Riverchasers and FTOPS Update

Man that Riverchasers is something special. It really is. It's funny how the different "blogger tournaments" (not that RC is really a blogger event, but you know what I mean) each kinda have their own persona as far as the kind of play you see in them. I mean, they're all basically the same, don't get me wrong, but there are little variations that you do notice if you play them all all the time like I do. Anyways, last night I had my average-sized stack depleted when I had my preflop allin with two high cards called by a guy with J9s, who was below average but still had probably an M of 8 or so, which for just past halfway through a blonkament is nothing to worry about. Of course he hit -- a Jack on the turn or something -- and most of my stack was shipped over to his. Then my allin preflop with AK was called by the same player with A5, and the 5 on the flop officially eliminated me from the tournament, out in 21st place out of 47 runners on the night*.

The highlight of all this was the chat after the first hand, where the other player told me after the ridiculous call preflop with J9s and then the dumb luckout that he "had to" call my allin there. With an M of 8. And J9. Soooooooted donk. Had to call. This is just all the more proof that bloggers, as a group, simply do not understand the meaning of "priced in" or "having odds". In some situations some people do, but as a rule the people you run into in these events love to make dumb calls on big stacks or on small stacks, just for the sake of trying to eliminate somebody. I can't count how many times I've seen this happen, even with people who some people think are pretty good poker players. I mean, this guy had to call my allin with J9s and an M of 8 like he had to run Kings into Aces. That is terrible man. And I just love it when they justify the bad plays afterwards. I suck out on someone, the only way I justify it is if I'm trying to tilt them with chat like the ones this guy posts about. It never ceases to amaze me how some people can play a game while having so little knowledge or understanding of what's going on around them. I had to. Uh huh.

Anyways, other than Riverchasers, let me just say that I am running hot hot hot these last few days. I've been winning some at the cash tables -- though I will brazenly admit to winning two big pots on suckouts over the past few days -- but my tournament game is through the roof. I know I usually have some people lingering in and out of chat whenever I'm playing, so for any of you out there who've been observing my mtt's over the past couple of days, you have been treated to a real experience. Have I been on fire or what? Other than the Riverchasers (congrats btw to Drizz for taking that badboy down...keep the trophy warm for me for two weeks please willya?), I think I have cashed in something like 6 of my last 7 mtt's played on full tilt. I guess a few of those might have been sng's, I don't really remember. But I've been hitting the FTOPS satellies and super satellites hard this week as I try to qualify for the four FTOPS events I am interested in playing this year: Event 1 ($200 nlh), Event 2 ($200 HORSE), Event 3 ($200 plh) and Event 7 ($1000 6-max nlh). There are other events I would play if it falls into my lap so to speak, but I would probably not buy in to any events other than #s 1 through 3 above (no way I pay $1000 to buy in to Event #7, even though I believe I have the skill to run deep in that tournament).

I really haven't seen much of anything on satellites for the HORSE FTOPS Event #2 yet, so that one is out of the picture for now, but last night I played in the $24 buyin pot-limit satellite somewhere around 10pm ET nightly on full tilt, and I was on fire. Every bluff, they folded. Every big hand, they paid off. I was spreading the punishment all around the table pretty evenly, and in the end I went into heads-up play, with each of the final two winning FTOPS #3 seats, with me as over a 3-to-1 chip leader. We played it out for pride:



For the record, I have played in the plh FTOPS event in each of the past four FTOPS series, and I have cashed in the event twice. So I know how to play this game, as compared to straight-up no-limit holdem. In the end I definitely do not find plh as fun or exciting as nlh, but I understand the differences between the two -- which amount in the end to playing a bit more of the types of hands in plh that can nail big flops hard but be gotten away easily from on the flop if they miss. I'm talking about hands like sooted connectors, Axs, things like that. Of course you still play the big pairs as well, but unlike in nlh where you can push hard preflop with a hand like pocket 5s or something if you like, in plh you can't really push that hard preflop most of the time. So you can see flops for cheaper, and then get away from them cheaper on the flop if you miss, so plh is a game more tailored to playing those kinds of hands than is pure nlh. Anyways, so I'm in to FTOPS Event #3 in plh.

In each of the last two nights I have also won a buyin in a supersatellite to play in a satellite shortly before FTOPS Event #7. On Wednesday I won my way into a $50 supersatellite running on Sunday night, the night before Event #7, which awards I think a minimum of 25 seats into Monday night's $1000 buyin FTOPS 6-max nlh tournament. That was a nice win but in the end, it only awarded a $50 buyin, and with as willing as I am to buy in directly to the 5050 any night I want, I would surely have bought into that satellite anyways so that's no big deal. But then last night I also won my buyin in an $8 rebuy supersatellite to the $200 satellite to be held on Monday night at 6:30pm ET, the night of Event #7, that will award a minimum of 100 seats into that night's FTOPS #7 tournament. So now I will be playing in two satellites to Event #7, which as I said a few days ago when I discussed my FTOPS V plans, is about as close as I'm gonna get to satelliting in to that tournament. At a $1000 buyin, for me to win a $50 megasatellite entry and a $200 megasatellite entry is as good as I'm gonna do, so I have basically reached my objective with that event as well. Lastly, I also won earlier this week a supersatellite into FTOPS Event #1 in $200 nlh. That was another supersat into a $50 megasatellite that will award 25 seats to Event #1 and will run on Thursday night, the night before the FTOPS begins in early August.

So for right now, my objectives are clear: I want to keep trying to satellite directly in to Event #1, in which case I will be playing my satellite for cash only. I will wait until full tilt starts running HORSE satellites into Event #2, and I bet I can get my boy jeciimd to play as many of those with me as I want. Hopefully I sneak into that HORSE event, although between you and me I don't really want to play in that event either. I mean, I will play in it, but in the end I haven't played even the $200 weekly HORSE mtt in months. I haven't even tried to get into it in months. I just don't enjoy playing limit HORSE games nearly as much as I once did. I tend to find the play just too chasey and too fishy, even at the $200 buyin level. Chasing drives me nuts most nights, and probably 9 times out of 10 these days whenever I sit down to play HORSE, I am tilted within literally ten minutes. It's sad, really. So I'll try to get in there and play, but if I don't win my buyin I may not buy in directly to that event either. But I look foward to tiltmonkeying in a few of those satellites as soon as full tilt starts running 'em in the evenings.

Otherwise, maybe I will hit up that 5050 again for the first time in a while tonight. I had kinda sworn off playing the 5050 for this week, since it starts at 9:30pm ET every night which lately is smack dab in the middle of all of the FTOPS satellites and supersats I've been focusing on. Last night, for the first time in my poker career, I simultaneously played in five tournaments at the same time over the span of an hour. And this all on one monitor, a laptop monitor at that, with all five windows overlapping majorly. I won a few seats as I've mentioned, plus this also happened, somewhat of a rarity for me these days:



I have also cashed, as in winning money instead of a seat, in two other tournaments in the past couple of nights, so overall it has been a very successful and profitable week for me at the virtual tables. And more than that, I feel like I am at the top fo my game right now. I might play in Kat's $1 rebuy donkament tonight, but if possible I am hoping to spend the night with my wife and maybe watch a movie or something before I log on, if at all. Either way, I will be looking for some more FTOPS satellite action this weekend, so look for me if you're around. And I'm still willing to take on all comers in a low-buyin heads-up match as well if anyone is interested.












*I admit up front that most of this story is made-up. So don't be the digghead posting that I got the hand history wrong, anuses. Just take this for what it is, a completely fictional account of a hand that in real life I butchered so I am trying to glorify by embellishing here. Thank you and goodnight.