I was in for a bit of a grind. The starting stacks were 5000 and the blind levels were 30 minutes long. I knew I didnt have to make any fancy plays or moves, just good, solid poker.
The hours wore on and after 5 hours 195 people had become 19 -- the bubble. No one was really "short-stacked" though after a crazy bluff on my behalf where I was called down on a double-paired board with Ace high (gc btw) I was down to 20000 when the blinds were 400/800/50 (yeah thats right, 400/800 after 5 hours!) The bubble was cruel and I was starting to dwindle-- until I made perhaps a tilty but good call of all in on a board of Qxx with JJ in my hand. One of the better calls of my tournament as the guy putting me in had TT.
I was back to 35k, dodged the bubble, and won a few more pots. There were around 12 left when my 50kish stack doubled up, flopping AQQ in the big blind when I had KQ. I bet every street, big value bets that the guy holding AJ had to call.
On the final table I started as 4th in chips but after a few shortstacks blew up, we were around 7 handed. I took the chiplead after this critical hand.
PokerStars Game #14175233357: Tournament #71071683, $30+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level XIV (1000/2000) - 2007/12/29 - 09:21:00 (ET)
Table '71071683 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 2: Mike_OxBig78 (11750 in chips)
Seat 3: Ragaboo (182433 in chips)
Seat 5: DANVAR (122622 in chips)
Seat 6: Willskis (114445 in chips)
Seat 7: lehighlax (200934 in chips)
Seat 8: dacrazesta (196781 in chips)
Seat 9:
Mike_OxBig78: posts the ante 200
Ragaboo: posts the ante 200
DANVAR: posts the ante 200
Willskis: posts the ante 200
lehighlax: posts the ante 200
dacrazesta: posts the ante 200
lehighlax: posts small blind 1000
dacrazesta: posts big blind 2000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Willskis [9s 9c]
Mike_OxBig78: folds
Ragaboo: folds
DANVAR: raises 3555 to 5555
Willskis: calls 5555
lehighlax: folds
dacrazesta: folds
*** FLOP *** [9h 4d 7h]
DANVAR: bets 116867 and is all-in
Willskis: calls 108690 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [9h 4d 7h] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [9h 4d 7h Qd] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DANVAR: shows [Ah Td] (a pair of Aces)
Willskis: shows [9s 9c] (three of a kind, Nines)
dacrazesta said, "just a matter of time"
Willskis collected 232890 from pot
Ragaboo said, "Nice hand."
Willskis said, "instacall"
dacrazesta said, "nh"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 232890 | Rake 0
Board [9h 4d 7h Qd Ac]
Seat 2: Mike_OxBig78 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Ragaboo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: DANVAR showed [Ah Td] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 6: Willskis (button) showed [9s 9c] and won (232890) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 7: lehighlax (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: dacrazesta (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9:
We played 5 handed for close to an hour, all of us having deep stacks and playing rather conservatively. My chiplead fluctuated and was passed around the remaining 5 players. It truly was a grind.
One by one guys dropped, until finally we got to headsup. My opponent was the only guy at the table who had not advocated a chop. I wouldn't have minded chopping heads up, even though I went into the match as the chipleader. A chop could guarantee $1400 for my $30 investment rather than a guaranteed $1170. Nevertheless, I didn't push the issue.
The guy played the same game headsup that he had been playing, solid and partial to flop and turn raises rather than brave river calls. I had been playing rather tight and passive for the most part, folding to large reraises of my feeler bets. KJ'o'spades won me a large pot early on, hitting top pair and overbetting on the turn, him calling my all in (he had more chips at this point) and being second best with his A9 middle pair. Afterwards he battled back till we had a more even chipstack. Around 45 minutes and close to 220 hands into heads up (exhausting, no?) this hand occurred.
PokerStars Game #14177248675: Tournament #71071683, $30+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVII (2500/5000) - 2007/12/29 - 11:31:33 (ET)
Table '71071683 1' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 3: Ragaboo (466058 in chips)
Seat 6: Willskis (508942 in chips)
Ragaboo: posts the ante 500
Willskis: posts the ante 500
Ragaboo: posts small blind 2500
Willskis: posts big blind 5000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Willskis [Qh 9s]
Ragaboo: raises 7500 to 12500
Ragaboo said, "Nah"
Willskis: calls 7500
*** FLOP *** [Jh Ts Kd]
Willskis: checks
Ragaboo: bets 15000
Willskis: raises 25000 to 40000
Ragaboo said, "Always!"
Ragaboo: calls 25000
*** TURN *** [Jh Ts Kd] [Kc]
Willskis: bets 55000
Ragaboo: calls 55000
*** RIVER *** [Jh Ts Kd Kc] [4s]
Willskis: bets 160000
Ragaboo: calls 160000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Willskis: shows [Qh 9s] (a straight, Nine to King)
Ragaboo: shows [Ac Qd] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
Ragaboo collected 536000 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 536000 | Rake 0
Board [Jh Ts Kd Kc 4s]
Seat 3: Ragaboo (button) (small blind) showed [Ac Qd] and won (536000) with a straight, Ten to Ace
Seat 6: Willskis (big blind) showed [Qh 9s] and lost with a straight, Nine to King
The K on the turn saved me from losing potentially my entire stack, as it turned his hand from the nuts to a possible second best hand. Thank God because it didn't slow me down. When he called the turn I figured he might have a hand like AK and wanted to milk as much as I could.
After roughly 1 hour and 10 minutes the final knockout blow came up.
PokerStars Game #14177388944: Tournament #71071683, $30+$3 Hold'em No Limit - Level XVIII (3000/6000) - 2007/12/29 - 11:39:31 (ET)
Table '71071683 1' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 3: Ragaboo (718658 in chips)
Seat 6: Willskis (256342 in chips)
Ragaboo: posts the ante 600
Willskis: posts the ante 600
Willskis: posts small blind 3000
Ragaboo: posts big blind 6000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Willskis [Jc 8s]
Willskis said, "close Wink"
Ragaboo said, "Haha, nope. Close, though."
Willskis: raises 12000 to 18000
Ragaboo: calls 12000
*** FLOP *** [6c 9h 7c]
Ragaboo: checks
Willskis: bets 12000
Ragaboo: raises 24000 to 36000
Willskis: raises 201742 to 237742 and is all-in
Ragaboo: calls 201742
*** TURN *** [6c 9h 7c] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [6c 9h 7c Qd] [3s]
Ragaboo said, "gg"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Ragaboo: shows [As 9c] (a pair of Nines)
Willskis: shows [Jc 8s] (high card Queen)
Willskis said, "Phew."
Ragaboo collected 512684 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 512684 | Rake 0
Board [6c 9h 7c Qd 3s]
Seat 3: Ragaboo (big blind) showed [As 9c] and won (512684) with a pair of Nines
Seat 6: Willskis (button) (small blind) showed [Jc 8s] and lost with high card Queen
So there you have it, 2nd placing for $1170. I'm very happy with that as you can imagine, but I'll keep striving for first. For all those who are able to play flops well and are able to fold TPTK to a substantial reraise, I recommend this tournament, if you have a spare 10 hours handy to win it, of course. :)
Click the thumbnail for a screencap.
Styles OUT
PEACE
1 comment:
Nice work my man :-) haha thats how the hats roll :-) thats so sick now you can pay me my 25 bucks back. Na good work man proud of ya, one day you'll win the world series, only it will be a year after me so i get all the glory :-P hahahahaha
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