WPBT Tournament Summary

WPBT Tournament Summary – Pauly’s Birthday Bash


First off, a disclaimer:  The details for this report are mostly accurate.  I didn’t take great notes, and as far as I know, there is no hand history file from Titan Poker that I can use to fill in the gaps.  If I missed something or lied about how something went down, too bad.  

I almost didn’t play in this one.  The tournament was to start at 8:00PM.  I got home from work at 7, and my phone was ringing.  Checking the caller ID confirms what I was afraid of.  It was my wife.  A call from her at this time usually means that she missed her train and I have to go downtown to pick her up.  As I suspected, that was the case.  Apparently her train just decided not to show up today, so she had to take a later one, meaning she missed her connecting train back home.  Boo.   She’ll be downtown at about 7:30, so if I can get there by then, I should be able to make it back home by 8ish, and hopefully only miss a hand or two of the tourney.  I just had to pray that traffic wasn’t bad, and everything would work out.  Luckily for me, there was no traffic out of the city, and I made it back home with ten minutes to spare.  Whew.


On to the tourney.  Only 67 players signed up, which I blame on the fact that it was on Titan Poker’s site, and not too many people play there.  At least it shouldn’t take too long.

As my table comes up, I see that I’m at what would have to be the TV table, sitting among such notable bloggers as BadBlood, Otis, and the blogfather himself, Iggy.  There may have been a few others, but I didn’t recognize the names.  Sorry if I missed you.

Level 1:  10/20 Blinds

First thing I notice is that the blind levels are 20 minutes long, not the 10 or 15 that you find in most online tournaments. I’m a fan of this as it gives you more time to play before the blinds start forcing you your hand.

I win my first hand of the day when I call a min raise with Ac5c.  The flop is Ace high with two clubs.  The turn pairs the board, and everyone folds to my bet.  

The software needs some work.  There is a warning buzzer that goes off when you haven’t acted quickly enough.   The problem is that by the time I get to the bet amount field and start typing in an amount, the buzzer has already gone off.  Quite annoying.

I’m playing real tight.  

9 minutes in and CrzyJ wins the first hand with the hammer.  

KcQc wins a decent sized pot for me.  I think four players saw the flop, and one stuck around for the turn.  The board was showed a jack and two tens.  Hopefully the fact that I have only played two hands so far this round is making everyone respect my bets a little more.

Last hand of the level and I have big slick.  The flop is king high, and I keep firing all the way to the river before my opponent finally folds.

Level 2:  20/40 Blinds

So I only played three hands last round.  I think it was a combination of bad cards, and just tentativeness due to what I perceive to be the quality of opponents.  I don’t want to get into pots where they’ll be able to force me into tough decisions.  I don’t know if that counts as playing scared or smart.   I’ll pretend it’s the latter.

First hand of this round and I have QQ in the big blind.  Next hand I have KK.  I’m up to $T2680 and in first place.    I haven’t gone to a showdown yet.    Also I’ve had AK, QQ and KK in the last three hands.  The other side of variance is going to suck.

Yup, 15 straight minutes of folding.    I finally get to play a hand when I complete from the small blind along with a few limpers with A2o.  I miss the flop and have to fold.

Last hand of the round and again I have AK.  I’m in the small blind and limp with three other players.  I thought about raising, but I’m going to be out of position for the rest of the hand, and I wanted to be able to get out cheaply if I things didn’t go well on the flop.  

Things went well on the flop as it was xKK.  It checked around, and the turn was a rag.  I bet a small amount on the turn, hoping it would look like a steal.  BadBlood raised me, and I called.    The river was an Ace.  BadBlood was the only one left.  I bet about a third of the pot, hoping he would come over the top again and not wanting to let him to be able to check behind me.  He did come over the top, going all in, and I called.  He had KQ.  Ouch.    I’d feel bad except that he had been mercilessly stealing my blinds for the past 15 minutes.  That’ll show him.  Now I’m up to 3745 and back in first place.


Level 3:  30/60 Blinds

The hand of the round is one that I wasn’t involved in.  I think I was writing notes as it started, so I missed all the details, but four players, including Otis ended up all in before the flop.  The first guy in the pot had a high pair I think.  I want to say jacks. Otis had aces, and the other two had Ax.   Otis’ aces stand up, and he knocks out three players at once, and moves into the chip lead.  

Those players are soon replaced by

Pauly, April, and Gracie.  This is now the uber feature table.  In real life ESPN would be scrambling to find a different table to move me to.

I’m still getting no cards, and have to defend my blinds with crap.  This happened to me a number of times during the evening.  It would fold to the small blind who would min raise me.  I’d min raise back and he would call and then check-fold on the flop.  

I start getting impatient and raise with TJs.  Iggy reraises all in for like $T1400.  I had around $T3500.  I was expecting him to turn over the hammer when I folded, but he just mucked it.  

At the end of this round we still have 52 of the 67 players left.    

I fold a lot.  Of the 67 hands I’ve seen, I’ve only seen 9 flops.   Fortunately I’ve fared pretty well in the hands I have played as I am in second place with $4290 at the end of the round.

Level 4.  40/80 blinds.

Derek joins our table.  I don’t know that I’ve ever played with him, but he always seems to be near the top of the leader board whenever we’ve played in the same event.  Not someone I’d choose to be at my table.

Wow.  I don’t think I played any hands this round.  Exciting huh?

Level 5 50/100 blinds.

Otis is running over the table.  It seems like he is in every pot, and no one wants to challenge his bets with the huge stack that he has.  

I’m still in one of the longest runs of crappy cards I’ve ever seen.   It’s a good thing I built up a lead early because I’m just blinding away chips now.   I haven’t had a hand that I even considered defending my blinds with in a while.

Can I get 68o again?  No really.  I enjoy seeing it every other hand, and when four or five go by without seeing 68o, I start to get worried.  

Tried to steal from the small blind with 67o and got reraised all in.  I feel like there is a neon sign over my head saying “he has crap, just raise him, and he will fold”.  

Tried to steal again w Q9s.  Missed the flop and the BB takes it.

Actually raised with a decent hand this time, KQ, but once again someone reraises all in and once again I fold.  

I’m starting to get real frustrated with my inability to push anyone off a pot when I get AJs.  April min raises from early position and I just call.  The flop is JKx and she bets.  This is the best hand I’ve had in about an hour, and I’ll be damned if someone is going to scare me and my middle pair top kicker out of the pot. I raise.  She goes all in.   I make the crying call, hoping she doesn’t have the king, but knowing she probably does.  I have her covered, but losing this hand is going to sting.  Sure enough she turns over KQ, and I’m in trouble.  The turn is an Ace giving me two pair, and eliminating her from the tournament.  Bad beats suffered at my hands:  1.

Level 6 100/200 blinds

Bad beat number two comes early in this round.  Derek raises from early position, and again I call with AJ, unsuited this time.  The flop is KA9.  I don’t remember the exact sequence, but he ended up going all in, and again I called.  I was hoping he had something like KQ, but I was still pretty sure I was beat.  Was I ever?  He had a pair of rockets flopping trips, and I needed runner runner to stay alive.  I was about to type “nh” into the chat when I saw the turn was a queen, and I started hoping for the impossible.  Sure enough a ten on the river, and I claimed my third blogger of the evening.  Bad beats inflicted by me:  2.

Woo hoo.  Now my raises are getting respect as I raise preflop with wired sixes and everyone folds to me.

My fourth high profile victim is Pauly.  I raised his blind with wired nines, and he called.  The flop was T87 giving me an open ended straight draw and middle pair.  He goes all in.  I don’t think he has anything, and if he does, I still have a few outs, so I call.  He shows JQ.  The turn was a 7 and the river a 9, giving me a full house.  Do I get a bonus prize for taking out a pair of brothers?

I now have $T8505 and I’m in first place by more that $T2000.

After that hand I’m moved to a new table where I’m finally on the other end of the bad beat stick.  I flop top pair top kicker with AT and get a small stack all in.  He then proceeds hits a runner runner straight.  Knocks me out of the lead, but I’m still in good shape.  Back to folding a lot.

Level 7 150/300 blinds

The second break comes a few minutes into this round.  There are 24 players remaining and I’m in 4th with 6925.

Nothing too exciting.  I don’t get any action on my pre-flop raises.

It’s just about the end of this level when I’m in the small blind with KTo.  I call a small raise, as does the big blind.  The flop is K high, and I lead out for half the pot. Big blind calls, and the original raiser raises.  I don’t like that.  I thought I was probably good when the flop first hit, but now I’m thinking that at least one and probably both of them have me beat.   I fold and see them turn over KJ and KQ.   I think more times than not I would  have reraised there and lost a lot more of my chips.  I’m proud of myself for letting the hand go.

Level 8 200/400 blinds

Pocket aces earn me a large pot when my raises are called pre and post flop.  The turn was a second king, which really worried me, but he folded to my bet.

I raise pre-flop with A8 suited and get two callers.  Not what I was hoping for.  The flop is the hammer special 722, and they both fold to my bet.  It’s funny how scary a board with sevens and twos can be when playing with bloggers.


I claim my fifth victim as I call an-in pre-flop with a pair of jacks.  He flops a straight but the river brings me a full house, and I’m up to $T12575


Level 9 300/600 blinds

Eleven players left.  I’m in second with $T13975.

A player from the other table is eliminated and I make the final table.  Only five more spots to go until the money.

Early on I bet on a missed flop and get called.  He checks the turn and river, and lucky for me, I check behind him as he had flopped trip jacks.  I think that was pretty good read on my part, although it wasn’t hard since I had nothing anyway.

I’m in 5th out of 10 with $T11275

My big blind defense move works as I make it to $13075.

And then I fold a bunch more.  

In the small blind, with Maudie to my right in the big blind, its folded to me and I try to steal with JTo.  She reraises.  I put her on just about anything, thinking she senses the steal and is trying to resteal.  I go put her all in.  I figure chances are, she doesn’t have a hand she wants to risk going out with, and this shows that my initial raise wasn’t just a steal.  I was wrong.  She lets the timer just about run out before calling with a pair of fours.  The board hits all around my JT, but I don’t improve and now I’m in bad shape.

Level 10 400/800 blinds

Ouch.  Blinds suck.  Down to T$6730

At the third break I’m in 5th place out of seven remaining players with $7930

I knock out the 6th place finisher when my A7 holds up against his K7.  As I was writing that note, I opted not to play AT when it is folded around to me on the button.  That turns out to be a real lucky choice as the small blind also folds and the big blind turns over AK.

I keep getting the hammer in the big blind.  I just can’t call a raise with it and risk bubbling out after almost four hours.  Blogger tournament or not.

Someone other than me needs to go out.  This is starting to worry me.  If I go out on the bubble there is a pretty good chance that I am going to cry.

Finally.  Maudie goes out when her wired nines fall to pocket tens.

I made the money!!!.  Woo.  Hoo.  

Level 11 500/1000 blinds

I’m real short stacked, but I get all in with KK against A9 and double up to 8280.

Next hand and I get all-in with AK against AJs and he makes a flush.  Boo-urns.  

KT beats A9 in a hand I wasn’t involved with to bring us down to four players.  I’m the super short stack with only $T3700.

I make my final stand with wired threes, and lose to A9.    

4th place and my second money finish in WPBT events.  Not too bad.  Can’t wait until the next one.  And next time you should think about playing.