FULL TILT POKER

This weekend, I created an account on FTP to allow me to play in anonymity while I work on my game. I have really been in a tough patch the past few weeks. I have been playing $2/4 NL and doing well. No monster wins to report, but I've had a few $200 winning sessions. I gave some of it back playing Razz, which I had never played before. It is basically seven-card stud for low hand. I figure any kind of 8-low is going to be good most of the time. My very first hand, I bet the heck out of my 86, only to lose to 85 on the river. From there, I was winning small pots and losing big ones. But it was worth it - I love picking up new games.

I even played a HORSE tourney today. I knew I stood no chase of cashing, but it was a $26 satellite, and I gave it a try. I held my own for awhile. All games are limit: H for Hold'em; O for Omaha Hi/Lo; R for Razz; S for Seven-Card Stud; E for 7-Stud Eight or Better (Hi/Lo). I was up in chips until disaster struck the second time around in E. I was heads up against a guy aiming for the low hand. I had aces over kings, yet he hit the miracle gutshot on the river to make a straight and give him the scoop. I was crippled by that hand, and although I made a bit of a comeback in H, the tourney concluded in O when I committed myself to my first hand, since I had KK with diamonds. The flop was ragged with two diamonds, but by the river, I was beat by somebody's two pair. HORSE is a very fun way to play a tournament, and it is the true test of pure poker skills. That is why the pros take so much pride in winning the HORSE bracelet at the WSOP. This year's event is a $50k buy-in. That will be a showstopper.

I busted out early from PokerRoom's $300 Big Deal event. I bought my way in, since I am playing well yet way overdue for a cash. It was not to be - my bad luck continued. I then bought my way into the big $200 event at Full Tilt, and sat on my bed, with no TV, no browser, no distractions. There were 1031 entrants, including an assortment of well-known professionals, who are easy to spot on that site. I railbirded Erik Seidel's table for hours as I played. I wanted to see how tight he played, what he showed down, etc. He limped into a lot of pots, and check-called a ton. It is very similar to how I play tourneys. I was happy to see that he wasn't just sitting there waiting for a top ten hand. He called several times on the river with second best hand, but it wasn't possible to go into the history to see what he held.

Seidel kept getting short-stacked, but battled back. The first time I saw him go all-in, he was still in decent shape, but decided to take AK all-in from early position. The big blind thought awhile, then called with 76. Not a real good call there, since Seidel had plenty of chips and couldn't possibly have an inferior hand. Big Slick held up, and somebody observed that they love taking AK all-in early in tourneys. I was intrigued by that. I will always play it, but I had never thought to just push with it and play double or nothing. Now there was a $200 bounty on Seidel's head in this event, so that in itself encourages calls when he is all-in. I wonder how much the bounty played into that decision.

Next few times he pushed, he got no callers. Then when he was really short, he pushed, got plenty of callers, but hit a set of fives. The guy was indestructible. He went deep into the tourney, but ultimately went out nearing the bubble.

After I took down a huge pot, I was moved to a new table, and got seated to John Juanda's left. I had more chips then him, so I was thinking about the bounty. About three hands later, Juanda was moved to a different table. Later, I was seated to the right of Keith Sexton, who also has a bounty on his head. I've seen him on ESPN before - he kind of reminds me of Mark McGwire. He had a monster stack, so I planned to stay out of his way. After a round and a half, he was moved to a different table.

The payout began at 99. Juanda squeaked in. I tried to play tight, but I also tried to pick some spots to steal some blinds. I got picked off a few times with my hand in the ante jar. Finally, I got the timely aces, and got a shorter stack all-in against me. I should mention that all the bad luck that I have been having evened out in this tournament. In the early and middle stages, I always had my money in good, but my opponent seemed to hit every flop, only for me to take it away on the river. It's really just the best hand holding up, so maybe it doesn't qualify as luck, but several times I thought I was a goner, only to be saved on later streets. Twice I hit quad nines on all-ins. The second time I flopped it against AQ, but the first time, my opponent hit the flop, then I got running niners to close the deal. One for victory and one for emphasis.

I played very well for hours, only to bust out in my usual fashion. I was getting steal happy as the blinds increased. My very last hand, I raised 3x with KQ in first position. The big blind raised me 2x, making for a mandatory call, which totally committed me to the hand. The flop was J95 and he put me all in. There was so much damn money in there that I called off all my chips, looking for the gutshot. I had myself convinced I could spike a K or Q too, but that was a pipe dream. He had KK. Damn, I should have simply thrown KQ away under the gun. That hand gets me into more damn trouble. We were seven-handed at the time, and I thought a strong raise from first position should take down the blinds. Instead it took down my tournament. I finished 24th and profited over $500, which is fine, but I wish I had a bad beat story rather than a bad play story.