I went into this tournament with a better mind set than the last deep stack I played. Waiting for big hands and value betting the crap out of them.
For example: A-A in mid position ($20k in chips) , blinds are 75/150 - UTG+1 raises to 300 ($20k in chips)and I bump it up to $800, it folds back to original raiser and he calls. Flop is Kc-7c-3s, he checks and I bet $1000, he tanks and just calls. Turn is a Th, he checks and I bet $1500 and he calls again, river is a 2h and I tank and bet $4000 and he hems and haws and finally calls, I flip over my Aces and he mucks. I now have over $30,000 in the second blind level, nice start.
Next blind level 100/200, I have Jc-Jh in the SB ($34,000 in chips), Button, who has not played a lot of hands, raises to $500, I re-raise to $1500 and the BB calls ($10k in chips) and the button just calls. Flop comes 9c-4c-3c - I lead out for $3000, BB shoves, button folds and I'm left to call $5500 into a $14000 pot, BB flips over 9-9, so I have two Jacks and the rest of the clubs to win the hand, of course I miss and am down to $24k.
BB tries to convice me he had the "implied odds" to call my raise preflop, even though the button could have reshoved on him, since he was the original raiser, but I just said nice hand.
Then, to my pleasant surprise, Ram sits down at my table, unfortunately two to my left. I congratulate him on his 13th place in last week's sunday Million on Stars, he says it took two days for him to get over being knocked out so close to the final table. He is no where close to the crazy aggro player he once was and has worked hard on his game to be a very dangerous player.
My one advantage against him is, I think he doesn't think much of my game, so I can get away with more against him as he just assumes I have it if I bet or raise. The craziest hand we had against one another was a button vs blind hand. Looking back, I should not have played the hand this way but alls well that ends well.
I have Kd-Qd on the button with $26k, blinds are 150/300 and I raise to $700 and Ram calls in the BB ($8k). Flop comes Ac-9d-5c, Ram checks, I bet $700 and he shoves. And I tank, I know Ram is capable of anything, and if it was just an Ace, he probably wouldn't shove an Ace (thinking back, this is flawed, he would do that with an Ace), if he has a 9, then I have two overs and if its a flush draw, we are flipping so I called.
When we flipped over our hands, the table could not believe I would make that call. Ram showed 4c-6c for a flush draw and I am ahead. The turn brought a club and Ram doubled up. I went with my read, but don't think it was worth the gamble.
So now the blinds go to 200 / 400 with a 50 ante and I'm sitting with $16k, and M of 12 and I look down at 8-8 on the button and it folds to me. I decide I just want to steal the blinds and antes and shove all in. SB starts to hem and haw and really looks pained and eventually calls me with A-Qos, I hold and double up to $32k.
Not long after I get moved to what will be the final table with 30 payers left, out of 80. Average stack is about $32k and then I go card dead. I manage to stay around $35k or so until we get to the final two tables.
The blinds are now 500 / 1000 with 100 ante and I decide to get cute. UTG+1 limps (he does this a lot and folds to raises or just flats them out of position), so I flat with 4-4 - MP raises to $4k, UTG+1 folds and I shove. I figure I have fold equity as raiser has $100k and it will cost him 25% of his stack to call, there is $41k in the pot and it costs him another $30k to call. Well he does call, with AQos and I hold for more than a double up and have average stack.
Now for the bad beat story of the night and thankfully not mine - yet. guy to my right is a solid player and rarely gets out of line, player to his left is a complete fish and loves A-rag hands and such. Over values pairs, etc... Fish raises pre-flop big, like 3.5x BB and TAG re-raises it to $10k, fish shoves and TAG calls - Fish has 9c-9h and TAG has Ks-Kd
Flop comes Kc-Jc-3s - turn 5c - river - 7c - OMG fish made a flush on the river and had to go perfect, perfect on turn and river to get there. Very next hand TAG shoves over fish raise pre-flop and gets called by A-5, he K-Q - flop comes Q-4-J - turn - 2 - yep, river is a 3 and TAG is gone. Fish is MASSIVE chip leader and I secretly am loving that fact. Especially since he is to my right.
We make the final table with the blinds at 1500 / 3000 and six of us agree to chip in $50 each for the bubble boy, since I only had $70k and the average was $120k, I thought it was prudent. Final table has 10 players but only 9 get officially paid.
So the fish raises in MP to $10k and I look down at A-Q, I know the idiot is going to call a shove and most likely has A-rag, so I'd be a 70% favourite to win the hand, so I shove. He calls, with A-4os - I hold and am now over average stack.
Next guy to go out didn't want to chip in the $50, so we all get our $50 back and are ITM !
One hand that I would like to have back from the final table. Blinds are $2k / $4k, I am in the SB ($120k) with Kd-6d, MP guys, with a short stack ($30k) limps, I call and BB checks. Flop comes Ad-8d-3h and I check, BB bets $6k and MP goes all in. I tank and am pretty sure my only outs are the diamonds (8) but would have ended up 3rd in chips if I win this hand. I just call and BB starts to squirm in his chair, he has me covered and is a good player. He decides to fold and shows Qd-5d, great -two of my outs are now gone. I don't hit and drop down to $90k, 25 BBs.
Then I go card dead again and blind down to $50k and the blinds are now $3k / $6k $1000 ante and there are eight of us left. So $17k just to steal the blinds and antes. Fish raises to $18k preflop from the button and I look down and see K-K !! OMG, I can get back in this thing, ALL IN - Obvious fish calls. He has 4-4, I don't remember the flop, other than I was safe, turn was a blank too - then the f****** river, a 4 !! My head spins, I think I hear, "unreal", "good game", etc... and the fish going "yes!!"
I know I didn't play bad, didn't play great and looking back see spots for improvement. And turning a $60 satty into almost $1200 isn't bad, 12 hours = $100/hr - I checked the OLG Brantford website and saw that the FISH ended up winning, how could he not ? he had half the chips in play or more with 7 players left.
Looking forward to the next satellite, I will be there.
Comments
Let me know how you want to ship the 10% and I will distribute to the group. No big rush.
Hopefully we'll see you at the next one also.
Has it been posted ? Of course I'll be at the next one.
1st paid $12k - 2nd and 3rd were $6800 and $6200 respectively - very strange payout structure.
For example: A-A in mid position ($20k in chips) , blinds are 75/150 - UTG+1 raises to 300 ($20k in chips)and I bump it up to $800, it folds back to original raiser and he calls. Flop is Kc-7c-3s, he checks and I bet $1000, he tanks and just calls. Turn is a Th, he checks and I bet $1500 and he calls again, river is a 2h and I tank and bet $4000 and he hems and haws and finally calls, I flip over my Aces and he mucks. I now have over $30,000 in the second blind level, nice start.
Next blind level 100/200, I have Jc-Jh in the SB ($34,000 in chips), Button, who has not played a lot of hands, raises to $500, I re-raise to $1500 and the BB calls ($10k in chips) and the button just calls. Flop comes 9c-4c-3c - I lead out for $3000, BB shoves, button folds and I'm left to call $5500 into a $14000 pot, BB flips over 9-9, so I have two Jacks and the rest of the clubs to win the hand, of course I miss and am down to $24k.
BB tries to convice me he had the "implied odds" to call my raise preflop, even though the button could have reshoved on him, since he was the original raiser, but I just said nice hand.
Then, to my pleasant surprise, Ram sits down at my table, unfortunately two to my left. I congratulate him on his 13th place in last week's sunday Million on Stars, he says it took two days for him to get over being knocked out so close to the final table. He is no where close to the crazy aggro player he once was and has worked hard on his game to be a very dangerous player.
My one advantage against him is, I think he doesn't think much of my game, so I can get away with more against him as he just assumes I have it if I bet or raise. The craziest hand we had against one another was a button vs blind hand. Looking back, I should not have played the hand this way but alls well that ends well.
I have Kd-Qd on the button with $26k, blinds are 150/300 and I raise to $700 and Ram calls in the BB ($8k). Flop comes Ac-9d-5c, Ram checks, I bet $700 and he shoves. And I tank, I know Ram is capable of anything, and if it was just an Ace, he probably wouldn't shove an Ace (thinking back, this is flawed, he would do that with an Ace), if he has a 9, then I have two overs and if its a flush draw, we are flipping so I called.
When we flipped over our hands, the table could not believe I would make that call. Ram showed 4c-6c for a flush draw and I am ahead. The turn brought a club and Ram doubled up. I went with my read, but don't think it was worth the gamble.
More to come later........
Not long after I get moved to what will be the final table with 30 payers left, out of 80. Average stack is about $32k and then I go card dead. I manage to stay around $35k or so until we get to the final two tables.
The blinds are now 500 / 1000 with 100 ante and I decide to get cute. UTG+1 limps (he does this a lot and folds to raises or just flats them out of position), so I flat with 4-4 - MP raises to $4k, UTG+1 folds and I shove. I figure I have fold equity as raiser has $100k and it will cost him 25% of his stack to call, there is $41k in the pot and it costs him another $30k to call. Well he does call, with AQos and I hold for more than a double up and have average stack.
Now for the bad beat story of the night and thankfully not mine - yet. guy to my right is a solid player and rarely gets out of line, player to his left is a complete fish and loves A-rag hands and such. Over values pairs, etc... Fish raises pre-flop big, like 3.5x BB and TAG re-raises it to $10k, fish shoves and TAG calls - Fish has 9c-9h and TAG has Ks-Kd
Flop comes Kc-Jc-3s - turn 5c - river - 7c - OMG fish made a flush on the river and had to go perfect, perfect on turn and river to get there. Very next hand TAG shoves over fish raise pre-flop and gets called by A-5, he K-Q - flop comes Q-4-J - turn - 2 - yep, river is a 3 and TAG is gone. Fish is MASSIVE chip leader and I secretly am loving that fact. Especially since he is to my right.
We make the final table with the blinds at 1500 / 3000 and six of us agree to chip in $50 each for the bubble boy, since I only had $70k and the average was $120k, I thought it was prudent. Final table has 10 players but only 9 get officially paid.
So the fish raises in MP to $10k and I look down at A-Q, I know the idiot is going to call a shove and most likely has A-rag, so I'd be a 70% favourite to win the hand, so I shove. He calls, with A-4os - I hold and am now over average stack.
Next guy to go out didn't want to chip in the $50, so we all get our $50 back and are ITM !
One hand that I would like to have back from the final table. Blinds are $2k / $4k, I am in the SB ($120k) with Kd-6d, MP guys, with a short stack ($30k) limps, I call and BB checks. Flop comes Ad-8d-3h and I check, BB bets $6k and MP goes all in. I tank and am pretty sure my only outs are the diamonds (8) but would have ended up 3rd in chips if I win this hand. I just call and BB starts to squirm in his chair, he has me covered and is a good player. He decides to fold and shows Qd-5d, great -two of my outs are now gone. I don't hit and drop down to $90k, 25 BBs.
Then I go card dead again and blind down to $50k and the blinds are now $3k / $6k $1000 ante and there are eight of us left. So $17k just to steal the blinds and antes. Fish raises to $18k preflop from the button and I look down and see K-K !! OMG, I can get back in this thing, ALL IN - Obvious fish calls. He has 4-4, I don't remember the flop, other than I was safe, turn was a blank too - then the f****** river, a 4 !! My head spins, I think I hear, "unreal", "good game", etc... and the fish going "yes!!"
I know I didn't play bad, didn't play great and looking back see spots for improvement. And turning a $60 satty into almost $1200 isn't bad, 12 hours = $100/hr - I checked the OLG Brantford website and saw that the FISH ended up winning, how could he not ? he had half the chips in play or more with 7 players left.
Looking forward to the next satellite, I will be there.
Very nice to see how far your game has come in the last few months. Keep up the good work and thanks for the trip report.