Mini-FTOPS Event 22

I played in a 6 max no-limit hold-em tournament today which yielded 8,858 runners when late registration ended. These online tournaments are just insane with the number of players they produce as well as the prize pools. The super stack tournaments have great structures starting with 250 bb’s & longer than usual levels, which eventually allows you to be quite patient to chip up methodically instead of creating a shove-fest after the first several hours. Today’s tournament was a mini-ftops event with a $22 dollar buy-in. The prize pool was guaranteed at $ 300,000, which even with the slightly top heavy pay outs, a deep run would yield a nice return on investment. A final table appearance is guaranteed at least $ 4,200 for 6th place & 1st is paying slightly above $ 32,000. The biggest task ahead is attempting to fade a donkey infested field & invest somewhere in the range of 4 hours to at least to make the money. This is usually quite a daunting task, but with the structure being so deep it is quite attainable.

Obviously playing 6 max will dramatically change the initial table dynamics in a tournament as compared to full ring. Starting with fewer players initially will leave more unknown cards in the deck thus making drawing hands less difficult to play as compared to pocket pairs. In the early stages of these types of tournaments, I attempt to set my table image as well as try to gather as much information on the players as I can. I generally play very tight aggressive which ultimately allows me to make moves in critical positions that help me methodically chip up, kind of a small ball approach.

First significant hand comes in level 12. The blinds are 140/280/25 & I look down at KK in the big blind. Sitting at an aggressive table I guess you can’t ask for a better spot to pick to increase your stack. With an aggressive Russian behind me, I am almost certain to be facing a pre-flop raise here & I intend on flatting it unless we are in a multi-way pot. I have 7,460 behind & I get my wish when the ultra aggressive Russian donkey on the button (OTB) raises the pot to 840 with 9,360 behind. The small blind folds, I flat his pre-flop raise & we see a flop of 8-7-3 rainbow. This is a great flop for me & out of position with the over-pair I decide to check with the intention of re-raising if the villain took a stab at the pot, he decides to check behind. At this point I am putting my opponent on something like AK-AJ or maybe a medium pair. The turn comes a 6 of spades, which puts two spades on the board. I can’t check any longer & decide to lead out for 750 into a pot of 1995, which is just under a third of the pot. The villain decides to flat the bet on the turn seemingly looking for what could be at best a 3 outer for the ace or maybe only a 2 outer to hit his under-pair. The river produces a J of diamonds, another blank in my mind & at this point we have a pretty sizable pot of 3495 in which I decide to make a value bet on the river of 1400. If my read is somewhat close, I think that this bet will pay me off & take this donkey to value town. The villain thinks for a moment then folds & I take down a pretty nice pot of just under 3500 which at this stage is just over 14 big blinds. I now have just over 9,600 which is equivalent to just over 34 big blinds.

I continue along with a healthy stack & continue to pick up the blinds & antes a little bit over once an orbit as well as take in a few small pots. Then a few levels later I reach a pivotal point in the tournament for me in level 14. The blinds are 200/400/50 with levels lasting 12 minutes. I have 10,700 behind & on the button look down at QJxx. This is not particularly a monster but versus this tables range it looks like pocket aces. The action folds around to me on the button I make it 950 to go. This is a play that I believe works more than 50% of the time that will take down blinds & antes provided that the big blind does not wake up with a hand. Very rarely will you face a 3 bet in this situation at this level of play. The small blind folds & the big blind quickly flats my raise. We see a flop of K-J-7 rainbow. The villain pre-flop had about 7,000 after posting his bb. Out of position he checks the flop to me & I decide to check behind to maintain control of the pot. The turn comes out a 6 of diamonds, putting two diamonds out there. I decide to lead out for 1,300 & the villain insta-ships his remaining stack of almost 7,000. Now I know this guy could just be spewing his stack away with something very marginal like K8 or could have had me crushed with something like two pair or QQ/AK. I think for a second,& then fold because I am not at the stage to risk that many chips on such a marginal hand.

I still have a healthy stack of 8,450 & will live to fight another day. So the blind levels are increasing & I feel comfortable with my style of play so far. Then I go absolutely card dead & several huge aggressive euro donkeys’ get moved to the table, with the largest stack to my immediate left. Every time I raised I got 4x over the top 3 betted & would eventually lead to my ultimate demise. My stack wasn’t large enough to 4 bet him, so I would continue to get blinded down until I was AIPF on my big blind in level 17. The blinds were 400/800/100. I am in the big blind, AIPF with AJxx. The table folds around to the small blind & he calls with 87xx. The great news is I have the best hand with ace high & we both have spades. The board runs out Q-5-2-8-K, & I am out in 1614th place. I know I made a few mistakes, but this is just getting to the point of being so sick that I cannot even explain. I know I will live to fight another day, but I have to get back to playing live poker. This internet shit is going to cause me to die from either a stroke or heart-attack. I will keep my head up though & keep grinding.