When It Rains, It Pours

I think it is safe to say that I am running at the extreme opposite of bad right now in Tournaments.

My wife had plans with the girls on Saturday night, so I got the kids in bed around 8:30 and decided to enter into my favorite tournaments, the $50 MTTs on PokerStars and Full Tilt. I wasn't in that much of mood to play poker, so I decided to keep it light, and I only played in those two , plus two satellites (When I play MTTs, I usually play in the $26 and $10 rebuys too).
Well, I ended up doing great in both $50's, and I finished in 4th place at the Stars one, and 24th in the Full Tilt one!



Here's a recap:

I hung around the starting chip stack of 3000 for the first hour plus. Then on hand #84 with blinds at 75/150 I doubled up with Kings. I just called a PF raise, and then check raised the J98 with two diamonds flop and guy called with AQo. Suckout #1 at hand 122. AJ vs AK, Jack on the river. That gave me an above average chip stack.

A few hands later, I called a min-raise from the Big Blind with 6d 5d versus another big stack. Effective stacks were 50 big blinds, and I don't fold to min-raises PF when that deep and I'm in the Big Blind. Flop was Kd 3d Jh giving me a flush draw. He through out a pot size bet on the flop, but I called anyways. Turn was the 8d giving me a flush. This time I led out, betting just enough to leave me with about a 3/4 pot push on the river if he called. He did call, and the river was a blank. I pushed, but he folded after some time. He said he folded Aces. When do people min-raise PF with aces when you have greater than 50 BBs? I don't get it. That gave me the biggest stack at the table, and I was near the top of the leader board.

An orbit or so later, I got it all-in against the same guy PF with Aces versus Queens. My Aces held up, and I now had a huge stack. That pot was for 80 BBs at the 150/300 level. I raised from Early position, and he 3-bet huge pretty much committing himself. I pushed and he called with those Queens. He could have easily 3-bet half the amount and maybe saved himself some chips.

I then turned on aggressive big stack mode, and bullied everyone at the table. I stole and stole and stole. It was great. I knocked out a short stack with TT vs AK. I won another huge pot when I called a PF raise with KQ with three people seeing the flop. I flopped top pair with the 2nd Nut flush draw. I just called on the flop. I check-raised the turn all-in, and was actually behind when villain also had top pair, but hit his kicker on the turn. But I had a ton of outs, and I hit on the river. That gave me 66k chips with the next closest at my table with 34k.

I knocked out another short stack with AJ vs QQ. I was now up to 100k and in the top 5 or so (But 4 of the top 10 were at my table now). At hand #251 I got Aces again, and this time got it all-in PF versus Kings. I flopped a set, and I was now up to 150k in chips at the 1000/2000 level. Knocked out another short stack at hand #293 with QJs vs TT.

So we get down to three tables, and I am still near the top. But two hands happen back to back that knock me down to average. First one, I attempt to steal with A5o from the Cut-off. The aggressive BB pretty much min-raises, and I call. Flop was AJ9 with two clubs. He led out for 2/3 pot, and I ended up folding. I'm not sure if this was correct or not. I still had a good stack, so I didn't want to waste it all with Top pair/no kicker. Then the very next hand, I attempt to steal with K8. Player behind me quickly called. I mean, it was a "snap" call. Flop was 8 high, and I c-bet a good amount, and he snap called again. uggg. Turn was a 9. I'm not sure what I should have done here, but I checked. He bet a really really small amount (20,000 into a pot that had 92,000 in it). After his bet, he had 100k left in his stack (I had him covered, but only by 40,000 in chips). This smelled like a monster had (QQ+), so just folded. I was really contemplating calling, because I think I may have had enough implied odds to hit my 5 outer (another 8 or a King). But I wussed out and folded which left me with an average stack.

On hand #390, I made a move that I do occasionally against people who like to call too much with position. I raised PF with AK and the button, a pretty aggressive player, called. Flop came J92 rainbow and I checked with the intention of check-raising his bet. Sure enough , he bet, and I pushed and he quickly folded. I actually made this move a few times in this tournament, and it worked every time.

A few orbits later I knocked out a player with JJ vs 99, I flopped a set, and JJ was more than ok! Now I had 256k in chips at the 6000/1200 level. It folds to me in the SB and I raised 97o. The BB obviously called, and flop came 456 with two suits. I decided to employ the check-raise strategy again, and sure enough when I checked, BB bet and I pushed with my semi-bluff and he folded.

So we are down to seven people at this table (14 total), and I have 354k in chips. There was one really really good aggressive player who was stealing blinds left and right, and I decided to take a stand finally. I called her steal attempt with K9o, and when the flop came AT6 monotone ( I had the 9 of that suit), I decided to lead out for 2/3 pot. I felt that I could push her off a weak ace, but she raised and I folded. Uggg. weak.

I then had suckout #2 when I raised PF with Ah Kd from the CO and the button, who had me covered, pushed. I called and was up against Ks Kc. Flop came 5s 3s 2s. So now my As isn't an out, but I pick up three 4's for the wheel. Turn was a Ten, but the river was the beautiful 4h. JJok was railing me and he said that he woke the dog when he yelled for the 4 on the river and it came, lol. Thanks JJ!

I won a nice pot a little later when I called a PF raise from the aggressive annachung with KQ. Flop was K high and I got 2 streets of value versus her KJ. That gave me the chip lead for the tournament and few hand later, we were at the final table.


I relinquished the chip lead when I lost a hand to a short stack (A5o vs TT) and had to give up a few blind steals to pushes. The table was playing really aggressive. And people were seeing a lot of flops. Very rarely did blind steals work at this table. I had some trouble adjusting to that and played a lot more weak tight than I would have liked. I saw that big payday for 1st, and I was playing not to lose instead of to win. I should have put the pressure on the other bog stacks when I had the lead to do so. Of course, it didn't help that I went pretty much card dead at the final table. I picked up AA right near the beginning of the Final table, and KK a few orbits later(Which just won the blinds both times), but other than than, my best hands were ATo, A7 a few times, and 88. That's it. No other pocket pairs. I was dealt some shit hand with a two or three in it 26 of 71 hands at the final table. WTF?

Once we got down to five left, I was 3rd in chips with the stacks looking like this:
Seat 1: annachung (437578 in chips)
Seat 3: O0Brian0O (1226697 in chips)
Seat 4: S D Mikee B (157305 in chips)
Seat 5: LuparFiend (576682 in chips)
Seat 7: xXxRuGGeDxXx (1408738 in chips)

A few hands later, anna had knocked out Mikee in 5th, but I was now the short stack. I doubled up once with K5s vs QT. I stole a few more blinds, and at one point the stacks were looking like this:
Seat 1: annachung (767201 in chips)
Seat 3: O0Brian0O (822697 in chips)
Seat 5: LuparFiend (657364 in chips)
Seat 7: xXxRuGGeDxXx (1559738 in chips)

But with the blinds at 20k/40k, it didn't give much room to do anything. I finally went out in 4th place with this bustout hand. It folded to the SB, and he just completed. I look down and find A7 and push. He snap called with AJ, and I don't suckout. I still had an M of 7 when I busted, so I'm not sure that I had to push there with Ace rag. But, 4th place got me $5200! More than my win on Monday night! Wow!!

One hell of a run I'm on in tournaments lately. Finishing the Full Tilt 50/50 in 24th place made me $210, and then I won one of the satellites for another $100 that night. In my last 10 MTTs, I've cashed in 7 of them. Whoa!

And a big thanks to JJ for staying up till 4 AM and railing me Saturday night. I'm not sure what time he had to get up in the morning, but my kids woke me up at 7:30 on Sunday. Damn I'm tired.

Cheers!