UMTerp
02-18-2005, 05:40 PM
I was in Vegas last week, and played in the Tuesday Night Mirage tourney. I'm still writing the full trip report - it's quite long, but I've finished this section, and thought I'd share. I'll probably be done the whole thing by Monday or Tuesday. There's some extraneous stuff at the beginning that you can ignore.
Cross-posting in MTT also.
NIGHT AT THE MIRAGE/TOURNAMENT REPORT
After the dam tour, I took the bus straight to the Mirage to save cab fare. Everyone else went back to the Bellagio because they had dinner reservations at 6:30 at Nero’s in Caesar’s.. I told them I was skipping out on dinner tonight because I wanted to get at least one tourney in while I was out in Vegas. We had so much planned out here (Terps game Saturday, Mystere Sunday, Dinner Monday) that Tuesday night was the only night I was really free to play a tournament. I had wanted to play in something a little bigger, but the biggest tourney going on a Tuesday was the Mirage $130 with unlimited $100 rebuys throughout the first hour. Ideally, the Bellagio weekly tournaments ($500 freezeout on Wednesdays and $1K freezeout on Fridays) sounded a little better to me, but I wasn’t going to be in town for either of them.
So I got to the Mirage around 4:30, and the tournament started at 7:00. I went to the desk to ask about the structure, and it sounded fast, but reasonable, considering the relatively small buy-in. Half hour rounds, a break after every two rounds, and a blind structure of 10-15, 15-25, 25-50, 50-100, 100-200, 150-300, 250-500, 500-1000, 1000-2000, 1500-3000, 2000-5000. I hate it when the blinds double in the middle of a tournament, and that was the case several times here. When I run tourneys, I make sure the structure is a little smoother, but I had to make do with what was in front of me. It’s really important to understand the structure of a tournament before you enter – a lot of people don’t concern themselves with it, and that’s a big mistake. You always have to make sure your stack is big enough to maintain folding equity for the blinds in front of you.
So anyway, I killed about and hour watching some basketball at the sportsbook, then I got bored and decided to get on the list for the $40-$80 game. Before I was called for that game, there was a seat open for a satellite, so I decided to give that a shot. The structure for that wasn’t great, but I thought I still had a little edge given all the online sit and go’s I play. 10 minute rounds, the blinds more or less doubled every time, and only 300 chips to start. I got down to five-handed (two seats given out) with my original chips still intact, but 50-100 blinds. I open-pushed from the button with 9s8s, got called by ATo, and didn’t improve. Out in 5th, but it was only $35, no big deal. I signed up for the main tourney, and killed another hour in the sportsbook. I booked an easy $300 win on an NBA game while I was sitting there, so I was kinda freerolling for the tourney after that.
My first table wasn’t bad. I thought there were only two other relatively tough spots at the table, and they were to my immediate right and immediate left. One good thing about my table was that there were plenty of chips by the end of the rebuy period. 500 chips to start for $130, and $100 rebuys for 500 more chips if you were below 500 chips. I rebought one immediately after my first blind, dropped back down to 450 or so after my 88 got checkraised on the turn with two overcards on board, and rebought again. No real hands of note in the first hour. I was in for $330, and had 1550 chips – about average. I took the add-on for another $100, and was sitting at 2050 going into level three. Blinds were going to be 25-50, so I still had plenty of play in front of me. After the first break, they announced the tournament entry info. 120 entrants (capped), 221 rebuys/addons for 170,500 chips in play. They’d pay out the Top 9, first prize of $8,600 down to about $1,300 for ninth. Average stack at the final table was going to be about 20K, so that was my goal. Always looking ahead.
I picked up a nice pot almost immediately after the third level started. One loose limper for 50, shortstacked button (~700) raised to 150, and I called from the big blind with 89o. Flop A98. Bingo. Check-check-250, I checkraised all-in, and got a call from the button with an AQ or AJ or something, don’t remember. My two pair held up, and I was up to about 2800 in chips. Nothing else noteworthy til the 50-100 level. I was on the button with Kd6d. Three limpers (including one that was all-in for his last 100 chips), I raised to 400, all called. Flop QT7 rainbow. Both the limpers checked to me, and I could tell they didn’t like their hands. I fired out 700, and they both folded. I had to show my K6 to go against the all-in guy (who beat me), and I got some funny looks tabling that hand. That’s fine though – nice little side pot for me. A few hands later, I picked up AA (only time of the tournament) UTG and made that raise to 400 again. Normally I like limp-reraising in early position when the blinds are getting up there and I’m against unknowns, but I thought that the K6 hand I had just showed might get someone to take a shot and come over me. Unfortunately, nobody bit, and I just won the blinds. Round 4 ended, and I was at about 3200. They announced that there were 70 players left (average stack = 2425), and my table broke. Still in good shape at the second break.
I was only at my new table for about 15 minutes before I got moved again. No real hands of note. I’m not even sure I played one. When I got to my third table, I was at about 3000 in chips. I’d guess half the field was gone at this point – maybe 6 tables of nine were left. I was right around average, and the blinds were starting to get a little too big for comfort. It was a common problem though, as nobody could really afford a mistake here unless they were in the Top 5 or so. I was in the small blind for my next hand of note. I was still fairly knew to my table, so I didn’t really have a read on anybody. Blinds 100-200, and three limpers came in before me. I raised to 800 with some trash (two little suited cards or something), looking to pick up the 800 of dead money out there. Big blind folded, first two limpers folded, and the button (WPT-wannabe) thought for a second and moved in. Ooops!! I put on a little act and mucked my hand. “Small pair?” “Medium pair. I figured if you had it, you had it.” Not sure if I believed him or not, but a good play nonetheless. I couldn’t call him – if he didn’t have me covered, he was real close. Now I was getting pretty desperate as the blinds were 150-300 and I only had 2200 in my stack. Fortunately, everyone was being real careful with their chips, and a preflop raise would usually take down the blinds. I got them once on my next orbit, folded my blinds when I had them, then got my luckiest hand of the tournament. I’m on the button with 2200 chips and pick up 9s7s. Folded to me, and I moved in. The lady in the small blind called me with AJo, and things were looking grim. I flopped a 7 and turned two pair though to double up. That was the only time I can remember that my tournament life was really in jeopardy. After that hand, I had 4700 in chips, and was relatively healthy again. That is for 10 minutes til the blinds hit 250-500 and we had our third break.
When I got back from break, my chips were at a new table – I had gotten moved again. There were only 27 players left at this point, so the average stack was a little over 6000. I looked to my left, and saw a stack of about 20K. Ugh. No blind stealing for me. There was a kid sitting to my left that told me that on the hand right before the break, the guy with the huge stack had gotten his chips by calling two preflop all-ins with 33 and spiking a 3 on the river. Good to know, but now there would really be no blind stealing for me. Well, until I had to at least.
It seemed like the majority of the players left at this point were fairly competent with tourney play. Everyone was trying to position themselves for the final table. There was a good young player with about 8K to my right, and a very good Asian player two to my right that was a little shorter than me. I think he moved all-in from the button the first three orbits at that table and stole our blinds. I knew what he was doing, but had no defense. I’m certain he thought I was weak and he could steal at will. The fourth time he moved in (from the CO this time), I had AQs in the small blind. I had to call here – I was likely ahead, and didn’t have a whole lot of time to sit and wait. I called, he showed 86s, and I flopped an ace. Sweet! I had him barely covered, and my stack was up to about 10K. Looking pretty good for the money at this point, but still a little ways to go. He said something like “I felt like gambling”. Sure, buddy. You just got caught this time. No shame in that.
Blinds moved up to 500-1000, and I won them once soon after my double-up hand to get near 12K. It was crazy how much your stack could fluctuate in this point of of the tournament. A few hands later, I picked up 99 in early position, raised to 3000, and a player two to my left pushed all-in for 1100 more. I obviously called, he showed QQ, and I didn’t suck out. Back down to 8K or so.
The next hand I played was probably the most important hand of the tournament for me. I was in the small blind with QQ, and raised to 2500. The formerly huge stack to my left (he had taken a hit and was down to about 15K at this point), pushed all-in over top of me, and I called instantly. He showed K6s (bad time to make a move), I held my breath as he turned a flush draw, but I dodged the river to get up near 20K. There were maybe 15 players left at this point, and the average stack was about 12K. I was one of the larger ones now, probably top 3 or 4 remaining in the tournament. I used my stack a little bit, and by the time we hit the bubble, the blinds were 1000-2000, and I had about 25K. Nobody was real short, but the smallest stack at our table was about 12K and on my immediate left (the guy with the real big stack busted out in 12th or 13th). Play was extraordinarily tight, as nobody wanted to finish 10th, and understandably so. The payout was pretty flat, and 9th place paid a hair over $1,300. I moved in five straight times from the small blind while we were on the bubble, and he was getting real frustrated with me, almost to the point of yelling at me. Kinda funny actually. He never called though, and when someone from the other table finally busted out, we had our final table of nine, and I was in third place with a little under 30K in chips. We drew seats for the final table, and I pulled the 6. The final table set up like this:
1 Max Stern ~20K (Max)
2 Short Stack from my table ~7.5K (SS)
3 Asian Girl ~12.5K (AG)
4 Some Dealer that was playing ~15K (SD)
5 English Kid ~15K (EK)
6 Me ~27.5K
7 Kid in a Padres jersey ~35K (KPJ)
8 Businessman ~30K (BM)
9 Older Guy ~7.5K (OG)
Not the best seat with the two big stacks to my right, but I actually thought they were the two worst players at that table, so it wasn’t the end of the world. KPJ was uber-aggressive on the bubble, and real arrogant about it. BM had gotten lucky for most of his chips. And I had enough to be fairly patient for a little while.
Play opened up a little bit as the final table commenced, since we had all cashed. 9th Place paid $1,300, and the prizes went up in about $400 increments to 5th Place. 4th was about $3,500, 3rd was $4,600, second was $6,300, and 1st was $8,600. My eyes were on the Top 3 now.
We had about ten hands of raise/push then fold around til I got to the big blind and OG open-pushed. I looked down and saw A5s, and thought for a little while before I called getting almost exactly 2:1. (He had about 7K left, and the 5K wouldn’t cripple me.) The first card on the board was an ace, and I built my stack up near the leaders. Max took about a third of BM’s stack, and then I busted my second straight player when AG open-pushed and I called with AQ. She showed KT, and my hand held up. I did get fairly lucky with a lot of 60-40 type hands late, but they were never for a significant portion of my chips. SS finished 7th a few hands later, BM, who was now shortstacked, went in 6th, and we were down to five about twenty hands in. Blinds were 1500-3000 at this point. They would only raise once more, then level off at 2000-5000. By now, the table looked something like:
1 Max 40K
4 SD 20K
5 EK 20K
6 Me 50K
7 KPJ 40K
Looking real good for the top three, but I certainly realized that with the blinds this big, a lot could happen. Then came the biggest hand of the tournament, I wasn’t involved, but it’s noteworthy enough to share. Max open-raised UTG for 9K, and all fold to KPJ in the big blind who calls. This might have been only the first or second flop we’d seen at the final table, and there was quite a bit of tension. Flop K-little-little. Check-check. Turn little. Check-Check. River some random club, making a 3-flush, and KPJ pushes all-in very quickly. Max calls time, and KPJ starts talking. He runs his mouth for about 2 minutes, orders a beer, then actually turns his chair around so he’s facing backwards, puts his feet up on the rail, and sits there with his legs crossed. He was really antsy. After what seemed like an eternity, Max says “I call”. He has a really deep voice – it sounded quite intimidating when he said it. Kid shows JdTd for a pure bluff, and Max tables AQo. Called all his chips with ace high and was right. Absolutely the best call I’ve ever seen live. He had KPJ barely covered, and we were down to four. SD went next, I think I busted him once he got down to like 8K and I was calling with any two from the blind, then we were down to three. Next goal was to win this thing. I had about 60K, Max had 90K, and the English kid, who seemed like a very good player too, was shortstacked with 20K. Blinds finally hit 2000-5000 when we got to 3-handed, EK pushed on the button with QJs, Max called with a raggedy ace, and I was heads up.
Wow, a guaranteed $6K+ payday. Not at all what I expected when I was an average stack for so long toward the beginning and middle of this thing.
I wish this one had a happy ending, but I ended up in 2nd Place. Looking back, I’m not real thrilled with how I played the last hand, but it felt right at the time, and the blinds were really too big to do much. We traded jabs for a little while, I may have hit 70K in chips at one point, but never took the lead. There were really only two significant hands heads up, the whole thing only lasted maybe 12 hands. First one, I had 66 on the button (SB), and made it 20K to go. I was planning on moving in on any flop that was checked to me, but he moved in on a KXY board (2 overcards I think), and after a little deliberation, folded. He showed me a king, so at least I’m not still thinking about that hand. A little while later, I’m at about 35K to his 135K, and he open-raised to 15K. I called with 9c5c, and it’s this call that’s bothering me most right now. I wish I’d have folded it, then taken the role of the aggressor on a subsequent hand. Board came Ks7c3d. He checks. Oh geez, he’s sucking be in. I checked behind (Mistake #2?). I can’t decided if he’d have called a push for my last 20K here or not. He probably would have. I thought for sure he had a piece and was trapping me. Turn 4c. Pretty good card for me, but now he pushes in. 20K to call, 50K pot, and I have 12 outs, maybe more. Easy call. He shows As6h, so I have even more outs than that. I miss on the river, and take home the second place prize of $6,284. I tipped out $184, and added the rest to my roll.
It would’ve been nice to win, and I was actually pretty disappointed that night, but looking back, it was a good experience. That’s the most I’ve ever won in a live tourney, and I lost to an excellent player and a really nice guy. I’ve won online tourney and home tourneys for close to that much, but never in a casino. That’s my second 2nd Place in about 8 tries though. I’ll get mine soon.
Cross-posting in MTT also.
NIGHT AT THE MIRAGE/TOURNAMENT REPORT
After the dam tour, I took the bus straight to the Mirage to save cab fare. Everyone else went back to the Bellagio because they had dinner reservations at 6:30 at Nero’s in Caesar’s.. I told them I was skipping out on dinner tonight because I wanted to get at least one tourney in while I was out in Vegas. We had so much planned out here (Terps game Saturday, Mystere Sunday, Dinner Monday) that Tuesday night was the only night I was really free to play a tournament. I had wanted to play in something a little bigger, but the biggest tourney going on a Tuesday was the Mirage $130 with unlimited $100 rebuys throughout the first hour. Ideally, the Bellagio weekly tournaments ($500 freezeout on Wednesdays and $1K freezeout on Fridays) sounded a little better to me, but I wasn’t going to be in town for either of them.
So I got to the Mirage around 4:30, and the tournament started at 7:00. I went to the desk to ask about the structure, and it sounded fast, but reasonable, considering the relatively small buy-in. Half hour rounds, a break after every two rounds, and a blind structure of 10-15, 15-25, 25-50, 50-100, 100-200, 150-300, 250-500, 500-1000, 1000-2000, 1500-3000, 2000-5000. I hate it when the blinds double in the middle of a tournament, and that was the case several times here. When I run tourneys, I make sure the structure is a little smoother, but I had to make do with what was in front of me. It’s really important to understand the structure of a tournament before you enter – a lot of people don’t concern themselves with it, and that’s a big mistake. You always have to make sure your stack is big enough to maintain folding equity for the blinds in front of you.
So anyway, I killed about and hour watching some basketball at the sportsbook, then I got bored and decided to get on the list for the $40-$80 game. Before I was called for that game, there was a seat open for a satellite, so I decided to give that a shot. The structure for that wasn’t great, but I thought I still had a little edge given all the online sit and go’s I play. 10 minute rounds, the blinds more or less doubled every time, and only 300 chips to start. I got down to five-handed (two seats given out) with my original chips still intact, but 50-100 blinds. I open-pushed from the button with 9s8s, got called by ATo, and didn’t improve. Out in 5th, but it was only $35, no big deal. I signed up for the main tourney, and killed another hour in the sportsbook. I booked an easy $300 win on an NBA game while I was sitting there, so I was kinda freerolling for the tourney after that.
My first table wasn’t bad. I thought there were only two other relatively tough spots at the table, and they were to my immediate right and immediate left. One good thing about my table was that there were plenty of chips by the end of the rebuy period. 500 chips to start for $130, and $100 rebuys for 500 more chips if you were below 500 chips. I rebought one immediately after my first blind, dropped back down to 450 or so after my 88 got checkraised on the turn with two overcards on board, and rebought again. No real hands of note in the first hour. I was in for $330, and had 1550 chips – about average. I took the add-on for another $100, and was sitting at 2050 going into level three. Blinds were going to be 25-50, so I still had plenty of play in front of me. After the first break, they announced the tournament entry info. 120 entrants (capped), 221 rebuys/addons for 170,500 chips in play. They’d pay out the Top 9, first prize of $8,600 down to about $1,300 for ninth. Average stack at the final table was going to be about 20K, so that was my goal. Always looking ahead.
I picked up a nice pot almost immediately after the third level started. One loose limper for 50, shortstacked button (~700) raised to 150, and I called from the big blind with 89o. Flop A98. Bingo. Check-check-250, I checkraised all-in, and got a call from the button with an AQ or AJ or something, don’t remember. My two pair held up, and I was up to about 2800 in chips. Nothing else noteworthy til the 50-100 level. I was on the button with Kd6d. Three limpers (including one that was all-in for his last 100 chips), I raised to 400, all called. Flop QT7 rainbow. Both the limpers checked to me, and I could tell they didn’t like their hands. I fired out 700, and they both folded. I had to show my K6 to go against the all-in guy (who beat me), and I got some funny looks tabling that hand. That’s fine though – nice little side pot for me. A few hands later, I picked up AA (only time of the tournament) UTG and made that raise to 400 again. Normally I like limp-reraising in early position when the blinds are getting up there and I’m against unknowns, but I thought that the K6 hand I had just showed might get someone to take a shot and come over me. Unfortunately, nobody bit, and I just won the blinds. Round 4 ended, and I was at about 3200. They announced that there were 70 players left (average stack = 2425), and my table broke. Still in good shape at the second break.
I was only at my new table for about 15 minutes before I got moved again. No real hands of note. I’m not even sure I played one. When I got to my third table, I was at about 3000 in chips. I’d guess half the field was gone at this point – maybe 6 tables of nine were left. I was right around average, and the blinds were starting to get a little too big for comfort. It was a common problem though, as nobody could really afford a mistake here unless they were in the Top 5 or so. I was in the small blind for my next hand of note. I was still fairly knew to my table, so I didn’t really have a read on anybody. Blinds 100-200, and three limpers came in before me. I raised to 800 with some trash (two little suited cards or something), looking to pick up the 800 of dead money out there. Big blind folded, first two limpers folded, and the button (WPT-wannabe) thought for a second and moved in. Ooops!! I put on a little act and mucked my hand. “Small pair?” “Medium pair. I figured if you had it, you had it.” Not sure if I believed him or not, but a good play nonetheless. I couldn’t call him – if he didn’t have me covered, he was real close. Now I was getting pretty desperate as the blinds were 150-300 and I only had 2200 in my stack. Fortunately, everyone was being real careful with their chips, and a preflop raise would usually take down the blinds. I got them once on my next orbit, folded my blinds when I had them, then got my luckiest hand of the tournament. I’m on the button with 2200 chips and pick up 9s7s. Folded to me, and I moved in. The lady in the small blind called me with AJo, and things were looking grim. I flopped a 7 and turned two pair though to double up. That was the only time I can remember that my tournament life was really in jeopardy. After that hand, I had 4700 in chips, and was relatively healthy again. That is for 10 minutes til the blinds hit 250-500 and we had our third break.
When I got back from break, my chips were at a new table – I had gotten moved again. There were only 27 players left at this point, so the average stack was a little over 6000. I looked to my left, and saw a stack of about 20K. Ugh. No blind stealing for me. There was a kid sitting to my left that told me that on the hand right before the break, the guy with the huge stack had gotten his chips by calling two preflop all-ins with 33 and spiking a 3 on the river. Good to know, but now there would really be no blind stealing for me. Well, until I had to at least.
It seemed like the majority of the players left at this point were fairly competent with tourney play. Everyone was trying to position themselves for the final table. There was a good young player with about 8K to my right, and a very good Asian player two to my right that was a little shorter than me. I think he moved all-in from the button the first three orbits at that table and stole our blinds. I knew what he was doing, but had no defense. I’m certain he thought I was weak and he could steal at will. The fourth time he moved in (from the CO this time), I had AQs in the small blind. I had to call here – I was likely ahead, and didn’t have a whole lot of time to sit and wait. I called, he showed 86s, and I flopped an ace. Sweet! I had him barely covered, and my stack was up to about 10K. Looking pretty good for the money at this point, but still a little ways to go. He said something like “I felt like gambling”. Sure, buddy. You just got caught this time. No shame in that.
Blinds moved up to 500-1000, and I won them once soon after my double-up hand to get near 12K. It was crazy how much your stack could fluctuate in this point of of the tournament. A few hands later, I picked up 99 in early position, raised to 3000, and a player two to my left pushed all-in for 1100 more. I obviously called, he showed QQ, and I didn’t suck out. Back down to 8K or so.
The next hand I played was probably the most important hand of the tournament for me. I was in the small blind with QQ, and raised to 2500. The formerly huge stack to my left (he had taken a hit and was down to about 15K at this point), pushed all-in over top of me, and I called instantly. He showed K6s (bad time to make a move), I held my breath as he turned a flush draw, but I dodged the river to get up near 20K. There were maybe 15 players left at this point, and the average stack was about 12K. I was one of the larger ones now, probably top 3 or 4 remaining in the tournament. I used my stack a little bit, and by the time we hit the bubble, the blinds were 1000-2000, and I had about 25K. Nobody was real short, but the smallest stack at our table was about 12K and on my immediate left (the guy with the real big stack busted out in 12th or 13th). Play was extraordinarily tight, as nobody wanted to finish 10th, and understandably so. The payout was pretty flat, and 9th place paid a hair over $1,300. I moved in five straight times from the small blind while we were on the bubble, and he was getting real frustrated with me, almost to the point of yelling at me. Kinda funny actually. He never called though, and when someone from the other table finally busted out, we had our final table of nine, and I was in third place with a little under 30K in chips. We drew seats for the final table, and I pulled the 6. The final table set up like this:
1 Max Stern ~20K (Max)
2 Short Stack from my table ~7.5K (SS)
3 Asian Girl ~12.5K (AG)
4 Some Dealer that was playing ~15K (SD)
5 English Kid ~15K (EK)
6 Me ~27.5K
7 Kid in a Padres jersey ~35K (KPJ)
8 Businessman ~30K (BM)
9 Older Guy ~7.5K (OG)
Not the best seat with the two big stacks to my right, but I actually thought they were the two worst players at that table, so it wasn’t the end of the world. KPJ was uber-aggressive on the bubble, and real arrogant about it. BM had gotten lucky for most of his chips. And I had enough to be fairly patient for a little while.
Play opened up a little bit as the final table commenced, since we had all cashed. 9th Place paid $1,300, and the prizes went up in about $400 increments to 5th Place. 4th was about $3,500, 3rd was $4,600, second was $6,300, and 1st was $8,600. My eyes were on the Top 3 now.
We had about ten hands of raise/push then fold around til I got to the big blind and OG open-pushed. I looked down and saw A5s, and thought for a little while before I called getting almost exactly 2:1. (He had about 7K left, and the 5K wouldn’t cripple me.) The first card on the board was an ace, and I built my stack up near the leaders. Max took about a third of BM’s stack, and then I busted my second straight player when AG open-pushed and I called with AQ. She showed KT, and my hand held up. I did get fairly lucky with a lot of 60-40 type hands late, but they were never for a significant portion of my chips. SS finished 7th a few hands later, BM, who was now shortstacked, went in 6th, and we were down to five about twenty hands in. Blinds were 1500-3000 at this point. They would only raise once more, then level off at 2000-5000. By now, the table looked something like:
1 Max 40K
4 SD 20K
5 EK 20K
6 Me 50K
7 KPJ 40K
Looking real good for the top three, but I certainly realized that with the blinds this big, a lot could happen. Then came the biggest hand of the tournament, I wasn’t involved, but it’s noteworthy enough to share. Max open-raised UTG for 9K, and all fold to KPJ in the big blind who calls. This might have been only the first or second flop we’d seen at the final table, and there was quite a bit of tension. Flop K-little-little. Check-check. Turn little. Check-Check. River some random club, making a 3-flush, and KPJ pushes all-in very quickly. Max calls time, and KPJ starts talking. He runs his mouth for about 2 minutes, orders a beer, then actually turns his chair around so he’s facing backwards, puts his feet up on the rail, and sits there with his legs crossed. He was really antsy. After what seemed like an eternity, Max says “I call”. He has a really deep voice – it sounded quite intimidating when he said it. Kid shows JdTd for a pure bluff, and Max tables AQo. Called all his chips with ace high and was right. Absolutely the best call I’ve ever seen live. He had KPJ barely covered, and we were down to four. SD went next, I think I busted him once he got down to like 8K and I was calling with any two from the blind, then we were down to three. Next goal was to win this thing. I had about 60K, Max had 90K, and the English kid, who seemed like a very good player too, was shortstacked with 20K. Blinds finally hit 2000-5000 when we got to 3-handed, EK pushed on the button with QJs, Max called with a raggedy ace, and I was heads up.
Wow, a guaranteed $6K+ payday. Not at all what I expected when I was an average stack for so long toward the beginning and middle of this thing.
I wish this one had a happy ending, but I ended up in 2nd Place. Looking back, I’m not real thrilled with how I played the last hand, but it felt right at the time, and the blinds were really too big to do much. We traded jabs for a little while, I may have hit 70K in chips at one point, but never took the lead. There were really only two significant hands heads up, the whole thing only lasted maybe 12 hands. First one, I had 66 on the button (SB), and made it 20K to go. I was planning on moving in on any flop that was checked to me, but he moved in on a KXY board (2 overcards I think), and after a little deliberation, folded. He showed me a king, so at least I’m not still thinking about that hand. A little while later, I’m at about 35K to his 135K, and he open-raised to 15K. I called with 9c5c, and it’s this call that’s bothering me most right now. I wish I’d have folded it, then taken the role of the aggressor on a subsequent hand. Board came Ks7c3d. He checks. Oh geez, he’s sucking be in. I checked behind (Mistake #2?). I can’t decided if he’d have called a push for my last 20K here or not. He probably would have. I thought for sure he had a piece and was trapping me. Turn 4c. Pretty good card for me, but now he pushes in. 20K to call, 50K pot, and I have 12 outs, maybe more. Easy call. He shows As6h, so I have even more outs than that. I miss on the river, and take home the second place prize of $6,284. I tipped out $184, and added the rest to my roll.
It would’ve been nice to win, and I was actually pretty disappointed that night, but looking back, it was a good experience. That’s the most I’ve ever won in a live tourney, and I lost to an excellent player and a really nice guy. I’ve won online tourney and home tourneys for close to that much, but never in a casino. That’s my second 2nd Place in about 8 tries though. I’ll get mine soon.