Here’s a guest post from a friend of the blog, PUNTE from WithLeather. He’s one of my fave bloggers online and despite his showing in the blogger tourney on Wednesday, he’s a poker lover. Here’s his take on last Sunday’s $50K Guaranteed tourney:

Two things about me: I love poker, and I haven’t played in forever. It’s hard enough to get enough friends together for a cash game, and my work schedule hasn’t really permitted me a chance to play many hands online. That changes today, as I’m signing up for CarbonPoker’s Sunday $50,000 No-Limit HE Tournament. It will be a unique welcome back to online poker. And, I suspect, a rude one.

I’m keeping a running diary (original, I know) of the day progresses. I’ve logged into CarbonPoker and have my Sunday tournament ticket ready. I’ve chosen the username PUNTER4KSK, a sort of homage to my online blogging persona. Here we go…

3:21 PM

I Registered for the Sunday Deep stack tournament on CarbonPoker, paid the $109 entry fee and waited for 39 minutes.

I thought about strategy and tactics for winning a tournament this size. I want to accumulate chips early. Play big cards. Steal a blind here or there. Play attention to other players at my table. Keep a strong chips-to-blinds ratio, and don’t follow stupid with stupid.

Everyone makes a stupid play in a poker tournament. It’s the finite nature of it with the blinds constantly increasing. I want to make smart plays, without getting too fancy, with any dumb mistakes few and far between.

3:27 PM

$50,000 is guaranteed in this tournament, including $15,000 for first place. I can see in the tournament lobby 165 players have already registered, and that payouts have been scheduled for the top 20 finishers, or 12 percent. That’s slightly on the generous side, especially for online poker. Typically, the top ten percent of the field will get paid out, and there are still other online cardrooms will only pay out the top three, regardless of the number of entries. I feel confident that I can make the money.

I consider playing a few hands online in the real money rooms, which I’ve found to be rather competitive considering that no real equity stands to be won. A quick sit-n-go is probably a good idea, especially since I’ve not played in a while and tournaments are a weak format for me. I prefer cash games, where I can wait for stronger pocket cards and get a feel for how my opponents like to play. I won’t have that luxury here.

3:30 PM

I register for a one-table sit-n-go. This is how the blogger tournament will play. I really am impressed with the CarbonPoker interface. It’s very elegant; there’s buttons that will let me bet in multiples of the big blind, and also in fractions of the pot. There’s also an all-in button, but I’ve disabled it in the options. I adjust the colors of my window to make the table and floor dark, but the colors of the deck brighter, so I can see at a glance who’s still in a given hand. I shrink the window with the mini button and the “cards” are in the air…

3:50 PM

I’m getting my bearings back in this one-table sit-n-go. I’m using my position and hand values to make a lot of my decisions for me, but I’m accumulating chips and staying out of trouble. I hope this tournament ends before the 50K starts. I have no problem multi-tabling (playing 2 or more tables at the same time) when playing cash games, but tournaments have a different feel, one that requires undivided attention.

3:59 PM

I’m down to the final four in a SNG when the other window pops up. I make a horrible call in the SNG with pocket 3s and double up a player that probably woulda gone out in 4th. I’m still leading, but now I’m a bit steamed. I decide to tighten up my hand range in the 50K until my SNG is over. I’ll only play aces, kings, or ace-king, and fold everything else.

I catch TT in the big blind in the SNG when the SB folds. Damn!

4:05 PM

Still multi-tabling two tournaments, which I don’t enjoy. My lead in the SNG is slipping, and I’m totally ignoring the big tourney, aside from noticing the crap hands I’m folding, until I catch AQs in the SB. I make a standard 3x raise and get one caller. I fold to a bet after a 10-high flop.

4:08 PM

I wake up to AK on the button in the 50K. I raise 4x to 80. Three callers. Flop comes Q-J-4 rainbow (three different suits). I bet on the button. and get one caller. Another 4 on turn.Check-check.We see a 3 on river. I check. cp2777 bets the pot, I fold. I shut my betting down after the call on the flop. That was a mistake.

4:10 PM

My lack of attention in the SNG has cost me the chip lead. I try to muster some aggression and raise with K8o in the cutoff. Someone re-raises all in. I’m getting 3-to-1 odds to call. He flips J-4 and gets a 4 on the flop. Awesome…I’m now in 3rd.

4:12 PM

The SNG is ramping up, and everyone else is getting antsy and moving their chips into the pot. The player to my left is bleeding. He goes all-in and it’s folded around. And I’m getting nothing but cards with numbers over here. I catch J-5 and complete in the small blind. Two 7s hit the flop and it’s check-bet-fold. I’m now in 4th and it’s all-in time with my next ace or king.

…Or with 9-8. he flips over 9-9. I just followed stupid with stupid, and I don’t improve. I’m out in 4th place, having just missed the bubble. At least I can give all my attention to the 50K, which I should have just auto-folded up to this point. Fortunately, it’s a deep-stack tournament. I still have lots of room to play.

4:19  PM

We’re at level 2 blinds 15/30. I see 233 players are left, and the top 30 are getting paid. I look forward to finishing 31st. I catch K-9 in the big and call I min-raise. Flop comes 10-9-2, I bet half the pot with my middle pair. One player two seats to my right (on the button) puts in a big raise. I realize that I either need to start playing aggressively post-flop or go home. I fold.

I decide to play more aggro. Two hands later I wake up to 76o on the button. I raise 3x and the blinds call. We all check A-4-3. And I bet the turn, another ace. I get one caller. The river is a 6 and I make a bush-league all-in. He folds. Obv.

With 2820 in chips, I am in 155th. I have a long way to go to reach the top 30.

4:26 PM

I catch pocket nines in middle position. Facing a 3x raise and call, I shove. I’m still steaming a bit from that 4th place finish in the SNG. I get a caller, and my day might already be ending. He flips AK and catches a king in the flop. I do not improve, but I have him covered, and take my wounded stack to the next hand.

I have 1014 in chips. I’m now 228th out of 230 remaining. But I still have plenty of play left. About 33 big blinds left. I can build on that if I get more serious about my starting hands, and post-flop play. I have about 1000 in chips now. No one else at the table has less than 2200. I’m in trouble.

I can see the leader at the table has 12k in chips, while the player running second only has 9k. I am getting antsy; in these big tournaments, you need to accumulate big stacks early and play aggressively. I have the aggro part figured out, but my stack is shrinking, not growing…

4:32 PM

Pocket kings in the small blind! Alright, here we go! I really need to get paid for this hand.  Blinds are 25/50 now, so I make a big 5x raise two callers. Flop is Q-10-3, all hearts. With a stack smaller than the pot, I have to make an aggressive play here. I move all-in. They fold. I am relieved.

I raise the minimum on the button with my next hand, 98o. I get one caller. Flop comes Q-2-2. I bet half the pot and the other player folds. I am finally getting some momentum, but I’m still 211/228 and still the baby stack at the table.

I see the next break is at 5 o’clock, in 27 minutes. If I make it that long, I’d better have some equity to take into the break with me.

4:38 PM

Pocket sevens in middle position. I make another big 5x raise. Button calls. Big blind calls. It’s a bad flop for me, K-J-4, but I’m betting anyway. One caller. Blank on the turn. Check check. I bluff the river. He calls with second pair. I now have less than 7 big blinds, and the all-in code red is on once again.

I find A3 on the next hand. I shove. My one caller flips over AQ and I’m done. 225th.

As badly as I played today, at least now I know what I have to do to improve. I need to tone down the preflop agression and maybe ramp it up more after the flop. I need to play fewer hands. And I need to play only one table for tournaments. At least for now.