cferejohn
10-12-2005, 09:55 PM
Played in the Super Tuesday last night. First super in a couple weeks (basically been too busy and getting home by 6 is not easy for me). Since I’ve been persona non grata around here for a while, I thought I’d get back into the swing of things by posting something so long that no one will read it. I commented on the hands I thought were particularly interesting, but feel free to talk about any of them…
Level 1: Blinds 10/15
Hand 1
Stack: T1000
I’m dealt Ah Kh UTG. I raise to 50. MP calls. SB calls.
Flop: As Js Qh
SB bets out 85, I raise to 300. All fold.
Level 2: Blinds 10/20
Hand 2
Stack: T1155
I’m dealt Qc 3c in the SB.
MP1 (1370) calls, MP2 (497) calls. I complete. BB checks.
Flop: 7h Js Qh
I lead out for 60. All fold to the small stack (MP2) who pushes in. No particular read on him, and I fold.
Hand 3
Stack: T1075
I’m dealt As 8s in MP.
Folded to me. I limp. All others fold. BB (1255) checks.
Flop: Ts 6s 9d
BB overbets 75 into a pot of 60. I call with the nut flush draw, a gutshot, and an overcard.
Turn: 5c.
He bets 20, and I call. I was ready to fold to a significant bet, but obviously I call the minimum. It’s a pretty weird bet though, and I suspect a big hand.
River: Ad
He bets 125. I think a good long while and fold. That turn bet just screamed “I have a big hand and I want you to raise.” Given the way he played the hand, I think he’s got something that beats one pair often enough here to justify the fold. Feel free to disagree.
Hand 4
Stack: T960
I’m dealt Ac Js in the CO. I raise to 60. Button (1886) flat calls. Blinds fold.
Flop: Th 6d 8d
I lead out for 125. Button raises to 300. I muck.
After this the table breaks and the blinds go up.
Level 3: Blinds 15/30
Hand 5
Stack: T715
I get Td Th in MP. UTG+1 goes all-in for 80. Folded to me, and I raise it to 175. Button (1765) immediately goes all-in. Folded back to me. I muck. Short stack had 99. Button had AA. Predictably there’s a T on the flop, but that is neither here nor there.
Level 4: Blinds 25/50
Hand 6
Stack: T495
I get Jc Jd in the BB.
MP (550) limps. CO (3425) raises to 200. I push. MP folds CO calls. He’s got ATo. The board comes 5h 8h 3s 8c 6d and I double up.
Hand 7
Stack: T990
I’ve got 9h 9s UTG+2. Folded to me and I raise to 150. MP (5485, have a note that he likes to call a lot of speculative hands preflop) calls, BB (2780, same guy who doubled me up in hand 6) calls.
Flop: 7s 5h Ac
Ick. BB checks. I check. MP checks.
Turn: Ts
BB checks. I check. MP bets 250. All fold. I wasn’t very happy with this hand, but with an A on the board and two callers, I didn’t feel like a bet was going to be +EV.
Hand 8
Stack: T765
I get Qh Qc in the cutoff. MP (750) raises. I go all in. MP folds. Should I have tried to milk it a little more? I just figure a raise to 400 looks pretty strange there.
Hand 9 (very next hand)
Stack: T990
I get Qh Qc (exact same hand!) in the CO. Kinda fishy/aggressive CO-1 (648) min-raises to 100. I make it 350. CO-1 calls.
Flop: Kd Jd Kc
CO-1 checks. I go all in for his last 300 chips. He folds. I think I should have checked this to see if he would bluff the turn. It’s not like he’s going to lay down a J, a K or a flush draw anyway. He’s probably drawing to 2 (medium PP) or 3 (Ax) outs, maybe 7 with AQ or AT (but I think he probably would have pushed with one of those anyway). I just kind of assumed he was going to call a push at that point since he had called off over half his chips preflop. Should have slowed down and thought it out.
At this point I move tables again. Level 5 goes by without any interesting hands (a few blind steals).
Level 6: 75/150
Hand 10
Stack: T1740
I get Jd Jh in the BB. UTG (2595) calls. UTG+1 (4015) calls. Aggressive MP (5173) raises to 1000. I push. Folded back to MP who calls. He’s got AK. I win the race to double up. The MP was named wgp123 and I’d play several other hands against him. The table breaks and I move again.
Hand 11
Stack: T4005
I’ve got 9h Ts in the BB. UTG+1 (1715) min-raises to 300. MP (5905, I have a note that he called small flop and turn bets with just K-high at one point) calls. I call.
Flop: Th 2c 5d
I check. UTG+1 bets 350 into a pot of 1050. MP calls. I raise to 1200. All fold. I figured the only hand that the guy who led out could have that beat me was AA. *Maybe* KK, but with anything else, I think he would have made a larger bet to protect his hand. This looked like he was trying to pick it up cheap. MP had shown before he was likely to call with nearly anything. If MP had come over the top of me, I would have layed it down. Obviously if the short stack had pushed, I would have been compelled to call.
Level 7: Blinds 100/200
Hand 12
Stack: T5455
I get Ts Jc in the CO-1. I open-raise to 500. SB (1195) goes all in. I sigh and call for his last 695. He has AQ and doubles up off of me.
Hand 13
Stack: T3760
I get Qs 5c in the SB. UTG (1470) limps. UTG+1 (the guy I just doubled up) limps. I complete. BB (5010, my note: “very very fishy”) checks.
Flop: Ah 5h Qc
BB bets out 400. UTG goes all-in for 1270 straight. Boy does that look like it could be AA, but boy do I not feel like I can lay down 2 pair here against a small stack. I push. Everyone else folds, and guess what, he has AA. Should I have laid this down? The BB opening actually gave me a chance to do so, since I know that UTG must have something pretty good to make that push. If he’d had maybe 600-700 more chips, I might, but for just 1200 more, I thought I had to isolate with 2 pair. Maybe I could have flat called in the hopes of getting more out of the fishy BB?
Level 8: Blinds 150/300
Hand 14
Stack: T1990
I get As Qs in the SB. MP shortstack goes all-in for 1250. I push. He’s got A8o. Board doesn’t pair either of us, but for good measure, I river the flush. Now I move to table 5 with Magic_Pig (AKA Lloyd). The bubble approacheth.
Hand 15
Stack: T3690
I get Ah Ts in the BB.
UTG+1 (4398) calls. I complete. BB (22427, no notes but wasn’t pushing his huge stack too hard) checks.
Flop: Tc 7c 8d
I bet out 600. BB folds. UTG+1 calls.
Turn: 2h
I bet 1000. UTG+1 folds. I figured there’s a pretty good chance he’s on a draw with that flop. I would have had a tough decision if he pushed the turn, but I’d probably fold, because I can’t think of something he’s call the flop and push the unimproved turn on that doesn’t beat 1 pair.
Hand 16
Stack: T4890
I get Jd Td in MP. UTG+2 limps. I limp. All fold to BB who checks.
Flop: 4s Ad 3s
Checked around.
Turn: 7h
Checked to me. I bet 800. All fold. Hooray for position. With 2 spades on the board, it seemed unlikely an A would have checked the flop, and I think even 2 pair would certainly have bet the turn. I assume the EP limper had a smallish pocket pair or maybe something like KQ and decided not to get involved once an A flopped.
Nothing interesting in level 9, so on we go to:
Level 10: Blinds 300/600
Hand 17 (Luckbox hand #1)
Stack: T4840
I get Ah Ks UTG+2. It’s worth noting that we’re about 3 or 4 places from the money. I open push. SB, who has me covered reraises. He’s got Ad Ac, but the board comes with 4 spades and I suck out as the 9:1 dog. Obviously I am pushing AK in that situation 100 times out of 100. Bad luck to run into the AA, then extraordinary luck to suck out. A couple more people are eliminated and we’re in the money.
Hand 18
Stack: T9980
I’ve got Ad Qs UTG+1. UTG (12740) limps. I limp. SB completes BB checks.
Flop: 8h Qh Tc
Blinds check. UTG bets 1000. I raise to 3000. Blinds fold. UTG calls.
Turn: 7s
I push. He folds. If he’d flopped a real hand or been slowplaying AA/KK, I figure he would have pushed after my flop raise, since the board was full of draws. When he just called I put him on some kind of draw. Maybe second pair plus a flush or straight draw. I went with the read and pushed.
Level 11: Blinds 400/800
Hand 19
Stack: T15180
I get Ks Kh on the button. UTG (7320) min-raises to 1600. Folded to me and I raise to 5000. BB (2044) calls all in. UTG calls (leaving him just 2300 back).
Flop: 3c Kc 3s
UTG pushes. I put him on 33 and fold. Nah, just kidding, I call. BB had AA and I bust both of them.
Hand 20 (just a couple hands later)
Stack: 24944
I get Kd Kc UTG+1. I raise to 2200. BB (9190) calls.
Flop: 9h 9s 2d
I bet out 3500. BB immediately goes all-in for about 3500 more. I don’t like how fast that was, but no way I’m folding. He’s got 77. MHIG. Now I’ve got ~42K in chips, which is good for fourth or so with about 90 left. Hot damn.
Level 12: Blinds 500/1000
Hand 21
Stack: T41727
I pick up As 3h on the button. SB has almost 30K. BB has just 6K before posting. I raise to 2500. SB folds. BB goes all-in. I sigh and call. He’s got AK and doubles up against me.
Hand 22
Stack: T35603
No SB this hand. Just a BB of 1000. I get Td Ts in CO-1. MP (43474, wgp123 who doubled me up back on hand 11) min-raises to 2000. I re-raise to 7000. Folded back to MP who pushes. He’s the only guy on the table who has me covered. I think, sigh, and fold and make a note that min-raises may mean a big hand from this guy.
Level 13: Blinds 750/1500
Hand 23
Stack: T37208
I get 9c 8s on the BB. Folded to aggressive SB who just calls. I check.
Flop:Ah 5d 9d
SB bets out 3000. I min-raise to 6000. He just calls. I’m almost sure he’s on a draw now. I’m pretty certain he would have raised preflop with an A.
Turn:6h
Well, if his draw was 78, I’m in trouble. He checks. I bet 8000. He thinks and folds.
Level 14: Blinds 1000/2000
Hand 24
Stack: T44208
I get Td 7c in the SB. Folded to me. I complete. Fairly conservative seeming BB (he’d folded his SB to the BB several times) checks.
Flop: Tc Ad 6c
I bet 3000. For the record I’m betting any flop here. He calls.
Turn: 4c
Hard to not put him on a flush draw at this point, or at least *something* that beats me. I check. He bets 3300. I fold.
Level 15: Blinds 1500/3000
Hand 25
Stack: T39208
I get 9h 6h in the BB. UTG (conservative player from last hand) min-raises to 6000. Folded to me. I call. Flop is Ad 6s Kh. He bets out just 4500. Smells like a trap to me and I fold. Soon after this we go down to 2 tables and I’m moved to table 2.
Hand 26
Stack: T31708
I’ve got Qh Js in the CO-1. I open-raise to 8000. The CO (58474, the increasingly less conservative player from the last 2 hands) flat calls. All others fold.
Flop: 8s 7d 3h
I bet out 8000 into a pot of around 20000. He min-raises to 16000. I fold. I hate hate hate my flop bet. What else could be possibly have but a pocket pair, and that’s a perfect flop for him.
So now I’m down to about 15K and ready to push with just about anything to steal some blinds. I get 52o next hand and muck, followed by:
Hand 27 (Luckbox #2)
Stack: T15708
I’ve got A3o UTG+1. I don’t really like it, but I don’t really have a choice and I push. Magic_Pig (57399) goes all-in the SB, and I am less than shocked to see AK. However, I river a 3 to stay alive, earning me the enmity of all 2+2ers everywhere.
Level 16: Blinds 2K/4K
I’m going to start rounding to the nearest thousand now. Easier to see.
Hand 28
Stack: 24K
CO (74.5K, no notes) limps. I push. He folds. I have a note now.
Hand 29
Stack: 34K
I get Ad Tc UTG. We’re 8 handed. I don’t really like it, but I feel I have to push. Called by shorter stack with about 20K. He’s got AJ and his hand holds up.
Hand 30
Stack: T14K (before posting blind)
I’ve got Qd 9h and just about 10K back after posting the blind. SB raises to 6300. I push. He calls. He’s got 76o. I flop a Q to double up.
Hand 31 (very next hand)
Stack: 28.5K
I pick up Ad Kd in the SB. UTG (52K) raises to 20600. MP (102K and had earlier called a reasonably big all-in with Q6s (and he hadn’t been in the blinds), defending this with “gotta gamble”). I’m obviously going to get called in 2 places, but again, what choice do I have. I push. I’m called in both places. Flop’s got a K and 2 hearts. I get a bit of a scare when UTG bets when the third heart falls, but he’s got JJ and I triple up to about 90K, good for third place with 15 left.
Hand 32
Stack: 86K
I pick up Qh Qs in the SB. The button (39K) raises to 15K. I push. He makes a patently silly fold with just 25K to call into a pot with about 60K in it.
Hand 33
Stack: 96K
6 players at the table. I get 4c Kc UTG+1. I’ve been pretty tight and I make what is really my one attempted steal with rags of the night and raise to 15K. I’m called by the BB who was the guy who called an all-in with Q6s. Probably not the right guy to try and steal against. Otoh, K-high might well be the best hand.
Flop: 6c 6s 5d
He checks. I wuss out and check behind.
Turn: 3d
He checks. Now that I’ve picked up an open ender, I check again.
River: 2d
I hit my straight, but now there’s a flush on the board as well as a pair. He checks. I think about betting but decide that he’s probably going to fold anything I beat and if he check-raises me, I’m going to be in a hell of a mess. I check behind, and my hand is good. He had JQ of hearts. Not likely to call a river bet anyway. I don’t really like the way I played this one, but it worked out.
A few hands later, we lose number 11 and we go to the final table. Yay! Some notes on the final table before I begin. I was mostly quite card dead on the final table, and I was in a terrible position to try to steal. Immediately to my left was a small stack who hovered around 4-8x the BB. Obviously if I raised and he pushed, I’d have to call, and I didn’t want to be in that situation with the 62o, J5o sorts of hands I was getting. Just to his left was JohnWhorfin, an aggressive player who started the final table with a significant chip lead (about 250K). Normally I like throwing in some raises with nothing at the final table when people are trying to hang on a couple more spots, but I really didn’t feel I was in a good place to do it. Even if I was getting hands like K8 or J9 I would have been throwing in some raises because I could deal with calling the small stack all in on those hands if need be, but the hands I was getting were mostly just total rags.
Level 17: Blinds 3K/6K
Hand 34
Stack: 105K
I’ve got 9h Kd in the BB. Folded to the SB (197.5K, Mr. call all-in with Q6s) who completes. I check. Probably a mistake to just check there, as I’m pretty certain to have the best hand.
Flop: 8d 4s Kc
SB checks. I bet 9000. SB calls.
Turn: Qh
From this guy that smells like second pair. I’m still 90% sure I’m ahead. SB checks. I bet 15K. SB folds. We lose one and go down to 9 handed.
Level 18: Blinds 4K/8K
Hand 35
Stack: 99K
I pick up 7h 7d on the button. MP (243K) min-raises to 16K. This is wgp123 again who min-raised me when I had TT and came over the top of my reraise. CO (185K, Mr. “gotta gamble”) calls, I call. Blinds get out of the way.
Flop: Jc 5h 2c
Checked to me. I figure that MP didn’t figure on 2 callers and is checking his overcards. CO could have nearly anything, so I fire 30K. MP min-raises me to 60K. I don’t think I can call without committing all my chips. I vacillate between pushing and folding for a while and finally fold. There are a couple stacks lower than 40K, and I had seen a preflop min-raise from this guy evidently be a big hand in the past. Later on I saw him pull this min-raise preflop, then check raise the flop thing again and he did have top pair (jacks while holding KJ); unfortunately for him, opponent held JJ, but you’ll just have to read *his* report for that one.
Hand 36
Stack: 65K
UTG goes all-in for 56K; he’s currently the small stack. I’ve got A5o in the BB and it’s folded to me. I fold. Unconscionably weak, automatic, or somewhere in between. No reads, but he wasn’t super aggressive or anything.
Hand 37
Stack: 53K
I pick up red queens on the button. Folded to me and I push. Blinds fold. I really should have put in a smaller raise to see if someone would play back I think The BB at this point was JohnWorfen with almost 270K and I thought he might call fairly loosely here.
I push-steal with QJ and AQ over the next orbit to get up to 65K and we lose one to go down to 8.
Level 19: Blinds 5K/10K
Hand 38
Stack: 65K
I’ve got Ac Jc in the cutoff. CO-1 (38.5K, the “gotta gamble” guy who is now the short stack) pushes. I go all-in. All others fold. He has TT and flops the set to double up, leaving me with 26.5K as I’m about to be UTG+3. I’m ready to push almost anything, but…
UTG+3: I’ve got T6 of clubs. UTG raises. I fold.
UTG+2: I’ve got 4T of spades. Folded to me, but ick, I think I can do better. I fold.
UTG+1: 26o. Maybe I should have gone with T4 suited. Fold.
UTG: Ah 2d. Ick. I’ve gotta push, but boy, I find myself wishing I’d just gone with the T4. At least I might have had live cards. Anyway, I’m called by AJ, no more luckbox, and I’m out in 8th.
As per usual, I feel badly for not doing better, especially after I tripled up on the AK hand, but aside from the questionable flop bet on the 77 hand, I think I played as well as I could have. I was 3rd or 4th in chips when we got to the final table, so 8th felt kind of disappointing, but there were about 7 all-ins where the short-stack kept winning, so what could I do. In the end, I was pretty lucky to be there since I needed to run down AA with AK and AK with A3 to get there at all, so pretty hard to complain. Net win about 3K, and a lot more fun then grinding it out in sit n goes…
Feel free to add comments, questions, or what have you…
Level 1: Blinds 10/15
Hand 1
Stack: T1000
I’m dealt Ah Kh UTG. I raise to 50. MP calls. SB calls.
Flop: As Js Qh
SB bets out 85, I raise to 300. All fold.
Level 2: Blinds 10/20
Hand 2
Stack: T1155
I’m dealt Qc 3c in the SB.
MP1 (1370) calls, MP2 (497) calls. I complete. BB checks.
Flop: 7h Js Qh
I lead out for 60. All fold to the small stack (MP2) who pushes in. No particular read on him, and I fold.
Hand 3
Stack: T1075
I’m dealt As 8s in MP.
Folded to me. I limp. All others fold. BB (1255) checks.
Flop: Ts 6s 9d
BB overbets 75 into a pot of 60. I call with the nut flush draw, a gutshot, and an overcard.
Turn: 5c.
He bets 20, and I call. I was ready to fold to a significant bet, but obviously I call the minimum. It’s a pretty weird bet though, and I suspect a big hand.
River: Ad
He bets 125. I think a good long while and fold. That turn bet just screamed “I have a big hand and I want you to raise.” Given the way he played the hand, I think he’s got something that beats one pair often enough here to justify the fold. Feel free to disagree.
Hand 4
Stack: T960
I’m dealt Ac Js in the CO. I raise to 60. Button (1886) flat calls. Blinds fold.
Flop: Th 6d 8d
I lead out for 125. Button raises to 300. I muck.
After this the table breaks and the blinds go up.
Level 3: Blinds 15/30
Hand 5
Stack: T715
I get Td Th in MP. UTG+1 goes all-in for 80. Folded to me, and I raise it to 175. Button (1765) immediately goes all-in. Folded back to me. I muck. Short stack had 99. Button had AA. Predictably there’s a T on the flop, but that is neither here nor there.
Level 4: Blinds 25/50
Hand 6
Stack: T495
I get Jc Jd in the BB.
MP (550) limps. CO (3425) raises to 200. I push. MP folds CO calls. He’s got ATo. The board comes 5h 8h 3s 8c 6d and I double up.
Hand 7
Stack: T990
I’ve got 9h 9s UTG+2. Folded to me and I raise to 150. MP (5485, have a note that he likes to call a lot of speculative hands preflop) calls, BB (2780, same guy who doubled me up in hand 6) calls.
Flop: 7s 5h Ac
Ick. BB checks. I check. MP checks.
Turn: Ts
BB checks. I check. MP bets 250. All fold. I wasn’t very happy with this hand, but with an A on the board and two callers, I didn’t feel like a bet was going to be +EV.
Hand 8
Stack: T765
I get Qh Qc in the cutoff. MP (750) raises. I go all in. MP folds. Should I have tried to milk it a little more? I just figure a raise to 400 looks pretty strange there.
Hand 9 (very next hand)
Stack: T990
I get Qh Qc (exact same hand!) in the CO. Kinda fishy/aggressive CO-1 (648) min-raises to 100. I make it 350. CO-1 calls.
Flop: Kd Jd Kc
CO-1 checks. I go all in for his last 300 chips. He folds. I think I should have checked this to see if he would bluff the turn. It’s not like he’s going to lay down a J, a K or a flush draw anyway. He’s probably drawing to 2 (medium PP) or 3 (Ax) outs, maybe 7 with AQ or AT (but I think he probably would have pushed with one of those anyway). I just kind of assumed he was going to call a push at that point since he had called off over half his chips preflop. Should have slowed down and thought it out.
At this point I move tables again. Level 5 goes by without any interesting hands (a few blind steals).
Level 6: 75/150
Hand 10
Stack: T1740
I get Jd Jh in the BB. UTG (2595) calls. UTG+1 (4015) calls. Aggressive MP (5173) raises to 1000. I push. Folded back to MP who calls. He’s got AK. I win the race to double up. The MP was named wgp123 and I’d play several other hands against him. The table breaks and I move again.
Hand 11
Stack: T4005
I’ve got 9h Ts in the BB. UTG+1 (1715) min-raises to 300. MP (5905, I have a note that he called small flop and turn bets with just K-high at one point) calls. I call.
Flop: Th 2c 5d
I check. UTG+1 bets 350 into a pot of 1050. MP calls. I raise to 1200. All fold. I figured the only hand that the guy who led out could have that beat me was AA. *Maybe* KK, but with anything else, I think he would have made a larger bet to protect his hand. This looked like he was trying to pick it up cheap. MP had shown before he was likely to call with nearly anything. If MP had come over the top of me, I would have layed it down. Obviously if the short stack had pushed, I would have been compelled to call.
Level 7: Blinds 100/200
Hand 12
Stack: T5455
I get Ts Jc in the CO-1. I open-raise to 500. SB (1195) goes all in. I sigh and call for his last 695. He has AQ and doubles up off of me.
Hand 13
Stack: T3760
I get Qs 5c in the SB. UTG (1470) limps. UTG+1 (the guy I just doubled up) limps. I complete. BB (5010, my note: “very very fishy”) checks.
Flop: Ah 5h Qc
BB bets out 400. UTG goes all-in for 1270 straight. Boy does that look like it could be AA, but boy do I not feel like I can lay down 2 pair here against a small stack. I push. Everyone else folds, and guess what, he has AA. Should I have laid this down? The BB opening actually gave me a chance to do so, since I know that UTG must have something pretty good to make that push. If he’d had maybe 600-700 more chips, I might, but for just 1200 more, I thought I had to isolate with 2 pair. Maybe I could have flat called in the hopes of getting more out of the fishy BB?
Level 8: Blinds 150/300
Hand 14
Stack: T1990
I get As Qs in the SB. MP shortstack goes all-in for 1250. I push. He’s got A8o. Board doesn’t pair either of us, but for good measure, I river the flush. Now I move to table 5 with Magic_Pig (AKA Lloyd). The bubble approacheth.
Hand 15
Stack: T3690
I get Ah Ts in the BB.
UTG+1 (4398) calls. I complete. BB (22427, no notes but wasn’t pushing his huge stack too hard) checks.
Flop: Tc 7c 8d
I bet out 600. BB folds. UTG+1 calls.
Turn: 2h
I bet 1000. UTG+1 folds. I figured there’s a pretty good chance he’s on a draw with that flop. I would have had a tough decision if he pushed the turn, but I’d probably fold, because I can’t think of something he’s call the flop and push the unimproved turn on that doesn’t beat 1 pair.
Hand 16
Stack: T4890
I get Jd Td in MP. UTG+2 limps. I limp. All fold to BB who checks.
Flop: 4s Ad 3s
Checked around.
Turn: 7h
Checked to me. I bet 800. All fold. Hooray for position. With 2 spades on the board, it seemed unlikely an A would have checked the flop, and I think even 2 pair would certainly have bet the turn. I assume the EP limper had a smallish pocket pair or maybe something like KQ and decided not to get involved once an A flopped.
Nothing interesting in level 9, so on we go to:
Level 10: Blinds 300/600
Hand 17 (Luckbox hand #1)
Stack: T4840
I get Ah Ks UTG+2. It’s worth noting that we’re about 3 or 4 places from the money. I open push. SB, who has me covered reraises. He’s got Ad Ac, but the board comes with 4 spades and I suck out as the 9:1 dog. Obviously I am pushing AK in that situation 100 times out of 100. Bad luck to run into the AA, then extraordinary luck to suck out. A couple more people are eliminated and we’re in the money.
Hand 18
Stack: T9980
I’ve got Ad Qs UTG+1. UTG (12740) limps. I limp. SB completes BB checks.
Flop: 8h Qh Tc
Blinds check. UTG bets 1000. I raise to 3000. Blinds fold. UTG calls.
Turn: 7s
I push. He folds. If he’d flopped a real hand or been slowplaying AA/KK, I figure he would have pushed after my flop raise, since the board was full of draws. When he just called I put him on some kind of draw. Maybe second pair plus a flush or straight draw. I went with the read and pushed.
Level 11: Blinds 400/800
Hand 19
Stack: T15180
I get Ks Kh on the button. UTG (7320) min-raises to 1600. Folded to me and I raise to 5000. BB (2044) calls all in. UTG calls (leaving him just 2300 back).
Flop: 3c Kc 3s
UTG pushes. I put him on 33 and fold. Nah, just kidding, I call. BB had AA and I bust both of them.
Hand 20 (just a couple hands later)
Stack: 24944
I get Kd Kc UTG+1. I raise to 2200. BB (9190) calls.
Flop: 9h 9s 2d
I bet out 3500. BB immediately goes all-in for about 3500 more. I don’t like how fast that was, but no way I’m folding. He’s got 77. MHIG. Now I’ve got ~42K in chips, which is good for fourth or so with about 90 left. Hot damn.
Level 12: Blinds 500/1000
Hand 21
Stack: T41727
I pick up As 3h on the button. SB has almost 30K. BB has just 6K before posting. I raise to 2500. SB folds. BB goes all-in. I sigh and call. He’s got AK and doubles up against me.
Hand 22
Stack: T35603
No SB this hand. Just a BB of 1000. I get Td Ts in CO-1. MP (43474, wgp123 who doubled me up back on hand 11) min-raises to 2000. I re-raise to 7000. Folded back to MP who pushes. He’s the only guy on the table who has me covered. I think, sigh, and fold and make a note that min-raises may mean a big hand from this guy.
Level 13: Blinds 750/1500
Hand 23
Stack: T37208
I get 9c 8s on the BB. Folded to aggressive SB who just calls. I check.
Flop:Ah 5d 9d
SB bets out 3000. I min-raise to 6000. He just calls. I’m almost sure he’s on a draw now. I’m pretty certain he would have raised preflop with an A.
Turn:6h
Well, if his draw was 78, I’m in trouble. He checks. I bet 8000. He thinks and folds.
Level 14: Blinds 1000/2000
Hand 24
Stack: T44208
I get Td 7c in the SB. Folded to me. I complete. Fairly conservative seeming BB (he’d folded his SB to the BB several times) checks.
Flop: Tc Ad 6c
I bet 3000. For the record I’m betting any flop here. He calls.
Turn: 4c
Hard to not put him on a flush draw at this point, or at least *something* that beats me. I check. He bets 3300. I fold.
Level 15: Blinds 1500/3000
Hand 25
Stack: T39208
I get 9h 6h in the BB. UTG (conservative player from last hand) min-raises to 6000. Folded to me. I call. Flop is Ad 6s Kh. He bets out just 4500. Smells like a trap to me and I fold. Soon after this we go down to 2 tables and I’m moved to table 2.
Hand 26
Stack: T31708
I’ve got Qh Js in the CO-1. I open-raise to 8000. The CO (58474, the increasingly less conservative player from the last 2 hands) flat calls. All others fold.
Flop: 8s 7d 3h
I bet out 8000 into a pot of around 20000. He min-raises to 16000. I fold. I hate hate hate my flop bet. What else could be possibly have but a pocket pair, and that’s a perfect flop for him.
So now I’m down to about 15K and ready to push with just about anything to steal some blinds. I get 52o next hand and muck, followed by:
Hand 27 (Luckbox #2)
Stack: T15708
I’ve got A3o UTG+1. I don’t really like it, but I don’t really have a choice and I push. Magic_Pig (57399) goes all-in the SB, and I am less than shocked to see AK. However, I river a 3 to stay alive, earning me the enmity of all 2+2ers everywhere.
Level 16: Blinds 2K/4K
I’m going to start rounding to the nearest thousand now. Easier to see.
Hand 28
Stack: 24K
CO (74.5K, no notes) limps. I push. He folds. I have a note now.
Hand 29
Stack: 34K
I get Ad Tc UTG. We’re 8 handed. I don’t really like it, but I feel I have to push. Called by shorter stack with about 20K. He’s got AJ and his hand holds up.
Hand 30
Stack: T14K (before posting blind)
I’ve got Qd 9h and just about 10K back after posting the blind. SB raises to 6300. I push. He calls. He’s got 76o. I flop a Q to double up.
Hand 31 (very next hand)
Stack: 28.5K
I pick up Ad Kd in the SB. UTG (52K) raises to 20600. MP (102K and had earlier called a reasonably big all-in with Q6s (and he hadn’t been in the blinds), defending this with “gotta gamble”). I’m obviously going to get called in 2 places, but again, what choice do I have. I push. I’m called in both places. Flop’s got a K and 2 hearts. I get a bit of a scare when UTG bets when the third heart falls, but he’s got JJ and I triple up to about 90K, good for third place with 15 left.
Hand 32
Stack: 86K
I pick up Qh Qs in the SB. The button (39K) raises to 15K. I push. He makes a patently silly fold with just 25K to call into a pot with about 60K in it.
Hand 33
Stack: 96K
6 players at the table. I get 4c Kc UTG+1. I’ve been pretty tight and I make what is really my one attempted steal with rags of the night and raise to 15K. I’m called by the BB who was the guy who called an all-in with Q6s. Probably not the right guy to try and steal against. Otoh, K-high might well be the best hand.
Flop: 6c 6s 5d
He checks. I wuss out and check behind.
Turn: 3d
He checks. Now that I’ve picked up an open ender, I check again.
River: 2d
I hit my straight, but now there’s a flush on the board as well as a pair. He checks. I think about betting but decide that he’s probably going to fold anything I beat and if he check-raises me, I’m going to be in a hell of a mess. I check behind, and my hand is good. He had JQ of hearts. Not likely to call a river bet anyway. I don’t really like the way I played this one, but it worked out.
A few hands later, we lose number 11 and we go to the final table. Yay! Some notes on the final table before I begin. I was mostly quite card dead on the final table, and I was in a terrible position to try to steal. Immediately to my left was a small stack who hovered around 4-8x the BB. Obviously if I raised and he pushed, I’d have to call, and I didn’t want to be in that situation with the 62o, J5o sorts of hands I was getting. Just to his left was JohnWhorfin, an aggressive player who started the final table with a significant chip lead (about 250K). Normally I like throwing in some raises with nothing at the final table when people are trying to hang on a couple more spots, but I really didn’t feel I was in a good place to do it. Even if I was getting hands like K8 or J9 I would have been throwing in some raises because I could deal with calling the small stack all in on those hands if need be, but the hands I was getting were mostly just total rags.
Level 17: Blinds 3K/6K
Hand 34
Stack: 105K
I’ve got 9h Kd in the BB. Folded to the SB (197.5K, Mr. call all-in with Q6s) who completes. I check. Probably a mistake to just check there, as I’m pretty certain to have the best hand.
Flop: 8d 4s Kc
SB checks. I bet 9000. SB calls.
Turn: Qh
From this guy that smells like second pair. I’m still 90% sure I’m ahead. SB checks. I bet 15K. SB folds. We lose one and go down to 9 handed.
Level 18: Blinds 4K/8K
Hand 35
Stack: 99K
I pick up 7h 7d on the button. MP (243K) min-raises to 16K. This is wgp123 again who min-raised me when I had TT and came over the top of my reraise. CO (185K, Mr. “gotta gamble”) calls, I call. Blinds get out of the way.
Flop: Jc 5h 2c
Checked to me. I figure that MP didn’t figure on 2 callers and is checking his overcards. CO could have nearly anything, so I fire 30K. MP min-raises me to 60K. I don’t think I can call without committing all my chips. I vacillate between pushing and folding for a while and finally fold. There are a couple stacks lower than 40K, and I had seen a preflop min-raise from this guy evidently be a big hand in the past. Later on I saw him pull this min-raise preflop, then check raise the flop thing again and he did have top pair (jacks while holding KJ); unfortunately for him, opponent held JJ, but you’ll just have to read *his* report for that one.
Hand 36
Stack: 65K
UTG goes all-in for 56K; he’s currently the small stack. I’ve got A5o in the BB and it’s folded to me. I fold. Unconscionably weak, automatic, or somewhere in between. No reads, but he wasn’t super aggressive or anything.
Hand 37
Stack: 53K
I pick up red queens on the button. Folded to me and I push. Blinds fold. I really should have put in a smaller raise to see if someone would play back I think The BB at this point was JohnWorfen with almost 270K and I thought he might call fairly loosely here.
I push-steal with QJ and AQ over the next orbit to get up to 65K and we lose one to go down to 8.
Level 19: Blinds 5K/10K
Hand 38
Stack: 65K
I’ve got Ac Jc in the cutoff. CO-1 (38.5K, the “gotta gamble” guy who is now the short stack) pushes. I go all-in. All others fold. He has TT and flops the set to double up, leaving me with 26.5K as I’m about to be UTG+3. I’m ready to push almost anything, but…
UTG+3: I’ve got T6 of clubs. UTG raises. I fold.
UTG+2: I’ve got 4T of spades. Folded to me, but ick, I think I can do better. I fold.
UTG+1: 26o. Maybe I should have gone with T4 suited. Fold.
UTG: Ah 2d. Ick. I’ve gotta push, but boy, I find myself wishing I’d just gone with the T4. At least I might have had live cards. Anyway, I’m called by AJ, no more luckbox, and I’m out in 8th.
As per usual, I feel badly for not doing better, especially after I tripled up on the AK hand, but aside from the questionable flop bet on the 77 hand, I think I played as well as I could have. I was 3rd or 4th in chips when we got to the final table, so 8th felt kind of disappointing, but there were about 7 all-ins where the short-stack kept winning, so what could I do. In the end, I was pretty lucky to be there since I needed to run down AA with AK and AK with A3 to get there at all, so pretty hard to complain. Net win about 3K, and a lot more fun then grinding it out in sit n goes…
Feel free to add comments, questions, or what have you…