Sunday Mornings are the best sometimes.

Woke up entirely too early and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to try a $7.60 satellite to the $750K tonight. It was a 6-max double shootout, 1 seat into the tournament. I hit a few hands at the right time at my first table and pretty much coasted through the first table.

The final table started off with a bang. KJd on a flop of K45 with two diamonds is really nice. I bet 200, I got two callers. Turn was a third diamond. I checked, guy left of me checked, third guy bet 100, I raised to 300, left of me coldcalls the raise, and third guy calls. I was extremely worried about a slowplayed nut flush. River was a blank, I cautiously checked, the other two checked, I took it down with my second flush. I just didn't feel comfortable with the way the guy left of me played, and he had just the Ace of diamonds.

I coasted my way to heads-up and this was the first hand of headsup.
Full Tilt Poker Game #7875540167: Satellite to $750K Guarantee (59878655), Table 1 - 30/60 - No Limit Hold'em - 10:47:00 ET - 2008/08/31
Seat 3: jimdniacc (3,050)
Seat 5: Villain (5,950)
Villain posts the small blind of 30
jimdniacc posts the big blind of 60
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jimdniacc [Ac Ad]
Villain raises to 120
jimdniacc raises to 360
Villain raises to 600
jimdniacc raises to 3,050, and is all in
Villain calls 2,450
jimdniacc shows [Ac Ad]
Villain shows [8c Th]
*** FLOP *** [Kc 2c 3c]
*** TURN *** [Kc 2c 3c] [8h]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 2c 3c 8h] [Kd]
jimdniacc shows two pair, Aces and Kings
macanme shows two pair, Kings and Eights
jimdniacc wins the pot (6,100) with two pair, Aces and Kings
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 6,100 | Rake 0
Board: [Kc 2c 3c 8h Kd]
Seat 3: jimdniacc (big blind) showed [Ac Ad] and won (6,100) with two pair, Aces and Kings
Seat 5: macanme (small blind) showed [8c Th] and lost with two pair, Kings and Eights

I was a little worried when the turn came but the Aces held up and I took the lead. A few hands later I got him allin with my KQ against his tens. I flop a queen and its all over...


I am absolutely not gonna play this tournament tonight, we have a family get-together tonight and I'd rather pocket the T$ anyway. It's amazing how frustrating it is when its going bad, and how easy it seems when its going well. I gotta keep the momentum going.

Three Hands 1.2

Okay number two: final table now, Omaha Hi/Lo round, I'm in a single big blind for 4k with a stack of about 26k. There are 6 people left, big stack is around 40k, and three get paid. It gets folded around to a short stack on the button that has been playing super tight all night. He raises my big blind to 8k which leaves him 5.5k behind. I look down at 9234ds. Raise, call, or fold? Actually I think the real question here is raise or just call, but hopefully we'll see some answers.

Three Hands 1.1

So I think in an attempt to improve my game I'm gonna start a nice little segment I'll bluntly call Three Hands. Three hands a week, for as many weeks as I can come up with worthwhile hands. Let's begin with this.

I played in a Limit HOE tournament Tuesday night down at Meskwaki. $20 buyin for T3500, if you're at T3500 or less you can rebuy for $20 for T2500. $20 add-on at the first break for T2500 more. I've played this one a few times and the first hour seems like standard procedure: rebuy from the get-go, play supertight during holdem, take their chips during Omaha and Omaha8. I played one hand during H1, turned two pair with A9, check-raised a couple of locals and they both folded. Easy game. O and E went real well, including a nice runner-runner hand to river the nut straight in a capped pot preflop. I would have been chip leader except for flopping three's full of sevens on a board of 377; of course, the guy next to me has to have 77xx. That leads us to hand number one.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd holdem round of said tournament. J3o on the BB, blinds 100/200, limits 200/400. Older lady in seat 1 raises under the gun, small blind calls. The lady in seat one has limped every hand so far and called some raises with some crazy stuff. Usually with garbage like that I don't play but I've established a good tight image in the holdem rounds so I call. That's not what we're here to analyze.

Flop comes down 983, bottom pair no draw. SB checks, I check, old lady bets. What now, astute bloggers? Do I believe her that she has a nine or something else that beats me, or should I call?