Within 48 hours of my first cash and first 1st place in a tournament, I won my second tournament!
My play was solid and I was completely in the zone.
I lost only four hands during the six hour tournament. I had my money in good for those four hands and got outdrawn.
Like cash game sessions, tournaments come down to a couple key hands - a couple key decisions.
Here are my two key hands that helped propel me to the final table:
The pivot point centered on the third break when we were at three tables, down from nine.
We were only a few players away from going down to two tables.
I was moved to a new table. I was slightly ahead of the chip leader at this new table.
The blinds and antes were quite high at this point.
Right before the break, I call a min raise from a player that I feel has a pocket pair.
I have K-Q of clubs.
The flop comes with two clubs.
I have 15 outs to hit a higher pair or a flush. I am a 60% favorite to win the hand.
I also have position on my opponent.
He pushes all-in.
“You have pocket Jacks or pocket 10s,” I tell him. “I am a 60% favorite to win with two over cards and a flush draw.”
His all-in was for half my stack.
At this point in the tournament, I did not want to risk half my stack on a draw even though the math makes it a “good” call. If I lost, I would still have the average chip stack. But, I wanted to coast to the final table.
I fold and show.
My opponent shows J-J.
When I returned from the break, the dealer did a Rabbit Hunt and told me I would have lost the draw.
The first hand back from break, I am in the big blind with 9-9.
Action folds around to the button who raises to $45,000.
It did not feel like a steal. The raise told me he had some kind of Ace.
I min raise to $90,000.
My opponent calls.
No re-raise all-in tells me he definitely does not have a pocket pair.
He has at least an Ace in the hole.
I figure he is pot committed since he has half his stack in before the flop.
My bet is about 1/3 of my stack.
“I have two overs to your pair,” my opponent tells me.
This was his first mistake in the hand: telling me what he is holding.
I now put him on a big Ace.
We stare each other down from across the table. Behind our sunglasses, we glance down to see the board. Our heads, however, never move.
The flop comes K-Q-7 rainbow.
I check.
My opponent checks.
Now, if he had A-K or A-Q, he would have bet. Frankly, I was expecting a continuation bet.
No bet on the flop was his second mistake of the hand.
At this point, I put him on A-J or A-10.
If I see an Ace, Jack, or Ten - any of which gives him either a bigger pair or a straight, I am done with the hand.
The turn card is an 8.
I check.
He checks.
The river card is a 2.
No flush possibilities.
If I bet, he folds.
I check hoping to trap him into second guessing his read. I want him to put me on something like A-9 suited.
My opponent fires out $70,000 of the $90,000 or so he has left.
The trap play worked.
“I am all-in,” I declare.
He folds in disgust. His cards were so high in the air, I could see an Ace.
“You had Ace Jack right?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
“You were beat the whole way.”
I showed the 9-9.
Normally, I would not show, but I wanted to show him and the table that I “had it” figuring it would help me later in the tournament.
With him not betting me off the hand on the flop or turn, I now had the dominant chip lead.
All I had to do was go on cruise control all the way to the money.
This tournament paid the top 9.
Once we got to the final table, the players decided to give the bubble player $20 each. I thought the gesture was very cool.
That was enough money to pay for the tournament buy-in plus $100 profit for the afternoon.
As for the rest of us, we played another couple rounds to the next break.
I had the chip lead, but two others were very close in stacks. The rest of the table were about even in chips.
The next round was alot of folding due to the high blinds and antes.
Guys are trying to read hands blind when someone raised.
“You had a pair,” one player says.
“No, he had Ace Queen,” I say.
The player shows Ace Queen.
We go on break.
I see the players huddled up but I don’t think much of it.
Right before we sit down again, a friend of mine pulls me aside.
“Sammy, you fucked up.”
“How so?”
“You really need to stop reading hands blind. It is going to cost you money.”
“Just trying to establish a table image with my new opponents,” I reply.
“We had a meeting. They do not want to tangle with you. We want to chop.”
With 8 players agreeing to chop, I obliged. We all took down the equivalent of second place money.
Not bad for 6 hours of play.
