| Taj tourney
Was able to squeeze in some poker this weekend in Atlantic City. 1/2 NL cash games went nowhere finishing up about $50 over two and a half days. But the big win was the tournament at the Taj.
95 players with an $80+$20 buyin
T5000 with 20 minute rounds
Blinds started at 25-50 and in round three antes started: 100-200-25a
Final table of 9 paid; ranging from $152 up to $3,040
There were a few key hands from the early, middle, and final table stages of the tournament.
Early on, blinds at 100-200 with a 25 ante. I had been playing pretty tight and had gotten to show down a set of 8's that won a nice pot and had slowplayed with AK on a board of A-x-A-x-x. Those were the only two hands of distinction I had played in the first two levels. In middle position I raised to 625 with a KcQc and both blinds called. Flop come Tc-9d-3c. The small blind bets 1,300 and I call. Turn comes 2c. He pushes, I call. He turns over Ac-3s. Pair and flush draw. River is a blank. I felt him and my stack is nice at about 12,000.
Later, with the blinds at 300-600 and a 100 ante. I think the average stack was about 12,000 and I had 20,000. UTG raises to 2,500, I reraise to 8,000 with AA, he goes allin and I call. He shows QQ and my aces hold up. Now sitting with about 32k and feeling very confident about making the final table.
I made the final table with about 60k in chips. When the blinds got up to 2000-4000 with a 500 ante people started busting pretty quickly. 6-handed I doubled up to 80k with AK vs. 77. When we were down to 4 the chips were about 140k-120k-120k-100k and we decided to chop 4 ways. The chip leader got $1800, two guys got $1500 apiece, and I as short stack got $1200, with about $300 total going to the tip.
All in all a very fun and profitable experience. The players ranged from very bad (holiday tourists) to very good (Taj veterans) and the structure was okay. I had a good run of cards and was able to avoid any horrible beats. I used the money to bankroll my friend, do some heavy drinking, and enjoy AC a bit more than I would have otherwise. After the expenses I came back with $400 more than what I left with, so I am going to get some ASM tourney chips. Now that's a prize.  | 
Linear Mode
