UNC Goes Down, So Does My Stack

Wednesday Night's FTOPS Event #1 started at 9:00, coincidentally, the UNC-Duke game started at the same time. Even though this was a $750K Guarantee, there were so many entrants that the prize pool was well over $1 million. The structure was as follows: 3000 chips, 12 minute blinds. 5300 players in, payout was top 730. This was the 3rd time I've played in an online tourney this magnitude. I played in 2 Party Poker Million tournies 2 years ago. I cashed like the 3rd money level the first time, and busted out 2nd hand the 2nd time when my pocket Aces lost to K-Q preflop. I think I'm a better poker player now than 2 years ago, but I went on a big run that year. I'll take luck over skill if it gets me the money.

There were really only 4 hands to talk about.

1st Hand: Sitting with about 3300 chips at the 2nd level, dealt Kc-Qc in late position. Raised the standard 3X. Small blind calls. Flop comes Ac-Jd-7C. I have the nut flush draw and straight draw with position. Opponent makes a small bet. I haven't shown any aggression yet. I raise hoping to just take it down now. Opponent calls. Not what I wanted from my opponent, but now have to hope my big draw hits. Turn is a 4h. Opponent checks. I continue my bet to represent. My opponent just calls. Now I'm a little confused. I'm thinking, could my opponent be on a flush draw also, or possible straight draw with a hand like Q-10 or K-Q.? Surely if he had a big hand or big Ace, he would have re-raised so I wouldn't catch my draws in case I was drawing. The River is a BlankXXX. Opponent checks again. Now the only way I win this pot is to bet. Even if he's drawing like I was, he can't call a bet. If he re-raises me, I can just fold. I bet a little more than my turn bet. Opponent just calls. He shows Ace-Rag. I was amazed at what he just call, call, call with. Never a re-raised and allowed me to try and catch a hand. Either bad play on his part, or very good read on his part. Can't figure it out. Down to 2200.

2nd Hand: Next level, there was this German who looked weak and inexperience. Playing a lot of pots with marginal hands. He got lucky once in battle of the blinds when he had A-K and the big blind tried to push with A-J and doubled up. I get K-K and raise, he calls in position. Flop 7-5-J. I check, he bets out. I just call. I can probably milk him all the way down was my thought. Turn comes another 5. Now I'm thinking I hope I didn't let him catch by slow playing. I bet out this time to see where I'm at. He just calls. River come K. BINGO! I think a few seconds what I'm going to do. Instead of a value bet, I get over-aggressive and go All-In hoping he had a piece and I really haven't seen him fold a lot at this point in the tourney. My All-In was more than the size of the pot. He calls w/ J-9. Couldn't believe it. Now I've got some Ammo. Up to about 5800.

3rd Hand: Next level, small stack pushes all-in preflop in mid position. I'm on the button with K-Q. It was for about 1500 chips. I decide to call. He shows 7-7. Didn't catch and lose the race. Down to about 4200.

I go card dead at this point. Lots of blackjack hands like 9-2, 8-3, 7-4, etc. Also, lots of A-Rag hands, mainly out of position. I probably didn't play a hand the next 2 levels.

4th Hand: Now I'm starting to get blinded down. This guy at the table called the Birdman goes on a major rush. He doubled-up 3 times in a row. Twice, sucking out. 7-7 beating 9-9. A-J beating A-K. He started pushing every pot. He had A-A and opponent with a good sized stack pushed back with Q-Q. Takes him out. Now he had more chips than everyone else at the table combined. He was like 3rd on the tourney leaderboard with his chip stack. We are now at less than 1/2 way through the field with about 2200-2300 players left, 2.5 hours in. Blinds are 120-240, he's 3 betting every flop. No one has called like 8 hands in a row. UNC has just lost to Duke and so is my bet on UNC down the drain. Any marginal hand and I'm pushing back. Finally, he raises UTG+1 to 720. I get A-10 on the button and make my stand. Of course he shows 8H-5H. I have about 3200 now due to being blinded down. I'm glad he called and have a great shot at a double up. Kind of questioned his call, but with his stack, I guess he got decent odds. 2500 to win 4500. 1 Heart on the Flop, Turn a Heart, River a Heart. I'm done, finito, outta here!

Looking back now, I try to see what I could have done differently. Probably playing the K-Q suited hand different. It was too early in the tourney to get any kind of a read on the opponent, so I probably should have played small ball. Perhaps just play a pot in position with a marginal hand when I was card dead to try and out maneuver my opponent for chips. Tournaments this large, you just don't know what kind of opponents you get. As I saw early, a lot of players were willing to call down with marginal hands. Due to this, I just hoped for big hands and hope I'm up against these type of players a lot. Unfortunately, I didn't get many big hands. Massive field like this, it takes about 3.5 to 4 hours just to cash. The payouts are very staggered and you don't really make good money unless you go very deep. I think there are better opportunities to make money online in the other smaller field tournies. It doesn't take as much time and you're not hoping for a longshot. I thought about trying to play in the Sunday Million. I tried a few freeroll qualifiers and failed. Wasn't going to put in my own to qualify. Maybe another day.