Oooookey FaMoooookie

Ended up actually playing a wee bit of poker last night, and enjoyed it. Only played four tourneys, cashing in one, but had a great time in the Mookie? Did I win? No. Did I cash? Hell no...

But as I said in the chat, my real goal was just to make it past hour #1. I've rarely been able to play the Mookie, which is probably the undisputed champeeeeeen of bloggerments. In fact, last night was only my second entry in it this year. The previous attempt ended five hands into it when lucko's destroyed my KK. Yup, after five hands, I would have been happy to last an hour.

But still, I wanted to play some cards, and being a bloggerment, I was willing to try some plays I probably wouldn't attempt in a large field MTT, such as this one, early in the event (2nd orbit, I believe):

Full Tilt Poker Game #10715882359: The Mookie (79825300), Table 3 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:09:02 ET - 2009/02/18
Seat 1: iaatg6296 (6,150)
Seat 2: DaBag (2,805)
Seat 3: Mondogarage (2,840)
Seat 4: Astin (3,000), is sitting out
Seat 5: JoeSpeaker (2,970)
Seat 6: Blinders (2,955)
Seat 7: Joanne1111 (3,105)
Seat 8: MiamiDon (2,220)
Seat 9: ScottMc (3,220)
DaBag posts the small blind of 15
Mondogarage posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mondogarage [3h 5h] (eww, but let's see...)
JoeSpeaker folds
Blinders folds
Joanne1111 folds
MiamiDon folds
Mondogarage: I just want to survive 1st hour (see, I wasn't kidding)
ScottMc raises to 115 (the asshat crew's been known to steal from cutoff)
iaatg6296 folds
DaBag folds
Mondogarage calls 85 (hand sucks, but if ScottMc is stealing, I'm probably two live with draws)
*** FLOP *** [2c 3d 4h] (intriguing flop for my hand)
Mondogarage checks (hoping for free card, of course)
ScottMc bets 240 (damn, no freebie; ScottMc bets nearly pot)
Mondogarage raises to 480 (I might actually be ahead here, but represent strength)
ScottMc raises to 3,105, and is all in (D'oH!!!)
Mondogarage calls 2,245, and is all in (if this isn't a bloggerment, I can probably fold here, but as I said, I may actually be ahead, and pretty sure he didn't hit flop)
ScottMc shows [Kh Kc] (double D'oH! Guess I read that one wrong, hit my draw ONE TIME DEALER)
Mondogarage shows [3h 5h]
Uncalled bet of 380 returned to ScottMc
*** TURN *** [2c 3d 4h] [Ah] (YAHTZEE!)
*** RIVER *** [2c 3d 4h Ah] [9c]
ScottMc shows a pair of Kings
Mondogarage shows a straight, Five high
Mondogarage wins the pot (5,695) with a straight, Five high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,695 | Rake 0
Board: [2c 3d 4h Ah 9c]
Seat 1: iaatg6296 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: DaBag (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: Mondogarage (big blind) showed [3h 5h] and won (5,695) with a straight, Five high
Seat 4: Astin is sitting out
Seat 5: JoeSpeaker didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: Blinders didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: Joanne1111 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: MiamiDon didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: ScottMc showed [Kh Kc] and lost with a pair of Kings

Anyway, the more I think about this hand, the more I think that if I was committed to my read preflop, raising would have been better, but then I would have folded to Scott's inevitable 4-bet preflop. So this is one time when a bad preflop read led to what I think was the correct play on the flop, with one pair, OESD and backdoor flush draws against a player who either had an overpair or two overs, but was unlikely to have hit that board. But if anyone has better advice, I'm all ears.

That hand set me off on my way, and I spent the first hour plus in the top 2-3 in chips, and the next 30 minutes after that in the top eight or so.

Unfortunately, I went utterly card dead at that point, and when I open raised QJhh to 900, and PokerPeaker shoved his remaining 3k stack, I felt obliged to call, and his AQo held up. This took about 1/2 my chips, and another orbit of strictly trash (with growing blinds/antes). When I was next in the big blind, and the button raised up 3x, I felt compelled to shove my last 3.4k with A5 soooted. The original raiser thought long and hard, but eventually called with AJo. Two spades on the flop, and we were off to the races, but the third spade never fell, and I went out 24th of the original 54 players.

I realize I didn't have to shove, but with an M of about 7, and again, with Mookie button players often raising up trash, I thought the overshove might induce a fold. Still...I did even steal a blind with the hammer. That was rare, but it felt good to show.

So yeah, I donate again, and my 0-fer-forever in the Mookie continues. But I had a blast, and at least I cashed in a $12/180 (again missing final table, though), so I essentially broke even for the night, and enjoyed the play.