Grubby at PokerWorks

I’m continuing to live blog my play at the FTOPS main event, and we’re now entering the third hour.

First post here.

Second post here.

“Only” 1376 left with average stack T13,800 and me sitting on T20,458 in the top 300.

Blinds just ended at an odd T170/340 with T25 ante and next move to T200/400 with T50 ante.  I expect players to drop faster this round to 800 or so.

I’ve actually decreased to seeing 8 percent of flops.

More busted pros in the past hour: Mike Matusow, John Juanda, Ben Roberts, Farzad Bonyadi, Joe Sebok, Berry Johnston, and Michael Craig.

Aaron Bartley is the 6th top stack at T55k.

Saw another AA vs. JJ go down in flames, again not mine.  On the turn, JJ picked up outs for a 4flush river, but instead of getting his diamond he got his Jack.

Poor AA.  Glad it’s not me again.

I was moved to another table and lost all my reads.

I was folding like a madman, until getting AA in the big blind.

So damaged by this hand, I let out an audible groan.  I truly expect to be busted by this hand or any big pair anymore.

Blinds are T120/240 with ante of T25.

It’s folded to the cutoff, who raises to T555, which struck me as just a blind steal.

SB folds and I pop it to T2000.

A bad move that could’ve gotten me more chips, yes, but I really just wanted to take it down right there.  With his steal he could’ve had a range of hands, all of which could do harm with a flop.

After that hand, I raised AJs and AQs early 3x and took the blinds.

***

Then 99 in LP.

Since I didn’t show the AA, AJ, and AQ and they happened within 10 hands of each other, my table image at this new table appeared aggressive with constant raising.

When I saw 99, I decided to limp and take a flop, calling a raise if need be.  If I raised myself, I didn’t want someone to fight back with an all-in reraise which I felt was coming if I continued to show aggression.

Blinds are still T120/240.

Person next to me raises to T1111.  I was getting ready to fold when BB made the decision even easier when he reraises all-in to T2435.

The original raiser calls and shows AJo.  BB has 55.

Flop is a 9 that pairs the board on the turn.

BB took the T5455 pot with the pair of 5s, and I just sat salivating at the full house I could’ve had.

I need to stop looking at flops once I fold.

***

Dealt AA again in the SB.

Shaping up to be a really good table for hands.  Is this the hand I’ll bust on?

Folded to me, and I raise 3x hoping BB might fight back, but he folded.

Had AJs one more time, with a raise that took the blinds.

***

JJ in the small blind, and the person who had the 55 limped in.

At this point, I’m suspicious of anyone who just limps in.

I treat JJ like a small pocket pair and didn’t like my position, so I just called (weak-tight, once again) hoping to see a rag flop.

It was, and an 85 percent pot bet took it down.

***

Then this hand.

Blinds T140/280.  Ante T25.

QQ in middle.  I raise 3x.  LP calls and it’s heads-up.

Flop is the beautiful A-9-Q (rainbow).

I go as Hollywood as is possible online and pause a bit before betting half the pot to make it look like I wasn’t entirely pleased with the flop.

LP takes the bait and raises 3x my bet.

I then pause and call.  Meanwhile my heart’s racing, or maybe it’s just hunger pains.

Turn is a 7.

I check, he bets half his stack (the same amount he raised), and I push for the rest of it.

He shows 77, for a turned set.  I think my hesitant flop bet caused him to make a move, and that 7 was the worst card he could’ve seen.

But the best for me, and I almost double up.  (Of course, after steeling myself for seeing the possible case 7 on the river.)

***

Four hands later, JJ (again) in the small blind.

Folds to the cutoff, who raises a rather large bet of T1205.

Folds to me.

He has T12k left and I move all-in, hoping he was just trying to steal.  If I lost this hand, I’d still have enough chips to be around average.  But if I won…

He folded.

I don’t expect hands to keep up and will need to start making moves in position.

Hope to see you in an hour.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 20th, 2007 at 7:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.