8am. After some good luck building both my bankroll and FTP balance, I had busted out of a $1+.25 SNG this morning on what I thought was a bad beat. Big blind, J2. Cutoff smooth calls, and there's no way I'm raising with a Jack-duece. Flop comes 2-2-8. I bet my trip 2s, dude raises me all-in. I call, thinking Ace and face card, or at worst over pair. I show my trips, he shows pocket 10s. Turn's clean, but dude hits a 10 on the river. Good news, I had the right read on him and I got my money in when I had the better hand; bad news, he sucked out and knocked me out in 5th when top 3 pays. Balance: 9.97.
9:20 pm: Generally following the FTPA[1] advise has gotten me in decent position as I'm creeping up on the second break -- and cashing -- in the Daily Dollar ($1, $10K guar, 1080/6119)[2]. Right now, with blinds at 300/150/25[3], I'm sitting at 14.6K chips, and sitting around 463rd out of the 1502 players left in the tournament. I've been doing fairly well, and have seen an inordinate number of pocket jacks. Best part is, they've been good to me. I've only not won with them tonight once:
UTG+1 smooth calls; I'm cutoff (Button -1), raise 3.3x, dude calls. Flop comes K9A; dude bets pot, I fold. With the Ace/King falling on the flop, there's no way I can really call with just Jacks. When someone in early position calls, I'm thinking he probably has either and A or K, and when he calls a raise from late position, I'm thinking he probably has A/Face or KQ, something of that nature. That makes a pot-sized bet really hard to call with AK on the board. Now, if it had came AKQ or AK10, I'd have considered it longer because instead of 2 cards that would improve my hand, I'd have 6 outs, which would be about 1/4 chance of improving my hand rather than less than 1/10.
9:37 pm: 200/400/50 Knock-out! BB's antes all-in. I'm UTG+2, and I raise to 2000 (5xBB) on AdKd. Cutoff raises to 4800, I push All-In 13,560; Cutoff calls AI, shows AcKs; big blind has 6s2d. Best cutoff can hope for is the flush to go his way, otherwise we're looking at a split pot.
Board comes 6d,8d,9h; pairing BB, but I'm more interested in the 25K side pot than the 270 chip main pot. Turn gives me 3d and the diamond flush. I'm over 26K chips and top 200 with around 1200 left in the tourney.
9:55 pm: 300/600/75 I'm In The Money! As the first $2.20 prize gets paid, I'm sitting in 226th position. The next payout level is 900th.
10:07pm: 400/800/100 I'm In The Money! As 900th place gets paid $2.50, I'm sitting in 230th Position. The next payout level is 720th.
10:23 pm: 500/1000/125 I'm In The Money! I wasn't even paying attention as 720th paid out, right now, i'm sitting at 293/661... 540th is the next cutoff, which will earn $3.50.
10:36 pm: 600/1200/150 I'm in the money! 3.50 is mine now, as I'm sitting in 348th as the 540 place player goes out. 360th is the next cutoff, so I should probably look to play some more hands.
10:42 pm: Third Break. OK, I've made the third break, and I'm still playing as 398/472. I'm happy with my play so far tonight; not only have I at least tripled my entry fee, I'm playing smart poker. No bad beats either way, and even though I'm down to about 13 BB, I can tell I'm not in 'panic mode' yet. I'm playing for another 70c - a 1c/2c table starting pile, really.
11:05 pm: 1000/2000/250 Lucky Break: I get dealt JJ sitting in the big blind. Fold to the small blind who raises 3x, I raise all the other couple hundred to put me all in, he calls; shows A3o. Flop AJ10. I ride the river out to almost triple up because of the antes. This puts me just far enough ahead that I scoot past the 360th position into $4.20. 270th pays $5, but I don't think I'll get there. A few more good hands, though; and who knows?
11:12pm: 1000/2000/250 A 4x bet in early position backed by QQs nets me some blinds, I'm at 17K in 300th place.
11:13 pm: 1200/2400/500: Got my money in from the button on a 60/40 shot. My AcJs/Kc3c. So of course, flop comes 2 clubs, turn shows club (his flush), and the river... Qh. Damn. Out in 302nd quadrupling my entry fee. Not bad for about 4 hours work.I'm gonna hit the Late Night Happy Hour for double FTPs a while (trying to cash out that next $5 on my first deposit bonus).
[1] Full Tilt Poker Academy. Basically, their advice involves what hands to play in what position, how much and when to bet/raise.
[2] That is, a $1 entry fee, $10,000 guaranteed prize pool, and 1080 places pay out of the 6119 entries.
[3] Ante of 25, 300 chip big blind/minimum bet, 150 small blind.
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