Point(s) Well Taken

Woohoo! Yeah, I'm feeling jazzed. After the fifth week of the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series, I finally managed to score some points, taking 7th out of a somewhat smaller than usual field of 43 runners. And boy, what a weird tournament that was. First off, we actually lost 4-5 players in the first hour, which is very unusual in this particular tournament, where the big stacks and low blinds offer lots of early play.

Even weird was the fact that after Hour 1, I was in the top 2-3 in chips. But alas, I got a bit bullyish in Hour 2, and went from big stack to the shortest stack at the table. But after one double up, I caught AA in the next hand in early position. Still on the short stack, I was hoping someone would consider me shoving light and call my monster, but all I did was pick up blinds/antes. The same happened a couple hands later, when I picked up KK in late position. At any rate, I now had chips to play with, and managed to massage them until past the points bubble....but just before the money bubble, when KJo beat my A9s....not with a K or a J, but with four hearts, the last on the river (of course). I think it was Lightning36 who took me out there.

Anyway, it was nice to get off the points schneid, though getting some of that loverly Bodog $Ts overlay would have been even nicer, especially since I'm still well out of the top 18. With the slightly depressed turnout last night, 7th place points weren't as much as usual. A final table next week should get me real close to contention, however. Special contratulations go to Drizztdj for overcoming a 5:1 chip deficit heads-up, to take that mofo down. You, sir, know how to race.

Speaking of congratulations, everyone's favorite luckobox21 took down a rather huge MTT last night, the $25k Guarantee over at Stars -- you should all go over to his blog and either beg for a stake, or offer HU4ROLLZ.

Last night was also the Lack of Skillz game, where about 85 ignorant bloggers and a couple of actual Stud players tossed chips around the table. I'm one of the ignorant ones, and went out 40th, when NewinNov either didn't buy my untrue story of a set of fours on 4th street, or he just thought his AA would improve. (I raised on 3rd street with a four showing, and picked up another 4 on 4th street) I suppose if I had to do it again, I could have folded on 3rd, with a stack that was still Top 20 at the time, but what I really had was rolled up spades, and my real draw was to a flush. However, once he re-raised on 4th, at those levels, I was already in for 1/2 my chips, and would have been crippled folding at that time.

Anyway, one of the hands folks in bloggerland are talking about today involved a huge 4-way pot, in which I, even with my nut frush, had no business being in. Talk about a momentum killer, I was table chipleader until this:



Obviously, a classic FullTilt setup hand. Seeing the screen cap, I'm not sure where any of us gets away from this (at least other than CEMfredMd, but he's from Dannenman-land, so we know he's 80% to suck out). By 4th street, I'm four to the nut frush, GCox25 has a set, and LJ's got a couple of draws. By 6th street, there's too much in the pot to fold. My biggest mistake in the hand was not raising 4th street, but when the worst hand 4-way at showdown is a nut flush, and given the action on 5th and 6th streets , I have to believe nobody was going away that hand, and the best I could have hoped for was to minimize my losses.

Anyway, here's the actual hand history -- if anyone has comments on how any of us could have worked this better, please feel free:

Full Tilt Poker Game Setup Hand #5504872463: Skill Series (40521319), Table 9 - 80/160 Ante 15 - Limit Stud Hi - 22:19:40 ET - 2008/03/04
Seat 1: Shabazz Jenkins (3,496)
Seat 2: cemfredmd (2,290)
Seat 3: pvanharibo (2,945)
Seat 4: GCox25 (2,264)
Seat 5: Mondogarage (4,696)
Seat 6: corron10 (3,334)
Seat 7: bayne_s (2,120)
Seat 8: peacecorn (2,855)
Shabazz Jenkins antes 15
cemfredmd antes 15
pvanharibo antes 15
GCox25 antes 15
Mondogarage antes 15
corron10 antes 15
bayne_s antes 15
peacecorn antes 15
*** 3RD STREET ***
Dealt to Shabazz Jenkins [4c]
Dealt to cemfredmd [8s]
Dealt to pvanharibo [2h]
Dealt to GCox25 [9c]
Dealt to Mondogarage [Qs As] [7s]
Dealt to corron10 [Kd]
Dealt to bayne_s [2d]
Dealt to peacecorn [4h]
bayne_s is low with [2d]
bayne_s brings in for 25
peacecorn folds
Shabazz Jenkins calls 25
cemfredmd calls 25
pvanharibo calls 25
GCox25 completes it to 80
Mondogarage calls 80
corron10 folds
bayne_s folds
Shabazz Jenkins calls 55
cemfredmd calls 55
pvanharibo calls 55
*** 4TH STREET ***
Dealt to Shabazz Jenkins [4c] [Th]
Dealt to cemfredmd [8s] [Qh]
Dealt to pvanharibo [2h] [2s]
Dealt to GCox25 [9c] [5s]
Dealt to Mondogarage [Qs As 7s] [6s]
pvanharibo checks
GCox25 bets 160
Mondogarage calls 160 (I really should have raised)
Shabazz Jenkins folds
cemfredmd calls 160
pvanharibo calls 160
*** 5TH STREET ***
Dealt to cemfredmd [8s Qh] [Js]
Dealt to pvanharibo [2h 2s] [3h]
Dealt to GCox25 [9c 5s] [8h]
Dealt to Mondogarage [Qs As 7s 6s] [Tc]
pvanharibo checks
GCox25 bets 160
Mondogarage calls 160
cemfredmd raises to 320
pvanharibo calls 320
GCox25 raises to 480
Mondogarage calls 320 (Unless I put LJ on 5th street boat, my draw has to be best?)
cemfredmd calls 160
pvanharibo calls 160
*** 6TH STREET ***
Dealt to cemfredmd [8s Qh Js] [Jd]
Dealt to pvanharibo [2h 2s 3h] [Td]
Dealt to GCox25 [9c 5s 8h] [7c]
Dealt to Mondogarage [Qs As 7s 6s Tc] [Kh] (should I have let it go here?)
cemfredmd bets 160
pvanharibo calls 160
GCox25 raises to 320
Mondogarage calls 320
cemfredmd raises to 480
pvanharibo calls 320
GCox25 raises to 640
Mondogarage calls 320
cemfredmd calls 160
pvanharibo calls 160
*** 7TH STREET ***
Dealt to Mondogarage [Qs As 7s 6s Tc Kh] [4s]
cemfredmd bets 160
pvanharibo raises to 320
GCox25 raises to 480
Mondogarage raises to 640 (because I really am that bad at Stud)
cemfredmd calls 480
pvanharibo calls 320
GCox25 calls 160
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Mondogarage shows [As Qs 7s 6s Tc Kh 4s] a flush, Ace high
cemfredmd shows [Jh 8c 8s Qh Js Jd 7d] a full house, Jacks full of Eights
pvanharibo mucks
GCox25 shows [9s 9h 9c 5s 8h 7c 9d] four of a kind, Nines
GCox25 wins the pot (8,225) with four of a kind, Nines
The limits are now 100/200 with an ante of 15
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8,225 | Rake 0
Seat 1: Shabazz Jenkins folded on 4th St.
Seat 2: cemfredmd showed [Jh 8c 8s Qh Js Jd 7d] and lost with a full house, Jacks full of Eights
Seat 3: pvanharibo mucked [5d 3s 2h 2s 3h Td 3d] - a full house, Threes full of Twos
Seat 4: GCox25 showed [9s 9h 9c 5s 8h 7c 9d] and won (8,225) with four of a kind, Nines
Seat 5: Mondogarage showed [As Qs 7s 6s Tc Kh 4s] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 6: corron10 folded on 3rd St.
Seat 7: bayne_s folded on 3rd St.
Seat 8: peacecorn folded on 3rd St.

Anyway, that's pretty much my Stud story, where one donkey makes about four stupid moves for 1/2 his chips, yet again.

Finally, I made a deep run in Bodog's $20+2 $10k Guarantee, which started a while after the Bodonkey. In fact, at the end of the first hour, I was tournament chipleader, and thought this was going to be my huge breakthrough. But once we got around the bubble, I went completely card dead, and when I open shoved 4x the big blind with Presto from the button with 40 left, I was just hoping to steal, when a mid-stack big blind (who's only in for aboutdecides to make the recockulous call of the night with...drumroll...Q2 offsuit.

Yet again, the real fish at the table is rewarded with QQx on the flop, and instead of a chance at a major payday, I go home with just 2x the buyin, after dominating the tourney for large stretches. The lesson here? Presto is not always good when the fish pond is stocked. Still, it was a very fun night, I finally scored some points, and my bankroll gained a small sheckel or two.

Don't forget, tonight's BBT3 event is the Mookie -- I'm here to tell ya, if there's not at least 160 entries, I'll be shocked. Unfortunately, being Wednesday, I won't be one of them...but you should be.