This is driving me crazy and I just have to rant about it - it is virtually impossible to get a game of 7 Card Stud heads up at Full Tilt Poker. From $50/$100 all the way down to $3/$6, the same fucking people sit at the tables and sit out.  Now theoretically, when you join their table they will sit back in and play.  Theoretically.  In practise, it is different.  They datamine, so they basically know the majority of players, and how well or how badly they play.  So when I sit in they immediately rush to their Pokertracker database, and check to see if I am a good player or not based on their stats.  As I am, they refuse to play me.  It makes getting heads up games very hard to do, which sucks because I am an incredible heads up player.

Thankfully I managed to play one guy today although it was only at $5/$10, but I took $440 off him before he caved in and left.  It was great too because he was INSANELY aggressive - he would complete every hand, 3-bet me with air etc.  This really made him a one-trick pony, so I was able to just manipulate the hell out of him.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3305200

That hand is interesting because if you’ll note - I could’ve raised at any point in that hand.  However if I had done so, he would’ve folded his tens and I wouldn’t have made anywhere near enough money.  It is a lot better against aggressive players like that to let them hang themselves.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3305215

That hand was fun because he started with shit(as always) and was behind all the way until 6th street, yet gets in a nerd rage about being “rivered” again.  There is nothing better than reading that in the chat, because you know the dude is tilting and more money is about to come your way!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3305224

Believe it or not that hand he actually played optimally.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3305227

When I play, I always keep note of what hands my opponent is playing.  It’s very easy to win the pot and move on to the next hand, but it’s a lot smarter to look and see what they actually play.  By seeing what he was playing with in that hand, I was able to determine that he was on serious monkey tilt, and I should never bluff and just take him to value town.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3305235

Again, ridiculous aggression by him.  And this is like late in the session too - if he had a brain in his head he’d realize that I was looking him up there no matter what.

So yes, overall a nice session.  I don’t play poker much anymore but I just was in the mood for it today, and it all worked out quite nicely!

Played the GSOP Stud today, with a $100 bounty on myself considering I’m the favourite.  It’s kind of tough playing in this one because I usually like to have fun and fuck around, but on the other hand I feel like I have a reputation to uphold, if that makes any sense.  So I generally try to play relatively tight, and I always expect people to be making moves against me.

Some hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3190159

Loved that one, as I managed to get pretty much maximum value out of the hand.  The call on 3rd may look a bit icky, but the table was really loose so I was confident of callers behind me, and a big pot.  Also with most of the players rarely playing Stud, I can make some -EV calls with the expectation that my leet skills later on will negate that.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3190167

Just a general suckout.  Played it as well as I could - I don’t think there is much I can beat on 7th when he bets, but considering the situation, I really can’t fold there.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3190176

I was quite pissed at myself over this hand.  I played way too disciplined with the fold on 7th, and paid for it.  He did well at representing the flush though - that’s the best way to deceive me in one of these games - pretend to play straight up.  I’m pretty much always going to believe you considering who I am playing against.  i should still be more loose with my calls however.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3190215

This call on 4th is very bad - 3rd wasn’t that great either.  Tybuc might as well be playing his Ks face up at this point, I don’t have odds to call there.  I should have 3-bet or folded.  And as he had bluffed me on a pot earlier I expect he would be calling me lightly, so a fold would’ve been the better option.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3190342

This hand was funny just because he did that “INSTA-BET-BLIND-DON’T-CARE-ABOUT-THE-CARDS” deal.  I probably should’ve folded 6th, but odds were good considering a lot of the time when people do that they have fuck all.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3190382

Easy, but frustrating fold.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3190475

This was a pretty fun hand.  Always nice to run into a big hand on the river, even better to actually get 4 bets in there too.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3190488

I felt sorry for Roat Cack here.  I’ve been in that position so many fucking times - raise 4th so you can get a free card later in the hand, then instantly pair and lose position.  I was calling if he bet 7th - so I was very surprised by the check, and I thought I was beat at that point(something like 8s up would usually check there) so no real value in betting.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3190542

On the final table bubble, take a crappy beat which otherwise would’ve eliminated this guy.  I ended up eliminating him later though to break the bubble, when he got all-in with 8584 against my AKJT, and he made 8s up while I rivered broadway.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3190609

There is a $100 bounty on my head which is nice, because otherwise I don’t get anywhere near as much action.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?3190849

Went busto on that hand.  Nothing you can do there - even face up he was right to call.  It’s all about whether the hand holds up or not, especially with the bounty up for grabs.  Finished 4th so in the money.  Overall fun tournament, and I’m happy with the way I played.  Not many mistakes at all, and I made some good steals.