Clueless Wonder

UPDATE: Well I pushed with 55 after there was a raise and call. 99 took awhile, made the call, and IGH in 38th place out of 3,217. Overall this was a good run for me and I think I might have had a shot if I had not been so card dead at the end. But hey, 7 hours into a tourney it's expected that you can't always get the cards. Well this is the final event of the 3rd go-round for the Full Tilt Online Poker Series, or FTOPS. I'm going to try and chronicle my journey through this massive field. 6:14pm - We started with 3,217 individuals that either paid $500+35 or got a seat in a satellite. 5k starting stacks should give plenty of play. I just played my first hand of the event so far. got KK in MP and re-raised the UTG raiser. Flop came 234 rainbow and I took it down with a 1/2 pot bet after it was checked to me. T5305 and standing 784/3169. 6:27pm - Just played my 2nd hand and won my 2nd pot. Raised to 5xbb from the BB with 33 after there was a limper in MP and a call by the SB. SB called the raise and I took the pot down with a continuation bet on the 9KK flop. T5505 and standing 896/3095. 6:30pm - Lost my first pot. I raised from the CO with KQ, SB calls. flop comes AK5 with two diamonds. Check/Check. He bets pot on turn which double suits the board with another low card. At this point I believe he either has a weak K or a draw. River comes a T. He bets pot again. I take quite a while before I decide to call. I don't see him having an A or a big hand like a set because of the flush possibilities and him not betting the flop. Well I was wrong. He turned over A5 s00ted for the flopped two pair. He really played this hand poorly I think as he didn't bet to protect his hand. I could have easily had AT and rivered a bigger two pair on him. In that case I'm betting I could have stacked him instead of taking a dent to my stack. Anyway, still ok with T4010. 6:43pm - Just played two hands where i re-raised, trying to up the aggression factor. The first, there was a 3x raise from EP with two callers. From the CO+1 I bump it up 4x the original raise with AQs, hoping to take it down right there but having a decent hand if I end up seeing a flop. Everybody folded around. Next hand in the CO I limp with 33. The button raises 4x. I pop him back. He calls ad we see a flop of T73 rainbow. When he called I figured AK, or a decent pair. The 7 or the T might have even been it. However, there really was too much in the pot already and there was no way to keep it small. So I bet out slightly more than 1/2 the pot, fully expecting to push if he raises, push the turn if he calls, or call if he pushes. He obliged by pushing over the top with KT, turn is a T to make things interesting, and the J on the river gave me a double-up. T8655 and standing 261/2941. 7:00pm - 1st break. There are now 2,812 people left and I am sitting in 295th spot, about 3.3k above avg. I haven't checked on all the other bloggers yet. I do know that Hoyazo is till in with just below his starting stack. Oh and the top 459 spots pay in this thing. 7:20pm - Just lost a few chips when i called a LP raise with T8s out of the BB. I flopped an OESD and bet out the flop and turn with about 3/4 pot bets. My opponent pushed over the top on the apparently harmless turn and I was forced to fold. T7275 standing 713/2672. 7:36pm - First big bluff of the tourney for me. As most of you know, if I believe a person will or SHOULD lay down their hand if they don't have the nuts then I am more than willing to make the big bluff. I re-raised a MP raiser with AJos. Yes, not a premium hand and I wanted to win the pot if possible. I got a call from the raiser and we see a flop of 4TT with two clubs. It's checked to me and I lead out with a 3/4 pot bet. Turn is the 5 of clubs. At this point I don't have a pair, don't have a club. However, I can't put the original raiser on a big pair because they didn't pop me back pre-flop. So it's either a small pair or two big cards. So they have to be afraid of me having a big pair, a T, or the flush. When it's checked to me I believe that the only way he can call is if he has the flush. So I push, knowing that I'm taking that chance. He folds and I win a nice pot. Next hand I'm flying way too high and lose 1/2 my stack on another bluff try. However, this one was ill-conceived and the SB had raised my BB with AK... So T5245 and standing 1404/2384. 7:50pm - Doubled with AK in the BB. The big stack at the table raised 3x, I re-raised to 4x the raise, and he pushed. It was another 3200 to call, which was nicely over 2-1. So mathematically in a cash game it's an auto-call almost as the only hands I'm really worried about not having odds against are AA or KK. Flop comes with a K and a 7 does not appear. I know some people don't like coin-flips without having a short or big stack at this juncture. However, with my style I need chips. Overall I'm only seeing 16% of the flops and that really isn't my game. I'd like to loosen up a bit now that I'm getting a read for the players at my table. So T10,370 and standing 416/2262. 8:08pm - Entering the 2nd break with T11,070 and standing 426/2048. I'm overall very happy with the way I've played except for my 2nd bluff attempt. I let myself get a little cocky. Otherwise I'd be at almost 17k right now. Still a long way to go but I don't see a quality of play that I'm afraid of so we'll see how deep I can take it. 8:30pm - A few hands back I won another race situation as I re-raised a fairly short stack with AK. He pushed with JJ and my K on the flop held up to the river. I've also won two other pots without a showdown as I called a raiser with AQ and raised his flop bet when I flopped a Q and I re-raised an EP raiser and one caller with QQ to take it down. That's one thing that I've started doing during my deep runs lately. I've tightened up my game, not to the point of being a rock but still tighter. What I'm going instead of trying to flop monsters is just use more aggression. Re-raising pre-flop and raising on the flop. I'm seeing a ton less showdowns now and I think it's helping my image as well as getting paid off on my big hands. T19,595 and standing 98/1761 left. Oh and pokergnome is slightly above me in chips as well. So go railbird him too! 9:20pm - I'm getting to be a bit remiss in posting. 3rd break and I'm at T36,262. Average stack is 13,771. Standing 36/1168. I've been making a few steals, re-raising my good hands, and generally trying to chip up but stay out of trouble. Only hand of note illustrates why I like to get a stack early. UTG short stack does a standard 3x raise. I call from the CO with 98s. The BB also calls and is also short. What I'm looking to do here is connect with the flop and put them in. If they have a big pair so be it. But whether I get top pair, straight draw, flush draw, etc. it's going in. That's because say the UTG has AK and I hit a pair with all low cards. I push and he calls thinking I might just be a bully. In this case the flop came 758 rainbow giving me top pair and a gutshot. Check, check, and I push. The BB calls me with T7 for 2nd pair and an overcard. I hit my gutshot on the turn although I didn't need it, pick up a nice pot, and knock somebody out. 9:49pm - Won another big pot after I limped in (yes i limped) with 78os and called a 3x raise. I flopped top two on a coordinated board that had two to a flush as well. So I made what appeared to be a continuation bet of near the pot size. The other guy popped me back for almost half his stack and I pushed. Either he had an overpair and knows how to lay it down or maybe AK for the flush draw. Either way I'm happy in that case taking it down at the flop. T44,303 and standing 38/823. So that means less than 400 until ITM. 10:04pm - Got up to 50k with some steals and then went backwards by doubling up a short stack in the BB with AT vs his AK and then called a raise out of position with my suited connectors, missed the flop but took a stab, got raised and had to let it go. T36,448 and standing 100/719. Right now I'm seeing 14% of flops for the entire tournament. I was starting to loosen up and play big stack since it's getting close to the money but now that I've got backwards a bit I'm going to just tighten back up and play smart. 10:13pm - I'm just going to post the hand history for you and let it speak for itself. T64,644 and standing 21/647. 10:23pm - 4th break. T52,244. Currently 51/598 left. I lost some chips with an ill advised call on a flop and then had to fold to a turn shove. 10:40pm - Had a race against a short stack with 88 against AK. He turned an A while it gave me a flush draw, but I rivered another 8 for the full boat. T69,154 and standing 29/520. 11:02pm - ITM!!! Of course now it's going to be VERY interesting for awhile as the short stacks start pushing. I just got a chunk taken out of me by a shortie that came over the top of my button raise from the BB with JT, which turned out to be better than my A9. T55,025 and standing 84/417. Iakaris is another blogger that has cashed in the ME. 11:17pm - Made my 2nd mistake of the night, calling a raise from Paul Wolfe from the SB with K9, and then playing the calling station after the flop of 2A9 came down. It was a terrible play as Paul turned over A4. I think he had enough chips left that if I had pushed he may have folded. I picked up the blinds and a raise with TT and then 2 hands later the blinds again with AK. So now T35,533 and standing 193/341. It's the first time I've been below average since the first hour. However, I've been playing a good short stack recently and am not in terrible shape. 12:04am - Made a bad play or two, then got very lucky when I was short and desperate. Big hand was tripling up with JT against 55 and 88. I would be blogging more but now there is REAL money on the line. I'll try and remember key points to post later after I go busto. Right now T95,398 and standing at 55/196 left. Iakaris is still alive as well with a decent stack at T83,548. Cash is now guaranteed to be $1,126. 12:42am - 6th break. Still doing pretty well. Iakaris went out just before the break. I'm at T153,489 and standing 38 of 126 left.