Weekend Tourneys

The $650 went poorly for me on Saturday. I never really got above 2500 and went down in flames when I limp re-raised with AQ and ran into AQ and AK.

For the Sunday tourneys I will review the ones with interesting hands.

The $300+20 on Pokerroom. I doubled up in the first hour with a set of kings against a flush draw all in on the flop. From there I chipped up to about 7500, blinds 200/400. I open for 1100 with JJ utg and the button makes it 2300. I have him barely covered. I hate getting mini re-raised but feel like folding is too weak with JJ here and that jamming is too reckless so I call. The flop comes AA4. I decide to bet small into him to see what he does... so I bet very small and he thinks a bit and calls. The turn is a blank and it goes check/check. Now I'm pretty sure he either has quads or KK-QQ. I contemplate my options on the river. Its really hard to sell an ace in this spot but I tried to anyway by moving in (this is I'm quite sure far more reckless than jamming preflop, but oh well). Not really that surprising my opp called instantly, but he called with two tens. Lol. Nothing like bluffing with the best hand and getting called. That gave me a bunch of chips and I won an important showdown with JJ vs A8... I had pretty good chips going to the final two tables. With about 13 people left (obviously only good money is at the FT) a player min raise in LP into my BB. Blinds were 1500/3000. I had about 35000 if I recall correctly. It felt like the right time to re-steal so I pushed with 76. He wasn't getting a good price but finally called with KQ and won. Of course you feel like a moron at the time but I guess that kind of play has made me successful lately. So I was out with about a $500 profit which was not what I was looking for.

Party - this one was fun, not. First hand that I recall is a LP limper is raised by the button and I have AA in the blinds. I make it 220 after the raiser made it 60. Only the late position player called. The flop was unique, JJJ. I felt like the best play on the flop was to bet about half the pot , so I did and my opp called without too much thought. The turn was a J. Now I decided to check. I'm either chopping with another ace or I have to get paid off somehow by K or Q high... my opp checked behind. The river was a K and I bet out, my opp raised and we got it all in and I chopped with AK. Bleh. So having chopped that pot I was at about 1350. Blinds 15/30 a late position player min raises to 60. He has about 500 behind. I am in the BB with AQ and jam and he insta calls with A8 and wins. Down to about 750 I jam quite a few times and eventually get it in with 77 vs KJ, flop a set and lose to a runner runner straight. Ah, good times.

Stars - The whole tournament came down to one hand. I open limp with AA utg planning to re-raise. Blinds are 25/50 and I have about 2300. The button makes my day by making it 200. I re-raise to 600 and he calls. The flop comes down KQJ. Can anyone think of a worse flop for a limp re-raise when you have AA and get called? Does anyone have a plan for proceeding with this hand? I ended up betting 900 , the button jammed and I put him pretty confidently on a set but thought perhaps AK was still in that range (and maybe even KQ). He flipped up QQ and I got no 6 out love.

Full Tilt - This was a unique one. I won some small pots early, and built my stack up to about 7500 without ever getting all-in. I never had any premium pairs or sets though. I was playing small ball! The first key hand was when I opened on the button with K9 and the SB pushed. I was getting over 2:1, I think 2.2:1 and decided to call even though if I lost I would be far less than 10 bb's. I rivered the 9 and scooped a nice pot that put me in the hunt. With two tables left I was in a decent spot but I finally picked up AK and raised it up to 4600 (blinds 800/1600), Shaniac came over the top to make it about 12000 and I instantly jammed overtop. He had to be getting over 3:1 to call but tanked... that was a nice feeling! He finally called with KJ and I won the hand. I was now in third with about 15 players left. On the final hand one of those really annoying things happened. I picked up JJ on the button (the biggest pair I had seen all tourney) and made it 6000 leaving myself 40000. One of the two players that had me covered re-raised to 17000 and I had a decision. Against good players in this spot, a big stack pressuring another big (but smaller) stack, this could very well be a re-steal. He could have total air down to something like A9 or a middle pair. Knowing this, I decided my best course of action was to jam. And jam I did, right into AA, and that was the end of me. Played really well and made $100. Just-barely-in-the-money sucks.

Dise - Ah, Paradise, where I seem to always bust without even seeing the first break. With about 1500 (blinds 50/100) it goes limp, CKruel raises to 400 and I have 77. I think I am pretty well off against his range so I jam. The SB instantly re-jams and CK folds and I am up against kings and get no suckout love.

I played some other tourneys, including a nice one on Interpoker where I lost concentration at the wrong time and fell for the limp re-raise when I had AQ. I should have folded for sure.

I then won the $25 rebuy on Stars for a $650 seat, broke even in 20/40 and lost a bunch in 30/60 on Full Tilt. Oh, and on Friday I won $1700 in the Stars $50 when I got fourth... Not too bad all things considered.