I'm bound to bust out in some ridiculous way to humiliate myself but I thought I'd keep a diary of a MTT for comment or interest so here it is,

20/2 on Party 680 entrants.

Start Table 12

I'm seat 1 - the number at the start of the line is the hand number, the number in brackets are my stack.

First 10 hands nothing. Limp with 10 8 and 66. Fold after flop (955)

2 seats to my right (seat 9) a guy (PM plays A6o and the guy to the right of him (seat 8) plays 25s - interesting

11 - hand - AQo on BB - raise to 3bb bring two limpers A9x flop - bet half pot and win (1035)

14 - A4s on button - fold to 4xbb bet from Seat 9. He shows AKo - shame I would have liked to limp

15 - limp A5s fold on flop Seat 8 plays K8s EP (he is big stack)

Seat 9 pushes preflop to one limper (who folds) - I strongly suspect a poor player

21 - J3o on bb - fold to 5xbb from seat 3 (995)

22 - 33 on SB - fold to 4xbb from seat 4 - BB calls, no 3 on the flop. Seat 4 goes allin and is called by Seat 2 with AA with a 9 kicker to seat 4's 8 kicker. Seat 2, to my left has now doubled up.

25 A10o limp in LP - will have to be a good flop. J7Q, one bet to me. I make a few chips with some small bets off seat 10 as he misses his draw and a 10 hits the river (1190) - I either played that really well or really badly

Seat 9 allin again (he'll be gone soon, hopefully I'll get my shot at him)

He has. Busted out to Seat 10 the very next hand with A high, Seat 8 lost a lot as well. Seat 10 now table leader by a margin with 3130.


31 67o limp from SB flop 675 (nice but will never stand up) BB and one other (half pot bets called) 9 on turn - make a bet and fold to allin from Seat 8 - he may have had A9 but too many beats for me. I'll have other chances (1010 average=1430 BB=30)

34 AJs raise 3xbb called by Seat 8!! hooray. Flop Q9A, bet pot and get called - turn J (excellent) bet half pot called. River blanks, push allin and he turns Q9. Good things come to those who wait (2095)

38 KQo utg raise 2xbb, 3 callers bet 100 to ragged flop, 2 callers, fold to bets on the river (1935)

39 A8o BB - 5 limpers Flop J2J no bets and I win with an 8 on the river (2070 average=1577)

Watching seat 10 to my right he may be very solid. Not a clue about the rest of them at the moment.

Blinds hit 50/25, time to stop limping low pp and suited As in ep

Lost concentration there for a couple of minutes as I start to play fold'em. Table seems to have tightened.

49 KQo in BB (chances here possibly) - 1 limper and SB - I min raise both call - flop Q108, bet slightly less than

pot, get reraised 1100 by seat 10 (SB). I fold suspecting the made straight or 2 pair (1665)

Seat 10 now has 5145 and I still can't work him out.

52 limp A10 on button 6 way pot - 2A9 flop - seat 10 overbets 450 to a 300 pot I reraise allin as I suspect he has little or nothing (not that mine is great), he folds (2365) - I may have a line on him now. Risky play though, he'll call me next time.

AA KK or even AK wouldn't hurt at some point

End of hour one 2365 chips, average 2017, 337 players left.

Hour 2


59 K6o on BB (which is now 100) - fold to min raise


60 JKs on SB - call min raise - 6 way- flop J89 (pot 1200, I bet 300) - someone reraises allin 1135 with 2 callers. I fold someone has me beat. Allin craziness follows. Yup QQ and a made straight. The winner is seat 10 who is tournament leader with 11525. (1765)


Seat 10 is starting to bully now. I need to pick my moment. No-one else at the table has any chips to speak of (i'm third).


This deck is devoid of Aces.


69 Q9o on BB (which is 150) call min raise - flop JKJ - fold

70 KQo on SB - Seat 10 limps, raise to 350 - BB goes allin - I fold. Damn. (1115)

Nothing happening for me here and I need to make a move soonish. I don't like coin flips but it may be approaching the time to risk it. Seat 2 on my left looks like a likely candidate.


78 610o on BB (150) fold to allin (965)

79 64s on SB - limp - flop 45Q - I bet 200 - fold, fold - Yay, there is life! (1265)

No pairs, no Aces if poker isn't rigged I must have offended some major deity.

Average is 3400 - 200 players left.


85 A6s - BB is small stack so I min raise from MP. SB calls. Flop K55 (not my suit). I bet 200, he folds.

Creative betting pays. (1715)

88 610s on BB (200) - 1 limper and SB - 53J flop - I fold to pot bet (1515).

89 K8o on SB - 1 limper, 1 raise 500, I fold. (1415)

90 910s on button - I min raise SB folds, BB allin (damn). I try to make the pot odds say it's call but it's not. I fold because I am weak and probably beaten. (1015)

93 88 - no messing - allin. I get called by AK and J10o - J10 is low stack and hits a 10. I win the rest (1386)

96 77 - allin - get beat by pocket 9's.

158th out of 680. Not bad play I think, but not great. No cards to speak of either. It was either push the sevens or die to the blinds at the end.

Looking back at this, I realise how few hands I play when not short stacked. I also realise how I like to target individual players for attention.

Interesting for me, if not necessarily for anyone else

Rex

"49 KQo in BB (chances here possibly) - 1 limper and SB - I min raise both call - flop Q108, bet slightly less than "

What is the point of min-raising here? You are out of position and all min raising is doing is building a bigger pot. Either limp or bet like you mean it.

I hate games like this where you just can't get a big hand.

I agree, I don't like limping from the BB with a semi-decent hand, so yes I was trying to build the pot (and also shake off the SB if he was holding very weak). On both counts I probably should've raised like I meant it.

I Dan Harrington's book, he advocates raising a little extra from the blinds, since you will be OOP.

yess dan is a good (poker) player

__________________
Poker

Irexes, I would like to discuss a couple of other hands if you don't mind.


"31 67o limp from SB flop 675 (nice but will never stand up) BB and one other (half pot bets called) 9 on turn - make a bet and fold to allin from Seat 8 - he may have had A9 but too many beats for me. I'll have other chances (1010 average=1430 BB=30)"

I don't like that attitude here, you have a very strong hand, the odds that a random hand goes with this better than your own is pretty long.

"69 Q9o on BB (which is 150) call min raise - flop JKJ - fold"

If you wont put your own mony in with Q9s and a few limpers in the pot from the button, why play it from the blinds even for a min raise? That is over 10% of your stack right? If you think it is the best PF, push, if not fold.

If you wont put your own mony in with Q9s and a few limpers in the pot from the button, why play it from the blinds even for a min raise? That is over 10% of your stack right? If you think it is the best PF, push, if not fold.[/quote]





Dang right

__________________
Poker

The Q9o, there were five other people in the pot so I figured it was a value bet (though you still have a point) 1BB for a pot of 12BB. I would still have needed to hit the flop hard or played a semi-bluff.

The 2 pair on the flop with 69o. I felt he had a set or the straight with an 8 (actually the exact cards I put him on were 88). I agree the odds say call (and SnG I would have been in like a shot) but in MTTs I pay a lot more attention to other's betting patterns and put him ahead. I also had him targeted and nailed him a couple of hands later so I didn't feel so bad about the fold.

Thanks for the comments Beav, it's exactly what I was after as it makes me reflect long and hard on my play.

Actually, I don't mind the turn play, I thought the flop is what I would have played stronger.