1st in WPEX $1,000 Guarantee
Yesterday I jumped into a $10 Freezeout on WPEX, feeling good about my play there. I've been taking down a lot of SNG's there and felt that it's been easy money so far, so why not try a tournament?
The first hand in the tournament I took down with a minimal profit when I flopped two pair. With two suited cards I bet out a tad bit more than 1/2 the pot and everyone folded to me. After that I was strictly in post-and-fold mode up until I doubled up with pocket Aces. From then on I played my position (stole chips from small stacks and kept constant pressure on everyone). I switched from being extremely tight to little "stealing rushes", trying to keep my game mixed up. I tried to develop an image that I was a tight player who just got card rushes from time to time, I think it worked well. Throughout the tournament I was able to maintain a stack in the top 5. When the action become the final 3 tables, I moved into the tournament chip leader with more than 16,000 chips.
I ended up doubling up a guy twice in a row which crippled my stack to a mere 6,000 chips. Keeping the faith, and taking advantage of the increasing blinds, I was able to get chipped up to over 20,000 in about a half hour's time. At this point I was at 23k and the average stack was 18k facing 1500 / 3000 blinds. All I had to do was be patient, steal in position, and keep building a stack. At one point I stole every time in one whole rotation, this really helped me build a decent stack up. Bold move by some, but it created action later when people went from the fear of being busted out and folding every hand hoping to skip into the money to panic mode that they will be blinded out soon and miss the money.
As the final two tables came together I kept a strong eye on how many people were left. Only the top 9 finished in the money, and as the field dropped to 15 my table become extremely tight. I was able to steal in any position as long as I was the opener - I took a huge advantage of this and stole my heart out. While everyone was folding, I was collecting. If I got challenged and didn't have a hand, I'd just get out of the way. Taking in so many steals it didn't matter that I was letting go one in every 7 or 8 steal attempts. My friend specing said I had "total control of the table", and I felt it. Even the big stack (leader of the tournament) was folding his SB to me when I was in the BB - they all feared to be busted out by me. I guess it helped that I also took 3 people out on my table. Once with pocket 4s, then with pocket Kings, and lastly with AQ suited. Being feared is awesome.
The first hand in the tournament I took down with a minimal profit when I flopped two pair. With two suited cards I bet out a tad bit more than 1/2 the pot and everyone folded to me. After that I was strictly in post-and-fold mode up until I doubled up with pocket Aces. From then on I played my position (stole chips from small stacks and kept constant pressure on everyone). I switched from being extremely tight to little "stealing rushes", trying to keep my game mixed up. I tried to develop an image that I was a tight player who just got card rushes from time to time, I think it worked well. Throughout the tournament I was able to maintain a stack in the top 5. When the action become the final 3 tables, I moved into the tournament chip leader with more than 16,000 chips.
I ended up doubling up a guy twice in a row which crippled my stack to a mere 6,000 chips. Keeping the faith, and taking advantage of the increasing blinds, I was able to get chipped up to over 20,000 in about a half hour's time. At this point I was at 23k and the average stack was 18k facing 1500 / 3000 blinds. All I had to do was be patient, steal in position, and keep building a stack. At one point I stole every time in one whole rotation, this really helped me build a decent stack up. Bold move by some, but it created action later when people went from the fear of being busted out and folding every hand hoping to skip into the money to panic mode that they will be blinded out soon and miss the money.
As the final two tables came together I kept a strong eye on how many people were left. Only the top 9 finished in the money, and as the field dropped to 15 my table become extremely tight. I was able to steal in any position as long as I was the opener - I took a huge advantage of this and stole my heart out. While everyone was folding, I was collecting. If I got challenged and didn't have a hand, I'd just get out of the way. Taking in so many steals it didn't matter that I was letting go one in every 7 or 8 steal attempts. My friend specing said I had "total control of the table", and I felt it. Even the big stack (leader of the tournament) was folding his SB to me when I was in the BB - they all feared to be busted out by me. I guess it helped that I also took 3 people out on my table. Once with pocket 4s, then with pocket Kings, and lastly with AQ suited. Being feared is awesome.
Finally the final table arrived, and the blinds were getting super high. I kept applying pressure when I was in position - but now the big stack woke up and was stealing more aggressively then me. Here are some screen shots of various key hands on the final table.
Big stack pushed all in and I called with pocket Kings. My Kings hold up hitting a full house on the River. This placed me second in chips.
Getting great odds, I called the Button's all in with K-9. It held up and I send him to the rail.
Small blind puts in a little more then a one-up raise. I call and flop a huge hand. He checks and I check behind him. The Turn lands me trips, but pairs the board. He shoves and I insta-called. The River counterfeited my trips and gave me the Straight for a win.
Unfortunately I was extremely focused on my heads up play I didn't take any screen shots.
I kept the chip lead for most of the action until this hand happen:
Blinds 4000 / 8000 +ante Hero: 98680 (BB)
Villain: 49820 (SB) Dealt: Ac Jc
Villain calls 4000, Hero raises to 25000, Villain re-raises to 49420 and is all in, Hero calls
Villain shows J-T
Hero reveals A-J
The Showdown: Kc As 3d, Ad, Qs
Villain wins 99640 with a Broadway Straight Hero has 48860 left
Villain calls 4000, Hero raises to 25000, Villain re-raises to 49420 and is all in, Hero calls
Villain shows J-T
Hero reveals A-J
The Showdown: Kc As 3d, Ad, Qs
Villain wins 99640 with a Broadway Straight Hero has 48860 left
This was a devastation. The Turn looked great for me and I was really hoping I'd dodge that Q. On the next 4 hands, our villain moved all-in preflop hoping for me to give up and call. Finally I did with J-J and stood good against his T-T. This evened the field and I did some bold all-in moves preflop 2-3 times in a row to smack him from doing it to me. A few hands later we got down to the last hand of the tournament.
Blinds 4000 / 8000 +ante Hero: 113840 (SB) Villain: 34660 (BB) Dealt: 8c Td (hey man, any hand can win in heads up)
Hero calls, Villain checks
With the Villain checking preflop I can not put him on high cards or a pair. I believe that if he had an Ace or a King he'd raise me. High Ace, King or Pockets he'd go all in. This assumption is from watching my player's habits throughout this final table and heads up play.
Flop: Ac 5d 7s
Villain checks, Hero checks
The Villain didn't take a chance to bet here, which to me means he was afraid of that Ace. I check behind him with full intentions of betting out on the Turn. My thought; he might min bet since I checked and I can raise him all in. Hopefully he folds and I can cripple him (he's a weak player and doesn't look at odds). If he checks, a 1/2 pot size bet would indicate to him that I was trapping with an Ace and he would fold. Either way I have confidence that my opponent is weak enough to fold in my attempts to steal this pot.
Turn: 8h [Ac 5d 7s]
Villain checks, Hero bets 12000, Villain re-raises to 26260 and is all in, Hero calls 14260.
Villain checks and I place my bet. This time I hit my card so I feel confident that I still have the best hand. Before I placed my bet I predetermined that I would call his all in if he decided to come over the top. He does, and I stick with my gut feeling that I have the best hand and make the call.
Villain shows K-J (Tried to slow play and got caught)
Hero reveals 8-T (Pair of Eights)
Showdown: 9c [8h Ac 5d 7s] Hero wins with Eights, Ten Kicker.
Hero calls, Villain checks
With the Villain checking preflop I can not put him on high cards or a pair. I believe that if he had an Ace or a King he'd raise me. High Ace, King or Pockets he'd go all in. This assumption is from watching my player's habits throughout this final table and heads up play.
Flop: Ac 5d 7s
Villain checks, Hero checks
The Villain didn't take a chance to bet here, which to me means he was afraid of that Ace. I check behind him with full intentions of betting out on the Turn. My thought; he might min bet since I checked and I can raise him all in. Hopefully he folds and I can cripple him (he's a weak player and doesn't look at odds). If he checks, a 1/2 pot size bet would indicate to him that I was trapping with an Ace and he would fold. Either way I have confidence that my opponent is weak enough to fold in my attempts to steal this pot.
Turn: 8h [Ac 5d 7s]
Villain checks, Hero bets 12000, Villain re-raises to 26260 and is all in, Hero calls 14260.
Villain checks and I place my bet. This time I hit my card so I feel confident that I still have the best hand. Before I placed my bet I predetermined that I would call his all in if he decided to come over the top. He does, and I stick with my gut feeling that I have the best hand and make the call.
Villain shows K-J (Tried to slow play and got caught)
Hero reveals 8-T (Pair of Eights)
Showdown: 9c [8h Ac 5d 7s] Hero wins with Eights, Ten Kicker.
My opponent made a huge mistake in attempts to slow play his K-J and ended up loosing the whole tournament on a bluff. What he failed to realize, his all in gave me tremendous odds to call him. Had he would have pushed on the preflop or even the flop, I would have folded my hand. I hit the board, then being offered almost 4:1 on my money, there was no way I was folding. If he had the Ace then so be it, I wasn't folding. To his credit, I think he put me on a bluff and figured his King-high would be good. I was raising and playing so many hands, keep mixing my play, he didn't have a good read on me. If this is the case, my "in control, maniac play" paid off.
In the end, while this tournament is not a major win as far as some of the blog sites I read post about, it's still a significant win for me - someone who has been on a bad beat streak for the last few days. Turning $10 into $300 definitely boosts your confidence. I plan to continue some action at WPEX, since their SNGs are really good. Hopefully my luck will change on FTP and I can go back to the site I truly like, until then I will stay with the money - WPEX.
posted by yabi at 6:34 PM
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