Recently I went to Aruba for the UltimateBetAruba Poker Classic. There were a series of poker tournaments being held and I participated in the $5,000+500 buy-in Main Event. Four hundred and seventy five people registered to play the Main Event with a first place prize of $753,330. We started with 15,000 chips with 90 minute blind levels. The structure for the tournament was absolutely awesome. There was a lot of room for play throughout the tournament. I decided to play Day 1A because most of the people I spoke to were going to play on Day 1B, so I figured it would be a softer field.

When I arrived to my table I didn’t recognize anyone. This is typically a good sign but with a tournament hosted by a poker website I expected a lot of good Internet players in the field. The age to play live poker in Aruba is only 18 so I expected a lot of good players under the age of 21 to come test their live poker skills as well. The table was pretty active and I originally loved my starting table. It seemed like it was going to be an easy table to accumulate chips. The first big pot I got involved in was at the 25/50 blind level when I raised in second position with 55 to 150. The active big blind called and the flop came K-9-5 rainbow. He checked to me and I bet 225. He called instantly. The turn was the 9, putting two clubs on the board. The big blind check called again, this time I bet 650. The river was the 7 and he led into me for a bet of 1k. I really thought he had a '9' at this point or a strong king like KQ. I decided to put in a hefty raise and made it 3,425. He called and showed his AK as he threw it into the muck. My stack was now up to 19,200.

One of the most interesting hands I played on Day 1 took place at the 50/100 level. The table had gotten a little tougher. Some players busted and young Internet players replaced their seats directly to my left. I raised UTG to 300 with A Q. One Internet player called three seats behind me and the button re-raised to 1,300. The button was an Internet cash game player. It was his first 3-bet of the day, but I thought it was a good spot for him to squeeze light. I had already chipped up to about 22k so I decided to flat out of position. I thought it would look real strong and he would give up a lot of flops/turns. The flat caller then re-raised 4,650 more to 5,950 — leaving himself with 10k behind.

The button thought for a long time, agonized over his decision and ended up mucking his hand. I thought he might have folded QQ/KK or AK. It was now my action and the hand didn’t make much sense to me. The table wasn’t actively 3-betting preflop so it made little sense for the flat caller to call my UTG raise with AA or KK here. I also thought he wouldn’t choose that 4-bet sizing if he did have AA or KK. I eliminated those hands from his range. I also didn’t think he would play JJ or QQ in that fashion so that left his range to be only AK or bluffs. I thought about the hand for a while as well. I decided to fold because AQ plays horribly against his calling range in this spot which is strictly AK. Of course, he would just fold if I moved in and he was bluffing, but the only possible hand I thought he could have here and call me with was AK. If I had a hand that played better vs. AK like 65s suited or pocket fours, I would have moved all-in. I ended up folding and the player was paid $500 to show his hand. He turned over T 7 and the button folded AK.

About halfway through the day, I was involved in another big pot. At 100/200 a real active player limped UTG and I limped in middle position with T 6. The cutoff also limped, the small blind completed, and the big blind checked. The flop came T 6 5x. It checked around to me and I bet 850. It folded to the small blind who re-raised to 2k. This player had played very solid/tight/straight-forward all day. I thought his bet sizing was a little weak on such a draw heavy board. I figured that putting another bet in on the flop was the best thing to do for my hand, so I made it 4,850 and he called. When he called my re-raise his range was really polarized.

I thought he was the type of player to get it all-in on the flop with TT or 66, but possibly just call with 55. I also knew that he would only raise me on the flop and call my re-raise with real draw-heavy hands like 8 7 / 4 3, etc. The turn brought the 5. This was the absolutely worst card in the deck. There wasn’t one possible hand I could beat in his range. Every diamond combo got there, if he had a worse two pair he is now good, and 55 is unbeatable. I could tell from his body language that he liked the 5 on the turn, and he thought before he checked to me. I checked back. The river was the Q and he bet 4k. I made a pretty easy fold after asking him if he had quads. He later told me he had 6-5 and I was now down to 17,000 tournament chips.

The blinds were now 100/200 with a 25 ante. UTG limped and the tight player from above made it 700 in third position. The player behind him called and I called with 7 6 on the button. We went four to the flop which came J-8-3 with one diamond. The tight player led for 1,300 and it folded to me. The board was a really dry and with the previous history from the T 6 hand I felt like I could get away with a raise here versus this player. I made it 3,250 and he called. At this point, I knew his range was strictly AA or KK, with QQ in the mix a small percentage of the time. He called pretty quickly and on such a dry board I think he would have put more thought into folding a hand like AJ. He played real straight forward and after the hand we played earlier, I think he knew I wasn’t going to mess around with him.

The turn was the 7 and he checked to me. I picked up showdown value but I knew he had AA/KK the majority of the time and I really felt like he would make a big fold to me because of our history. I bet 5,400 on the turn with around 12k behind. He thought for a long while. He asked me If I had a set and folded KK face up. I won another small pot after that and my stack was now at 30,500.

After busting my first player, my chip count was up to about 41k. In 2nd position, I raised to 800 at 150/300 (50 ante) with K J and a good Internet player to my direct left flat-called me. We went heads up to the flop which came Q 9x 4. I checked to him and he bet 1k. I raised to 2,750 and he called. The turn was the 7, giving me the second nut flush. I bet 5,725 and he thought for a little while and called. The river was the 3 and I decided to put a big bet in. I made it 16,075 and he thought for a little bit and called. I won the biggest pot at the table so far.

The immediate hand after, I raised QQ UTG to 800. On the button an Internet player squeezed to 2,100 with 15k behind. The small blind moved all-in for 3,500 and I decided the best play was to move all-in as well. The Internet player had gotten more active lately and with all the dead money in the pot I felt like it was the right play. The small blind had AK and the board ran out J-T-9-T-K. I won the coin flip and now had 68k in chips.

I played one more hand towards the end of the day, where I three-barrel bluffed someone who had flopped a set. Overall my Day 1 went great and things worked out in my favor. I didn’t make many mistakes and was very happy with how I played. I ended the day with 65,000 tournament chips.

*Tristan "Cre8ive" Wade is a professional poker player and instructor from the state of Florida who has over ten Top 3 finishes in high-stakes online tournaments so far in 2009.

Recent Scores for Cre8ive

$46,115.00

$1000 buy-in, $1K Monday on FullTiltPoker. 07/27/2009, 3 place for 46,115.00

$14,938.20

$109 buy-in, $109 NL Hold'em [1R1A, turbo, $25,000 guaranteed]on PokerStars. 08/29/2009, 1 place for 14,938.20

$13,375.00

$100 buy-in, $33,000 Guarantee (1r+1a) on FullTiltPoker. 08/04/2009, 1 place for 13,375.00

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