a little bit of recap

i played 19 tournaments yesterday, and cashed in three. one was a satellite to the million, where i eventually ran AQ into AK. the wins and the beats def all run together at some point, but AQ and KK played a role in a LOT of them.

on to the 125k, which got over the 200k prize pool mark...

early on i cracked AK w/ AQ, and AA w/ 66, and then just used my stack to play smart poker. i shoved a guy at one point who raised my bb from lp w/ A8cc, and was shocked to see him call off w/ KJcc. obv he hit a J, and i took a big hit there. ATo shoved into my AJo and i held, and A7 shoved into my AQhh aip and i hit a flush on the turn (not that it mattered). i was surprised a few different times in the tournament how bad some of the play was. i don't play $50 tournaments all that much on stars, and maybe it's cause it was a sunday, but i saw some really bad play (flatting a raise for half your stack and folding to a flop cbet). i won a few flips at crucial times, including 22 > AQ for a big pot (although i also lost a big flip w/ 22 v. AK later on in the tournament).

the most interesting hands for me came when we got down to about 100 left. i had xthesteinx at my table, and for awhile both him and djk123 (who seemed to have a really good day on ftp/stars, at least getting deep). i felt like i didn't get intimidated, made good reads (four bet shoved djk once when i felt his rr was weak, even though i would not have been happy w/ a call).

around hand 400 i made a slightly loose open w/ A5o, but was happy w/ how i played it post flop. yes, it worked out (phew), but i felt like i got max value, and kept the pot small. it was a huge pot for me given blinds, table position, etc.

Poker Stars $50+$5 No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t3,500/t7,000 Blinds + t700 - 8 players
UTG: t235,181
UTG+1: t675,241
Hero (MP1): t268,604
MP2: t412,603
CO: t224,153
BTN: t252,570
SB: t416,011
BB: t399,870

Pre Flop: (t16,100) Hero is MP1 with As 5d
2 folds, Hero raises to t17,550, 3 folds, SB calls t14,050, BB calls t10550

Flop: (t58,250) 8d 9c 5c (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (t58,250) 8s (3 players)
SB bets t36,000, BB folds, Hero calls t36,000

River: (t130,250) 2h (2 players)
SB bets t76,000, Hero calls t76,000

Final Pot: t282,250
SB shows Ad Jd (a pair of Eights)
Hero shows As 5d (two pair, Eights and Fives)
Hero wins t282,250

around this time the_d__ry got moved to my table (sigh) and i rred an aggro guy at my table for the second time (with the intention of calling a shove w/ my AQ), and i was not surprised he shoved on me w/ 99. i won that flip, which helped since shortly after i lost the 22 to AK, which set me back to 60 bbs. i then won another flip (on the river) w/ 44 v. AK to a guy who limp shoved his 15 bb stack, and this set me up to be in a good position at the final two tables. i squeezed once w/ QQ but got no action, and then lost three consecutive hands where i raised and got rred. i even folded AQ, which as most readers know is huge for me. it hurt, but the bb overshoved about 80 bbs over my standard raise and even though i felt w/ every ounce of my being that i was ahead, i just couldn't call there, not with the awesome stack i'd flipped incredibly well to get.

KK was a weird ahnd for me throughout the night. i flatted it v. a very loose player (the guy who overshoved when i had AQ) and got shoved by a shorter stack out of the blinds and won a nice pot. i also played JJ ~ trappy when i limped from the sb into the bb and got shoved by his ten bb stack. he had AK and i won yet another flip, and even though we were getting the money all in either way, i felt like i was playing the stack sizes at the table well. i did things like folding small pps to raises (gasp) and rred marginal hands when i thought the or was weak/opening wide.

then i had another KK hand, which played out very badly. in hindsight i think i should have folded the turn, but i cbet a J high three club board and got INSTACALLED by the guy on the button who called my utg raise. he bet very small when an A hit on the turn, and i thought there was a decent chance he was on a flush draw. i think when he bet the river i pretty much had to fold, but made a crying call and was shown AJ no clubs. :( this about halved my stack, and two hands later i made a standard 20 bb reshove w/ AJ and ran into AA. this was my awesomest suckout of the night. i sort of pounded the table in frustration and got up to walk away when i heard lucko yell excitedly from across the room. for some reason his laptop was showing the flops/cards before mine, so he saw the JJx flop before i did.

i then proceeded to lose half the stack i'd just gained running 99 into JJ. i would fold 99 a lot to a rr in the spot, but the guy who rred had been really aggressive, was a high stakes player (avg bi $300), and i felt there was a chance he was making a move. um, he wasn't. ok, then came my worst mistake of the night. i raised AQo from ep, the shortie whose AA i cracked (who'd quadrupled up) shoved, and i was all set to call when the bb reshoved his 17 bb stack. this was a spot where i ~ stopped thinking, and what limited thought process i had went, well, i'm against a 10 bb stack and a 17 bb stack, and there's a chance i'm flipping v. both, and there's a lot of money in the pot so i call. this is not a good thought process. however, i got super lucky to four flush AK (and A9), and from there i lost very few pots going into the final table, and played the ft bubble w/ my stack well. there were a few guys who were definitely trying to fold to the final table, and that was sweeeet.

my final table position was not ideal, b/c although the-toilet 0 was across the table from me, the biggest stack was directly to my left. one of the first hands at the ft he three bet me and i shoved my entire 50 bb stack over him, praying he didn't have a hand he could call with (he didn't). i had a pp, but felt like it was a good spot to show i wasn't going to be run over. as it turns out he eventually won the tournament. i made a few other four bet shoves when i felt people were playing back at me, and they all worked. i played very aggressively and it paid off until i got hu.

i was extremely nervous, and btw did not look at the payouts throughout the entire tournament, so i had no idea when i finished how much i'd won, or how much first prize was. the guy played very well hu, playing very positional poker, folding almost every bb, and raising EVERY SINGLE BUTTON. i three bet him pre for about the fourth or fifth time praying he would finally shove me when i had KK, but instead he flatted. on an AQx flop i cbet. i wouldn't cbet there all the time, but i thought he was calling me very wide, b/c he was sick of me three betting him pre. he called, and when a J hit the turn i checked. he bet, and in hindsight i think this should have been a fold, b/c there's just too good a chance he has an A there. regardless, when he bet the river for the remainder of my stack i kind of stopped thinking and figured if i called the turn thinking i was ahead i should also call the river. this turned out to be an 8k error as he had QJo for two pair on the turn and i finished 2nd. :( i still do not subscribe to bayne's "fold KK pf" crazy ass theory, but it def got me in some trouble last night.

so anyway, here's how to come in 2nd in the 125k on sunday: flip really, really well, suckout when you have to, and play aggressive poker when you have a stack. ez game. :)

thanks again to everyone who railed me, it was awesome to have so many people cheering me on at the final table. a special thanks to lucko, who let me use his dual monitor set up, without which there is no way i would have been able to play this tournament with everything else i had up at the time. he also gave me a ton of moral support throughout the tournament -- walking outside during breaks helped a lot, and maybe i will get you doing some yoga during breaks at your next ft. <3