In the thick of it again...aka the MWGB delivers the FT 12k (almost)...aka blogger final table dominance

Hoy, you called it.

I say it all the time, but I am reminded of it every time I have success in deep-field MTTs. Your blog has had a big impact on how I play NLHE MTTs. In addition, you are the loudest voice encouraging the bloggers to get off their butts and attack the big payout MTTs. So you were definitely on my mind as I played the FT 12k.

As for my stated goal of final tabling the 20k? It was just one of those things last night; nothing terrible, but not my turn. I could’ve gone to bed, but I felt very clear-headed. Perhaps the MWGB was just getting warmed up a little slowly tonight?

Thus I fired up ye old computah and took a shot at Smokkee’s favorite haunt, the FT 12k Guaranteed. She was a live game from start to finish. It was a $75 buy-in, which I thought I used a token on, but since I still have that token, I guess I bought in direct. I am now officially superstitious about buying in direct. All five of my big cashes have been direct buy-ins. Plus I am fucking terrible at token races. Tuh-Hear-Eye-Bull.

It was money well spent as it turned out. And it was nearly a blogger 1-2 finish.

That's right - none other than Troublecat himself ended up to my immediate left (of course!) when I managed to final table the FT 12k. That light blue background was a sight I wasn't sure I'd find again. As a welcome change I made it to the final table with chips to spare, as kings were delivered to me 4 times over the course of the run, and amazingly held up each time. So, just like the HammerPlayah has been predicting, two bloggers final tabled one of the large- field tournaments.

Now, I don’t know Absinthe personally, but his blog has had an undeniable effect on what passes for my style herein. He’s a great MTT player, and his WSOP run this year (which I was lucky to get a piece of) was a clinic in how to manage the shortstack. True to form, I watched him mow through the field and climb from mid 40’s when he stopped by my table, to run as high as second when we were down to 18. He busted 5th with QQ v AQ when the big stack who called everything in sight made a straight. Sick. It was very cool to final table this tournament with someone whose writing and game I am an admirer of. Lasting slightly longer was also nice, but I had the important advantage of twice as many chips when we sat down together.

This next part may sound excessively self-involved, but when has that ever stayed the blade? After I hit the inevitable drought following those four final tables in late July, I strongly began to suspect luck had been the sole source of those good results. I began to listen to the tales of people joining sites and suddenly winning, only to never return to that form again. Despite possessing a love of critical reasoning and a modicum of common sense, during my fruitless experiments with cash games and the subsequent loss of anything resembling a decent MTT run, I began to wonder if online poker might actually be rigged.

Now if that isn’t a product of a desperate imagination, I’m not sure what one would look like.

To try and fix things, I gave up completely on cash games. Let’s face it: it’s a complicated animal with a different set of rules, and I am just not any good at it. I can only be that truthful because there is a small part of this game that I like and that I have some feel for – the MTT. Since I made my peace with this, things have come back together quickly.

And did I win the FT 12k?

Nope.

But I did okay. I lasted down to the final three, with one huge stack who played it well, and two of us tied for second. A deal never came up, and I felt good that I was at least as solid as number 3 – so liked my chances of getting heads up. Then I went completely card dead for three orbits when the blinds were 2500/5000. A deal looked great at that point, but it was too late. The two times I tried position steals, the big stack was waiting to call me down. When I finally pushed with JTs and 4 BB, he had an Ace which didn’t need to improve to do me in. Overall, I was happy with my play - I avoided those mental lapses, and was better at sitting on my pitch than I have been in a month.

222 runners. 3rd place. $2k for me. Not too shabby. As I couldn’t be at the Bash, this was a nice consolation prize. Don and JJ stuck with me to keep me honest and provide good advice when things got close. Appreciated gents - this community we’ve got going is a good, good thing.

So I’m running well these days with two top 20 finishes in the FT 20k, each with fields over a thousand, and now a 3rd in the 12k. I thought that might be enough to put me somewhere on the FT leaderboard, but nothing doin – at least not yet. I still feel good, so who knows, perhaps I'll get my genie working on that next?

There is a hand I will post in a day or so and get some feedback on. I liked my play, but the guy I busted with it was none to happy with me. Ah well, can’t please everyone. Just ask James.

Edit: There were actually three bloggers at that final table, though one was still pupating during final table play. Sleech, a guy with a very short stack who I doubled up when we were down to 15, managed to play that stack strong and final tabled as well. He was also the third guy I've met while playing an MTT to tell me he's stopped by this waystation and didn't hate it - thus clearly a man of discriminating tastes. How did he celebrate his significant cash? That's right; he released his inner blogger and set up shop. Stop by and say hi if you get a chance.

Laytah.