Hero Callin’
First, the appetizer:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $8.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
SB ($780)
Hero (BB) ($2215.50)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 10
, 9
SB bets $24, Hero calls $16
Flop: ($48) 9
, 7, 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB checks
Turn: ($48) A (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $28, Hero calls $28
River: ($104) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $75, Hero calls $75
Total pot: $254 | Rake: $0.50
Results:
SB had 3
, 4 (high card, Ace).
Hero had 10, 9 (one pair, nines).
Outcome: Hero won $253.50
And now, the main course:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $8.00 BB (5 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG ($1338.90)
MP ($2520)
Button ($471.40)
Hero (SB) ($3060.10)
BB ($800)
Preflop: Hero is SB with K, K
UTG calls $8, MP bets $36, 1 fold, Hero raises to $136, 2 folds, MP calls $100
Flop: ($288) 8, 3, 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $199, MP raises to $468, Hero calls $269
Turn: ($1224) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $625, Hero calls $625
River: ($2474) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $1291 (All-In), Hero calls $1291
Total pot: $5056 | Rake: $3
Results:
Hero had K, K (one pair, Kings).
MP had Q, K (high card, King).
Outcome: Hero won $5053
Ship it.
Whoops…
I've been spending most of my time these last few weeks camping, most recently at an amazing site in Arches National Park, and emerging only occasionally to play poker and catch up with the outside world. Annoyingly, this means I'm often at the mercy of either a hotel internet connection or my Aircard, neither of which provides quite as good of an internet connection as one would like when one is playing poker for thousands of dollars. So today the Poker Stars lobby was running at a crawl and I was trying to register for some tournaments while playing other games at the same time. I selected the $200 Sunday Million and clicked OK... or so I thought.
Half an hour earlier than I was expecting, a window popped up with my table. "Welcome to the $2000+$100 single table PCA satellite" it read, or something to that effect. Whoops.
It was definitely too late to unregister through the Poker Stars client. I quickly surveyed my opponents. They were a who's who of high stakes sit-and-go sharks: Zangbezan, ActionJeff, busto_soon, stevie444, a few others recognized, and two I did not. Even the ones I recognized weren't necessarily soft spots. For all I know, they could have been fantastic sit-and-go specialists. I hate the things myself and haven't played them regularly for years. I was sure my proficiency with the proper and shoving and calling ranges was going to be rusty.
I vaguely remembered hearing about a $10 Sit-and-go player who accidentally registered for a $1000 but managed to sit out, e-mail support, and get his money refunded. I thought about trying something similar, but refunds are for wimps. To this day, I still judge a childhood friend of mine who asked for his money back when he misread his hand in a $5 pot at one of our high school home games.
No, that was out of the question. The only thing to do was take my lumps and tough it out. An hour and a half later, I had a $14,130 PCA Trip Package in my account. Ship it.
Can’t Keep a Good Man Down!
What is it with me losing three-way pre-flop all ins with Aces on the bubble of the final table of big Full Tilt tournaments? This is with 20 people left in the $300 6-max Saturday tournament.
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 1000/2000 Blinds 250 Ante (5 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP (t85806)
Button (t128054)
SB (t45228)
BB (t72671)
Hero (UTG) (t120318)
Hero's M: 28.31
Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, A
Hero bets t4888, MP calls t4888, 1 fold, SB raises to t44978 (All-In), 1 fold, Hero raises to t85068, MP raises to t85556 (All-In), Hero calls t488
Flop: (t219340) Q, 6, K (3 players, 2 all-in)
Turn: (t219340) 4 (3 players, 2 all-in)
River: (t219340) 8 (3 players, 2 all-in)
Total pot: t219340
Results:
SB had J, Q (flush, King high).
Hero had A, A (one pair, Aces).
MP had Q, Q (three of a kind, Queens).
Outcome: SB won t138184, MP won t81156
But with some skillful play...
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 2000/4000 Blinds 500 Ante (5 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button (t120360)
SB (t212041)
BB (t130758)
UTG (t221896)
Hero (MP) (t149764)
Hero's M: 17.62
Preflop: Hero is MP with Q, K
UTG bets t9440, Hero calls t9440, 3 folds
Flop: (t27380) 6, Q, 4 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks
Turn: (t27380) 3 (2 players)
UTG bets t16660, Hero raises to t33333, UTG calls t16673
River: (t94046) 9 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets t106491 (All-In), UTG calls t106491
Total pot: t307028
Results:
UTG had 9, A (one pair, nines).
Hero had Q, K (one pair, Queens).
Outcome: Hero won t307028
...and a little luck:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 2000/4000 Blinds 500 Ante (5 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG (t160688)
MP (t209041)
Button (t116524)
SB (t62398)
Hero (BB) (t286168)
Hero's M: 33.67
Preflop: Hero is BB with J, 2
1 fold, MP bets t8875, 2 folds, Hero calls t4875
Flop: (t22250) J, 8, 8 (2 players)
Hero bets t7777, MP raises to t23575, Hero raises to t39373, MP raises to t199666 (All-In), Hero calls t160293
Turn: (t421582) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: (t421582) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)
Total pot: t421582
Results:
Hero had J, 2 (two pair, Jacks and eights).
MP had 4, A (one pair, eights).
Outcome: Hero won t421582
I can still win one of these things!
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 8000/16000 Blinds 2000 Ante (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Hero (BB) (t1554346)
SB (t215654)
Hero's M: 55.51
Preflop: Hero is BB with 6, A
SB bets t213654 (All-In), Hero calls t197654
Flop: (t431308) 7, A, 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)
Turn: (t431308) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: (t431308) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)
Total pot: t431308
Results:
SB had 9, Q (one pair, sevens).
Hero had 6, A (two pair, Aces and sevens).
Outcome: Hero won t431308
Video of final table forthcoming on Poker Savvy Plus.
On My WaY to the PCA
"Super Satellite
Buy-In: $665.00/$35.00 USD
585 players
Total Prize Pool: $389025.00 USD
Target Tournament #201001051 Buy-In: $14130.00 USD
25 tickets to the target tournament
Tournament started 2009/11/01 18:00:00 ET
"Congratulations - You have won a package for the PokerStars
Caribbean Adventure (PCA) 2010 Main Event. The PCA is at the Atlantis
Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas!"
I go back and forth on whether it's even worth playing the satellites for these big buy-in international tournaments. By the time you pay travel expenses, currency exchange vig, etc., the tournaments aren't generally such a hot investment. Not to mention the variance that comes with playing these things on my own money.
I'm usually able to convince myself that the satellites themselves are usually a uniquely good value. They tend to be some of the higher buy-in events offered on Stars, and I think my edge is particularly large in the satellite format because so many people tend to play so badly on the bubble.
At least, they usually do. The bubble in this one was actually quite tough. There were more than a few players left whom I knew to be strong, and even a lot of the names I didn't recognize seemed to be playing at a pretty high level. Naturally there were a few weaker
players, but all in all it was about the highest quality of play I've seen on a satellite bubble.
Well, at least I get a vacation in the Caribbean out of it 
.
The Re-Squeeze
A comment on a recent post about the squeeze play observed that a pretty intense dynamic can arise in situations where more than one player recognizes a good squeezing opportunity. I think this is a good example:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
UTG ($901.50)
UTG+1 ($1660.05)
MP1 ($1289.50)
MP2 ($1987)
MP3 ($5354)
CO ($1020.35)
Hero (Button) ($3507)
SB ($1016.75)
BB ($4832.55)
Preflop: Hero is Button with Q, A
5 folds, CO bets $33, Hero calls $33, 1 fold, BB raises to $160, CO calls $127, Hero raises to $480, 1 fold, CO calls $320
Flop: ($1138.50) J, 8, 7 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $3025.50 (All-In), 1 fold
Total pot: $1138.50 | Rake: $3
Results:
Hero didn't show Q, A (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won $1135.50
Note the stack sizes here: BB and I are effectively 350BB deep, while CO and I are only 100BB deep. BB is decent but excessively aggressive pre-flop. CO is loose and weak. Granted it's not the most plausible line on my part since I didn't 3-bet initially, but there isn't too much BB can do about it given our stack depth. Frankly, my AQ is probably ahead of his range anyway, and it would be tough for him to pull off a 5-bet bluff.
Against CO, I'm semi-bluffing. I'm probably in bad shape when the money goes in, but I'm far from dead, and I think I have a decent fold equity in a large pot. Not to mention that he is apparently capable of playing the hand in the worst way possible. He claimed to have folded AKs.