THIS IS WHY I'M HOT

I’m hot – cause I’m fly;
You ain’t – cause you not;
This is why;
This is why;
This is why I’m hot!

So…uhmm, I’m running HOT right now, as the above summation denotes (wondering slightly now why I’m explaining a MIMS citation, which is as self-explanatory as those signs you see at the zoo, indicating crocodiles as being ‘dangerous creatures’). This blog will encompass two playing sessions and both include TOURNAMENT WINS, albeit the first one feigns slightly in comparison to the second.

Was playing on Stars, looking for any tournaments that were about to begin, when I came upon a 6-handed Pot Limit Hold’Em, $11 rebuy. It was starting in 8 minutes and I signed up as only the 13th player – expecting it to fill up towards the end, like most tourneys do. When it got underway, I was genuinely surprised to see that only 18 had signed up.

Does the Pot Limit aspect scare off players? I never understood that. It’s not like all you do during NLHE tournaments is come over the top of others with MORE than a full pot bet? Mostly a pot bet is exactly what you need for a re-raise and sometimes even less will do, so if you feel the need to shove 40BBs over a 4BB raise, you probably don’t understand the concepts of stack sizes (Tony ‘bond18’ Dunst is happy to enlighten you on tworags.com about exactly that, if what I just wrote makes no sense to you at all). I’m not saying it never comes up, especially in late tournament play spots do occur – just curious as to the apparent timidity from other players, when Pot Limit Hold’Em is concerned. I LIKE mixing it up with PLHE and what follows here goes to show that change is a definite good thing.

Unlimited rebuys until the first break and they were being taken advantage of, by pretty much everyone else but me. Kept it clean this time with my obligatory instant rebuy and of course the addon, but no I-just-got-felted-rebuys needed. As noted though, everyone else was generously adding to the total pot, so we ended up putting together a $220 1st place prize. Also, with all those rebuys, the amount of chips in play allowed for some serious deep-stack playing. By the time I made it to the final table, the average stack was roughly 60 BBs and I was sitting with more than 100 BBs – as the chip leader.

For once it was absolutely clear who the illustrious and highly sought after ‘table sucker’ was. This guy was – for lack of a better definition – heinously moronic when it came to poker. Suffice to say, I made sure I was in the pot almost every time he was. How he had managed to get to the FT only the sacrificial chicken I presume lay slaughtered in his backyard will know. He would call anything on the flop with no pair, no draw (I’m talking J2 on an A73 board), would check-call all the way to the river if he was on a draw and limp-call raises preflop & out of position with monsters such as K4 off suit. With every weak-tight play my bankroll smiled, while my poker-loving and fine-play-appreciating heart suffered a little each time.

When he busted I was delighted to find out that - in his absence - the others at the table were happy to fill his shoes. Especially one play seemed to be a favorite at this table (and largely prevalent in most tournaments online) – the “postflop minimum bet lead-out into the raiser”. Here’s the example:

We’re 4-handed. I’m first to act with 8c9c (stack 26370). Villain is in the SB (stack 6185). Blinds 100/200. I open to 550, folds to the SB who calls.

(Pot 1300) FLOP: Qd 5c 7h
SB bets out 200.

Huh??? What do you mean you bet out 200? No, seriously – WHAT…IS…THAT…SUPPOSED…TO…MEAN? You’re trying to sell me on something, right? Is the bet supposed to scare me? I just don’t get it and my response is always the same. I RAISE! AL-FUCKING-WAYS! WHETHER I’VE GOT IT OR I HAVEN’T!

I made it 1200. SB folds. Such an easy way of picking up chips – when they’re practically giving them away.

I took the tournament down after 2 hours and 15 minutes and even though I’m small-ballin’ here, I was pretty excited about the win. I basically outplayed the 17 other guys and I felt it bode well for the future. I was about to find out just how right I was.

The second tournament win in two days happened when I saw a $5 NLHE rebuy event getting ready to start on Mansion Poker. A total of 159 players signed up and I was amongst them.

I got off to a crappy start though. No real hands and I was forced to fold through the first 15-20 hands, but it did give me an opportunity to witness an incredibly aggressive and overly spewy table. I mentally made notes on a few of the players who I thought were especially imbecilic and that would prove useful a bit later.

My first playable hand was As4s which I picked up in the BB (my stack 2935). The villain was in the HJ seat at a 9-handed table (stack 2875) with blinds at 20/40. My stacksize was due to an instant rebuy, whereas the villain had doubled up early – and quite fortuitously so – when his 66 pushed all-in on a flop of A52, was called by AK and then spiked a 6 on the river.

UTG+1 limped, UTG+2 limped along, then fold to villain who made it 240 and fold to me. Given his weak post-flop play and the fact that we were deep, I called here (normally wouldn’t) not giving him credit for much of a hand. UTG+1 called as well, whereas the second limper folded.

(Pot 780) FLOP: 10c 6s 2s
UTG+1 checks, villain bets 600 and given the tournament structure I saw no reason not to shove here with my overcard and flush draw. All-in from me for a total of 2695. UTG+1 folded, but villain snap-called with two queens which held up. Guess I got schooled by the donk (*shrug*) although I’d probably do the same again if the situation were to arise like that once more.

I did a double rebuy and decided to sit back a little and wait for the good cards to find me. My restraint was working perfectly until I found myself in a situation – ripe for exploitation – and had to go for it.

I’m in the SB with 6h5s (stack 2910) and a whole range of villains are in the pot as well with varying stack sizes. 10-handed with blinds at 30/60. Went like this: UTG limps, UTG+1 limps, 1 fold, MP1 limps, 3 folds, button limps, I complete and BB checks. 6 players.

(POT 360) FLOP: 4c Ks 5h
I check, BB minimum bets, UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls and the button folds. Back to me.

Something just didn’t feel right. The BB minimum bet lead out was strange. What hand does that I was asking myself and figured it had to be either a monster (set of 4’s possibly) or something weak. Everyone else I wasn’t too worried about. As I said before the table was generally weak and I had no doubts likely holdings for UTG and MP1 could be 22 and Q10. I therefore decided to raise, wanting to see how the BB was going to react. I made it 570 total. The BB folded immediately, whereas the two others called. Now I just needed a good card to follow through.

(POT 2190) TURN: 9d
A fairly innocuous looking card and perfect for me to fire at again with my stack of 2280. I shipped it all in and both players folded fairly quickly. Paying attention pays off; apologies for the pun – and it was going to pay off for me again.

An orbit or so later I pick up KsQs in MP2 (stack approximately 4500) with blinds at 40/80. It folds to me and I raise to 220 and am called solely by the SB with a stack of 1300. The SB was one of the feeble-minded opponents that I’d made mental notes on at the beginning. Since then he had re-bought twice, but refused to change gears. He had spunk, I’ll give him that.

(POT 520) FLOP: 3s 10h 8d
He checked to me and I put out a continuation-bet of 360. He called quickly.

(POT 1240) TURN: 10d
He moves all-in for 720. I’m perplexed. Doesn’t make sense – truly doesn’t make sense dude. If you have a 10, I expect you to raise the flop considering your stack, so I can rule that out. If you have an 8, you’re probably not unhappy about the second 10, yet you should still be wary about my holding. I can’t have a 10? – or an overpair? You gain nothing from shoving here. Looks like a draw to me. I called with K-high and felt good about it. He showed Qd9h for a gut-shot straight draw and one overcard to the flop. FISTPUMP ONCE! 7d on the river to ship me the pot with K-high = FISTPUMP TWICE!

I’m not going to take you through the rest of the hands that led to my #1 finish as none of them were quite that spectacular. Overall I benefited from everyone else’s mistakes throughout the tournament and played sound poker from start to finish. I came into the final table in 5th place and did actually go on a bit of sweet run, when we were down to 7 (picked up KK and flopped a set with 22) but other than that no suckouts and I attribute my win mainly to grinding it down and staying patient.

First place was $544.05. The first of hopefully many.


Starting bankroll: USD 5,399.22
Session result: USD +643.73
New bankroll: USD 6,042.95
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 276

Thanks for reading.