Anatomy of a $26 token victory

I can feel Scott's pain. If you recall, a few shows ago we talked about his attempts to win a $26 token for the AIPS Main Event. We laughed at how many times he failed and how the $26 token ended up costing him like $35 or whatever. Well, I won't risk my puny bankroll on such things, but I had thousands of points saved up and decided (since there isn't Full Tilt Poker toilet paper in the FTP store, though that Photoshopped image is my dream) to give those 600 FTP SNGs a shot. I never thought I'd use those points for anything except these types of satellites, etc. anyway, so what the hell? But, as I said on the show this week, I played like four of them and finished third every time, but once (I had KK raised 6X, got one caller and the flop came AAQ. Guy had A2 and I was out in last place). Last night I was still stinging from my tough-luck session the night before, but I thought, "I still have enough points to try for a token, and since technically it's not costing me anything let me try again."

Well, after folding a bunch of horrible hands, I finally got 99 on the button. I raised 3X and the SB raised 9X and the BB shoved. My patience got to me and I thought "Screw it. They may think it's just a button raise and they may have each other's cards. They only pay one spot in these things and I'd be short if I folded. So a triple-up might propel me to winning one of these damn things."

So I shoved. The SB instacalled with AA. The BB had AK. The flop was ragged and I turned a 2-outer to triple up. Woo-hoo!!! But by all rights I should've been gone. Two hands later I picked up KK, I raised, got a reraise and I just called. The flop came jack-high and I bet half his stack. He shoved and I called. He had AQ and I eliminated another player. I was chipleader and kept thinking I had to close this out; I couldn't let it slip away. But just like that the poker gods giveth and they taketh away.

After a lull for about 10 minutes I picked up KK again. There was a raise UTG and I re-popped it to 3X his raise. That's when the button shoved for 2K. (??!!??) The initial raiser, who said he had 66, folded. My raise was 720, so I instacalled and he had 10-10. Of course the flop came with a 10 (and a 6, BTW, though since he folded his 66 I don't know if a 6 would have come if he had stayed in). The guy with 10-10 apologized, saying he misread me. I said "No sweat, I'm actually freerolling after that 99 hand so I can't complain).

So now he was chipleader and I was middle of the pack with like 2,300. My stack got all the way down to 1,900 while the guy with the 10-10 grew his stack to about 7K.

One thing I failed to mention was the guy on my right. He employed the KILL PHIL tactic and either folded or shoved on just about EVERY HAND. He got us down to 3-handed with this strategy, and the chipleader and I kept talking to each other about him, calling him a one-trick pony, etc. But this guy shoved with KJ and the chipleader called with AQ. The chronic shover hit his king and doubled through, bringing the leader back to the pack. On the next hand I had 99 and the all-in-or-fold guy shoved with A3. I called and doubled through him. So now we all had about 4,500.

I kept praying the shover and the other guy would get involved in a hand. I knew I could outplay either one, I just wanted it to get heads up no matter what the chip differential. Finally they got it all-in with a similar hand as before AJ vs KQ and the Kill Phil guy won. So he had a 2-to-1 chip lead on me when it got to heads up. But, the funny thing is, he kept folding his blinds or just minraising. He got away from his strategy and that was what let me get even fairly quickly.

I just remained patient, read his betting patterns and chipped away. Then with him ahead about 1,100 chips I got KK and limped. Every time I limped he raised me, so I wanted to trap him. On cue he shoved and I called. He had 77 and that left him with 1,100. He actually got back to about 4K before I picked up 55. He minraised and I thought, if I shove here I think he'll call. I shoved; he took a while, typed in "LOL, gl" and called with Q7o. I knew he would call because I was outplaying him and he needed to double through. The flop came 3-4-A and I said "Put a deuce up there and end it." Sure enough, a deuce turned and I finally won a damn token.

But, I had to get lucky (for a change), otherwise I would've been out early again.

In live play, in my last 5 SNGs, I have 4 firsts and a second. Online in my last 5 SNGs I have 1 first, 3 thirds and a last.

But that Kill Phil tactic worked well for this guy. He clearly didn't know how to play, though a lot of the Internet pros institute a tactic very similar to this when the blinds get high in SNGs, so maybe he did know what he was doing. But it all fell apart for him in the end. And I'm glad it did, as I am playing the AIPS M.E. for free!

-- Chris

Comments

[viii_ball]

I will recommend another book for you called "Your Worst Poker Enemy".

[Chris Cosenza]

Thanks

[engstrok]

Nice positive variance on those S&G's. It's always nice to go through a hot streak, isn't it? ;)

[marky]

while i won't say that poker is rigged :) i will say that the FTP points SNGs seem to have a high number of huge hands constantly!
I'm freerolling the ME too, can't wait to get back into the AIPS.
BTW, i flopped a straight flush in my home game the other night, so I think it's rigged!

[FrodoNL]

Chris, you inspired me to try to get one of those tokens too.

I don't play a lot on Full Tilt - for some reason I usually don't play very well on there - and only had 780 points or so, so I only had one try.

Guess you will see me in the main event though, cause somehow I won it. :)

[Chris Cosenza]

Awesome Frodo, nice job. It's not exactly returning the ring to Mordor, but it will do. 8-)

[loser64]

I really like playing for tokens. I am 4 for 6, so its been a postive thing. The players in the tourney's play like its a $4 buy in.

[bill_celtic]

Just won my 600 point token SnG last night - and I have to agree, a ton of big hands. First two hands were JJ, QQ and after that in the next 50 mins got KK (2x), AA (3x) and JJ (3x more)... a ton of big hands and a lot of suckouts for the other donks... but I'm free-rollin for the AIPS M.E.!