Lol donkaments

Finally got me ITM in a $10 MTT. After a few earlier tournaments where I busted out quickly (usually I got bored and started to steal blinds with 72o, hit the K75 flop and lost against an obvious AK). I played more patiently today; mixed in a few cash tables and played a lot better. I got to the final table (186 players, 10 placed paid) where everybody suddenly started to play extremely tight. I started the final table with 35k chips, blinds 600/1200/125. I got some excellent help on msn for the final, brutal phase. A few players busted out quite soon and then there were 5 players remaining, stack sizes:

Hero 35k
5408 33k
kraf 70k
flush 15k
scpcp 31k

43 hands of stealing, stealing and stealing later:

Hero 90k
5408 32k
kraf 42k
flush 10k
scpcp 10k

It got folded around to the BB so much I started to minraise any two on certain positions. It was my msn buddy who noticed that it was the 2nd time in a row it was folded to the BB in a certain position. I might need something to keep record of that stuff; maybe I should make some notes when I reach final table and keep stats of how often people minraise/raise/allin and how they respond to it.

A few players busted and I entered the HU session with 135k versus 43k and it took us 9 hands to finish it, when my K9 > his AQ. I now got a solid 213% ROI on MTTs but I doubt that's sustainable :).

Going down...

The first day of playing after my holiday proved to be a brutal one, being down $136 over 500 hands. I think I played the majority of the top-n losing hands correct but I'm still not happy about it:

Highlights including
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1 BB (6 handed)

CO ($96.00)
Button ($70.15)
Hero ($206.35)
BB ($97.50)
UTG ($100.00)
MP ($200.90)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4, 4.
MP calls $1, 1 fold, Button calls $1, Hero completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($4) T, 4, 8 (5 players)
Hero bets $4, BB folds, MP calls $4, Button raises to $12, Hero raises to $44, MP folds, Button raises to $69.15, Hero calls $25.15.

Turn: ($146.30) 8 (3 players)

River: ($146.30) 5 (3 players)

Final Pot: $146.30

Results in below:
Hero has 4h 4d (full house, fours full of eights).
UTG doesn't show.
Button has Ts 8c (full house, eights full of tens).
Outcome: Button wins $146.30.

He had 20% on the flop which puzzeled me for a while, until I noticed he had a backdoor flush draw which accounted for 5%. Great.



******* Hand 1 ********

Cryptologic
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $1/$2
4 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (4 players) Hero is UTG with A♣ A♦
Hero raises, Button 3-bets, 2 folds, Hero calls.

Flop: J♣ 2♥ 2♠ (7.5SB, 2 players)
Hero bets, Button raises, Hero re-raises, Button re-raises, Hero re-raises, Button calls.

Turn: Q♥ (8.75BB, 2 players)
Hero bets, Button raises, Hero calls.

River: Q♦ (12.75BB, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: 14.75BB
Button shows Qs Ks
Hero mucks Ac Ad

He had 5% on the flop and again 5% on the turn.


******* Hand 2 ********

Cryptologic
Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $1/$2
5 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is CO with Q♦ Q♠
UTG folds, Hero raises, 2 folds, BB calls.

Flop: 6♦ T♣ 7♦ (4.5SB, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, BB raises, Hero re-raises, BB re-raises, Hero calls.

Turn: 3♣ (6.25BB, 2 players)
BB bets, Hero raises, BB calls.

River: 9♦ (10.25BB, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, BB calls.

Results:
Final pot: 12.25BB
Hero shows Qd Qs
BB shows Ts 3s

I think I gave a bit too much action here and just should have called down from the turn but he was quite aggro.


The only option now is to win a $10 MTT to finish the month +EV :)