first tournament win!

first things first. my saturday was TERRIBLE. i went to a bday party friday night and got ~drunk and didn't sleep well. saturday i woke up way too early and had to work. i also played a few tournaments online and could not catch a break. i was getting bad beated left and right (my head is a little stuffed w/ hand histories right now so i can't remember any specifically, but it was frustrating). i decided i would try playing some cash. after going up a bit, i lost two big pots (where i got all in w/ the best hand) and started tilting (BAD). i then totally donked off a buy in on mega tilt. while still playing i got up to grab some water and tripped over my ipod cord plugged into my pute. my fingernail slammed into one of my fingers and left a gash that wouldn't stop bleeding and hurt like a mofo. great start to my day, huh?

i had to take a conference call for my nightmare project, and shortly before that started got word that one of my cases that had been on hold was back in full swing. that means i'm probably gonna be pretty slammed at work. :( i was nervous going to ac b/c i expected to play cash saturday night and then play in the ladies tournament on sunday.

fast forward a few hours and lucko and i arrived at the borgata. i registered for the ladies event, and overheard the guy at the next counter buying into a tournament for $200. my ears perked up and i asked when that one started. turned out it started at 8pm (it was 8:40pm) and we missed the first blind level. despite having 9:45 reservations at my favorite ac restaurant, sea blue, i excitedly asked lucko if he wanted to play. he mustered up some enthusiasm and off we went to the $230 second chance tournament.

at my table was one guy with about double the starting stack and every one else was right around the starting stack. we started w/ 6k in chips, and i think i was down about 150, and showed up in time for my bb. i won a couple of small pots, including one where the utg limped, and i re-raised w/ KK. he called (blinds 100/200, he limped i raised to 700) and then folded to my 2/3 raise on a J high board of unders (saying he had 77). a bit later i limped behind a few other limpers on the button w/ QJ and the flop came Q with two rags. the bb bet out and i raised his 800 bet (pot = 1k) to 2800. it was a risky play, but i thought if he had a Q i had him outkicked. two pair was a possibility, but he bet it pretty hesitantly. he thought for awhile, showed a Q, and folded. i'm pretty sure i had him outkicked, but had fun listening to the table speculate on my hand being KK or a set of 2s. (yeah, like i'm not going to raise my blind w/ a bunch of limpers w/ KK).

right after the QJ hand my table broke, and i got moved to the table where i spent the majority of the tournament. i don't remember much, but i barely played a hand for the next level, in part b/c i wasn't getting any hands, and in part b/c i was on serious drink tilt. the waitresses were on a shift change and i wanted a beer and a water badly. i found it was distracting me so much that i didn't want to play a big pot!

christina finally came over with a cold heinekin, and shortly after that i won a pot in the blinds when i flopped top pair and re-raised the small blind's bet, and then followed that up w/ a nice pot when i had KK. i was up to 12k about two hours into the tournament (one hour into me actually playing the tournament -- we started w/ 6k). i lost a huge hand when the guy to my right raised for the umpteenth time on the button, and i decided to jam w/ ATs. it was a bad move, he showed TT and i was almost out. i doubled up w/ KQ v. JJ, which gave me some breathing room.

i then won a huge pot when i accidentally min raised utg w/ AA. it could have been the new blind levels, or it may have been that i was on my fourth or fifth beer. either way, sb and bb called. flop came K high, and bb was reaching for his chips almost immediately. sb checked, bb bet, i jammed, and he called w/ K9. no two pair for him and i scooped a nice pot. the very next hand there was an utg raiser who raised a little big, and it folded around to me in the bb. i saw AKs and decided to re-raise him all in. he showed JJ, i didn't hit and i was crippled.

we went to break and i had about 8k w/ blinds going up to 800/1600. i had three hands before my bb. first hand i caught K6 and thought about raising but decided to wait. as it happened it ended up folding around to sb and bb. sb was a shortie who went all in and bb called w/ 53. sb showed 72 and it, um, "held." K on turn and i would have taken it down. the very next hand i looked at A6s and jammed. bb hesitated for about 20 seconds and then called w/ KK. A on the flop and i doubled. after that hand i started building a stack and never looked back.

i recall jamming utg w/ 88 and got no callers. i re-raised a mp raiser w/ 77 and took down a decent pot. i was getting solid hands, hiting flops like mad and made some nice re-raises. in addition, the blinds were going up and ms were low. i was on a tear and went from about 15k to 92k in a level (half hour levels). when we got down to 3 tables (30 left, 3 paid) i had just over 300k.

i know it sounds crazy, but i just don't remember how i got there. i was still drinking beers, and while it's not a great thing to admit, i played the entire tournament in an intoxicated state ranging from buzzed to, as lucko's friend dwal called me, "smashed" -- dwal made it to day 2 of the $1500 tournament that started earlier in the day, and despite being one of 39 left starting at 2pm the next day, railed me right to the end of the tournament at 6am. he ended up finishing 16th for $4900, woot.

i do know one of my earlier hands when we were moved to three tables was when i raised in ep w/ AQ. a guy w/ about 45k behind him raised all in. i started talking to him and got a distinct impression he did not want a call. i had raised a few hands already and i thought he was playing back at me. the only hand i was really afraid of was AK, and he didn't seem that strong. i tanked, and finally called. it was under 1/6 of my stack, and i thought i could afford it. he tabled KQ and i won a huge pot. a few hands later a shortie went all in on the button and i looked down in my bb at 55. i had made a fold earlier w/ the same hand, but decided i would take the edge and flip with him. he also showed KQ, and my 5s held up.

i then made one mis-step, imo. there were shorties in the sb and bb and i was in the hijack. i had A3 and with my stack i think i can raise there. instead it was all in blind v. blind -- sb had Q6, bb had KJ, and i would have won w/ A high. the next hand i raised w/ K7s (totally tilting) and got one caller. flop came J85 with one of my suit, and he folded to my cbet. during the next orbit i sucked out for the second time of the tournament. i raised in the co w/ A4s (i hadn't raised for awhile, so i thought i'd get some respect). the bb instacalled me w/ 99 (all in) and i flopped an A. i lost a decent sized pot when the co raised all in on my blind. i looked down at Q6s and although i don't remember where we were w/ blinds and antes, i felt i had to make the call getting over 2-1. he showed K6, and while i turned a flush draw, he won w/ K high. ironically, he was the guy from my first table who had doubled up early, and it took a small chunk out of my ginormous stack. i really tightened up w/ two tables left, and aside from a few raises when i had pp and big overs, i mostly maintained my big stack.

i got to the final table w/ about 400k, and was the chip leader. one guy who was at my other table had a nice stack of over 300k, and there was one other stack two to my right w/ close to that. there were about four shorties. in a crazy twist, there was an ep raise, and the big stack (a spanish guy, not sure why i'm mentioning that) decided to jam all in. a guy from montenegro (again, not much relevance) two seats to right instacalls. ep raiser folds. big stack shows AK, instacaller has AA (obv) and almost takes him out. now there is a guy w/ 500k to my right ("right" where i want him, haha) and i'm second in chips still w/ just over 400k.

a bit later the guy to my right, who'd been going up and down in chips, jammed from middle position. i tried, very poorly, to isolate w/ KJ (a bit loose, but i thought i was ahead of his range, and it was all shorties behind me) when i basically min re-raised his all in. a guy in late position tanked, and decided to call for 55k. the flop came QJJ, and i checked, hoping he'd shove or at least bet out. no dice. turn was a Q, which could have been a scare card, but with so much money in the pot i felt pretty sure that the caller would have bet the flop if he hit a Q. i decided to push him all in, and he showed 88 in disgust as he folded. all in had A5 and i added about 80k to my stack. i got some constructive criticism on that hand that my shove on the turn was not ideal and i should either be betting the flop or river. live and learn.

there was an awesome hand at the other end of the table w/ two guys all in, one w/ 99, one w/ 88, and an 8 on the river gave it to the underdog. the 99 guy (a bit of a dick) threw his chips into the middle of the table and stormed off. that put us down to 4.

we were four handed for a loooooooooong time. any time there was a shortie all in he took the pot down. the two shorties were trading barbs and one guy kept complaining about being tired, and the other guy told him he should start calling his all ins or shut up (or something to that effect). tired guy pushed on his button after utg shortie folded, and w/ T9s in the bb i decided to call. we had played four handed for over an hour, and i had such a big stack that i could afford to take a shot at knocking him out. he showed 56s and i was in pretty good shape until the flop came 664. bummer.

sometime after this i played a really interesting pot with montenegro guy. it was folded around to him in the small blind and he 3x raised me. i looked down at A5o and decided to call him. the flop came something like T68 and it went check check. turn was a 4, and we again checked. the river paired the board with another 8, and he bet out 45k. i believe we were at 10k/20k, and there was 120k in the pot and his bet seemed fishy. i thought briefly, and decided that he didn't have anything, and called w/ my A5. i paused, waiting for him to show his hand, and he hesitated and then said, "you have it" showing me 23s. i showed my A high and won a huge pot off his second place stack. i was probably up to about 600k.

the very next hand 56 guy folded utg. montenegro guy jammed, and i tanked when i saw AT in my sb. i thought super hard, but it was such a large bet, and decided it wasn't worth risking my stack. the shortie in the bb called w/ KJ, and K came on the flop. montenegro guy was not happy.

a few hands later the guy to my left either limped or min raised. i had J4s in my bb and either checked or called. the flop came J88 and i checked. he jammed the pot with a huge overbet, and after thinking for a bit (not really all that long) i called. he tabled A5o and was gone. he had 20 bbs and just played the hand as horribly as he could have. down to 3 with huge stack, woot.

chop talk started again (it had been on and off, but i was unwilling to do anything but a chip chop, given my massive stack), and blind levels went up to "director's discretion." first prize paid just over 14k, and i announced that i would take 12k. they worked out a deal where montenegro guy would take 5500 (about 900 more than third paid), with second place guy insisting on 9500 (about 1200 more than second paid). that left me with 11,935 so i agreed. i was totally wired, and would have been happy playing it out, but i felt it was a good deal, and not worth risking for 2k more. if the second place guy doubled up once through me he'd be close to even with me in chips, and given that it was 6am and i was still pretty drunk, i figured why chance it.

so that's how i won my first tournament!!!! yay! i also played in the ladies event on sunday (on about two hours of sleep) but i'm tired, so i'll write it up sometime soon. i went out in level 8 w/ JJ v. AK.

ps GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GIANTS!!! did anyone think they'd make it to the superbowl this year?