Faceoff With a Pro, and $T Decisions

The suckouts continue to dog me fast and furious on full tilt, as I have managed to amass large stacks early in most of the mtt's I have run over the past week, only to find a way to get beat by a 2- or 3-outer somewhere just short of the money in most of the opportunities I have had of late to post another big score. Thankfully somehow I have remained profitable over the past week or two nonetheless, thanks to some more nice $T hits as well as a successful run at the O8 1-2 pot limit cash tables on full tilt.

Other than the cash play, my most exciting story of the weekend was probably winning one of these $75 buyin supersats to the Sunday night $535 buyin satellite to the 25k PLO heads-up tournament full tilt is running. Unlike the $26 buyin variety, of which I have played a few as well to a little bit of success and which are limited to 32 runners, the $75 buyins are not surprisingly a much better deal in that the players are only limited to 8. Thus, the formula is simple: win three heads-up PLO matches, and you've got your 535 bucks.

Making this one more fun for me over the weekend was the list of players, which included out of my seven opponents two guys whom I already had marked as uber fonkeys from my Omaha cash play, plus red FTP pro Chip Jett, a guy who I've seen on tv from time to time. My first heads-up match was against a guy I did not know, and I dispatched him in 19 hands when he refused to bet the pot on the turn in a spot where I had a large draw to a set, top two pair, a straight and a flush. When my somewhat obvious flush draw filled on the river, I made a large pot-sized bet and the guy simply could not lay down his turned straight. Fast forward a couple of nasty chat comments later (and some goading from me, natch), and I was on to waiting for my second opponent. At the time only Chip Jett's match was still running, with Chip on the ropes with under 900 chips to his opponent's 2100+.

Well it wasn't maybe ten minutes later when Chip Jett showed up a my second opponent. I guess he had come back quick and won, something that frankly is just not that uncommon in a game like Omaha where there are so many big draws and so many come-from-behind victories. It's always exciting to have a shot at a professional in a heads-up context, and frankly I have always thought this is one of the very best aspects of playing on full tilt. Chip is a player with $1.9 million in lifetime tournament winnings according to full tilt and 33 major tournament final tables, so I figured I was gonna have some fun with this one. And a fun time I did have.

For all seven hands the match lasted.

Hand 1 saw me raise before the flop to 90 and Chip fold:



In Hand 2 I checked preflop and then bet the flop with an oesd after Chip checked there too, also taking down a small pot and preserving my early chip lead (pun intended, what the heck):



Hand 3 was my first loss of the match when I called Chip's raise preflop with JJ66 rainbow, not a hand I love but in heads-up play I figured a good shot to make a winning set. We both checked after I whiffed the flop, but then Chip bet the pot on the turn and I had to lay it down with too many possibilities that all beat me:



With Chip and I basically even once again after three hands, Hand 4 saw me reverse what Chip did with me in Hand 3, as I raised preflop with a pair of Queens in my hand, Chip called, and then I bet pot on the flop with the overpair plus a Queen-high flush draw. Chip folded and I won 180 chips back:



I called a minraise from Chip to see the flop in Hand #5 with a soooted Ace, but had to fold to Chip's c-bet when I essentially whiffed:



In Hand 6, I once again raised preflop with KKxx in my hand, Chip called, and annoyingly an Ace flopped. Thankfully Chip checked with me on the flop, and the turn filled my inside straight, giving me the current nuts plus the nut flush draw with one of my Kings. I bet 540 chips, the full pot, and Chip called. Unfortunately the board paired on the end, and when I pushed 'em in, Chip folded pretty quick. I'm sure he had an Ace in his hand but I didn't get to see since he folded to my turn bet:



When Hand #7 started, I was already up in chips about 1850 to 1150 and obviously I want to eliminate a professional player with lots of tournament success as quickly as I can. I was dealt AKJ9 with the J9 soooted in diamonds, and I figured this hand was worth calling a preflop raise from Chip just based on high-card strength and nut straight possibilities alone. The flop came K64 with two diamonds, giving me top pair and the 3rd-nut flush draw, which I figure has to be a good flush in heads-up play. Chip bet out about half the size of the pot, and I went for the pot-sized raise, thinking I was probably ahead or at least very close. Chip re-reraised me allin, and I suddenly figured my top pair and/or 3rd-nut flush draw were likely no longer best, but for only another half of the current pot and with a chance to eliminate a tough player like this, there was no way I was laying down there. We flipped up our cards:



Where Chip surprised me holding just the overpair Aces plus a 6 for an alternative second pair. His pair of Aces was currently head, but with two cards to come, I had a ton of outs to my flush, to trip Kings or to Kings-over that did not hit Chip's hand to give him Aces-over. I had so many outs in fact, that I was actually a decent favorite, making this a great spot for me to call Chip's final half-pot reraise, again especially getting in at almost 60-40 to eliminate a guy with nearly $2 million in tournament winnings.



As you can see from the final screenshot above, I hit the Queen of diamonds on the turn to make my flush, and I had eliminated Chip Jett from the supersat, advancing to the final heads-up match where the winner would take down the $535 seat, and the loser would grab the booby prize of 17 whole dollars. I was overjoyed to see that my hu opponent in the final match was a guy I already had noted from a previous mtt satellite as calling with anything. The specific thing I had noted in this event was him calling me down with 3rd pair shit kicker on the river in a holdem match, after I had checked just one time in the hand. Now that right there is a great example of how some good notes can really work for you, in that this gave me a great plan to just bet my good hands and whenever else I thought I was ahead on the assumption that this guy was going to call call call. And that's exactly what he did. It took me 13 hands, which saw me get out to the early lead after he twice called my pot-bets on the flop only to fold on the turn. Eventually I won the match by hitting a flush on river when he had turned an inside straight with 54xx in his hand when I happened to be holding a 5 too, which made me think it less likely that a heads-up opponent would also hold one of the other three fives in the deck. So my read that he was bluffing was wrong, but I still had 9 outs to flush him plus three outs to make a higher straight, and as I mentioned I spiked the heart at the river to take it all down:



Blooooom! And then the best decision I made the entire tournament through I think came right after this, when I considered for maybe less than a minute before unregistering immediately for the actual $535 satellite and just keeping the cash to play another day. Why play the best Omaha players in the world for $535, where the odds are exactly 1 in 50 of me winning a dam thing? Answer: I have no idea. So I quickly unregistered, pocketed the $535 and I say thank you to this guy, whose advice a long time ago on playing the weekly 1k on full tilt has alway stuck with me, and lord knows my roll has been noticeably better off for it.

Oh by the way, today we got our fucking house. The lease is signed, we have the keys, and we took the Hammer Girls up to see their new abode today, their new bedrooms, new backyard, and especially the awesome new porch, where we sat and ate bagel sandwiches for lunch together as we start the next chapter in the lives of the Hammer Family. All this a full three days before the lease on our current apartment of the past five years was set to expire. It's a kickass house in the 'burbs, and while I still have my trepidations about suburban life in general, it's not like I don't know if I can hack it. I spent years 4-18 of my life in suburban Philadelphia, and my wife in suburban DC, so I know how it goes. But it's a great place, far better than the one we were so trying to get for the past month, and it just goes to show what a little desperation and a lot of hard work can accomplish in a very short amount of time.

And my wife thought we wouldn't have time to find a good place. Pshaw!

Beatin' Down on the FTP Pros

Don't forget:



Another Monday, another 6-max nlh Mondays at the Hoy tournament on full tilt! As always, the virtual cards are in the virtual air at 10pm ET on full tilt, and the password is "hammer". One $26 buyin is all it takes to take a shot at winning a seat in the BBT3 Tournament of Champions coming up in a couple of months at the end of the Battle of the Blogger Tournaments 3. Although I may be a bit late as I am being taken out by a law firm we use quite a bit to see the Yankees open up a can of whoopass on the Rays tonight, when I am back I will be in it to win it.

Speaking of which, my plan going in to this weekend was to take it easy from poker, and to try to find a way to get my confidence and my A game back after a few weeks of playing largely like dog. I did a great job early in the weekend with the first part, only jumping in for maybe 15 minutes (and probably 20 rebuys) in the Friday night donkament, and not playing a lick on Saturday after full tilt miraculously went down right while the later final four game was going on. Barely playing any poker therefore over the weekend, when Hammer Wife went to sleep early on Sunday, I sat down to play some poker and to work on part II of my weekend goals -- getting my confidence back. I need to get back to how I was playing a month or two ago, I want to start building that roll once again, heck I even want to represent in the BBT3 for the existing active poker bloggers, who thus far are being outright outclassed and embarrassed by the field. And as I'm struggling to figure out what to play to get that confidence boost I really feel like I need, suddenly I see the perfect mark just sitting in a heads-up $110 turbo PLO sng, waiting to be preyed upon:



Yup. Scott Fischman. In the flesh (not really). In one fell swoop I can take down an FTP "pro" in a game I love to play for stakes that actually matter to me, and at the same time I can avenge all of my blogger brethren for the myriad sphincter rapings foisted upon us by Fisch a month ago in the first Big Game to kick off the BBT3. I had to go for it, and we sat down to play some pot-limit Omaha high, as I said one of my favorite games to play in a tournament format.

We traded small pots for the first few hands, but then early on I got myself into a real pickle by overplaying a hand I had no business pushing hard with at all after the flop. But giving Scott his credit, he played it in such a way to make me believe I was ahead every spot in which I bet in the hand. Scott has raised the 30-chip big blind to 90 preflop, which I called with a run of low cards, a possible flush and an Ace. It's obviously not a great hand but Fisch had been raising most hands before the flop so far and I know I can't just keep folding to his raises without seeing a heads-up flop all night. Anyways I flopped bottom two pair, I decided to bet out and he called. When the turn did not help me I checked and he checked behind, making me think my two pair was probably ahead. Then when the river came an Ace, now giving me top and 4th pair, I concluded from the previous action that I was likely ahead and that Fisch might call with a lower two pair, so I bet out the size of now sizable pot. He called with this:



and while you're at it, go look at what he called my flop potbet of 180 with. Wow, does he think this is the BBT3 or what? So just like that on that bad read by me I am down 2310 to 690. Blech.

I did manage to double from 480 chips to 960 a few hands later when Scott called my 2nd-nut straight at the end with 45 (the ass end of straight):



So now I remained down in chips, 2040 to 960. At this point in time I am still scrolling through the sng boards after having seen Fisch in there for PLO a few minutes earlier, and the next red pro I see seated is another $110 turbo -- my favorite stomping grounds these days for sngs -- and once again in Omaha, but this time the game was O8 and the pro was this guy's mortal enemy Lee Watkinson:



I figured, I'm already taking on one ftp pro here, why not make it two and try to really get some confidence back from these guys.

OK, so back to Fischman as I got off to a decent stack early in the O8 sng with Lee Watkinson. Within the next five minutes or so I had an almost exact repeat of the earlier hand where I once again made the second-nut straight on the river, I bet out the size of the pot for 240 chips and once again Fisch called, doubling me up again this time with top two pairs on the flop:



So now I was down only 1640 to 1360. Fighting back baybeee.

My first big hand occurred next, at the 30-60 level when I was dealt AAxx with one of the Aces sooted. I raised preflop, Fisch called and we saw a lovely lone Ace on the flop. I decided to mix things up a little bit against a known aggromonkey and checked behind on this non-scary flop -- not my usual move I know:



When the turn brought a non-threatening 4♥, Scott bet out the pot for 360 chips, likely taking the bait from my flop check, and I just smooth called after a short delay, figuring if I raise here he puts me on AA and folds on this not too scary board. On the river I just went for the allin and he folded, putting me up 1915 to 1085 chips for my first lead in the tournament.

A few hands later saw another very similar hand, as Fisch raised preflop and I called with TTxx double soooted, a fairly strong hand I would say in HU PLO. I mean, obviously you have to be careful with it because it's generally not making anywhere near the nuts, but it's a decent made hand for hu play and has some nice flush possibilities as well that are winners far more likely hu than they ever are in ring PLO play. So again I lucked out and flopped top set, and this time I again check-called the flop, hoping aggro Scott will commit on the turn here:



I checked again on the turn, which made a flush possible with the 9♥, and Scott checked behind, I think suspecting I had hit my flush after just calling his bet on the flop. So, I jumped out and put him allin on the river, playing upon the flush I figured he had me on, and he instafolded. In retrospect I'm not sure whether I should be happy about that outcome or not, but at the time I was very pleased with the play as it put me up 2425 to 575 and within striking distance of ending this thing.

After I doubled Scott up when he raised me preflop and I put him allin with my sooted Ace and middle pair but then lost to his higher Ace, I was up around 2100 to 900 chips once again when I once again flopped top set, and Fisch bet into me again on that flop:



Once again, I opted to pause briefly and then smooth call, hoping to take advantage of Scott's known aggro nature. The turn card brought an awesome Ace, and Scott bet out for 480 of his 670 remaining chips. He had 190 left, making both him and I obviously committed for his remaining chips if I call this bet, no questions asked and no thought needed. And yet, I decided to go for the smooth call just to be a dick, knowing he pushes blind and I call blind on any river:



Just to be a dick. Score one for the bloggers!!

I won the hand:



and then my favorite part of the story is this:



Which is Fischman insta-declining the rematch. I mean he didn't let that thing sit up there for 2 seconds before clicking on decline. It felt good, I have to say. I woulda taken him again too, and he knows it. Also, flopping top set three times in a 20-minute sng didn't hurt either.

OK so one ftp pro down, one more to go in the O8 sng with Omaha afficionado Lee Watkinson. As I mentioned I had gotten off to an early stack in this thing when I turned a boat and topped someone else's trips, and I was able to nurse that stack all the way down to the bubble fairly easily, until here is me eliminating 4th place on an obvious pot odds call for me out of the big blind vs. a shorty to get down to the top 3 cash spots in the sitngo, still alive along with Lee and some other guy.



I entered ITM leading the three of us in chips with around 5200 to 4500 (Lee Watkinson) to 3800 for the 3rd place guy. Shortly into 3-handed play, my computer crapped out and I had to restart, although I was able to quickly jump on to Hammer Wife's computer, where I had very thoughtfully loaded full tilt some time ago into a hidden folder that she does not even know exists. But, I do not like to use the screenshot facility on that pc, so no screenshots until picking up here shortly after I eliminated the 3rd place guy as well, leaving me heads-up against Lee Watkinson for the sng win, with me up in chips 8200 to 5300 or so:



Lee just kept raising before the flop every single time I limped from the big blind preflop, indiscriminately it seemed. It was quite obvious, and I was a bit surprised that he would play so predictably, but for the most part I folded to these raises. But his complete lack of discretion or thought about it made me chuckle inside. Just give me one hand lordy, just one hand! I kept thinking to myself. I countered by raising myself preflop with some far less than stellar hands, and then pot-betting allin on the flop to steal without regard to the cards in question, and I was able to hold my own and retain my decent chip lead for a good 5-7 minutes of heads-up play to end the sng.

Here I called Lees' allin on the flop with what I figured were 15 outs to the high half of the pot between my oesd and the flush draw. With the odds I was getting, this seemed to be a good call in this spot -- in PLO it would be easier but it complicates things in O8 a bit since I likely have to split half the pot if any low card falls on the turn or river. Any of you Omaha chuckleheads out there disagree with me calling here?



Anyways, I missed everything, and Lee won the high and the low with AA2x. I was now down to Lee 10,000 chips to 3500 chips. Great:



On the very next hand I got it allin preflop with A26x heads-up and still managed to only split the low end when I ran into another A2 and some better high cards. That sucked. I then went down 11,750 to 1750:



I pushed in on the very next hand for my last 1750 chips, and I managed to beat out a hand that had to be ahead of me here -- I had a pocket pair, but he held three overcards to my pair, a higher flush draw and a better low draw. Nonetheless, I was back to "only" being down 10k to 3500 in chips again:



At this point after sucking out a small loser to double back up to 3500 chips, I got real aggressive, and with the chip lead hu Lee got really passive, much moreso than I think he should have. He folded two hands to me preflop in the next several, and folded as well to my preflop raises two other times when I held KJTx with three spades, and 78TT with three suits. I gradually fought my way back to nearly even in this way, mostly due to Lee's pussyness in not playing hands and not calling preflop raises without premium-looking cards with the chip lead. Eventually, I guess this got to Lee in some way, as out of the blue he started making what I thought were some very questionable plays.

Here is Lee Watkinson calling an allin preflop reraise from me for half his chip-leading stack with what?



QJT7 rainbow? What did I miss here? Did we suddenly switch to playing PLO? No, that can't be it because this would be a drivel call in that game as well. But in O8 it is near disaster. I'm still trying to figure out what happened there, but in any event I was suddenly back up 9800 to 3700 chips.

Just three hands later, perhaps still thinking about that redonkulous allin call by Lee, here I reraised him allin preflop with a pretty shiatty hand. I figured Lee was raising with literal shit before the flop, that we had already ascertained, but obviously I was wrong as he called with a strong hand, and won:



Bad play by me. Dammit. And just like that I am down 9400 to 4100 in chips again. Dammit. Did I say that already?

Five hands later, I am still down 8400 to 5100 in chips, and then Lee gets caught again making a move that I just don't understand. He has a nice chip lead, and he raises preflop, which I reraise allin for just another 1500 more chips:



and pot odds I guess dictate that Lee "has" to call with?



K964 with three suits, the only sooted pair being the 6-4. Wow. My better hand ends up making a boat and I am now once again up 10,200 to 3300. Wheeeeeeeeee!

On the very next hand, Lee moves it allin preflop and I am faced with this decision, knowing that if I fold, I am still up 9000 to 4500, and if I call and lose, we will basically be right back to even:



What would you Omadorks do here? I can make a low, albeit not a strong one, and I also have some decent straight possibilities plus the heart flush draw. But to be honest, I basically put Lee on any four cards here, as he had been raising quite a bit whenever he was behind, and he had just lost that big pot to drop him down to a more than a 3-to-1 chip deficit, leaving him with less than three big blinds. So my hand was not particularly strong either way, but it was 2100 to me to call into a 4500-chip pot, and in the end I was getting more than 2 to 1 for a hand that I figured had to be much better than 33% to win, so I made the call.

I made a straight on the turn to beat his KKxx with no suits:



And I took down the sng, including the $497 first prize!

So, from a confidence perspective, this was good weekend and Sunday was a strong night for me, probably the best from this point of view in a few weeks for me. Now what can I do with this new-found confidence? Well, for starters like I said I will probably be arriving late, but you can look for me at the MATH tonight to see if I have bounced back at all as a result of beating down on the full tilt pros over the weekend. I have definitely been playing more 6-max these days as I mentioned last week in preparation for a possible 6-max run in the WSOP in June, and I am feeling quite comfortable with it, so you never know. Hopefully I can keep the ball rolling and continue to build on this confidence boost from here.