Won a seat to the $150+13 65k on fulltilt earlier today via a $26 STT. Normally i just unregister and use the $T for other tournaments that i normally play, but for some reason today i said to hell with it, i'm gonna take a shot. And a nice shot it turned out to be. I haven't reviewed it yet but i feel i played a pretty solid game and was really comfortable throughout the tourney. Saw some pretty big names in there too; AJK, Perljammed and some others.

Anyway i busted 26th when my AA ran into a flopped straight by villain with AJ. I don't think villain played it bad, his pre-flop call was reasonable imo, i just got unlucky on the flop. The only question in my mind is could i have gotten away? Here's the HH

Full Tilt Poker, NL Hold'em Tournament, 1,200/2,400 Blinds, 300 Ante, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter

SB: 75,001
BB: 30,952
UTG: 90,434
UTG+1: 49,863
Hero (MP1): 62,362
MP2: 77,890
CO: 129,270
BTN: 185,956

Pre-Flop: (6,000) Ad Ac dealt to Hero (MP1)
2 folds, Hero raises to 6,000, MP2 folds, CO calls 6,000, BTN folds, SB calls 4,800, BB folds

Flop: (22,800) Ks Ts Qh (3 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets 15,000, CO calls 15,000, SB folds

Turn: (52,800) 4s (2 Players)
Hero bets 41,062 and is All-In, CO calls 41,062

River: (134,924) 2s (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 134,924 Pot
Hero showed Ad Ac (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-62,362 NET)
CO showed Jd Ah (a straight, Ace high) and WON 134,924 (+72,562 NET)

I don't know if i'm just being result oriented or not but perhaps i could've played this differently?

I've noticed something about my game that maybe could be a leak. Late in tournaments when i have 18bb - 25bb stacks i kinda lock into hands. I don't really go through the same process i normally do. I think it has something to do with the fact that at these stacks any hand i raise i'm prepared to go all the way with so i just bulldoze it in regardless of whatever.

For instance, in this hand i immediately thought AJ on the flop. But i was the pf raiser so i had to cbet right? AJ, AQ 22-jj SCs were apart of both villains range imo. On the turn is where i might've blown it, should i have checked? I still had 17bbs right. I remember looking at the pot size and thinking i have a natural shove... and just shoved... sigh. perhaps if i had Ace spade it would've been ok.

Agree/Disagree?

comments welcomed.

25k for 1st... sooo fucking close!

-Isgrinder

With only two weeks remaining in October I've decided that i need to up my play a bit. One of my long standing obstacles has been finding the time to play MTTs that usually take +6 hours. I usually get home around 6pm If i immediately jump in then i can possibly finish a MTT by midnight, assuming i go deep. The problem is i need time to unwind a bit, so ideally I'd like to get started playing around 9ish or 8pm the earliest. Which means If i go deep i will likely finish between 2am - 3:30am... a bit too late.

So for the remaining two weeks of this month i will focus on the 90 man KOs during the week. I aim to play 4 tourneys max each evening and play my normal MTTs during weekends. So that would be 40 x $26 = $1040 maximum total investment for this challenge. I have no goals for ITM or ROI, but hope that it will be positive, if not I've already written off the lost.

During the Challenge i will try to blog my results each night and put up links to complete hhs on PXF or post specific hands for review here.

Start Date: 20/10/08


wish me luck!

-Isgrinder

So i've been a member of this site for some time now and visit regularly. I decided to post here because this seems to be one of the coolest communities around with some pretty good players posting regularly.

I've been a mtt player almost exclusively for most of this year, improving each month. My biggest cash so far as been 3rd for $2200 in one of the Fulltilt guarantees. I usually play up to $26 buy-in with the occasional $75 thrown in. I had a really good August, going deep in several tournaments but failing to make significant cash... i felt it was right around the corner. Unfortunately September hasn't been so kind and I'm now taking a week or two off while i clear up some distractions, so i can immerse completely in poker.

I'm pretty optimistic by nature so i know i will get there... i feel it. In the mean time even though I'm not playing, i'm reviewing my hhs, watching vids at pxf and reading mostly here at two rags. Honestly if I ever become a successful mtt player it will be thanks in no small part to Bond's "things it took me awhile to learn" series.

Any way i will be making post here regularly about my poker exploits, hopefully some of you read and offer your suggestions when i post hands.

-Isgrinder