Holy Crap, I won a Tournament!
I just won a "10+1 NL Rebuy" on PokerRoom.com. There were 118 registered in the tournament, so it wasn't incredibly big compared to whet else is out there these days, but it's the biggest field I've managed to beat. (I think my previous best was only 30!) The payout for 1st place was supposed to be $354, but for some reason I made $582 instead. Maybe they don't add the rebuys ito the prize pool until after the tournament.
Well, I'm trying to think of what hands were critical, or at least memorable. A few minutes before the add-on I had pocket aces in the small blind. I raised, but not much, because I wanted some action. The big blind & one other limper called me. I made a fairly small bet on the flop, hoping that one of these guys would smell weakness & raise me. I don't remember what the board was, but it wasn't too threatening. Anyway, a second club hit on the turn, and instead of betting enough to make a flush draw fold, I actually made a decent sized bet, but one small enough to encourage a call. I didn't even notice the clubs until another one hit the river. Now one of the other guys made a fairly small bet, about 1/4 to 1/3 of the pot. I called, knowing he probably had a flush, and he showed 7t of clubs.
This hand didn't cost me too many chips, but I was probably in danger of tilting away a good chunk more. This is the first time in awhile that I can recall where I misplayed aces or kings that badly. I mean, this guy didn't suck out on me. I kept making bets that would keep him in! On the other hand, playing my aces in this weak fashion probably lost me less of my stack than I could have any other way, aside from checking the hands down. My stack fluctuated a little after that on failed and successful blind steals, and then the first break and the add-on came. I added on, and was back to where I was before I mishandled my aces.
My stack took a severe hit later when I moved on the blinds with 55 and got called by kj or kt, and he paired up. This dropped me down to 2500 chips or so, while I had been at about 7000 before. The big blind was 4 or 500 at this point, so I was feeling kind of desperate. About the first time it was folded around to me after that I tried to take down the blinds with 64 offsuit. One of the blinds was sitting on pocket kings, but afer I flopped a 4, I got runner-runner sixes to fill up.
Later on I lost about half my chips in another coin-flip, this time when I had aq vs 99, but soon after I tripled up when my pocket aces held up against some other big cards, maybe ak and aq. (I am writing this part later--I just ran into the same situation today, but may aces got cracked, by runner-runner queens, hence the title of my most recent post. The other memorable hand also had me with pocket aces. I was one of the blinds, and after a pre-flop raise I reraised one of the big stacks about half my stack. I don't remember how much he raised preflop at this point, but it was enough that I believed he would call this raise. I think I may also have been trying to narrow the hand to a two-way fight as well. Anyway, this guy was pretty aggressive, and the pot was pretty big, so when the flop came akx, giving me top set, I checked to him, figuring he might make a move at the pot even if he didn't have an ace, and definitely would if he did. I moved all-in, he called and turned over a9
It's the next day--just took 4th out of 317 players in another 10+1 NL Rebuy on pokerrrom.com, winning $439. 1st prize was $1372. I got all of the bad poker out of my system early, rebought, and after my add on had about an average stack. The interesting thing about this tournament to me was that I never seemed to be in any real dramatic hands like I was yesterday. I don't think any of my all-in moves got called, and the times my opponent was all in he was short stacked, so it wasn't critical. Yesterday I got some healthy doses of luck at critical times. Today it seemed like I was able to avoid trouble. I think part of it was that the tables were tighter, and I think I was a bit more selective with my blind steals. In fact, I don't think I did much true stealing today. Today I generally had a little more something to back up my raises.
Well, I'm trying to think of what hands were critical, or at least memorable. A few minutes before the add-on I had pocket aces in the small blind. I raised, but not much, because I wanted some action. The big blind & one other limper called me. I made a fairly small bet on the flop, hoping that one of these guys would smell weakness & raise me. I don't remember what the board was, but it wasn't too threatening. Anyway, a second club hit on the turn, and instead of betting enough to make a flush draw fold, I actually made a decent sized bet, but one small enough to encourage a call. I didn't even notice the clubs until another one hit the river. Now one of the other guys made a fairly small bet, about 1/4 to 1/3 of the pot. I called, knowing he probably had a flush, and he showed 7t of clubs.
This hand didn't cost me too many chips, but I was probably in danger of tilting away a good chunk more. This is the first time in awhile that I can recall where I misplayed aces or kings that badly. I mean, this guy didn't suck out on me. I kept making bets that would keep him in! On the other hand, playing my aces in this weak fashion probably lost me less of my stack than I could have any other way, aside from checking the hands down. My stack fluctuated a little after that on failed and successful blind steals, and then the first break and the add-on came. I added on, and was back to where I was before I mishandled my aces.
My stack took a severe hit later when I moved on the blinds with 55 and got called by kj or kt, and he paired up. This dropped me down to 2500 chips or so, while I had been at about 7000 before. The big blind was 4 or 500 at this point, so I was feeling kind of desperate. About the first time it was folded around to me after that I tried to take down the blinds with 64 offsuit. One of the blinds was sitting on pocket kings, but afer I flopped a 4, I got runner-runner sixes to fill up.
Later on I lost about half my chips in another coin-flip, this time when I had aq vs 99, but soon after I tripled up when my pocket aces held up against some other big cards, maybe ak and aq. (I am writing this part later--I just ran into the same situation today, but may aces got cracked, by runner-runner queens, hence the title of my most recent post. The other memorable hand also had me with pocket aces. I was one of the blinds, and after a pre-flop raise I reraised one of the big stacks about half my stack. I don't remember how much he raised preflop at this point, but it was enough that I believed he would call this raise. I think I may also have been trying to narrow the hand to a two-way fight as well. Anyway, this guy was pretty aggressive, and the pot was pretty big, so when the flop came akx, giving me top set, I checked to him, figuring he might make a move at the pot even if he didn't have an ace, and definitely would if he did. I moved all-in, he called and turned over a9
It's the next day--just took 4th out of 317 players in another 10+1 NL Rebuy on pokerrrom.com, winning $439. 1st prize was $1372. I got all of the bad poker out of my system early, rebought, and after my add on had about an average stack. The interesting thing about this tournament to me was that I never seemed to be in any real dramatic hands like I was yesterday. I don't think any of my all-in moves got called, and the times my opponent was all in he was short stacked, so it wasn't critical. Yesterday I got some healthy doses of luck at critical times. Today it seemed like I was able to avoid trouble. I think part of it was that the tables were tighter, and I think I was a bit more selective with my blind steals. In fact, I don't think I did much true stealing today. Today I generally had a little more something to back up my raises.
posted by roQQ | 3:19 AM
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