SenorBeef
07-30-2004, 01:53 PM
A few hands later, I still needed chips, I made a steal play from MP with 33 against a small big blind (30k) figuring I had a high chance of getting called, but probably being a coin flip. Keep in mind: 10th to 18th place pay the same, it doesn't matter. I have no reason not to take risks here. I'm not playing to squeak out 9th place. I got called by KJ and won that coin flip, getting me back up near average stack.
I got 33 again a few hands later with a raiser (with a decent stack) in front of me and folded.
I busted a guy with jacks again AK and got back up amongst the chip leaders at 225k.
Won a coin flip with a guy with 50k. I've been mostly lucky on coin flips after that miraculous recovery - but I've been putting myself in situations where I'm up against a guy with 1/3rd my stack, tops - so it's not like I'm putting my whole tourney on the line and getting lucky.
I busted the 10th player out with QQ vs Q9 to get to the final table. At the final, the starting chip counts were as follows:
Seat 3: easyH (726412 in chips) out of hand (moved from another table into small blind)
Seat 4: lucky karma (90184 in chips) out of hand (moved from another table into small blind)
Seat 9: melonhead (173467 in chips)
Seat 1: BigArmo (77296 in chips)
Seat 2: the new plan (147515 in chips)
Seat 5: delta3 (133672 in chips)
Seat 6: S 18 (169504 in chips)
Seat 7: dass (304115 in chips)
Seat 8: SenorBeef (312835 in chips)
The only person of the group I knew well was easyH, Hoyt. He'd been trying to run over my table for a while now, and I was afraid of him. He was willing to risk his entire tourney, put me all in, at any time, and that was dangerous. I tried to avoid him until later stages because I didn't want to take the risk. He knew that, of course, and that was part of his strategy. BigArmo I had played with a decent bit, along with delta3, and dass at least for one table, so I had at least vague reads on their style or better. The other ones I don't recall knowing, although they may have been on my tables at some point.
I became more conservative when we hit the final table. I was playing to win, but.. I had the stack to ride out a few people busting. When I was in 18th and 10th to 18th paid the same, I could throw caution to the win and go nuts. But now... I would move up 5k or so for everyone that busted out. I wasn't timid, I just wasn't going to tangle with the big stacks that early, there was no reason to. I was still very aggressive when I entered a hand, but I was playing tihgt, and playing position strongly (steals, etc.)
I got a lucky break when a 270k stack (dass) who had me covered went all in in MP and I called with QQ. Possibly a risky call with so many people left and him having me covered, but I figured I was either a big favorite or a coin flip. I wouldn't have expected him to go all in on AA or KK, so I figure.. either I dominate him and have a good shot at doubling, or he's got AK and we'll play a coin flip. Under the circumstances, though risky, it seemed worth the risk. I called, he had A7, my hand held up, and I had doubled up.
A hand I get some flak for - I caught Q3o in the BB which was 30k. A player goes all in for 80k on a blind steal, him in the SB, me in the BB. He's short stacked and very aggressive (dass) and I figure he can be going in with any 2 hands here. Q3 is not a good calling hand, however, I'm risking, at worst, 1/10th my stack, already have 3/8ths of his bet invested, and have a chance to knock out a good player and move myself up 5k, with little risk to myself in terms of chips. I get a lot of inexperienced rail birds saying "you play q3?? you suck!!" but I think under the circumstances it was a good decision. Comments welcome. He ended up having AK.. and I caught a boat - yeah, lucky, but it wasn't a bad call under the circumstances and I was only a 3:2 underdog.
I had a similar lucky hand a few hands later: A player ahead of me, UTG + 2, goes all in for 90k. This is arguably my worst call of the tournament. He was being somewhat aggressive for blind steals, but not especially. A 30k blind, however, was about thit his 90k stack, so I figured his raising requirements to be relatively low. I was hoping he had maybe king high or a low pair.. and I called with A6s. That was a loose call, and maybe a bad call, but I have a lot of chips and I'm very anxious to bust people. He flipped over AQ and I ended up lucking out and catching a flush. That's the only hand where I got lucky where I may not have made a good decision, I believe, but as always, comments are welcome
He busted, and with 5 left, the table looked like this:
Seat 3: easyH (637884 in chips)
Seat 4: lucky karma (71392 in chips)
Seat 6: S 18 (272888 in chips)
Seat 8: SenorBeef (749058 in chips)
Seat 9: melonhead (403778 in chips)
My goal at this point was to avoid Hoyt or catch him with a big hand when he's trying to run me over (QQ-AA) I wanted the small stacks busted because the prize money really moved up from here and I wasn't afraid to try to bust them myself. I still played relatively conservatively towards the medium stack and hoyt, but was very aggressive towards the low stacks.
S 18 finally called one of Hoyt's bullying preflop raises and doubled up off him. I was relieved. No disrespect to S 18, but I thought I could handle him better with chips than Hoyt - and that I could handle Hoyt pretty well if he was a small to medium stack.
Down to 4:
Seat 8: SenorBeef (604558 in chips)
Seat 9: melonhead (400278 in chips)
Seat 3: easyH (321820 in chips)
Seat 6: S 18 (808344 in chips)
I open-raised from the SB with melonhead in the BB with TT for 120k (4x BB). He went all in for a little under 400k. It's a risk to my stack, but.. he could easily just be making a play against what he feels is a weak blind steal attempt, and hoping I fold. I decide with 120k already in, I'd call the 280k, because it doesn't take him a big hand to make that move from the BB. Turns out he did have a big hand - AK, and I won the coin flip.
And we're down to 3.
Seat 3: easyH (453820 in chips)
Seat 6: S 18 (716344 in chips)
Seat 8: SenorBeef (964836 in chips)
I'm feeling extremely confident at this point, and my strategy is more loose aggressive because the worst I can do here is 38k if I bust. I might as well go for the win.
And.. Hoyt keeps up his pressure tactics, and I get a hand I feel is worth calling:
*********** # 447 **************
PokerStars Game #569231629: Tournament #2039022, Hold'em No Limit - Level XX (20000/40000) - 2004/07/25 - 23:45:05 (ET)
Table '2039022 31' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 3: easyH (453820 in chips)
Seat 6: S 18 (716344 in chips)
Seat 8: SenorBeef (964836 in chips)
easyH: posts small blind 20000
S 18: posts big blind 40000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
*** -------------------------> Dealt to SenorBeef [Jd Ah]
SenorBeef: raises 80000 to 120000
easyH: raises 331820 to 451820 and is all-in
S 18: folds
SenorBeef: calls 331820
*** FLOP *** [5d 8s 3h]
*** TURN *** [5d 8s 3h] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [5d 8s 3h 9h] [8h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
easyH: shows [Qs Jh] (a pair of Eights)
SenorBeef: shows [Jd Ah] (a pair of Eights - Ace kicker)
SenorBeef collected 949640 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 949640 | Rake 0
Board [5d 8s 3h 9h 8h]
Seat 3: easyH (small blind) showed [Qs Jh] and lost with a pair of Eights
Seat 6: S 18 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: SenorBeef (button) showed [Jd Ah] and won (949640) with a pair of Eights
AJ Isn't the greatest hand, but he's raising with nearly anything on the button, and I have the chips to risk busting him. Turns out I had him dominated, and I was much relieved to have him gone. He'd refused a deal when we were down to 4.. so I dunno how happy he is with his 38k. Probably not too sad...
It was a few hands after this that S 18 and I made a deal, which, since this post is already huge, I'll address in another thread. I got 92.5k, he got $74,030. I'm happy with the deal I made. After the deal, after all that tension and 7 and a half hours of playing.. after all we were fighting for were TLB points, we both just sort of went nuts. The hand that won it for him was 33 vs QT.. he won the coin flip with 33. He technically took first place, but for all intents and purposes, I won the most money, had a 3:1 chip lead at the end, and made the favorable deal.. so I consider myself to have won.
Comments on anything are welcome.
I got 33 again a few hands later with a raiser (with a decent stack) in front of me and folded.
I busted a guy with jacks again AK and got back up amongst the chip leaders at 225k.
Won a coin flip with a guy with 50k. I've been mostly lucky on coin flips after that miraculous recovery - but I've been putting myself in situations where I'm up against a guy with 1/3rd my stack, tops - so it's not like I'm putting my whole tourney on the line and getting lucky.
I busted the 10th player out with QQ vs Q9 to get to the final table. At the final, the starting chip counts were as follows:
Seat 3: easyH (726412 in chips) out of hand (moved from another table into small blind)
Seat 4: lucky karma (90184 in chips) out of hand (moved from another table into small blind)
Seat 9: melonhead (173467 in chips)
Seat 1: BigArmo (77296 in chips)
Seat 2: the new plan (147515 in chips)
Seat 5: delta3 (133672 in chips)
Seat 6: S 18 (169504 in chips)
Seat 7: dass (304115 in chips)
Seat 8: SenorBeef (312835 in chips)
The only person of the group I knew well was easyH, Hoyt. He'd been trying to run over my table for a while now, and I was afraid of him. He was willing to risk his entire tourney, put me all in, at any time, and that was dangerous. I tried to avoid him until later stages because I didn't want to take the risk. He knew that, of course, and that was part of his strategy. BigArmo I had played with a decent bit, along with delta3, and dass at least for one table, so I had at least vague reads on their style or better. The other ones I don't recall knowing, although they may have been on my tables at some point.
I became more conservative when we hit the final table. I was playing to win, but.. I had the stack to ride out a few people busting. When I was in 18th and 10th to 18th paid the same, I could throw caution to the win and go nuts. But now... I would move up 5k or so for everyone that busted out. I wasn't timid, I just wasn't going to tangle with the big stacks that early, there was no reason to. I was still very aggressive when I entered a hand, but I was playing tihgt, and playing position strongly (steals, etc.)
I got a lucky break when a 270k stack (dass) who had me covered went all in in MP and I called with QQ. Possibly a risky call with so many people left and him having me covered, but I figured I was either a big favorite or a coin flip. I wouldn't have expected him to go all in on AA or KK, so I figure.. either I dominate him and have a good shot at doubling, or he's got AK and we'll play a coin flip. Under the circumstances, though risky, it seemed worth the risk. I called, he had A7, my hand held up, and I had doubled up.
A hand I get some flak for - I caught Q3o in the BB which was 30k. A player goes all in for 80k on a blind steal, him in the SB, me in the BB. He's short stacked and very aggressive (dass) and I figure he can be going in with any 2 hands here. Q3 is not a good calling hand, however, I'm risking, at worst, 1/10th my stack, already have 3/8ths of his bet invested, and have a chance to knock out a good player and move myself up 5k, with little risk to myself in terms of chips. I get a lot of inexperienced rail birds saying "you play q3?? you suck!!" but I think under the circumstances it was a good decision. Comments welcome. He ended up having AK.. and I caught a boat - yeah, lucky, but it wasn't a bad call under the circumstances and I was only a 3:2 underdog.
I had a similar lucky hand a few hands later: A player ahead of me, UTG + 2, goes all in for 90k. This is arguably my worst call of the tournament. He was being somewhat aggressive for blind steals, but not especially. A 30k blind, however, was about thit his 90k stack, so I figured his raising requirements to be relatively low. I was hoping he had maybe king high or a low pair.. and I called with A6s. That was a loose call, and maybe a bad call, but I have a lot of chips and I'm very anxious to bust people. He flipped over AQ and I ended up lucking out and catching a flush. That's the only hand where I got lucky where I may not have made a good decision, I believe, but as always, comments are welcome
He busted, and with 5 left, the table looked like this:
Seat 3: easyH (637884 in chips)
Seat 4: lucky karma (71392 in chips)
Seat 6: S 18 (272888 in chips)
Seat 8: SenorBeef (749058 in chips)
Seat 9: melonhead (403778 in chips)
My goal at this point was to avoid Hoyt or catch him with a big hand when he's trying to run me over (QQ-AA) I wanted the small stacks busted because the prize money really moved up from here and I wasn't afraid to try to bust them myself. I still played relatively conservatively towards the medium stack and hoyt, but was very aggressive towards the low stacks.
S 18 finally called one of Hoyt's bullying preflop raises and doubled up off him. I was relieved. No disrespect to S 18, but I thought I could handle him better with chips than Hoyt - and that I could handle Hoyt pretty well if he was a small to medium stack.
Down to 4:
Seat 8: SenorBeef (604558 in chips)
Seat 9: melonhead (400278 in chips)
Seat 3: easyH (321820 in chips)
Seat 6: S 18 (808344 in chips)
I open-raised from the SB with melonhead in the BB with TT for 120k (4x BB). He went all in for a little under 400k. It's a risk to my stack, but.. he could easily just be making a play against what he feels is a weak blind steal attempt, and hoping I fold. I decide with 120k already in, I'd call the 280k, because it doesn't take him a big hand to make that move from the BB. Turns out he did have a big hand - AK, and I won the coin flip.
And we're down to 3.
Seat 3: easyH (453820 in chips)
Seat 6: S 18 (716344 in chips)
Seat 8: SenorBeef (964836 in chips)
I'm feeling extremely confident at this point, and my strategy is more loose aggressive because the worst I can do here is 38k if I bust. I might as well go for the win.
And.. Hoyt keeps up his pressure tactics, and I get a hand I feel is worth calling:
*********** # 447 **************
PokerStars Game #569231629: Tournament #2039022, Hold'em No Limit - Level XX (20000/40000) - 2004/07/25 - 23:45:05 (ET)
Table '2039022 31' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 3: easyH (453820 in chips)
Seat 6: S 18 (716344 in chips)
Seat 8: SenorBeef (964836 in chips)
easyH: posts small blind 20000
S 18: posts big blind 40000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
*** -------------------------> Dealt to SenorBeef [Jd Ah]
SenorBeef: raises 80000 to 120000
easyH: raises 331820 to 451820 and is all-in
S 18: folds
SenorBeef: calls 331820
*** FLOP *** [5d 8s 3h]
*** TURN *** [5d 8s 3h] [9h]
*** RIVER *** [5d 8s 3h 9h] [8h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
easyH: shows [Qs Jh] (a pair of Eights)
SenorBeef: shows [Jd Ah] (a pair of Eights - Ace kicker)
SenorBeef collected 949640 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 949640 | Rake 0
Board [5d 8s 3h 9h 8h]
Seat 3: easyH (small blind) showed [Qs Jh] and lost with a pair of Eights
Seat 6: S 18 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: SenorBeef (button) showed [Jd Ah] and won (949640) with a pair of Eights
AJ Isn't the greatest hand, but he's raising with nearly anything on the button, and I have the chips to risk busting him. Turns out I had him dominated, and I was much relieved to have him gone. He'd refused a deal when we were down to 4.. so I dunno how happy he is with his 38k. Probably not too sad...
It was a few hands after this that S 18 and I made a deal, which, since this post is already huge, I'll address in another thread. I got 92.5k, he got $74,030. I'm happy with the deal I made. After the deal, after all that tension and 7 and a half hours of playing.. after all we were fighting for were TLB points, we both just sort of went nuts. The hand that won it for him was 33 vs QT.. he won the coin flip with 33. He technically took first place, but for all intents and purposes, I won the most money, had a 3:1 chip lead at the end, and made the favorable deal.. so I consider myself to have won.
Comments on anything are welcome.