Thursday Night MTT, boring weekend

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday, I spent July 4th eve at F-woods testing my hand at another MTT, the $180 7pm-er. Its a deepstack tourney as the stacks start at 10k.

Got there at 6, registered at sat at 1-3 Stud for the majority of the hour untilit was time to go.

Table 8, seat 6. I get to the table and I notice a familiar face. Couldnt think of his namE, but I know I knew him. Then it hits me, hes a Foxwoods WPT winner...I text Unmpressed that im sitting with a WPT finals winner and he throws out some names, but I know its not either. Turns out it was Raj Patel. As seat 10 put it "the guy who was afraid to bet with Ks full of 4s because he was sure his oppenet had As full of 4s".

So yeah, the first "pro" I ever played with, and surprisingly I was not intimidated, nervous or anything I was feeling good. That also could be because I was partially drunk from a few hours before and I slept it off on the ride to F-woods.

The first few orbits I just watched, wanted to get a few ideas for how bluffy Raj would be and the "guy who made Ramer's jaw drop when he guess correctly his salary with Pfizer" AKA seat 10, was. That guy was very talkative, to the point he pissed off the entire table, although he didnt bother me much. The thing I noticed about Raj is he limped A LOT, and he raised very seldom and re-raised never (after checking his stats on WPT, that is exactly how he plays). Talkative guy limped with A-A, and guy directly to my right bluffed right into him with A-9. Very early on, talkative guy was up to 25k in chips. First hand I played was A-Jcc in MP, raised and got 5 callers. Checked around to me and I checked. Scared I guess, but with so many callers and it being a medium to low flop I figured someone had me, no point in betting when I'm looking to prolly get check-raised, so when someone bet I let it go. Next hand I played was K-Qo, flopped a K and the BB take the lead on the flop. I raised him on the turn when I felt he was on a flush draw. On the river when no 3rd spade came, he checked and I bet. He folded. He told me he was on a flush draw.

Next hand I played was J-10o in the SB. 1 limp to me, I complete, BB checks. Flop leaves me gutted. Check round. Turn gets me double gutshotted. Any Q or any 7 will do. I check, BB checks LP bets out 600, just a shade under Pot size, I figure I'll gambool and I call, BB folds. River is a Q! I bet out 700, he raises to 1500. At this point I have the nuts, he prolly doesn't put me on a straight with J-10, so I'm trying to decide how much he will pay to see it. I eventually decide to just double his bet, 3k. He calls, I show, he folds. Up to about 20k in chips with the average at 11k.

I bluffed at a few pots with air a few times when I was reading the table as weak, and kept chipping up. The big hand I had was when seat 10 limped in from early EP, folds around to me in late MP and I pick up A-Kdd. I raise to 3 1/2 the BB, and seat 10 pushes back. I dont know if I was just in the zone with my reads or what, but I hesitated for a sec then said "all-in". I know he had bluffed that kid with A-A but looking at him I saw a scared raise. He evntually said "call" and I was thinking oh crap, when he said "Your A-A is good" and I was relieved to see him flip up 5-5. Presto! Oh crap. Flop was all low, turn gave him a gutshot straight, but the River was a big beautiful A. After counting my stack I was up to 45k chips when the avg was 15k. If I wasnt the chip leader I was in the top 5 at least.

Everyone was saracstically upset to see him go, see when I busted him he was on tilt. From what? Well he claimed seat 2 had made a string bet when he bet 2200 as a raise. I didnt see it so I really have no idea if it was or not, but he claimed seat 2 put 2k in front of cards then reached back to get more chips before he said "raise". The table was with seat 2 and said the chips were on the side of his cards and Seat 2 claimed he was just putting money to the side to count. Essentially this argument was over T200 as the T2k would have been a raise anyway. 10 minutes later the floor ruled in Seat 2's favor.

So at break 1 I was about 45k, average was 15k.

The next 4 rounds were hell. Antes, and blind escalations coupled with a lack of cards led me to start dropping my stack. I lost about 7k on this particular play:

In the BB I pick up 10h-6d. Button and SB limp.

Flop is A-K-Q 2 hearts. Check round. Turn 4h. I figured why not try to take this pot down right now. I bet half pot. Button calls, SB folds.

Before I get to the river, I have to tell you that my mistake in this hand is not knwoing the button is a fonkey. In a previous hand, Raj was all-in, fonkey calls, and BB calls. Flop is all low cards and BB checks. Fonkey bets out a big amount. BB says, "I sure hope you have something". Well he didnt. What did he bet the other guy out with? A-Qo. There was a few moments of table beration towards this guy, until he spiked an A to knock Raj and his pocket 9s out.

Now to the River. The River was a blank, low card. I figure he has a weak A, and with the right bet I could get him off this hand. Into a pot of about 7k by this time I bet 5k. I figure if he has any sense he will look at he board and see that there are straight, and flush possiblities that I could have picked up in the BB, heck I could even have something like a better kicker A, and he would just fold. I would love for him to remember that this whole time I've been at the table I have never shown down a bluff, just the nuts. Keeping all that in mind, and taking a few seconds to deliberate he calls. What did he call with? As-7c. No hearts, no straights just TPSK. I was deflated. I don't think even if I pushed would he have folded. He was just that stupid, and I was just that blind to not see he was that stupid.

So I flounder around, they break my table and I draw table 1, seat 10. I sit down and I still have a sizable 28kish stack, good enough for about 3rd at this table. I continued the folding session under I grabbed A-10ss, raised pre-flop to 5k and got one caller. With the pot being over 10k with the antes included I figured I was commited and the flop wasnt scary, so I pushed. He folded. Up to 30kish. Eventually managed to get up to 40k when I tried a steal from the SB. Raised to 7.5k (3 1/2) with 6-8hh. Something I can withstand a call from. Either the BB sensed this, or really did have a good hand. Either way he pushed for 22.5 k more to me...as inside I was mad at myself for trying something so dumb. I folded, down to 25k-ish again.

2nd break: AVG: 25k, me 28k

Not long after they broke table one and I ended up in the 6th seat at another table. First hand I pick up A-A, yay! I almost raised out of turn because it had folded to me but UTG never acted. Right before I said "raise", UTG said raise. He made it 7.5k to go. Since I was CO and it folded to me, I decided just to smooth call his bet.
HU to the flop.

Flop was 9-5-4r UTG bets me almost all-in, I push. 400 for him to call. He flips up 8-8 and I show the A-A, he doesnt improve. I'm up to 50k with the average at 40. We got down to 30 people left (20 pay) and all of a sudden the short stacks couldnt lose. One of the bigger stacks at the table suffered 2 bad beats in back to back hands to cripple him. A-A vs shorty 9-9, flops a 9. A-K vs someones's A-Q Q on the flop.

For the span of one whole level (25 mins) no one busted and I kept getting blinded and anted opff with no good cards.

Break 3: Avg 55k, Me 37k

20 minutes later, after the blinds run through me I have 31k left and I pick up A-Ko. I push and big stack SB calls.

A-Ko vs K-Qhh. Flop: Q-8-8.

Done. Because Foxwoods was doing a crappy job updating the players remaining, I think I busted in 25th. When I looked up at the tourney clock it said 24 left. Hell I could have made the money and not known it for how good they were doing.

All in all, I was dejected I didnt cash again, but I felt good that I played well and at the beginning I was reading people well.

Next day, I lost 40% of my bankroll on FT when the doom switch was turned on.

Oh well, hopefully this week will be better.