Foxwoods Tues

[TomCollins]

I'm going to make an appearance (as I have the past two days), so I'll be playing the 1-2 NL game and the tournament tonight (and possibly the 5-5 NL). I'll be wearing a True Poker shirt, so say hi if you see me.

[TomCollins]

Guess no one was there, or saw this in time. In any case, i Won!!!!!! $20,200 baby!

[TheGrifter]

Wow, good for you! How about a tourney trip report?

[Toro]

Congrats, I busted out around 11:30 and didn't get any of the particulars. How many entries, how many places did they pay and about what time did you finish?

[bms]

Way to go! <font color="purple"> </font>

[TomCollins]

I will put a report after I get some sleep, I've gotten 5, 5, and 2 hours of sleep the last three nights. There were 19 tables, and 18 places paid. The finish was roughly 3AM. Took me til 5AM to get back to Newport, RI and wind down.

[Toro]

Apparently you do some of your best work when you're sleep deprived. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Where are you staying in Newport? My wife and I have a timeshare at the Long Wharf resort and love it there? Doesn't seem like it should be but it's a long drive to FW from there though.

[TomCollins]

After coming down to Foxwoods for two days in a row to play the 1-2 NL game, I decided to enter the tournament. I wasn't quite sure if I liked the idea of paying for all the rebuys and add ons as well. But after winning $16k 3 weeks ago, and how much I love tournaments, I figured I should go for it. With the small stacks, I decided that the immediate rebuy was the best strategy and try to take advantage of the loose players.

I barely made it to my seat in time, but couldn't find any cards for a while. I got a free flop with 9 /images/graemlins/club.gif 3 /images/graemlins/club.gif, and the flop came A /images/graemlins/club.gif 9 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 8 /images/graemlins/club.gif. I bet out, and get called in one place. Turn brings Q /images/graemlins/club.gif, so I push in, and I am quickly called by a player with A 2. He doesn't see he is drawing dead, and shouts "no rag!" as the meaningless river is dropped.

Eventually, one player, who had rebought 2 double rebuys before I had even played a hand, raised my BB. I looked down and saw 5 /images/graemlins/spade.gif 6 /images/graemlins/spade.gif. So I called the min raise. The flop came K 6 6. I checked, and he bet out fairly large. I called. Flop came A, so I hoped for AK, but he checked behind. River brought a 3rd club, but I bet about 400 (he had about 800 behind him). He folds QQ face up, and I show him a 5. He begins to tilt and gun for me.

A bit later, after the rebuys ended (my New Yorker friend was now at 9 rebuys and a double add on), I pick up A /images/graemlins/club.gifJ /images/graemlins/club.gif UTG. The New Yorker calls, and the rest fold. Flop comes JJT, so I check. He bets about 1/3 of his stack, so I push. He calls with KK and is eliminated.

I make my one and only bonehead play soon after, where I am in the BB with A /images/graemlins/spade.gif5 /images/graemlins/spade.gif. A player raises from the BB. I put him on a steal, and he looks fairly low in chips, so I push. He has about 5000 behind him, (I had about 8000 at this point), and he quickly calls with pocket 7's. I lose most of my stack. I did make a steal to gain some strength before my table was broken.

At the new table, I manage to pick up a few blinds again, and am back around 7000 in chips. This table breaks before I even have to post, and we are at 5 tables. The deck soon begins to run me over, right as the antes are introduced. I steal the blinds a few times to get a bigger stack, and finally hit 10k. I then get QQ (the best hand I see in the tournament), and all fold to me. I get JJ the very next hand, and one player limps in front of me. I raise even bigger this time, and a very aggressive player pushes. I have him covered and its about 6k more to call. So I call his all in. He shows AK, and I nearly double through on a ragged flop. With a big stack, I then play aggressive as I keep getting decent cards in position and steal blinds and antes. We get word we have 27 players left, and I have 37k in chips. I look around, and with 360,000 total chips on the table, I am the chip leader. The player on my right has about 35k. With the blinds so high, I manage to steal a bit more, but play becomes crazy so I must wait until I have a real hand. I raise QJ, and 66 pushes against me slightly more than what I pushed, so I call, and hit a jack. We are quickly in the money at 18 players, and my table breaks.

At the new table, there is a great deal of money, as compared to the other table. I am still the chip leader. I have several tight players on my right, so they will fold to me, and I will make it 10k (2-4k blinds, 1000 ante), and I win about 3 pots in a row. I then pick up AK, and make it my 10k (at this point, the table would as me if i was raising for 10k or folding). A low stack decides now is time to take a stand against me, and pushes. I call him, and he tables QT. I hit a K and he busts. I do make one mistake, when a lower stack raises my BB when I have KJd. Pleased with my stop and go play from earlier, I decide to try the same. The flop is 10 high, so I push. He calls me with QT, and I lose about 20k. Fortunately, the blinds doubkle, and I steal a few more pots by raising to 20k a few hands in a row.

Two players bust at the same time on the other table, so we are quickly at 8 players. I came into the final table with 90k in chips. I steal the first pot (a super tight young player who was on my right at the 3rd table) claims to fold AJ when I make a large raise. A few players cannot even afford 5 antes. Crazy play begins, so I must sit tight and keep my stack around 80k. On my BB, I find J /images/graemlins/heart.gif2 /images/graemlins/heart.gif, and the button who has just won several pots raises the minimum. I call, and bet on the flop that did not help me. He quickly mucks, and I pick up a decent sized pot. The player on my right is the player who beat me with QT earlier, and a very solid player. He is raising every chance he gets, which is preventing me from protecting my stack from shrinkage. We get to 4 players, and I finally, I find K /images/graemlins/heart.gif2 /images/graemlins/heart.gif, and he makes his standard raise. I had him covered at this point, and pushed all in. He thinks, and folds after giving me 30k. The two low stacks go against each other with Q8 and K7, and a Q flops, so we are at three players- the young kid who was on my right before, and the solid player who beat me with QT. The kid has a very small stack and as tight as hes been playing, he will not last long now. Eventually he moves all in for about 2000 more than my 16,000 BB. The SB calls, and I call. We check it down, and my K3 os is goot wthout improvement.

HEADS UP!!!

The two biggest tournaments I played in heads up, I got second, and against this aggressive player, I am not looking forward to it. But with the blinds as high as they are (8-16 with 4k ante), I know that I cannot be scared of him. I raised 77 and he folded. He folded his sb to me a few times. Eventually, I look down and see A4 os. I raise to 40k, and he pushes all in for about 90k total. I call, and he shows J /images/graemlins/club.gifT /images/graemlins/club.gif. I hit a 4 on the flop, and when I hit a 4 on the turn, he is drawing dead, and the championship is mine!!!!!!! What a game!