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I down a melatonin before bed in
hopes of staying asleep. I wake up at 9am anyway, but feel tired enough that
after spending 15 minutes or so on the computer I manage to crawl back to bed
and doze off until my alarm starts ringing at 11. I go for my run, take a
shower, and grab breakfast before heading out to the casino. Having checked the
update from the previous day I am indeed the chip leader from both heats,
edging out the guy behind me by about 1,000. Bondgirls 150ish thousand is good
for 6th. Still, with a little over 200 players left having the chip
lead doesn’t promise anything, especially with my history in these kinds of
situations. I just need to keep myself from doing anything stupid and keep my desire
to run over the table in check and in balance.
The
blinds start at 1000/2000 and my 216,500 means I’m sitting over 100 BB’s deep,
though the average stack is more like 70,000 so most hands are played with 35
BB’s effective. For the entirety of the 1000/2000 level things remain fairly
quiet. I mostly only play in spots where I’ve got a clear raise or steal the
blinds of the total nits behind me. The table is fairly active yet
inexperienced, and there’s nobody I’ve played with much around. My first hand
of interest comes up at 1200/2400, against the other biggest stack on the
table:
My stack: ~225k. BB: ~105k I hold
AdAh UTG+1.
Preflop: UTG folds, I raise to
7000, folds to BB, BB calls.
Flop: J 9 9 rainbow
The BB leads out 18,000. I know
100% for certain he’s not leading a 9 here and I don’t think he’s leading a
draw like QT this big most of the time. From the way I’ve seen him play he’s
got a pretty serious over-bet problem, so I decide to call and hope to raise
what should be a committing bet from him on the turn.
Turn: 7
The BB moves allin and I instantly
call. He tables AJ and the river K drags me an enormous pot. Some others on the
table are surprised with the ease in which I called him. I’m surprised it’s
ever in question.
I take down some small pots for the
rest of the level but mostly remain inactive. The next hand of interest doesn’t
come up until 1500/3000:
My stack: ~340k. MP1: ~110k
HJ:~35k. I hold TT UTG+2
Preflop: Folds to me, I raise to
8500, folds to MP1, a passivish and loose middle aged guy named Tony, who
calls. Folds to HJ who is a young player who seems to shove pretty wide. He
moves in for 35,000. It folds back to me and I reshove pretty quickly. Now Tony
goes into the tank and starts talking to himself.
“I’ve got a big hand here.”
I’m pretty sure for him to be
thinking this long he has to have JJ or AK. He’d have folded 99 pretty quick
and likely would have got it in with QQ without this much difficulty.
“I’ve got a pretty big hand here.”
He repeats. I decide I’m going to need to him fold.
”You think I don’t?” I say calmly then glance down at my slid out 100,000
knowingly. Tony keeps thinking for a while, then looks up at me
”Alright, I’m going to lay this down to you” and mucks his hand.
The young guy flips up AKo and I
table my TT.
”SHIT!!” yells Tony. “DAMN IT! JACKS!”
Flop: 3 T K rainbow
Tony’s eyes become the size of
dinner plates “Good thing you shoved mate!”
Turn: T
I burst into laughter. What an
absurd card.
River: 9
The large pot is slid over to me
and Tony keeps thanking his lucky stars I shoved on him. I’m almost certainly
the commanding chip leader at this point.
I pick up a decent sized pot 3
betting a button raiser with 45dd in the BB who folds showing me KsQs. We’ve
been chatting in a friendly manner and he tells me this is his very first live
tournament. He seems pretty nervous and a good target to pick on. It’s not long
before I’m involved in another big pot:
My stack: ~380k. HJ: ~50k. Button: ~70k. Blinds 1500/3000 with 400 ante. I hold
66 in the BB.
Preflop: Folds to HJ who is a
fairly aggressive player but still seems like the type a little afraid to bust.
He opens his standard raise to 12,000. It folds to a very loose passive button
who calls. The SB folds and I grab a stack of 100,000 in yellow and slide it
into the middle. The HJ stares me down for a very long while. Eventually he
grabs his stack, and slides it into the middle. The button folds. The HJ tables
KhQh.
Flop: Ac 7c 3c
That’ll work.
Turn: Ks
That won’t.
River: Qc
Like I’d ever lose a flip in this
heater.
Boo yah. My stack soars well over
400,000 and the entire table has jaws on the floor at the sheer mass of my
stack. God knows how many rows of 20 high chip stacks it is.
After that hand I don’t find myself
in any large pots for a while. The two players on my immediate left are both
short stacks and quite tight. I start open shoving on them a fair bit. At one
point it folds to me on the button with A4o and I slide out my stack of
100,000. The SB calls all in for what turns out to be KJo with 36,000 and the
board reads out KT9TT. Did I just lose a flip? WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!
A round later I find myself
involved in a big pot that actually makes it to the flop:
My stack: ~390k. MP2: ~82k. MP1:
~60k. I hold AQo on the HJ. MP2 is the aforementioned first timer and MP1 is a
bit loose and semi active.
Preflop: Folds to MP1, MP1 opens
his standard 11,000, MP2 calls, I reraise to 36,000 (leaving room to fold if
Tony behind me with ~130k shoves), it folds back to MP1 who folds, MP2 thinks
for a very long time, seems concerned, counts his chips, and elects to call.
Guess I’m going to pull an in position go and go unless I hit the flop hard
(I’d check back Qxx rainbow or Axx rainbow type flops.)
Flop: J 4 2 rainbow
MP2 checks. I take a stack of
100,000 and slide it into the middle. He quickly slides his stack into the
middle as well and tables his AJo. Charming.
Turn: 7. River: A
As the level ends and we go on
break I realize I started the last break with about 310k, went up to 450k, and
now sit at roughly 310k.
We come back from break and soon
our table is broken. I’m moved to a fairly straight forward table and for a
very long time nothing of consequence happens. As we get close to the money I
take down small and medium pot after small and medium pot. The bubble itself
actually breaks incredibly fast and when it does I’m sitting over 460,000
without a hand coming anywhere close to being meaningful or interesting. The
tournament pays 60 people, though 50-60 merely get their money back. As
expected, 10 players drop off very fast. It’s not until the 5000/10000 level
that I find myself in another interesting spot:
I hold AdKd UTG+1. After being
quiet for a while I’ve raised two hands this round and taken down the blinds.
The SB is a loose/bad player who calls too much and tends to open with huge
raises. The BB is a very straight forward player named Vic who is quite tight
but not a huge mega nit. My stack: ~470k. SB: ~230k. Vic: ~240k.
Preflop: UTG folds, I raise to
25,000, folds to the SB, the SB calls, Vic looks over at me then announces all
in, I quickly announce all in, the SB folds. Vic tables ThTc and we’re off to
the races.
Flop: 9d 7d 5h
Oh baby is that my flop. You’re
dead pal!
Turn: 2s
Don’t make me look like an idiot
here deck. I’ve already mentally said ‘You’re dead pal!’ Let’s not turn me into
a liar here.
River: 9c
SHIT! I count out the roughly
240,000 I owe Vic, tap the table, and tell him nice hand. He’s a complete
gentleman, so if I’m going to lose to anyone, I’m glad it’s someone like him.
A few hands later I find myself in
another big pot. The player in the hand is the SB from the previous hand. He’d
been pretty active pre flop with open raising a quite bit. At 4000/8000 he’d
been doing things like opening for 50,000 often and then min raising. He hadn’t
had to turn his hands over yet so I’m not sure what his range is like but he’s
raising pretty often. In one pot where a short stack shoved, he reshoved 66 in
early position and Vic behind him tanked for a while and folded TT. After Vic
told him this the SB went on this long rant about how he would have instantly
folded TT in Vic’s spot and would only call all ins with REALLY big hands. His
speech was clearly in earnest, and ever since I considered him an excellent
resteal target. He’d also asked why after big hands I got up to write something
down and I explained to him about writing tournament reports online. Other than
that, we’d had almost zero interaction with each other.
My stack: ~230k. CO: ~205k. I hold
JdTd in the BB. Blinds 5000/10000 with 1000 ante.
Preflop: Folds to the CO who raises
to 30,000. The button and SB fold, and after a couple seconds thought I
announce all in. The CO instantly calls and excitedly tables aces. I really do
make the sickest reads.
Flop: Ad Js 7d
Wow, things could get worse than
that flop.
Turn: 7h
The CO explodes “HELLO SIR!!!” he
pauses briefly then slaps his hands in the air again yelling “HELLO SIR!! Put
THAT in your book! YES!!” He motions to the rail “GUYS COME LOOK AT THIS!”
River: 3d
Perfect. “WHOOOO! Put THAT in your
book!” He repeats. I start counting out the chips I owe him and running the
odds in my head; is it worth taking my pen out and stabbing him in the throat
for all the sodomy I’m sure to endure in prison? I instead elect to pass him
his chips and quietly glare at him. Passive aggressive for the win.
“My names Nick by the way, in case
you wanted to write it down!”
I simply stare coldly at him, in
complete refusal to go for my pen. Someone on the other side of the table
blurts out “Hey you know what Nick rhymes with right?” I’ve got 30,000 left,
and I’m totally fucked.
The very next hand I post a 5000 SB
and 1000 ante intending to call off with about anything. Unfortunately it’s
raised by Vic on the button and I look down at 24 offsuit. I guess I fold here?
I throw it in intending to wait for a hand with just a little bit of showdown
equity. This plan goes HORRIBLY awry when my following 6 hands are: 52o,43o,
94o, 62o, 52o, 43o. Finally on the 7th hand, after anteing myself
down to 18,000, I look down at K9o and it folds to me. I open shove and it
folds to my friend Kochan on the button who isolates me to 45,000 with AsTs.
Flop: Ac 8c 3h.
Turn: X
“Thank God. Get me out of here.
Best of luck everyone.”
I end up busting something like 43rd
place and collect $921 dollars AUD for my effort. I take the chips to the
cashier and throw the $1 chip in the donation for some charity box next to me.
Can a dollar buy good karma?
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