3rd Time's a Charm

Last night was another tourney night for me. Played in 3 low buy in tourneys simultaneously. The $1K Guaranteed at Cake, the $2.5k Rebuy, and the $7.5k Guarantee at Full Tilt. All these tourneys start at around 7-8PM which was my preferred schedule.

Well, confidence seems to breed luck or maybe luck breeds confidence. In any case, I've been doing good in tourneys the past few days and this enabled me to play relaxed and loose which is the best mindset to be in when you play tournaments.

1. I finished 8th in the $1k guaranteed for practically peanuts. Just around 4x my buyin. But this was ok. I was low stacked from the middle of the tourney and I was glad just to reach the final table. So I pushed with the first decent hand I got (K9s) wherein I was first to act and was called quickly by BB who had Ace rag. Ace flops and that was it for me.

2. In the 2.5k Rebuy, I was slightly below average around middle of the tourney when the defining hand came up. Some random guy in early position raises. I see AQ suited and push all in. No Pause or thinking whatsoever. Nemo just insta-calls and show J9 off. Flop comes ragged at 4 5 7. Turn is a 6. And river is a .......you should be able to guess it after playing poker for this long. River was an 8 so that he makes his higher straight and busts me out. Hyuk.

3. Last is the 7.5k guarantee at FTP. I don't normally play this because of the number of people. I wanted a tourney that would end somewhere around midnight so I can still get a good night's sleep even if I reach the final table. When it started out, it only had around 400 something players. So I thought it looked manageable with a chance for an overlay. But once the late registration period ended. We ended up with 916 players. WTF. Should have known it looked too good to be true.

Anyway, I was already in it so griping doesn't help. I tried to play patient all throughout. Don't remember too much of the hands. Was in danger of busting out near the bubble with a low stack. But my luck was holding as nobody called my all-ins which allowed me to steal some blinds and survive. Bubble breaks at 90 people and I was still in it.

By the way, never be scared of pushing near the bubble. The chance of someone calling is quite small especially if you still have a decent stack. Before I used to wait around for the bubble to break before pushing when I'm low stacked which is safe and logical. But I always ended up busting out with peanuts as every other low stacked guy called your push. Now I just push whenever I was in position with a semi decent hand without any regard for ITM and it seems to be working.

Second lucky break. I was in SB with K6 suited. Folded to me. Had an M of around 8 or 9. So I quickly push. BB gives me a very long pause. Then finally calls and shows AAs. FUCKING SLOWROLLER. But fate has a unique way of fucking up the fuckers who do this. Flop shows a 6 and the other 6 comes up on the river and I double up.

Down to around 50 people I think when finally I get KKs. Standard 3x raise. Reraised by one player. Next player pushes all in. Thought for a while but couldn't really fold Kings. So we gamble on a 3 way. The reraiser shows Ace fucking Jack and the other shows 88s. My KKs hold up and I triple my stack. (I love KK, it always seems to carry me through)

This stack enables me to coast and then we're on the bubble of the final table. I had a healthy stack of around 100k at this point. I get 10 10. standard raise again. Pushed all in by somebody with a 60k stack. Fucker. I think this was a wrong move on my part but I call anyway and he shows AK. The K flops and I was now in danger of busting out just before the final table.

Again, as I emphasized before. Waiting is not really an option. Although this time, the jump from 10 to 9 is quite big so there is some logic to waiting it out. But the gap between 9th and 1st is bigger and I was in this to win it. I push a few hands with no callers and this keeps me above water and then finally two mid stacks collide and I reach the final table with an M of around 5.

And then I get hot. I get some AKs and JJs and ended up doubling each time. There was a maniac with a huge stack who was the ultimate luckbox and busted out everyone until we were down to 3. I had about 100K, other player had 200k and luckbox had a million something in chips.

And this is where my run ended. I flopped an open ended straight draw which I needed to push because calling with my stack was not really going to do it. Luckbox had top pair and I bust out at 3rd. It would have been nice to win this one, but I think that's asking too much from lady luck as I already copped a couple of wins prior.

Tourney ended at 1:30AM but was definitely worth it. One or two more ITMs like this and my Singapore budget will be all locked up. Heheh.