Tuesday 19 March 2013

March MTT Heater

The main reason for this post is to go through some exciting tournaments I've played this month but before I do that, I want to share my experience of the PokerStars 95th billion hand milestone promotion.

Leading up to the 95th billion hand, I never really had much interest in trying to win any of the milestone hands. I'm not sure exactly why but while the promotion was running, my urge to play poker diminished and the thought of playing just put me off completely. This way of thinking changed near the end though, the thought of winning $10K (or $20K+ if I won the hand) made me change my tune.

I gradually added more and more tables as the time drew nearer. I went from comfortably playing 12 tables to semi-comfortably playing 15 tables.


and then on the next day, as the 95th billion hand was approaching, all the way up to the maximum allowed! 24 tables! This was the first time ever that I'd played on that many tables at the same time. I seriously couldn't keep up with that many, I really don't know how nanonoko does it.


Anyway, I just wanted to share my first experience of multitabling 24 PLO tables with y'all. So on to the main topic of this post!

It seems that I was correct in my assumption that the big bucks are to be made in tournaments. I've complied a list of all of the poker tournaments that I've played this month and I must say I'm impressed with the results. (Click On The Image To Enlarge)



Before this month, my biggest cash was $48 in a $2.20 8-game MTT I won on Pokerstars. I topped that this month by winning a $1.10 Rush On Demand for $98, then 6 days later I won $130 in a No Limit Omaha hi-lo tournament and then that was followed by a 4th place finish in a Turbo $2.20 tournament for $166. The total Return On Investment (ROI) for these past 2 weeks was 831%!

I'll run through some of the tournaments I played in:

$1.10 Multi-Rush OD

I came into the FT as 2nd in chips, I was feeling confident and happy with how I'd been playing throughout this tournament.


After a couple of orbits, my stack is cut down to 70,000~ in chips after I bricked on my flush + gut shot straight draw. I slid down to 4th in chips with 9 players left.

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A few hands later, I'm in the big blind (~14BB) with A2o and the cut off shoves for 12,000~. The button folds and the small blind just calls, its an easy call for only about 7,000~ more after posting my BB of 5,000 and so I do but I had 2 options:

1) I could shove on the SB and isolate the cut-off but the SB had already invested ~21% of his stack. I don't think I had enough fold equity to justify a shove in that spot.
2) I could call and check it down, hoping that my hand holds up to try and eliminate the cut-off shover.
I chose the latter more cautious option as the board ran out 6c5cKc Td Ad, SB showed KJo for a pair of kings, CO showed 97o and I won with a pair of rivered aces.

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With 8 players left an interesting hand came up. I'm now 2nd in chips with 19BB and I pick up 77 in the cut off position. The UTG (10BB) player limped in and a middle position player shoved all in for ~13BB. This is a pretty tricky spot to be in, I had to really think about the hand.

1) UTG's limp was really suspicious. I'd seen him raise all in with ~4BB with JTo and he was capable of making normal raises preflop which didn't get contested, so why limp now???
2) The middle position shover had been pretty active recently sometimes raising to 2xBB or 2.5xBB but this was the first time he'd gone all in preflop. I was trying to decide whether he had adjusted his hand range to compensate for the UTG's limp range and if so, what hands would he be shoving with? or did he just see it as a chance to get an extra BB? I really didn't know what to think.

According to the book 'Kill Everyone' with the opponent shoving ~5CSI (or M) from middle position, I should be calling with about the top ~10% of hands i.e. 55+, ATo+, A9s+ and KQs+. So if I followed the book, I should call. I think most of the time, he would show up with 99/TT/JJ. The best case scenario is that I'm in a race against 2 over cards and that UTG didn't do the whole limp preflop with a monster routine. If I lost the hand, I would be down to 6BB. I decided to wait for a better spot and fold my hand, so did the UTG limper.

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After the blinds increased, we're still 8-handed and I'm 3rd in chips with ~13BB. I pick up 99 on the button and the action is folded around to me. The SB has ~7BB and the BB has ~10BB. In this spot, I like to open shove to maximise fold equity and to avoid any ugly stop-and-go situations such as where you raise to 2.5xBB, the BB calls and open shoves on a board of AKJ.

So, I go all in and the SB called with KJo. The board ran out 2d5c6s 4s 4h and I won a nice 94,000 pot and eliminated another player.

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My ~17BB stack withered down to about 15B when this hand came up:


I pick up A2o on the button and UTG min raised. I most likely have the best hand right now 5 handed but with 2 super short stacks still around, ICM effects come into play and this is an easy fold.

The chip leader knocks out 2 players and we're down to 3 handed.

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 3-handed play lasted for 5 hands when the short stack shoved over the chip leader's min raise. The short stack showed KQo and the chip leader showed A5o. The board ran out 9hJs9s Jh 2d, the short stack busted and we're now heads up.

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 I had 94,246 in chips and my opponent had 495,254 in chips with the blinds at 8,000 and 4,000. On the 1st hand, I picked up K4o on the button and decide to open shove. My opponent quickly calls with Q9o and the board ran out JhKc4d 4c 9c and I won with my full house, closing the gap.

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We went back and forth for awhile trading blinds when this hand came up. I min-raised Qd7h on the button and my opponent called. The flop came 5d 9s Ks, my opponent checked and I checked behind. The turn was the 6s (putting 3 to a flush on board and completing a 78) and my opponent checked. I took a stab at the pot with my gut shot straight draw with a bet of 16,000 into 34,000 and my opponent called. The river was the 8h and my opponent checked again, I made my straight and bet 32,000 into the 66,000 pot and my opponent called with As6h.

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A couple of hands later, I took a similar line with another hand. I min raised on the button with Ah6h and my opponent called. The flop came down Tc Ad 2d, my opponent checked and I checked back with my top pair, weak kicker. The turn came Jd (again bringing in a 3 flush and completing the KQ) and I bet out 16,000 into the 34,000 pot and my opponent called. The river was the 5h, my opponent checks and I bet 24,000 into the 66,000 pot and my opponent called with Jh6d and mucked. With that pot, I'd taken over the chip lead.

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My opponent changed up his play for 1 hand making it 3xBB instead of 2xBB preflop. Luckily, I picked up JJ and decided to jam over his open. That was the last time he opened to 3xBB, I also open shoved the very next hand when I picked up AJo. I wanted to give him the impression that I was trying to run him over, especially after he saw me shove preflop with K4o.

He resorted to limping on the button, which to be honest, I didn't mind too much as I got a see a free flop with my 83s.

On the last hand, I picked up 55 and my opponent min raised on the button. I shove over his open and he snap called with T9s. Wow, really? T9s?? I was in disbelief with his snap call and even more in disbelief when the flop came down Kh 7d 9c to give my opponent a pair of 9s. Ah well, Turn As....GG....River 5d! Boom! annnnnd I won with my set of 5s.



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No Limit 2-7 Triple Draw $150 Guarantee

I'd been practicing for this tournament by playing 10NL27TD ring games. I had been doing really well recently and I even managed to run one session up by 5 buy-ins. I was clearly the favourite going into the final table.


I'd knocked out the 5th place finisher by slow playing the made wheel on 2nd draw and raising when we both stood pat on 3rd. My opponent called with 876.

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When we got down to being 4 handed, I lost a medium sized pot by drawing against a pat hand with my 2347X and bricking on 2nd and 3rd draw. I got pushed back to 2nd in chips with 55,000~ when this hand came up to knock me out.


I drew 1 and made the nut 8 and my opponent drew 2. After he drew 2, I knew that I was a huge favourite over his hand with my pat 854. Unfortunately, he coolered me by drawing perfect-perfect to make a 765.

Theres nothing I can do about it really as I don't ever see myself folding in that spot against him. Time to move on to the next game.



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 No Limit Omaha hi-lo $400 Guarantee (Rush)

This was a pretty exciting tournament. I applied the knowledge that I'd learned from the book 'Kill Everyone' to No-Limit Omaha Hi-lo (NLO8) and it worked wonders. Alot of the players leading up to the final table were pretty timid and wouldn't tend to call an all in preflop. I stole quite a few blinds and came into the FT as 3rd in chips.


There were a mix of players at the final table. Some preferred to limp in to see flops, while others regardless of their stack would shove all in preflop. My tactic for this final table was to play it just like I would a turbo NLH MTT. If the big stacks folded, I would play aggressively against the shorties to apply maximum pressure but if the big stacks were still in, I would raise preflop and try to outplay them postflop.

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I got some good info when one of the larger stacks shoved over a raise and a call preflop and got called by one of the medium stacks. The chip leader showed Ac8dJsQc and the preflop caller showed Ah3s5s7s. The board ran out Kh9s3d Tc Qs and the big stack won with the nut straight.

I now knew how wide the chip leader was shoving so I made a note of it.

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We got down to 4-handed play and the action hadn't let up. Somebody was all in on almost every hand! I'm on the BB with As5s6sJh and the very active SB shoved into me. If it was anybody else, I would've folded but given that I didn't think he knew about NLO8 hand ranges, I decided that this hand was good enough to make the call. The SB showed 4s6d7hTh and the board ran out 3s8s9h Qs 2h and I scooped the much needed pot with my nut flush and 8532A low.

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Another player busted and we were down to 3. I had been doing my fair share of open shoving, mostly uncontested as were the other 2 players. There wouldn't be anymore chances to play postflop with these 2 other players and so I adjusted my game accordingly.

I picked up AhAs6s7s in the BB and the SB, once again shoves into me. I snap call and he showed KhKd2s3s and the board hand out 9c3c4c 2s 5s and I scooped the pot again with my 7 high straight and 6432A low. With that win, the SB was left crippled and I became 2nd in chips.

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Just 2 orbits later, I pick up Ac3d6sJs in the BB and the SB open shoves into me again. I snap call and he showed 2c5s8c9s and I was delighted when the board ran out 7s4h5d 8s 4d to give me a 7-high straight with the 7542A low to scoop the pot and bust the very active SB.

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Only 2 hands into heads up, my opponent asked me if I would like to deal.

If my opponent had been as active as he had been during 3 handed play, then I would imagine that HU would become one massive coin flip. So my options were either to:
1) Play on and flip for either $105 or $160
2) Take $130 now, while giving my opponent $134 and the win.
Against a more passive (non-shoving) opponent who I could easily outplay postflop, I wouldn't deal but this time, a deal made much more sense. I took the deal and so did the opponent and we both left happy.



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 $1,500 GP Speed R/A

To be honest, the only reason I played in this tournament was to bust my William Hill Poker account. I didn't have much left in it and I didn't think that I would ever deposit on it or play on it again.

I'm happy that I did though as I made a very deep run in this tournament. I'm just still pissed off with the last hand I played though as if I had folded that, I could've easily won the $400+ 1st prize.

As you could imagine with a turbo MTT, the play was very very fast. Lots of all ins and lots of action. This is a screencap of the last 2 tables and I have a decision to make with my AJo. I'm 2nd in chips of the tournament.

The UTG player raises, UTG+1 shoves and the cutoff player calls. You know the UTG player is going to call, so you have to call off 1/3 of your stack to try and eliminate 3 players with AJo which might or might not be dominated. Effectively 5 players are all in on both tables (out of 11) and the final table houses 9 players.

The UTG +1 player had been playing quite tight and the UTG player might be steaming a bit after they lost a big pot against me (My KK Vs their AKs preflop). I know what I did in this situation, but what do you do?


After that hand, we arrived at the final table. I was joint 4th in chips. A few hands into it, an early position player shoved all in for 15BB, the chip leader re-shoved over his open and a short stacker called.

EP: AJo
CL: KQo
SS: AKo
Board: 58Q 6 5

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and with that had, we went down to 6 handed. One more player busted and I become quite active, stealing quite a few blinds. I picked up A8s UTG and open shoved, the short stack in the SB called with Q6s and I won on the board of A4J8J.

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I picked up T4o in the SB, the BB had around the same size stack as me (~10BB) and was also the tightest player at the table. It was folded around to me in the SB and I was going to fold when I thought this was an excellent opportunity to pick up the BB and antes. I open shoved my ~10BB stack into the BB and he snap called with ATs. My hand was dominated and I couldn't find any help on the board of 75K 9 2 and just like that, I was out in 4th all due to 1 small mistake.


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One thing that I'd noticed by playing in all of these tournaments is that I never used my PT3 HUD. I would usually use it for PLO cash games but for some reason, it wasn't working. No matter though as I did things the old fashioned way by watching my opponents play and by making mental notes on them.

I'm also happy that I managed to make my biggest score on a site which I hardly ever play on as it makes it less likely that I was just boom switched on one site. I suppose, all of the reading and studying I'm doing is paying off :)

and before you go on thinking that I don't have my share of bad luck and negative variance, check out this hand I played on Pokerstars:

http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/2468911_839B356D57

98%+ to win and lose to runner runner (bigger) full house lol sickness~ Its the worst bad beat I've had in awhile, I think Poker Stars hates me.