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FTOPS Event #4 -Pot Limit Hold’em, I’m Pushing All-wha?

Posted by mystery | Filed under Uncategorized

On the hump day of FTOPS Week, Event #4 featured Pot Limit Hold’em as the game. 696 players entered, with almost a third of them getting in by way of satellite.

Many in the poker world feel Pot Limit Hold’em is the most skilled game in poker today. In No-Limit Hold’em, novice players are able to neutralize the skill of professionals by getting their chips all-in pre-flop. In Limit Hold’em, it is often correct to go to the river with mediocre hands since the bets are relatively small in relation to the pot, so the mistakes that a poor player makes usually isn’t a huge mistake.

In Pot-Limit, pre-flop all-ins usually need a few re-raises to even be possible, making it more of a post flop game. However, with the pot growing on every street, a good player can still manage to get paid off big with his good hands and make big enough bluffs to escape with his bad hands. Rafe Furst, Lee Watkinson, and Eric Froelich would probably agree, as all three took home WSOP Bracelets this year in Pot Limit events.

The final table kicked off after five and a half hours with blinds of 5,000/10,000.

Seat 1: GBecks (430,774)
Seat 2: riggedpoker_com (65,634)
Seat 3: gusgusserson (33,912)
Seat 4: TheMasterJ33 (733,759)
Seat 5: mattyv (130,372)
Seat 6: seth owns (164,914)
Seat 7: sleepdogg (220,256)
Seat 8: Iseeyou (197,225)
Seat 9: thewatcher (111,154)

TheMasterJ33 started in great position, entering the final table with a comfortable chip lead. He played his big stack well early on, pushing the table around at every opportunity. In fact, TheMasterJ33 stole the blinds on four of the first five hands.

On the other end of the spectrum, several players were in dire need of help. gusgusserson could only afford two rounds of blinds, and plenty of other medium to short stacks would be crippled if they waited too long to make their move.

During the first round, gusgusserson had JTs in the big blind and faced a raise from GBecks on the button. Hoping his cards were live, he pushed the rest of his chips in. GBecks made the call with Q2s. gusgusserson caught a Jack on the flop but GBecks also flopped a Queen, which held up. gusgusserson won a $24+$2 Last Chance Turbo Satellite to get into the event, but his Cinderella story would end in 9th place with $2,500 paycheck.

When the blinds increased to 6,000/12,000, the remaining short stacks had even more pressure on them. The shortest stack, riggedpoker_com, was unlucky enough to have the big stack sitting to his immediate left. When riggedpoker_com attacked the blinds with a pot-sized raise from the button, TheMasterJ33 re-raised to isolate him. riggedpoker_com called with his last 5,000 and flipped over K10, a very reasonable hand given the situation. Unfortunately, TheMasterJ33 had picked the perfect spot to re-raise, and his A10 eliminated riggedpoker_com in 8th place. riggedpoker_com took home $3,300, and a newfound respect for Full Tilt’s random number generator with his 8th place finish.

Often at a final table, once the shortest stacks are out, the table opens up. With substantial prize money already locked up, players are ready to go for the win. In this case, the elimination of the two short stacks did nothing to loosen up the game. Everyone continued to play tight, fighting for the blinds and jockeying for chip position. For 10 straight hands, the first one to attack the blinds took them down, while some observers wondered when they would see the next showdown.

GBecks and TheMasterJ33 sat back comfortably while the other five stacks were forced to steal blinds just to stay afloat. Eventually, TheMasterJ33 started to push his stack around and apply more pressure to the table. Iseeyou was bleeding chips and was the new short stack after 15 minutes at the final table. With only 114,000, he made his move with Ac Tc in the big blind. TheMasterJ33 had raised from the cutoff and made the call with KQo. After a 4c 7c Ks flop, TheMasterJ33 was ahead but a club or an Ace would save Iseeyou. Instead Iseeyou took an unlikely route to win the hand, catching a Jack and a Queen for a running straight. This was only a small setback for TheMasterJ33 but it was the pot Iseeyou needed to get back in the game:

Seat 1: GBecks (488,686)
Seat 4: TheMasterJ33 (695,168)
Seat 5: mattyv (124,372)
Seat 6: seth owns (219,914)
Seat 7: sleepdogg (168,256)
Seat 8: Iseeyou (232,450)
Seat 9: thewatcher (159,154)

The blinds were still 6,000/12,000 and the blind stealing continued. TheMasterJ33 continued to attack, raising many pots pre-flop. Although Pot-Limit is designed to encourage more post-flop play, with TheMasterJ33 holding so many chips and trying to control the table, we still had yet to see any chips go in after the flop.

Several hands after Iseeyou had doubled up off TheMasterJ33, sleepdogg made his stand. TheMasterJ33 made his standard raise of 34,000 with pocket eights and sleepdogg raised to 120,000 with queens. TheMasterJ33 re-raised, getting sleepdogg all-in. When sleepdogg turned over pocket Queens, it looked like TheMasterJ33 would take a second consecutive hit from a short stack. But when the flop made a set of eights for TheMasterJ33, it was sleepdogg who was put down. sleepdogg had to settle for $4,300 as a consolation prize.

With the table going shorthanded and the blinds increasing to 8,000/16,000, the patient observers were suddenly treated to a number of flops. seth owns started to counter TheMasterJ33‘s aggression by check-raising, which can build some big pots in Pot Limit. Defending his blind against TheMasterJ33‘s 41,000 bet, seth owns was treated to a 2s 3h 7c flop. Whether the flop actually helped seth owns or not is open to debate, but it did not hit TheMasterJ33, who bet another 41,000 after a check from seth owns. seth owns moved in over the top for almost 195,000 and TheMasterJ33 laid it down. seth owns moved into 3rd place in chips while thewatcher and mattyv had gone too long without a big pot to survive much longer.

Seat 1: GBecks (564,686)
Seat 4: TheMasterJ33 (823,424)
Seat 5: mattyv (100,372)
Seat 6: seth owns (319,914)
Seat 8: Iseeyou (202,450)
Seat 9: thewatcher (77,154)

GBecks built his stack quietly at the final table, moving into position to challenge TheMasterJ33. He got a big opportunity to take the chip lead with the blinds still at 8,000/16,000.

TheMasterJ33 made his usual raise to 41,000, and GBecks made the call from the big blind with Ah Kh. The Js Ks 9h gave him top pair with top kicker. Fairly certain that TheMasterJ33 would bet, GBecks went for the check raise. TheMasterJ33 lead out for another 41,000 bet, and GBecks raised to 160,000, committing a good portion of his stack. Unshaken, TheMasterJ33 re-raised the pot to 570,000, which was all GBecks had. GBecks thought for a while, almost letting his time limit expire, before he called his remaining 360,000. GBecks hand looked much better than it was, and TheMasterJ33‘s domination continued when he turned over pocket Jacks. When his middle set held up, TheMasterJ33 had eliminated his biggest competitor, and controlled almost 70% of the chips in play. GBecks was eliminated in 6th, winning $6,264.

Several hands later, mattyv was the next player eliminated. He had already turned his $24+$2 Satellite win into an FTOPS Final Table Appearance, and managed to outlast four other competitors, but for the second time at the table, big slick turned into a deathtrap.

seth owns led out from under the gun, and the pot was large enough to allow mattyv to re-raise all-in from the big blind with his AK. seth owns made the call with pocket Jacks, and for about 1.5 seconds, mattyv was in a coin flip situation. 1.5 seconds is how long it took for two Jacks to appear on the flop, giving seth owns four of a kind. mattyv came in 5th place which paid him a little over $9,000, ample return for a $26 investment. With the quad jacks, seth owns moved into a comfortable 2nd place position, while thewatcher was on the brink of elimination on the very next hand.

Extremely short-stacked, thewatcher raised to 48,000 from the button with KQ, and had to call the all-in re-raise by TheMasterJ33. TheMasterJ33 was on a roll, and looked to eliminate another player with his A7. The As Jd 3d flop had thewatcher on the ropes, but a ten on the river gave him the broadway straight and a second wind, with 200,000 in chips.

The blinds were soon up to 10,000/20,000, giving thewatcher and Iseeyou a limited number of hands to make a move. Iseeyou was down to his last 130,000 due to constant pressure from TheMasterJ33 and seth owns. He needed to go all-in with the next good hand he picked up, which turned out to be AJo. TheMasterJ33 was happy to move him in as he once again picked up pocket eights. The eights held up, and Iseeyou was out in 4th place moments later. Iseeyou collected an impressive $11,900, while seth owns and thewatcher had a monumental task ahead of them:

Seat 4: TheMasterJ33 (1,481,106)
Seat 6: seth owns (398,586)
Seat 9: thewatcher (208,308)

thewatcher soon lost half his chips to seth owns after his bluff attempt failed. seth owns raised to 60,000 from the small blind and was called by thewatcher in the big blind. seth owns checked the Ad 5c 3c flop in order to induce a bluff, and thewatcher obliged by firing 60,000 at the 120,000 pot. When seth owns check-raised all-in, thewatcher was forced to dump his hand, leaving him only 88,000. A few hands later, thewatcher picked up pocket nines and got his chips in. TheMasterJ33 had a big hand of his own with AK, and the AK was due to hit. TheMasterJ33 spiked a King, and thewatcher was out in third.

thewatcher may have had the best journey of any FTOPS player so far. His final table run was very impressive. He rarely seemed to pick up cards, and he started the final table with only ten big blinds. The only thing more impressive was his run to get into the 4th FTOPS Event. He won a $8+$.70 Sit & Go to earn a $26 token. He used the token to play a $24+$2 Multi-table Satellite, where he survived to make it into this FTOPS Event. He managed to turn $8.70 into $15,660. It’s doubtful we will see any more parlays like this from thewatcher, since he has already bought in direct to FTOPS Event #5.

Heads up play started with TheMasterJ33 at 1.5 million and seth owns with little more than half a million. The action started very fast and aggressive, leading many to believe it wouldn’t last long.

The very first hand of heads saw seth owns add to his stack. seth owns‘ opening bet of 50,000 was raised to 150,000 by TheMasterJ33. Trying to even the match, seth owns re-raised the pot, putting most of his chips in. Choosing not to risk losing the chip lead, TheMasterJ33 folded. seth owns won a few more small pots, but like it had all day, things once again went TheMasterJ33‘s way.

TheMasterJ33‘s aggression won him some pots, giving him some momentum, as well as the chips he had initially lost in the heads up match. Sitting comfortably at 1.5 million to seth owns‘ 570,000, the final hand developed.

seth owns raised to 50,000 pre-flop with Ac 5d, which was called by TheMasterJ33, holding Ks 9s. The flop came Kc Qh 7d, and TheMasterJ33 opted to check. seth owns bet 65,600, and TheMasterJ33 opted to use the play that seth owns had used so well at the final table, the check-raise. He check-raised to 175,000. TheMasterJ33 had folded to several re-raises at the final table, and that may have led seth owns to believe that he could push TheMasterJ33 off his hand here. He had just enough chips left for a sizable re-raise, and seth owns only hesitated for a moment before coming over the top with the remainder of his stack. seth owns did a good job of representing a big hand like AK, but as he had done all day, TheMasterJ33 played the hand perfectly. He made the call, and managed to dodge the Ace to win the title.

seth owns played a terrific final table, in only his second tournament on Full Tilt. He was able to avoid elimination from TheMasterJ33 until the very end, and earned every penny of his $20,880 in prize money. No matter how well he played, everyone at the table could see it was TheMasterJ33‘s day.

TheMasterJ33 is a veteran of high stakes cash games and big buy-in tournaments on Full Tilt. He played flawless poker, and when the cards are cooperating like they were today, that is an impossible combination to beat. In fact, TheMasterJ33 has been on quite a roll. He won a World Series Main Event Seat at Full Tilt last month and then made the final table in a World Series preliminary event. His online success continued after the WSOP, winning over $6,000 in the $100+$9, $15,000 Guarantee on Saturday, and following it up with a 15th place finish the Limit Hold’em FTOPS Event.

In a poker tournament, it is easy for luck to impact the short term results. With the skills shown at tonight’s final table, and the possible emergence of TheMasterJ33 as an online superstar, there might be some evidence in favor of Pot Limit Hold’em being the most skilled game in tournament poker today. The debate will continue, but for the time being, here are nine sharks to watch out for, and their final table winnings:

1. TheMasterJ33 $33,408
2. seth owns $20,880
3. thewatcher $15,660
4. Iseeyou $11,832
5. mattyv $9,048
6. GBecks $6,264
7. sleepdogg $4,315.20
8. riggedpoker_com $3,340.80
9. gusgusserson $2,505.60