While I have been playing strong poker as of late, I have not actually won a tournament in about 6 months. A lot of deep money finishes which is great but still no win for a good stretch.
That all ended last night when a buddy of mine got an invite to play in a $200 buy-in tournament. He got me an invite too and off we go, knowing nothing about the tournament or the players. We knew two of the guys from briefly working with them in Tampa, FL. We show up right around 7:30 and everyone is eating steak and potatotes and glazed carrots, real nice spread of food but we had already eaten so we hang out and have a few drinks.
Outside we introduce ourselves around and get some key info about a few players. One is a big online player and is talking up his game. Few others say they just play these tournaments every other week, and the few that don't play at all are easy to spot once we get to the table!
Tournament time arrives, starting stacks of T1150, blinds are 2/4 and doubling every 15 minutes, and the payout is top three of 50/30/20%. Not the greatest of structures but I keep silent figuring I will be able to get a real feel for the table through the first set of blinds and come up with my game plan. My buddy and I are at separate tables to start which is what we wanted. We are there to take their money not each others!
Early in the second round I get KQo, standrad 3xBB raise and get three callers. K on the flop with no A and I bet one caller. Pretty uneventful to the river I bet with one caller who shows 33 and I get to showdown a good hand. 5 hands later in the BB I check with Ah8c. 4 callers and we see a flop of 3 hearts and I have middle pair with the 8. One bet of $100 and I call, everyone else folds. My money card the 4th heart comes on the turn and he calls me down on two 1/2 pot size bets on the turn and river. A few steals, one more non eventful hand and I am up to over T2200 in chips
My table image is strong at this point, as the remarks are flying since both my buddy are I chip leaders at our repsective tables! "Oh look, the new guys know how to play!" was just one of the quips going back and forth.
Then the nightmare starts, I flop TTP with KJ and got too agressive leading out with bets when I was getting cold called by a set. Over a quarter of my stack now gone. The cards then go cold for me, even my premium hands are getting called and cracked by trash. I tighten up and make the final table (9) with less than T900 with blinds of 50/100. M value is less than 3 and I am in the dreaded REDZONE!!!
First hand of the final table I get AJs in late positon 2 from the button (is this CO2?). One caller and I push! Get called by the BB who shows QQ. 6KJ6J to give me Js full and I double up. Very next hand I look down to see JJ. I am thinking to myself do I want to push and try to double up again. Action gets to me with one caller again and I go in the tank. I push! I want to double up and get a huge stack. After what seemed like an eternity three folders and one caller who shows AQo. QT986 to give me a straight and I have now doubled up two hands in a row
A little bit of luck went my way but you have to win the races to make the money! I have to mention that I don't normally like the races but I have changed from a making the money mentality to WIN WIN WIN.
We get down to the bubble and it is me, my buddy, the guy who invited us, and the Big talking online player (Roy) who has a commanding chip lead over all of us. I am second in chips with the other two pretty much the same. At this point a decision by the TD was made that the blinds would freeze at 100/200. I put forth a small protest to this but it is squashed and explained to me that this is something they "normally" do in their tournaments. 30 mins of back and forth between the four of us stealing blinds and what not we finally get some action. Clint goes ai AQo and Roy calls with pocket 8s. Q on the flop and we have a new chip leader and Roy has been crippled down to about 2500 in chips.
Again another 30 minutes of back and forth action and me and Roy get into a pot together. A little bit of info about Roy, over the course of the night he has shown his hole cards about 75% of the time even when he doesn't have to. He likes to show his high cards and loves to show his bluffs to prove to everyone that he is the player to beat. On this particular hand I do not remember any of the cards because I picked up on his bluff and when he bet 500 on the river to try and steal the pot I raised with Ace high to put him ai and he folded. What was funny is that he was so drunk that he didn't realize he only had 180 in chips left and was now the BB with me the SB. I call and neither improve but my K high takes it to put him out of the tourney.
3 left and in the money we up the blinds to 200/400 to speed it up a bit. My buddy, ATs, is the next to go out when he calls the ai from Clint who show 55. Third place for him and we are playing headsup. All I can think about is HOHII that I just got done reading and the advice he gives for playing HU.
Little did I know that HU play would only last TWO hands! First hand I am BB, SB calls I check with 97s, the miracle flop of 856. All I am thinking is ROUNDERS "This son of *****, all night he check, check, check! " I check, he checks. Turn J, I check he bets 1000, in the tank for 15 seconds and I call. River is a 4 and I check again, he bets out 2000, in the tank again and I push. HE CALLS!!!! His two pair J4 are dessimated by my straight on the flop and we have a new chip leader!
Last hand of the night was just stupid on his part. I pick up AKo and call the BB, not the strongest play but my play nonetheless. QQ4 and he checks, but checks in a way that I know he has nothing so I raise to put him all in and he calls... For a split second I was thinking oops I messed that up, but when he flips 92o I couldn't believe it. He says he is tired and is fine with the 2nd place payout. AA on the turn and river are moot at this point but a full house, Aces full, is just a great way to end the tournament and take down the First place prize money of $1400.
I made some mistakes but recovered from them fairly well and made some weaker plays than normal, but in the end I came out on top and the feeling was great! A $1200 profit made the girlfriend happy too, seeing as this money is going towards the Med cruise we are taking in June!
Thanks for reading and sorry for the long post...
Linear Mode
