Two Plus Two Older Archives - *Official* Stars 11+ReBuys 20k Guarenteed

Here's my report... it's a bit long [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

First, I find that there are three very important connections in all my top finishes in big tournies. They are luck (obviously), getting a big stack and making use of it, and making laydowns. My big problem in tournaments is not being able to make the laydowns I need to make. In this tournament, I made several big laydowns that are the difference between me being out nowhere near the money, and me hitting the final table. People often ask for generic advice on tournament play, and I'll give this advice... be lucky and don't play too fast... think before you act and be ABLE to make a laydown, even if you may be winning.

1st hour, lots of limping and big bets on flop at my table. I'm happy to limp along hoping to double up a few times. In level 1 (10/20) I get KQo in BB. Raise from MP1 for 180, I call. Flop is perfect AJT rainbow. Check, check. Turn is 7, putting 2 clubs on board. I check, MP1 bets 320, I call. River is blank, I bet out for 200, MP1 raises all in, and has me covered. I call and he has AQ clubs. Now sitting at just over 6k chips early.

Level 2, blinds 15/30. I'm in CO with 5300 and AQo. I open limp, SB calls, BB with 130 chips left raises to 60(?), I make it 200 to go, two calls (BB all in). Flop is A3J rainbow. SB (2500 chips) bets 600, I call. Turn T, two diamonds on board. I have the Ace of diamonds. SB bets 600, I call. River T, SB pushes, I call. SB shows J3o, I got a lucky river and have almost 8k.

Very next hand, get red 4s. UTG+1 makes it 90, 4 callers. 5 to the flop. Flop 754, two hearts. UTG+1 bets 500, 1 caller, I call. Turn is Q, two clubs now on board. UTG+1 checks, MP3 pushes 1130, I call, UTG+1 calls. River Q of hearts, UTG+1 pushes 700, I call. Another lucky hand, as MP3 flopped a straight, UTG+1 has AQ. I'm rolling.

After a few big hands where I get no flop callers, I start raising preflop, often with nothing in early position. I show a few of the bluffs. At 25/50 level, I get QQ in MP1. I raise to 200. Button reraises to 1k, I call. Flop T83, two clubs (I have Queen of clubs). I check, Button bets 500, I raise to 1500 (he has 5k), he calls. Turn is 5, I check, he pushes, I call. River is blank, he shows A8o for a pair of 8s. I've had a lot of luck so far with good rivers and very bad postflop plays against me.

1 last hand in first hour that is interesting... KQo in CO. Blinds now 50/100. Raised by UTG (4400) to 350. I call, SB (2500) calls. Flop 2Q2 rainbow. Checked to me, I bet 1k. two callers. Turn blank, I check it through hoping to induce a bluff on the river. River is 2. Checked again, I bet 500 hoping to get calls. SB raises all in for his last 1200 or so, I figure a split and I call. SB shows 62o for quads. LOL.

I come out of break with just over 25k. It's REAL nice being able to play with that many chips. I make some mistakes in the next hour, but am still in it. I basically push the table around for the first half hour, and show a lot of big hands. I'm hoping to set them up for big steals when antes kick in. Unfortunately, I'm moved to another table just as round 7 starts... blah. I start level 7 (100/200/a25) with 34k.

First hand at new table. Get KJ[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] in BB. Button calls (25k), SB completes (7k), I check. Flop 37K, two diamonds. SB checks, I bet 700, button calls, SB folds. Turn J. I bet 2k, button calls. River blank. I check hoping to induce a bluff, button checks. Button shows QT[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], had straight and lower flush draw. Missed a bet.

Here's my first big laydown. Blinds 200/400, 25 ante. I have ATo on the button with 35k. 3 callers to me (6k, 3k, 40k chips each), I call. SB (28k chips) raises to 2800. He likes to come over the top big when there is a bit of limping in front of him. I'm the only caller. Flop is 6T5r. He bets 2k, I min raise to 4k, he thinks and calls. turn is a 9, putting up 2 spades. He checks, I bet 2k, he calls. River is K, check, I bet 5k, he pushes. Whether he had the King or not I'll never know, but I wasn't crippling myself hoping that he didn't. I think he had a smaller pair and used the King to push me out. That hurt, but I'm not in that bad shape.

I knock out two small stacks with AK and KK, and stop getting action until right before the break. I have A8 on the BB. Two callers, SB folds, I check. Board comes out 33T(7)[7], and it's check around to the river. I bet pot, MP fold, Button pushes about 16k. I think a lot and call. He shows a pair of 2s... knocked out on a bluff, where he should have bet a lot earlier.

In level 9 (400/800/a50), I'm at 45k and an EP raiser, who seems to be getting a lot of good hands, raises to 3k. I have J9s, and come over the top to 10k from MP3. He folds. I love that move and it feels good. He remains quiet the next half hour, LOL.

My other BIG laydown. Level 10 (400/800/a50). I have T8s on the BB. EP min raise, 1 caller, I call. Flop is K79, 7 & 9 are hearts which gives me an open ended straight flush draw... nice. I bet 1k, EP raises 3k, caller folds, I call. EP has my 42k after this action covered. Turn 4, check check. River 4 hearts. I bet 14k, EP instantly pushes. I use up a lot of my time, and guess he was slowplaying KK and fold. He shows 77 (I was close, but I feel REALLY good about this laydown, even though I'm down to 28k.

Getting nothing... throw some money into pots on small pairs which don't connect, down to 16k. Resteal with AJs on the button, and make a couple of steals to get to 20k. I'm just trying to stay alive to make the money at this point.

Then I double up against a guy who pushes too much preflop with KJs on the button. He shows A5, and I turn a straight to double up to just over 40k. I'm making the money, yay!

I blind off a little, then semi-bluff a 20k pot with AKs and flush draw on board by pushing. This is where my tournament turns. I show the hand and get a chorus of 'how could you do thats'... just what I was hoping for, just don't move me to another table!

As it must, a hand comes up that almost doubles me up and I'm in business. AA in UTG+1. 45k in chips. Blinds 1k/2k/a100. I bet 5500. CO pushes 42k. I call. He shows 88 and gets no help while I get a bonus Ace. First time in 6 digits.

I take small pots from some short stack allins with 55, 92s, and T9s to get to 140k when I get moved to a new table. Small stack on my right with 11k goes all in 4 straight times (I was nice enough to double him up the first time with ATo vs his 33), and hits EVERY hand, including a 64s where he flops a straight. He's now bigger than me and then he is moved to a new table, taking all those chips away.

Nothing happens for about an hour... I make a bad river call in there, and am down to 82k after I post BB. Only two stacks at the table smaller than me. Blinds now 4k/8k/a400. I get the feeling I have to make a move soon... duh. I get A4o in the BB. A smaller stack raises to 24k from CO. As button thinks about it, I think he is trying to make a move just like me. I'm hoping he has two Broadway, like KT or something. I figure I'll look at a flop and see what he does as button folds. I call. Flop is a beautiful A4T rainbow. I check, he pushes, I call. Here's where luck matters. He has A8, and I got real lucky. He doesn't hit the 8, and I'm back... again.

I feel lucky, so I steal 3 blinds consecutively. Third time I am MP2 and have 97s. Same blinds, open raise to 22k. BB calls. Flop A37, one spade for me. BB checks, I bet 20k, he calls. Turn is 6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], check through... I'm hoping for the river spade. River is T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], and he checks again... I have to bet, don't I? I bet 20k, he instapushes... I fold, he shows the other 2 7s. That's what I get for stealing too much.

A bit of posing goes on for a while, and then I make a big mistake that Lady Luck fixes for me. I have 138k. In MP1 I have ATs, I open raise for 30k (blinds 6k/12k/a600). Button (173k) has been playing super tight and seen his 250k stack blinded off, pushes all in. I tell myself it is a resteal and call. He shows AK. Flop KT6. Turn a beautiful T. River blank. I get down on my knees and give thanks to Lady Luck and the Poker Gods. I also apologize for my luck. He takes it well, and I feel even worse [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Down to about 16 left. I've knocked out a decent stack and almost doubled again with 99 vs A7s where the flop was A97.

I'm getting Ax regularly and continue to steal and build up my stack to over 800k. Now in 2nd place out of 14. Everyone is actually talking about my luck in getting cards, as I keep showing after a steal to keep people off my back on my steals. Now 10 left. I have ATo UTG. I raise to 120k with blinds 20k/40k/a2k. Button pushes with 400k. I know it's a coinflip, and I call. He shows 55 and I don't get help. Ouch. I should have known my luck wouldn't hold out.

I lose a little more and it looks like I"m going to end up in 10th, as I'm the short stack with 72k. I get KTo UTG and say 'What the hell!' and push. Get called in two spots and hit K on the turn and K on the river. Triple up, nice.

Now the final table... My thinking as I enter this final table is I want to make the top 5. 5th is $1800 and I've had a real bad month in ring games, losing most of my bankroll in $3/$6 then $2/$4, and that would be nice to replenish that bankroll with. So I'm in 8th with 241k. Short stack has 110k. There's also a 255k and 313k stack, so I decide to bide my time. Blinds are 20k/40k/a2k for the final table.

2nd hand I get Q6o on the BB. UTG+1 calls, SB completes, I check. Flop is 457 rainbow. I'm going to chase this and end up in 9th, I remember thinking. SB bets 40k, I call, UTG+1 folds, unfortunately. Turn is Q, SB checks, I take a DEEP breath, and push. SB folds... Whew. I'm in 6th now... thanks.

A few hands later, UTG+1 bets 120k. I have AQ[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. I push. He calls with KJo. I win when a Queen flops and no King rears its ugly head. Now 808k, and 3rd in chips.

A few more hands later, the worst luck of the tournament for me... We're down to 8. The eventual tourney winner is on the button, and open raises to 240k. This is an obvious steal attempt to me, but it doesn't make a difference because I have AQo. I raise to 440k, putting him all in. He calls with KJs. 2nd time I'm AQ vs KJ, but this time KJ flop, and no T comes to help. I double up the eventual winner... it's all my fault he won. Back to 6th in chips.

More tumble to the eventual winner, as he starts seeing the deck hit him in the face, and it doesn't stop the rest of the tourney. 5 left, I'm happy with the money I'm getting now for my $21 investment. I'm last in chips at 300k. I've folded Ax 3 times in a row and decide to take a shot with Q9s on the button. Get called by BB (670k) with AJo. Flop contains 2 9s and he doesn't recover.

Down to 4. Get KT on button. Open raise all in with 590k. BB, who I beat with Q9s, calls again with 88. I hit two Kings and he's done.

3 left, I'm small stack. Eventual winner has been getting hit in the face with the deck, and the other player has been playing a LOT of hands. He was the chip leader coming in to the final table. I decide to stay out of their way, as they will hook up soon. Eventual winner slowly chomps away at his stack. I come over the top of both of them once in a while to keep my stack around 1 million chips.

Eventually, it's down to 2 on 55 vs AJ and AJ vs K9s hands. 4.4 million to 1.3 million chips. I offer to work out a deal, get no response from him. I'm real tired and decide to get this over with quickly, one way or the other. I was so tired I didn't think that we were talking about $3k here...

We play cat and mouse for 3 hands... he wins all three. I can't keep playing around. I min raise with Q9o. He calls. Flop is 85T rainbow. He bets 40k. I raise to 120k. He reraises me. I see K8 in my head, so that's what I put him on. I have two overs and inside straight draw. 10 outs plus folding equity... I push. He calls and shows 85o. I get no Ten, and I'm done. Looking at the hand now, I know I played it extremely poorly. I should have waited and kept grinding it out. With the ups and downs of this tournament, I'm happy where I ended up. And, for the first time in months, Lady Luck was helping me out.

I made some mistakes, but feel I had a pretty good outing over all. I still need to learn to make more laydowns than I do.