Josh Supsak, A.K.A. jsup, is an instructor for CardRunners.com, a website where top players teach aspiring poker players how to be successful on the cyber-felt.

Tournament poker can be very strange sometimes. Each tournament is totally different from the next. There are those tournaments where you get off to an amazing start and maintain a huge stack all the way to the final table. There are also those tournaments where you just hang around for five hours with nothing eventful happening and find yourself deep in the tournament somehow. Last night’s $200 buy in on UB was a lot like the second type of tournament I just described. <READMORE> I was in a weird mood after playing for almost 4 hours in the poker stars $200 buy in, outlasting over 3000 people and not even making the money. To be honest, I wasn’t in the mood at all to play another big long tournament. I remembered that I had qualified for the UB $200 earlier in the week in a satellite under my new name, TY4DABJ, so I settled down and decided I was going to give it my all.

I got off to an extremely slow start, finishing the first hour with about $2200 in chips. Towards the end of the 2nd hour, I was still hovering around the starting chip stack of $2500, and I found myself at a pretty tough table. I managed to double up with AQ on a flop of Akx all spades (I had the Q of spades) against another player’s AJ, and then I was dealt AQ the very next hand. Mindwise, a tough player, limped in from early position for $100, and I made it $450 to go. The player who just doubled me up called from the small blind, as did mindwise, and the flop came down 10 9 9 with 2 diamonds. It wasn't the greatest flop for me, but when it was checked to me, I bet half of the $1500 pot. The small blind immediately folded and mindwise went into the tank. I had bet $750 and he only had $1600 in chips. I was trying to make it look like I was strong and wanted action, but he sniffed out the bluff and pushed with 88, which eventually held up. After losing that $4500 pot, I was back down to $3k in chips and short stacked, and I felt pretty negative, to be honest. I wasn’t giving up, but I just didn’t feel like I could get anything started and build a stack.

This was one of the most boring tournaments I’ve played in a long time. I literally just hung around, and each hour seemed like it was passing by so slowly. With 150 people left, I was in about 140th place, and when we got to the bubble, I was still severely short stacked. The blinds were $600-1200 and I had $5k in chips when there were 72 people left, with 70 people getting paid. I never play tournaments to get into the money, so I did not care if I bubbled. A few key situations came up during bubble time, and these situations allowed me to stay alive and even build a decent stack.

With the average around $25k, everyone folded around to me on the button, and I pushed all in with 5 7 off suite. I needed those blinds and antes desperately. Everyone folded around to me the next hand, and once again I pushed all in, this time with AQ off. I pretty much doubled up with those 2 steals, but I was still very short stacked. The next hand, I got AK off, and I was ready to gamble. I player in middle position raised to $3600, and I pushed all in for about 9500 total. He called with 33, and I won the crucial race and was now at about $20k in chips.

As soon as we got into the money, I knew people would be willing to gamble, especially the shorter stacks. I was dealt QQ in the small blind and had a player in late position push all in for about $10k with AJ, and I had $30k after my QQ held. The very next hand, I was dealt Q4 of clubs in the big blind and the action folded around to the small blind, who limped in. I checked, and we saw a flop of Kxx with 2 clubs. He instantly bet the pot, which I felt could be a steal in hopes to win the pot right there. I had him covered by about $10k, so I raised his $3500 bet to $18k, essentially putting him all in. He went into the tank, and I began to worry that he might have a K and take a stand, which of course he did. The turn was a blank and the river was a beautiful K of clubs, giving him trips but giving me a flush and now a $50k stack. I went from $5k in chips with 72 people left to $50k in chips with 60 people left. I was now beginning to feel confident and thought that maybe it was my night.

I pretty much blinded back down to $25k in chips after peaking at around $50k, due to some awful cards and some awful steal attempts. With about 40 people left, I was once again a short stack, and that was when I went on one of those rushes you dream about. People watching probably thought I was playing well, because I kept coming over the top of people and winning huge pots without a showdown, but I wasn’t playing well; I just kept getting AA. It was weird....I was cold decked for the first 4 hours of the tournament, and then in a one-hour time span, I got AA 4 times and won crucial pots each time I had it. After all of that, I was in 3rd place with 20 people left.

Getting down to the final table took quite a while, and it was very streaky for me. I took a few bad beats and lost 2 key races, which put me back at the short stack. With 12 people left, I was in 12th place, but I wasn’t dangerously low. I was also lucky to be at the table I was at. The play wasn’t weak at my table 6 handed, but the other table was incredibly strong. Phat_cat, who played an absolutely brilliant tournament, and Ozzy 87 were both at the other table, and they were playing great. Phat_cat was the chip leader of the tournament for about 5 hours straight. It was an amazing display of poker on his part, to literally never drop out of the top 3 from the beginning of the tournament to the end.

A few things went my way as we were on the final table bubble, which is always an important part of making it deep in tournaments. I was able to catch a few nice hands, where I won pots by pushing all in after another player was making a steal.

A key hand came up between killerapp and myself when we were down to 11 players. The action folded around to him in the small blind, and he pressed the bet pot button like he often does. I had K9 of hearts in the big blind and had an important decision to make. The blinds were $2500-5k, so his raise was about $20k more. I had $100k at the start of the hand and he had me covered by about $15k. I did not think he was very strong and felt like he needed a big hand to call my all in raise, so I decided to push all in. To my surprise, he beat me into the pot with A4 of clubs, making him the slight favorite for about a $200k pot. The flop came K high, and I was able to dodge the A and was now back in 3rd place.

This tournament was a roller coaster ride to say the least. We got to the final table shortly after the K9 vs. A4 hand, and I was sitting in 3rd place behind phat_cat and Ozzy 87, who had a huge chip stack of about $450k. Killerapp rebounded nicely from the pot he lost to me, when he doubled up early at the final table when his AK of clubs beat Ozzy’s AJ off for about a $250k pot.

Then things got interesting. Papoorboy, who was sitting directly to my right, came in for $22k under the gun (blinds still at $2500-5k). We had played for about an hour together from 20 players down to the final table, and I was very impressed with his play. He put a lot of pressure on me with reraises and got me to fold a lot of strong hands. After having him on my left for that first hour, I was happy that he was now on my immediate right, because he was someone I definitely considered a threat. With his raise of $22k under the gun I knew he had a strong hand, but I had KK. It was a unique situation, because half of the table was short stacked, and the other half all had between $200k-$400k, with myself and papoorboy both being around $200k in chips. I didn’t want to get tricky and just call; I wanted to make a big enough raise to get him off a hand like AK. I play to win in any tournament that I’m in, but with 5 people being relatively low stacked, I didn’t want to go out in 10th place by making a bonehead play. I reraised to $95k, essentially committing myself. The action folded around quickly to Killerapp, who instantly pushed all in for about $250k. This made me sick to my stomach. However, from playing with him in the past, I knew his insta-push did not mean he had to have AA. I could see him doing this move with AK, QQ, and maybe even JJ. I was sick about it either way, but I reluctantly called my last 90k and was not surprised (although a bit depressed) to see his AA. My sadness turned into excitement, though, as the flop came K high, and I couldn’t believe that I might suckout in such an important situation. I have been on Killerapp’s side many times over the past few months, getting sucked out on at big final tables, so I know how awful it must have felt for him.

At this point, I was sitting in 1st place with 9 people left, and I had about $450k in chips. I don’t usually set out a strategy when I am playing poker, but this final table was different from a lot of the final tables I have been at. It was clear to me that phat_cat, Ozzy 87, and papoorboy were all excellent players, and they also just so happened to be in 2nd, 3rd and 4th place. I made the conscious decision to play tighter then I normally would, in hopes to get down to 4 handed with an average stack. I knew it was going to be the 4 of us at the end, and I knew I would have to gamble more then I normally would if I wanted to win the tournament.

Things went as planned, and when it got down to 4 handed, we all had between $350k and $475k in chips. The blinds were $5-10k, and it was anyone’s game.

Early on in 4 handed play, I was dealt 44 in the small blind, and papoorboy made his standard button raise to $40k. He had been extremely aggressive in position all tournament and was playing great, but he had also shown a willingness to let go of hands when reraised. My strategy was to gamble with these 3 players, and gamble is what I did. I took about 45 seconds to make it look like I was pondering my decision, but I knew I was pushing all in. My thought process was that he was most likely stealing and would fold, allowing me to pick up a nice pot without a showdown. I felt like he needed a very strong hand to call me, because he is essentially calling his entire stack. He had me covered by about $100k. He went into the tank, but I didn’t think much of it because he took a long time for most of his decisions. He typed, “really?” in the chat box, and I got a little worried. I knew at this point that he had a hand, but I didn’t know what. If he had a hand like 1010 or JJ and called, I would have been in big trouble, but if he wanted to gamble with a hand like AK or AQ, I was OK with it. He finally made the call, and I was relieved to see that I wasn’t up against a bigger pair, but was definitely still scared to take a flop for an $800k pot with 44 against AK off. The flop came down A 10 10, and I was now down to 2 outs. I missed on the turn and the river and was out in 4th place.

I was obviously disappointed, because I wanted to win and I wanted more money. But this tournament is a perfect example of why poker is so great and why I love it so much. I was short stacked and miserable for the first 4 hours of the tournament, and with a few important breaks, I was able to survive and somehow finish in 4th place for a solid $10k payday. I got lucky a few times, and I caught a few key rushes, but that’s what tournament poker is all about. My hat’s off to the 3 players who finished ahead of me; they all played great and deserved to finish as high as they did. I learn new things every time I play poker, and what I took away from this experience is that you should never give up in a tournament. No matter how low you are on chips, the old saying, “a chip and a chair,” is really so true. You are never out until you are out, and you never know when you might go on the rush of a lifetime. Till next time....f beanie.
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