Getting Hammered in the MATH

Well, that was fun on Monday night, huh? Anybody watching me in the latest Mondays at the Hoy tournament on full tilt was treated to an explosion of activity from me, as perhaps the most avid 6-max player of our group, and I was all over the place in that tournament. For all eight minutes I survived. I won a couple of big pots with marginal hands by laying reads and eliciting the right amount of chips with them. I also lost one big pot when my A6 lost to AK on an AAx board, a hand in which I contend I lost the absolute minimum so I don't think I played too badly in that setup of a hand. And then this hand happened. I think I'll just let you watch the screenshots play out rather than describe my domination in all pompous detail (for a change):













MMMMmmmmm. Is that delicious or what? For those keeping score at home, that is an 82% favorite when the money got in on the flop. Gotta love that on a great chance to double up early in the first round of a 6max tournament. I have to admit that getting beat down on by the hammer is quite an honorable feat, especially to bust fittingly in exactly 72nd place out of 78 runners in the Hoy, but damn was this hammer misplayed across the board to eventually suck out on me. Now of course it is hard for me sometimes to internalize that other players have not worked out the nuances of playing the hammer like I have -- it is my blog address after all -- but in this case I feel on solid ground with my critique of the hammer play here. First, my opponent open-raised the 40-chip big blind preflop to 140. Clearly the right move with the hammer. But, I reraised him to 460 with my pocket Kings, pretty much an automatic move, and here was my opponent's mistake #1. When you get reraised to a still small amount preflop with the hammer, you really only have two reasonable options: reraise allin, or fold. Smooth calling a reraise with the hammer is, to put it bluntly, god dam moronic as a rule, because it is after all the single worst hand in poker. I think it's fine to see a flop with the hammer if you did it making the last raise preflop, but otherwise a significant part of playing the hammer effectively is knowing when to lay it down. Remember, the point is not to lose with the hammer, but rather to win with it, which is generally only accomplished with the worst hand in poker without seeing a flop or at most by moving allin and eliciting a fold on the flop.

Then, to add insult to injury, I checked to my opponent on the flop with what I was sure was the best hand, he bet the size of the pot, and that's when I put him allin. In the future, please note that, if forced to see a flop with the hammer, then you pretty much either have to move allin or fold once again after the flop. This is all the more true when you hit a small piece of the flop like my opponent's pair of 7s in this hand. Betting half your stack, and then insta-calling for the rest when you get reraised allin and all you have is middle pair of 7s and worst kicker, that is just reckless abandonment of your tournament entry fees. But of course in this case, he insta-called, thereby ensuring that he would suck out on me, which he did in quick fashion on the turn and IGH in 72nd place. GG me.

Congratulations to Kajagugu for taking down this week's MATH tournament, and to the rest of the cashers in this week's event as follows:

8th place: cmitch $65.62, after starting the final table in 2nd or 3rd chip position coming in.
7th place: kevin_with_AK $65.62.
6th place: -o-LuckTruck-o- $102.96
5th place: twoblackaces $149.76
4th place: surflexus $205.92
3rd place: riggstad $271.44
2nd place: Numbbono $393.12, after starting the final ten players as the short stack, and
1st place Kajagugu $617.76, who also entered the final 10 with one of the smallest stacks at the table before rallying to win it all.

And here is the updated 2007 MATH moneyboard, including the results of this week's tournament:

1. Bayne_s $1400
2. Columbo $1362
3. Hoyazo $1162
4. RaisingCayne $1110
5. cmitch $840
6. Astin $793
7. Pirate Wes $792
8. VinNay $775
9. Kajagugu $761
10. Iggy $745
11. NewinNov $677
12. Fuel55 $666
13. Lucko21 $665
14. Waffles $650
15. IslandBum1 $642
16. XxMagiciaNxX $630
16. JJ $630
18. Surflexus $608
19. Tripjax $561
20. Buddydank $553
21. Numbbono $549
22. swimmom95 $545
23. Gary Cox $518
24. Byron $510
25. Julius Goat $507
26. bartonf $492
26. mtnrider81 $492
28. PokerBrian322 $490
29. riggstad $487
30. Chad $485
31. wormmsu $475
32. scots_chris $474
33. Emptyman $461
34. Mike_Maloney $456
35. RecessRampage $434
36. Otis $429
37. twoblackaces $426
38. Miami Don $402
39. Zeem $389
40. Joe Speaker $384
41. jeciimd $382
41. Jordan $382
43. Blinders $379
44. leftylu $374
45. lightning36 $371
46. ChapelncHill $353
47. LJ $326
48. OMGitsPokerFool $324
49. oossuuu754 $312
50. Wigginx $288
51. ScottMc $282
52. Fishy McDonk $277
53. actyper $276
54. Irongirl $252
54. Manik79 $252
56. Wippy1313 $248
57. Easycure $244
58. Garthmeister $216
58. wwonka69 $216
60. Omega_man_99 $210
61. katiemother $209
62. Pushmonkey72 $208
63. Thepokergrind $198
64. StatikKling $180
65. 23Skidoo $176
66. Santa Clauss $170
67. jimdniacc $166
68. Iakaris $162
68. Smokkee $162
70. Daddy $157
71. cemfredmd $156
71. NumbBono $156
73. lester000 $147
74. Heffmike $145
75. brdweb $143
76. Mookie $137
76. DDionysus $137
78. Patchmaster $135
79. InstantTragedy $129
80. NinaW $120
81. UnTiltable $118
82. Ganton516 $114
83. Fluxer $110
84. -o-LuckTruck-o- $103
85. hoops15mt $95
86. Gracie $94
86. Scurvydog $94
88. Shag0103 $84
89. crazdgamer $82
90. PhinCity $80
91. Presidentdave $79
92. maf212 $78
93. Alceste $71
93. dbirider $71
95. kevin-with-AK $66
96. Rake Feeder $53

So there it is. Two new entrants this week into the yearly moneyboard for the Hoy, and two players moving around in the top ten of the list, with cmitch inching higher with his 8th place finish, and Kaja powering ahead into the bottom of the top 10 with his huge win on the night. Congratulations again out to all of our cashers this week in the Hoy, and especially to Kaja for winning the 8th seat in the BBTwo Aussie Millions Tournament of Champions.

Next stop? The Mookie on Wednesday evening. Until then, Tuesday night will be all about the FTOPS satellites, in particular for the PLO8 event, for Event #8 the 1k buyin nlh tournament, and of course some cash games where I can keep getting sucked out at the river by a 3-outer for a $777 pot. Good times.