Final Table, 90 Players

Last night I attempted my first MTT for cash online. I have played at the casino before where I could use my ability to pick up tells to carry myself through the field. However with this game there would be no people to look at, only avatars – and the only tells I get are how long it takes for someone to bet and what they say in the chat box. While some might say out lasting in an online tournament is a little easier than playing the field in a B&M, I believe it’s just as challenging to do. The problems you face with an online tournament is the lack of discipline. You have a lot of players going all-in almost every flop so you really have to feel good about your hand to play it – and expect to have to shove your chips in to see the showdown. With a B&M the action is more passive. No one wants to look like a fool in person so people don’t shove all-in all the time. They play more ‘realistic’, even the amateur players don’t go crazy. They may over bet the pot because they don’t understand how to bet correctly but they are not putting their tournament on the line with a pair of sixes by pushing all-in pre-flop.

The tournament tonight was a cheap one, a $5 +.50, 90 player max freeze-out. The objective here is to outlast everyone else. There are no re-buys, no add-ons, you get 3,000 in chips and blinds go up every six minutes.

For the first half of the tournament I only played two hands in which I did not show down. It was a lot of checking and folding while I watch the other players bet their stacks aggressively. It was almost like I was sitting there watching a bloopers show. People moving all-in with nothing and getting called by someone with bottom pair. Then the person on the rail is cursing at the guy in the game, “How can you make that call you donk.” It’s always enjoyable to watch a person attempt to make a move and someone call them with a better hand, then they go on bragging how good they are and how it was stupid for the other player to make that call. Why can’t they just said, “Nice call, good luck”? Oh well, the more people on tilt the better right?

After the first quarter of the players got sent to the rail I started to play some hands. The all-in moves were starting to fade away and now we could see a flop, a turn, and maybe even a river. The first chance I got I knocked out a player who voluntarily moved all-in. Let’s take a look at the action:

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Seat 3 has been over aggressive. Many times he has raised pre-flop with nothing more face-small or connecting hands. He also has been known to push all-in on the flop after he raises pre-flop. So far no one has called him.

Seat 1: (4,870)
Seat 2: (2,630)
Seat 3: Opponent (1,265)
Seat 4: (4,290)
Seat 5: sjpc yabi (3,450)
Seat 6: (8,455)
Seat 7: (6,035)
Seat 8: (1,600)
Seat 9: (2,275)

Seat 4 posts the small blind of 40
sjpc yabi posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #3

Dealt to sjpc yabi [Kh Qd]
Seat 6 calls 80
Seat 7 calls 80
Seat 8 folds
Seat 9 folds
Seat 1 folds
Seat 2 folds
Opponent raises to 320
Small Blind folds
sjpc yabi calls 240
Seat 6 folds
Seat 7 calls 240

FLOP [Ts Jh 4d]

sjpc yabi bets 300
Seat 7 folds
Opponent raises to 945, and is all in

I flopped an open ended straight draw and my opponent moved all in. My original bet was more of a probe bet to see where I was with the hand. Seat 7 folds and I get re-raised 645 chips. As mentioned before this player is the type that has been making this move throughout the night with no one challenging him. It takes me a long time to call his all in but ultimately I do. My reason for doing so is because not only do I have a minimal 8 outs (four 9s + four As) but also the possibility that either a King or a Queen can help me if he has top pair on the flop, giving me a total of 14 outs. My odds of winning the hand is a little higher than 2:1. It cost me 645 chips to call a pot of 2245 giving me little less than 3.5:1. These are good odds to call his raise with – mathematically I will be profitable in the long run with this call, even if I lose it on this hand.

sjpc yabi has 15 seconds left to act
sjpc yabi calls 645

Opponent shows [9c Qs]
sjpc yabi shows [Kh Qd]

My opponent has an open ended straight draw as well. His Queens are covered by my King and his 9 gives me a straight. I am ahead about 74% to win.

TURN [Ts Jh 4d] [Qh]

The Queen of Hearts was a nice card for me giving me 84% to win the hand. His only outs now, they are one of three Kings.

RIVER [Ts Jh 4d Qh] [3d]

sjpc yabi wins the pot (2,970) with a pair of Queens

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This brought me to a little over 5,100 in chips and one less person to worry about in the tournament. For the next hour it was minimal action. The blinds started to go up some and I was making some moves in position to keep alive. I was down to about 3,905 in chips when a player doubled me up. The player made a horrible move which crippled him for the rest of the tournament. Let’s take a quick look at his critical mistake.
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Seat 1: sjpc yabi (3,905)
Seat 2: (5,710)
Seat 3: (5,770)
Seat 4: (3,650)
Seat 5: (4,730)
Seat 6: (4,820)
Seat 8: (9,940)
Seat 9: Opponent (5,135)

Seat 9 posts the small blind of 150
sjpc yabi posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #8

HOLE CARDS

Dealt to sjpc yabi [Kd Qs]

Table folds to the small blind
Opponent raises to 900sjpc yabi calls 600

I felt that this was more of a position raise. Everyone on the table folded to the small blind and then he makes a raise 3x the BB. This is a move most good players do and allows them to usually pick up the blinds. However knowing that this was a position raise and I have “ok” cards I am going to see the flop. If I miss the flop I will fold the hand.

FLOP [4h 9c Qc]

I hit top pair with a nice kicker. I feel this is a good raising hand if it gets checked to me.

Opponent bets 1,800
sjpc yabi raises to 3,005, and is all in

I felt that my opponent was making a continuation bet. That’s a bet when your first to act or it’s checked to you and you were the original raiser, you make a bet usually half to three-fourths the pot in hops to buy the pot right then. This was not a bad move by my opponent, but I know he would make a move like this regardless if he hit the flop. Now my only concern is that if he’s in there with Ax and an Ace comes out on the Turn or the River. I feel that I have the best hand at the moment with only Pocket 4s – 9s – Qs - Ks, or AQ beating me. I don’t put him on Pocket pair since if he had pocket Kings he would have raised more than 3x the blind. If he had pocket 9s or 4s he would have also raised higher then 3x the blind to ensure someone with AK or AQ wouldn’t call. I don’t put him on Pocket Qs because I hold one and the odds of him holding two are small. I figured he either had a suited connectors or a hand like Ax. I didn’t want him to out draw me so I pushed me stack in hoping to buy the pot right then.

Opponent has 15 seconds left to act
Opponent calls 1,205

sjpc yabi shows [Kd Qs]
Opponent shows [Jc Ad]

It took my opponent a decent amount of time to call this bet because I think he knew he was beat but felt he could out draw me to win. Him putting in 1,205 chips to a pot of over 6,700 is getting really good odds on his money. I don’t blame his call here, it’s hard not to call when you’re getting 6:1 on your money. I think if I was in this situation I would have cut my looses and worked with my 2,500 chips. Calling this bet knowing I have to draw would be hard to do because it would only leave me roughly 1300 in chips with 300 blinds.

TURN [4h 9c Qc] [2h]
RIVER [4h 9c Qc 2h] [9s]

sjpc yabi wins the pot (7,810) with two pair, Queens and Nines

This was a good hand in my opinion. I do not blame my opponent’s play. He should have bet a little more aggressive pre-flop with AJ being there was only one opponent in the hand and that person was the Big Blind. If he would have bet around 1,300 to 1,500 I would have most likely dropped my hand. He didn’t and it cost him a lot of chips.
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The game carried on for another hour with not much action. I fluctuated between 8,000 chips to 11,000 chips with blinds going up and a couple of people around me with double or more of my chips. I made a huge leap forward when I called in all in with A9 against KQ. The flop paired my Aces and his Kings and my Aces held up giving me over 22,000 in chips. This was definitely a move and it paid off. With so many players over 20k in chips I had to make some sort of move to get chipped up. This player was the type who’d like to try and re-raise you and buy the blinds and had not been shown down in a while. I raised in the cut off only to be re-raised buy this player. After calling him I was unfortunate he actually held a good hand since I put him on an attempt to steal the blinds and my raise. Nailing my Ace and taking this down was a huge turning point for me. It placed me 14th overall in the tournament and I felt a lot more comfortable.

As time passed by and people knocked out I was finally at the final table. Early into the final table I had a bad turn of luck. Let’s take a look what happen.
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The game has been really aggressive. The small stacks are trying to make moves to steal blinds and get chipped up. The blinds are high with the big blind being 2,400. There are a lot of small stacks pushing all in pre-flop and stealing a lot of money.

Seat 1: (40,574)
Seat 2: sjpc yabi (23,056)
Seat 3: Opponent(9,925)
Seat 4: (17,020)
Seat 5: (39,278)
Seat 6: (28,312)
Seat 7: (51,335)
Seat 8: (46,025)
Seat 9: (14,475)

Seat 4 posts the small blind of 1,200
Seat 5 posts the big blind of 2,400
The button is in seat #3

HOLE CARDS

Dealt to sjpc yabi [9h 9s]
Seat 6-9 fold
Seat 1 calls 2,400
sjpc yabi raises to 5,000
Opponent raises to 9,925, and is all in
Rest of table foldssjpc yabi calls 4,925

Being my opponent was in the big blind I felt my pair of 9s where good. He started with a stack less than 10,000 and is committing more then ¼ his stack to this hand by force. With one call and one raise it makes it very tempting to try to steal this pot and gain almost 10k in chips. With the amount of money in the pot and the belief that this was a steal attempt I called his all in with my 9s.

Opponent shows [Ts Th]
sjpc yabi shows [9h 9s]

Complete underdog to win this hand. I read my opponent wrong and now I have to pay the price. All I can hope for is a 9 to come out so I can get trips, than dodge a Ten and take this pot. If I win here I would be in complete contentions to win this tournament with more than enough chips to survive the blinds and have some money to work with. I need a lot of luck to get out of this alive.

*** FLOP *** [Jc 3d Qh]
*** TURN *** [Jc 3d Qh] [Qs]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 3d Qh Qs] [Qd]

Opponent wins the pot (25,850) with a full house, Queens full of Tens

The better hand stood up and I took a hit to half my stack. There is nothing to complain about and I believe that both players made the right moves considering both players situations. My opponent had to feel his Tens were worth the risk to try and double up, and I read that he was trying to steal and figured my 9s where good. Situations like this is what “That’s Poker” is all about.



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After bring me down to about 13k in chips I really had to work hard to survive. I lasted Eight Place when my QT suited got busted by Pocket 9s. Ironic eh?

In conclusion I do not think this was a bad first MTT game online. It was definitely different than the casino experience and I look forward to playing more of these in the future for higher stakes. I felt good about making the final table and it reinsured my ability of being able to play in large fields. Previously online I have placed 23rd in 1600 people, 62 in 1,500 and 123 in 3,000 people tournaments – all free-rolls so no cashes. I look forward to playing more of these in the future and sharing the experience with you.