Another Final Table Report [05.16.2005]
I finally got my computer and internet setup on Saturday, so it was time to play some poker for the first time in a week. I don�t think I�ve ever gone that long without poker since I started playing seriously.
Things started off horribly. I was playing 3 tables of $10/$20 NL, and was down $5,000 before I knew it. At one point in the night, I was down $10,000. I managed to come back a little bit, and at the end of my $10/$20 NL session I was down �only� $7,300. Throughout this session, I was playing one tournament, the Saturday night $200+15 on Party which was my only hope to break even. The tournament had 1215 players, and I needed to finish in the top six if I wanted to book a win for the day.
I played tight for the first hour. I won a couple of small pots with AK, but nothing eventful happened until the blinds were at 50/100. I had 1700 chips, and it folded to a player in middle position who opened for 200. I was next to act and called with KQs. It folded to the shortstacked button who pushed all-in for 470. Both the raiser and I called. The flop came QQ7. The raiser checked, I bet 300 into the 1560 pot, and the raiser folded. The shortstack flipped up JJ, and my trips held up. 2800 chips for me.
An orbit later I found 99 on the button and opened for 250 after it folded to me. The BB had 1560 chips and pushed all-in. I called and beat his A4s.
During 75/150 blinds I found KQo in the cutoff. It folded to the player before me who open limped. I raised to 550, and only the limper called. The flop came AQ6, and he bet the minimum. I called. The turn was a 4 which was also the 3rd club (I had no clubs). My opponent bet 150 again, and again I just called. The turn was an ugly 7 of clubs, and again my opponent bet 150. I called and he showed QJ of diamonds. My hand was good. That brought me up to 5k chips.
During 150/300 it blinds, it folded to a desperate player in middle position who pushed his stack of 1260 in. I had AJs in the small blind and called. He showed KJo and my hand held up. I had 6,000 chips to work with after that.
On the next orbit I found QT of spades in the small blind. There were 3 limpers to me, I called, and the BB checked. The flop was K53 all spades. I checked, one of the limpers bet 500, and I smooth called with my flush. Everyone else folded, and the turn was the 8 of clubs. I checked my opponent bet 600, and I decided it was time to raise. He folded, but I had a nice stack of 8300 after that hand.
Two hands later a player in middle position minraised, and I took the pot down with AK when I reraised to 1500. A couple hands later I found AKo again, this time in early position. I opened for 800 and it folded to the button who pushed all-in for 2200. The big blind joined the party and pushed his stack of 3400 in. I called and found myself up against ATs (Button) and QQ (BB). I got no help on the flop and was left with 6000 chips.
Still during 150/300, I managed to pick up 1,000 chips when two players limped to me, and I raised my AQo to 1500 on the button. The very next hand I had JJ and a player in MP limped. I raised to 1100 and he called. The flop came 886, and I took the pot of 2650 down with a bet of 1700. I was already back to 8,000 chips.
During 200/400 blinds, the cut off opened for his stack of 640 chips. The small blind called, and I decided to reraise with my AK in the big blind. The SB folded, and my hand held up vs the CO�s JTs. That gave me 9.5k chips.
A couple hands later I had my first tough decision of the tournament. Still at 200/400 blinds, the cut off opened for his entire stack of 10,500 chips, a big raise to say the least. I was next to act with AKo and a stack of 10k chips. I thought there was no way anyone would play AA or KK that fast, and figured AQ was a possibility, so I decided to call expecting a coinflip with a small chance of being in great shape. Looking back, I�m not so sure my call was correct, but it worked out. The CO had QQ, and I won the flip. I had a monster stack of 20,000 chips after that.
During 300/600 blinds I found T9s in the CO. I opened for 1500 hoping to take down the blinds, but a big stack called in the big blind. The flop came K52 rainbow, and the big blind bet 1,000 into the 3300 pot. I figured there was no way he would bet into me with a king, so I decided I was gonna represent the king. That meant calling his flop bet. The turn was a queen, and again he bet 1000 chips. I called again. The turn was an 8, and I bet 4500 chips into the 7300 pot. He folded.
I had 22k chips when I found TT in the CO during 500/1000 blinds. A player in MP opened for 2300 and I reraised to 6500. He called. The flop came 522 and he went allin for 8500 chips into the 14.5k pot. I called, and my tens held up against his nines. That gave me a beautiful stack of 38.5k.
The very next hand I had KTo in MP3 and opened for a raise of 2500. Only the BB called. He was the only player at the table with more chips than me. The flop came KQT, and he led out for 5000 into the 5500 pot. I figured I had the best hand, but it wasn�t quite strong enough to give a free card, so I raised to 12000. He called, and another queen came on the turn killing my hand. He bet 10k into the 30k pot, and I was forced to fold. I was back down to 24k chips.
A couple hands later, the same player from my KT hand limped in MP, the SB called, and I checked my AJo in the BB. The flop came JT4 and I bet out for 2k. The limper called. The turn was a 6, and we both checked. I bet 4k into the 7k pot on the river, and he called me with A9o (no pair). I had 32k after that.
A couple orbits later the blinds were at 750/1500 when the button opened for his entire stack of 8k. There was a huge chance he was stealing, and I was getting a great price in the big blind, so I decided to call with A5o. Unfortunately he had AQo, and his hand held up. I was back down to 25k chips.
The very next hand I found JJ in the SB, and a player in MP limped. I raised to 5k and the limper raised all-in for 3200 more. I called and shamefully lost to his aces. All the sudden I was down to 17k.
I took down the blinds a few times with legitimate raises to have a 23k stack at 1500/3000 blinds when I found KK in the SB. A player in MP opened for 9k, and he called when I pushed my chips in. He had JJ and my hand held up bringing me up to 50k chips.
During 2k/4k blinds, utg pushed all-in for 22k chips. With only 5.5 big blinds, he was pretty desperate, so I called with 77 in the big blind. He had AQo, and I won another coinflip bringing me up to 65k chips.
A big hand came up an orbit later. The first 4 players folded, and I was next to act with A3o and 64k chips. There were 4 players left to act after me. The CO had 32k chips, the button had 21k, the SB had 22k (before posting) and the BB also had 22k. Since the largest stack after me was only 8x BB, I decided to push my stack in. The worst case scenario is I lose 32k chips, but it�s a lot more likely that I will pick up the blinds of 6k. The SB called with 88, and the BB came along with KK. The flop came JJ3, turn 5, river 3. Although this may seem like a huge suckout, I actually had 25% equity in the 3 way pot, and I would still have a decent stack if I lost the pot. Winning the pot, however, gave me a monster stack of 110k chips.
A couple hands later I found AQo and a player in MP opened for 8k (minraise). I reraised to 16k, and everyone folded giving me 122k. In my small blind, the same player raised all-in on the button for 27k. I had ATo in the SB and called. He had A2o and my hand held up giving me 155k chips.
I got moved to a new table and the first hand there I found AQo in MP. I opened for 10k, (still at 2k/4k blinds) and another player ni MP pushed all-in for 27k. I had a decent hand and was pretty committed, so I called. Again I was shown aces, and lost in shame. I still had 128k after that.
A couple hands later the blinds went up to 3k/6k and I founded 75s in the SB. It folded to me, and the big blind had a stack of only 26k (before posting). I figured if I pushed he would fold over half the time, and when he calls, I can�t lose many chips, and still have a chance to win. Given that math I decided to push all-in. The BB instantly called with A5s, and although I got help on the flop, he got more. Even after this I still had the biggest stack at the table with 102k chips.
In EP I found KQo and opened for 15k. A player in LP pushed his stack of 15060 chips in without thinking, and I said �oh shit.� I threw in 60 more chips and was very surprised to see him show JTs. My hand held, and I was back to 126k.
An orbit and a half later I found AQo in the CO. The player before me opened for 3x the BB (18k), and I reraised to 45k. I wasn�t exactly happy to see him call my reraise. I had 80k chips behind and there was 100k in the pot. He had me slightly covered. The flop came A54, and I made a small bet of 20k. That was enough for him to fold, and I was very happy with the outcome of that hand, not to mention my 180k stack.
A couple hands later I found AJo utg, and since we were 7 handed, I opened for my standard raise of 15k. The BB called. He was the player from my AQ hand. The flop came 355 and he checked. I bet 18k into the 33k pot, and he called. The turn was another 5, and there was 70k in the pot. Much to my surprise, he went all-in for 65k. I replayed the hand in my head, as well as the AQ hand from before, and his bet made no sense. I knew my opponent was somewhat loose and pretty bad. I figured he wasn�t clever enough to play a big pair this way. If he had a small pair, there�s no way he would let me see a turn card for free, so I ruled that out. I figured he had to be bluffing, so I made a very controversial call. My read was right, and he had KQo. There was 200k in the pot after my call, and I had almost 100k behind. The average stack at this point was only 60k, so I was about to have 5x as many chips as the average stack, and over twice as many chips as the player in second place. I was looking golden until a 3 came on the river counterfeiting my hand. We split the pot and I had to settle for barely being the chipleader. I must say that hand was a bit depressing. In my opinion I made an amazing call, but it didn�t pay off.
A few hands later I found AKo in MP and opened for 20k. The BB was 8k at this point, and the player in the BB had only 23k chips. I wasn�t all that surprised to see him push his stack in, but I was surprised when he flipped over J6o, and even more shocked when the flop came JJ9. Somehow I still had 150k chips after those two bad beats.
I got moved to a new table, and it folded to my small blind. I had J4o but decided to take a stab at the BB. I raised to 25k. The BB thought forever, and finally said, �I really want to call with 4 high.� He eventually folded, and I interpreted this to mean he thought I was a maniac and wouldn�t give me credit for anything.
Three hands later I found TT and raised the 4k/8k blinds to 20k. The player from the previous hand had a stack of 100k and reraised me to 40k. My hand was a strong one, and given the comment from before, I wasn�t ready to let the tens go. I pushed all-in and he happily called with QQ. I was left with a meager 50k stack after that hand.
Two hands later I pushed all-in with 77 to take down the blinds, and then found AA utg the hand after that. I minraised to make it look like I had just enough chips left to give me room to fold. It folded to the big blind who pushed all-in with 88. He got no help, and I doubled through him to take me to 125k chips.
On the very next hand, I was in the BB and the 88 player was in the SB. It folded to him, and he pushed all-in for 29k. With blinds at 4k/8k, there were 37k chips in the pot, and it was 21k more for me to call. He certainly makes this play with a very wide range of hands, and I was getting almost 2-1, so I decided to call. He had A8, and again, I found no help. I still had 95k chips to work with.
During 5k/10k blinds, a player in LP tried to raise my big blind with a raise to 20,300. I had JJ, and took down the pot when I pushed all-in. A couple hands later I found AA in the CO and opened for 23k. The BB must have thought this looked sketchy, as he pushed his stack of 66k in. I would have loved to see the look on his face when I called with AA and he had to flip over his Q8o. No miracle came, and I had 180k chips.
With 11 players left, and blinds at 5k/10k, I found A7s in the big blind. The small blind opened for 21,200 and I called. The flop came K44 and I bet 25k into the 42k pot. Unfortunately I had to fold when he check raised me to 50k.
An orbit or two later I found AA in the big blind, and the player utg (remember, we�re 5 handed) opened for 34k. I pushed all-in and he folded. I had 150k chips after that. Someone at the other table busted, and we combined to form the final table. I had a slightly below average stack, and was really hoping to finish well to turn my big loss at $10/$20 NL into a win for the day.
I found TT in the CO, and opened for 27k. The SB had only 58k chips, and he pushed all-in. He had KJo, and I think this was a dubious play on his part considering he had no fold equity, but he was lucky to find himself in a coinflip scenario, and lucky enough to win it, and I was down to 85k.
The blinds went up to 7.5k/15k, and I decided to push with AQo utg+1. Everyone folded, and the big blind made a debatable call with pocket 5�s. Again I received no help, and I was out in 10th place.
I was happy with my play over the course of the tournament, and my cards were pretty good. I got unlucky several times when the blinds got big, and couldn�t win a coinflip near the end, so yet again I have to disappoint my loyal readers with a �not-quite-there� finish.
I have been consistently getting far in these party tournaments, and I really think it�s a direct result of my play improving over the past couple of months. I�ve had four cashes and two final tables in my past ten big Party tournaments, and haven�t gotten over-the-top lucky in any of them. With a little more luck near the end, I�m bound to win one of these, and I�ll be sure to report back here when I do.
As always, thanks for reading. I really do appreciate all the support I get.
� Justin Bonomo
