The Grand Tournament on Ongame is one my my favourite tournaments online, but in the past it’s also been one of the most frustrating for me. My best finish is 26th, and that’s the only time I’ve made the money. Every month it rolls round, I OPR my opponents and find the vast majority have average buyins of under $20 and have fluked their way in through some turbo satellite, or a “Mad Tilt All in”. Then every month they proceed to donk me out of the tournament, or perhaps it’s my fault for not adapting properly.

This month I was particularly looking forward to it, and was very happy with my table draw. None of the players had bought in directly, and I had played against none of them before. On the whole these players who play a lot lower are inexperienced with shorthanded play, throw in the fact the GT is shorthanded and the amount of money on the line it makes for a very exploitable tournament.

After a bit of splashing around I had found my stack dwindle to just under $9k.

Puggy82 $8800 [Ts Tc]
Tatu79 $10138

PRE-FLOP
Puggy82 bets $100, Tatu79 calls $100, tzar_76 folds, luiku folds, uculelembo folds, HjVe calls $75.

FLOP [board cards: 3C 3D TD ]
HjVe checks, Puggy82 bets $150, Tatu79 calls $150, HjVe folds.

TURN [board cards: 3C 3D TD QC ]
Puggy82 bets $450, Tatu79 calls $450.

RIVER [board cards: 3C 3D TD QC 5C ]
Puggy82 bets $1,000, Tatu79 calls $1,000.

SHOWDOWN
Puggy82 shows [ TS TC ]
Tatu79 mucks cards [ 3H 4S ]
Puggy82 wins $3,525.

This guy had been splashing around a fair amount, and had shown he was a calling station, and at the same time incapable of bluffing. He also showed on a couple of hands an inability to value bet in such obvious spots in position. When he called me down the whole way he really could have had anything, and when I saw his hand I was a little annoyed I didn’t have his whole stack! The next level, this hand came up:

Puggy82 $9950 [Ad As]
Tatu79 $8813

PRE-FLOP
luiku folds, uculelembo folds, HjVe folds, Puggy82 bets $200, Tatu79 calls $150, tzar_76 calls $125.

FLOP [board cards: TH JH 7C ]
Tatu79 checks, tzar_76 checks, Puggy82 bets $350, Tatu79 bets $700, tzar_76 folds, Puggy82 calls $350.

TURN [board cards: TH JH 7C 6S ]
Tatu79 checks, Puggy82 checks.

RIVER [board cards: TH JH 7C 6S 4C ]
Tatu79 checks, Puggy82 checks.

SHOWDOWN
Tatu79 shows [ TC TS ]
Puggy82 mucks cards [ AD AS ]
Tatu79 wins $2,000.

As outrageous as it sounds, I thought about folding the flop. This guy was just ridiculous, the only time I ever saw him raising was with the nuts. However I still couldn’t find a fold as just because I hadn’t seen him raise with less doesn’t mean he doesn’t have it in his fishy arsenal, so I called to re-assess. After checking the turn and having him check again to me on the river I would in the vast majority of cases value bet the river. But I really felt like he had at least two pair. A problem with that read is that he had given me no more info since the flop, and I called on the flop. In addition to this he had shown he would call down with marginal holdings, so these two things combined makes me think I should bet. Perhaps a bet/fold to a raise would have been the best line, but the line I took worked out!

Puggy82 $9050 [Ks Td]
Tatu79 $7863

PRE-FLOP
uculelembo folds, HjVe folds, Puggy82 bets $300, Tatu79 calls $300, tzar_76 folds, luiku folds.

FLOP [board cards: QD JS 4H ]
Puggy82 bets $400, Tatu79 bets $800, Puggy82 calls $400.

TURN [board cards: QD JS 4H 9C ]
Puggy82 bets $2,000, Tatu79 folds.

When he mini raised the flop, i thought he had a monster, hence my strong lead on the turn. I was obviously disappointed when he folded, and further confused about the villain’s play.

Puggy82 $10300 [Ah Kh]
Tatu79 $8613

PRE-FLOP
Puggy82 bets $300, Tatu79 calls $300, tzar_76 folds, luiku folds, uculelembo folds, HjVe folds.

FLOP [board cards: 2H 4S 5H ]
Puggy82 checks, Tatu79 checks.

TURN [board cards: 2H 4S 5H KD ]
Puggy82 bets $400, Tatu79 calls $400.

RIVER [board cards: 2H 4S 5H KD 5C ]
Puggy82 bets $1,000, Tatu79 calls $1,000.

SHOWDOWN
Puggy82 shows [ AH KH ]
Tatu79 mucks cards [ 9C 4C ]
Puggy82 wins $3,550.

This hand confused me even more about what I was up against with this player, but does suggest I should have value bet the river with the Aces.

Puggy82 $12050 [8d 9d]
luiku $10650

PRE-FLOP
uculelembo calls $100, HjVe folds, Puggy82 calls $100, Tatu79 folds, tzar_76 folds, luiku checks.

FLOP [board cards: 7D 8S AD ]
luiku bets $350, uculelembo folds, Puggy82 calls $350.

TURN [board cards: 7D 8S AD 6H ]
luiku bets $1,050, Puggy82 calls $1,050.

RIVER [board cards: 7D 8S AD 6H 5D ]
luiku checks, Puggy82 bets $1,500, luiku calls $1,500.

SHOWDOWN
Puggy82 shows [ 8D 9D ]
luiku mucks cards [ 7H 8H ]
Puggy82 wins $6,150.

Bit of a tricky hand. He bet pot on the flop out of the bb, and I really felt he might be very strong. I had a big draw with mid pair and a flush draw. I could have raised, but had he re-raised back I would have put myself in a tough spot, so elected to control the pot and flat. The turn brought me a open ended draw as well, and when he led into me for pot I was put in a little of a quandary. I really felt like he had two pair now, my two pair draw may be no good if he has A7 or A8, and the two 8s may be no good either. I still figured I had at least 15 outs, so made the call. He then paid me off on the river when the diamond hit, which was nice of him. Pokerstoving it afterwards I’m crazily 47.7% on the turn.

A few levels later I had lost a few chips and got moved tables.

Puggy82 $12875 [5h 6s]
hejpetr_cz $6488

PRE-FLOP
DRM8X6 folds, Wajzing folds, hejpetr_cz calls $300, stayros36 folds, Puggy82 calls $150, fladfisk checks.

FLOP [board cards: 9H 8C 7C ]
Puggy82 bets $600, fladfisk folds, hejpetr_cz calls $600.

TURN [board cards: 9H 8C 7C 7S ]
Puggy82 bets $1,200, hejpetr_cz calls $1,200.

RIVER [board cards: 9H 8C 7C 7S AD ]
Puggy82 checks, hejpetr_cz bets $4,388 and is all-in, Puggy82 calls $4,388.

SHOWDOWN
hejpetr_cz shows [ QC TC ]
Puggy82 shows [ 5H 6S ]
Puggy82 wins $13,276.

I didn’t like the turn much, but was still prepared to go to the felt against him. When he called, I was fairly sure he was drawing, hence the check on the river. He thought for a while and shoved, followed by a snap call/hi five monitor from me.

A little later I got a bit lucky when a shorter stack mini raised the button on my bb, I had JT, I felt he would fold so shipped it in. He called with AK, flopped the K, but with the King came a Queen, 9 on the river, tyvm.

Puggy82 $33738 [As Ac]
DRM8X6 $24782

PRE-FLOP
muffler30 folds, javille folds, MajK38 folds, Puggy82 bets $1,500, fladfisk folds, DRM8X6 calls $900.

FLOP [board cards: 2D 6H 4S ]
DRM8X6 checks, Puggy82 bets $2,100, DRM8X6 bets $5,400, Puggy82 calls $3,300.

TURN [board cards: 2D 6H 4S 8S ]
DRM8X6 bets $9,000, Puggy82 bets $26,838 and is all-in, DRM8X6 calls $8,882 and is all-in.

RIVER [board cards: 2D 6H 4S 8S 4C ]

SHOWDOWN
Puggy82 shows [ AS AC ]
DRM8X6 shows [ 7D 7C ]
Puggy82 wins $8,956, Puggy82 wins $49,864.

I only called his check raise on the flop as I felt he would fold a large amount of his range that he would fire with again on the turn, and there were no draws out there. On the turn he bet half his stack, it looked pretty strong, I assumed he had a hand he was willing to put his last 9k in with, so put him in. Easy game.

I finished the day on 55k, with the average at 37k. Blinds are going to 400/800 for day 2. Play differs a lot in the 2nd day – stack sizes are shallower, and a lot of the dead money has gone. There’s a long way to go, but it’s a good start nonetheless.