MATH Update, and a Hand to Analyze

Well, last night's Hoy went as expected, with my plan to knock blogger tournament killer Fuel55 out before the final table working to a tee as everyone took their shots early and often, and most players refused to back down in the face of the man's truly unbridled aggression. In fact, just about the only guy whom I remember backing down to Fuel was me, and that was when I knew he was on a bluff (he showed JT with nothing but a straight draw on the turn after I folded), but I was on an even worse bluff with just 6-high and the low end of that same straight draw. Otherwise, people pushed Fuel hard, and the end result was Wigginx taking Fuel down shortly before final table play began, and indirectly preserving my continuing dominance atop the 2007 Hoy money leaderboard as a result (all part of my plan...heh heh). And congrats to Wigz for winning himself that $10 bounty for eliminating Mr. Fuel from the event, money very well spent as far as I'm concerned.

In the end it was Bayne once again taking a big chip lead into the Hoy bubble (4 players left), with Omega_man_99 and new Hoy player Santa Clauss both sitting on similar-sized stacks as well with 3 players remaining, but that quickly changed as Bayne lost a few pots and then Clauss eliminated the 4th place finisher (I think this was Byron in fact, after a sick, sick riverstars suckout as I recall) to take a nice-sized chip lead heading into the money positions. After a fairly short final 2 eliminations for a MATH tournament, in the end it was Bayne ending in third place for $68, Omega in 2nd for $102, and winning the Hoy in his first-ever appearance that I have seen was Santa Clauss, taking down $170 for his efforts. Congratulations to all of our cashers, in particular to Clauss for his first-ever Hoy win, as well as to Bayne for inching ever higher on the Hoy leaderboard. And speaking of which, here are the updated standings, which after Monday night now include exactly 20 players who have cashed to some degree in the Hoy through 10 weekly tournaments so far this year:

1. Hoyazo $472
2. Fuel55 $458
3. Bayne_s $410
4. VinNay $310
5. Wigginx $288
6. Manik79 $252
7. Omega_man_99 $210
8. bartonfa $180
9. Santa Clauss $170
10. Smokkee $162
11. Chad $120
11. Zeem $120
13. Ganton516 $114
14. Byron $108
15. NewinNov $90
16. Columbo $80
16. PhinCity $80
16. jeciimd $80
19. l.e.s.ter000 $72
20. Julius Goat $60

In other news, did everyone see that Iggy has a new uberpost up at his old digs at Guinness and Poker? Talk about back and better than ever. I have got to say, Iggy's latest is truly an uberpost just like old times. Go check it out if you haven't yet.

For my last item today, I want to pose a hand for you all to analyze. Someone whose game I respect very much analyzed this hand recently, and I would like to solicit your opinions as to whether you agree or disagree with his suggested approach. So here is the setup:

You're in a major nlh tournament, down to just 12 players remaining on two tables. Blinds are 2k-4k with a 500-chip ante. Of the six players at your table, the stacks are, starting from UTG and moving to the right: 100k, 200k, 140k, the button is 120k, the small blind is 80k, and you are sitting in the big blind with a 300k stack. The first three players fold, and then the button, a guy who you have observed stealing the blinds in the past, raises your big blind to 15k. The small blind folds. You look down to find J2s.

What's your move here? You're on the big stack at the table, and your cards are sooooted. And, you know the button could be stealing as you've seen him do it before. Are your starting cards combined with your stack size sufficient for you to play here? Do you fold, call or raise it up and try to re-steal the blinds and the button's raise right now? How would you play this hand?

I'll be back later with what this very respectable player advocated doing in this situation, as well as my thoughts, but since the two differ I would like to get everyone else's opinions first.

Wheatie tonight, 8:30pm ET on pokerstars. Password is "monkey" as always. Which also describes generally the play you will see in this thing for the most part. Yet for some reason I can't stop myself from playing in this tournament whenever I am free. Go figure.