Maxi mini

On Tuesday I had a third crack at trying to get into that $55 buy-in single draw. I ran pretty well and had a biggish stack when we got to the final table, with the top two gaining entry. Down to three, then of course the phone rang. It was Mum. It isn't easy having to talk about jobs and flats when you're on the bubble of a tournament. By my reckoning the three of us went a whopping 177 hands before I was the unlucky one to bust out when I missed a nine draw. It was a shame to miss out but playing short-handed was good experience for me, and I still made $20 on that tournament. Thinking I might not get another chance, yesterday I saw a $5.50 satellite with ten guaranteed seats so I signed up, expecting a pretty low overall level of play and I wasn't disappointed. However I started badly and was down to half my starting stack when I hit 85432 and 86432 on consecutive hands and shoved both times. My number five didn't get a call but my number six did, from someone who had stood pat with 87654! I pushed on from there but got very short around the two-hour point and ended up shoving with 8754 - a yucky draw. My all-in got a call. I hit a lovely three while my opponent drew a king to go with his 8642, so despite being a 60:40 underdog I survived. After one or two hiccups I made the final ten for a place in today's event, which kicks off at 3pm.

The tournament is part of the MiniFTOPS, where FTOPS stands for Full Tilt Online Poker Series. As for the mini part, well it's hardly mini for me; in fact it's the biggest buy-in I've ever played. I'm effectively in for free, not that that should influence my play at all. I remember once having a discussion with Uncle Dan (who passed away in July) about some shares he had bought. They had doubled in value so he sold half of them, meaning he didn't need to worry about his remaining stock because he was "in for free". I disagreed with his line of thinking, though really, who was I to disagree? His investment strategy had made him serious money over the years.

I imagine I'll be posting a few hands from the tournament, or maybe just one if I bust out with my pat eight on the first hand. We'll be deep-stacked (4000 chips to start) but with normal-length 12-minute levels.

For a change here's a triple draw hand from last night. I can't remember the last time I had a winning session in that game, which is why I don't play it much.

Full Tilt Poker Game #26441052356: Table King Henry (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - Limit 2-7 Triple Draw - 03:37:02 ET - 2010/12/16
Seat 1: Lady Gakgak ($18.50), is sitting out
Seat 2: kejer04 ($4.70)
Seat 3: plutoman20 ($13.55)
Seat 4: blackrabbit11 ($8.70)
Seat 5: LemenyiT ($9.50), is sitting out
Seat 6: Grand Master001 ($21.90)
plutoman20 posts the small blind of $0.10
blackrabbit11 posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to plutoman20 [5c Kh Td 8c 3s]
Grand Master001 has 15 seconds left to act
Grand Master001 folds
kejer04 folds
plutoman20 raises to $0.50
blackrabbit11 raises to $0.75
plutoman20 calls $0.25
*** FIRST DRAW *** (Pot: $1.50)
plutoman20 discards 2 cards [Kh Td]
blackrabbit11 discards 2 cards
Dealt to plutoman20 [5c 8c 3s] [4d 3d]
blackrabbit11 is dealt 2 cards
plutoman20 checks
blackrabbit11 bets $0.25
plutoman20 calls $0.25
*** SECOND DRAW *** (Pot: $2)
plutoman20 discards 1 card [3d]
blackrabbit11 stands pat
Dealt to plutoman20 [5c 8c 3s 4d] [2s]
plutoman20 checks
blackrabbit11 bets $0.50
plutoman20 raises to $1
LemenyiT stands up
blackrabbit11 calls $0.50
*** THIRD DRAW *** (Pot: $4)
plutoman20 stands pat on [5c 8c 3s 4d 2s]
blackrabbit11 stands pat
plutoman20 bets $0.50
blackrabbit11 calls $0.50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
plutoman20 shows [8c 5c 4d 3s 2s] 8,5,4,3,2
blackrabbit11 shows [7d 6h 4s 3h 2c] 7,6,4,3,2
blackrabbit11 wins the pot ($4.75) with 7,6,4,3,2
plutoman20: lol
plutoman20: that's quite a good hand
blackrabbit11: i know
plutoman20: did u think i had the nuts?
blackrabbit11: that or split
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $5 Rake $0.25
Seat 1: Lady Gakgak is sitting out
Seat 2: kejer04 (button) folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 3: plutoman20 (small blind) showed [8c 5c 4d 3s 2s] and lost with 8,5,4,3,2
Seat 4: blackrabbit11 (big blind) showed [7d 6h 4s 3h 2c] and won ($4.75) with 7,6,4,3,2
Seat 5: LemenyiT is sitting outSeat 6: Grand Master001 folded before the Draw (didn't bet)