Ubering Up The 50/50

Beware, this is going to be a long one. One of the best reasons for having a blog is moments like this. Not so you can brag to the world about how great you are. So you can document your thoughts and ideas in detail (for yourself) when things like this happen. Though you will always remember the big score, few can relive it in vivid detail many years later.

First off, my MTT confidence was extremely high going into this one. The Venetian live tourney, changed my thinking around MTTs in a big way, though not really changing my strategy towards playing them. I guess I finally saw what the difference was in some of the top pros that play a similar style to me. The difference that separates them from the rest of the crowd. It all comes down to unwavering discipline. I found out that I had it to some extent during the Venetian event.

The second thing is that I have been so busy with my fantasy website, that I just don't play much. Whenever, I go on vacation for a few weeks, and come back to the game, I always run very hot. I think decisions get too automatic when you are playing constantly, and the time off takes a bit of this away and improves your decision and thought process. So I am on a semi-permanent vacation from poker right now. I mainly dabble in MTTs when I play, and play almost zero cash games. This was my third time playing poker in the last month. 1st time, I took down the riverchasers. 2nd time was the BBT when the servers crashed. I also played the 50/50 that night, and was alive when the servers crashed for a decent cash. And then last night. I fired up the 2+ donkfest, the 50/50 and the Math. Similar to the 2+, 50/50 and BBT the last time I played.

The third thing is that I absolutely must play in the deepstack slow structures. My style has no chance in a regular structured MTT. The 50/50 has about as perfect a structure as I could imagine for me. If you started with 4k in chips, I would need to find a way to play it every night. Riverchasers was double stacks. The MATH which is one of my best blogger MTTs is double stacks. The Venetian was super deep stacks/slow. Get the picture.

So now for the first hand. There is a story. I was just pulling myself together as the 2+ rebuy and the 50/50 were being dealt the first hands. For some reason I confused the tables and when I saw KQs, I did the obvious rebuy play of open pushing it from early on the first hand. Except I guess I miss clicked and didn't quite push. Then I realized I just did that on the 50/50 not the 2+ as the guy tanked, then pushed. I am priced in. Below are 3 hands from the first 5 as I try to run with my ubershitty image.

Hand1
Dealt to Blinders [Qh Kh]
ZatoichiRonin folds
Blinders raises to 1,640
Jimmy75REY folds
shipitcrew folds
JackalHyde raises to 2,000, and is all in
Loungefly420 folds
pearlwashington folds
D_proxy_99 folds
hampham2000 folds
Blinders calls 360, and is all in
JackalHyde shows [Ks Ah]
Blinders shows [Qh Kh]
*** FLOP *** [Ad Jh 3s]
*** TURN *** [Ad Jh 3s] [Tc]*** RIVER *** [Ad Jh 3s Tc] [7h]

Hand2
Full Tilt Poker Game #3106729299: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 22 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:31:41 ET - 2007/07/30
Seat 1: D_proxy_99 (1,990)
Seat 2: hampham2000 (1,980)
Seat 3: ZatoichiRonin (2,000)
Seat 4: Blinders (4,030)
Seat 5: Jimmy75REY (2,000)
Seat 6: shipitcrew (2,000)
Seat 8: Loungefly420 (2,000)
Seat 9: pearlwashington (2,000)
hampham2000 posts the small blind of 10
ZatoichiRonin posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [2s 2d]
Blinders raises to 40
Jimmy75REY folds
shipitcrew calls 40
Loungefly420 folds
pearlwashington folds
D_proxy_99 folds
hampham2000 calls 30
ZatoichiRonin calls 20
*** FLOP *** [6c Ts Tc]
hampham2000 checks
ZatoichiRonin checks
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders bets 120
shipitcrew calls 120
hampham2000 folds
ZatoichiRonin folds
*** TURN *** [6c Ts Tc] [Ac]
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders checks
shipitcrew checks
*** RIVER *** [6c Ts Tc Ac] [Ah]
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders checks
shipitcrew checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Blinders shows [2s 2d] two pair, Aces and Tens
shipitcrew shows [8h 8s] two pair, Aces and Tensshipitcrew wins the pot (400) with two pair, Aces and Tens

You have to love the UTG min-raise with 22 and how I played it down. I really wanted to show this one down, and actually could have won it on the flop. Could my loose, retarded, maniac image be any better at this point. This all set up Hand 5.

Hand 5
Full Tilt Poker Game #3106763328: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 22 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:34:43 ET - 2007/07/30
Seat 1: D_proxy_99 (1,990)
Seat 2: hampham2000 (1,940)
Seat 3: ZatoichiRonin (1,460)
Seat 4: Blinders (3,840
Seat 5: Jimmy75REY (2,610)
Seat 6: shipitcrew (2,240)
Seat 7: Haoleboy24 (1,910)
Seat 8: Loungefly420 (2,000)
Seat 9: pearlwashington (2,000)
Jimmy75REY posts the small blind of 10
shipitcrew posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Js Jc]
Haoleboy24 folds
Loungefly420 raises to 100
pearlwashington folds
D_proxy_99 folds
hampham2000 folds
ZatoichiRonin folds

I was basically going to jam here based on my image. For some reason I did not like the bet size. It screamed of a pocket pair, but I was thinking KK, QQ for some reason. I decided to keep it small for now.

Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders calls 100
Jimmy75REY calls 90
shipitcrew folds
*** FLOP *** [Tc 7c Qs]
Jimmy75REY checks
Loungefly420 checks
Blinders checks

I figured, I would reraise the turn if I felt weakness, or bet out if checked to again.

*** TURN *** [Tc 7c Qs] [4h]
Jimmy75REY checks
Loungefly420 bets 800

I am not going to call that. The sizes are too weird. I really think he has me here with QQ or KK. Not too proud of how I played this one, but oh well. I would pull things together after this.

Blinders folds
Jimmy75REY folds
Uncalled bet of 800 returned to Loungefly420
Loungefly420 mucks
Loungefly420 wins the pot (320)

I went pretty cold the first hour or so, and my stats were way out of whack. No pots won preflop or on the flop for me in the first hour. Everything on the turn or river. Then I wake up to rockets.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3108332539: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 97 - 120/240 Ante 25 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:51:36 ET - 2007/07/30
Seat 1: Blinders (5,376)
Seat 2: DocYarosh (2,215)
Seat 3: jojo37 (13,040)
Seat 4: iculookn22 (10,381)
Seat 5: YuckYuck (10,858)
Seat 6: MAROMB78 (3,765)
Seat 7: dbass777 (5,195)
Seat 8: 702richg (17,845)
Seat 9: RedSoxFan83 (7,005)
RedSoxFan83 posts the small blind of 120
Blinders posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Ah Ad]
DocYarosh folds
jojo37 folds
iculookn22 folds
YuckYuck folds
MAROMB78 folds
dbass777 folds
702richg folds
RedSoxFan83 has 15 seconds left to act
RedSoxFan83 raises to 699
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders raises to 1,158

That's a min raise, I am going to the felt here for sure (based on getting 1/5 my stack in with AA) and I want this guy committed.

RedSoxFan83 calls 459
*** FLOP *** [3h 4c 6h]
RedSoxFan83 checks
Blinders bets 1,440

Suckering him in

RedSoxFan83 raises to 5,822, and is all in
Blinders calls 2,753, and is all in
RedSoxFan83 shows [Kh Jh]
Blinders shows [Ah Ad]
Uncalled bet of 1,629 returned to RedSoxFan83
*** TURN *** [3h 4c 6h] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [3h 4c 6h 6s] [9d]
RedSoxFan83 shows a pair of Sixes
Blinders shows two pair, Aces and Sixes
Blinders wins the pot (10,927) with two pair, Aces and Sixes

Full Tilt Poker Game #3108579321: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 8 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:14:41 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: glomike (8,144), is sitting out
Seat 2: aztecberry (6,442)
Seat 3: bigtym (16,184)
Seat 4: Ghadhames (21,838)
Seat 5: Blinders (8,317)
Seat 6: DENCHO (19,095)
Seat 7: TL2008 (7,860)
Seat 8: MeDaMan4Money (6,627)
Seat 9: EratikSA (26,661)
Ghadhames posts the small blind of 200
Blinders posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Ks Ah]
DENCHO folds
TL2008 folds
MeDaMan4Money folds
EratikSA folds
glomike folds
aztecberry folds
bigtym folds
Ghadhames raises to 1,100
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders raises to 2,800
Ghadhames has 15 seconds left to act
Ghadhames folds
Uncalled bet of 1,700 returned to Blinders
Blinders mucks
Blinders wins the pot (2,650)

Then came this hand which really set everything up for me.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3108589523: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 8 - 200/400 Ante 50 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:15:40 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: glomike (8,094), is sitting out
Seat 2: aztecberry (6,392)
Seat 3: bigtym (16,134)
Seat 4: Ghadhames (20,688)
Seat 5: Blinders (9,817)
Seat 6: DENCHO (19,045), is sitting out
Seat 7: TL2008 (7,810)
Seat 8: MeDaMan4Money (6,577)
Seat 9: EratikSA (26,611)
Blinders posts the small blind of 200
DENCHO posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Kh Ks]
TL2008 folds
MeDaMan4Money folds
EratikSA folds
glomike folds
aztecberry folds
bigtym raises to 1,200
DENCHO has returned
Ghadhames raises to 5,000
Blinders raises to 9,767, and is all in
DENCHO folds
bigtym folds
Ghadhames calls 4,767
Blinders shows [Kh Ks]
Ghadhames shows [Qh Qc]
*** FLOP *** [9s 4d 7c]
*** TURN *** [9s 4d 7c] [7h]
*** RIVER *** [9s 4d 7c 7h] [3s]
Blinders shows two pair, Kings and Sevens
Ghadhames shows two pair, Queens and Sevens
Blinders wins the pot (21,584) with two pair, Kings and Sevens

I took this stack into bubble time. I was at a very tight table, with one other big stack who was pretty aggressive. Most of the tighties were pretty short and holding on for the bubble. I started beating the aggressive guy across the table in with raises, and the two of us completely raped the table of all the blinds and antes while completely staying out of each others way. When the bubble finally burst, I had nearly doubled my stack without a showdown, and was in the top 10 in chips.

I played the bubble much better than I ever have before, but the situation was also very right. I don't often have those many chips at that point, but I can see the value of taking a few chances to get there by bubble time. After the bubble, I bled a little more off before picking up rockets again, in a great situation. This is why you EP limp rockets.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3109033988: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 8 - 400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:00:42 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: glomike (18,263)
Seat 2: 702richg (9,224)
Seat 3: bigtym (23,443)
Seat 4: Ghadhames (10,172)
Seat 5: Blinders (31,334)
Seat 6: iculookn22 (13,762)
Seat 7: Elx (18,448)
Seat 8: tinuccia67 (18,736)
Seat 9: EratikSA (33,338)
702richg posts the small blind of 400
bigtym posts the big blind of 800
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Ac Ad]
Ghadhames folds
Blinders calls 800
iculookn22 raises to 4,000
Elx raises to 18,348, and is all in
tinuccia67 has 15 seconds left to act
tinuccia67 folds
EratikSA folds
glomike folds
702richg folds
bigtym folds
Blinders calls 17,548
iculookn22 calls 9,662, and is all in
Elx shows [Kc Kd]
Blinders shows [Ac Ad]
iculookn22 shows [As Qc]
*** FLOP *** [5s 4d Js]
*** TURN *** [5s 4d Js] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [5s 4d Js Ts] [6h]
Elx shows a pair of Kings
Blinders shows a pair of Aces
Blinders wins the side pot (9,372) with a pair of Aces
iculookn22 shows Ace Queen high
Blinders wins the main pot (43,086) with a pair of Aces
iculookn22 stands up
Elx stands up

Here I am second in chips with less than 100 left.

Everything was working out real good. I was always getting it in ahead (usually way ahead), and everything was holding. This hand below was a bit of a cooler.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3109228385: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 100 - 600/1200 Ante 150 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:22:14 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: Tuuuuuuut (15,420)
Seat 2: Blinders (65,494)
Seat 3: pokerfields (31,665)
Seat 4: thangblackjack (22,610)
Seat 5: azrawdawg (14,816)
Seat 7: Ryan1118 (55,090)
Seat 8: KKbucsKK (8,300)
Seat 9: ths115 (22,839)
KKbucsKK posts the small blind of 600
ths115 posts the big blind of 1,200
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Kd Qd]
Tuuuuuuut has 15 seconds left to act
Tuuuuuuut calls 1,200
Blinders calls 1,200
pokerfields folds
thangblackjack folds
azrawdawg folds
Ryan1118 calls 1,200
KKbucsKK folds
ths115 checks
*** FLOP *** [Ah Jc Td]
ths115 checks
Tuuuuuuut checks
Blinders checks
Ryan1118 bets 3,200
ths115 calls 3,200
Tuuuuuuut raises to 14,070, and is all in
Blinders calls 14,070
Ryan1118 folds
ths115 folds
Tuuuuuuut shows [Ac Jd]
Blinders shows [Kd Qd]
*** TURN *** [Ah Jc Td] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [Ah Jc Td 2c] [Ad]
Tuuuuuuut shows a full house, Aces full of Jacks
Blinders shows a straight, Ace high
Tuuuuuuut wins the pot (41,140) with a full house, Aces full of Jacks
Seat 8: KKbucsKK (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: ths115 (big blind) folded on the Flop

Flopped the straight, and get it in on the flop. Lose to a rivered boat that leaves me one card short of a Royal. I bled off a few more chips on the hand below. I think this one shows, that I am not just playing big hands, but trying to scrap a bit when priced in. Not sure how the guy calls the turn bet against me here, but part of my strategy relies on people not playing properly against me. The guy is paying me off here most of the time by making that turn call

Full Tilt Poker Game #3109393586: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 100 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:41:50 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: Tuuuuuuut (82,074)
Seat 2: Blinders (51,024)
Seat 3: pokerfields (46,915)
Seat 4: thangblackjack (18,410)
Seat 5: azrawdawg (18,532)
Seat 6: ImFernando (40,587)
Seat 7: Ryan1118 (23,954)
Seat 8: donkey_kong0 (42,700)
Seat 9: wignall (26,043)
Tuuuuuuut posts the small blind of 1,000
Blinders posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [Kc 3d]
ImFernando: poker tends to be crule like that'
pokerfields folds
thangblackjack folds
azrawdawg folds
ImFernando raises to 4,000
Ryan1118 folds
donkey_kong0 folds
wignall folds
Tuuuuuuut folds
Blinders calls 2,000
*** FLOP *** [6d 4c 8d]
Blinders checks
ImFernando checks
*** TURN *** [6d 4c 8d] [6h]
Blinders bets 6,000
ImFernando calls 6,000
*** RIVER *** [6d 4c 8d 6h] [4d]
Blinders checks
ImFernando checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Blinders shows [Kc 3d] two pair, Sixes and Fours
ImFernando shows [Ac 5d] two pair, Sixes and Fours
ImFernando wins the pot (23,250) with two pair, Sixes and Fours

At this point, I think we were down to two tables, and I had gone through a long stretch with nothing to work with. Kung Fu was raising like clock work, and when I got this hand, I knew exactly how it would play out before anything happened. It would fold to Fu who would raise. I would push and he would fold.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3109800418: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 100 - 2500/5000 Ante 600 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:37:10 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: Tuuuuuuut (77,574)
Seat 2: Blinders (50,112)
Seat 3: pokerfields (24,366)
Seat 4: thangblackjack (51,640)
Seat 5: EratikSA (77,698)
Seat 6: ImFernando (89,248)
Seat 7: Ryan1118 (30,826)
Seat 8: iknow_KungFu (496,949)
Tuuuuuuut posts the small blind of 2,500
Blinders posts the big blind of 5,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [6h 6d]
pokerfields folds
thangblackjack folds
EratikSA folds
ImFernando folds
Ryan1118 folds
iknow_KungFu has 15 seconds left to act
iknow_KungFu raises to 12,000
Tuuuuuuut has 15 seconds left to act
Tuuuuuuut folds
Blinders raises to 49,512, and is all in
iknow_KungFu has 15 seconds left to act
iknow_KungFu folds
Uncalled bet of 37,512 returned to Blinders
Blinders mucks
Blinders wins the pot (31,300)

Below is just another example of straight forward play late that gets paid off. The flop gets scary so you just push and pray, but I am not going to give anyone close to drawing odds at this stage.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3109817173: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 100 - 2500/5000 Ante 600 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:39:43 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: Tuuuuuuut (72,674)
Seat 2: Blinders (64,512)
Seat 3: pokerfields (14,466)
Seat 4: thangblackjack (54,040)
Seat 5: EratikSA (70,298)
Seat 6: ImFernando (99,148)
Seat 7: Ryan1118 (40,726)
Seat 8: iknow_KungFu (482,549)
EratikSA posts the small blind of 2,500
ImFernando posts the big blind of 5,000
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [As Kh]
Ryan1118 folds
iknow_KungFu folds
Tuuuuuuut folds
Blinders raises to 16,000
pokerfields folds
thangblackjack folds
EratikSA folds
ImFernando calls 11,000
*** FLOP *** [Ad 7d 4d]
ImFernando checks
Blinders bets 47,912, and is all in
ImFernando folds
Uncalled bet of 47,912 returned to Blinders
Blinders mucks
Blinders wins the pot (39,300)

Below was a tough hand against the chip leader right before the FT. Had to get away, but could have been ahead. Should I have pushed this flop at this point of the MTT? The guys range was basically ATC.

Full Tilt Poker Game #3109892282: The Fifty-Fifty (22320597), Table 100 - 3000/6000 Ante 750 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:51:00 ET - 2007/07/31
Seat 1: Tuuuuuuut (111,298)
Seat 2: Blinders (71,612)
Seat 4: thangblackjack (78,530)
Seat 5: EratikSA (53,958)
Seat 7: Ryan1118 (72,778)
Seat 8: iknow_KungFu (510,237)
Tuuuuuuut posts the small blind of 3,000
Blinders posts the big blind of 6,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Blinders [3d Td]
thangblackjack folds
EratikSA folds
Ryan1118 folds
iknow_KungFu calls 6,000
Tuuuuuuut folds
Blinders checks
*** FLOP *** [Qd 8d Tc]
Blinders bets 12,000
iknow_KungFu calls 12,000
*** TURN *** [Qd 8d Tc] [9s]
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders checks
iknow_KungFu has 15 seconds left to act
iknow_KungFu bets 35,000
Blinders has 15 seconds left to act
Blinders folds
Uncalled bet of 35,000 returned to iknow_KungFu
iknow_KungFu mucks
iknow_KungFu wins the pot (43,500)

I would arrive at the final table as the short stack after a double elimination. Smokkee and KOD were railing me all of a sudden. I would fold my Q2o in the BB to a preflop raise, and then open push J3s on the next hand when it folded to my SB. No Call. As it was orbiting around, this happend. You got to love these types of hands when you are short and on life support, and each elimination increases your payday a bunch.

When we got down to seven players, I got it all-in preflop with AKo against J9o, and lost the race.

I really do not mind going out like that. Sure I wanted the win and everything, but I would rather go out getting it in ahead like this, then being forced to jam with crap late and lose to a much better hand. I was able to play my game the whole way here. Chad was railing me with two tables left, and I was still playing very tight. I really was not catching much and just trying to survive until I did. I decide not to force the issue, and was able to take a chance later with a hand like this. I play the shortstack pretty well late, and this double up would have given me some breathing room for a last shot at the win.