Tournament Win!

I played a bunch of tournaments last night, and did really really well. I entered into a total of six MTTs, and I cashed in four of them. The highlight was me taking down the $24+2, 11.5k guaranteed 6 max Knock Out tournament last night on Full Tilt.

This is the first MTT that I have won that had more than 200 people in it. It feels damn good. I'll try and recap it.

During the first couple levels, nothing too exciting happened. I built the starting 2000 chip stack up to 3000 over the first half hour by winning a bunch of small pots. I obviously like these 6 max tournaments since 6 max is my regular game over at the cash tables. Staying aggressive, stealing the blinds, and winning the small pots is really the way to go here. Most of the people who play these type of tournaments don't adjust properly to the smaller tables, so you can steal a lot more.

The first real interesting hand happened at the 30/60 level. There was one really bad player who had accumulated a really nice chip stack (10,000 after 20 minutes) when I got moved to this table. Over the next 15 minutes, he showed down some really weird hands and was playing almost every hand. He was also folding a lot on the river, so he must be drawing a lot. Anyways, he min-raises PF from MP. I 3-bet from the SB with AQs and he calls. Flop is 882 with two spades. I c-bet and he calls. Turn is another 8. I bet out again and he calls. The pot is now 6500, and I only have 1200 left. I thought for sure he would fold most hands here, as I am representing a big pocket pair. I figured the only think he could call with is TT or JJ. I figured a bigger pocket pair would have 4-bet PF. So the river comes an offsuit 9. I decide to fire in my last 1200 into the big pot, and he folds!!! He tells us during the next hand that he had KJ. ummmmmmmmm.......

So that hand gave me a nice 7700 stack at the 30/60 level. By the time the first break rolled around I was up to 8500. A few hands later I raised pocket 9's from UTG (50/100 level). The BB with a stack of 4500 calls. Flop is a perfect 966. I bet, he raises and I call. Turn is a 7. He bets, and I call. River is the last 9, giving me quads. he checks, I put him in for his last chips and he calls with 65s. About a half an hour later, I flop another set with 77. The dude limp/calls my PF raise, and then immediately pushes on the KJ7 flop. My hand holds, and I am now in the top 10 of chips.

Next came my one big suckout of the night. We're in the money I believe, with blinds at 120/240 a25. Everyone at the table has between 12,000 and 20,000. It folds to me on the button, and I raise up Q7s. Flop comes Ah Qc 7c giving me bottom two pair. I bet flop and he calls. Turn is a 6h and I bet again. This time he pushes. uh oh. His range is wide enough to where I'm pretty sure a call is the correct play. Unfortunately, he flips over AQ. But the river is another 7 giving me a boat. I had him covered, so if I would have lost, I still would have had some chips.

For the next hour, I didn't get involved in any other big hands. I stole enough to always keep me around the 25k-30k chip level, which was still a really good stack. I ended up folding pocket Jacks during the 500/1000 level. I had the biggest stack at this table with 32k. UTG with 21k raises it up. I 3-bet with my jacks, but the SB with 25k pushed. I lost 8000 chips, but I think I made the right play. You don't see people show up with anything other than QQ+ or AK here. No worries though, as I stole my way back up to 20k within a few orbits. The other aggressive player at my table had started to 3-bet a little bit more, and I was able to win a nice size pot by 4-betting AK during the 600/1200 level. I knocked out a short stack with J9s vs A4 to get up to 50k in chips.

I stole and stole, and stole some more. Pretty soon I had 70k in chips with the next closest at my table with 26k. I got it all in against someone with 21k with KK vs 77, but they turned a 7. Boooo. A few hands later though, my KK held up and I knocked out a short stack to put me back at 60k. Down to 3 tables, and a few hands in I win with AQ versus KK. My AJ held up against A9 to knock out the 13th place person and get down to 2 tables.

A few hands in, this huge hand happens. I'm in the SB with 163k at the 1500/3000 level. It folds to the Button with 130k, and he raises. I 3-bet, and he takes a while and decides to push. I decide to make the call, and it is a race. JJ vs AK. My JJ holds up, and I now have the chip lead with 10 to go.

I lost a pretty big pot a few hands later when I had pushed hard a flush draw and one over. I figured that my 12 outs twice plus fold equity would be a good play, but it turned out villain had a pair plus the nut flush draw. So I only had 3 outs and I missed. No worries, as I still had an above average chip stack. The final table bubble finally burst with this hand (That I wasn't involved in). All-in PF AA versus AQ. Flop was QQ4. River was the case Ace. Yikes!

For the first 25 minutes of the final table, no one was knocked out. A lot of stealing and re-stealing going on. There were 3 bigger stacks with above 250k in chips, and 3 stacks with less than 110k. But within the next 9 minutes (32 hands), I had knocked out every single one of them.

I knocked out the first guy when I raised with A8s and the short stack called from the BB. Flop was 932 with two of my suit. Short Stack pushed and I called and he turns over A7 and my hand holds.

Two hands later I knock out one of the bigger stacks with KK vs 88 all-in Pre-flop. This gave me the chip lead with 650k and the others with 520k, 99k, and 92k. I knocked out one of the shorties an orbit later with JTs vs 22, and then knocked out the other shortie with KJs vs 97s.

When heads up started, it was me with 901k and villain with 460k. She won the first big pot of heads up play, but a few hands later I sealed the deal. Villain raises and I call with pocket 4's. Flop comes a perfect 9c 4c 3h. I check, she bets, I check-raise, and we get it all-in. She has 66, and doesn't hit her two outer.

Woot!

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As far as the other tournaments, I cashed in the Full Tilt 50/50, the Full Tilt $24+2 28k guaranteed, and the PokerStars $10 rebuy (again). I also came really close to cashing in the Full Tilt $10 Rebuy.

- In the 50/50, I lost a race with AK vs JJ
- In the 28k, I lost with AK vs KQ
- And in the $10 Rebuy, I finished in 71st place. I got my money in with AA vs 99 and KK. 9 on the flop, King on the river. Such a joke. I win that, and I am way above average.

Oh well, the poker gods made up for it in the Knock Out tournament.

I do have to say, I've been playing really well in Tournaments for the last couple months. Maybe I should start playing them more.

Cheers!