FTOPS $2500 Event Hands, Day Two

I was sharp, focused, and pretty nervous for day 2.

400-800-100
R 77 2nd pos steal blinds
Button R with big stack small stack in BB I reluctantly fold Q9s in SB
R AKs MP batoelrob RR in SB to 6k I shove for 37k he folds
Next hand R T7s EP a short stack shoves for 10k I fold
R J9s UTG steal blinds
Fold A9o HJ batoelrob in SB BB shortish stack
Moved to new table R first hand with Q8s HJ get RRd fold
R AQ from HJ short stack on button RR small 1/4 his stack fuck you I'm allin he folds. I just could not fold these hands today with the amount of reraising going on, it was truly ridiculous, the preflop specialists were really out in force putting a ton of heat on people.
Get a walk
Call UTG R with 66 BB calls as well flop J97 C to me I have an interesting decision and check. Turn 5 BB checks UTG bets hard probably full of it but I fold BB folds.
Next hand David Chiu R UTG I call with 77 flop A high all spades no spades for me I fold to his bet
R 22 2nd pos BB calls flop 994 he ck-calls my cont-bet turn K C C river Q he C I fire half pot he folds. Good line by me here, of course I was helped out by the board.
Button R to 2400 with 18k behind I shove with KTo in BB he folds. KTo an underrated resteal hand I think.
R J7s 3x in SB BB calls flop A42 C C turn T I fire 2/3 pot he calls river A C C he wins with K4o looks like he'll dance in pos.
44,933

500-1000-125
R KK MP steal blinds show it
Fold J7s HJ felt like a bad time for a steal
R T8s UTG get RRd fold
In the money now....
R QQ in SB the K4o guy in the BB folds

600-1200-150
Get a walk
Fold QJo EP def in gear 2 now
Chiu shoves for 9800 I call with KQs in BB he has KJo flop is J high but Q on river, ship the shirt. KQ continues to move up my ladder of hands that I call allins with.
Moved to new table
UTG limps I limp 33 on button blinds check board of 756K2 is checked to the river until UTG makes a small bet and takes it
R A8s HJ take blinds
Fold T8s HJ def in gear 2
Fold Q9s 2nd pos
Fold A6s UTG
UTG limps I fold KTs in HJ
R 77 UTG steal blinds
Fold K9o button to a CO R
7 handed
Fold K4s CO
Fold QJo UTG
Fold A6s in BB to the button's R, def one of those spots where I am way ahead of his range but the play is still fold I think cause of other variables.
Fold QJo button to a shortie's EP R

39,062

800-1600-200
Try a HJ steal with A7s but get shoved on by the BB
R KQ 2nd pos steal blinds
Limp 93s SB after an EP limp flop nothing C-fold
Fold 55 CO to an EP R
Fold A8o HJ
Fold AQo to big stack UTG R with like 35k in my stack. This one was about as close as it gets, I feel about half of players shove in there and maybe a quarter flatcall, and then there are the other quarter of weak-tight wusses like me who just fold.
R the next two hands UTG + 1 and UTG with AQo and JJ and win both uncontested then get walked the next one.
Open fold 55 2nd pos
Every pot at every table getting reraised
R AQo MP steal blinds
Fold A7o in SB to colson's button R
R AQo CO happy to go with it they fold
42,574

1000-2000-250
Fold J8s MP
Fold 65s EP
As5h in BB there's an LP limp I check. Flop A high all hearts I CR a 4k bet allin and win
Next hand in SB UTG limps I complete SB with J9o flop AJ9 two clubs I CR allin and win.
7handed...EP R to 6k I have 50k in BB and 88...very awkward...Phil Hellmuth wouldn't shove but I do...shady at best...she folds.
Fold QJo HJ
R KQo 2nd pos next guy calls I C/fold on 987 flop
UTG R to 6k I shove for 50k with JJ in next pos he tank-calls with TT of same suits I double up.
R T7s MP steal blinds
RR the button's R with AQs he folds instantly
Fold 67s on button to a R
28 left
114k right at avg

1200-2400-300
Fold KJo in pos to EP R
R UTG ATs get a call flop comes A high C C I bet turn and win
Fold QTo in BB to a MP R (9 handed now)
R AJo CO SB calls BB shoves for 32k I call SB folds BB has 88 he wins
Next hand R 33 BB calls flop Q95 C C turn 2 he bets the minimum I call river A he checks I fire 2/3 pot he makes a monster call with 98 and wins. I should have bet 30-50% or 90-100% of the pot here.
Haralabob R MP I fold AT with 60k
Open fold K9s CO
R AKo MP take blinds
Fold 83o to the SB's R in BB both short stax
Limp AJs in SB looking for limp R he checks flop A high I bet and take it
Next hand I fold A7s on button unopened which seems like lunacy but I throw them a hanging curveball resteal opportunity if I raise and I can't call an allin
EP R I think I am gonna ship it with AJo but someone beats me to the punch so I fold
Fold A8s and A9o consecutive hands can't throw hanging curveballs at this point
48,973
1500-3000-400
CO R with not that big a stack I have 63s in BB a great resteal spot but I fold
Same guy R UTG I have K9s CO another tempting one but I fold again
Shove AK UTG for 15x BB all fold
LP R I shove 66 in SB BB calls with AK LP folds I flop a set and win the race
Very next hand there is no SB a guy R I just call AA for 4th straight time in trny. BB calls as well, they check to me on the QTx flop I bet BB thinks forever and folds rzer folds.
Very next hand a shortish stack R I shove with KQ playing 6 handed all fold
Very next hand UTG R I RR with AQs basically committing he thinks and shoves I call he has KK I hit an A on the turn to win the 156k pot
Two hands later R 87 UTG get RRd by big stack fold
A few later R A7o the big stack BB RR me again I fold
Consolidated to two tables
colson to my left, grndhg with short stack to his left, haralabob with shortish stack to his left, inanimtecarbnrd to his left with a mountain, MasterJ to his left with a mountain, 3 solid players round out the table
MasterJ R LP, a big stack RR from the CO to 24k, I shove AKs in SB for 160k both fold
Big stack R EP I just call on button with AK looking for a squeeze from the pros in the blinds who have nice stax to make the play colson pulls the trigger no surprise big stack folds I instacall colson wakes up with KK and no magic ace this time
Fold 87s in pos to a R
Fold A6s EP
Fold Q9o CO
146k

2000-4000-500
R QJs MP my old friend grdnhg smoothcalls with short stack flop J62 flop I cont bet he folds
colson R UTG I fold KJo in BB
R 99 UTG all fold
call the button's R with KJs in the BB flop 665 CC turn A I C-fold
Fold K9s EP
7 handed now
EP R I smoothcall AA cause that's what I always do it comes a gross KK5 we both check turn T he C I bet half pot he R 3x I feel kinda nausesous here. He made it 50k I have 100k left I decide I'm not folding, I push he folds.
Button R to 12k I make it 33333 colson shoves for 70k more in BB I am getting better than 2:1 but fold, would be crippled if I called and lost. This one was really really close, I may have been getting the right price here against his range but didn’t think it was a good time to call off a bunch of chips almost certainly behind.
R UTG with KQo button tanks and calls flop is Q9x I cont bet 2/3 pot he calls turn x I C planning on CRing allin he just goes allin for over the pot I instacall he has KQ we chop.
Button limps I call in SB with KJs colson C BB flop QJ9 we all check turn T we check to button who bets small. I raise 3x, colson tanks and smoothcalls (there are 2 spades on board) river x I bet 2/3 pot he calls with KJ chop again.
R AKs grndhg calls in SB flop 765 C C turn 5 he overbets pot I fold.
After this the play was all shorthanded and frantic, and I didn’t write down the hands. I don’t have the hand histories available so the rest will be memories.

Some point not too much later there was a button or CO raise and I made a 3x raise in the BB with KK, he decided to shove me in and of course I called and held up against his AQs and I was one of the big stacks with about 14 players left.

I was in an interesting spot at this point as we neared the final table. I eventually moved up to second in chips with 12 left but grndhg was to my left with a big (and growing) stack fiending to make my life miserable. I don’t really remember the hands other than a couple successful steals, a couple failed steals, and one where UTG raised and I reraised in second position with A8s and took it down. Plays like this and the AJ where I fired three barrels the day before is where I’ve really improved my game recently. My old game was kind of like eating corn on the cob without anything on it. Solid and nutritious but nothing special. Now I’ve added just a little bit of salt and pepper and it’s made all the difference. Sometimes the moves fail (such as the FTOPS main event where I bluffed half my chips half an hour into the tourney) but usually they work and give me the breathing room I need while I nit it up waiting for hands.

Anyways, the critical pot of the tournament came up with us playing 5-handed nearing the final table. I raised AQ UTG and grndhg called in position. The blinds got out of the way and the flop came QTx with a flush draw. Right away I knew I was going to check because I had been giving up on scary flops against grndhg and just letting him have the pot. He was sure to bet it, quite possibly overbet it, if I checked so I wanted to let him bluff off some money before raising him and taking it down. He bet, as expected, something normal and average like 2/3 pot. Sometimes I will get tricky and smoothcall in spots like this but the board was scary and pot control is hopeless against grndhg who likes to make pot and overpot bets. I raised 3x and grndhg immediately shoved in. I’m trying to remember the bet sizes here. I think the blinds were 2.5k-5k, I raised to 12222 or something preflop, grndhg called, I checked the flop, he bet around 25k and I made it 77k and he immediately jammed for about 220k more. I called pretty quickly without tanking or anything, he showed two aces and crippled me.

This was obviously a sickening stomach punch, as I got involved in a gigantic pot with the only guy at the table who could cripple me with almost no chance to win. It was arguably the most important hand of my entire poker career, with so much money riding on its result. Whenever you lose a pot like this, you obviously spend a ton of time afterwards racking your brain trying to think if you misplayed it at all.

After thorough thought, I have concluded that not only was it impossible for me to get away from this hand, but in fact I played the hand optimally. I believe I maximized my EV both on this hand and in the tournament by playing it the way I did. I could have found a way to get away from it and likely cruised to a top 5 finish, as an anonymous fan commented on my blog. But if I had won the pot I would have been the gargantuan chip leader heading into the final table and in great position to take down the $400k first prize. Most importantly, I believe I will be ahead of grndhg’s range there enough to make calling more profitable than folding. If I had simply bet at the flop, grndhg would almost certainly have raised, and I would have really had no choice but to go all-in and I would have lost the maximum as well. It was a devastating, costly hand, but after much thought I am going to write it off as a cooler and try to forget its consequences.

Shortly after this I shoved for 10x on the button with K8, got called by the BB, and flopped an 8 to outrun his pocket sevens. A couple orbits later a stack who was only a little bigger than me raised from the CO and I shoved in the BB for about 4.5x with J7s. He had an easy call with QQ and I went out in 10^th. I defend this J7 shove, as his stack was the best one for me to attack and it was going to be very hard to manufacture chips 5 handed with a short stack. The CO had to have a good hand to call off 90% of his stack against me, and J7 is in surprisingly strong shape against all the hands he’d call me with except JJ-AA.

Overall I played a fantastic tournament, not “above the rim” by any means but virtually mistake-free. I have no regrets with any play I had on day 2, I just wish I hadn’t had AQ against AA on a Q high flop playing 5-handed against another big stack.