He Had A Read On My Play

Getting closer to that elusive final table. Here's how I went out in the $28k tonight:

Full Tilt Poker Game #2912142515: $28,000 Guarantee (21695655), Table 93 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:37:46 ET - 2007/07/11
Seat 1: hothand01 (24,355)
Seat 2: josephclymer (10,800)
Seat 3: ZeroKool74 (12,410)
Seat 4: chenti (9,437)
Seat 5: PowerMaster (2,105)
Seat 6: Skillzmatix (9,885)
Seat 7: th1 (10,325)
Seat 8: mclarich (14,920)
Seat 9: Gameboy55112 (10,555)
th1 posts the small blind of 300
mclarich posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [5d Ac]
Gameboy55112 folds
hothand01 folds
josephclymer folds
ZeroKool74 folds
chenti folds
PowerMaster folds
Skillzmatix has 15 seconds left to act
Skillzmatix raises to 2,222
th1 folds
mclarich raises to 14,845, and is all in
Skillzmatix calls 7,588, and is all in
mclarich shows [5d Ac]
Skillzmatix shows [As 8c]
Uncalled bet of 5,035 returned to mclarich
*** FLOP *** [Qh Jd 2s]
*** TURN *** [Qh Jd 2s] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [Qh Jd 2s 5c] [8d]
mclarich shows a pair of Fives
Skillzmatix shows a pair of Eights
Skillzmatix wins the pot (20,595) with a pair of Eights

He had raised from the button a couple of times, so I put him on a button steal and figured I could get him to fold. Apparently, calling with A8 is pretty much like calling with AA. And not just calling. Instacalling. Nice little suck-resuck to top things off.

I still had a small stack and picked up a pair on the very next hand. Notice the chat in this hand:

Full Tilt Poker Game #2912149293: $28,000 Guarantee (21695655), Table 93 - 300/600 Ante 75 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:38:30 ET - 2007/07/11
Seat 1: hothand01 (24,280)
Seat 2: josephclymer (10,725)
Seat 3: ZeroKool74 (12,335)
Seat 4: chenti (9,362)
Seat 5: PowerMaster (2,030)
Seat 6: Skillzmatix (20,595)
Seat 7: th1 (9,950)
Seat 8: mclarich (5,035)
Seat 9: Gameboy55112 (10,480)
mclarich posts the small blind of 300
Gameboy55112 posts the big blind of 600
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to mclarich [Ts Th]
hothand01 folds
josephclymer folds
ZeroKool74 raises to 1,200
mclarich: lol quick call for all your chips
chenti folds
PowerMaster folds
Skillzmatix: my button
Skillzmatix has 15 seconds left to act
Skillzmatix folds
th1 folds
mclarich raises to 4,960, and is all in
Gameboy55112 folds
ZeroKool74 calls 3,760
mclarich shows [Ts Th]
ZeroKool74 shows [4s 4h]
*** FLOP *** [Ac Jd 4d]
Skillzmatix: plus i hada read on your play
*** TURN *** [Ac Jd 4d] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [Ac Jd 4d 2h] [Ks]
mclarich shows a pair of Tens
ZeroKool74 shows three of a kind, Fours
ZeroKool74 wins the pot (11,195) with three of a kind, Fours
mclarich stands up

He had a read on my play? Seriously? The ONLY hands I showed down at the table while he was there were Q7d and AJh. Q7d I tried to steal from the CO and a shorty (less than 3xBB) called from the button with A4, I hit a Q on the river. The AJ hand I pushed 7x a min-raise from the same guy who took me out on the last hand. He instacalls with 55 but I flop an A to double up. Everyone folded to any of my other preflop raises.

So, based on those two hands, he thinks he's got a read on me and risks his life with A8. To his credit, if he put me on A7 or worse, then all the credit goes to him for making an excellent, outstanding, and skillful read.

But seriously? Calling all in with A8? Un-fucking-real. I should have been at 35k and in the top 20. Instead, I go home in back to back hands.

Nevertheles, this was probably my best played tournament to date. Played selectively aggressive, and got the cards I needed to survive. Went the whole tournament with no pair bigger than JJ, AK 2x, and AQ once (sooted, hit the nuts on the turn). I really only made one mistake. I thought I could push someone off of a hand, so I reraised preflop with J-high and c-bet a 942, two club flop. Apparently, that flop hit him somehow and he reraises me. That takes me from 11k to 6500 just before the break. You know the rest of the story.

I should be fighting for the final table right now. But I'm not discouraged. I'm completely happy with my play. Argue the A5 push if you will, but I had a read and went with it. I'll argue until I'm blue in the face that his A8 call was much, much worse than my A5 push.

I'll try this again on Thursday. Let's hope it gets better.