My biggest cash

[betgo]

I took 2nd in the Paradise $30 rebuy on Memorial Day for $8500.

I took a rebuy at the beginning. I didn't play many hands in the rebuy period, but started with T3000 and finished with T4000.

There was a hand where I limped with AJo and it went 5 players to the flop. The flop came AAx, rainbow and was checked around. I bet the turn and river and was called by one player. He had limped on the button with KK. I might have been able to bet more and get called.

Another time, I made a straight from the BB with 95o and 876 on the board. On the river, I flat called a raise with a 3-flush on the board. The raiser had TPNK. I probably could have reraised and gotten called, but my style is to play reasonably solid poker in the rebuy period.

About 1/2 hour past the rebuy period, I doubled up, putting me in good position to cash. I got KK in early position and limped for 200, knowing rebuy players at that stage will generally not allow a limped pot. Big stack on the button raises to 600. I reraise to 1600. I decided to make a standard pot-sized raise that might look like a resteal or that I think my AJ, KQ, or TT is best. I figured an especially large or small raise might look like a planned limpraise. The button called of course and flop came QQ6, rainbow. I checked and of course the button put me allin for 1.5 x pot. Button shows A8o and no ace hits.

Button played this in typical 2nd hour of rebuy tournament style, but he made a few mistakes. The raise to 3xBB wasn't going to cause the early position limper to fold. I would have folded A8o, but limping or raising to 1000 would have been better than what he did. When he gets reraised, he really has to fold, since I may have a big pair. In any case, he really doesn't want to play A8o against a bigger ace, a pair, or a suited connector, particularly since he can't play confidently postflop, since the limpraise represents a big pair. The push when checked to on the flop is typical rebuy style. He is behind practically any hand I have, so he has to push to win. I guess he could assume from my check that I was scared by the dangerous flop and would fold to his aggressive play. However, there is a good chance I was trapping with an overpair or KQ, QJ, or QT.

I doubled up again and was in 6th place with more than half the field left. It was nice to think about the 4-figure final table payouts. I figured I had a shot and that and would probably make some profit with atleast a top 40 finish with 70 places paying.

As it got close to the bubble (no one but tiny stacks pays a lot of attention to the bubble in these rebuys), I had lost a few chips and had about 18K with 1.2K blinds. I tried early position limps with 87s and KQo, but folded to big raises. I figured this would be a good time for another limpraise. I was down to 10xBB and got JJ and AQo in late position, but folded both hands to too much action in front of me. The blinds went up to 2K and I had 5xBB. I started playing very aggressively and picked up some blinds and doubled up a couple of times and I was back in it.

There was a hand where I had about 15xBB with about 40 players left. 6th position put in a standard raise and I pushed with 66, trying to take the pot on a semibluff. 6th position called with AKo and I doubled up. This put me in the top 10.

With 180K and 12K blinds, I got AA in 3rd position. There wasn't a lot of limping and limpers were usually not getting raised. A lot of raises were not getting called. The play was reasonably tight, but not tight enough to steal a lot. I raised to 30K and won the blinds and antes. I wasn't too happy with that, but I figured that I was no linger playing with loose players where I could expect to double up with aces.

At the final table 7-handed, I open pushed for 4xBB from the SB with KQo and lost to AQo. I was down to 16K with a 50K BB and a 400K average stack. The next hand, I called from the button with J9s and made a straight. I doubled up twice more, once by pushing for 2xBB from the button with 53s.

It was 6-handed with a 1.5M stack, a 800K stack and 4 stacks of about 300K. The other small stacks were playing very tight, hoping someone else busted out first. I was playing pretty aggressive with the huge blinds, and I picked up some blinds and antes.

The second stack lost a big hand, and there was one huge stack and 4 small stacks. It wound up 3-handed with a huge stack and 2 stacks of about 500K. The other short stack lost an allin to the big stack.

I wound up heads up with 500K to 3M with maximum 40/80K blinds. Heads up we went about 12 hands with only one hand going to a flop allin. I was way ahead on the allin and doubled up. However, I was whittled back down to about 560K. The big stack was raising practically every hand, so he was winning more hands, but I won the showdown. He raised with 97s and I pushed with A9o. There were a bunch of low cards hitting, so I was thinking about how I would play 17xBB, where I couldn't push every hand I wanted to play. However, he made a straight on the river and it was over.

[regisd]

congrats!

[Toro]

Congrats. Nothing tops your first big cash! Enjoy it!

[hurlyburly]

Great job, man!