I made a nice win on Full Tilt Saturday night/Sunday morning. I managed to take down the Fifty-fifty tournament on FTP. That's their $50 buy-in, 50k guarantee. I'm glad it was a 50k guarantee because 954 people played, instead of the 1000 needed for a 50k prize pool. So there was a $2,300 overlay that Full Tilt coughed up(I think they can afford it).
I should note this. I am SO pissed at this next occurrence. I hadn't played online in a while. But I set up a co-worker an account right before Christmas. When I clicked on Full Tilt, it stated that I needed to download new software. OK, no problem. Well I did it & that was that. Well when I was playing last night, I noticed when I won a uncontested pot, it wouldn't ask me, "Muck Hand or Show Hand", like it used to. So I figured when I updated the software, my settings went back to default. OK, no biggie. But after the tournament was over, I attempted to retrieve my hand histories, only to discover that they weren't saved. SOB! So I can't post any hands from the tournament here. I will try to explain to the best of my abilities. I e-mailed Full Tilt and asked if they could send me my hand history from the tournament. If by some lucky chance they will do that, then I'll post and elaborate of them in my next post.
Anyway, I weaved my way through the field to win the $9,955 1st place prize. It was kinda gruelling.. 7 1/2 hours. I don't play that much poker online. I usually deposit $100 or so every once in a while and play mostly SNG's, and a lot of heads-up matches. And the occasional MTT. When I do play MTTs, it's usually $24+$2, or lower. And I usually play like crap. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I know it's only $26. Or $11. Or something like that. And I don't take it seriously. Last night I got off of work early and decided to deposit $100. I saw the Fifty-fifty was about to start. I actually passed it up because I noticed there was a $24+2, $28k guarantee. Then I realized that it was starting 31 minutes later and I didn't have the patience to wait lol. So I jumped in the $50k and got the ball rolling.
I caught AA early on. I raised from middle position and was called by one of the blinds I believe. The flop came down J-4-3(or close to that). He checked. I bet. And he raised me. I'm pretty sure he's just seeing if I actually have a hand or if I have an A-K type of hand. He may have a jack but I should be pretty well ahead. I didn't want to raise him here and lose him. I was hoping I would call and he'd bet the turn and I'd then raise. Unless it was a jack maybe. The turn was a straight card. But now he checks again. I bet, he called. Then when the river fell, it put 4 to a straight out there. And he shoved all-in. But most importantly, he instantly shoved all-in. In my opinion, this is almost never a sign of strength. I looked at the board for a few seconds and called. I was most worried that he may have back-doored two pair or hit a set along the way. But I was pretty confident he was full of shit. I called and won.
A little later I called a raise with a few other people with Jd-10d. The flop came down A-10-x. Two diamonds. It checks around and the 5d hits the turn. It checks to one guy who bets. I raise right behind him. It folds around until action is back to the original raiser and he shoves all-in. I call. he's got a set of 5's. The river is blank and I win a NICE one there.
At this point, there are like 700+ or 800+ people still in and I'm 20th in chips. I still have a very long way to go, but at least I shouldn't have to worry about being blinded-down anytime soon. There isn't a whole lot to talk about for the next few hours. I win some pots, lose some pots.
Most importantly this following hand. This guy to my right was very aggressive, raising often from late position. Well I caught a few top 20 hands when he would raise from the cut-off. I was on the button and would reraise. The blinds folded as did he. And I'd pick up a nice pot uncontested. I did this quite a few times. I knew one of the following would happen.. Either he was gonna get tired of it and just shove-in on me, or he was gonna pick up a real hand and shove-in. Well it happened. Everyone folded to him in the cut-off and he raises. I'm on the button with A-8o and reraise. The blinds fold and he ships it. In no way is this a fool-proof tell, but I feel it is one of the strongest online tells.. the instant shove. I mean really, if you had A-A or K-K and someone reraised you.. when the action got back to you, would you quickly just ship it? Not likely, you'd take your time, make it look like you have a decision to make. Anyway, I did have a tough decision. I only have A-80. But I'm a little below average now(I think). And I have been waiting for this situation to arrive. I go with my gut and gamble. I call.. He shows J-10o and my A-8 holds for a nice pot.
For the most of the tournament I stayed about 25% above average. I just hung around. Then the money bubble bursts and I've got $75 locked up lol. On a side note, I had a short-stacked Lee Watkinson at my table for a while. It woulda been cool to bust him and get $50 and/or a "I knocked out a Pro" t-shirt. I actually had the chance to do just that when he moved all-in on me on a A-A-2-2-K board. But I didn't have the balls to call with 3-3. I don't know too many online player's handles, except for the really big names. But I realized I had a couple of tough table draws. One table I sat in front of Watkinson, and another one I had an FTOPS event winner to my immediate left. He also had a ton of chips at the time. Also had "I am Ari". And others. Maybe it helped to have those guys at my table. Maybe that's what initially had my playing correctly. Let's get back to poker...
Once we were in the money I just kept picking up pots here and there, trying to stay out of harms way. We eventually started getting closer and closer. But still.. if you placed 30th for example, you won $210. That's shit. You play for 6 hours, come in 30th of 954 players.. and profit $155. That would have been sick. But I was fully prepared to do that. My girlfriend had gotten home by this time and was sweating me for a lot of the end of the tournament. Often I would make a play that would get her so nervous and she would give me shit. I kept telling her, I'm playing for 1st place and 1st place only. Even 10th place only got $615. So we eventually got down to 2 tables. This is where the blinds were really starting to play a big factor. I was starting to get low on chips. There was a lot of shoving-preflop from everyone. Including me. A few times I waited until a couple of bigger stacks limped, and I would shove. I did this quite a few times. And it would increase my stack dramatically. Sometimes with a good hand, and other times with 5-6 suited. I mean that can be the difference between $215 and $9555. All it took was one call and I could have been gone. But I was picking up nice pots, usually uncontested. Until I finally got caught, and got lucky.
One of the bigger stacks limped from UTG or UTG+1. Another big stack limped along with the SB completing. And possibly even one more. I'm in the BB with A-10o. I can't possibly fold here lol. There's like 4 blinds(which are huge by now) and a bunch of antes to steal. It's that time.. SHIP IT! The early limper calls.. Oops! Everyone else folds and he has A-Q. I flop a 10 and I hit a SWEET suckout! Down to 2 tables and it was the first time I got my money in bad(I think). That is, until the following hand lol.
Except this time I didn't have nearly as much to risk. We were down to about 15 players or so. After that suck-out, I was in a good chip position. It folded to me on the button with A-2. I raise. The SB(who is the guy who had A-Q in the before mentioned hand) ships it. Shit.. It folds to me and I initially go to fold. Then I realize I'm getting a pretty good price, and it'll cost me approximately 30K of my 135k stack. 100k was still about average at that point. I'm getting good odds to call and if I win this one, I'm one of the chip leaders and another player is down. I call. He shows A-J. Damn. Now get ready for this one boys and girls, it takes talent to suck-out like this. The flop comes down 8-8-3. Immediately I'm yelling give me a 3(obviously I don't mind a chop at this point). Well the turn is a 4. Now I'm yelling 3 or 4.. 3 or 4... When the river falls a 5, giving me the wheel. Sick isn't it? I know what you're thinking, "Wow I wish I could get lucky like that! I could win tournaments if I sucked-out like that!" Believe me, I know that feeling. I mentioned to Joe Bueche about a month ago that I feel I never run good in tournaments. Well I caught a few breaks here. Keep in mind that this last suck-out wasn't that important because if I lose, I'm still in good shape. But that A-10 v.s. A-Q hand was crucial. And it felt GREAT to get it in bad and win that bad boy.
Well I got moved to the other table(which I had luckily watched for a little while and got a feel for how everyone was playing). I wasn't catching shit for a little while. A player or two went down and we were down to 10 players. One more player and we're at the final table. And I would handle that with my buddy, A-A. A couple of times while we were playing 5 handed, it folded to me in the SB and I completed, only to have the shorter-stacked BB shove all-in. I mucked and we moved on. Well when I picked up A-A, everyone folded to me. I decided to complete, hoping he would shove. He did, I called, and he showed 8-8.. board ran out and we were down to 9.
I knocked out the 9th place guy also. I think anyway. I knocked out either the 9th place guy or 8th place guy on the following hand. I'm not totally sure about the positions in this one so bear with me. I think it went down like this. A guy raises from EP/MP and it folds to me in the BB with Jc9c. I call. The flop is Q-10-x. I flop open-ended. I check and he bets. I call. The turn is a 9. Giving me a pair. I check and he checks behind. The river is garbage. I check. And here we go again with the instant shove. I don't know why but I instantly call. He shows A-J for ace-high and I win a BIG one. If I lose that one I'm serverly cripped. But my pair of 9's, jack kicker is good.
I read an interview with Nam Le in Cardplayer recently in which he said this, "I'm a pretty fast learner. Back in my early days, I would make those hero calls, and bottom-pair calls, and ace-high calls, and they worked out, but the times they don't, it burns and it stings. I made sure that I let it sting, and with experience, you just learn that that's not profitable. Yeah, I could be that player, that young hotshot who makes those hero calls. In the long term, it's not good, and I know that I'll be playing this game for the rest of my life."
I read that on the day prior to playing this tournament and I said to myself that I shouldn't try to make many really thin calls. And I still feel that way. But this was just one of those times you just feel it. As quickly as he shoved, I called just as quick. It was an instinct thing, and would be a bad call most of the time. But this time it worked out. Let's analyze this for a second. He raised preflop and I called. The flop comes Q-10-x and I check. He bets, like I fully expect him to do. I call with my open-ended straight draw. Normal so far. The turn is a 9, giving me a pair with my open-ended draw. I check and he checks behind me. Now I don't believe he's strong at all. He may very well have me beat, but I don't think he's super strong. My biggest guess is A-K. The river is garbage. I check, and he instantly shoves. I mean WTF? Luckily, I played with the guy for a while so I could limit his range. He played pretty tight & unimaginative. So I'm ruling out the fact that he raised from EP/MP in a full game with K-J. It's possible but very unlikely. If he raised with A-Q and floped a queen. He would probably bet the turn. And even if he didn't, it makes no sense to shove the river. I think the river bet was 80k+. Which is a huge bet. He should bet that for value. Or check. The same with A-10. I think it's unlikely that this particular player would even raise with A-10 in that position. But he probably checks the river with pretty good showdown value. Basically the turn check and river instant-shove didn't add up. If this was a world class player or someone I watched play very well, I could give him credit for a very well played hand. But this looked like a very standard missed straight bluff. I'm SURELY not claiming to be a "young hot-shot" like Nam was speaking about, but that hand really did affect my confidence. A couple of people wrote comments in the chat like "very nice call", and "yea really!". That hand just made me believe, you can do this.(It also made me think, "OK dumb ass, don't put yourself in that position again. LoL)
I didn't get too active for a while and people started dropping. Next thing you know we're down to 4 handed. I picked up K-K but just picked up the blinds. Everyone is exchanging large amounts of chips. A guy by the name of MONGOJONGO was to my left and was my biggest threat at the table. On a few of occassions two players folded to me in the SB, I would complete and MONGOJONGO would shove. It was starting to get on my nerves. Well one time a player folded, and a guy by the name of "netao" limped on the button. netao was by far the weaker of the remaining 4. He was very tight. I had no idea what the hell this limp meant. I have AJ in the SB. I would raise 90% of the time here and hope to take down a nice pot uncontested. But this limp threw me off big time. So here were my thoughts. I decided to just complete. I'm a little afraid of what netao has and more importantly, I know if I complete and MONGOJONGO has anything remotely good, he's shoving. With high antes, and two BB's in there, how could he not lol. This way I get to see what netao does. If he folds I'll call. I complete and sure enough.. MONGO ships it. Annoying netao folds, and I feel like I'm about to be in pretty good shape. I call and MONGO shows A-Q. Unbelievable. You watch the guy ship it 1 out of every 4 hands. You finally call and he has you dominated. He wins and I'm now the overwhelming short-stack. But not for long at all. I'm immediately just being ubberaggressive, because I still have some fold equity. And before you know it, I'm right back in it.
Some kinda way one guy went bust. The whole final table leading up to this didn't seem that long. But 3-handed play was a battle. With the blinds being as high as they were, I can't believe it lasted that long. And there was plenty of playing going on. Mostly from MONGOJONGO and I. The other guy "netao", was still playing tight. MONGO was behind me. I was actually getting annoyed that netao wasn't raising from the button(my SB). Because I couldn't catch anything remotely good from the SB and we gave MONGO a walk more than enough times. Everyone was going from chip leader to short-stack.. No one was going bust. With an average stack, I'm shoving from the button at some points with 10d-8d. My girlfriend is like, "WTF are you doing?" lol. Gotta get chips baby! I got low at some points, but with the the blinds that high, it's not tough to be right back in it. The following hand was so sweet.
I didn't catch many great hands the entire 7 1/2 hours, then finally my time came. We go to a flop 3 handed with me holding 8-9. Flop 9-8-9. Two spades. Are you kidding me? lol Well the flop goes checked. The turn is a 4. It frickin' checks around again. The river is a Queen. I'm about to get annoyed because I flopped a frickin' boat 3-handed and I'm gonna make nothing! That is until, netao ships it! I call and he shows 9-5. Sweet! But he's not out. He actually had me covered by a nice margin and still has 200,000 or so left. Well literally 4 or 5 hands later, I get another gift from the big guy. I catch 9-9 in the SB and complete.. MONGO raises behind me and I decide to just call. The flop comes down 4-4-5. I check. Fully intending on check-raising/check-calling all-in. When he checks behind. GREAT!? I'm waiting for the frickin' ace to hit the turn when the absolutely gorgeous Nina Ross hits the turn 9d. Putting 2 diamonds on board. I check, and I'm saying "ace on the river, ace on the river". When before I know it, he moves in on the turn. In the words of Gene D., "SSCHWEEET". I call, he show Ad-Qd for two overs and the nutflush draw, but drawing completely dead. And we're heads up!
I went into heads-up as the overwhelming chipleader. I believe about 1.4m to 200k-300k. But with blinds this high, anything is definitely possible. Going into heads-up I was a little nervous because the difference between 1st and 2nd place was over $3,600. I don't like to sound arrogant because there are definitely leaks in my game and I know myself where I can improve. But I think I'm pretty good heads-up. I've played a ton of heads-up matches and I'm confident in that part of my game. Especially v.s. netao who's played tight the entire final table. Luckily it didn't take long. In only a couple of hands, it was done. I raised from the button with A-Jo and he shoved. I called. He flipped over Q-J. The board double-paired and my ace played.
Reading over this it just sounds like I made some great hands and got extremely lucky. Both of which I did. But I feel like I did great for the hands I caught. I'm squeezing a ton of hands into one blog, writing mostly about the big ones. I started out as one of the chipleaders, stayed a little above average most of the tournament, and from 50 players down to one... I went from low to high to low to high. I did my best to avoid flips. Especially to MONGOJONGO 4 & 5 handed. I purposely limped with small pairs in the SB, hoping he would raise. But he shoved and took my play away from me. And I folded my pairs, not wanting to race. There are definitely times I'm willing to race, or even gamble with less than a race. But short-handed I kept saying to myself, "I can beat these guys without racing." And with some well-timed monsters, I did. Well this post is too damn long. I'm sure I'll be playing more soon. I'll keep you posted!
I should note this. I am SO pissed at this next occurrence. I hadn't played online in a while. But I set up a co-worker an account right before Christmas. When I clicked on Full Tilt, it stated that I needed to download new software. OK, no problem. Well I did it & that was that. Well when I was playing last night, I noticed when I won a uncontested pot, it wouldn't ask me, "Muck Hand or Show Hand", like it used to. So I figured when I updated the software, my settings went back to default. OK, no biggie. But after the tournament was over, I attempted to retrieve my hand histories, only to discover that they weren't saved. SOB! So I can't post any hands from the tournament here. I will try to explain to the best of my abilities. I e-mailed Full Tilt and asked if they could send me my hand history from the tournament. If by some lucky chance they will do that, then I'll post and elaborate of them in my next post.
Anyway, I weaved my way through the field to win the $9,955 1st place prize. It was kinda gruelling.. 7 1/2 hours. I don't play that much poker online. I usually deposit $100 or so every once in a while and play mostly SNG's, and a lot of heads-up matches. And the occasional MTT. When I do play MTTs, it's usually $24+$2, or lower. And I usually play like crap. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I know it's only $26. Or $11. Or something like that. And I don't take it seriously. Last night I got off of work early and decided to deposit $100. I saw the Fifty-fifty was about to start. I actually passed it up because I noticed there was a $24+2, $28k guarantee. Then I realized that it was starting 31 minutes later and I didn't have the patience to wait lol. So I jumped in the $50k and got the ball rolling.
I caught AA early on. I raised from middle position and was called by one of the blinds I believe. The flop came down J-4-3(or close to that). He checked. I bet. And he raised me. I'm pretty sure he's just seeing if I actually have a hand or if I have an A-K type of hand. He may have a jack but I should be pretty well ahead. I didn't want to raise him here and lose him. I was hoping I would call and he'd bet the turn and I'd then raise. Unless it was a jack maybe. The turn was a straight card. But now he checks again. I bet, he called. Then when the river fell, it put 4 to a straight out there. And he shoved all-in. But most importantly, he instantly shoved all-in. In my opinion, this is almost never a sign of strength. I looked at the board for a few seconds and called. I was most worried that he may have back-doored two pair or hit a set along the way. But I was pretty confident he was full of shit. I called and won.
A little later I called a raise with a few other people with Jd-10d. The flop came down A-10-x. Two diamonds. It checks around and the 5d hits the turn. It checks to one guy who bets. I raise right behind him. It folds around until action is back to the original raiser and he shoves all-in. I call. he's got a set of 5's. The river is blank and I win a NICE one there.
At this point, there are like 700+ or 800+ people still in and I'm 20th in chips. I still have a very long way to go, but at least I shouldn't have to worry about being blinded-down anytime soon. There isn't a whole lot to talk about for the next few hours. I win some pots, lose some pots.
Most importantly this following hand. This guy to my right was very aggressive, raising often from late position. Well I caught a few top 20 hands when he would raise from the cut-off. I was on the button and would reraise. The blinds folded as did he. And I'd pick up a nice pot uncontested. I did this quite a few times. I knew one of the following would happen.. Either he was gonna get tired of it and just shove-in on me, or he was gonna pick up a real hand and shove-in. Well it happened. Everyone folded to him in the cut-off and he raises. I'm on the button with A-8o and reraise. The blinds fold and he ships it. In no way is this a fool-proof tell, but I feel it is one of the strongest online tells.. the instant shove. I mean really, if you had A-A or K-K and someone reraised you.. when the action got back to you, would you quickly just ship it? Not likely, you'd take your time, make it look like you have a decision to make. Anyway, I did have a tough decision. I only have A-80. But I'm a little below average now(I think). And I have been waiting for this situation to arrive. I go with my gut and gamble. I call.. He shows J-10o and my A-8 holds for a nice pot.
For the most of the tournament I stayed about 25% above average. I just hung around. Then the money bubble bursts and I've got $75 locked up lol. On a side note, I had a short-stacked Lee Watkinson at my table for a while. It woulda been cool to bust him and get $50 and/or a "I knocked out a Pro" t-shirt. I actually had the chance to do just that when he moved all-in on me on a A-A-2-2-K board. But I didn't have the balls to call with 3-3. I don't know too many online player's handles, except for the really big names. But I realized I had a couple of tough table draws. One table I sat in front of Watkinson, and another one I had an FTOPS event winner to my immediate left. He also had a ton of chips at the time. Also had "I am Ari". And others. Maybe it helped to have those guys at my table. Maybe that's what initially had my playing correctly. Let's get back to poker...
Once we were in the money I just kept picking up pots here and there, trying to stay out of harms way. We eventually started getting closer and closer. But still.. if you placed 30th for example, you won $210. That's shit. You play for 6 hours, come in 30th of 954 players.. and profit $155. That would have been sick. But I was fully prepared to do that. My girlfriend had gotten home by this time and was sweating me for a lot of the end of the tournament. Often I would make a play that would get her so nervous and she would give me shit. I kept telling her, I'm playing for 1st place and 1st place only. Even 10th place only got $615. So we eventually got down to 2 tables. This is where the blinds were really starting to play a big factor. I was starting to get low on chips. There was a lot of shoving-preflop from everyone. Including me. A few times I waited until a couple of bigger stacks limped, and I would shove. I did this quite a few times. And it would increase my stack dramatically. Sometimes with a good hand, and other times with 5-6 suited. I mean that can be the difference between $215 and $9555. All it took was one call and I could have been gone. But I was picking up nice pots, usually uncontested. Until I finally got caught, and got lucky.
One of the bigger stacks limped from UTG or UTG+1. Another big stack limped along with the SB completing. And possibly even one more. I'm in the BB with A-10o. I can't possibly fold here lol. There's like 4 blinds(which are huge by now) and a bunch of antes to steal. It's that time.. SHIP IT! The early limper calls.. Oops! Everyone else folds and he has A-Q. I flop a 10 and I hit a SWEET suckout! Down to 2 tables and it was the first time I got my money in bad(I think). That is, until the following hand lol.
Except this time I didn't have nearly as much to risk. We were down to about 15 players or so. After that suck-out, I was in a good chip position. It folded to me on the button with A-2. I raise. The SB(who is the guy who had A-Q in the before mentioned hand) ships it. Shit.. It folds to me and I initially go to fold. Then I realize I'm getting a pretty good price, and it'll cost me approximately 30K of my 135k stack. 100k was still about average at that point. I'm getting good odds to call and if I win this one, I'm one of the chip leaders and another player is down. I call. He shows A-J. Damn. Now get ready for this one boys and girls, it takes talent to suck-out like this. The flop comes down 8-8-3. Immediately I'm yelling give me a 3(obviously I don't mind a chop at this point). Well the turn is a 4. Now I'm yelling 3 or 4.. 3 or 4... When the river falls a 5, giving me the wheel. Sick isn't it? I know what you're thinking, "Wow I wish I could get lucky like that! I could win tournaments if I sucked-out like that!" Believe me, I know that feeling. I mentioned to Joe Bueche about a month ago that I feel I never run good in tournaments. Well I caught a few breaks here. Keep in mind that this last suck-out wasn't that important because if I lose, I'm still in good shape. But that A-10 v.s. A-Q hand was crucial. And it felt GREAT to get it in bad and win that bad boy.
Well I got moved to the other table(which I had luckily watched for a little while and got a feel for how everyone was playing). I wasn't catching shit for a little while. A player or two went down and we were down to 10 players. One more player and we're at the final table. And I would handle that with my buddy, A-A. A couple of times while we were playing 5 handed, it folded to me in the SB and I completed, only to have the shorter-stacked BB shove all-in. I mucked and we moved on. Well when I picked up A-A, everyone folded to me. I decided to complete, hoping he would shove. He did, I called, and he showed 8-8.. board ran out and we were down to 9.
I knocked out the 9th place guy also. I think anyway. I knocked out either the 9th place guy or 8th place guy on the following hand. I'm not totally sure about the positions in this one so bear with me. I think it went down like this. A guy raises from EP/MP and it folds to me in the BB with Jc9c. I call. The flop is Q-10-x. I flop open-ended. I check and he bets. I call. The turn is a 9. Giving me a pair. I check and he checks behind. The river is garbage. I check. And here we go again with the instant shove. I don't know why but I instantly call. He shows A-J for ace-high and I win a BIG one. If I lose that one I'm serverly cripped. But my pair of 9's, jack kicker is good.
I read an interview with Nam Le in Cardplayer recently in which he said this, "I'm a pretty fast learner. Back in my early days, I would make those hero calls, and bottom-pair calls, and ace-high calls, and they worked out, but the times they don't, it burns and it stings. I made sure that I let it sting, and with experience, you just learn that that's not profitable. Yeah, I could be that player, that young hotshot who makes those hero calls. In the long term, it's not good, and I know that I'll be playing this game for the rest of my life."
I read that on the day prior to playing this tournament and I said to myself that I shouldn't try to make many really thin calls. And I still feel that way. But this was just one of those times you just feel it. As quickly as he shoved, I called just as quick. It was an instinct thing, and would be a bad call most of the time. But this time it worked out. Let's analyze this for a second. He raised preflop and I called. The flop comes Q-10-x and I check. He bets, like I fully expect him to do. I call with my open-ended straight draw. Normal so far. The turn is a 9, giving me a pair with my open-ended draw. I check and he checks behind me. Now I don't believe he's strong at all. He may very well have me beat, but I don't think he's super strong. My biggest guess is A-K. The river is garbage. I check, and he instantly shoves. I mean WTF? Luckily, I played with the guy for a while so I could limit his range. He played pretty tight & unimaginative. So I'm ruling out the fact that he raised from EP/MP in a full game with K-J. It's possible but very unlikely. If he raised with A-Q and floped a queen. He would probably bet the turn. And even if he didn't, it makes no sense to shove the river. I think the river bet was 80k+. Which is a huge bet. He should bet that for value. Or check. The same with A-10. I think it's unlikely that this particular player would even raise with A-10 in that position. But he probably checks the river with pretty good showdown value. Basically the turn check and river instant-shove didn't add up. If this was a world class player or someone I watched play very well, I could give him credit for a very well played hand. But this looked like a very standard missed straight bluff. I'm SURELY not claiming to be a "young hot-shot" like Nam was speaking about, but that hand really did affect my confidence. A couple of people wrote comments in the chat like "very nice call", and "yea really!". That hand just made me believe, you can do this.(It also made me think, "OK dumb ass, don't put yourself in that position again. LoL)
I didn't get too active for a while and people started dropping. Next thing you know we're down to 4 handed. I picked up K-K but just picked up the blinds. Everyone is exchanging large amounts of chips. A guy by the name of MONGOJONGO was to my left and was my biggest threat at the table. On a few of occassions two players folded to me in the SB, I would complete and MONGOJONGO would shove. It was starting to get on my nerves. Well one time a player folded, and a guy by the name of "netao" limped on the button. netao was by far the weaker of the remaining 4. He was very tight. I had no idea what the hell this limp meant. I have AJ in the SB. I would raise 90% of the time here and hope to take down a nice pot uncontested. But this limp threw me off big time. So here were my thoughts. I decided to just complete. I'm a little afraid of what netao has and more importantly, I know if I complete and MONGOJONGO has anything remotely good, he's shoving. With high antes, and two BB's in there, how could he not lol. This way I get to see what netao does. If he folds I'll call. I complete and sure enough.. MONGO ships it. Annoying netao folds, and I feel like I'm about to be in pretty good shape. I call and MONGO shows A-Q. Unbelievable. You watch the guy ship it 1 out of every 4 hands. You finally call and he has you dominated. He wins and I'm now the overwhelming short-stack. But not for long at all. I'm immediately just being ubberaggressive, because I still have some fold equity. And before you know it, I'm right back in it.
Some kinda way one guy went bust. The whole final table leading up to this didn't seem that long. But 3-handed play was a battle. With the blinds being as high as they were, I can't believe it lasted that long. And there was plenty of playing going on. Mostly from MONGOJONGO and I. The other guy "netao", was still playing tight. MONGO was behind me. I was actually getting annoyed that netao wasn't raising from the button(my SB). Because I couldn't catch anything remotely good from the SB and we gave MONGO a walk more than enough times. Everyone was going from chip leader to short-stack.. No one was going bust. With an average stack, I'm shoving from the button at some points with 10d-8d. My girlfriend is like, "WTF are you doing?" lol. Gotta get chips baby! I got low at some points, but with the the blinds that high, it's not tough to be right back in it. The following hand was so sweet.
I didn't catch many great hands the entire 7 1/2 hours, then finally my time came. We go to a flop 3 handed with me holding 8-9. Flop 9-8-9. Two spades. Are you kidding me? lol Well the flop goes checked. The turn is a 4. It frickin' checks around again. The river is a Queen. I'm about to get annoyed because I flopped a frickin' boat 3-handed and I'm gonna make nothing! That is until, netao ships it! I call and he shows 9-5. Sweet! But he's not out. He actually had me covered by a nice margin and still has 200,000 or so left. Well literally 4 or 5 hands later, I get another gift from the big guy. I catch 9-9 in the SB and complete.. MONGO raises behind me and I decide to just call. The flop comes down 4-4-5. I check. Fully intending on check-raising/check-calling all-in. When he checks behind. GREAT!? I'm waiting for the frickin' ace to hit the turn when the absolutely gorgeous Nina Ross hits the turn 9d. Putting 2 diamonds on board. I check, and I'm saying "ace on the river, ace on the river". When before I know it, he moves in on the turn. In the words of Gene D., "SSCHWEEET". I call, he show Ad-Qd for two overs and the nutflush draw, but drawing completely dead. And we're heads up!
I went into heads-up as the overwhelming chipleader. I believe about 1.4m to 200k-300k. But with blinds this high, anything is definitely possible. Going into heads-up I was a little nervous because the difference between 1st and 2nd place was over $3,600. I don't like to sound arrogant because there are definitely leaks in my game and I know myself where I can improve. But I think I'm pretty good heads-up. I've played a ton of heads-up matches and I'm confident in that part of my game. Especially v.s. netao who's played tight the entire final table. Luckily it didn't take long. In only a couple of hands, it was done. I raised from the button with A-Jo and he shoved. I called. He flipped over Q-J. The board double-paired and my ace played.
Reading over this it just sounds like I made some great hands and got extremely lucky. Both of which I did. But I feel like I did great for the hands I caught. I'm squeezing a ton of hands into one blog, writing mostly about the big ones. I started out as one of the chipleaders, stayed a little above average most of the tournament, and from 50 players down to one... I went from low to high to low to high. I did my best to avoid flips. Especially to MONGOJONGO 4 & 5 handed. I purposely limped with small pairs in the SB, hoping he would raise. But he shoved and took my play away from me. And I folded my pairs, not wanting to race. There are definitely times I'm willing to race, or even gamble with less than a race. But short-handed I kept saying to myself, "I can beat these guys without racing." And with some well-timed monsters, I did. Well this post is too damn long. I'm sure I'll be playing more soon. I'll keep you posted!
