feb 13th 6 pm $322 Razz
Feb 14th 1 pm $109 PLO with rebuys
Feb 15th 11 am $129 NLH Knockout
Feb 15th 3 pm $535 NLH (Main Event - $2.5M guaranteed)

I might also play the $322 NLH on Sunday at 3 pm if I can get home in time (I have Sunday brunch plans) and the $1,060 6 pm tournament on Monday. 6 pm is a little late to be starting a $1,000 tournament, so I'm going to have to see how I feel. I might also take a shot or two at qualifying for the $5,200 event which goes off at 11 am on Saturday.

FTOPS XI Event #3 ($216 7-Card Stud) Recap

I almost didn't play this event, but once it got started I was glad I did. So many of the players clearly just didn't know how to play stud. It's not like they were total novices, but it felt like I was up against a bunch of hold'em players if you know what I mean.

We started with 4,000 chips and despite some ups and downs I ran my stack up to about 15,000. Obviously anytime you can almost quadruple your starting stack, you've put yourself in a profitable position even if you don't convert that equity into dollars. Since one or two hands can derail you (even in a limit tournament) the key is to just keep giving youself chances and eventually one of them will work out in a big way.

With that said, two hands derailed me! In the first I started with AA3, didn't improve and lost to queens up at the showdown. A few hands later I started with three suited cards, caught a fourth one on fourth street and ended up missing my flush, but making a straight. The problem was I was up against a bigger straight.

I finished about 220th out of 593. After three events my starting $10,000 bankroll is at $10,692.