Saturday $300

Just saw X-Men movie with the kid after his baseball game and I played one tournament today which was the $300 and I got 4th for $9900. Here are a few hands from deep in the tourney with some explanation.

This first hand I am in the blinds with a crappy holding but I have control of the table and noone is willing to mess with me b/c I have them all covered. When you have an edge over you're opponents you need to exploit it. The opener in this hand was opening a high frequency and I wanted him off of my blinds. When I 3 bet him I assumed he would just fold instead of getting tangled with me but when he called I put him on a middle pair or KQ and QJ JT type hands. He would 've 4 bet shipped AK + TT so I wasn't worried about him trapping whatsoever.

Dealt to Sooners [8s 6s]
yanks1989: folds
xxxALBxxx: raises 3200 to 5200
Supa4real: folds
Sooners: raises 8800 to 14000
Exitonly4: folds
xxxALBxxx: calls 8800
*** FLOP *** [Qc 8c 6c]
Sooners: bets 12000
xxxALBxxx: raises 26000 to 38000
Sooners: calls 26000
*** TURN *** [Qc 8c 6c] [Ts]
Sooners: bets 101308 and is all-in
xxxALBxxx: calls 80835 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (20473) returned to Sooners
*** RIVER *** [Qc 8c 6c Ts] [Js]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Sooners: shows [8s 6s] (two pair, Eights and Sixes)
xxxALBxxx: shows [Qd Kc] (a pair of Queens)
Sooners said, "gg"
Sooners collected 268670 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 268670 | Rake 0
Board [Qc 8c 6c Ts Js]
Seat 1: Sooners (small blind) showed [8s 6s] and won (268670) with two pair, Eights and Sixes
Seat 5: Exitonly4 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: yanks1989 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: xxxALBxxx showed [Qd Kc] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 8: Supa4real (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)


I was going to C-Bet any flop other than 9TJ, TJQ, JKQ flops and I would figure to take down most flops vs this guy. So I flop bottom 2 pair on an all flush board and fire out. When he raised me I immediately limited him to KQ and QJ with a club. If he didn't hold a club he most likely would have shipped it instead of just raising me. I have two options here, I can ship it now and take a flip or I can see the turn and get it in as 65% favorite if he misses the turn. If I check fold the turn if a club or Q hits I still have plenty of chips. So a blank rolls off on the turn and I know he doesn't have QT ( only hand he has that hurts me there is T Tc) He tanks for a good 30 seconds and calls and misses the river and I held a big lead at this point.

This 2nd hand is a little trickier and most people are too afraid to pull it off. They will either say that it is unnecessary or spewy or whatever when u lose but I have become less and less results oriented over time. Brandon Cantu made a move like this deep in the WSOP that maybe cost him millions but I am positive he accumulated a lot of chips playing like this and I know I do. So here we go. Everything in poker is situational and most people see a T4 and just hit auto fold button and for most people that is correct but not always.

Dealt to Sooners [4c Th]
Roberts34: folds
Exitonly4: folds
yanks1989: raises 3700 to 6200
IMAX 81: folds
Supa4real: folds
lousycards: folds
Sooners: raises 11300 to 17500
glfrgmblr: folds
pokerbrat13 is connected
pokerbrat13: folds
yanks1989: calls 11300
*** FLOP *** [8h Ks 2d]
yanks1989: checks
Sooners: bets 22500
yanks1989: calls 22500
*** TURN *** [8h Ks 2d] [5d]
yanks1989: checks
Sooners: bets 55000 ( FIRE THE 2ND BULLET FFS!!!!!!!)
yanks1989: folds
Uncalled bet (55000) returned to Sooners
Sooners collected 86000 from pot
Sooners: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 86000 | Rake 0
Board [8h Ks 2d 5d]
Seat 1: Sooners (button) collected (86000)
Seat 2: glfrgmblr (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: pokerbrat13 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Roberts34 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Exitonly4 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: yanks1989 folded on the Turn
Seat 7: IMAX 81 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Supa4real folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: lousycards folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Before this hand was even dealt I knew I was going to 3 bet Yanks the next time he opened. I was the only one at table who had him covered and as always the payouts are extremely top heavy and it just behooves the person in 2nd place to usually stay out of the Chip Leaders way.
When I 3 bet him I had a plan and you always have to have a plan. Obviously I made my 3 bet amount size to show strength but there are a lot of hands I can 3 bet fold so it's not that big a deal. When he just flats me pre flop out of position he's toast. I found out later that he held TT in the hand so basically he has 1 card in the deck where he continues the hand and I have every other card. Always nice when you're opponent is a 95% favorite to win and you just outplay them and the cards don't even matter. When the flop arrived with a King I was thrilled, as that card fits into so much of a 3 betting range. Then he check calls and I know he is weak. I end up gaining >40k on a hand that is complete trash; furthermore he is going to open less likely with me behind him and my image gets that much stronger.



Here is a 3rd and final hand.

Dealt to Sooners [Jh Jd]
glfrgmblr: folds
pokerbrat13: folds
Exitonly4: raises 4500 to 7500
yanks1989: raises 11700 to 19200
IMAX 81: folds
Supa4real: folds
Sooners: raises 200782 to 219982 and is all-in
Exitonly4: folds
yanks1989: folds
Uncalled bet (200782) returned to Sooners
Sooners collected 49500 from pot
Sooners: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 49500 | Rake 0
Seat 1: Sooners (big blind) collected (49500)
Seat 2: glfrgmblr folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: pokerbrat13 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Exitonly4 folded before Flop
Seat 6: yanks1989 folded before Flop
Seat 7: IMAX 81 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Supa4real (small blind) folded before Flop


We are 7 handed at this time and it reminds me of a hand that I discussed with a few friends at the Venetian a couple weeks back. Different good players have different ways of playing hands but I have a certain friend who is just way too nitty. In this upcoming hand my friend would 've just flatted out of position pre or 4 bet to 45k and I think both are ridiculous, especially the 4 bet. The only way I would flat here is if the 3 bettor was extremely tight or the opener but the problem there is that I'm losing a ton of value from a gr8 hand 7 handed. By shipping it I take $32000 or so and add that to my 170k stack which is almost a 20% increase. Just as in the prev hand where I 3 bet T4 you do not want to call 3 bets out of position versus aggressive players as it is a recipe for disaster more often than not. If I happen to run into AK then so be it but they are going to fold AQ almost every time, KQ almost everytime and AJ and KJ probably everytime.


You always here people talking about 'losing a flip' or getting unlucky and the best way to not get unlucky is to build your stack without a showdown. I know it sounds easier than it is but when I have my best tournaments I normally have very little showdowns and held crappy cards the whole tournament.

I hope this helps a few of you who are always asking me how I build stacks in tournaments and are asking me if I just catch good cards. If it were only that easy :)

Russ