First, congratulations for your performance in the WCOOP 40. Is it this your biggest score? Is it the performance that you are the most proud?
It is indeed my biggest score to date, my previous two dated back to a 4th place in a FTOPS for 49k$ and a victory in the "WCOOP-02 2nd chance" last year (another event 6-max) for 51k$. This is my first score in the six figures. It is also the performance which I am most proud for various reasons. I had several extremely difficult tables throughout the first day with many excellent regulars and I had to play my A-game at any time, to be more aggressive and take more advantage of situations that I consider to be profitable. In addition, I did not "run" very well in my all-ins either, having lost my only two flips on the final table as well as the only 70-30 in which I was involved. On the other hand, my good post-flop play throughout the 18 or 19 hours long game allowed me to keep an excellent position during all the tournament. I do not think I have been below the mark of 30 big blinds and so I could avoid the majority of preflops confrontations that were rather high variance.
Could you tell us about one or two really important hands for you in this tournament?
Hand number 1:
PokerStars Hand #121867981868: Tournament #948919197, $1000+$50 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XLI (12500/25000) - 2014/09/21 14:50:22 ET
Table '948919197 59' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: busto_soon (2587119 in chips)
Seat 2: theASHMAN103 (865967 in chips)
Seat 3: hopezACE (1204311 in chips)
Seat 4: Tim0thee (1720670 in chips)
Seat 5: Mrdawwe (2291933 in chips)
busto_soon: posts the ante 3125
theASHMAN103: posts the ante 3125
hopezACE: posts the ante 3125
Tim0thee: posts the ante 3125
Mrdawwe: posts the ante 3125
Tim0thee: posts small blind 12500
Mrdawwe: posts big blind 25000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hopezACE [6d 5d]
busto_soon: folds
theASHMAN103: folds
hopezACE: raises 25000 to 50000
Tim0thee: folds
Mrdawwe: raises 74665 to 124665
hopezACE: calls 74665
*** FLOP *** [4h 3s Jd]
Mrdawwe: bets 78446
hopezACE: calls 78446
*** TURN *** [4h 3s Jd] [4s]
Mrdawwe: checks
hopezACE: bets 166345
Mrdawwe: calls 166345
*** RIVER *** [4h 3s Jd 4s] [6c]
Mrdawwe: checks
hopezACE: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Mrdawwe: shows [3d Ad] (two pair, Fours and Threes)
hopezACE: shows [6d 5d] (two pair, Sixes and Fours)
hopezACE collected 767037 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 767037 | Rake 0
Board [4h 3s Jd 4s 6c]
Seat 1: busto_soon folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: theASHMAN103 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: hopezACE (button) showed [6d 5d] and won (767037) with two pair, Sixes and Fours
Seat 4: Tim0thee (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: Mrdawwe (big blind) showed [3d Ad] and lost with two pair, Fours and Threes
My comments:
The action is folded up to my position (button) and I have an easy open with 65s. I am beeing 3-bet and I have a hand that has a lot of possibilities on several flops. For this reason, it will be easy enough to play post-flop. In general, I like having hands that cover all the textures of a board. In addition, one is 40-45 BB deep and I'm in position. For these reasons, I call.
The flop is good for my hand, J34 with a diamond. I have an "open-ended straight draw + backdoor flush". An easy call on the flop against his c-bet. Turn (4S) is a better card for my range as his own; I defend more than 4x what he 3-bet in general. When he check, I do not have the choice to bet in my opinion. I bet a J4x in value and some medium pairs for value / protection.
6 on the river gives me the value showdown, I decide to check back. I do not make fold a better hand than mine there and my hand wins the showdown a small percentage of the time, but just enough often so that all my pairs do not bluff in my opinion.
Hand number 2:
PokerStars Hand #121870301001: Tournament #948919197, $1000+$50 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XLIII (17500/35000) - 2014/09/21 15:29:16 ET
Table '948919197 59' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: busto_soon (3186684 in chips)
Seat 2: theASHMAN103 (1753495 in chips)
Seat 3: hopezACE (1444120 in chips)
Seat 4: Tim0thee (1122693 in chips)
Seat 5: Mrdawwe (1163008 in chips)
busto_soon: posts the ante 4375
theASHMAN103: posts the ante 4375
hopezACE: posts the ante 4375
Tim0thee: posts the ante 4375
Mrdawwe: posts the ante 4375
theASHMAN103: posts small blind 17500
hopezACE: posts big blind 35000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hopezACE [Ah Qc]
Tim0thee: raises 35000 to 70000
Mrdawwe: folds
busto_soon: folds
theASHMAN103: folds
hopezACE: calls 35000
*** FLOP *** [3s 2c 6s]
hopezACE: checks
Tim0thee: bets 68575
hopezACE: calls 68575
*** TURN *** [3s 2c 6s] [Js]
hopezACE: checks
Tim0thee: checks
*** RIVER *** [3s 2c 6s Js] [As]
hopezACE: checks
Tim0thee: bets 160000
hopezACE: calls 160000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Tim0thee: shows [Tc Kc] (high card Ace)
hopezACE: shows [Ah Qc] (a pair of Aces)
hopezACE collected 636525 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 636525 | Rake 0
Board [3s 2c 6s Js As]
Seat 1: busto_soon (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: theASHMAN103 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: hopezACE (big blind) showed [Ah Qc] and won (636525) with a pair of Aces
Seat 4: Tim0thee showed [Tc Kc] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 5: Mrdawwe folded before Flop (didn't bet)
My comments:
Hijack opens and I defend my BB with AQo. Some players want to get-in 3bet here. The stats of "tim0thee" were rather passive. It does not open many hands and defends many 3-betsby calling.
AQo is played rather badly out-of-position in a situation where there is lot of ICM. Here, the best option is to make the "pot control" and just call with AQ on a ace-high board.
There is a super big hand that is well-disguised.
6-3-2 with two Spades flop, I did not have any spades.
It is still an easy call vs. its cbet; I expect that AQo is the best hand still very often here.
Turn Js; it check and I think I can scratch Jx + from his range, as well as hands like AsKx or KsQx/KxQs.
River As, which leads 4 Spades on the board. He bet a little more than half of the pot after I have check. Interesting situation here still.
I do not expect that he bet the ten of Spades with this sizing, nor any hand worse than the ten of spades. It therefore either have the Queen or the King of Spades, or nothing. I think that he bet KK/QQ only if there KsX or QsX. It probably would have bet the turn to make fold hands of my range that is what I precisely have here. In short, his line does not really make sense and I decided to call. He showed me KcTc and I was not surprised from the result.
Hand number 3:
PokerStars Hand #121872502923: Tournament #948919197, $1000+$50 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XLIV (20000/40000) - 2014/09/21 16:07:03 ET
Table '948919197 59' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: busto_soon (1940159 in chips)
Seat 2: theASHMAN103 (1855370 in chips)
Seat 3: hopezACE (2175192 in chips)
Seat 4: Tim0thee (2699279 in chips)
busto_soon: posts the ante 5000
theASHMAN103: posts the ante 5000
hopezACE: posts the ante 5000
Tim0thee: posts the ante 5000
Tim0thee: posts small blind 20000
busto_soon: posts big blind 40000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hopezACE [5s 5c]
theASHMAN103: folds
hopezACE: raises 40000 to 80000
Tim0thee: folds
busto_soon: calls 40000
*** FLOP *** [5h As Tc]
busto_soon: checks
hopezACE: bets 72000
busto_soon: calls 72000
*** TURN *** [5h As Tc] [6h]
busto_soon: checks
hopezACE: bets 234750
busto_soon: calls 234750
*** RIVER *** [5h As Tc 6h] [Jc]
busto_soon: checks
hopezACE: bets 588250
busto_soon: calls 588250
*** SHOW DOWN ***
hopezACE: shows [5s 5c] (three of a kind, Fives)
busto_soon: mucks hand
hopezACE collected 1990000 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1990000 | Rake 0
Board [5h As Tc 6h Jc]
Seat 1: busto_soon (big blind) mucked [Ah Td]
Seat 2: theASHMAN103 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: hopezACE (button) showed [5s 5c] and won (1990000) with three of a kind, Fives
Seat 4: Tim0thee (small blind) folded before Flop
My comments:
It is rather a "cooler" here, but there are still a few things to note. Everyone fold up to my button and I open with a pair of 5.
BB call.
Flop AT5 rainbow, I cbet 1/3rd of the pot and expect to be call by Tx +, QJ, etc.
When a 6 heart falls, I do not believe that Tx fold, same thing for its ATx. Broadway risk folding, unless he had hearts.
I think it is so important to grow its sizing at this point, because people do not fold top pair on the turn here.
I bet 235k and he call.
River Jc.
The only hand that beats me is KhQh, but I also have the hand in my range. I believe that if I bet the pot here, he finds a fold with two pairs because I represent sets and the straight.
When I bet 3/4th pot here, I represent a range of value a little bit wider, which includes some 2 pairs so I make call more hands in his range. The two players have played their hand in a standard way here, but some players would only have 520k chips in value (70 + 170 + 280) betting half the pot on the turn and river, but this is a board where villain will have trouble folding a top pair. Therefore, by increasing my sizing, I went searching nearly 900K chips, almost double.
I imagine that you are a regular player? What format of poker play you usually? Cash games? Tournaments? Sit' n'go?
I am indeed a regular player. I started to play in March 2012 and I have reached Supernova in my first year. I wanted to achieve Supernova Elite next year, but I was playing not high enough yet and I ran out of time. I made mistakes in my management of time that I do now and my strategic approach to my sessions evolved. I think easily reaching SNE this year; I'm missing 300k vpps, but I get to play 120-150k vpps per month since my return from Vegas. I play mainly SNG's. I play the hyper-Turbo 6-max on PokerStars, where my extensive game experience in the 6-max format. This is a game where good players average investment return is low because there's not a lot of edge. It is therefore important to select its tables. I choose my tables among the 100-200-300-500-1000 buyins. I also play the major weekend tournaments and when I have a full afternoon for my session, I'll add a few tournaments to high-value to my SNG's. I try to learn the cash games at the same time, but rarely practice. I have maybe 10-15 sessions of nl200/500 under my belt. I believe I am ready to make a transition to the year 2015.
How will this gain change your future? At the level of the poker, what are your short-to-medium term projects?
It is difficult to say if this gain will change my future. Winning a WCOOP of this size brings visibility, but as long as I have not gained a "live event", I do not believe that my life will change significantly. My poker student work, student school, and Poker coach continues at day to day and I hope it will be by the end of the year that I will reach Supernova Elite. I also wish good results to my students. I have a few projects in the short and medium term; some in connection with entrepreneurship and poker, other only with poker. I also got an offer to coach a "stable" containing more than 30 elites players on PokerStars which generates a fairly large sum of profits annually. It would be for me an enormous challenge to go from coaching 4-5 players to 30-35. Another goal I want to achieve is to be recognized as one of the best "6-max hyper-Turbo SNG' regulars on PS by a period of 4 to 6 months.
