Partypoker 500k and Full Tilt 200k

I mentioned in my last post that I qualified for the 200k on Full Tilt. Well I also managed to get into the 500k on Party for only $10 which was nice.


Party 500k

I ended up starting late.... about 5 minutes before the first break because I was spending time with the family for Mother's Day. It looked to be a good thing though as I signed on, because I was dealt QQ about the 3rd hand I saw. Blinds were only 50/100, and a guy in MP opened for over 600, which is a big raise. For some reason I put him on either AK, 1010, or JJ with that kind of raise, although it could obviously be anything. I decided to push for another 3700 or so because I wouldnt mind winning close to 1k without a fight. He calls with JJ and I double quickly. Almost to the second break I'm sitting decent with about 11k when I get AQc in MP. UTG min raises to 1200, and I only call...(looking back I should've made it about 2400 to go. This would've done a couple things... it would've most likely given me the lead which is important when the blinds get higher like they were starting to do, and there was a pretty good chance I also had the best hand. It also would've knocked out the BB, because getting about 6 to 1 preflop with the antes and all, its hard to fold anything. So to make a long story short, the BB calls and the flop is A 5 4. The BB has 54 and I bust out on that hand. I was really disappointed in my play on that hand, but life goes on. I finished out of the money.


Full Tilt 200k

I was off to a slow start in this one, but managed to double up right before the first break. I was dealt Q10d on the button and MP makes it 200 with blinds of 50/100. Alot of times I'd fold here, but this guy seemed to min raise alot and fold after the flop, which makes me think he's the type who raises min with suited connectors and maybe a weak ace or something, so I call. I also call because if the sb or bb call (which the bb almost always should), I'd be in position 3 or 4 handed with a hand that can hit some big flops. So the flop is A K J rainbow... as T.J. would say, "I flopped the joint!" The BB checks and the min raiser fires out 300 chips. I sit for about 5 seconds and just call because I'm really hoping he has that weak ace now. The BB folds and the turn is the 7d. Beautiful card for me. I still have the nuts, and now I have the flush draw along with it so I'm not worried about another diamond peeling off. He bets 500, and again I just call. I see no reason in raising here because there are no scary cards out there. The worst thing that could happen is the board could pair, and I would still be about 90% sure I had the best hand. This leaves me with around 1500 chips. The river is a nice little black 3. The instantly puts me all in, and I instacall. He had K8s haha. I'm glad I didn't raise the turn because he likely would've folded to even a min raise. So I get to about average going into the second hour.

I'm sitting nicely at about 9k, average around 7k when the next hand comes up. The guy on my right is UTG+1 and he makes it 1400 to go (200/400 blinds) and I have AQ and call. All else fold and we see a flop of Q 8 10 with 2 diamonds (I have no diamond). He checks to me and I bet 2200 into a 3800 pot. He calls pretty quickly. Turn is 6d. This obviously isn't the best card in the world for me here, but I still feel confident that I have the best hand. He immediately fires out 3300.... huh?? This didn't make sense. If he just made the flush would be bet out at me here? If he had flopped 2 pair would he not have raised me on the flop? I was trying to put it together and was worried about Q10 or J9. I pretty much ruled out J9 because I don't think he would have raised UTG+1 with that, and Q10 was unlikely too for the same reason. Could he have turned a set?? I doubt he would've called my flop bet if so. So the only 2 hands I figured he could've had me beat with were 88 or 1010. I was already heavily invested though and I still felt there was a good chance that I had him beat, I mean he could've had KQ or QJ, and maybe with a diamond, which I would still be a pretty good favorite over. Then I remember that he had raised UTG earlier with A10os and instacalled an all in from the button (button had 88) and won that race. So I knew this player was either pretty bad or just liked to gamble. And not to mention I remembered that I went broke with the same hand in the tourney on Party!! But I can't let that influence my decision of course lol. So right before it forced me to fold, I pushed the rest of my chips in. He sat there for about 4 or 5 seconds, which made me feel better about my decision, and eventually called with K10 (10 diamonds). He blanked the river and that rocketed me up to 20k at the second break.

I was feeling great after that, and was one of the chip leaders at my table. In fact, one other guy had 20k and nobody else was over about 12k. So the very first hand after the break, the same guy is UTG and raises to 2200. I have AA and make it 5k to go. I figure to at least get all of HIS chips because he is likely steaming. So it folds to him and he pushes the rest of his chips (about 6k total I think) with KQc!!!! The first 4 cards are blanks and he's drawing dead, sending me up around 27k. About 30 minutes or so after that, I'm given another gift. I get AA in the BB, and the second or third biggest stack at the table (I'm biggest) makes a standard raise in LP. I re-raise from the BB about 3x his raise and he instapushes for about 20k. I call of course and he has AJ!!!! Maybe he thought I was on a re-steal, but wrong! He spikes a jack on the flop, but no help after that and I'm sitting around 50k which is monster stack at my table.

So we get in the money (top 99 paid) and I'm sitting above average still, when I take a big hit. I'm UTG+1 with 1010, and UTG pushes for about 20k. Now blinds were about 1k/2k, so I figured with AA, KK, or QQ that UTG probably wouldn't have done this. This raise was screaming pocket pair or maybe something like AQ to me, I was just hoping not JJ. I call and its heads up, my 1010 vs her 55. Well, she turns the 4-flush and I'm back below average... that sucked. I managed to hang around for a little bit longer, but failed to pick up any hands to work with. I finally had to push my last 20k in (blinds 2k/4k) with KJh and ran into AQc. The jack flopped but so did the ace, and I got no help after that. I finished in 32nd place, good for $660, which is good with me because I got in for only $8. I feel good about the way I played in that tourney and just wish I could've gotten some hands late, and not to mention that 55 taking down my 1010. But thats poker and it happens. Top 3 in that tournament were all over $20,000. I was close, and won't be giving up on it anytime soon. I'm gonna hit it big in one of these.



I'm going to try to get into these big tourneys alot more often now, as I feel I can play well enough to make a push at some good money. I always have fun playing tournaments and think they are a breath of fresh air as opposed to cash games that can get boring. Well, I gotta go. Time to get back to those "boring" cash games!