Lots to say

In my last blog (which was 3 weeks ago) I said that I was going to get back into the mtt's online. I took a semi break in April after a brutal run in March. But when May came around I felt like getting back into the mtt grind. I was refreshed as a break usually does for you.

The first week I played I was going deep almost every night in tournaments, but I never had any scores. I wasn't worried though, as it's a good sign when you are continually going deep. Then all of a sudden I starting running really well down the stretch and I felt really confident.

The last two weeks have been the best run in poker I have had in a while. I finished second in the $27 for for around 3k won the $22 rebuy for 11k, finished 3rd in the 162 for roughly 10k, finished 2nd in the 109 for around 3k, and 34th in the $500 Sunday mill for roughly 5k.

Obviously a great deal of this is due to running really well, but the biggest thing that I have tried to change about my game is adjusting to the table. Back in February when I had my last really good run, my strategy late in tournaments was to try and control the table. I raise about a 1/3 or the hands, and not let people raise my bb. This is obviously a great strategy if you can get away with it, because you can build your stack without risk. I'm not sure if people started taking more notes on me, or people have started to use the same strategy, but in the month of March, I found like this was no longer an optimum way to approach mtt's. I was continually getting the money in with weak hands, and was not getting any respect from people. They were not afraid at all to get the money in with hands like A4, and I was not adjusting properly. So this month, I switched my game dramatically. I no longer try to control the table late in every mtt, I only do this if it is clear that everyone is playing very tight.

For example, in the 22 rebuy that I won, I literally did not raise from the cut off or puck once, unless I had a huge hand. People will never let you push them around in this tournament, so why try. Just raise with solid hands, and let them get it in behind. So I was able to build my image as very tight, only ever showing down huge hands, and then I would exploit thins by re raising the regular blind stealer's with marginal hands when I had a chance. This usually worked every time, as my image was very very tight.

The opposite happened in the 109 from the other night. When we were down to two tables, they were playing so tight it was crazy. I would literally raise 75% of the hands, and they would continuously fold. This is by far the most fun type of poker to play, but these days, it hardly ever comes up.

In the $500 Sunday mill yesterday, I had a really good shot at final tabling it, but I made a very suspect call for almost all my stack. I was going to put the hand in without showdown, because I think seeing his hand influences your thought process, but most of you probably all ready saw the hand so I will just leave it in.

PokerStars Game #10141194426: Tournament #50506312, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level XXIII (12500/25000) - 2007/05/28 - 00:39:25 (ET)
Table '50506312 330' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: fishbones11 (783269 in chips)
Seat 2: Dynamite321 (678134 in chips)
Seat 3: Pwnasaurus (622207 in chips)
Seat 4: i aced u2 (1263212 in chips)
Seat 5: mr_natoli (571457 in chips)
Seat 6: Suck My Ace (758335 in chips)
Seat 7: Roothlus (510981 in chips)
Seat 8: horserat (1174027 in chips)
fishbones11 : posts the ante 2500
Dynamite321: posts the ante 2500
Pwnasaurus: posts the ante 2500
i aced u2: posts the ante 2500
mr_natoli: posts the ante 2500
Suck My Ace: posts the ante 2500
Roothlus: posts the ante 2500
horserat: posts the ante 2500
Dynamite321: posts small blind 12500
Pwnasaurus: posts big blind 25000

Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to fishbones11 KsKd
i aced u2: folds
mr_natoli: folds
Suck My Ace: folds
Roothlus: folds
horserat: folds
fishbones11 : raises 50000 to 75000
Dynamite321: folds
Pwnasaurus: calls 50000

Flop(Odds) (Pot : $162,500.00)

AdTh8c
Pwnasaurus: checks
fishbones11 : checks

Turn(Odds) (Pot : $162,500.00)

AdTh8c9d
Pwnasaurus: bets 125000
fishbones11 : calls 125000

River (Pot : $412,500.00)

AdTh8c9d4c
Pwnasaurus: bets 419707 and is all-in
RikkiTikki is connected
fishbones11 : calls 419707

Showdown
Pwnasaurus: shows AcAs (three of a kind, Aces)
fishbones11 : shows KsKd (a pair of Kings)
Pwnasaurus collected 1271914 from pot

Summary
Total pot 1271914 | Rake 0
Board AdTh8c9d4c
Seat 1: fishbones11 (button) showed KsKd and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 2: Dynamite321 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Pwnasaurus (big blind) showed AcAs and won (1271914) with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 4: i aced u2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: mr_natoli folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Suck My Ace folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Roothlus folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: horserat folded before Flop (didn't bet)

I'm sure most people would think this is a clear fold, but to me it wasn't. Firstly, the most important thing I considered when making this call was my image at the table. I had been playing extreamly tight, hardly ever raising. I think I raised twice I the the 30mins I was at this table, and I folded to a re raise both times. So I believed that people are viewing me as a tight player, who doesn't want to play a huge pot with a weak hand.

So the hand is pretty standard pree, a blind raise and a call. The flop goes check check. On the turn he best out, which I think he would do with a lot of hands, and try to take it down, so the call is pretty standard. At his point, I think my hand becomes very obvious. I called pretty quickly, so it shows that I clearly have a pair, most likely JJ-KK. Now the river comes, and he shoves all in. This bet did not make sense to me at all. To him I should look like a tight player, who doesn't want to play huge pots with weak hands, and I really look like I have JJ-KK. If he had a big hand, why the hell would he just push all in if he wanted me to call. How can he possibly expect a very tight player to call here with JJ-KK. If he does think that I have this hand, then it is a perfect time to push me off. It is very very hard to call in that spot with my hand. Another thing that is important to note, is he is a very good player, and it's not like he doesn't know how to play a hand, or hasn't been observing how I have been playing. Based on all this, I thought I had to have the best hand about half the time, and obviously I'm calling when I think that. An interesting thing that someone told me that made sense was he would probably make a 2/3 of the pot bet on a bluff there, because it virtually does the same thing as a push, except if I call he will still be in the tourney. I am not upset with the way I played the hand at all, I went with my read, and I was wrong, and that is going to happens at times. It's just one of those hands, if your right you look like a genius, if your wrong you look like a moron.

It has been a great couple of weeks, and I really hope it will continue.

Thanks again for all the support from the J7 community, it always means a lot.

I'll be back........