Super Tuesday Tournament Report [05.04.2005]
I played some $10/$20 NL this afternoon and made one of the worst decisions I�ve made in a while, costing my entire stack. I was angry after this (only at myself of course), and was in an aggressive mood, but not quite angry enough to go into full tilt. I decided to play some $15/$30, and made about $1300 while playing Super Tuesday (which was the real highlight of this blog). I will say that I often feel like a limit player. That�s how I first built my bankroll, and it�s so much more fun to be able to be raising and reraising multiple times in the same hand. I�ll spare the boring details and get to Super Tuesday. It was a $150+$12 buyin, with 821 players.
I lost 125 chips w/ AKo during the first level when I flopped a flush draw but didn�t get there. I limped a few small pocket pairs trying to hit a set and folded on missed flops. I also called a couple of minraises with small speculative suited hands in the big blind that also missed. By 15/30 blinds I was down to 600 chips. I broke even by taking down the blinds during the 25/50 level, but the next thing I knew, the blinds were at 50/100.
UTG+1 limped in, and a player in MP made a raise to 300. This felt like too small of a raise to be AK, so I pushed all-in next to act with AQo for my stack of 600. The small blind pushed his stack of 900 in, the limper folded, and the original raiser called. The SB had AKo, and the raiser had K8s. A lucky queen on the turn brought me stack up to 2000.
At my next table, still at 50/100, a player in early position minraised to 200. I had KK next to act, and I made it 525. The flop came 853, and I bet 425 trying not to scare anyone away, but they folded. That gave 3250 chips.
At 75/150, a stack of 400 pushed all-in in the small blind. His 74s defeated my KJs. On the next orbit, I raised KTo on the button to try and take down the blinds, but when the SB pushed all-in for 2,000, I had to fold.
I was at 2400 chips when a loose player utg opened for 650 during 100/200 blinds. I had TT in late position, and pushed all-in. UTG folded. A couple hands later I opened for 500 with 88 utg. Only the small blind called. The flop came AA9 and he checked to me. I bet 400 (I didn�t want to commit too many chips with such a weak hand, but a check gives the SB a perfect chance to bluff me out of the pot). Notice that I make bets like this with strong hands like KK on the 853 flop, as well as weak hands like this 88 on the AA9 flop. When I do that, it�s hard to read me and/or take advantage of these small bets. The SB folded, so I took down the pot.
I had 4300 chips during the next orbit with QQ. EP opened for 700, and I pushed all-in. Everyone folded, and I had 5400 chips to work with.
Four hands later I found aces in the small blind (blinds still at 100/200). UTG+2 (the affore mentioned loose player that I pushed all-in over the top of when I had TT) opened for 500, and a stack of 1750 pushed all-in in mid position. I wanted action out of UTG+2, so I just called. The flop came J52, and there was 5450 in the main pot, with no side pot. I had 3740 chips behind, and utg+2 had 5200 chips behind. I bet 1,000. A nice small bet that shouldn�t scare anyone too much. UTG+2 just called. The turn was a Q, and I fired the same bet again. This time UTG+2 pushed all-in, and I happily called. UTG+2 had 77, the all-in MP player had AKo, and my aces held up. That left me with 13,000 chips, and the chiplead in the tournament.
A few hands later during 100/200 blinds (that blind level was really good to me) I found 99 in MP. The big blind only had 145 chips behind, and I opened for just a minraise (enough to put the BB all-in). The cut-off called, and the small-blind (loose previously mentioned player) pushed all-in for 3400. The BB obviously called, and so did I. The cut off folded. The SB had 66, the BB had TT. The board came ragged, and the big blind won his 1600 chip side pot, but the main pot had 6200 chips in it for me. I had 15,700 chips after that.
I played it tight for a while, and found JTo in the SB during 200/400 blinds. The CO open limped, I called, and the BB checked. The flop came JJ3, and it checked around. The turn was a 4, and I bet half the pot. The small blind minraised me, the CO folded, and I reraised to 3,000. The BB folded.
A couple hands later, a player in EP limped, and another one in MP followed through. I raised my QJo to 2,000 hoping to just take down the pot, but EP called. EP had 3500 chips behind, and the flop came JTT. He pushed all-in, and I called. The turn and river were a J and a Q, and his 99 stood no chance. That gave me 23,400 chips.
During 300/600 blinds, the small stacks were playing really tight, hoping to make the money. I found T5s 2 off the button, and I raised to 1500 attempting to steal. The CO called, and the 2 of us saw a flop. The flop came 986 giving me a gut shot and back door flush draw. I bet 3800 which was both the size of the pot, and the size of the CO�s stack. He thought forever, and finally called with AJs. I got no help, but I still had 18k chips to work with.
During 400/800 blinds, I opened for 2,000 on the button with AQs, and the BB called. The flop came K54 and we both checked. The turn was the 6 of diamonds giving me a nut flush draw. The BB bet 1500 into the 4400 chip pot, and I called. The turn was an offsuit 8. The BB bet 1400 into the 7400 chip pot, which gave me some very good odds to call. I thought for a while, considering folding, calling, and raising, but decided to play it safe and just call. The BB had ATo, and my ace high queen kicker was good! I had 25,000 chips after that.
I tried to steal during 500/1000 blinds with JTs in late position, but got caught by a small stack with Aces. He had a very small stack, and I was committed to calling his reraise. My JTs lost leaving me 6 chips shy of a 20k stack.
During 750/1500 blinds, I found AA in the SB. EP opened for 3500, and I reraised to 7500. He pushed all-in having me covered, and I had 46k chips after my hand held up. Just two hands later, I found aces again in the cut off. A player with 10k chips in EP limped, and I raised to 5,000. EP called leaving him 5k chips behind. The flop came J77 he checked, and I minbet. My bet must have looked weak because he pushed his last 5k chips in. I was happy to see him flip over KQo, but not so happy to see the turn and river come 9 T. I was a 45-1 favorite when the chips went in, but that didn�t matter. There�s no beat too unlikely for ZeeJustin to take!
�Luckily� for me, he was shortstacked, and I still had 36,000 chips left. I got moved to another table and just a few hands later I found aces for a third time in about 20 hands. I was happy to see UTG+1 move all-in for 23k chips (the BB was still 1500), and I pushed all-in over the top to not make my strength too obvious, but only the two of us saw the flop. UTG+1 flipped over AQo, and again, my aces went down in flames. This time the chips went in when I was 13-1 favorite (does this sound familiar? If not, read my EPT Vienna report). Despite the odds, the 65k chips in the middle did not come in my direction. This left me with a puny stack of 15k.
I took down the 1k/2k blinds twice with AQs and AKo, and then found KTo in the BB. It folded around to the small blind who had only 3.2k chips. He pushed all-in with J2s, and I called. If I can�t win as a 45-1 or 13-1 favorite, I obviously can�t win as a 2-1 favorite, so again, the chips went in the wrong direction. For anyone that�s keeping track, the odds are 1,170 � 1 against me losing all three of those all-ins. I�ll downplay my misery and say that I was just a little unsatisfied after losing these three hands.
With a stack of 10x BB during the same blind level, I opened for 5k with TT in MP. The Button pushed all-in, and I called. He had KK, and it was all but over when the first four cards came A85-7. Much to my surprise, a ten came on the river, and I had 42k chips to work with. Of course this happened at a new table, and like always, the table bitched and moaned about how lucky I was. If only they knew�
I blinded down to 34k chips when I found A2 of spades in the cut off. The blinds were at 1500/3000, and I opened for 7800. The big blind who had me covered called. The flop came K74 with two diamonds and a spade. The big blind checked. I had 26k chips and there was 17k chips in the pot. If I bet big, I�m committing my whole stack. If I bet small, I�m just inviting him to check raise me. I decided I had to check. The turn was a queen of spades giving me a 4 flush. He bet 8600 into the pot, and I pushed all-in as a semi-bluff. I think this is a very strong move since I will often play AA, KK, QQ, AK and KQ the same way. I had 52k chips after that.
We were down to 20 players when I got moved to table 1. I had all the tables open for the past hour, and had been paying close attention to all the players, especially the big stacks. Jennychu went from 20k to 110k chips at table one in about 5 orbits by stealing tons of blinds, restealing tons of raises, and sucking out with awful hands 3 times. She raised utg to 7100 when I had 66 in MP. I recalled that her past two utg raises were with 44 and J8o, so I decided to move all-in. My timing was awful, as Jenny had aces. Although this was a tournament full of suck outs, the best hand held up, and I finished in 19th which paid $1,000. If you have been reading my blogs, you will know that a finish like this is really disappointing. I wonder how things would have been different if all of my aces held up earlier.
I�ve been on a decent streak lately in Party tournaments. Last week I had 4 cashes in a row in 2 super�s and 2 100+9�s. I finished 5th in one of those supers. I made a run at the Friday 215, but managed only a 55th place finish (out of 934). Again, I found myself with a large stack, and I�m happy with my play throughout the whole tournament this time, but things just didn�t come together.
I definitely feel that my tournament game is by far my strongest game, but there�s generally only one big tournament each night. I wish I could play supers and Party 215 specials 4-8 tables at a time all day long, but I can�t. Still, I�m confident I will have a win come in the near future. I�ll be sure to let everyone know when it does.
� As always, thanks for reading.
� Justin Bonomo
